E30guydownunder's Track car build.

[e30guydownunder]

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Used these to maintain doorbar spacing while we repaired the floor and got the rest of the cage zipped up:



Floor repaired ready to begin fully welding:





Welded Stuff:

[e30guydownunder]

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Some of those welds look pretty sketch in the pictures :screwed but believe me they are well and truly fine, with a cleanup for paint and a coat of paint everything will be beaut, you can see some of the silve paint on the top of the cage, this is the colour i'm planning to paint the interior, althou i might darken it up a touch looking at the pics.

anyway uploading 55 pics took a bit longer than i expected, wont be getting to work that early :laugh

Another quick update from this arvo.
Got the drivers side intrusion done. And did the tags along the front legs to the roof. Just have the main hoop welding to finish on the drivers side and the cage is welded.

Throwing some ideas around this arvo for a dead pedal, window net mounting and dash mounts, as well as general switch locations and things. Think we have the dash mounts sorted, its fair to say the dash will be a heap easier to get in and out now

Going to be making a fair bit more stuff before painting than I intended...so its pushed back again Aiming to throw paint around by the end of the weekend so i can send the paper work away for the Rollcage Approval and then the Log Book etc.

haha thanks for the tips matt. Got any on getting free time and money :p

Made the dash mounts, just two tags sticking off the front legs behind the dash sides, thing is even more solid than the factory mounts very impressed. Going to finish them off, modify the dash and get stuck into the cleanup stages of the cage for paint this arvo.

Things to do before paint:
Finish Dash Mounts
Make a mount in the middle of the dash
Dead pedal
Finish the weld on the back of the drivers side main hoop leg
Weld sunroof patch in
clean up the cage and weld spatter
wipe down with thinners/wax remover/prep wash


No doubt I'll think of a million other things to do, but the aimis paint on the inside so i can get the paper work away and the log book happening.

[e30guydownunder]

and some more

Well for once i have achieved the overall goal!!! There is paint on the inside and damn is it hot. I havent taken all the detail pics for the roll cage certification thou will do that tomorrow and get the paper work off in the mail tuesday.

But yeh, the dash mounts are finalised, and after buggering around with cardboard for an hour i decided to leave the dead pedal for later.....so i weled some nuts in to provide a mount system....this will give me the opportunity to change designs as the driver changes shape and the seating position changes (inevetible).

Then we threw the roof in, tacked it along the edges in something that resembled even intervals and around each corner, trying to be careful of heat build up, was going good till i got the flapper wheel out to knock the tops off the welds, doh the roof pulled in one spot ah well we'll have the bog out anyway.

Also did a few stitches on the seam inside. Then we have filled the seam with devcon...its a metal filler based product, basically powdered metal in an epxoy based resign.....the roof is solid "as brew". :crazy

And then for shits and giggles (well not really, shit off the ground and in/on the car is always good) i got the 318is fuel tank in the car...i added new rubber lines where ever they were used for some preventative maintenance, one thing i can tell you is the 55 and the 65 litre tanks are very very different. I've had to modify the fuel filter bracket in order to run the big fuel filter under the car as the 6 cylinder do.

i wanted this because the ones the 4 cylinders have in the engine bay are, smaller, more expensive, slightly harder to change and may get in the way of future developments....BOOST :hehe

So after modifying that threw it in with the tank. something else that will be different is there is no lift pump on the 55 litre tank because it has a line between the tanks.

Anyway some pics from the weekend, I'll get more up later today was pretty flatout, painting took 2.5 hours on its own :screwed

Today my car became a true Australian Race car...ZIPTIES!


The roof after filler metal


Beautiful paint






Modded fuel filter bracket (lip and bush removed):


Lines in:




Thats all

[e30guydownunder]

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over the past two days i have been working towards getting the rear suspension in the car....this has included finishing off the rear sway bar mounts and actually strengthening the strut towers.

Yesterday i did the towers:
Profiled plate:


After some work:


Ready for full welding:




Welded (yes i had issues with the sheet metal blowing out ):


I was trying to avoid creating a stress point in the corner where the strut mounts are prone to cracking and ripping out. This is why i welded the profiled plate to the vertical strips and not the cars sheet metal. The strips then transfer the load down the stronger sheet metal....in theory anyway.

And today:
Here is the swaybar mount in position:


I threw an L and R on them to tell them apart, no doubt they are different side to side:


This all means that with some paint thrown around the wheel wells and on the sway bar mounts im ready to throw the rear suspension in tomorrow...and am planning to do so. Everything is ready except the Rear Shock mounts, so for the time being i'll ;eave the shocks out.

Im hoping to get the engine and box in over the weekend and give the car a good wash. Then it will be all systems are go on making the front struts, fitting out the interior and painting the roof (shit loads of bogging, sanding and painting to be done).

[e30guydownunder]

OMG 20 picture rule is gay

**EDIT** forgot some pics

Here are the two holes i put through the boot to make diff instal, removals quicker, easier


going to plug them with these out of the parts car:


Now just random shots of the cage:

So on thursday i got most of the rear suspension bits in:











And yesterday i finished things up and then...taaa daaaah



No rear shocks are in...still need to make the rear strut mounts and hook the sway bar up along with the fuel filler.

Ohh and finish painting the wheel wells.

Didnt get my engine or gearbox mounts in time so just going to get everything ready to drop the engine and bx in over next week

[e30guydownunder]

nearly done:

Have done some work on the roof over the weekend.....



Then some filler





We did spray some filler/putty over that lot but i forgot to take a pic, and thats about where the car is up to.

Decided we weren't happy with the finish on the interior paint in some places and have got that mostly ready for repainting...with the spray gun. Also made a mount for the bonnet catch and welded the accelerator base mount in prepartion for this.

We spent most of saturday cleaning the shed...visitors are coming during this week, plus it was majorly needed....but anyway, it basically means im not allowed to make too much mess until after wednesday, so planning to get lots of little things orted like the front swaybar mounts and accelerator pedal etc....

started on the random little jobs today,

front struts:









Quiet exhaust (LOL):


but the focus getting the interior repainted so the fitout can start. And then drop the engine/box in so the car is really mobile, at the moment thou me and my brother can push it up the driveway on our own.

So the list for engine install:

Powersteering blank plate
Steering coupler needs mods
Swaybar reinforcing
Engine mount reinforcement plates on subframe

Clean up engine and box
New gearbox oil
Tighten upper sump pan and lower, install a few helicoils
Heater Plate, powersteering, a/c Delete - already did the cooling fan delete
New Fan/Alt Belts
New plugs
Paint rocker cover and upper intake manifold
New gaskets here and there
Could prolly install coil on plug and engine loom before installing engine in car.

Wont have time to do my custom gearshifter so will temporarily run my brothers short shifter in the hope i can still select reverse

and still tossing up going to sydney to collect a spare engine (blown up) gearbox and diff that are awfully cheap. I know i should get them, but at what time is the issue.

[e30guydownunder]

one more after this:

Did some work on the front cross member today.....

Standard Sway Bar mounts:





Then I added some plates and welded the nut on cause im lazy:



Then i modified the swaybar mount. The problem is with big bars and poly bushes that are very stubborn, getting the taggy bit of metal int he subframe and around and then bolting the mount down is very hard. So i straightened this piece and cut it:



Then i added a tab opposite the factory one that picks up on the crossmember mounting bolt (IE very freaking strong):



Added some gusseting plates on both sides and had something like so:



And the finished articles:





I will be adding some strengthening to the engine mount positions, but can't do this until i have the urethane engine mounts. As there are no 318is engine mounts avaliable because of the offset studs.....I'm using some generic White line mounts with inline studs and as such will have to drill new mounting holes....easy as cake

Besides painting, i can now make the throttle pedal, front struts or rear shock mounts. Should prolly do the rear shock mounts and painting just so one end of the car is done and dusted

[e30guydownunder]

Finally got around to making the extendo accelerator pedal.....this basically mouves the pivot point of the top section back about 75mm....All will become clear when i assemble it if your slightly confused atm:



And I also painted the seat mount and sway bar mounts while i had the gloss black out:

Hehe thanks luke...but turnernmotorport are already selling all the reinforcing things i have been doing...except the front swaybar ones....and the rest of the stuff i have done requires fairly in depth fabrication on the body shell....which most people are scared of for some reason.

If more people were to pipe up and say they wanted stuff thou, i could measure it all up properly and get all the plates laser cut (have a contact ) then with some jigs be knocking them out a bit quicker.

But to be honest its not that hard from scratch either, just hoard some cardboard for your templates, get a good quality scribe and access to some nice bench shears and away you go.

I'm not sure how much ill achieve this afternoon....spray painter is coming to look at dads m6's and give one or two quotes

Hehe yer...money is a big factor im still a student remember and on green p's at that!
have been trying to convince him to slot a m6 motor in the race car...but its not happening yet i might get as classy as a mid mounting m30 eventually....with some boost and develop the rest of the car to run in sport sedans, but thats when i have alot more money to play with.

Cheers for the cage comments....the reality is if i had paid somebody to do it would be a 3-4k cage. Besides all our time and welding consumables it owes us just under a grand!

Yep strut housing are free and i had planned to put the gusset your talking about in, ala Ground Control. Was also going to go with m3 sway bar mounts but the suspension guys i have talked to advised against it as it binds the sway bar up when your turning.

I can has painted interiorz?

yes i can, dad donned the spray mask and shit this evening and threw the second coat of epoxy around, we also darkened it up a touch and looks a million miles better.









Engine/Gearbox mounts are in the mail and expected to be here tomorrow...have canned ideas of wasting time in sydney this weekend and will be aiming to drop the engine in....fair amount of shit to do is an understatement

**edit** i should probably concerntrate when taking pictures but meh

there we are now you guys are all upto date on how my little 325i roller to 318is track rat conversion is going. hoping to drop the engine and everything mechanical in this weekend....with an optimistic goal to start it and do a burnout in the driveway :p

[e30guydownunder]

and if yu want to watch it from the main forum i update here is the link:

http://forums.eurocca.net/showthread.php?t=30668

[finite]

Looking good... is any of the cage from a kit or all custom built?

[e30guydownunder]

all custom built, bought 30metres of straight pipe had a guy do the bending for us, but I did most of the straight tubes and notching. And then dad did most of the welding.

[e30guydownunder]

got this shit going!!!!

Built front struts:



Sitting on the ground:



the first drive:



also picked up a fivelug doner for lateron when im spitting out driveshaft busting power



just need to sort the wiring and interior out and im ready to go racing

[e30guydownunder]

Alrighty so i made it to the track day in the end....here are some pics

Scrutineering (no issues with the car great start):


Venturing out onto the track:


This looks like just after the bridge:


down the main straight:


going home, car intact, pride through the roof, absolutely exhausted thou.....lol it was a big night and big day:








End result is the unhealthy engine is very unhealthy....a power up is in the planning stages along with planning to refresh the engine. But to get things kicking along i bought this:



600x300...prolly a bit on the big side for my target of 200 at the wheels (on unleaded), but for $150 brand new can't go wrong.

But that is all for the off season (christams/new years) so between now and then besides aquiring parts im going to be developing my driving and the car as is.

I'll be doing a budget turbo conversion, in that i wont be building the engine for big boost, but i already have a mega squirt so will be jumping to full engine management straight away. Am still undecided on running e85 fuel and more boost. These will all be things to work out later.

But essential that will be stage 3 of the build, stage 1 was the inital build, stage 2 is fine tuning and  abit of development (loosing some more weight)....then stage 3 will be the power up.

Besides the engine management and a fairly small turbo (thinking a t25g off a nissan silvia for starters). There will be a surge tank setup to go in, bigger fuel system in general (with head room to run e85), will need a new exhaust system, somewhere to put the intercooler and modifications to the front end to get air in there. Going to modify the oiginal intake manifold for a round throttle body for starters. And probably a bunch of other stuff i haven't even considered yet.

[e30guydownunder]

Little update, boost on the horizon. Have an intercooler, turbo, some stainless piping. Need injectors, intercooler piping and stuff for a surge tank setup...and enough 3" pipe to build an exhaust.

Then i just need to rebuild the engine :S

just thought id throw it out there:



also have the actuator to go with it, some stainless piping,  boost guage, nd a t25 flange ready to go...now just need to learn how to TIG.

ha its all in the scale of things, the turbo is tiny actually. Its a gt2560. Here's the maps:





The long and the short of it....on estimated engine flow at 3000 rpm the turbo should be sitting at about 70% efficiency on 10psi (compressor side) and 76% at 6500.

The turbine is well and truly on song by about 3000rpm as well so should be a nice little kick along. Its rated at about 300hp which is my optimal, not necessarily desired aim. I'll be happy with 200hp at the wheels (which is about 230-245hp at the fly).

Have a lead on some 55lb injectors also....

[1991 E30 M42]

Nice build, what do you plan on doing to the engine internally, that gt25 might be a bit small, and the 55lb injectors might be a bit much, if your injectors are too big tuning tends to get a little more difficult