JRW'S 91 318is turbo build

[wazzu70]

Probably to weld in a cage??

[jrw21]

I forgot to mention the plans on the roof. The old sunroof was a total loss as well as the cause of lots of the rust issues the chasis had. So I junked it and will be riveting on a sheet of aluminum with sealant then filler to blend. This will save a massive amount of top weight too!

[jrw21]

Chasis, trunk and engine compartment sprayed with 2k epoxy with ceramic resin. Stuff is rock solid and super thick.

[keflaman]

The body work is very impressive!

[jrw21]

Thanks! Not going to lie though..starting to get a bit anxious to start wrenching again. Knowing my luck I will chip the coating banging tools/parts against it! Going to wait a few days for the epoxy coating to get a good cure before I start bolting the suspension back on. So, in the meantime I need to take inventory of what I have and don't have so I don't get any surprises later!

Here is a teaser of the Suspension/subframe back from Powdercoating:

[jrw21]

Got a bit of work done tonight on the suspension. Poly mounts from revshift all around and front Ireland Engineering poly for the sway bar.

[wazzu70]

Dang, thats clean!

The Eastwood 2k primer is supposed to be quite good too.

[boosted3k]

subbed

[jrw21]

Suspension is finally on! Dang its been a long time since this car actually sat on wheels! Next on the list is clean up the brakes, prep the z3 steering rack, then choose a diff. Not 100% sure on diff ratio yet. I have 2.93 medium case and a 3.64 small case. Not sure I want to use either of them. The zf 310z I will be using behind the m42 has a 1:1 final drive. So with that in mind I may look for a 3.25 LSD.

[Tgoode318]

Nice, i have heard good things about IE Polly, its supposed to be a great street/autocross set up. As for your diff a 3.25 lsd might be in your future.

[jrw21]

Nick what diff ratio do you have behind your zf? If I recall its pretty short like 3.73 or is it a 4.10? 

[wazzu70]

Yes, I am running a 3.73 which is really short. Its great for an atmospheric car, but it will be way too steep for a turbo car.

Here is a little chart I made to help determine what rear ratios will work best for different situations:


As mentioned above, a 3.25 would probably do pretty good in a turbo car.

[jrw21]

Nice chart. I was running my numbers based on an old diffsonline spreadsheetand your numbers are spot on with what I am getting with the spreadsheet.

I run a lot down the interstate as I live a mile off one. So, I don't want anything too steep but want to retain some good torque for strip/track. The 3.25LSD looks to be the best of both worlds. 3.46lsd is VERY tempting puts me at ~3600rpm @ 75mph.

[jrw21]

Well, I decided on and purchased a 3.46 LSD. Price was right so that helped make the decision easier.

Just finished a complete rebuild on 4 brakes. OEM rebuild kits and Hawk HPS pads.   

[colin86325]

Did you paint your rotors?