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Ottawa Fiero Club Forum  |  General  |  Project Work Logs  |  Topic: Thinking Northstar Conversion? « previous next »
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Author Topic: Thinking Northstar Conversion?  (Read 99618 times)
aaron88
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« Reply #15 on: October 01, 2003, 02:27:03 pm »

The engine mounts were made out of ¼ inch steel plate bent on a brake press.  Here are some picks of the locations I chose for mounting.  The pics aren’t the best, I’ll try to get better ones later.  The bottom part of these mounts can be seen on the cradle in a previous photograph.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:37:25 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
aaron88
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« Reply #16 on: October 01, 2003, 02:37:14 pm »

Rear transmission bracket, also bent on a brake press.

« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:38:12 pm by aaron88 » Logged

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« Reply #17 on: October 01, 2003, 02:45:20 pm »

The northstar motor has mounting locations for two dogbones.  These had to be custom made.  They attach to the engine with rubber mounts and are bolted solid to the firewall mounting plates.  The mounting plates were bolted in because I don’t trust welds to such a light gauge material.  The engine bay plate is reinforced 5052 (high salt water resistance) aluminum.  The interior plate is slightly larger and split due to the geometry of the fire wall.  Both plates and dogbones are similar but different.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:38:45 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
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« Reply #18 on: October 14, 2003, 12:39:46 pm »

This is the bolt hole on the transmission that didn’t line up with the block.  To get this to work I notched the block a little and put in a little add-on piece.  It will at some point be Tig welded.

As I said before the Northstar uses 4 bolts on top and two on the bottom (Getrag uses 6 bolts on top), so it’s actually quite important to make use of this bolt hole so that there is no area that goes over 180° without positive pressure on it.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 27, 2006, 12:57:47 am by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
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« Reply #19 on: October 14, 2003, 12:46:25 pm »

To make use of the bottom two bolts, I made a bracket that would bolt to the two holes on the block used for the old bracket and two unused bolt holes on the transmission.  Here I’m showing the old (auto) bracket and the new one.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:40:19 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
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« Reply #20 on: October 14, 2003, 12:58:49 pm »

The flywheel (when it finally came in) wasn’t quite the right fit.  I had to take 4 mm off the face because it was too thick, the clutch would have made contact with the inside of the transmission housing. I think this is a very important thing to check, all too often this sort of thing goes overlooked. Aftermarket parts are put into a vehicle without checking clearance of the parts both new and worn.  In this case I also had to shave a little off the flywheel bolts too.  Although there was no contact it was surmised that a completely worn clutch plate would have caused the springs to make contact with the bolt heads.

Check out the shine on that face.  This also gave me the opportunity to put a much better finish on the face of the flywheel than originally offered.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:41:36 pm by aaron88 » Logged

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aaron88
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« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2003, 01:09:43 pm »

As you can see here the starter is in an interesting place.  The best solution in this case is to notch the transmission casing.  It’s also very important when you are doing this that you get the edges of your cut-out to be as smooth as possible.  This will insure that you don’t get stress cracking due to stress concentration at the uneven surface (long story) prematurely (hopefully not at all).  I didn’t do a perfect job but it will do for this application.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:42:26 pm by aaron88 » Logged

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« Reply #22 on: October 14, 2003, 01:27:42 pm »

It should be noted that in some cases it might me necessary to notch the rear trunk for better clearance of the rear O2 sensor (if using original computer and Manual trans).  In my case I had notched the trunk before I knew that this O2 sensor wasn’t needed (Due to the use of the Holley Commander 950 computer.  Note: the computer required depends on year of Motor).  Only one O2 sensor is needed.  Which one is up to you.  Also notable is that in my case the O2 sensor needed isn’t the same as the factory one.

Welding thin gauge metal isn’t fun and also not recommended for those with little experience.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:42:58 pm by aaron88 » Logged

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« Reply #23 on: October 14, 2003, 01:36:43 pm »

A plate needs to be made that will fit closely to the transmission and clear the engine block, preventing street grime from getting into your clutch.  I honestly don’t know what you call this protective cover, so please mind my ignorance.

Aaron

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« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:43:45 pm by aaron88 » Logged

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Got vacuum. Want boost.


« Reply #24 on: October 14, 2003, 01:53:01 pm »

As you can see here the starter is in an interesting place.

Interesting indeed!  I can't tell from the photo--is there much which has to be removed from the top of the motor should it become necessary to repair/replace the starter?
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aaron88
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« Reply #25 on: October 15, 2003, 09:43:36 am »

I’m not sure exactly what’s involved because I havn’t tried, but it would be something like this.
Remove:
     upper vacuum hoses
     the fuel rail hoses
     the throttle body hoses
     intake manifold (fuel rail and throttle body still attached)
     knock sensor
Then you have access to remove the starter.  It’s a bit more work but it can all be done from the top.

Aaron

.
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Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
aaron88
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« Reply #26 on: October 23, 2003, 12:34:33 pm »

Sorry for the inconvenience but my body tells me that I have to take a brake (been working 90 hours / week lately).  I'll be back at my car the first weekend of November.

Aaron

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Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
aaron88
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« Reply #27 on: November 04, 2003, 03:12:22 pm »

The cast iron clutch fork lever arm may need to be shaved a bit to get it to clear the Northstar thermostat housing crossover.

Aaron

« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:44:23 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
aaron88
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« Reply #28 on: November 04, 2003, 03:30:25 pm »

Fuel line routing:

This is the configuration I chose.  I’m using 1/4” line with 11/32” hose.

I moved the fuel filter from the right side to the left side.  All the brackets are mounted using nutserts.  The fuel lines are mounted to the body using plastic lined clamps and nutserts (similar to the clamps I used for the radiator hose line except smaller, I mention this because they are easier to see in that photo).  You can see from the photo that there is another line there going under the fuel filter and mounted in front of it.  This is the routing I chose for the clutch hydraulic line, I’m not sure where it goes on a stock setup because I have converted my car also from automatic to manual (because this is not pertinent to this conversion I’m not going to mention it further).  


Aaron

.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:45:09 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
aaron88
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« Reply #29 on: November 04, 2003, 03:43:40 pm »

Coolant lines:

For this application I went to the junk yard and picked up various lengths of heater hose with different bends and bend lengths.  You’ll need an ‘S’ shaped tube about 2 feet long and a couple 90° plus lengths at 1.25” to 1.5” ID.  What I couldn’t pick up there I made using 1.25” aluminum tubing.  I put a bend in it as can be seen, it’s just under 90°, the trick is to heat it up until its almost at melting temp before you put it into your tube bender.

Aaron

.

PLEASE NOTE: The radiator lines in the photo below are hooked up backward.  This was a mistake, I thought that the thermostat was on the pump outlet side as it usually is, but on the Northstar the thermostat is on the inlet side of the pump.  I should have noticed this just by looking at the water pump but somehow at the time it eluded me.  This doesn’t make a big difference except when trying to fill the system or if you get a coolant leak, because during normal operation there shouldn’t be any air in the system.   But all the same I’m going to change these two lines around sometime before the summer.  Passenger side coolant tube should rout to the water pump.

« Last Edit: June 22, 2006, 06:45:40 pm by aaron88 » Logged

Your only limitations are set from within, by a lack of vision.  But to have vision alone leaves the process idle.  Ergo, without action your thoughts are worthless.
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