The T in my head, thoughts?

Hey Guys, I've been building this T in my head for a little while. Wanted to get it down on paper..err, text. What do you guys think; advice, ideas, criticism welcome.

Bobbed, Z frame. Polished Jaguar rear end/diff. Non-channeled '27 body, cowl steering, duvall winshield, Sectioned '33/'34 ford grill sitting behind a polished & drilled drop axle. Oversized '31 Chevy headlights.

Manual trans (more on the drivetrain later, once I get my post count high enough I plan a build thread with pics), Clutch master and Brake master both frame mount.

Super fat rear & super skinny front tires.

Although I do love the long profile of the turtle deck rear, I decided on bobbed rear to showcase that jag rear end. Although not my first choice, but a turtle deck would cover alot of the rear end mechanicals.

The drivetrain is unusual for a T, I'm about 90% done with the engine build. But for now lets say it's modern, supercharged, EFI & nitrous.

 

Sounds like a cool hot rod, Mykk! I assume the '27 body is for the extra room - you might also consider one of the extended '23 bodies offered by some of our sponsors.

 

Not a fan of cowl steering....

 

Reason?

 

Mykk, cool sounding project for sure. I have a 27 body that I plan to use on my next project, too. I really like the look of those.

I also plan on using a cowl steering setup. I learned a lot from the below thread over on the H.A.M.B. A lot of commonly held opinions about how to properly set up cowl steering were revealed as incorrect in this thread. There is certainly a way to do it right, and I plan on following the guidelines outlined in this thread. It's a long read but worth it if you are considering cowl steering. Hope this helps.

Hot Rods - Cowl Steering . . . just stop !

Brad

 

Thanks for the link, I'll study that thread when I get a down minute.

 

I think I'm finally able to share the pics of the engine I've been putting together. I fully respect that late model engines in a T aren't for everybody. I want you to know that I fully appreciate and have built my fair share of carb'd SBC's. I just wanted to do something different.

The late 90's BMW 4.4L V8:



Show with RaceWare head studs.



Cylinder heads back from rebuild: Early 90's BMW 4.0L heads and cams.





The early 4.0L heads have slightly larger valves & cams compared to the 4.4L heads.





The double timing chain, idler gear and guides are also from early 90's 4.0L where as the 4.4L had a single chain and a plastic U-guide that always shattered.

Pictured above with the intake adapters to bolt down the Eaton M112 belt driven intake manifold from a late 90's Jaguar.



Degree'ing the cams:









Modifying the bits that weren't made to work together:









Converted the single filter canister over to dual spin on filters:



Still working on flange adapters to bolt down those exhaust manifolds.









Engine specs (In SAE):

3.62" bore x 3.26" stroke w/ 5.63" rod
Pistons sit +.025" above deck, have roughly 4cc dish.
Measured 52cc combustion chambers, 1.38" intake valves (2) and 1.2" exhaust valves (2). The only readily available MLS headgasket I could find for application came in @ .069" compressed thickness.

Static compression comes in at roughly 9.6:1

Using BMW cam timing blocks the cams landed at 108° ICL & 108° LSA with 211° I / 206° E durations @ 1mm. I've re-set the cam timings to be 110° ICL & 112° LSA reading 206° & 200° durations @ .050"

With the adjusted cam timing, at my elevation of 5400ft the naturally aspirated dynamic compression comes in around 7.94:1

I'm aiming for 8psi-10psi of boost, utilizing the Jaguar water-air intercoolers.

The nitrous is currently plumbed for a wet shot, but will be converted over to a 2 stage dry shot soon. Extra fueling will be handled by the EFI and larger injectors. More on the EFI in a bit. The idea for the Nitrous was to get intake air temps down for short blasts...plus increase the conversation value a bit.

I intend to mate the BMW V8 to it's native 6spd manual transmission for the T project.

I've tried to keep the budget down as much as possible by using EBay, craigslist, dismantlers, 2nd & used parts. Even then it's nickle and diming me to death...and I haven't even started the car build.

BMW 4.4L short block: $250
Complete BMW 4.0L engine to donate heads, cams & timing set up: $400
Cylinder head rebuild for the pair: $500
Jaguar Eaton M112 supercharger, intercoolers, inlet and outlet ducts & intake manifolds: $380
MLS head gaskets: $84
Jaguar to BMW adapters: $1200
BMW S65 exhaust manifolds: $200
Nitrous oxide kit: $255
Belt: $40
...misc hardware, dress up bolts, paint, hoses & fittings: $300ish

I've got about double in it from where I originally set my budget goals.

 

By my figuring, Mykk, you're at about what a crate Chevy V-8 would cost. Beautiful engine and should fry the tires off anything you put it in. My only concern: when you're cruising with us across the heartlands in Podunk, USA, or your dream cruise up the coast highway, what will you do for spares when the inevitable breakdown(s) occur?

 

While researching EFI controllers there was one that peaked my interest, it's an opensource D.I.Y. EFI board that uses an Arduino Mega2560 controller. The sysem is called Speeduino. The immediate attraction was the cost, the board is less then a couple of hundred dollars in a world of aftermarket standalone EFI systems ranging in the $500-$1500 range. Genuine Arduino's are roughly $50 and any extra bits of hardware are in the $40-$60 range (ignition modules, wiring, connectors, project boxes) Making Speeduino a sub $300 aftermarket standalone EFI solution that is heavily dependent on the end user knowing the in's & out's of fuel injection, sensors, tuning and wiring.



I ordered up the components to give it a try in my already running car that has a similar V8 design as the engine I've built:



Speeduino has 4 injector driver channels out and 4 ignition logic (5v) outputs. Meaning it can fire a V8 in waste spark and semi-batch fire by pairing up the cylinders that are 360° apart

In the case of this BMW v8 it's cylinders, 1 & 6, 2 & 8, 3 & 5, 4 & 7.

On the engine I opt'd to convert from coil on plug to running a full MSD waste spark ignition, using a DIS-4 ign box, two 4 cylinder coils and a set of made MSD wires.



On the supercharged BMW engine I think I'll keep the coil on plug to clean things up and keep wiring & clutter down

Grafting the speeduino to the engine wiring harness:





Then the tuning side, to let the EFI know of the engine parameters and triggering.





...I've been running the system for several months, dialing in the tune, experimenting and changing things about. I wouldn't hesitate to run the system on the supercharged BMW v8 in a T project.

 

Completely valid: I'll cross that bridge when I get there and hope there are plenty of 90's BMW 540's & 740's in junkyards across the land.

 

Wow, that is two beautiful projects !!! Very impressive !!!

The last 2 pics of the Speeduino ....... did you hide all those wires in the 2nd of the two pics??? Are they still there?

 

Wow! You sir are WAY ahead of most of us in the wow factor! This is going to be epic!

 

Truly appreciate all the encouragement!

The wires are tucked back into their homes and covered.

Thank you!

Totally agree, I have no reservations about reducing jet sizes to dial things in. The IAT reduction was the major motivation behind the nitrous.

 

Decided to flip the exhaust manifolds around to see if they would give me an interesting exit angle. I dig it, I wonder if they'll clear the cowl of a bucket.

 

I dug out this old carburetor scoop that I once had on a demon carb sitting ontop of a 357ci small block chevy.

It's a tad ridiculous on this engine, but I don't totally dislike it. The vibe and character is there...





It would take minor modification to be functional over the throttlebody.

 

You should name your car ---THE ALIEN__---never be another like it!!

 

Looks really cool. Nice Job.
Did you try calling Cometic for head gaskets?
I don't see how it gets air.

 

Throttlebody is on the backside and faces upwards.

 

Started dissembling the donor car. Having the transmission, clutch, driveshaft & other misc hardware feels like I've almost got my new project T half done....Yeah right.