Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[ForcedFirebird]

NASA no rule. SCCA only applies to fuel lines passing through cockpit which must be solid tube or braided hose. We don't penetrate driver compartment.

I have not had any issue passing tech in any sanction with braided lines and rubber grommets. Several cars have even had rubber push-loc style hydraulic hoses, but we always have a metal firewall between it and driver.

[Digitalwave]

My bad, it said threaded fittings needed to be used, and a bulkhead between the cabin. I confused that with "bulkhead fittings."

[dvallis]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's great to have a Technical Advisory Board for Das Beast. :devil:

[dvallis]

Just Flocking Flock it

Flocked the dash over the holidays. Man, it's a nasty process. Here's the dash goobered up with adhesive. Little tabs are things masked off. They will be a joy to get off I'm sure. Lots of quality time with the exacto knife.



After flocking. Most of it ended up on the dash, lots on me. Turned out good all things considering.



Das Beast patiently waiting for it's engine. Nearly there.

[dvallis]

Suspension sensor amplifier board. I use a freeware package called ExpressPCB to do quick and dirty jobs like this. Only takes about 30 minutes to do a schematic and layout. You pay a premium .. $20 a board with no silkscreen, but I can order the boards with one click right from the tool. Solder in through hole components from DigiKey, pop it in a Hammond box and you're done.

[dvallis]

Brake switch and bracket



Installed



Relay cover in progress

[dvallis]

Working on the steering column harness today. First order of business is adapting the E30 horn slip ring to NRG quick release wheel hub. Thanks to PNWDan for this post with instructions.

First step .. chopped the original slip ring carrier and cut the index pin off the back.



A couple of the tabs broke off the slip ring. Needed to glue it in place on the carrier.



Drilled and tapped the NRG hub



Slip ring bolted in place



Slip ring contact didn't survive removal ages ago.



Rebuild it with some 3/16 brass tube, pan head brass screw, rubber gasket and glue.



Turn and high beam switch re-attache with the new wiring harness. Found some rivets that fit the slip ring contact perfectly.



Re-fitted hub in place.



Steering wheel mounted, terminated the harness with a connector and that's it for the column.

[dvallis]

Lots going on tonight ...

High pressure fuel gauge with red backlight finally arrived. Cluster is done.



Dash flocking unmasked.



Completed dash





Bulkhead relay cover completed.



Fully assembled dash



Nice being able to work on the bench and see behind the dash



Found some interference with the dimmer switch. Will need a bit of precision angle grinder work.

[dvallis]

Finished building most of the data acquisition electronics this weekend. Still waiting for a few connectors to arrive.

Here's the linear sensor amplifier in its final incarnation. Board fits perfectly in the case. Output is 1000 mV / inch, much more than a simple divider would give us. Great for the application.



I re-characterized the linear sensor after finishing the amp. Good thing too. It's output is definitely some species of non-linear polynomial. This data gets entered into Race Studio 3 as a lookup table for sensor calibration.



This beast is the custom sensor interface. It provides 5V with significant current capacity to three current sense amplifiers and four linear sensors. 12V-5V DC/DC is buried in the box. Why? 5V on the AIM cable is reference only. It can't supply more than a few tens of microamps. Box also ties all grounds together and feeds analog signals back to the AIM connectors. Finally, it allows us to disconnect the sensor cables, not be permanently wired into a junction box. I'll post a better pic when it's done tomorrow.

[2mAn]

Looks like the finish line is kinda in sight now

[dvallis]

Getting close. Some last bits of wiring still in the way. Next big jobs are fab clutch slave hard line, install clutch slave, assemble clutch & transmission, bolt to engine then drop it in. Need to start reading up on instructions for engine install. Must be lots of them on here. Back to reading Bentleys. LoL

[dvallis]

Finishing up the data acquistion system. Here's the custom sensor interface box completed.



Current sensors installed on the main busses



Sensors attached for testing. Hoping nothing fries when I turn on the juice.



Drumroll .... It works! Current and position sensors reading properly and displaying on the GS Dash. Still need to run auto calibration so they zero out but that's a detail. Actual voltage values are within range and nothing fried on startup. Checking the box on this one and moving on.

[dvallis]

Finished all the one man soldering job and misc jobs tonight so we can get back on big pieces

Completed the coil pack carrier. It had been laying around a while. Since last YEAR. :devil:



CAN interface from MSPNP2 to AIM system completed



Final suspension sensor installed. It's freaking HOT under the car this time of year. And the damn mosquitoes are back.



Dash is looking good in the car. I'm going to mount the GPS under it. From everything I read online, GPS sees through fiberglass just fine.

[Supadave]

I've been inspired. So much good stuff going on here

[dvallis]

Still doing some final clean up before getting to engine install

Had to build a mounting bracket for the dash that attaches to the tunnel. Uses a couple of exisiting studs. Good and solid now.



All the data acquisition gear installed: EVO4S, GS Dash, data hub and two analog channel expanders.



Just when I though all the soldering was done. Gaaahh. Forgot to wire the QuadSpark A/B/C igniter channels for wasted spark into the MS2 external connector. Would not have got far without that. LoL



Fabbed a GPS antenna mounting plate



Installed under the dash



Getting there. All we have left before engine install is defogger, wiper wiring, coil packs, boost hose and clutch slave