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So, i haven't been very happy with my gold pan lately, frankly i just haven't been enjoying driving it at the track. It just seems unpredictable, and doesn't respond well to setup changes. Especially compared to my b44, which is so much fun to drive, so stable and predictable.
That being the case, i decided to take a break from it, and tare it down and go through it, piece by piece.


Among other things, the motor plate is tweaked, I've straightened several times already but it seems to always get mangled...


I've been wanting to do a mid motor car for a while, but had planned on getting a donor car to convert. But after evaluating the condition of this car, i decided it wouldn't be any great loss to the universe to use it as the basis for a mid motor conversion. The pan is pretty scraped up



So with that, here's the first mockup. Im not sure at this point if I'm going to add an external 4th gear, or just flip the top shaft and run it with 3 gears. Its interesting that AE just released a 3 gear conversion for the B5M. Other that that, ive got some ideas on how i will brace the chassis to make up for cutting it to clear the motor and for the fact that the chassis wont be bolted to the bulkhead sides. The other potential challenge is rear shock alignment, depending on where i mount the bulkhead. Worst case is i can run some spacers between the shocks and a arms.




Now that I've got a mill, modifying and making parts won't be an issue, so this should be a fun project.

Neat

I like it! Looking forward to seeing your progress (so I can maybe copy it some day!!!)

It's shaping up to be a nice build.

Last night I made a little progress. I decided for now to do it as a 3 gear setup. I removed the end of the motor plate since I'm going to need to flip it around. Basically, I masked tangent to the curve on each side of the area I wanted to remove so there would be a nice transition. Then I clamped it in my mill and followed the tape lines. Eventually I'll hit the whole edge with a dremmel/sanding drum so the whole edge is silver. I'll do the same to the pan so they match. I also removed the cap from the one side of the trans case and flipped the input shaft and diff around.



Test fitting in the car. Plenty of room with the shortie pack.


I also figured out how I'm going to brace the rear of the car, should look pretty sweet and work well, stay tuned

most mid conversions will tie in to the transmission and chassis right behind the battery with a bracket of some fashion, you can extend it to also include the rear bulkhead as well.

Thanks. I've got something else in mind though

Last night I bolted the tub to the mill and milled of just enough of the left side rear for the motor to clear. For now it's just cut off square, as you can see, but I'll figure out how I can coutounr it to make it look a little better. For symmetry I'll probably do the same to the other side. I'm pretty happy with how this is looking so far.

Very nice conversion, in fact you are giving me some ides. Keep up the progress.

Thanks Jake
I like how your CF brace is so visible with it set up like this, looks sweet
I'm gonna need to have you make a custom CF battery brace for me at some point too. I'll design it up and send you the file.

Looks good Brian, we need to get our routine back on, I have cars to test/tune...

JK Racing wrote:Looks good Brian, we need to get our routine back on, I have cars to test/tune...

Thanks Joey. I'm still out every thursday night, usually from about 8 till 11-something
I'm lovin' the new layout at LRH, btw

This is so cool. Can't wait to see more.

Thanks, glad you like it
I've only been working on it for a few days but its really been a fun project so far. I've got lots of ideas for this project, stay tuned

Got the pan drilled out for the bulkhead and trans. The rear of the chassis is total Swiss cheese now, since it was already drilled for a stealth. I think the strength will still be adequate though. Especially with how I'm going to brace the rear of the chassis.
Test fitting the bulkhead and trans mounting


i also made a bracket for the end of the battery strap. I'm going to have Jake (if he can squeeze it in between all the NIX91 parts) make a shortened version of the CF strap i have now.