My '72 two door 510

[JPE16]

Why do you say that? Besides the obvious "it's a honda and burns oil, and makes no torque." crapola. 

[Cpl620]

lb for lb i think its the best engine made, right? a small 2L engine putting out 200hp? not a bad choice, plus the aftermarket is pretty large for anything honda.

[JPE16]

Having it on the floor beside a KA, SR, and K24 was interesting. My reasoning for ditching the NIssan motors was: It's a tiny motor, and weighs in at a fraction of any of the others (before you add turbo ancillaries no less). It makes a fair amount of power stock, with great midrange (well suited to our local road courses I'll be competing on). It can make alot more power, very easily. Parts are cheap and plentiful. 

 

Packaging wise in the 510, it's a nightmare and a dream at the same time. It shouldn't be a major pain to get in the car though. I may build a jig while I'm at it and produce a bare bones kit. Who knows. 

 

At any rate, I took alot of time to decide on a drivetrain. In the end, weight, power, and reliability were my main concerns, and the F20 knocked the ball out of the park in all those three categories. But yes....it's not a Nissan motor. 

[JPE16]

lb for lb i think its the best engine made, right? a small 2L engine putting out 200hp? not a bad choice, plus the aftermarket is pretty large for anything honda.

240BHP stock actually. Reasonably easy to get near that in torque with carefully chosen parts and a good tune too. 

[jrock4224]

 

 

 

 

We installed AVO control arm bushings, Whiteline sway bars, and did a brake service. All just in time for winter. 

 

 

 

first thing... I think I shit talked a few pages ago but I love the look and direction of the 510......hate the yellow but see what your doing and like it ....... a lot ...... i loved the ka so it will be tough to sway me ......but u already did when u posted that fucking gem^^^^^^^^^^^^sexy wagon

[JPE16]

Haha, thanks man. the car WILL NOT be staying yellow. I'm pretty set on gloss black. 

[Cpl620]

=( at least its gloss. black makes it harder to apricate all the body lines, and that body work you have is pretty sweet.

[Icehouse]

I love the engine choice!  A buddy just picked up the same setup, he wanted to know if I would wire it if he got it installed.  I said he should send the engine my way instead.  haha  You should post details of all the little problems installing it.  There was one local guy who installed one.  Crappy install and the kid was annoying as F***K.  So I didn't get to lean anything cool.  So now it's up to you.  

[Ranman72]

well if icehouse likes it I guess I will like it too  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:  :fu:

it is a solid engine and great support 

Its just not nissan  :devil:  :devil:  :devil:

[JPE16]

I was honestly in the same boat. I couldn't get over the fact the motor wasn't Nissan built. But after a lot of research, it was hard not to go with it. 

 

I got the steel bent for the cross member, so ideally that will start to take shape this weekend. It's going to be very tight with the bell housing clearance. I know I'll have cut the tranny tunnel to accommodate the shift rod, but I'm hoping to avoid making any major cuts in the engine bay. 

 

At any rate, I was thinking of making a jig for the cross members if anyone needs one in the future, and my wiring guy has everything laid out for future use, so if anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them about the swap. 

 

I stopped by his place to look at my oh, so pretty Deatsch Works connectors:

 

My ecu board is done enough for me to find it a reasonable home in the car:

 

 

 

We're just waiting on the raychem for the engine harness, and it will be all done. 

[JPE16]

So, as a result of the engine change, I'm going to have to build a custom cross member, and the first step of that is to cut apart the old one. So within hours of my last exam, I had the cross member cut apart and ready to have the ends plated, go back in the car, and get squared up to start building the new member.

 

 

 

 

I didn't snap any pictures, but I did get the plates on the ends of the cross member ends. I also removed the engine mounts. The motor will be sitting further back, and at a different angle, so my plan is to use the stock s2000 mounts and build a lower part onto the cross member to accommodate a bushing/isolator of some sort. I also Tig'd together the plates, and noticed I'm getting quite a bit of porosity. I'm going to take them into work tomorrow and blast them and hot it's just dirty metal, as it's fine in some spots, and terrible in others; but any input is welcome. 

 

I also realized I hadn't posted any pictures of the new shop. I love this place! We have a great group of guys, six amazing projects, lots of skill, and a great selection of tools. 

plus puppies. Sorry to gush, but I'm so pumped to build so many things. Having a hoist, tube bender, chassis table, and the people, skills, and other tools to build pretty well anything has me quite excited!

 

At any rate, here's a couple pictures of why I love this place. 

 

 

 

I also got the aluminum bosses in from the machine shop to weld onto my core so I can put my aluminum top mount on the legacy.

 

[JPE16]

 

 

Lets see if I can make sense of what I have done over the past few weeks. Unfortunately life happened over the break and I didn't get to spend nearly as much time on the car, however I now have more room to sleep, and less time I'm required to be at home. 

 

I had the engine in and out a few times. I have been looking at other swaps, and I don't really see any I'm in love with. i don't really like how alot of them solved some of the problems. So, I took some time to think and come up with some solutions. On the top of my list was not hacking up the firewall and transmission tunnel. Secondly was to leave room to add a rack down the road. 

 

So after much consideration, I decided the best way to keep the engine forward (to allow me to access things on the firewall, and leave room for the largest part of the bell housing, making it easier to work on) and as low as possible. To do this I would need to either a) make a new drag link (or bend the existing one, although adding that much heat to a 40 y/o cast part doesn't strike me as smart) b) switch rack and pinion immediately or c) make a new oil pan.

 

After some investigation, it turns out the rear portion of the pan that's in the way doesn't hold any oil. So, that made my decision rather easy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Next job was to make up a new crossmember. I had started on this before the last step, and it looks ugly now, but the ultimate goal is to make it look like one piece. 

 

 

It also allows me to mount a rack on it down the road. 

 

So, I sent the pan out to have the offending casting machined off, got it back, and welded some plates on to give it back SOME structural rigidity. I test fit it, and it worked a treat. i could now position the engine exactly where I wanted it, retain the factory drag link, keep the tranny tunnel massaging to a minimum, and have room to work on the back of the motor. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures, but my dialing in of the tig welder on aluminum hardly went smoothly, so perhaps it for the best no one see those. However I did get it close enough to stick two pop cans together. A few tacks was the best I could manage after a few minutes practice

 

 

Having the pan off, i also had a look at the bottom end. I think I believe this guy now about the whole 8000km thing

 

 

Jumping ahead slightly, after a ton of measuring, and positioning, and measuring, I popped the motor back out and began fabbing mounts. 200 points to whoever guesses with the rubber isolators are made of.

 

Bolts welded to the back of the plates

 

Bolt, plate, and isolator in their home

 

 

 

Side plates added, and buzzed onto the crossmember

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will likely put the inside plates on, tig it all up, and get it ready for final instal. 

 

So, over the break I got a bunch of other things done, not all of them productive. I spent some time practicing my tig welds (naturally on someone else's car) and welded some struts up for my friend James who's building a heck of a 280z!

 

 

 

Tig welding is all practice, so I stuck together a new holder for cellphones at the door (the only place we get reception)

 

 

Got my seats all mounted and ready to go in

 

 

and popped by my parents place to use their, rem, parts washer

 

 

 

Also got a pretty sweet christmas present from my dad

 

 

 

And lastly, I hit up the motorcycle show with some friends and picked up all the gear I need to ride my other new toy

 

 

 

Anyway, I'm sure there's things I'm forgetting. At any rate, for those who've been following the build, I should have more updates to come, and look forward to any input. 

 

Thanks for reading guys!

[jrock4224]

reminds me of working at my buddys shop ... the cell phone stays in the window inthe far corner ... the only decent phone reception in the whole building ...

 

nice bike

 

 

EDIT;  oh and in the first pic on this page ... i will take that whole wall of suspension tabs.....

[The Taterhead]

Coming along nicely. I enjoy your updates. The only thing I can pick apart in your thread is that you left a "L" off of the word install.

[JPE16]

Hahaha, If that's the only thing wrong with the build, then I accept that! I'll try to be more careful in the future though. 

 

The isolator is a piece of a roller from a boat trailer. 

 

I finally got around to replacing the sheet metal screws that were holding the brake lines on with nut-serts

 

 

 

 

Next up, was something else rather exciting. I buttoned up the engine mounts, put the cross member in, and then stuck the motor in. Turns out I can measure, and stick metal together. Crank was dead nuts centered, and the motor was straight and exactly where I wanted it. I was pretty happy after it was all tightened down. 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, Ryan from Ryan Maxwell Racing came by and finished up the wiring on the trunk

 

 

And he also finished the center console:

 

 

 

 

And then he stuck it all together, and turned the key, annnnnnndddd....

 

 

 

 

We have electricity! From the light on the ecu and fuse box to the tail lights, everything fired right up and worked. I tell you it was a majorly uplifting feeling to see that car sitting there with the motor in and the hazards flashing away. 

 

And this is all after we had a major party to celebrate my cousin heading to Sochi to represent Canada on the women's Snowboard team, competing in slope style! Everyone send good vibes Jenna Blasman's way!

 

[Bradinnes]

That's a very Bond style center panel.....touche! I will be rooting for Jenna. Go for the gold!!!

[JPE16]

Small update:

 

So We had the engine in and out, and in and out, and it's looking like the tranny tunnel needs to be remade to accommodate the S2000 six speed. So I did a little cutting, and bam, it fits. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm hoping to build the new tunnel tonight.

 

Some other less significant things happened:

The walbro found its way into the tank:

 

 

I made my lexan rear quarter windows:

 

 

 

and my dash face finally showed up from laser cutting:

 

 

The body work is coming along as well, but who wants to look at pictures of sanding.

[JPE16]

This car hasn't been forgotten about!

 

It went away for some things and came back a running, turning, stopping, moving car...on the back of our resident bad-ass car-hauler of course:

 

It's also no longer yellow:

 

And way more complete:

 

I will update accordingly with the full story and way more pics when I have time

[JPE16]

So, some things have happened since I last updated this.

 

I drove the car the other night, and to my delight, found very few issues that need addressing (besides working on my driving...). I'll just go through and let the pictures and captions do the talking. 

 

Oscar primed the car:

 

 

 

 

I then finished up the underside, including the exhaust:

 

 

 

 

Next, I finished up the heat shield, made a coil pack cover, and finished up some odds and ends in the engine bay:

 

 

 

 

H at Spec-Auto sourced a second set of wheels for me on short notice:

 

 

Finished up the trunk:

 

 

The gauges went in their home and got wired up

 

 

The front of the car got assembled:

 

 

Brake and clutch set up:

 

 

And finally, off to paint:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now!

[r0p0doe]

You could of at least gave us a video for making us wait so long for an update :mad: lol jk man, great progress

[RandyWanger]

Just got sent this link by James. Enjoyed reading the build, looks stunning. Love what you've done. Got anymore updates?

[JPE16]

Indeed I do

 

SO, we took the car out to to TMP for a shakedown run on sunday, and I couldn't be happier. The car did nine sessions, and only encountered a couple small issues, with no mechanical failures. IT just wanted more. It definitely requires ALOT of work still to make it work well. Because of how poorly it was handling under braking, cornering, and accel we only times one session, and the fastest lap from that session was a 1:26.3 

 

At any rate, my parents surprised me at the track, and I took both my mom and dad out for a few laps. It was pretty surreal to be bombing around tmp in the car with them on board. It was a great day, I'm still on a high, and can't wait to go back on Friday and start to get the car dialled in. 

 

Anyway, Papa Ellis snapped a few photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will get some video friday if i remember. 

[r0p0doe]

I will get some video friday if i remember. 

You better :mad:

[Josh K.]

Great job. Must feel good to finally enjoy the car :)

[JPE16]

Mooner took some pics of the car before we loaded it up on Friday....right before the diff exploded.