Vorshlag $2010 GRM Challenge car - BMW E30 V8

[Fair!]

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!!

Those are amazing/ rare cars! My brother had 2, and an even rarer 323 GT sedan. I've been looking for a clean GTX for the longest time with no luck.

ha! Look at the scales before looking for one of these. Its a porker for how little the car is! :???: With the feeble power numbers these things made (or can even make modded) I don't know how they could ever be considered "fast" by any stretch of the imagination. ;)

But hey, every ugly duckling needs an admirer. To each his own. :D

[JoeyBones]

shut up....more build pics/info....

[Fair!]

Update for June 14, 2010 - PART I: We got a lot done this past weekend - I put in a good 18-20 hours over those 2 days, Chris worked all day Sunday and Paul M worked both days on the lathe. Thanks, guys! Anyway, here's the stuff we worked on.

Paul spent his two days on our little manual lathe cutting up a chunk of cylindrical Nylon into some custom rear subframe bushings. To save money we made these from scratch instead of buying any of the common poly or aluminum replacement bushings - any of which are a MASSIVE improvement over the stock rubber bushings, which allow TONS of subframe/diff movement. Any sane person would simply BUY some aftermarket pieces, but due to this INsane budget of $2010 we had to make them.



We sketched up the stock stuff, then I jotted down my 2-piece Nylon idea, and we cut out the OEM bushing cores from the stock rear subframe housing with a SawsAll. Paul then took these rubber covered, square shaped aluminum internal pieces and whittled them into a usable, cylindrical shape we could slide them into in the finished nylon bushings. The old rubber made a huge, sticky mess!





Then he cut the round cylinder of Nylon into 4 usable chunks, using a parting tool and some cutting fluid. Nylon is a chore to machine - gets gummy messy fast.



The trick is to get the cutting speeds/depths just right so you have a steady stream of nylon coming off....



You have to stop the machine often when the continuous strand of Nylon gets wrapped around the part (it always does!). A test of patience on a manual lathe like this.



Paul did an awesome job (and was a machinist in a former job many eons ago) - I could never have made these in the time frame he did, nor with this level of quality control. He had all measurements within .001" and everything slid perfectly into place!



The lower pieces were tricky in that they had to have a recessed pocket to clear the lower stock locating bracket/washer.



With those finished late Saturday we bolted the subframe housing into place. This was a major hurdle and lets us finally install the modded trailing arms, finish mounting the diff (have to set the pinion angle and drill two holes), and get to work on the rear brakes. It more importantly lets us put some springs in the back and set the car on the rear wheels!

More updates from last weekend below...

[Fair!]

Update for June 14, 2010 - PART II: While Paul worked the lathe on Saturday I finish welded the rear diff mount structure we added, organized all of our parts into labeled boxes, installed some other misc. parts we had, and got the car level/square on the lift to start mock-up for the new trans crossmember.



I weighed the used aluminum race seat we just bought for a great price. I took it inside and came back 5 minutes later - the shop cat Luke had already curled up into and taken a nap in the new seat. Great... its now covered in fur, of course.



On Sunday I worked on a new trans crossmember with Chris. We had changed from one T5 to another, as well as to a .... weird configuration with respect to the bellhousing. When doing this it rotated the trans 15 degrees, but this lined up the shifter better with the tunnel and floor. So I had to make an all new trans crossmember. That means starting over from scratch with respect to measuring drive line angles, then re-doing all of that fab work.





Many hours later we had the new unit bolted back into the car (we'll paint it later this week). This new configuration adds more room for exhaust routing on the driver's side, under the trans, which is a nice bonus. The passenger side inner part of the floor pan sits higher than the driver's side, so it can route well on that side anyway. This is assuming we run dual 3" exhausts to at least the middle of the car, which is the plan.



Then I took the tacked-together motor mounts and finish welded all of the pieces, then Chris primed and painted those. There are 2 more main motor side pieces I'm not showing - I have seen how smart some forum readers are, and they'd figure out the motor in seconds if I showed these. :D All the pieces are back in the car now and all of that is wrapped up.



Lastly, while Chris and I waited on Paul to finish the subframe bushings, we took some measurements and pics of the two tires we have lined up for use on this car. The 18x11" CCW wheels are mounted up with some old 305/30/18 Hoosiers (this is similar to the tires we'll use for the GRM UTCC event in July), and the 15x10" steel wheels have some very used 275/35/15 Hoosiers (this is the package we'll use for the GRM Challenge events in October).





Surprisingly the 275 on the 15x10" wheel has only about 1/2" less tread (10.5") than the 305 on the 18x11" (11" of tread), but the 15" tire is almost 3" shorter. That will affect gearing a bit - need to go run the numbers!

More work this week (Tues and Thurs) including driveshaft measure/shorten/cut/weld, rear brake mock-up, rear fender cutting for tire clearance, and (my least favorite!).... header fab begins.

More soon,

[2002maniac]

You guys better hurry! UTCC is coming up soon!

:crazy:

[alpinaclone]

This thread is gold! Thanks for the detailed and frequent updates. I am watching with great interest.

[Fair!]

Update for June 16, 2010: We had 4 people here Tuesday night and we worked for about 4 hours. Got a lot done... all of the suspension is bolted on the car now, all 4 wheels are on, and we started playing with ride heights. Oh, and we caught the car on fire about 12 times. :)


Rear diff mount structure seam sealed, taped, primed and painted - then the E30 diff with the E36 cover was installed


Trailing arms and new rotors installed. Then several rear wheels and tires were test fit


Rear fenders were roughed in with the plasma cutter. Mayhem ensued


Ride height testing took a while. We got it to 5" clearance under the steering rack and 6" under the fuel tank. These M3 fenders won't be cut up!


Its ghetto looking but it looks mean on 18x11s with 305 Hoosiers

We also mocked-up/measured our driveshaft set-up, worked on the a rear diff/speed sensor interference solution, and installed the front rotors as well. Lots more to do, but at least it rolls, steers, and almost stops. Thanks to Chris, Sean, and Brian for helping last night! We're at it again this Thursday and I'm digging into the car (header fab?) all weekend.

Cheers,

[Gnarles]

Still keeping the engine a secret I see ;)

The E30 is really coming together, I really like your diff mount setup.

Do you guys ever make it out to the LSC BMWCCA events? I would love to see this car in action sometime.

[Fair!]

Do you guys ever make it out to the LSC BMWCCA events? I would love to see this car in action sometime.

Yes, we love to autocross here in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and we usually race with the local SCCA region, the LSC chapter of the BMWCCA, Equipe Rapide, and sometimes S2000/Miata club and even PCA. Due to our insane project schedule (building 2 cars at once) we haven't made a single LSC event this year, but normally we do at least 4-5 each year, plus their 1-3 track days per year.


in-car video

When we get it running we'll surely bring it to an LSC event... we brought our E36 LS1 car to several of their events, and most people liked it. We always get punted out of the "BMW" classes with our V8 Bimmers, but we don't mind, so long as we still set FTD. :D

Cheers,

[moving3e]

I just keep staring at that last picture wondering what engine is in there!

[Blip Bavarian]

I just keep staring at that last picture wondering what engine is in there!

Ford 302 maybe? I cant tell what tranny that is, and the new shifter location is pretty far forward. Hmmmm? I want to know what motor it is :hitler:

Great work guys, I hope you guys can finish in time.

[moving3e]

Ford 302 maybe? I cant tell what tranny that is, and the new shifter location is pretty far forward. Hmmmm? I want to know what motor it is :hitler:

Great work guys, I hope you guys can finish in time.

I was thinking it may be a 302....

[ForcedFirebird]

Eff the 302. It's a dog. Took my cousin a powerglide, and stroking to 348 with twin turbos to make that heap move. I don't want to be disappointed in October, better have something more potent than that.

[Jean]

It looks AWESOME with those wide wheels/tires! I like seeing these updates!

[Fair!]

Here's the in-car video of the E36 LS1 at a BMWCCA event I meant to post the other day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r82qX2VjqZc

We had a good GRM worknight last night - I'm uploading pics and will post an update later today.