My '75 2002 Sleeper

[tinkwithanr]

Happy to say my TIG work is starting to look better. I've decided that I'm going to TIG everything that I reasonably can (assuming the welding position isn't crazy or that the material is to thick for my welder). While it does take more prep and time compared to MIG, the welds themselves just look much nicer. There is also much less clean up work, with no splatter and less warping in most cases. These are from the front bracing I did this weekend:










So with the front clip as gutted as it is, it obviously won't be able to support the weight of the hood like it used to. And the front hinged hood was one of the original parts of the car that I didn't want to loose, so next up was figuring out how to fab up new hinge mounts. First I made two plates that mimicked the stock nut locations.

Front:





Back:






With those done, I mounted each side and tacked them in place with the hood in the down position:




Then I checked to make sure the axis of both hinges are still in line so the hood would open properly:






View of the hinges from the engine bay. I still need to add a lot of bracing/gussets to add strength, but they can support the hood fine even though they are just tacked in place.






And here's what the hood looks like mounted in place without front fenders or front clip. Because I can.















Now that I have the hinges in place I can work on mounting the radiator and oil cooler. I wanted the hinges in there first since they have to be in a certain position, while the radiator and oil cooler can go anywhere so long as they fit and don't interfere.




Oh, and these came in today:




Any guesses??

[delatlanta1281]

Amazing. Just amazing.

[I<3BMW]

that front end (also the entire car) looks awesome. I love seeing the updates.

[tinkwithanr]

After thinking about it for a couple days, I decided I wasn't happy with my initial frame rail brace. The main reason for making the front clip removable was to make maintenance easier to do. But because the brace was welded in place, it meant that I would still need to lift the engine out of the car, or lift the car over the engine/subframe. Both of which can be a chore if you don't have access to an engine hoist or really tall jack. So I decided to cut it out and design a better solution. After a long day/night of measuring and fabrication, this is what I came up with. I only have two pictures right now, I'll get some more detailed ones when I'm not as tired.





It is completely removable, and gives me a sturdy frame to mount the radiator and oil cooler to. I should be able to run some lower bracing to the air dam in the front and hang the intercooler from the lower bar when that time comes. I will also have the strut bar tie into the top bar when I get that fabbed together. Here you can see how it clears the front clip at the top:





With this TIG'd together up next I will get the radiator and oil cooler mounts done. Once those are in place I will make a cover plate that goes over the top of the front frame section, mimicking the stock '02 sheet metal front end with a cutout for the radiator fill cap. I'll probably use sheet aluminum though, the front end is heavy enough already lol.

[deutschman]

No idea. I'm happy it's working we'll for you though.

[tinkwithanr]

No worries. I wonder what the differences between our tie rods were...

[deutschman]

Did you use the 02 ball joint on the e21 rack? The joints I had on my e21 rack did not fit my pitman arms. I was just trying to be helpful. Carry on

[tinkwithanr]

Really, that's weird. I already bolted them up and they fit fine....

[deutschman]

is the e21 steering rack and z3 rack interchangeable? like same mount point and tie rod?

No. The e21 rack mounts behind the motor. The z3 rack mounts in front of the motor.

Hey tinkwithanr. The holes in the '02 pitman arms will not except the hardware on the e21 joints. Just so it's not a surprise when you go to bolt the rack to the arms.

[tinkwithanr]

Nice! What are you doing for the rear conversion?

Since I did the E30 rear subframe swap I can just use Z3 hubs and calipers/carriers. Unless I can find an M coupe subframe. They bolt right up and have huge brakes and axles, but the are big $$$.

[tinkwithanr]

I just went through all 18 pages...


Inspired is an understatement of how I feel right now

this just keeps getting better somehow

Thanks guys!

is the e21 steering rack and z3 rack interchangeable? like same mount point and tie rod?

Not at all. The mounting is completely different, the pivot centers are different widths and the z3 rack mounts in front of the wheel, where the e21 rack mounts behind it. This means that when you turn to the left with the e21 rack, the tie rods move to the right. On the z3 rack they would move to the right.

[squidmaster]

this just keeps getting better somehow

[knuklehead92]

is the e21 steering rack and z3 rack interchangeable? like same mount point and tie rod?

[I*Do*Werke]

I just went through all 18 pages...


Inspired is an understatement of how I feel right now

[CubbyChowder]

Nice! What are you doing for the rear conversion?