Newman's 1986 BMW 326rb build thread.

That is FUNNY! I LOL at work.

This is being built at hybrid connection.

I want to take it to winged warriors/carlisle.

^ I hope you are putting seats out of a 7 series in it for the winged warriors drive

lol.

triumph > e30?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/76-triumph-spitfire-skyline-engine-tranny-race-rb20det_W0QQitemZ130071420748QQihZ003QQcategoryZ6392QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

RB26>RB20

neat. i like the trans choice.

No I/C running strait meth LOL

Don just mentioned this yesterday

that spitfire looks kind of hacked.

anyway, here’s today and yesterday’s updates. I apologize for typos. More on this later…

Yesterday:

Added another brace to the crossmember. This triangulates the subframe and i am convinced it is now strong enough. My welding leaves much to be desired… I need to work on this much more…

Next, pulled the transmission back out of the car and unbolted the transfer case. I took everything out of it. This is what was left.

Then i went home.

Today:

Went to the shop after work. I taped off the bearings to avoid contamination and bolted the gutted transfer case back together. I then used the horizontal band saw and cut the output case off of the transfer case.

This step went remarkably smoothly. The result:

Next i mounted the transfer case on the milling table I was only able to get 2 mounting points, one of which was a bit “shady” but I hit it with a rubber mallet after i bolted it down, and it didn’t budge. The tool in the mill is not the tool i used (i used a 2.5 inch facing tool) I used a level and shims to get the case mounted correctly. The location of the face didn’t need to be that precise, so a level was fine:

Next, i made pass after pass on the part, taking off about .100 per pass. About an hour later I had a flat surface, about an inch shorter than the above picture. (sorry, no pic)

At some point during this, the tape over the bearings gave way and a shit-ton of aluminum chips made their way into the front bearing. I will try my best to get them out of there with a parts washer/ air gun, but i may need to suck it up and buy a new bearing. Meh, live and learn, I should have taken it out first, instead of trying to take the easy way out and “cover” it.

Also at some point during this, i somehow managed to crush my hand between the workpiece and the tooling. I had to pick bits of fingernail off the tooling. EW.

Now that the face was complete, i chucked up a drill and drilled (11) #21 holes X .9 deep along the perimeter of the face. Then using a hand tap, i tapped the holes to 10-32 thread. A hand tap was a bad idea, i should have used the mill to guide the tap, as one of the bolts went in slightly crooked, not a big deal, though. It is not terribly off. The hole that looks like it is “falling off” is intentionally placed there, as it was necessary to avoid an internal bolt.

All that was left was too make a cover. Since i had written down the X,Y locations of all the holes i had drilled in the case, it was relatively easy. I used a belt sander and the mill to make the outside perimeter, then after the holes and perimeter were complete, i made a few facing passes on the mating surface of the cover. Due to the fact that the cover was no longer in square, there was a tiinny bit of chatter on the final face, but nothing that wont be sealed with RTV or hondabond.

The finished cover and assembly:

Total time = 6 or 7 hours.
Dollar amount saved (vs buying rb25 transmission) = $1500
Weight difference = negligable

Now i just need to put it back together. Oh, I also plan on drilling a tapping a few holes on the cut-off portion of the tcase, then using a torque wrench to find out at what torque the threads strip, this will allow me to get a torque value to tighten the hardware to.

I will leave you with this picture:

man, so if u ever wondered why an rd25 transmission costs so much, this is why

yeah. i should convert rb26s to RWD for a fee…

looking good.:tup: I dont know how you manage to hurt yourself so much.

nice blood on the floor.

now, i can hug you. Since you have the tooling, why not cut a recess the same size as the t-case hole? Or put a hole w/ a plug in it so you can put oil in there, Or a check hole to make sure oil it there.

cut a recess? yo mean thin out the back and leave meat on the sides? I suppose i could, but working in that plane would be better done with a CNC.

I think the drain plug idea is good, I may do that, the fill plug is on the other side.

EDIT: there are two drain plugs. I only cut off one:

Nice progress.

I’m jealous of Your tool access though. :redface:

i would def do a drain plug there, since you already cut off one, you dont want to find out that its a PITA to get all of it out from the trans with only the one plug when the trans is together, although i suppose you could always try to get that plate back off, but with hondabond on there it may be a PITA

Sorry, i mean remove about .5 mm out of the “plate” contact surface the t-case, so that the plate is recessed in the case. that way you can have a “better” chance with it sealing with more contact area. I would also recommend counter sinking the holes of the attaching bolts ~.3~.4 mm, this would also help with the bling factor. Also removing some of the material in the center would be nice to.

does the pic call out “VASELINE”…ha

hmm, i agree, maybe i will make a new one from scratch, so i don’t wreck this one, but i really think for what i am doing this will be fine…

and, yes, it says “vaseline”