Those look good, but the way I'm building the car the engine compartment is Stock so it wouldn't fit, in a Diablo you have a 11" stretch in the engine compartment...
I made a nice score this weekend, a new Pull-it yard opened up in Ottawa, I went with a friend who was looking for some winter rims, and i found a V12 jag with very nice Smiths gauges including a 200 MPH speedo. I got all six gauges for $25
I just did a little searching, I found a dozen of these SOHC, 2-valve (per cylinder) V-12s available for $1,000 each. For comparison, the same sources wanted $1,600 for an '04 Hemi with 226,000 miles on it. I'm thinking about a V-12 Pontiac of my own. Stock, these made 300 HP at 5,200 rpm, and 330 ft-lbs TQ at 4,100 rpm. Redline is 6,000 rpm. They were introduced in late '86, and continued through '94. The Identification is M70B50. If you have more coin, these were superceeded by the M73B54, making 325 HP at 5,000 rpm, and 360 ft-lbs TQ at 3,900 rpm. The earlier ones were 8.8:1, so at my elevation, they're begging for mild boost. Anyway, they were mostly used in the 750i and the 8-series.
[This message has been edited by Isolde (edited 11-08-2010).]
According to wikipedia, the Nikasil was only the V8s, NOT the V12s, which used Alumasil. And here's a link to info on the current situation with those old Nikasil blocks : http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E32/Nikasil.htm
Sounds like the Fiero fire issue to me on the nikasil. More hype than substance. Us Moto Guzzi guys have had nikasil cylinders forever, never once since my 1st Guzzi in 1984 have I heard of or met someone with a problem.
Update Back on car again, been a while because of accident and entertaining visiting family all December... I removed intakes and valve covers to be stripped cleaned and painted, should be ready for painting this weekend. Engine looks very clean inside, no visible wear or scoring on the cam lobes, all hardware is tight and in place. I gave my machinist parts to be made, done in a week. I have cut most of the steel for the engine cradle and rear suspension (see earlier post of 3D model) hope to start welding this weekend. I have also ordered more components for the engine, throttle bodies and rebuilt fuel injectors, will be here this weekend. I have all the parts for my hanger bearing to support the axle. I need to assemble my new 12ton hydraulic press to press the bearing onto the axle. I am hoping to get the transmission to the local transmission guru for complete rebuild in the next couple weeks. I want to have the engine back together and mounted into the cradle and wired up so I can test fire it outside the chassis by March-April, if goes well then it will be installed into the chassis. I still need to beef up the chassis more before final assy... Goal for this spring/summer, drivable chassis with body mounted...
Photos coming soon...
[This message has been edited by 88lambo (edited 02-02-2011).]
Love your build! I have done the reverse rotation with a th425 in a fiero, currently drive a BMW 850i with the v12, and currently building a Diablo Roadster..... Maybe we were twins and got seperated at birth...... Keep up the great work!
Always slower than you plan...my 2-3 year plan maybe a 3-5 year plan LOL...I have spent most of the last year on the engine/transmission/cradle design and setup.
I just finished welding up my upper and lower rear suspension arms, they still need to have the welds ground down a bit and then painted or power coated. the upper arms still needs the 5/8" hole drilled in them for the rod end that attaches to the rear spindle...
Bringing the valve covers and intakes to work tomorrow, the intakes will be cleaned in the new large parts washer we just purchased and them painted with the valve covers.
I should have the rest of my machined parts back this week. I hope to have the engine back together next weekend and the transmission out for rebuild the week of the 14th.
[This message has been edited by 88lambo (edited 02-06-2011).]
Nice !!!...is it a decal or are you going to mold it onto the valve covers? No I don't need them, I just had the BMW logo machined off the intakes and i bought 1/16" thick aluminum "Lamborghini" script of ebay, I'm going to epoxy it on and then paint the intakes...
I wish i could post photos, i haven't been able for a week now?????
I would be interested in a set of Lamborghini gauges decals (a couple months ago i picked up a nice set of V12 Jag guages for $25 at a new U-Pull-it yard here in Ottawa) and a set of wheel cap decals 2.44" in diameter
no i plan to have the parts waterjet cut in metal then will silver solder them to the top of the ground off covers....this will then be covered in a textured high temp silver paint( I hope)
Update Back on car again, been a while because of accident and entertaining visiting family all December... I removed intakes and valve covers to be stripped cleaned and painted, should be ready for painting this weekend. Engine looks very clean inside, no visible wear or scoring on the cam lobes, all hardware is tight and in place. I gave my machinist parts to be made, done in a week. I have cut most of the steel for the engine cradle and rear suspension (see earlier post of 3D model) hope to start welding this weekend. I have also ordered more components for the engine, throttle bodies and rebuilt fuel injectors, will be here this weekend. I have all the parts for my hanger bearing to support the axle. I need to assemble my new 12ton hydraulic press to press the bearing onto the axle. I am hoping to get the transmission to the local transmission guru for complete rebuild in the next couple weeks. I want to have the engine back together and mounted into the cradle and wired up so I can test fire it outside the chassis by March-April, if goes well then it will be installed into the chassis. I still need to beef up the chassis more before final assy... Goal for this spring/summer, drivable chassis with body mounted...
Photos coming soon...
Man, I really hope you didn't buy this thing... it's a total piece of crap. I have one from Harbor Freight tools and it's total garbage. It's not really made in such a way that it makes it all that usable, and the sliding bar that the bottle jack sits on is so shakey because the tolerances between the frame and the bar are like an inch all around... it sucks.
I am building a 25th Anniversary Countach replica on an 1988 Fiero Chassis. The Replica i Bought was designed around a Fiero chassis stretched 5" in the passenger compartment, this is good for me since I am 6'-4" tall, it give me more room to lean the seat back. Since the stretch was done in the passenger compartment the engine area is stock size...
Back Ground Information
In October 2008 I picked up a 25th Anniversary Lamborghini Countach replica, and a month later I bought a 1988 Fiero (2.5L 5 Speed) for the base of the kit. The Fiero only had 76000Km on it and I got it really cheap.
a bit off topic but do you want to sell the trailer !!! When I went of inspect the car if was raining really hard and I was very hard to see underneath. I looked in the major rust areas (Canadian car and we put lots of salt on the roads during the winters…) and found a bit of rust but nothing major, so I bought it. I was told the car was stored for 7 years in a barn, and the car looked clean. Over the next few weeks I stripped the Fiero to the bare chassis. This is when I got a bit of a surprise, the front half of the car looked almost new, very little rust, the back rear passenger side had a bit of surface rust and a hole near the battery tray. BUT the rear driver side had a football sized hole in the floor under the seat, the sheet metal around the fuel filler tube area was really rusty and at the back of the wheel well. I figure the car must have sat on a wet spot in the barn for so many years and caused this damage. The hole in the floor didn’t concern me since I was going to cut it out and drop the pan 2” anyway (I’m 6’-4” tall).
Stretching the Chassis
The kit I bought was designed to fit on a Fiero that is stretched in the passenger compartment, which is different than the more common engine compartment stretch. I like this idea, because it is a lot simpler and gives you a lot more passenger room. The only place that you would notice the difference is the rear window is at about a 45° angle rather than vertical. To do my stretch I put the Fiero up on stands, then I made a cart (I used steel casters so there was no roller compression) and slid it under the front suspension frame members. I levelled the car, using jacks supporting the rear half of the car and the cart supporting the front. Next I bought 2” x 2” x 0.10 wall and 1.75” x 1.75” x 0.10” wall square tubing. I made a telescoping tube that over lapped by 4 feet. Since there was only 0.05” play over the 4’ overlap I wasn’t too concerned with alignment. I also drilled 3/8” holes at 5” centers (5” being the length of the stretch) thru the telescoping tube assembly then welded them into the door frames. Next I cut the chassis across just in front of the shifter, then I pulled the front half until the holes in the telescoping tubes lined up and slid a 3/8” steel rod thru. This worked really well, the chassis stayed aligned. I then dropped the body on and tacked in the body support structure. The body is now removed and I will be adding more structure to the chassis then it will be stripped and sand blasted and painted. I have now turned my attention to the engine/transmission...
Engine Choice
Since the 1988 Fiero I bought had a 2.5L engine I had planned to replace it with a 3.8L Supercharged GM Engine to give the Countach kit more performance (having a less than 100Hp motor in a Countach replica isn’t right). I found an engine that was just pulled for a Pontiac GTP that had blown the transmission, I was able to get the engine, harness and ECU at a really god price. I started doing research of how the swap is done and collecting ECU pin out info, and sourcing and pricing for items used in the swap. During my search on the web for Fiero engine swap information I came across a BMW V12 mated to a Audi FWD transaxle swap into a Diablo Replica, this caught my attention because; 1) the engine is all aluminium (almost the same weight as the 3.8L V6) , 2) the engine looks similar to a Lamborghini V12 (in the Diablo) and 3) it’s a V12… and I was surprised to find that these engines were fairly inexpensive and very durable. (you can buy a whole early 90’s BMW 750 V12 for under $2000 strip the engine out and sell the remaining parts and make more than you spent on the car back) The only problem is that the BMW V12 is put into a Diablo Replica which has an 11” stretch in the engine compartment (and even at that it’s a tight fit) and since I did my stretch in the passenger compartment I had a stock Fiero engine compartment. There is NO way I was going to fit a V12 in there…or was there… After a little more research I found some people putting V8 engine longitudinally into stock Fiero chassis using a Cadillac 425THM, 325THM or 325-4L Auto transmission, see Link Below http://www.fieroaddiction.com/SBCLa.html After reading this information I decided to do some more research on the reversed installation method mention at the bottom. This seems more logical way of doing the swap, most of your weight is in front of the axle, your belts and accessories (alternator, starter, AC compressor…) are all facing the rear so you have easier access to them, and the orientation is similar to the real Countach. Before I went out to buy an engine I wanted to make sure that I could make it work, my biggest issue was with this transmission/differential setup the left hand axle has to go under the engine. When the GM V8 engines are used the oil pan is notched to allow the axle to pass under. The problem with the BMW engine is the block is lower the GM block, I knew that I would defiantly have to go thru the oil pan but I wasn’t sure if it would clear the bottom of the engine block. I found some drawing on the web showing the V12 engine, using these drawings I was able to make my own scale using a known dimension and have in access to a 325THM transmission I was able to figure that the axle would just clear the block…with this info I decided to buy a V12 engine and proceed further.
Issues mating the V12 to the 325THM Transmission
Q1) Can the transmission be mated to the V12? A1) Yes, you have to make a spacer from a V12 Bell Housing (so you adapter plate clears the water cooling jacket above the flywheel), make an adapter plate, a spacer and a triangular plate to attach the flywheel to the torque converter.
Q2) will the drive shaft clear the block? A2) Yes, you have to make a adaptor plate/spacer to rotate the differential 180° and space it out to pass under the Main Bolts (or the crank will hit the axle shaft)
Q3) Do you have to modify the engine? A3) Yes, you have to cut some material off on the left side of the block and oil pan to allow the transmission to fit in. you will also have to machine a hole thru the oil pan and weld in a tube to pass the axle thru.
Q4) Do you have to modify the Transmission? A4) Yes, you have to remove a couple of tabs off the differential to allow the short axle to fit the opposite side and to clear the oil pan. You also have to make a coupler to bridge the gap created by the transmission to differential space/adapter.
Q5) What is the weight distribution of this set up A5) I am estimating with the transmission and 50% of the engine in front of the axle that the weight distribution will be a about 80% in front of the axle
82-T/A [At Work] I didn't buy this exact one, i picked mine up at Princess Auto here in Canada, it was on sale for $100 and the thing about Princess Auto all there products have a lifetime warrenty, so if it is a POS then i just bring it back
RULOOKIN is there a reason you copied all this from the start of my post and stuck it here
[This message has been edited by 88lambo (edited 02-08-2011).]
I'm a cat guy. Have three right now, two males grey striped like yours, and one smaller female that is tortoise shell colored, but I have a hard time getting any of them to help. They do keep the mice in check though. I did have one a few years ago though, that would actually sit and watch me work. Garage noises did not seem to bother him at all, and I know he could hear. Cats.............. can drive you crazy sometimes, but keep you sane others.
two brothers, we had two cats die with in 3 months of each other one 19 years old the other 18.5 i said to my wife no pets for a bit, that lasted 4 days then we got these two...very entertaining my 4 year old daughter loves them. the big guy gets up with her in the morning and followers her every where...
[This message has been edited by 88lambo (edited 02-10-2011).]
Engine back together. Valve covers on, Intakes on, Distributor cap blanking plates on, new Injectors installed...Waiting for 2 MAP and TPS sensors, I decided to replace all sensors in to ensure everthing is working evenly I have disassembled the Throttle bodies, bringing to work for a cleaning in our new parts washer (looks like a dishwasher on steroids it uses high pressure hot water and a industrial baking soda to blast dirt off) ... Next make GM throttle body to BMW intake adapters, continue on engine cradle.
Engine back together. Valve covers on, Intakes on, Distributor cap blanking plates on, new Injectors installed...Waiting for 2 MAP and TPS sensors, I decided to replace all sensors in to ensure everthing is working evenly I have disassembled the Throttle bodies, bringing to work for a cleaning in our new parts washer (looks like a dishwasher on steroids it uses high pressure hot water and a industrial baking soda to blast dirt off) ... Next make GM throttle body to BMW intake adapters, continue on engine cradle.
Looks absolutely AMAZING, cant wait to see this thing running!
Just got back my Throttle Body Adapter/Spacers...I designed a machined part, I was going to make them with a two laser cut plates and a piece of tube between them, then I saw a photo of someone that made one like that and it just didn't look nice...I fugure you might as well pay a bit extra to make it look good. The Throttle Bodies and Adapter/Spacers are just sitting on pins right now, my hardware comes on Tuesday...
I designed a set to have the throttle pully on top but I decided to have my linkage run beside the intakes so it doesn't take away the look of the engine or cause any clearance problems with the engine cover.
In the first photo you can see my new axle assemble and axle to halfshaft adapter. Its also complete now...
A few more parts made, laser cut at work...Exhaust Manifold plates for custom headers and Adapter Plate for BMW flywheel to GM torque converter made from 1/8"chrome-moly plate (BWM has a 2 piece flywheel consisting of round flywheel w/ring gear and triangular piece to attach to the torque converter see illustration below this make very simple for making a adater plate for Auto Transmissions )
Exhaust Manifold plates & Adapter Plate for BMW flywheel to GM torque converter
Theres a place here in the States in CA called Strange Engineering's their Phone number is 1-847-663-1701 www.strangeengineering.net And also Moser engineering 1-260-726-6689 www.moserengineering.com/axles either one can custom build you any axle application that you could need.
I already had an axle custom made by Dutchman (see page 3), and I had one halfshaft made by Street Dreams http://www.streetdreamsbyross.com and they will be making the other halfshaft when I figure out the length I need.
Picking away at the Engine Cradle, Bottom section done, Photos are a few days old, suspension attachment points tacked on and will fully welded once other components are tacked on and engine/transmission removed...
Model of Cradle
Cradle
Left Front Mount (Transmission)
Left Rear Mount (Engine)
Right Front Mount (Transmission)
I have been also working on a Exhaust Manifold Design, I wanted to make a equal length header (bundle of snakes) but space is going to be limited so this I what I came up with...
Every time i look at this thread i drool alittle you are doing great work and I love the 25th it is by far my favorite replica and hopefully my replica one day. and the fabrication is just astonishing you have skill my friend! Josh
this is coming along nicely, I've actually been working on mine a little as well. Mine is going to be rat rod compared to yours, oh well.... I like the chromed headers, but then it's not my car
Took the rear spindles for the old cradle one came off with no big issue, the other one the nut came off the the bolt is rusted into the spindle time to get torch out and heat it to break the rust unless someone has a better idea to get it out? I was using my new electric torque wrench from Canadian Tire (On sale now for $45 - 70% off!! for you Canadian people) This this is a great tool, my air torque wrench couldn't take wheel nuts off but this thing took off a 30mm (1.19inch) nut off the axle and the car had been sitting for 8 years... http://www.canadiantire.ca/...&bmUID=1300240772962
Photo shopped headers on engine...
[This message has been edited by 88lambo (edited 03-15-2011).]
Took the rear spindles for the old cradle one came off with no big issue, the other one the nut came off the the bolt is rusted into the spindle time to get torch out and heat it to break the rust unless someone has a better idea to get it out?
You mean the bolts that hold the knuckle to the strut? I've broken 1/2 drive breaker bars trying to get those out. Remove the nut. Apply lots of penetrating oil, try to beat it out with a hammer at the same time you're trying to turn it.
[This message has been edited by Will (edited 03-16-2011).]
You swap is pretty cool and interesting to read! Keep up the good work.
For the rear upright bolts, I use my 3/4" impact on the bolt and hand held sledge hammer on the other side... even then sometimes it takes 15 minutes of beating the daylights out of it. Once it is out, coat the bolt with anti-seize so you don't have to do it again.
...is it a decal or are you going to mold it onto the valve covers?
