You won't need to cut out as much as i did. See those black lines on the underside of the bonnet? That's exactly where the belt runs, so that gives you a good indication as to where the head will need to clear.

YeaHP- You could... But I am not sure if the BA has the mounting bolt pattern as the EF (which is the only mounting plate I have handy...)

It's not exactly what I was saying though... But gives you an idea of similar, sure.

You would probably need to drop the gearbox by a few mm too. At a rough guess, probably add washers to push the gearbox mounts down about half as much as you've lowered the engine...

Some people say you want a straight driveline from the front harmonic balancer through to the diff... But others I've spoken to said that just created harmonics in the final drive components and you're better off having a few degrees bend behind the gearbox and the same at the diff.

Besides which, as soon as you actually drive the car and hit any sort of bump the diff is jumping up and down so much you'll have trouble justifying why you ever thought a few degrees pinion angle ever mattered!


Smithy --- It's not hard to weld 6mm (or even 10mm) steel plate. And it's pretty easy to cut and drill. And.... What the hell. Chopping the bonnet is probably easiest - But judging by what you've done to the rest of the car I wouldn't say "easiest" is a requirement for you!!!!

Then again, you could follow this prime example...

Last edited by fiend on Sun Oct 11, 2009 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

just read through the whole thread. Word for word (took me a couple of hours)

Bloody awesome job mate. Given me a few more ideas to do to my beast once she is all up and running

Titanium Bulge FTW.

where do you find such gold fiend ?

Wow.

This is my first post here... I joined so that I'd have access to the photo's. Because after reading the thread before this one... I couldn't very well leave it there. Smithy you have done an amazing job mate, and have inspired me to modify my ED. This thread and the last one is bookmarked so I can come back and absorb the wisdom.

BTW. I'd have to agree with the bonnet modding mate. After all, now that you have the engine and transmission (I believe) all fitted in and dandy, the last thing you want to do is go about altering the heights of engine, trans.. and interfere with the exhaust too. But seeing as how your handy with fibreglass, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to put a bit of a bull nose on that bonnet... it won't look as pretty, but that BA I6 is worth making one or two concessions for.

Anyway, best of luck with it all, you have my complete attention.

any more updates?

FITTING A BA T5 GEARBOX


Remove the old BA gearbox cross member by simply removing the two 1/2 inch or 13 mm nuts on both sides of the cross member. In the photo you can compare the difference in the BA cross member (on left) to the EA-EL. While your doing this you may want to purchase a new gear box mount, only $20-$30, saves having to do it down the future:




Heres the BA cross member removed off its boxed, should look something like this:



Fit the new mount on. Use 2 high strength bolts and nuts and tighten it up as shown:



Use a jack and lift the box up, then place ea-l cross member on and you can use the original 2 13mm bolts on either side, tighten them up (note, you may need a breaker bar / rattle gun):




Place the original washer and 19mm but on the gear box mount thread and begin tighting it up. Heres what it should look like once complete:



PLEASE NOTE: While installing the BA box remember that the shifter sits back a fair few inches, so youll need a air hack saw or cutting grinder close by, heres what mine looks, ill neaten it up later and weld up the unused area when I get my hands on a mig:



Ill be going back to fitting the dash now, so hopefully will have a big write up with pics tonight

Nice write up smithy, What did you end up doing with you bonnet?

Ill check back later tonight to see how you went with the dash.

Cheers

Josh

HOW TO FIT A BA DASH TO YOUR E-SERIES part 2

Okay heres where Iam up to at the moment, forget about the previous trial fit mentioned earlier in this thread. After doing a bit of brain storming I knew I wouldnt be happy with cutting the vents from the dash to make it fit, because I want the dash, switches, cd player ect... to run as perfectly factory as they were ment to. So After doing some measurements I decided to cut away at the old dash support pannel. People at home wanting to do this, you will need air saw, grinder, compresor, also a welder. Iv nearly got the dash sitting perfectly, heres what Iv done so far:

Heres the old dash bracing:




After doing some small section cutting out for the vents I realised that the hole lot will need to be removed:




Heres what youll need to remove, and what it should look like, Later on when I take the dash back out and trial fit the climate heater box, Ill make up a steel plate which will cover the large gap and weld it on, this will also provide the strength that the fire wall will need. Also note, ill need to cut a little bit more in the middle because at the moment the main centre vents are just touching:



Heres what it looks like, I havent yet played around with the mounts that bolt to the pillars:



Heres a shot of the back of the dash:



And lastly a shot of the dash up against the trim, as you can see it needs to come back a little more and it should look all square:


More to come later. thanks

Hey Josh, believe it or not when I replaced the cross member on the gear box this morning, it must have tilted the front of the engine down a little, I can now shut the bonnet with the bracing just resting on the engine (and I mean just). So itll be eazier just to remove the bracing so the engine has a little room to breath and move. Ill get some photos up when I get around to it. Cheers mate.

wow. awesome build bro. cannot wait to see it all done!! how does the rear look with the boot lid sprayed?

just a few pics from when i did the install of my ba box.And dash fit in my new shell.





And one of the BA front end.

Thanks mate, Yeah ill get some photos of the back up tomorrow, along with the rest of the dash install. Cheers

Na I believe it mate. Just by looking at the 2 cross members, you can see the difference. Good progress with your dash mate, take your time you will get it right.