Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

Dashing Through the Snow

Waiting for more wire to arrive, so back to the dash.

We needed to make more room for the rear of the gauges. Some precision angle grinding was required. Retained the stock steering column mounting. Glad we didn't have to custom fab that.



Lots of room for the boost gauge fittings now.



HVAC vents need to be fitted. We fabbed these mounting brackets which get mounted to the bulkhead under the dash.





Also added ducting, conforming to the underside of the dash. Will get trimmed with gasket tape to make a good seal.



Cut vent holes in the dash



Finished product worked out great

[dvallis]

PCBs for the warning lights finally arrived from China. Took a damn month using "ePacket" (China post + USPS). Won't be doing that again.

Boards are perfect. Major components check out. Still have to ohm all the connections and reflow on SMT components. That's a project for another day.

[dvallis]

Well, I got a wild hair and built it tonight. Hand soldered this one. I'll reflow the rest.



And .... it works! Dual power supply is providing 12V on channel 1 simulating the battery, 2.5V on channel 2 simulating a sensor output (fuel level etc). Volt meter shows the threshold set to 3.3V. LED is hooked to the "GND when low" connector input. Sensor voltage is below threshold so LED is on.

Nice!

[dvallis]

M5

Total non-sequitur for the build but a bunch of BMW enthusiasts will appreciate it. Finally found an unmolested E39 M5. Single owner, mechanically perfect, needs some light cosmetic work, 100K miles. Price was right and Pretty Wife likes blue, so I pulled the trigger. I need a bigger garage. :devil:

[dvallis]

Switch panel back from laser etching. They even laser cut the holes. Perfect! This one was too thin (1/16") but they're making me a couple more 1/8" panels at no cost. I'm liking it.

[dvallis]

Still working on the less exciting stuff. Wiring loom takes time. We'll eventually get back to the engine once this gets done right.

Here's a Y splice on three 12 gauge wires between the fan circuit breaker and fan relays. Copper wire wrap holds it for reflow and provides strength. Gets covered by heat shrink for strain relief. Repeat N times.



This widget is a front panel lighting unit. Bracket gets manufactured out of aluminum and attached to the bottom two studs of each switch guard. Diffuser sticks to the bracket with double sided 3M tape and holds the RGB LED. Female connector is soldered to LED and resistors, then strain relieved to the bracket. Mating connector gets soldered to the wiring harness. This makes the whole thing modular, with no fixed soldered connections. Manufacture and repeat N times.



Trying out the temporary switch panel. The letters are opaque. This will help with light diffusion.

[crm103]

Enjoying your build thread! Nice e39! I moved to North Austin a little over a year ago. I would love to check out your build sometime. Nice e39! I'm super jealous.

[dvallis]

Getting near the end of wire building. Total count is 100 conductors. Will turn all this into a dash wiring harness next.

[dvallis]

Let There Be Light

Here are a few shots of the new RGB LED in action

RGB




When main cutoff is engaged, switch panel labels light up as GB (cyan)



When key is turned on, switch panel labels are lit with RGB (white)



If a breaker trips, GB LEDs are disabled, leaving R



Nice!

[MrWolf]

This project is beast mode! So over 2 years in and 54 pages of r3v posts - how is that "cost effective" piece you mentioned on page 1 coming along?

Looks like you've still got a ways to go. Can't wait to see it all come together. But you are going to have to repost the 30+ pages worth of pictures that no one can see.

And awesome find on the E39 M5. Depending on the mileage on it, I'm guessing you'll soon start a thread on your projects involved with that. At around 110k miles I was spending every other weekend working on my 540i. But I miss it so.

[dvallis]

Cost effective it is not. However, the only way out is through to the end. And I enjoy the garage time.Wife calls this E30 my mistress. Luckily she's supportive. See post #1. Also from post #1 make sure you use Chrome as a browser and install the Photof#$$it plugin. Then you will see the rest of the build.

[dvallis]

I swear, the E39 M5 is staying bone stock. :devil: But you're right I did start a build thread on M5board.com "Restoring my M5".

[Elysian]

Cost effective it is not. However, the only way out is through to the end. And I enjoy the garage time.Wife calls this E30 my mistress. Luckily she's supportive. See post #1. Also from post #1 make sure you use Chrome as a browser and install the Photof#$$it plugin. Then you will see the rest of the build.

Firefox has one of those plugins too, Photobucket Hotlink is the name of the one I use.

My E30 build was supposed to be "cost effective," if I tallied up how much I spent over the last year I'd probably be divorced

[dvallis]

Designed a custom PCB for the LED, resistors and connector that will go on each switch label. Easier and more reliable than screwing with perf boards. Cost about $1 each to manufacture.

[dvallis]

Das Beast ETM

For the electrically inclined, here is a copy of the latest Das Beast Electrical Technical Manual. Click on the picture to get a copy of the PDF.