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**Shmately** · 02-18-2011, 05:41 AM

Nice build, wow. Dmac's car is gonna be sick! I am personally a bit skeptical on my setup working, but we'll see how it does. Very good point about the rubber mounts, I will see if I have some lord mounts for them or maybe some flat rubber sandwiched between the rad mounts and the steel support frame. I want to see them stick an e30 rear subframe/diff/trailing arms under an ae86 and make it an IRS car. When you see an 86 with the rear end off, it looks very possible.

**Shmately** · 02-18-2011, 05:44 AM

Oh yea, and they could have gotten really technical and ran the coolant through the cage like the porsche 962s used to do for their oil coolers.

**djkaliente** · 02-18-2011, 10:14 AM

Sick project , nice build everything

**4ce30** · 03-22-2011, 07:12 PM

I understand where your coming from with the low torque sliding, i have never had the plessure to drift a v8 car..

Car is turning into a spaceship slowly, but its killer looking with the wheels poked out more

**Shmately** · 03-30-2011, 06:22 AM

It's update time again, I have been busy with a broken stud in the diff cover of the 350z and an impromptu camera system install in the truck and toy hauler.

Engine is coming along nicely over at Metrix, about 3 weeks till were ready to drop it in, make headers and run all the plumbing. I talked to JRZ about using the e46 hubs and they said it will be easier for them as they do not need to modify the hubs. Once I have them here I will have all the components to get the suspension assembled. As you can see in the pictures I have been busy with the trailing arms, mounting the 2nd caliper for the ebrake is next.

I know it's overkill but I boxed the sway bar mount, didn't take much time.

still enough room for a nut and a washer

Cross bar

Gusseted up

shock mount reinforcement

**!kid** · 03-31-2011, 11:24 PM

did you have to heat up the trailing arm with a torch before welding the reinforcement?
I am asking because I will be welding on some in the near future. Really liking the boxed sway bar mounts! at least you'll always know you can add a large sway bar and not worry if the mount will fail.

**FunfGan** · 04-01-2011, 04:45 PM

Not usually a fan of widebodies on e30's, and I was a bit skeptical about the hood, but after seeing the (near) finished pics, it looks absolutely amazing! The amount of work -- and quality of it-- is inspiring. Again, amazing job!

**Shmately** · 12-13-2012, 01:19 AM

Holy crap it's back

Well its been a while, Groma Fab has shut down and I was very busy last year with the pro/am events and could not get much work done on the E30. Keeping my haggard 350z running after 8 years of drifting is a task, as well as staying focused on the competitions. I did well in the 2012 Vegas Drift and Top Drift Battle series, earning Formula D licenses in both series. In Top Drift Battle I made 2 top 16 finishes, one win and a 3rd place finish. This put me in 4th place at the end of the championship, securing a FD license. In Vegas Drift I made one top 16 finish one top 8, one 4th place and one win. That put me in 3rd place at the end of the series earning another FD license. Since the end of the proams I have moved shops and finally got out of the drafty hangar at the van nuys airport and moved to a new larger location in chattsworth. I am also starting a furniture production business this year so things have been a bit hectic. Now that I have settled in at the new spot I have had some time to get the E30 ready for the 2013 Formula D season.

After watching countless cars get totaled at the track, I have a good understanding of how these metal boxes like to fold up and carry energy through the car in an accident. This is a good thing for crash protection for the everyday car because in absorbs a lot of the energy released during an accident. This is not good for us drifters who enjoy bumping walls from time to time. The chassis ends up folded up and then they hammer it back out and it ends up looking like your grandma's lumpy thighs. So I decided to engineer some removable crash protection that wont carry energy past the trunk so it wont destroy the car. Obviously everything has its limit and I don't expect the car to survive a being dropped from a plane but from what I've seen happen on the track this will protect the car from some major impacts that have ruined other cars. Its basically a tube frame trunk, I cut the framerails and boxed them off. I made famerail extensions that bolt to the bash bar with a middle supporting bar(with a jacking point) to continue the load path of the bash bar. The fenders are supported by some thin wall tube welded to the frame extensions. Building was the fun part, the scary part was cutting everything out. I went so very slow when cutting, which is hard with a giant cutting wheel on a heavy grinder. Once I got a flow going and an idea of what I wanted to happen, the work went pretty quick and I am very satisfied with the results. I have the trunk basically done right now, I just finished the duct work or the new radiator setup and the mounts for the airjacks yesterday. Sorry for the low res pictures in there, I only had my cell phone at the time and there the only pics I have of the cutting process.

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