steve48
Member
Hello from Napa Valley.
I have been a bit reluctant to post on the site, as I'm not sure how the faithful E9 community feels about resto-mod E9's. I purchased this E9 last year (BaT) as an un-finished and un-sorted restoration with an engine transplant. I owned a '74 3.0CS back in the late '70's until 1990. I sold it to my father to fund a wheel alignment machine and lift for my repair business in Santa Clara (Honda and Acura). I've been an active vintage and historic racer for 20 years, F1, F2, CanAm and 2-liter Sports racer. The E9 with the engine swap appealed to me as I'm starting to wind down racing (I turned sixty-ten recently), and thinning the herd, but can't seem to shake the 'more and faster' bug.
During the BaT auction, members here noted a major issue I've since resolved: No ARB's front or rear. The S52 forward sump would not permit a standard front bar. Jeff T. sourced a front bar that was then installed in new mounts, positioning the bar on the lower frame rails. A standard rear bar was then installed as well.
Most of the work to finish and sort revolved around drive-ability and tuning as the engine has Schrick cams, headers, and an S50 intake. I replaced the stock ECU with a Link programable board and CAM Lambda controller and sensor, which necessitated fabricating a new header 'Y" pipe with a proper merge collector to replace the off-the-shelf muffler shop part and relocated the sensor; I modified the S50 intake manifold to work with the S52 PCV oil-vapor separator I wanted to utilize, and modified the dipstick tube so that the oil returns to the sump (an S52 manifold won't fit with the standard brake booster and the S50 flows better). Note www.m50manifold.com makes a nifty molded 3-way hose for this.
It was then off to Works Motorsports at Sonoma Raceway, just a few doors away. The tuning tech at Works, Ty, corrected the non-op Vanos system, tweaked cam timing for torque and replaced the stock injectors with higher flow injectors. The stock injectors were maxed out on duty-cycle: changing them and continuing to tune netted another 25HP.
There have been many smaller issues to resolve and Thanks are overdue to: sfDon, Eric at CoupeKing, and Jeff Tighe for parts and advice. I replaced the Weds wheels that came with the car (16x8 front and rear) with CoupeKing's staggered Alpina-look wheels. The Weds are going to be for sale. I purchased and modified the DaddyWad front strut bar to use LH and RH rod ends.
The car will probably never be 'done' as there will always be things to play with. Next up is replacing the stock final drive with a new taller ratio with LSD purchased from sfDon. That swap requires cutting the welded exhaust. I have a new SuperSprint rear muffler and tailpipe for when we go there.
Steve Cook
Yountville, CA
Eric's wheels do look nice
S50 intake with S52 PCV (oil - vapor separator) and oil return to sump hose
The old Y pipe
New merge collector with V-band at end to make removal easy-ish
The dyno at Works Motorsport bolts to the hubs
DaddyWad bar kit
I have been a bit reluctant to post on the site, as I'm not sure how the faithful E9 community feels about resto-mod E9's. I purchased this E9 last year (BaT) as an un-finished and un-sorted restoration with an engine transplant. I owned a '74 3.0CS back in the late '70's until 1990. I sold it to my father to fund a wheel alignment machine and lift for my repair business in Santa Clara (Honda and Acura). I've been an active vintage and historic racer for 20 years, F1, F2, CanAm and 2-liter Sports racer. The E9 with the engine swap appealed to me as I'm starting to wind down racing (I turned sixty-ten recently), and thinning the herd, but can't seem to shake the 'more and faster' bug.
During the BaT auction, members here noted a major issue I've since resolved: No ARB's front or rear. The S52 forward sump would not permit a standard front bar. Jeff T. sourced a front bar that was then installed in new mounts, positioning the bar on the lower frame rails. A standard rear bar was then installed as well.
Most of the work to finish and sort revolved around drive-ability and tuning as the engine has Schrick cams, headers, and an S50 intake. I replaced the stock ECU with a Link programable board and CAM Lambda controller and sensor, which necessitated fabricating a new header 'Y" pipe with a proper merge collector to replace the off-the-shelf muffler shop part and relocated the sensor; I modified the S50 intake manifold to work with the S52 PCV oil-vapor separator I wanted to utilize, and modified the dipstick tube so that the oil returns to the sump (an S52 manifold won't fit with the standard brake booster and the S50 flows better). Note www.m50manifold.com makes a nifty molded 3-way hose for this.
It was then off to Works Motorsports at Sonoma Raceway, just a few doors away. The tuning tech at Works, Ty, corrected the non-op Vanos system, tweaked cam timing for torque and replaced the stock injectors with higher flow injectors. The stock injectors were maxed out on duty-cycle: changing them and continuing to tune netted another 25HP.
There have been many smaller issues to resolve and Thanks are overdue to: sfDon, Eric at CoupeKing, and Jeff Tighe for parts and advice. I replaced the Weds wheels that came with the car (16x8 front and rear) with CoupeKing's staggered Alpina-look wheels. The Weds are going to be for sale. I purchased and modified the DaddyWad front strut bar to use LH and RH rod ends.
The car will probably never be 'done' as there will always be things to play with. Next up is replacing the stock final drive with a new taller ratio with LSD purchased from sfDon. That swap requires cutting the welded exhaust. I have a new SuperSprint rear muffler and tailpipe for when we go there.
Steve Cook
Yountville, CA
