The On-Going Project SE4

[DanSE4]

Been a while on updates but the V6 conversion is still on the go.

This weekend saw me get the rear half of the V6 car loom out & piled in the front with the rest, just adds to my trauma!



Then we set about lifting the engine today.







Not satisfied with that, had to get the 8v out of the SE4 as well.









Things can only get far, far worse. Can't bloody wait!

[Fraz]

we always take the subfarme off and go down, far quicker and easier I think

and I think you better take the sound deading off at the drivers side, looks like its rusty there

[DanSE4]

We did fine out of the top.

The sound deadening in the photo is the donor car. It is rusty, that's why it's a donor car.

[DanSE4]

With hindsight, coupled with a long think last night about the task ahead, I may well remove my subframe & fit the V6 into mine from underneath. It did come out of the top easily enough but the few knocks to the bodywork on the donor that were of no concern WILL be a concern on the SE4!

Dunno yet, lack of plan seems to be the way forward at the moment!

[Fraz]

We did fine out of the top.

The sound deadening in the photo is the donor car. It is rusty, that's why it's a donor car.

Really is that what a donor car is !!!

so your donor car is the Blue one then??



I only mentioned it as had this with my own car

[DanSE4]

Sorry, thought you were refering to the sound deadening inside the donor car on the drivers side. That was a little damp & there is some rust around it, hence me wondering why you mentioned it as it's the donor car so the shell is being scrapped anyway ???

I'll be giving the engine bay of mine a good clean up now I can get to everything & treating any corrosion while I'm at it. Ain't often I'll have the chance to do that!

[v6 steve]

Dan as fraz said i would have the sound deadening off and have a good check as iv see a couple really bad behind it, i would also take the subframe off and put the engine in from underneath its a lot easier and if you do bump the sides you'll not see the scraps

[DanSE4]

Fuel & brake lines are going to be taken care of. You're quite right in saying that now is the time to do it & there's no time like the present. The aircon compressor & power steering pump were left in the car, they were removed from thier mounts before we lifted the engine as they would've caused clearance issues with the engine coming out from the top. The aircon compressor is staying put anyway as I won't be using it so I have a shorter aux belt to fit & I've been advised by someone who's done this before that a couple of lugs can be ground off the mount to allow clearance for the shorter belt as opposed to trying to source a non aircon mount. I also have early manifolds to do away with the secondary air pipes & pump found on the X25XE (just leave the relay in place, the ecu will still think it's operating the pump so won't throw up any codes) & also a crankpully from a 3.2 which is far lighter than the current one & also has the torsion damper.

Steve, I'm pretty sure the refit will go by way of "under & up" & I've wanted the sub-frame off for a while anyway so I can treat & paint it to match the rear crossmember, rear arms & the front arms. Full body checks in the bay will also take place.

[DanSE4]

One semi-gutted SE4 & one complete V6 loom(s).





Holy crap, what have I started here!

[DanSE4]

That's absolutely everything from the rear lights forward, 3 looms in total. The engine loom in the photo is the one part hanging over the dash. Couldn't seperate the rear part, it's all one piece & carries on through the bulkhead right to the headlights.

Every single connector now has a numbered label stuck to it & I made a list of what they all connected to (got to about 95 iirc) & I took loads of photo's with it in place, marked parts of it with relevance to where it sits in the car & generally did everything I could to make fitting it in the SE4 as less ballache as possible.

SE4 loom out will be a doddle, big knife at the bulkhead so no fannying around feeding metres of stuff with bulky connectors through little holes!

[v6 steve]

i feel your pain Dan






but then again i had these's 2 to help get it all back in



but some times you need to use black tape

[DanSE4]

Fun isn't it!!!

[DanSE4]

Well, finally started making what I think is called progress today.

First thing I was faced with when I got to the SE4 & opened the door was an entire V6 loom(s) piled in the drivers side. ::)



Could've spent all day crying over that so figured I'd better get cracking. Seperated all the looms across the drive & laid them out so they made some kind of sense. Then it was time to get my dash out (with the loom still attached this time).



I'd already cut the engine bay side of the loom off at the bulkhead so not too much to unplug & out she popped!



Following advice I've had I figured I should attach all the various harnesses from the V6 loom to my dash before putting it back in. Sat cross legged on the driveway with the two looms next to each other, cutters, cable ties, carefully removing the 8v loom a bit at a time, replacing it with the V6 one as I went along & an hour later...............



................... ta da! My dash with the V6 loom attached & everything routed in the right place. For anyone who hasn't experienced this before, that mile of loom running away from the dash all goes through the bulkhead into the bay. Fun eh! ;D

Still had a few hours left so started refitting the car loom.



Fed it all in starting with the rear stuff, that's now all in place & connected up, some of the front is done & the stuff from that loom that needs to go through the bulkhead is piled up in the passenger footwell.

ECU's have been swapped & the engine loom has been fed though the bulkhead & connected to the ECU, Andy chipped in a little later on & he swapped the ABS blocks over & also finished off running the cable to the drivers side motion sensor up through from the roof from the drivers footwell (that was the point I'd been on the go for 7 hours & my dummy was about to be spat an olympic distance)!

A good days work me thinks. If all continues to go to plan, should have the looms all in and connected up inside, run in the correct places in the engine bay by the end of next Saturday & then I'm ready to consider getting the V6 lump in!

*SLIGHT EDIT*

I cocked up the comment on the pic of the dash with the V6 loom fitted to it, that was part way through & both looms are in the picture.

[v6 steve]

[DanSE4]

Cheers Steve!

Getting there. Slowly but surely getting there