316 superlite

[petrolhead]

You Finns, always coming up with interesting things to do to cars!

To think, in the US the red car would be scrapped by 99.5% of owners.

Love the thread so far, going to have the car weighed at some point?

Well if I'd known then what I know now, I'd have the shell crushed to a cube.
But, as it's a 1984 car, the "rules & regulations" for road use are as loose as they can be (in Finland). I mean emission limits, type approvals, etc etc. After all this work there's only one direction, forward :).

I'll surely have it weighed and be disappointed with the result. Once I get it on the road I can start saving €€ for aluminum diff, control arms, CF doors, Volk wheels etc. I'll try to get it together for 2015 E30-meet, but having wild plans and being on a shoestring budget that'll be difficult :|.
Oh, and thanks 4 the kind words.

[Habla]

Well...

:(:(:(

:big cry:

[roguetoaster]

Having wild plans and being on a shoestring budget...

Means you get to have a lot more fun (read loads of work) than those who just break out the credit card and order parts.

Also, have you seen the prices of shoestrings lately?

[petrolhead]

Saturday morning workout. that red iS I mentioned earlier gave up it's floor to benefit my project.



The piece isn't perfect but it's easy to repair/sandblast/paint once it's out of the car. BMW doesn't sell any body parts for the cabin so this is really the only option.




10.9 hardness bolts 'n nuts for the steering column support.




Starting out the floor / boxed section underneath looked like THIS <-click!

I remembered that the floor has threaded holes for a support that joins right/left parts of the floor and stiffens prop shaft tunnel area..

Although only cabriolet has that support. I'll make one if I can't buy one.

[petrolhead]

Bump.
Is anyone parting out a cabriolet E30? Or what do you call it, selling it out in parts?

I need this S-shaped support for the undercarriage:

[petrolhead]

Floor bonding/riveting/welding in progress



Test fitment for undersize crank pulley and crank sensor mounting point:


welded in place. I was concerned that welding might distort that crank hole and then the crank seal would always leak. Didn't happen though..

[petrolhead]

Test fitted the fuel tank to see what size Sound System I can fit in there. There's room for a 15x50 cm muffler..



Floor repairs done & painted twice..


Numerous repairs in driver's footwell, tidied up & under primer. Looks much nicer when painted :)

[stonea]

I love the superlite

[petrolhead]

I've been having a break from garage activities.

Trunk corner needs work. Rust, dents, bad welding..


Making a piece (or trying) to that hole..


Welded & glued to place


Random picture of the under side


A while ago there were S14 inlet side parts for sale just about everywhere. Now that I would be buying, they're nowhere to be found.. God damn it.

[meanEG]

I measured the pistons against the head once more. With 0,4mm shaved head & 0,8 piston-head clearance the valves can have 3,6/3,3mm TDC lift. Which means I'll have to make valve pockets. 2,6/2,6mm nominal TDC lift on the cam, plus block & head both have to be shaved.

are you taking the head gasket into consideration? also the piston probably doesnt come out of the deck, or flush. i would assemble one piston and measure the valve clearance with clay.

[petrolhead]

The pistons will be at deck height or 0,1-0,2? over as stock. Anyhow after block's been bored out, I'll have deck shaved so piston tops will be 0,5-0,6 over. With 1,35mm head gasket (pressed thickness) that gets me ~0,8 piston-head clearance. Big boys say it's essential for good burning.

You make a good point, but I think I've taken everything into consideration. One thing I thought also, is that I'll have to make a bit extra deep valve pockets, because if I want to try advancing or retarding the cam, stuff doesn't collide.

[meanEG]

One thing I thought also, is that I'll have to make a bit extra deep valve pockets, because if I want to try advancing or retarding the cam, stuff doesn't collide.

/\ that is a good idea. I had to deal with that on a VTEC head on an all motor build in a H22. i had to assemble the engine, lock VTEC in and measure valve to valve clearance (hemi head). I had a bad blueprint with oversized valves. luckily i checked, i had to retard the intake cam and retard the exhaust a total of 9 degrees from center to get a .030 clearance. i didnt want to push it any further. i think it robbed me of alot of power.

[petrolhead]

/\ that is a good idea. I had to deal with that on a VTEC head on an all motor build in a H22. i had to assemble the engine, lock VTEC in and measure valve to valve clearance (hemi head). I had a bad blueprint with oversized valves. luckily i checked, i had to retard the intake cam and retard the exhaust a total of 9 degrees from center to get a .030 clearance. i didnt want to push it any further. i think it robbed me of alot of power.

Is that a typo or do you actually mean valve to valve clearance :). Interesting. In a SOHC engine that's ofcourse not a consideration since LSA is pretty much fixed.

This took a quite a lot of acid/wire brush/sandbalasting/panel straightening/beating-time :)
I just won't paint over a "fairly rust free" place. I'll rather spend the extra hours so when it's under primer I know it's properly done. I'd get nightmares about rust flecks under paint.

[meanEG]

yea it was valve to valve, just sharing my experience with measuring critical parts. i am tracking that you cont have that problem with a 2 valve head. especially not with stock valves. looking forward for more updates

[petrolhead]

All thoughts/advice is welcome :).

yea it was valve to valve, just sharing my experience with measuring critical parts. i am tracking that you cont have that problem with a 2 valve head. especially not wiith stock valves. looking forward for more updates

Valves are 46 / 38 mm. They're already so big that with my power target there's no use going bigger. Or so say people who've built M10's. Stock valve edges are very close to.. everything in the combuston chamber.

I bought a set of S14 throttle bodies, inlet "manifold" and other parts. Waiting to get my hands on them. They're pretty oversized for 2 liter engine but.. :D