ManBearStinger: half man, half bear, half Stinger

[Meeksie]

Hi All,

First post, I'm a bit of a Stinger fan and a bit of an old car fan as well. Unfortunately I don't need a new Stinger as a dual cab ute is more practical for me here in Australia.
So I have bought myself a damaged Stinger and I am hoping to use the engine and gearbox in my hotrod build. 3.3l and 8 speed auto seems good to me.
Goodness knows if I will be able to pull it of but I will give it a crack and hopefully learn something along the way.
To date I have stripped down my little Chevy and set the chassis up on a jig. I have just installed the independent front suspension and mocked up the engine placement. It may even fit.
I plan on using a Motec ECU so that I can disable a bunch of stuff that will not be on the hotrod.
I am hoping to use the Kia instrument cluster, steering column and as many items that the wreck I have will allow.
Anyways her are a few pics of the project so far. Hopefully along the way I can get some advice on engine and exhaust modifications.

 

[General_Vodka]

Hi All,

First post, I'm a bit of a Stinger fan and a bit of an old car fan as well. Unfortunately I don't need a new Stinger as a dual cab ute is more practical for me here in Australia.
So I have bought myself a damaged Stinger and I am hoping to use the engine and gearbox in my hotrod build. 3.3l and 8 speed auto seems good to me.
Goodness knows if I will be able to pull it of but I will give it a crack and hopefully learn something along the way.
To date I have stripped down my little Chevy and set the chassis up on a jig. I have just installed the independent front suspension and mocked up the engine placement. It may even fit.
I plan on using a Motec ECU so that I can disable a bunch of stuff that will not be on the hotrod.
I am hoping to use the Kia instrument cluster, steering column and as many items that the wreck I have will allow.
Anyways her are a few pics of the project so far. Hopefully along the way I can get some advice on engine and exhaust modifications.

That hot rod looks older than time itself. Cool project. The best use of the singer 3.3t engine that I have seen so far was in a DeLorean. Had a manual trans out of a Porsche or something. VVT delete, port injection conversion, good stuff.

 

[MrE]

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing this build come along.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

G’day & welcome, I’m definitely interested in the progress of this project, if you can pull it off that little rod will go like stink.
Are you going to use the Stinger Brembos & what rear end are you using?

 

[Kia Stinger]

Hi All,

First post, I'm a bit of a Stinger fan and a bit of an old car fan as well. Unfortunately I don't need a new Stinger as a dual cab ute is more practical for me here in Australia.
So I have bought myself a damaged Stinger and I am hoping to use the engine and gearbox in my hotrod build. 3.3l and 8 speed auto seems good to me.
Goodness knows if I will be able to pull it of but I will give it a crack and hopefully learn something along the way.
To date I have stripped down my little Chevy and set the chassis up on a jig. I have just installed the independent front suspension and mocked up the engine placement. It may even fit.
I plan on using a Motec ECU so that I can disable a bunch of stuff that will not be on the hotrod.
I am hoping to use the Kia instrument cluster, steering column and as many items that the wreck I have will allow.
Anyways her are a few pics of the project so far. Hopefully along the way I can get some advice on engine and exhaust modifications.

Welcome aboard! And thank you for signing up. Do keep us posted on your project as time goes on. I hope everything works out without too much trouble!

 

[MerlintheMad]

Howdy. This should be more interesting than the DeLorean 3.3L install.

(your math is off, and adds up to 150% )

 

[Meeksie]

G’day & welcome, I’m definitely interested in the progress of this project, if you can pull it off that little rod will go like stink.
Are you going to use the Stinger Brembos & what rear end are you using?

I'm trying to do the car on a bit of a budget (I've spent a fortune on my other rod) so I'm not using a big rear end and also I'm not going to try and get much more HP out of the engine than stock. So I have a little borg warner diff (from a Ford Falcon) that has previously been narrowed and used in a Model A Ford Roadster. That diff will suit my application well and it only cost me $100. The diff has the falcon disc brake rear and the independent front has commodore calipers. I do not think that the large diameter Brembos would fit with the 16" wheel combination that I am using. The Brembos did not come with the wreck I purchased however I'm going to attempt to use the Kia Brake booster with my brake combination and mount it on the firewall. This aint going to be a show hotrod, I'm building it to drive every day and hopefully tow a very small caravan sometimes.
The engine and wreck was not a complete vehicle when I got it so I'll attempt to to the best with what I have on hand.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

I'm trying to do the car on a bit of a budget (I've spent a fortune on my other rod) so I'm not using a big rear end and also I'm not going to try and get much more HP out of the engine than stock. So I have a little borg warner diff (from a Ford Falcon) that has previously been narrowed and used in a Model A Ford Roadster. That diff will suit my application well and it only cost me $100. The diff has the falcon disc brake rear and the independent front has commodore calipers. I do not think that the large diameter Brembos would fit with the 16" wheel combination that I am using. The Brembos did not come with the wreck I purchased however I'm going to attempt to use the Kia Brake booster with my brake combination and mount it on the firewall. This aint going to be a show hotrod, I'm building it to drive every day and hopefully tow a very small caravan sometimes.
The engine and wreck was not a complete vehicle when I got it so I'll attempt to to the best with what I have on hand.

Thanks for the breakdown, yes hotrods are like Frankenstein, a little bit of everything.
The Kia Brembos are too big for 16” so what you have got should be fine, definitely tried & tested in OZ.
Love that its not going to be a show rod & your building as a DD.
The stock V6TT & transmission should serve you well & a great combination with the rest of the car, once up & running you will definitely get comments & a lot of interest in it once people realise what engine you are running.
Good luck with your project & I hope all goes well for you, please keep us all updated with progress reports & photos when you can.

 

[StingertimeNC]

In for updates!

 

[RedCal]

Welcome to the hive, keep us updated on the progress of your build, should be a great build

 

[777David]

This will be very interesting to follow. Keep us posted.

 

[Meeksie]

Well I have managed to get a bit of my crossmember fabricated and have the engine and gearbox mocked up. I need to get the centre crossmember bent at a fab shop as it's 4mm thick so I'm waiting for that before it can be completed. In any event it took me ages to make the engine mounts but I think they should be suitable. The fuel pump is in an odd place and was preventing me from having a full tubular crossmember as part of the engine mounts but I think they should be suitable as is. I have used 1948 Ford sidevalve engine mounts. The diff is set in place but I'll wait till the body is steeled out before welding its mounts into position. Apart from that when I pull the engine I can fully weld the engine mounts in place and then get an engineer in to approve the chassis. I will need to do some mods on the rhs exhaust as there is little space for the steering but that will come in time.
Shouldn't be too far off but I will spend the dollars on a Motec ECU as I'm not sure that there are any other options to control the direct injection engine.

 

[MerlintheMad]

So glad when people announce "projects" and are not blowing smoke. Your "unicorn" is being born!

 

[stoopid]

How's the weight distribution going to be? Looks like you're almost behind the front axle (hard to tell with it absent in the pics).

** actually, looking at the original pic, it looks like you're doing well in that regard since the front wheels on this car are way forward.

 

[Meeksie]

I have an update but am unable to link pics unfortunately.

 

[bfglitch]

I was wondering what the status was of this project, I just couldn't remember any key words to find the post. Also since I block ads I can't search.

 

[Meeksie]

I have pretty much completed my chassis and have been working on the body lately. Got a new coat of epoxy on the body.

With the exhaust I used the original resonators up front and have used Flowmaster HP mufflers further down. It is 2 1/4" stainless with high temp paint, hopefully it lasts.


The Motec ecu is mounted on the passenger side underneath the dash and I will attempt to use the multimedia system. Not sure at this time if this has a factory lock on it and if that can be rectified??? The display panel will get upholstered in nigely and the multimedia controller will be behind the passenger seat.

Kia steering colums and pedals mounted.

I have been attempting to sort out the intercooler and air filters however I do not believe that the air filters are sufficient. I will be reworking the air intakes to have much larger filters and these will likely need to be on top of the engine as I lack space everywhere else. Also made a new bonnet to provide clearance for the turbos.


Also bought myself a 2019 Stinger with 4200km on the clock late last year, it's white with red trim. I've been enjoying driving it and hope that this little hotrod goes half as well.

 

[Meeksie]

A few more pics of the progress. I'll have to start working on the wiring a bit more soon but first I'll sort out all the partly completed tasks and sort the air intakes out.

 

[ianf]

Really interesting stuff. Good luck with the project!

 

[djerickd]

I miss ManBearPig! lol