91 405Mi16x4 Rear wheel drive conversion north south engine

9 minute(s) of a 241 minute read

Today started by planting the engine mounts, i had this engine mount that is use for hanging from the frame, but is is too big, the frame is very thin and it has a bend where i need to bolt it, so will not work, after that pulled the engine out for the 38 time now, and cut back the subframe for the rack to fit, wanted to make mounts for it, but i don't have a piece of steel to weld the subframe, and make the steering rack mounts, so i moved to making the steering linkage, and after that cut back the fire wall and floor to make more room for the distributor, tomorrow i need to go to the steel yard to get some more steel and buy couple more cutting discs, more to come.

Thank you Andre, you are all welcome, i enjoy communicating with everyone and helping every way i can, i apologise for my grammatics in my posts, my english is self taught. As for the clearance issues are because i've rotate the engine, and the gearbox is massive and it has no provision for a steering rack, the car is from, uses a steering box in front of the engine, i'm very persistent and i will make it work as it should, you may notice every solution is based on making it myself, that is because is the cheapest way, the salary in my country are very low, so i'm sourcing parts as cheap as possible to be able to make it happen.

6-7-2016

I've been busy with everyday life but i'm using every spare minute working on the car, today i went to the steel yard and got some flat stock and angle iron, is should be enough to weld a subframe and make a rock gard after i mount the steering rack i need to check if there's enough space for the engine to go in and out i also got this heavy duty crossmember is zinc coated and i plan to use it unmodified i prefer overbuild then underbuild, the pieces may be thicker than necessary, i started on paper template, but got a call and have to stop, also got a thick piece of steel of which i plan to make my custom tie rod ends, little worry for the weight, that piece is 18kg and it neads a lot of machining, more to come.

6-9-2016

Today i spend a full day in the garage, first i repair my mig welder to start welding on this project, started by cutting and tack weld the first piece, the second piece need a notch to clear the steering rack lines, then i tack weld it too, then i add one more piece around the rack, after that i removed the A/C radiator, is much bigger than i thought, now i need to close the box with a piece of plastic so it will work i desperately want to keep the heater, it will be tight under the dashboard.

In the evening i was back working on the car, put the engine back in the engine bay and started test fitting the inlet manifold and the battery box, it clears the steering rack and it clears the distributer cap, then the piece of pipe i've order last time i was in the steel yard arrived and i didn't wanted no time cutting it and fitting it is perfect it will box in the front end, i also plan to bolt the cromeber to stiffen the front and have it removable will be out of the way when engine is in and out, then went under the car and install the rear part of the driveshaft, by the look and after measuring the angle i will have to run cv joints, i'm thinking a front axle if i can found strong enough

Can someone see something wrong with the allen bolts on the outside?

6-10-2016

Today i started working on the shifter mechanism, i didn't wanted to use the plastic and stamp steel shifter, so i decided to use a heim joint, the only size i could found was 10mm, so i bought 10mm C45 steel rod and started making the firs part, cut a standard sifter rod, removed the bushing, then drilled it to 10mm half way and drilled two holes on the bottom and ground the shaft to fit, than welded and ground flat, that part is done i just need to cut it to size when i mount it, after that i went to the car dismantlers, got two vw axles, they use lobro joint which i plan to use to connect the gearbox to the driveshaft, one of the lobro joints lines up with the driveshaft flange, but only 3 bolts will be a weak point, i need to make some adapter, the axle shaft itself is 28mm and shud be strong enough also got those tie rod ends, they should work with my idea on the custom setup i need to run, more to come.

6-12-2016

I've been busy with everyday stuff, i found little time to disassemble and clean the lobro joints, and what i found i'm amazed, how bad one of them is, absolutely destroyed, saying that i have to buy one more, and knowing that i have to do a lot of metal work on the body shell, on the tunnel, so i thought i need to buy couple of tools, i hate the cheap china tools, and quality tools are extremely expensive, i like the older made in germany tools, and when i see those body work dolly and hole punch i bought them, they will come in handy when making the new tunnel, more to come.