Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

More front end

Don't forget the Teflon spacers on Massive Lee's 300x32 kit



Driver's side front end assembled and torqued. Note the red tape of "don't forget this or you die".



The shock tube nut is a pain in my ass. (And yours too) The strut top nut calls for ~50 ft-lbs of torque. However, it spins unless you hold the shock tower with something. The hex insert can't take any torque at all. I've read all about grabbing the shock tower with vice grips etc. etc. We red taped it and will address this one later. Probably with welding in a stud to grip.



Z3 2.7 turn to lock rack is in. We have it eyeball aligned (for now) and are using the solid steering link to turn the rack.





Nostalgia shot. Found this laying around when I was reviewing all the pictures that Photobucket won't let you see. (grrr)

[dvallis]

Dash Electronics

While we're waiting for the <expensive> rear parking brake bits, time to do some electronics. Suspension posts were getting repetitive anyway. :devil:

Here's the starting point for our dash switch panel. I found a nice sheet of aluminum in the metal stock shed and cut it to size with the electric sheet metal cutter. Needed a bit of file work to square it away, but worked out Ok.



Here's the starting sequence: Key ON enables 12V to all relays. Toggle first switch on the left, starting low pressure pump. Look for green light on upper panel indicating surge tank fuel pressure is good. Throw 2nd toggle switch for high pressure fuel pump. Check fuel pressure at rail on upper panel. 3rd toggle switch powers up engine electronics: coils, injectors and ECU. Finally, press starter button to crank engine.



Panel is looking good. All holes drilled, switch guards and switches test fitted. Order of the switches will be:

LPF HPF ENG
FAN DEF SUT
RES RES RES

LPF = Low power fuel
HPF= High power fuel
ENG = Engine
FAN = Fans 1 and 2
DEF = Defogger
SUT = Cool suit
RES = Reserved

Lights, beam select, wipers and wiper speed will be on the smaller panel to the left of the wheel.

52mm holes will be boost gauge on left and AFR gauge on right.



Did some high grit cleanup sanding on the panel. Rob cleverly "pack ratted" (that's a technical term) the 5" polishing wheels, so I couldn't finish it off tonight.



Finally, here's the Air Fuel Ratio gauge. It's been sitting on a shelf for a year. 52mm Innovative Motorsports G3. Measured it with a caliper and the actual gauge diameter is 51mm. I drilled 2" (50.8mm) holes for the gauges, so it should snug right in there.

[dvallis]

In my day job, I invent things. Sometimes stuff works. A lot of times it doesn't.

Take this thing for example. Polished aluminum definitely does NOT work for a switch panel. Turn a corner, sun in the rear window, "AUGH I CAN'T SEE!". Think we'll leave the ricer bling in the bin of shame. I also tried hammering in some switch labels and failed miserably. :devil:



Just like my day job, when stuff blows up during the invention process you try another direction. Here we go again. Second verse, same as the first. Before drilling, everything gets measured and marked to death.



So far, so good. Went much faster second time around.



Here's how you hammer in switch labels and keep each letter straight.



End result turned out pretty good. Some letters are a bit crooked but I am beat in this 105F heat. Maybe I'll have a fit of OCD in the future and make a third one. In any case, I like the toggle and switch guard look.



Got the rear brake parts from ECS. Wheels and rubber go back on this weekend.

[Bearmw]

That looks badass

[dvallis]

Gearing up for electrical. Here's the top level power wiring diagram. Some interesting points:

Starter has direct connection to battery via 600A bus bar. It can draw ~300A at startup, so we don't go through a breaker or fuse.

Dedicated ground cable run from battery to engine bay, instead of chassis ground. Also dedicated cable from starter to ground block.

Kill switch is required by racing sanctioning bodies. Must kill all power to car systems even if engine is still turning. DPST switch breaks power from positive bus bar to 12VALW bus supplying all circuit breakers. Also removes alternator output from positive bus bar.

150A bus bar used in engine bay provides direct ground connection for loads.

All loads supplied by push-to-reset circuit breakers through Bosch relays controlled with remote low voltage toggle switches.



Max continuous load calculated out to 95A. Definitely less since I was conservative on everything. This works for the stock E30 90A alternator. Battery will supply peak currents. Loads are evenly distributed over two 150A bus bars.

[Sixth.Gear]

Absolutely great thread! Jealous of the time, money and tools that you have available to effectively completely rebuild the car.

Since you had such a huge issue with photobucket, you can give this chrome plugin a try:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/photobucket-embed-fix/naolkcpnnlofnnghnmfegnfnflicjjgj?hl=en

Seems to work for now, until photobucket figures out another way to block you. Hopefully this is help to others who have been following the thread or just came across it.

[dvallis]

Way to go Sixth Gear! I tried the Chrome extension link you posted and it works! Can see the entire build thread again. Thanks for sharing.

[dvallis]

Parking brakes

So, here's the problem. We have to put this .....



.... on this. Anyone see a problem? You have to put the rear brake shield on before mounting the wheel hub? In retrospect it's obvious, but what a pain in the ass piece of engineering. I'm not taking off the half shafts and wheel hubs to mount the damn parking brake.



No problem. I'll redesign it the right way. The idea is cut off everything we don't need, then cut the damn thing in half. This works because there are four bolts capturing the dust shield / parking brake mounting against the trailing arm. That's better.



Here's how it fits on the trailing arm.



And finally, parking brake in place. Guys who know what you're looking at might notice there is a random rubber thing where the adjuster screw knob should be. :devil: Forgot the order the damn things. Will have to finish up this bit later.

[dvallis]

Got the aluminum DTM gas pedal in today. No longer rocking the painted pedal. :devil:

Before


After

[dvallis]

Improving the dash panel. This layout will let me fit all switches and breakers in one place. Makes sense to have the associated switches and breakers together as well.



Mock-up works, so we'll be going this direction.

[dvallis]

Finishing the main dash panel.

First off, I need straight letters. This rig will get it done.



Happiness is a new sheet of aluminum. $2/lb from Westbrook metals drop stock.



Third time's a charm. That's a lot of holes to drill.



Here's the final result. I'm liking it. Letters are straight. Switches and associated breakers are all together. Very functional.

[dvallis]

Lots of good stuff going on this weekend. Parking brake adjusters arrived. A bit of adjustment later and parking brakes work great.

We're finally getting back to putting more stuff on the car than we're taking off. Here's the dash fitted and quick release wheel in place. Wide angle lens makes the dash look a bit weird.



Fabricated a steering column spacer / attachment.



Held in place with 5/8 bolts. It's really solid. Not going anywhere.



Pedals getting fitted for position. We're going to use 1" square wood stock, fabricate the bracket assembly as a wooden template then repeat with 1" square tube stock.



Tilton pedals are adjustable, so we were able to get good alignment with the gas pedal.

[dvallis]

So, installing the pedal box is a pretty time consuming process. You have so many degrees of freedom that just getting it in any one place is painful. We're not using the Garagistic bracket because I have read it prevents adjustment of the pedals once in lace, and has to be modified for remote brake bias adjustment to work.

This is the start of our idea, with wood stock and aluminum for prototyping. The pedal box sits on top of and is bolted into two 1x1 bars. These transfer the pedal load to a backing plate on the firewall. It will be 10 gauge steel.



Here's the mock-up on our bench. Top plate will be bolted to the steering column frame. Vertical bars are used to hold spacing and alignment from top plate to the load bars. They will be replaced with triangular side plates. Horizontal bars will be shortened. Everything will get converted to metal tube and plate then welded together.

[badwella]

Need update, senpai

[dvallis]

Hey Guys, was on vacation. Back now. Might be starting up again this weekend if Rob is available. Stay tuned.