#ZedShed Saul’s Aero Princess - 2.8TU & 6Speed package

[Lee]

Trying something different with the prop shaft this time. Last time with Dino’s 6-Speed I used propshaft services in Hayes, but it cost me £300 to be reduced by 100mm. I noticed they didn’t re balance it, maybe due to how short it was. So this time I’ve gone to a competent welder. He’s used two Vee blocks to keep the prop square.

Dinos prop, cut at the end

Then this time I’ve asked to cut it in the middle.

the final test would be to spin it in lathe to make sure it’s true. Weights are in the same place so let’s see. £30 vs £300 got to be worth a try

 

[Duncodin]

Trying something different with the prop shaft this time. Last time with Dino’s 6-Speed I used propshaft services in Hayes, but it cost me £300 to be reduced by 100mm. I noticed they didn’t re balance it, maybe due to how short it was. So this time I’ve gone to a competent welder. He’s used two Vee blocks to keep the prop square.

Dinos prop, cut at the end
View attachment 353479View attachment 353477

Then this time I’ve asked to cut it in the middle.
View attachment 353481
View attachment 353489
the final test would be to spin it in lathe to make sure it’s true. Weights are in the same place so let’s see. £30 vs £300 got to be worth a try

£30? wow. That's cheap. If somebody quoted me £30 before doing the work the old saying "If it sounds too good to be true . . ." would spring to mind. But I'm actually quite impressed by that cut - looks like it'll be a good un.

Don't let him see this - He's too cheap!!

 

[Lee]

£30? wow. That's cheap. If somebody quoted me £30 before doing the work the old saying "If it sounds too good to be true . . ." would spring to mind. But I'm actually quite impressed by that cut - looks like it'll be a good un.

Don't let him see this - He's too cheap!!

Mates rates. Total cost of all the work is more. He’s done the linkages, gearbox bracket and trialing the prop.

 

[Shelim Miah]

What a build!

 

[Delk]

I used Bailey Morris for my shafts and would recommend them if needed.
They separated the first one for the return shipping but didn't mark the shaft alignment a rebalanced it without question.
The stock sized joints didnt like the power level I am at so they built me a custom shaft with larger joints that should last my lifetime.

 

[Lee]

So today was a very testing day, think I need to stop working night shifts and then working on cars. None the less it makes for an interesting read. I’ll start with the successes of today.

Gear linkage in and fitment looks really good, linkage needs painting and all the bushes replaced before final fitment. Note the measurements for this linkage were from Dino’s build and confirmed when I checked the other day.

fitment looks good but you can see the first issue, the studs on the yellow bushes are long and hit the flex disc. Worth noting for this build we’ve gone from the small flex disc up to this larger 3.0 disc, this will become relevant shortly.

checking the gear stick position and it looks good inside the car.

not enough gears on the the knob now

so a quick trim removing the excess threads gave us a few MM clearance. Perfect now, bushes are 180* out in this photo, cap head should sit in the slot to stop any radial movement.

much better now

now this I where I made a big mistake, I consulted my notes on Dino’s 6-speed swap and made too many assumptions, the main one being that the measurements would carry over to this build, the reason they didn’t was due to Dino’s being a 2.8 already and has larger diff size over the 2.2 in Sauls. Also my datum measurements were based off a prop shaft up against a ZF gearbox and Sauls here used the Getrag so my measurements were out. Long n short of it I didn’t need to cut out 100mm from the front section of the prop it would have fit fine. So it looked like this.

Luckily I have another front section for another 6 speed swap just need to collect it. Was a facepalm moment for sure. Moving on I assembled the inlet manifold next.

fresh 3.0 throttle body, all new CCV system. New manifold gaskets. Idle valve also cleaned. This is then mated to the larger 3.0 purple injectors.

this now leave me to sort the birds nest wiring loom.

another job today was to remove all the brake assembly’s and also fit new track rods n tie rods. Leaving all this off gives Saul a chance to clean n paint everything.

Saul has a set of 8 pot callipers, that’s not a typo he really had 8 pots. These are very small pots as not to disturb the brake bias, I checked this as it made me raise an eyebrow.

many many hours of progress today. Felt good to make use of the mild weather.

 

[Althulas]

Demonstrates your integrity Lee posting up mistakes, but your skill set speaks for itself self. What make are those 8 pots? Are the carriers made for them or some oem off the shelf were a good match?

 

[Lee]

Demonstrates your integrity Lee posting up mistakes, but your skill set speaks for itself self. What make are those 8 pots? Are the carriers made for them or some oem off the shelf were a good match?

All will be revealed soon

 

[ktnez99]

This is an interesting thread and thanks for taking the time to post updates @Lee
I’ve always believed my Z naturally feels like it needs a sixth gear. Pity BMW didn’t think so, too.