Connor's MB4 ES

[UKDMgarage]

Finally getting around to a build thread for my third car

 

It all started on a dull early may day. A Friend of mine messaged me, asking if I needed any parts from her MB4 before she scrapped it. It had been sitting on her drive since she her daughter had been born.

I said to her, "let me know what the scrappy offers, and i'll chuck £50 on top and come grab it", knowing that the d16w4 powerplant in this could replace my lathargic D14 in my MB2

 

The next day me and a mate collected it, threw some trade plates on and ran up to my workshop. Even with the old 4 speed slush-box, and a years neglect, the MB4 walked away from my MB2 on a straight bit of road.

 

Once we arrived, my friend parked the car up and then headed home. I then stood and had a smoke, looking at this car having a "Wangan midnight" esque moment,  seeing the colour of the Sicilian Red paint for the first time. Plans had changed. (see attached image)

 

Rust and engine work:

 

First I got the car up on stands and made a list of everything wrong with it. The rear passenger sill and inner arch passed the good old screwdriver test, however the driver's side failed miserably, along with a few places around the front jacking point, and front inner arch. Out came the grinder, welder, and some conveniently shaped and cut sheet metal that I would be using to patch these big holes. This was a steep learning curve, as I have only ever done agricultural welding, and never thin bodywork. 

Once the rust was dealt with next came the auto box - I had never planned to keep this gearbox, so the hunt for an s20 close ratio box began. During this time, the auto box, torque converter and PRND lever were all disposed of in an appropriate fashion (Thrown into a skip as fast as humanly possible🤣), meanwhile, the engine was suspended by a ratchet strap around 2 on the gearbox bolts, and a random 2x4 i had laying about across the wings (See attached)

Whilst the box was off, I decided to replace the rear main seal, sump gasket, and clean out the oil pickup tube. 

A few shiny parts were fitted during this time too, including an oil sandwich plate with senders for both oil pressure and temp, HKS oil filter, TTV flywheel and an exedy stage 1 clutch.

Once I sourced a box, the new mounts were fitted up and after a copious amount of faffing around the engine and box were in. (I wish I had an engine crane!!) I altered the wiring on the PRND plug to disable the inhibitor switch, as well as the reverse lights.

I finished under the bay by rebuilding the distributor, replacing the plugs and HT leads. I also added a bus bar to the firewall as my battery was going to be boot mounted.

I am using a Janspeed 4-2-1 manifold, a smashed out OEM cat shell and a Skunk2 megapower exhaust system. I have a Whale pen15 air intake as well.

 

Interior:

 

This car had a creme interior, which I knew wouldn't survive me daily driving it. I quickly tore this out, installed a load of sound deadening and the various wires i'd be needing for my ICE setup, then fitted a black carpet and VTI "bus seat" interior. I mounted the battery and circuit breaker in the spare wheel well, as well as a power distribution block. this would be needed when I got around to building the boot and fitting my 3 amps.

I finished the interior off with an oil pressure and temperature gauge set, a fire extinguisher, and an old school pioneer flipout headunit + DVD player.

 

Exterior:

 

The exterior is largely untouched, as it is the rare sicilian red pearl colour. This car was factory specced with a full VTIs kit and Jordan wheels. The jordan wheels went onto my other MB2, so that I could fit my 15" TSW imola wheels.

I welded the rear wiper hole up, and the old spoiler holes. I then fitted an "auto spoiler", which had been preiovsly fitted to a friend's recently imported 200sx. This was an almost perfect colour match.

[Dave]

Need to see pics of this mate, sounding good so far!

[Fenny]

On 11/14/2024 at 1:08 PM, UKDMgarage said:

Finally getting around to a build thread for my third car

 

It all started on a dull early may day. A Friend of mine messaged me, asking if I needed any parts from her MB4 before she scrapped it. It had been sitting on her drive since she her daughter had been born.

I said to her, "let me know what the scrappy offers, and i'll chuck £50 on top and come grab it", knowing that the d16w4 powerplant in this could replace my lathargic D14 in my MB2

 

The next day me and a mate collected it, threw some trade plates on and ran up to my workshop. Even with the old 4 speed slush-box, and a years neglect, the MB4 walked away from my MB2 on a straight bit of road.

 

Once we arrived, my friend parked the car up and then headed home. I then stood and had a smoke, looking at this car having a "Wangan midnight" esque moment,  seeing the colour of the Sicilian Red paint for the first time. Plans had changed. (see attached image)

 

Rust and engine work:

 

First I got the car up on stands and made a list of everything wrong with it. The rear passenger sill and inner arch passed the good old screwdriver test, however the driver's side failed miserably, along with a few places around the front jacking point, and front inner arch. Out came the grinder, welder, and some conveniently shaped and cut sheet metal that I would be using to patch these big holes. This was a steep learning curve, as I have only ever done agricultural welding, and never thin bodywork. 

Once the rust was dealt with next came the auto box - I had never planned to keep this gearbox, so the hunt for an s20 close ratio box began. During this time, the auto box, torque converter and PRND lever were all disposed of in an appropriate fashion (Thrown into a skip as fast as humanly possible🤣), meanwhile, the engine was suspended by a ratchet strap around 2 on the gearbox bolts, and a random 2x4 i had laying about across the wings (See attached)

Whilst the box was off, I decided to replace the rear main seal, sump gasket, and clean out the oil pickup tube. 

A few shiny parts were fitted during this time too, including an oil sandwich plate with senders for both oil pressure and temp, HKS oil filter, TTV flywheel and an exedy stage 1 clutch.

Once I sourced a box, the new mounts were fitted up and after a copious amount of faffing around the engine and box were in. (I wish I had an engine crane!!) I altered the wiring on the PRND plug to disable the inhibitor switch, as well as the reverse lights.

I finished under the bay by rebuilding the distributor, replacing the plugs and HT leads. I also added a bus bar to the firewall as my battery was going to be boot mounted.

I am using a Janspeed 4-2-1 manifold, a smashed out OEM cat shell and a Skunk2 megapower exhaust system. I have a Whale pen15 air intake as well.

 

Interior:

 

This car had a creme interior, which I knew wouldn't survive me daily driving it. I quickly tore this out, installed a load of sound deadening and the various wires i'd be needing for my ICE setup, then fitted a black carpet and VTI "bus seat" interior. I mounted the battery and circuit breaker in the spare wheel well, as well as a power distribution block. this would be needed when I got around to building the boot and fitting my 3 amps.

I finished the interior off with an oil pressure and temperature gauge set, a fire extinguisher, and an old school pioneer flipout headunit + DVD player.

 

Exterior:

 

The exterior is largely untouched, as it is the rare sicilian red pearl colour. This car was factory specced with a full VTIs kit and Jordan wheels. The jordan wheels went onto my other MB2, so that I could fit my 15" TSW imola wheels.

I welded the rear wiper hole up, and the old spoiler holes. I then fitted an "auto spoiler", which had been preiovsly fitted to a friend's recently imported 200sx. This was an almost perfect colour match.

Had me really invested while reading, love the wangan midnight reference haha. Sounds like an interesting project, especially with that amazing D16w4 these had, I'm kinda looking forward to swap one of em in my MB2 cause it's a LOT cheaper than a B18, I'm talking like... 2k or more euros cheaper, I could get one for 500 bucks complete. Also... no rear wiper? that takes courage! I find myself using it so frequently even in sunny days

[dr_broon]

Need to see the pics of this one 😎