Nocones Garage other projects.

I figured I should have a build thread for all the random projects I have around the garage.  My major projects already have build threads.

Tube frame Rotary MG Midget

Subaru LMP360

SLC-10 

Typically I post little bits of things in my build threads and they get lost and the build thread spends pages off topic.   I figure this will be a good landing place for documenting other projects, random ideas I turn into renderings, piles of parts that may someday become a car, documenting organizing the garage, fixing up stuff that might be leaving.   You just random things I get into.  

If anything becomes enough that it deserves a build thread of it's own as long as I am allows I will edit this post to document them here:

So yeah there could be cool stuff in here..  there could be lame stuff in here.  Who knows what my garage will look like in the future?

So what's the state of the garage?  Well it's late summer 2024.  The LMP360 is currently in time out awaiting it's next next engine.  Here's what's around I'll post a picture of what I have available. 

1954 Willy's Pickup.  This was my late Father's project that I helped him with.  It's a 54 Willy's body with a hand made reproduction bed on a 1994 Blazer S10/S15 pickup hybrid chassis.  It has a pre vortec OBD1 4.3 TBI, and a one year only version of the 4l60E.  It is 4WD.  I have had it for about..  8 years and mostly done maintenance only on it.  I have plans for this that waffle between 4 door conversion, Australia flat tray overland conversion, and Ramp Truck. 

Here are a few more:

Top Left- Autobianchi Transformable.  I picked this up on the forum for $100.  I had to drive to Maine to get it.  It was fun.  It is complete but rusty.  I have no idea why I have this.  It might become a challenge car.  I don't have a title but it has good glass.  

Top Right- 1970 Subaru 360 Van.  This also is complete.  I bought this locally for way to good of a price.  More on it very soon.

Bottom Left - 1958 Panhard Dyna Z.  I bought this off the forum for ~$150.  It has a title and good glass.  It has no drivetrain.  It likely will get either sold or the NA EJ25 drivetrain out of the LMP360 driving the front wheels.  

Bottom Right the LMP360 it has a build thread. 

1994 Subaru Sambar Kei truck.  4WD 5+1 speed.  Runs/drives, needs some work and no title.  This was bought to replace the drivetrain in the 360 van.  That probably won't happen so this probably will get a couple of maintenance things done then sold. 

Other things kicking around:  

2004 Honda VFR800 Interceptor.  Currently broken.  Probably will be sold.  Was a potential engine donor.  

1998 Kawasaki 400EX 4 Wheeler.. potential suspension donor for Autobianchi.  

SLC-10.  This isn't mine.  I am not sure what it's fate is.  I will keep people updated.  It does have a build thread.  

Literally 10 engines.  5 rotaries (one Sachs 303), 1 Geo Metro 1.0L, and 5 Subaru EJs of various methods of broken.  Ok some of the EJs work.  

The garage itself: 1000 sq-ft with 200sq-ft 2nd floor pretty much full of crap.  

Follow Dot placed

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nocones said:

SLC-10.  This isn't mine.  I am not sure what it's fate is.  I will keep people updated.  It does have a build thread.  

It's all bad ass, but this is the bad ass-ist of them all! :o

Alright with the background established here is what I'm doing right now.   

The LMP360 has kinda dominated my garage time and project time for about 3.5 years.  The last event I had it at the engine let go and the next step on it is to replace the engine..  again.  We both need a little space from each other while I decide if that engine is the functional but high mileage WRX motor in the garage or is a Built IAG motor that will actually handle track use.   So I've decided to take the next month and spend time working on other projects and trying to sell some of the unnecessary ones and the parts that have accumulated that are "for future projects" that I will never get to.  

I've decided I'm going to do the 30:30 approach to ensure I keep this ball rolling.  I will spend at least 30min a day for the next 30 days doing something in the garage.  There is a lot of organization needed (bolt sorting, moving things around, etc) and plenty of cleaning things up and documenting them for sale.  But there will also be actual project progress.  

The first big one happened Saturday.  So the 360 van was bought because it was too good of a deal on one and I had silly crazy ideas for it.  Visions of lowered wide-bodies, Crazy motor swaps all filled my head, but being elbow deep in the LMP360 what actually happened was I removed the brakes so it would roll and put it literally on a shelf for 3 years.   In that time I decided the only logical build that I would use for it was to make it a miniature 4WD overland vehicle.  The body is..   not safe..  so an exocage would likely be built so I would be at least somewhat comfortable driving it on the road.   I decided this on like a Wednesday.  The Subaru uses a fairly unique drivetrain it is transverse REAR engine with the engine behind the axle.  There are...  Not many drivetrains like this.  The only one I was aware of was the newer Sambar Kei trucks with the Clover 4 cylinder.   So I checked FBM and impulse bought the cheapest one I could find for $3500 on Friday.  I probably overpaid, it doesn't have a title because it was not imported to have one.   But it's actually in decent shape.   What I didn't realize was that the Sambars had a full frame just like the 360 van.  In fact the 360 van is a 2nd Gen Subaru Sambar and the 1994 is actually a 5th Gen Subaru Sambar so they are actually related.  So the plan became Bodyswap the 360 body onto the Sambar.  

However..  360s are..  valuable.  I definitely destroy cars and make them weird things, but the cars I destroy are things like the LMP360 which was literally scrap.  This 360 van is very complete...  Except the unobtainable brakes seem messed up.  

So I decided I will let fate decide.  I knew when I bought it that the 360 van was supposed to run (it did not at the time I purchased).  What I didn't realize was the PO ment runs like a top and starts on the first crank once it's actually full of fuel.  

So me and a friend put premix in the tank, charged up the battery and tried to start it.  I had to clean the points and distributor, and unstick the float needle but then it started, idled, and this happened..

So now I don't know what to do.  Further I used a grease gun to pop all the pistons out of the wheel cylinders and they all look to be in good shape.  It looks like the brakes just where froze up due to corrosion and not because the seals or bores where in bad shape.   Also I took my wife for a ride and she was giggling maniacally the whole time.  It's hilarious in a lawnmower/golf kart sort of way.   So the next steps are to see if the brakes actually work.  If they do it will probably get put back together, quickly painted, registered and used for very short trips and Gridlife Pit Vehicle duties for a while.  

Which probably renders the Sambar unnecessary.  So I will rebuild it's carb and probably send it down the road.  

In reply to dyintorace :

that is the coolest thing i have seen in a long time

In reply to budget_bandit :

SLC-10 Build Thread

Here is as far as it has gotten.  The owner transitioned jobs and then I got busy.  We need to figure out what's next for it.  It's currently hiding in a little nook beside the garage behind a fence under a cover.  Maybe that will be part of this push.  

It's an older meme, sir, but it checks out:

In reply to Colin Wood :

LOL perfect.  

So day 1/30.  I decided to work on the VFR.  So this VFR came to me via Singleslammer.  He got it cheap off the forum (I appologize I can't remember who it was) because it had a electrical gremlin that made it run intermittently. 

 While down for something like 10 years mice/rats decided the air box area was home and the throttle bodies made excellent urinals.  This locked up the throttle bodies completely.  

So I was just going to leave it at that..  but..  apparently the PO knew about this problem because in the small pile of parts was a bag with..  new (used) throttle bodies.  

So last night I swapped those on (Why can't motorcycle manufacturers come up with ANYTHING other then the rubber clamps to hold these on.. bolts with flanges exist..  guys...)

Lost in the ownership shuffle was the banjo bolt for the fuel line to tank.  But I had an extra line so I was able to just use rubber lines and the challenge fuel tank from the LMP360.  

Push the button and..  it would fire but it popped into the rear cylinder intake.  After a few attempts the front pipes where both warm but the rear were still cold.  Thinking I had an ignition problem I pulled the coils and checked for spark.  Spark confirmed I decided to just put them back in backwards because..  maybe that was what was wrong.  

And, success..  ish.  It starts, revs up, and sounds good.  But only while the starter switch is depressed.  As soon as you release it dies.   I think either it's a wiring issue in the start/kill switch, or cranking makes the ECU run in some super simple base everything mode and as soon as it looses the crank signal it is looking for some other sensor that may be missing, faulty, or disconnected and so it kills itself.  

But realistically that's probably all the farther I need to go.  

I'll give it another half hour and try to clean the switch and look for any obvious issues.  But mission accomplished of demonstrating that the motor itself is fundamentally sound.  

Now I just need to decide if I sell it as is for cheap, part it out completely, or part it out and keep the engine.    I do so love the idea of this engine and when would I ever have another one for this cheap in my life?

Day 2/30..  Oops let the smoke out.

I dunno what happened but the VFR no longer runs, starts, or does anything involving power other then Crank.  Something happened tonight when I was messing with it and the main fuse HARD shorted. 

Like..  HARD HARD.  Like if you just grounded the battery + to the chassis.  

So that's that.  I'm not going to mess with it more at all.  I'm sure a removal and disassembly of the wiring harness would find the shorted component or wire.  I disconnected all loads that are on it and it still did it so I believe it's in the wiring which isn't easy to remove.

I will push it aside for right now, and after I get some cleaning and shuffling done over the next few days I will probably list it for sale.   I may still ript the motor out and part the chassis out.  It looks like the parts are worth a fair amount, but I'm not sure I want to mess with the time it takes to do that.  I've never done that before I've always just sold relatively complete or scrapped stuff when I am done with it.  The good news is it has a title so all options are availale to get rid of it.  It doesn't take up much space though so it may be best to just put it asside and deal with it when the plate is a little less full

Day 3/30..  THE SMOKE IS BACK IN

I posted the bike for sale on the Enablers FB group.  Someone made the comment it sounds like the stator or Voltage Regulator failed.  They was correct.   The bike is back to starting and running only when the starter is pushed.   That's enough to show that the engine is "sound".  So that's better.  I'll probably make a for sale post on the VFR.  If it could disappear in one piece that would probably be best.  

Other items I accomplished, I bought a sonic cleaner.  It's just the Harbor Freight $90 one.  I like it.  I used simple green and water.  It doesn't instantly vaporize everything but it freed up stuck together nuts and bolts turning them from fused to hand loosen able.  

I took the 360 van wheel cylinders all the way apart and all the bores look serviceable.   There are some missing / broken tangs that hold the adjusters from rotating, and I don't have the rubber boots.   For as little use as this is going to get I will likely try throwing it together without those parts just to make sure it works.  I can either source them and pull it appart later or if can be the next owners problem when they inevitably do a full restoration on this.

That's after about 10 minutes in the Sonic cleaner. 

I also while the sonic cleaner was running started to clean a corner of the garage where shelves are going to go for the big bins of blown up Subaru parts.   I'll probably get some pictures of that tonight as that's going to be the focus.

I like 30 for 30. It's functional.

I need to get back into the 30/30 routine, my shop is an absolute mess.

Excited to see how everything pans out in this thread!

Hoping to see updates on the SLC-10. Love that build.

Not sure how the stator or r/r would prevent it from starting...  unless one of them failed in a strange way that caused the short that was popping the fuse. 
Or maybe in servicing it you moved wires around that were problematic?

The VFR was mine.  I can talk to you about it if you would like but it seems like you've got it going to a new home.  When I owned it, in last condition, the bike would start like normal and idle but not rev.  Like the TPS wasn't being read by the ECU even though the TPS voltage would change as it should.  The extra throttle bodies came from trying to trouble shoot that situation.  The bike currently has a Dorman (I think) TPS mean for a similar era Honda Pilot installed.  Both the extra throttle body setup and the Dorman TPS gives the same results.

Mice damage probably from when S. Slammer owned it. 

I'm not very proud of how I sort of ruined that bike.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Thanks for the input.  It does rev now.  The issue is something with dying when the starter isn't engaged.  I'm not going to figure it out.  I am convinced the engine is fine and if I was going to use it it would get a Microsquirt or SpeedyEFI.  Because it wouldn't be in the bike.  It's "for sale" but I haven't sold it yet.   

I don't think you ruined it.  You did your best to troubleshoot what seems to be a weird issue.  There are apparently some recalls on these for strange wiring issues, but I suspect it could be repaired if someone cared.  

The Stator seems to be hard shorted to the engine ground.  Determining the cause would require more disassembly then I want to do.  

Day 4-5/30

Was busy but was able to squeeze in 30 minutes both days.  Pretty basic stuff.  Did some more shuffling of the garage.  Assembled some shelves and cleaned up the caliper pistons. 

In reply to nocones :

These bikes are hard to troubleshoot due to a proprietary data interface, kind of like OBD-1 systems in cars before OBD-2 came along, and I don't know that anyone has properly hacked the management to read what the ECU thinks is happening.

The side stand cut off switch was acting weird before I basically gave up on the thing.  Life happened etc. 

The stator situation with the VTEC(sorta) VFR 800's is not great.  I think that one has close to 10k miles on it, which means it shouldn't be dead yet, but it probably would be with another 5k to 10k miles. 

Thanks for the kind words.  You have produced some amazing cars. 

Day 6/30.  It's Saturday!

So this day had much more then 30 minutes.  I sort of ran around like Family Circus doing a bunch of different stuff.  The first was cutting shelves to go into the frame that was holding up the 360 van.  

That's..  a inappropriate amount of engines.  Not shown is anoter EJ, a Suzuki G10, and a Sachs 303 rotary.  The boxes are full of a disassembled EJ257, some intakes and other parts from EJs.  

I also did some project mockup stuff.  The first was for the 360 Van.  

I wanted to park it next to the Sambar to see how the sizes compare for a potential Bodyswap.  

It looks unbelievably smaller but when you start to look it's a bit like a 2024 F150 vs a 1974 F150.  They seem much bigger then dimensions support.   It's about 3" in width, 6" in length and almost none of it is in the cabin.   The floor of the Sambar is about 5" higher then the floor of the 360.   Technically these are a 2nd generation and 5th generation Sambar.  

The idea would be to make a little off road 360 Van.  A while back when I first had this idea I asked AI to explore it for me.   It made this image and I thought .  Yeah okay that's cool.  This is the only thing I like AI art for.  It's even one step before I start to sketch to see if things even fit.  

Another advantage of this "overland" or "safari" sort of build would be an Exo Cage.  That would go a long way to feeling like I could use the van more then to go to ice cream.  Here is a Kei Van modified like this.

I've never seen a 360 modified this way and the newer engine would be easier to use.  Also 4WD would be near and taking it off roading would be hilarious.  

But...   It's pretty valuable, but I've never let that bother me before.   We will see.  

Ok the forum has been weird I've already lost a post and had to redo it and had a few post multiple times so I'm splitting this up.  

Day 6/30 continued.  

While the cars were lined up I thought I would put the closest to an "American style" truck I had next to it.   I lined the back of the cab of the Willy's up to the Sambar.  It's hilarious.  The beds are exactly the same size.  And the cabs basically are identical also.  

So despite the firewall to tailgate dimensions being basically the same .  .  The Willy's has all this stuff in front.  

No real relevance here just a unique wierd opportunity I had.  I was surprised how basically identical the Willy's is to a Kei truck in use able dimensions.   

Day 6/30 continued.  

One more project mockup thing.  The Panhard has been a bit of an unknown.  I have had multiple ideas for it but it's a cool car and deserves to have something done to it.   I tried and failed to make it the Pri-Hard.

Pri-Hard ends in tears

Following that it went back to its home to think about what it's done.   The original engine is a opposed 2 cylinder and the car is FWD.  I have been unsure what I wanted to do with it.   A while back I was given a free Miata.  It was ROUGH but had good bones.  I infamously put TR3 style doors on it and Cardboared a 1960s style front end for it just to see what it would look like.  

TR3 Miata

Man I forgot how decent they front bumper ended up looking .   .  Anyone got a NB for sale cheap?

Anyway the Miata got parted out, the titled chassis went to a forum member, the transmission went to Robbie, the interior to Duster, but the subframes and suspension stayed here.  I just figured I would never regret keeping a set of Miata subframes, Bilstein adjustable coilovers, and those mesh wheels around.   

So I had a thought.  It's actually back to one of John Brown's original thoughts for the Panhard.  Miata subframes under the Panhard.  But I like the idea (at least for now) of using a Subaru motor trans locked in RWD mode to drive it because it matches the OEM Panhard engine layout.   Also I have a very good running EJ251 from the LMP360 complete with ECU.   But I wasn't sure the EJ would work with the Miata Subframe.   

So I present a pile of parts I am 99% certain has never been attempted before.

A Miata Subframe with a RWD converted Subaru EJ22/5MT in the front of a Panhard Dyna Z.  

The engine obviously is in front of the subframe but because of the firewall position any engine would end up that way there isn't a lot of space between the wheels and the firewall.  

I might be able to get the engine back further but right now it is notched around the steering rack, and everything would just kinda work.  

Hood on clearance is great and it leaves plenty of room in the front for activities like radiator.

Not much poke even with the 15x9s.   So it looks for sure like this will wind up with Miata subframes and RWD.  In a few weeks I'm going to look at Singleslammer ex challenge LS400 1UZ as it has a small chance of engine up in this.  But I think it may have challenges with the subframe to firewall positioning and I would not want a V8 hanging out in front of the Subframe like that.   But either way looks like this one is going to wind up being able to go sideways.  It's will always just be kinda a cruiser but Panhard Drift Z does have appeal...

In reply to nocones :

YES!

I was sad the Pri-Hard didn't work out, but the Miata Subbie mash up is even better 

Indy - Guy said:

I was sad the Pri-Hard didn't work out, but the Miata Subbie mash up is even better 

THIS