Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 73/126)
fieroguru JUN 19, 07:05 PM

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Originally posted by Bloozberry:

Bubbajoe... did you forget something in your last post? All I see is my second to last post quoted back without any other comments... strange.



I think he added this comment within the quoted section

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nice job on the removing of the towers will be easy to fill with the cuts you made

Bloozberry JUN 19, 07:48 PM
Thanks Fieroguru, now I see it.
Bloozberry JUN 19, 09:09 PM
I got the engine/cradle assembly back under the car and started lowering it down to find just exactly where the trunk wall interference was going to be. I stopped lowering when the car was still about 6 inches too high to mate with the cradle when I took the photo below. I took it through the hole where the driver's side strut tower used to be, looking inwards towards the passenger side of the engine bay:



You'll have to use your imagination to see that the lower portion of the timing gear bump on the far side of the valve cover would contact the step in the trunk wall before the car was fully lowered onto the cradle. The other thing I noticed is that the stock Caddy rear exhaust header would also hit the trunk wall before the cradle was fully in place. I had always assumed I would be able to make the stock exhaust system work until now... clearly with the height and angle of the collector there would be no room to snake an exhaust system in the space that's still available:



Not wanting to remove any more of the trunk wall than necessary at this stage, I started with a cut to provide the needed clearance for the timing gear bubble:



That allowed me to better judge how much more of the trunk wall needed to be removed to clear the rest of the valve cover, allowing for engine movement under load. So I measured and marked it up, then covered my engine with remnants of an old Evolution 3 car cover to protect it from the hot bitties flying off my cut-off wheel (note to self: Evolution 3 car covers are NOT hot-bitty-resistant.)



With the piece removed, the need for the cut-out becomes a bit more obvious.



Crossing my fingers, I started lowering the car further, only to notice one more problem area... and though it looks little, it's a biggie. Here's my drawing from earlier showing where the new interference area is (red arrows).



I'm still mulling over how I going to solve this one since it appears I either need to move the engine further forward on the cradle, or further to the left, or more likely a combination of the two. Either way it's yet another problem arising from not having drawn out the passenger side earlier on.
Bloozberry JUN 21, 10:31 PM
Today I spent some time trying to figure out how to get myself out of my current jam: I can't install the cradle into the car because the engine interferes with the lower passenger side frame rail. To figure out by how much I needed to shift the engine on the cradle I first rolled the cradle around focussing on getting the engine/trans sitting exactly where I wanted it in the engine bay, without any regard for where the cradle was with respect to the frame mounts. Once I found the sweet spot, I would be able to measure how far off the cradle mounts were from lining up with the frame mounts. Those measurements would then indicate by how much the engine needed to shift on the cradle.

To get the needed clearance I rolled the cradle forward and to the left until I ended up with what I thought would be the minimum clearance needed. The further forward I moved the engine, the greater clearance width-wise I had given that the lower frame rails diverge towards the front of the car. The trade off though is that the further forward I push the engine, the more my axles would need to angle backwards. I settled on moving the engine 25 mm further forward, and 20 mm further to the left within the engine bay. Here's the top view showing how close the valve cover comes to the lower frame rail with the engine placed where I wanted it:



Bear in mind that the engine sits much higher up so once the valve cover get's past the lower frame rail, there's an additional 5 mm or so between the rail and the engine block. At the transmission end of things, there isn't much more room between the end of the transmission housing and the driver's side lower frame rail:



I discovered that just saying I'm going to move the engine further forward and to the left on the cradle doesn't mean there's actually room on the cradle to do so. After I had the cradle back out I realized that I only just barely had enough room to do what I wanted. Moving the engine forward 25 mm means that the forward cradle cross member will need to be notched slightly to make room for the oil filter. I'll need to leave some room to allow for engine to rock under load:



And then I discovered that shifting the engine/trans to the left on the cradle by 20 mm wasn't going to be without complications either:



Here's the same area from another angle:



As you can see, there's only 19 mm between the cradle side rail and the unused mounting boss on the transmission end. Luckily, that boss can be shaved down without any impact. I think that will solve the final fitment issues... then I'll have to update my drawings

This is going to be my last post for a week or so as I head out West to pick up some pieces that will hopefully represent a major development in both my and Yarmouth Fiero's projects... all made possible through the generosity of a selfless British Columbian Fiero-nut who has a heart of gold. More when I return!

Yarmouth Fiero JUL 03, 09:42 PM
Hey Blooz. Any updates?
johnyrottin JUL 11, 03:21 PM
Just out of curiosity, why no a remote oil filter? Might solve some of the spacing issues and you can place it where you don't even have to lean over to pull and replace it!
Will JUL 12, 04:08 PM
I'm coming in late..
How did you arrive at your fore/aft engine position?

There's enough room between the firewall and the trunk wall for the engine to fit without cutting into either one...
Bloozberry JUL 12, 07:06 PM
I'll post a few pictures of Yarmouth Fiero's and my latest acquisition shortly, but to answer a few quick questions:

Johnyrottin: I could use a remote filter I suppose, but I was looking at staying cheap if possible.

Will: Other than moving it back 3" due to the frame stretch, I kept the axle center line in the same relative location as stock. Then I placed the F40 where necessary to meet up with the axle line, then I attached the engine to the transmission.

I believe two things contribute to my engine being further back in relation to the trunk wall than your installation:

a. you're using a Getrag if I'm not mistaken, and I believe the F40 may not have the same relative distance between the input and the output shaft which changes the location of the engine relative to the axle and therefore in the engine bay; and

b. I'm using CHRFAB's double bump valve covers which are wider than the stock Caddy covers.

Regardless, now that I have to move my engine a further 25 mm forward on the cradle to account for other clearance issues, I may not have a problem with the rear trunk wall after all. No biggie.
BlackEmrald JUL 14, 01:40 AM
Hey Blooze, quick question.

It may sound silly or uneducated, but just why are you running in to so many fitment issues? I know there are several N* installed in Fieros, so I'm just wondering what you are doing ao differently to cause these issues. Is it your custom cradle and suspension set up that is the root of the issues?
Bloozberry JUL 14, 07:50 AM
It's not the suspension, it's the fact that I'm using:

a. an '88 Fiero (with the narrower distance between the tops of the strut towers than the earlier cars);

b. I'm using the wider aftermarket CHRFAB "double bump" valve covers. (The only other person that's used these covers on an '88 N* combination had to chop off part of the valve cover whereas I chose to cut off the towers instead since I don't need them);

c. I've raised the cradle by one inch thereby raising the engine relative to the rest of the car; and

d. I believe I'm the only person to mate an F40 to a Northstar in any Fiero, and if not, then I'm likely the first to install the combination into an '88 chassis. Either way, that forces me to locate the engine/trans in the engine bay differently than those before me.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 07-14-2013).]