I picked up a partially stripped GSL-SE the other day. Now the 20Beast has a car to go in.

This thread is a work in progress. Pics and info will be added as I we go.

For starters, let's see the car. It's Doo Doo Brown, Yay!


This car needs a lot. A lot is missing. Mostly little engine bay parts and some interior stuff.

Someone left the gas cap off and water trickled in for ten years.

Here is the stock tank that came out of it.


There were 1" rust chips inside. POR15 won't fix this.


So I got another GSL-SE tank for it!


Also a walbro 255 inline (external) pump. Installed (sorry no pics).

Now the engine.

Old pic fresh off the truck.


Now we're getting somewhere.


NA header for test running


Crossmember after cutting and flipping center 180; this keeps steering alignment. Testfitting in another car. Perfect!


I picked up an ACT modified street disc


Still debating flywheels: either RB's light steel

or aluminum


I can't decide because I ported the engine a lot. Especially the primaries. I want a good daily driver. Maybe I went too big? Some people say I shouldn't have ported at all.

 

I thought I was going to be NA, so porting it made sense. Then I got a T72.


Also Precision Turbo 46mm wastegate (hope it will be big enough, sorry no pics).

Also a possible knock off HKS Super SQV blow off valve (no pic).

I'll get these pics up when I can.

 

And now some older pics of the engine bay when the PO thought he was going to install an unmodified FD engine. Yep, stock FD motor mounts. Yuck. He painted the bay CYM because it's a matching color to the engine. Well, whatever, it does look good. I'll eventually paint the whole car.

 

Ok, here's an actual image of the T72.


Looks like we have a little port mismatch on the T4 flange.


Dremel took care of it.


Now this is the big convoluted mess of a crossmember I came up with to use a stock 79 front mount bar and motor mount pedestals (they were left over from the PO's FD install). Now I can use hockey pucks. It turned out way heavy so I drilled out some material.


These are called speed holes.


I wonder if they'll whistle in the wind?

 

very nice!

 

oooooooooooboy.....not to many people have a 20bee laying around....what rear are you going to uses...?

 

Stock! Until it breaks.

 

This is going to be sick!

My one comment is that I have had three different Walbro pumps fail on me. I would suggest going with something a little sturdier. Not worth blowing a 20B to save $100 on a fuel pump.

 

Thanks. I'll use this while I'm NA. Then get like a Bosch 440.

 

Awesome Jeff

Thats a weapon of a crossmember! So your mounting it to the rails?

 

Yep! Was in the process of welding yesterday but ran out of wire. It's about 80% done so no worries. I can pull the engine and finish today/tomorrow.

 

Yay! You finally made a build thread. =P Car and fab looks good man.

 

Thanks. The engine is back out for a front cover swap and oil pan install. I've decided to go with the light steel flywheel too. The new clutch master and slave are in place and look good (painted to prevent trust). Carpets are clean and back in, pedal pads are on. Old dead headliner is removed lol.

Just waiting on some welding wire which will let me finish the crossmember install. Then it's just paint and engine install so I can get to the exhaust next.

Looks like I need to clearance a little bit of the crossmember for easier engine R&R so I'll get out the angle grinder and have a little fun today...

 

a week later..

 

The engine bay is painted. Gonna paint the crossmember tomorrow.

 

Figured I'd paint it before installing to get into all the nooks and crannies. Then touch up later.


Got about 80% of the welding done with the lump in the way. It looks good in there.


Figured I'd bias it up a little in front so it sits level after all the extras are added like waterpump etc. By level I mean as compared to a 12A.


Here you can more clearly see the bubble towards the front. Looks like 6 degrees of pinion angle...


Also got the left to right angle correct which is biased toward the driver's side in these cars.


And the tilt is zeroed with the sway bar. It looks higher on the passenger side because it's longer than the driver's. Optical illusion? Or maybe I biased it up with a heavy exhaust/turbo in mind...

 

All right, now fully welded and fully painted.

 

GSL-SE/RE-SI front cover, 79 mount bar, hockey puck motor mounts all ready to go.


These weren't really reusable.


Yeah, that cylinder is rusty inside. No honing that.


All new. Yay!


Oh wow, these pistons are both steel (or iron; they attract a magnet). Interesting and prefered as most rebuild kits these days are plastic for the master and aluminum for the slave. You might get lucky and still find an aluminum piston for the master, but twice now when I bought rebuild kits for the '81, they were both plastic. Note I had to buy a second kit because the first one stopped springing back up. Makes me think the second kit will do the same in time. Luckily I found an aluminum master rebuild kit listed for GSL-SE, so I'll see if it fits the '81 master. I think they're both 5/8" bores. I think the lengths are the same too. We'll see how long the plastic fantastic lives in the '81.


And finally some nice new or low mileage clutch parts. That's RB's SS p-plate at the upper left. I went with a light steel flywheel because they're stronger, less likely to flex and cause shudder/chatter, already had some miles on it so less worried what a solid disc like the ACT will do to it, and it frees up the aluminum to go in something else that can actually take greater advantage of it. Plus since the 20B was streetported and intended to be a daily driver, a heavier flywheel will be more pleasant I'd think.

 

nice work....waiting for more....

 

20 Beast!!!

 

Decided to make a "dent" in the oil pan today.

I started with an R5 13B pan and an R5 12A pan. Here's what's left of them.


The 13B section was placed in front as it has the larger sump.


The 12A section had a nice long deep gradual slant, deeper than the 13B so I had to cut and lift to match.


Also had to drill some holes in the 20B pattern. Fortunately I had this handy aluminum template that I can bolt the halves to for proper alignment before welding.


Then it's just cut and paste of various patch pieces until it's done. No need to fab up a pan from scratch.

 

sweet deal, going to like nice when your done

What tranny are you running? and what intake setup are you going to run, maybe i missed it somewhere in your thread between going N/A then going Turbo

 

Thanks for checking out the thread.

S5 NA trans. It's supposedly the strongest NA trans that still shifts well, compared with old school ribcases which have strong gears but weak synchros. At least the S4/S5 have decent synchros unless you abuse them. Luckily the FB chassis is pretty light.

Stock intake. They say the stock intake becomes a restriction at 6k. But since my engine is ported, might as well make it 5k. So I decided to go turbo to help it breath up past 7k. Already have the 3" exhaust components. I was thinking about going with 2.5" like gmonson did for a while, but heck I go with 2.5" on 13Bs. Oh that reminds me. I should snap a pic or two of the 3" muffler and stuff. I'll do that tomorrow if I remember.

 

sweet deal

 

Awesome updates Jeff

That crossmember will be rock solid! The engine sits perfectly, and those hockey mounts will work great.

Looking forward to seeing your sump finished, I was thinking of joining the 20b+12a sump in a similar style too. It's that way or a custom alloy sump...decisions!

Great work mate! Keep those updates flowing.