Back To Basics: Budget Rebuild

[sergechronos]

Some minor work on the big brake project, waiting to hear back from a manufacturer on specs for parts so I can calculate what size master cylinder I need to put in. Going to try to size it such that I can delete the brake booster as well. Would clean up the engine bay a bit and I've already got to replace one hardline to the back. Any engineering pros when it comes to brakes who might be able to help once I hear back?

Think I have the calculations I need. Sizing the master is going to depend mostly on information from the donor vehicle in so far as brake booster dimensions and pedal ratio, then hopefully adjusted to work with our pedal ratio.

[Sonik1gen]

just went thru your thread awsome work and thanks for those videos u posted ( i will be replacing some of the K frame bushings soon ) good luck with the rest of your build

[sergechronos]

Glad to be of help.

I contacted Energy Suspension about this stuff, but they said they will not do it because of numbers. I have inquired as to purchasing direct from them or a distributing warehouse without a business license so I'd be able to do the modifications and sell them at a reasonable price. Still working on getting poly end links, and poly bushings for the rest of the cross members in the front. I'm making rear subframe to body bushings out of polyurethane, and will likely make bushings for the rear diff as well. Working on getting bushings for everything else back there. When I'm done, I hope to be able to offer mostly complete kits (that exclude the rear steering and camber arms since most folks replace those) for around the $500-600 price point.

[sergechronos]

Well few updates..Picked up a 4 bolt block with stock bore that I wanted to build on the side..Going to have to sell it though as textbook costs are absurd. Same with most of my big ass collection of spare parts :/ Hopefully I can get this shit back on track, but just haven't had time. Had a water pipe bust under my house that has only just this past week been resolved, and my utility bills ate up my spare cash. Hopefully in the next few weeks I get these poly bushings going to bring some money back in, but ES isn't interested in distributing to me directly and none of their warehouses will work with me without a business license and all that. Working on alternative solutions for that.

There's quite a few things I'll need to tap and run dies over to clean up threading after the coating process. The engine bay and majority of the underside of the car are still awaiting treatment, however between work and school I don't have much time for myself at the moment. Hopefully I'll get ahead and can get back to this soon. For the time being, I'm just kind of stuck in a holding pattern.

A few changes from the last update that I don't believe I've covered (but may have):
1) AEM V2 will be used in place of Chrome. Given the cost of MAFT Pro for speed density and a Chrome, ran about the same for me to sell those and get the V2. Prefer a simpler all in one kind of solution.
2) ABS has been deleted and I am working on designing a cheaper BBK arrangement for the car that will require adapters, once I have completed this, I will be selling the adapters separately.
3) Wiring will be getting trimmed down and deleted a bit. Front washer motor, ABS, ECS, active exhaust, and several other electronics have been removed already and I have to overhaul my wiring harness as is to find a fault. As such, I will be removing many of those items/pins to simplify and cut a bit of weight as well. While this will likely add to the time before the car is ready, given costs I'm facing at the moment in the rest of my life and what it'll cost me just for the transmission, I somehow doubt it's going to make much of a difference. Engine and turbos will probably be done before the transmission parts are all paid for anyhow.
4) There is no longer an estimated date of completion, I will just take my time and enjoy my build rather than trying to meet deadlines for gatherings or meets. I constantly find myself compromising on stuff I want to do to try to get teh car ready in time for meets, and then am not ready anyhow and lose money reverting back to original plans. It is much more enjoyable when I'm not rushing.

[Beef6]

What did you use to remove the rust from the tank cover? Anglegrinder or air sander, other suggestions?

[sergechronos]

4 1/2 angle grinder with wire wheel, and knotted wire cup brush for most of it. Finished off with a smaller wire wheel on a right angle die grinder.

[sergechronos]

tl;dr: While there is progress on the car, many of the projects I had been working on are being shelved for the time being due to multiple set backs in my personal life and a general re-evaluation of things.

In short, while at university, after consulting with a few different departments, career services and such, it was determined that as an older student my best course of action was to pursue a bachelors of applied physics in place of engineering since I had already knocked out many of the pre-requisites and I could be done by the end of Spring 2016 if I busted my ass and took a ton of credit hours. While I wanted to do engineering, I was told I was basically looking at a graduation date of Fall 2017, or Spring 2018 if I did so, and that Applied Physics would be basically the same work and accepted as such within the fields I wanted to go.

Trying to find internships for the summer that pay a decent bit and land my networking connections however has shown that many of the avenues I was told I would be able to explore (in particular nuclear power generation or working at Oak Ridge) are almost entirely off the table as they are explicitly for engineering students, with no exceptions for applied physics students since they already turn away so many applicants as is. I inquired with Duke Energy, TVA, ORNL, STP, Entergy and a handful of other companies throughout areas where I have connections and friends and have pretty much been unilaterally told that for most anything I want to do, I'd need either a bachelors in engineering, or to complete my applied physics bachelors and go on to get a masters in engineering.

Additionally, UT has continued to raise costs (another 3% tuition increase this year, as well as more mandatory fees including dining plans even if living off campus) which total out to needing another $2000 worth of loans or similar to cover. They've already scheduled 3% tuition increases for the next 2 years as well, meaning that whether I switch to an engineering curriculum or finish my degree and get a masters in engineering, I'm looking at over 40k more in tuition costs to get a degree that would let me do what I want to do which is an investment I doubt I will see returns on.

Combined with my meager wages at my job, car spending is pretty much on hold as I have just about everything I need to complete the car (albeit without upgrades such as the poly bushings I had been working on or many of the secret projects that were in the works.) I plan on selling and/or scrapping pretty much every extra part that I have to try to raise money in anticipation of a move. I have put my resume out there in various places across the south east, north east and Texas (all places where I have connections) to try to find something that can work with the degree I've been working towards, or a company that will help pay for me to attend school.

[green-lantern]

4) There is no longer an estimated date of completion, I will just take my time and enjoy my build rather than trying to meet deadlines for gatherings or meets. I constantly find myself compromising on stuff I want to do to try to get teh car ready in time for meets, and then am not ready anyhow and lose money reverting back to original plans. It is much more enjoyable when I'm not rushing.

You can always hope to get it done before a certain time but this is the best way to do it. You want to keep a little bit of fire under your ass though. If not you might be married with kids before it gets done.

[sergechronos]

You can always hope to get it done before a certain time but this is the best way to do it. You want to keep a little bit of fire under your ass though. If not you might be married with kids before it gets done.

Might be attending BMW Ridge Gathering in the falls if I don't get it done reasonably soon :P

I am motivated to finish the car, I miss driving it (and my truck needs quite a bit done to it as well for maintenance) but definitely just going slow and steady with it. Hoping to get some wrench time in next week over spring break on it.

[futurevr4man]

You may need to take a different approach to what you're doing.

Speaking from experience:
- Worked as a manager at a Domino's for ~5.5 years. Good managerial experience... crappy job
- Got co-op's (not always the easiest thing) not in the area I wanted to go. But a co-op is a co-op. Experience is experience. It's all good.
- Worked as a gymnastics teacher (made really good money)

I took 3 different approaches to help me pay college as I went:
I did the manger thing because it looks good on a resume. I only made $9/hr. Helped me land the co-op's.
I did the co-op's for something more 'real world' oriented. Just because a co-op isn't in your exact field of interest doesn't mean it's no good. The 3 I did I knew would help me land a job. They did.
I worked in gymnastics strictly for the money and enjoyment. I don't even put it on my resume unless they ask what I did in that gap of life.

My point is, just play your cards strategically, and if all else fails, think outside the box on jobs to make good money. Work somewhere that needs you to dress as a clown or super hero, gymnastics, setting up those big baloon slides, working concerts, doing landscaping, valet'ing, etc. I've done all of those (except the clown one haha) and they ALL make great money. Why? Tips. All of them have a base salary and good tips. Waiting tables doesn't have a "base salary". $2.xx an hour isn't anything. And if worse goes to worst, do construction! Take a year off and SAVE some money! AKA DON'T spend it on the car!

BTW - taking a year off when I did my co-op's was the best thing as far as schooling went. I came back super energized and refocused.

You have access to pick my brain all the time on engineering stuff, but you never ask. Co-op's are easy to get if you know where to look. But don't constrain yourself early on. Take what you can get. You have your whole life to work to your dream job.

And if you are seriously prioritizing a car over your career in any way shape or form, then you will be hard pressed to have the success you crave. The car can come later. It only takes a matter of a few years to turn your life around. A car can be built in short order once you have the financial backing. Worry about the career.

Everything I've said is from experience.