Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

Das Beast Body And Paint

80 lbs of steel riding home in the trunk of my rental car. It noticeably improved the traction. :devil:

[cuccinater]

following

awesome build, cant wait to see it finished.

[dvallis]

Das Beast Body Shop

And here's the steel in Das Beast. Perfect fit! :devil:



Decided to rock some bronze STR 518's. After WAY too much research I figured you can't beat them. $99 each from a local store. 17x9 4x100/114.3 73.1 ET22.



They actually look more like the 1st picture in person. I think the camera flash "over blings" them, if you know what I mean.



Just an FYI, here is a small portion of my wheel research. I wish v-bulletin supported html tables, since this looks like crap.

Name Size Weight Offset Bore Price Comment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drifz 308B Spec R 17 x 9 31 15 73 ? $135
AODHAN AH03 machined silver 17 x 9 24 25 73.1 $104
TD Pro Race 1.2 17 x 9 21 ANY 57.1 $260
STR 505 17 x 9 21 22 73.1 $108
ESM004 gunmetal 17 x 9 22 25 57.1 $124
ESM 007 17 x 9 18 20 67.1 $230
MST MT07 17 x 9 21 20 73.1 $122
JNC001 matte black 17 x 9 25 20 73.1 $126
JNC001 machined silver 17 x 9 25 25 73.1 $138
STR 514 silver 17 x 9 21 20 73.1 $153
Tracklite Clutch 17 x 9 20 25 73.1 $160
XXR 531 black platinum 17 x 9 21 25 73.1 $175
Rota GRID hyper black 17 x 9 20 20 57.1 $180 True 4 lug
Varrstoen ES2 17 x 9 23 25 73.1 $200 True 4 lug
Klutch ML7 17 x 9 23 15 73.1 $220 True 4 lug

[dvallis]

Das Beast Body Shop

Got the new wheels back to the garage with tires. They look great. Bronze is very subtle.



Here's the difference in tread width, 205/55/15 to 245/40/17. New tires look massive compared to the old ones.



China is getting brave with their marketing. I'm pretty sure these are not "forged monoblock" for $99. Or I got a KILLER deal. :devil:



Last I heard STR has not bought Rays Engineering either. But who knows?



Awesome new RUBBER for the road.

[dvallis]

Das Beast Body Shop

Tie to revisit the sunroof. It needs a permanent patch. First thing is removing the old sunroof AKA boat anchor. It weighs 15 lbs! (50 lbs of sunroof mechanism previously removed)



Now scrape off all the goop I used to temporarily seal it.



Will use 20 gauge steel bonded with 3M 8115 and riveted to patch this hole.



Geared up for body work.



Preparing the metal for proper bonding.



Sunroof patch template fitted. 24x37 20 gauge



Rear bulkhead template in progress. Back deck will class it up a bit. Only requires one break bend.



Bottom piece fitted. Plasma cutting & one break bend required. It's not for looks. Racing regulations require a continuous steel bulkhead between the driver and fuel cell.

[dvallis]

Das Beast Body Shop

Time to tackle more custom interior work. First step: assemble the new wheel, hub and quick release.





View from the driver's seat. Wheel is too high for my liking. Need to lower it.



First drill out the shear bolts. They are a pain in the a$$.



Now pound a star head socket into the hole and break the thread loose.



Here's the damn thing removed. Repeat for the other side,



Temporary ghetto lowering spacer. Will fabricate a real bracket later.



New view from the driver's seat. Much better.



View of where the center console will go.



Now, our plan for this build is create a custom metal dash without welding. Plasma cutter, break bends and sheet metal screws only. Dash will be made in removable modular panels. Here's it is starting to take shape.



New view from the driver's seat. My gauge layout is definitely going to change.



Making the dash end caps. Cuts and bends only.



Fits great.



Center console is shaping up. Getting too darn hot in the garage so I called it a day.

[peterman]

Will you be running a defroster?
That looks like a lot of metal for the dashboard. I would think you can remove a lot of that on the passenger side. But I guess if there's no welding you can use aluminum sheet anyway.
Looking great!

[dvallis]

Defroster?! Ha! I live in Texas! If ice forms here the world is ending. :devil:

Don't worry. That's just the dash template. Will be lots of metal carved out of it before we are done. I expect it to look something like this.

[peterman]

Defroster?! Ha! I live in Texas! If ice forms here the world is ending. :devil:

Perhaps defogger is a better term.
There are plenty of humid days where the windshield will fog up in cool weather. I have heard putting Dawn on the windshield helps in the absence of a defogger.
I've seen guys drive around the paddock with a squeegee (and even a towel duct taped to a stick!) to wipe the inside of the windshield because they can't reach it when they are harnessed in.
Then they wedge it behind the seat when they go race. Not the best idea but I've seen it done.

[dvallis]

Very classy, towel and broom stick. :-)

I know what you mean about the fogging. Has happened to me racing coupes in the rain. Honestly I haven't worried about it for ages since I was driving open wheel cars. Defogging = Glove across visor

Looks like we'll be inventing a system of defogging blowers for Das Beast. This ought to do the trick. $150 heater + blower from Summit. One in the dash, one in the trunk.

[dvallis]

Sheet metal dash was a good idea, but I lucked into this fiberglass dash a R3v member had gathering dust. Apparently not their lightest work, but it's sill freaking fiberglass. :devil: Thanks Chris and VSR.



In your best Gollum voice .... "My Precious"!

[Digitalwave]

Engine oil temp sensor screws into the block (below oil filter) where oil pressure idiot light sensor used to go.

Someone mentioned this already, but did you check clearance/penetration of the brass adapter potentially blocking the oil passage? I ask because I am about to mount my oil temp sensor in the same spot.

Spent way too much time reading this thread at work today. Keep up the great work!

[mila325]

Rest in piece photos. Pls get them back d;

[dvallis]

Photo bucket is down. Again. Should be back. Otherwise I'll find a new site to host these photos.

[dvallis]

Tonight may need to be Das Beast thread mega image repost. Ugh.