looking good mate. why didnt you get an Au gasket like everyone else?

AU gaskets have 3 head styles and i didnt know what one mine was

BBM is painted black. looks horn. ill post pics tomorrow as im out to a party in a few minutes and its only had one coat. looks very neat tho

UPDATE: painted the BBM, throttle body AND fuel rail today. origionally i was painting the BBM glass black which looked like sex, but unfortunately i picked up flat black the other day and was half way through the first coat till i noticed (takes a bit to dry) but now i feel the flat black looks stealthy and hot !!!.

before i painted these i cleaned them in a solution of water + degreaser + Varex (blue cleaning liquid. lifts overspray off really good)

i sat the throttle body in the solution for around 20-30 minutes before rubbing it clean so the solution soaked in really well.







next up i dipped it in clean rain water (water restrictions call for desperate measures) and then zip tied the throttle half open to cover more area (note i removes all electrical components off the throttle body before i submerged it )




then painted






the fuel rail





the manifold in GLOSS





then the accidental flat black






then i placed the dried painted bits togather to give a rough look of how it will be when installed






also today i fixed the issue with the RPM switch and boxed it up ready to go. here is how it will look in the car (under dash)





today i picked up an EL computer from ebay for 20 bucks, so if the RPM switch got stuffed during the making (apparently the resistors need to be a certain way yet the pics hide a few of the resistors so i had to guess a few parts.) i email'd the guy from ebay as he said he had an EL motor he was trying to sell off so if i can get this motor i will be dropping ti straight in, then installing the aftermarket cam to the EL motor.

thats about it for now. ill update it in a few days when i know if ill be using the 3.9 block OR the EL 4.0 block and head.

jesus christ, u went nuts on the camera but it all looks awesome, all those pics want to make me get an ED and do it up, if only I had a big backyard!!

you painted the butterfly?!

yeah i did. it still moves 100% freely. i was a bit iffy about painting it but i accidently painted a bit inside to i thorght why the hell not and done it all.

hey huggie bear.

how long untill you get it up and running .. ive been thinking about the bbm conversion and i get mixed answers about if it would work well or not..
im kind of waiting for you to do yours to see how well the rpm switch works with the eb ecu???

well the head gasket is the issue. as i dont have an engine crane or concrete to work on the car with apart from the carport which im banned from i have to repair the head gasket while the motor is in the car THEN once its back togather we will remove the motor and box with my dads crane truck, change the gearbox and manifold over then drop it back in hopefully all in the same day. if i can get this head gasket done this week it will hopefully be happening on the weekend.

however if i end up getting this EL motor it will be about 2 weeks away. have a look at my thread on the shift light converted to BBM/RPM switch. it will solve ALL issues i think and saves you buying the stupid jaycar kit (gave me too many headaches)

Yea cool
ill check it out..
the only reason i havnt done the bbm conversion yet is that people tell me that it might ping because the fuel maps are different and unless i use a el ucu i wont notice any difference in performance...
so im still confussed about what to do??

ill keep watching your topic and see how you go with it all...

from the motor conversion thread going on in here somewhere, it states it ONLY pings when it switches to the short path (butterfly's open. if this is true then you simply set the RPM higher on the switch so if it still pings it will be at HIGH rpm only. and then by then hopefully the exhaust drowns it out

what sorta paint and colour did u paint the rail and the throttle body with?

its the engine enamel from supercheap. the BBM is painted in flat black, and the fuel rain is done in the silver

ive read the same thing so i was thinking if it pings on the short runners just have it set on the long runners but no one can confirm how it will perform on the long runners alone...
or i guess i can change the base timing but it might just go like a dog..

but i dont know if the log manifold is short or long compared to the bbm??

id say inbetween or towards the long when comparing the length of the pipes, so i dont know

time for an update.

today i removed the manifold from the EA motor, i also removed most of the hoses that needed removing. i also dummy fitted the BBM just to see how it looks.

here are some pics





in this pic you can see why i want to replace the gearbox... there is NO top OR bottom stock plate which is why i lost the 3 torque converter bolts a few months back.


here is the dunnmy fitted BBM.





i have to replace an engine mount for my girlfriend tomorrow so i might only be able to get more painting done, but its coming along nicely