316 superlite

[petrolhead]

Fuel tank arrived.
Cut cut weld weld.

4,2 kg saved.
left-right weight distribution improved.

Never mind the shitty looking rear beam and arms. I have a better set on the shelf.

Vacuum pipe for filter's pressure regulator:




Fuel tank leak tested with soap water and underside painted with epoxy:


E36 M50 air filter box fits OK:


Note to self: make a bracket for it. No cone filter in this one. They don't do much filtering, they require a separate cold air intake fabbed.. Plus that M50 filter element is the same than E36 M3's. So shouldn't be restrictive before 300hp :). And ofcourse dirt cheap to replace!

[petrolhead]

A weekend's worth of work... Painting the underside. First, primer (white):


Right rear wheel well.. Had to remove all previous paint, it was chipping away. That's what happens with 1 component paints. Just say no to them.



Pro tools for mixing paint, thinner and hardener :D


-actually took it with approval from my mrs.

Next up, outer layer:








After paint, 3M 08800. It's a two part sprayable seam sealer.

[CorvallisBMW]

Looks really light in some spots, is that going to cause any problems?

[petrolhead]

What do you mean "light in some spots"? -I don't understand :).

..if you're referring to white or other colors showing here and there.. no that's not an issue. Photos were taken before it was finished, some places have white primer although not needed.

edit...
Spraying the 3M stuff. And yes, the control arm lollipops are in place while doing that, on purpose. Plus a few other bolts & screws to cover the threads.




Edit.
I sprayed insides of all chassis members/chassis rails(?) and underside cavities with yellow cavity wax. Bolted front & rear axles back on. Somehow I feel I've reached a certain point with the work, although there's shitolads of work yet to be done and €€$$$ to be spent.

[CorvallisBMW]

Yes that is what I meant, there were some spots that looked like they had no paint on them. Nice work!

[petrolhead]

After a bit of a wait.. these arrived.

Now I can have a properly rolling chassis. I had straps in place of rear shocks to the springs don't fall off when lifting the car.



Where do you write down notes when at the garage? :D



Cylinder 2 throttle vacuum adjustment screw:

Broke the O-ring every time I tried to put in the screw, making idle vacuum synchronizing impossible. My buddy repaired with TIG-welding & black magic. Yay !

Window frame modding, work (still) in progress. Tried on the windscreen to see if I'm doing this right

[petrolhead]

Does anyone have ideas on how to attach the roof lining front edge? Originally the roof cloth edge goes to the window frame, tucked/folded under windscreen rubber seal. Obviously not possible with a bonded windshield. I'm open to suggestions, although putting on an OBC panel is not an option.

Window frame modding, work (still) in progress. Tried on the windscreen to see if I'm doing this right

So far, looks like it. Made my friend do all the dirty work, grinding down everything.


...after fitting the glass & taking it off about a million times:

[petrolhead]

Completely unrelated and off topic:

Stuff we've done to my friend/co-mechanic's 316i.

After he bought it, we spent a few weekends diagnosing an emissions problem. Most of the engine wiring and components were measured, we did a compression check, checked the timing, repaired throttle switch, replaced lambda, repaired cut wires etc etc.. Finally a replacement Motronic and air flow meter solved everything. What do you do when the engine finally runs well? YOU RIP IT OUT !


-it got replaced with an M43 from an E36 along with box and wiring.

..While you're in there, put in a quicker E36 rack and stiff-as-hell- Volvo engine mount rubbers:

Ofcourse the E36 box is 3 cm longer so the prop shaft got sent to a shop for shortening and balancing

Oil pan and dip stick was taken from E30's M40.. I had to take off every auxiliary to fit it plus some bending, violence and cursing:

No that zip tie isn't a permanent solution.

Those M3 eccentric bushes were fitted earlier when we did an alignment check & adjust. Lambda probe connectors are different on E30 & E36, so take the socket apart and replace connectors:


My first attempt at fitting the lollipops and the car owner giving appropriate response:


While doing alignment check we saw that front camber was asymmetric, driver side having "bit too much" which is good, right hand side being in recommended value. So, grind the shock tower holes a bit and get "half a degree too much camber" on both sides. Along with added caster angle it does surprisinly much to balance/drivability. And cost nothing :D :




Rear end rust, situation when starting:


Grind-fit-grind again-weld-grind down, primer, paint, body sealant:

--TO BE UPDATED--

[Nisse Järnet]

Nice work!
Do you know how many liters the right tank half holds?

[petrolhead]

Nice work!
Do you know how many liters the right tank half holds?

Tack så mycket!

Haven't measured. Anything between 30-35 liters? It's.way bigger than left side half.
BTW there will be an E30-meet near you, in May 22-24. Expecting 50+ E30s from Finland, with luck a few from Tallinn. I failed to find a Swedish site/forum where to put up a topic about it.

[Nisse Järnet]

Tack så mycket!

Haven't measured. Anything between 30-35 liters? It's.way bigger than left side half.
BTW there will be an E30-meet near you, in May 22-24. Expecting 50+ E30s from Finland, with luck a few from Tallinn. I failed to find a Swedish site/forum where to put up a topic about it.

Varsågod :D

Ok, i might do the same later on..

Cool, you know where it will be?

[BurakB]

Good luck on your project! good to see how cohesive you are.

[petrolhead]

Cool, you know where it will be?

It'll be at Muurame, Finland. If you or anyone else is interested I can post more more info/links later on.

Good luck on your project! good to see how cohesive you are.

Thank you sir.

[Nisse Järnet]

Not sure if my car is ready by then and it was a bit far from Åbo, 4 hours? :P

[petrolhead]

Not sure if my car is ready by then and it was a bit far from Åbo, 4 hours? :P

Come ooon, we have T-shirts ´n shit.

There's a Riihivuori skiing center where people usually stay during the meet weekend. Really nice selection of cottages with saunas, quite affordable too. All pretty close to eachother, with always a good party on both nights.
Bimmer Tuning Club of Finland sponsors a prize for the car/group that has made the longest trip to come to the meet.





Simplest solution I could come up once I realized I'd cut off battery ground point :) :


Hood lock and opening mechanism v 1.0: