Spac's adventures in BMW

Spac · 2018-04-03T10:34:14+00:00

Ha! Love it! My last non-Volvo car was an E36 compact (316i). It was slow as balls, but omg that manual box hits the spots with ratios for buzzing around tow...

Spac

When the MCA struts were out, I compared them to the Hotbits struts.

Short version is that I now know what needs to be done to adapt the Hotbits to an E36.

Also made a roof vent template. Same design as the one I made for the 940, but smaller. Here’s a photo of it on an E46 for no good reason…

Beginning to make it…

I decided that I wanted it to be longer than the template, so cannot go further without a car on hand.

Spac

Fine tuning. This was not where I landed.

Second one tomorrow.

Spac

Fixing the old Alpine Rally tree stump damage worked out OK in the end. I underestimated how bad it was.

Began by trying to pull it out with the slide hammer, but the front corner was inverted and mangled, so I ended up cutting it out.

This is what it looked like before I “un-inverted” it.

Obviously, I ended up hugely over working the steel, but it was still bearable.

My welder struggles on low voltage settings, so I did some ugly welds working out the best technique.

Grinder helps!

And so does bog!

It came out alright in the end. Apart from the front lower corner, there’s actually not all that much bog in there.

Definitey not a show piece, but definitely rally worthy.

Spac

Roof vent was more of an ordeal than expected. Not that doing the work was difficult, but a busy week left me short of time and much less available brain power than I would have liked.

I had been planning on using some short lengths of aluminium 90* angle to join the sides to the top, but wasn’t happy with how much fiddly work was involved (ref: earlier brain power comment).

So I tried simply cutting some flanges into the edge. Was quick and easy, but not as neat as I hoped.

If you look carefully at the top edge, it’s a bit wobbly, but will look ok with some sealant over the top.

forgot to take photos of the underside. Will fix that later. (Edit: here….)

And here is how it looks on a Mercedes (because I don’t have an E36 handy). Obviously, it will sit more neatly on the BMW roof, and the gap/air intake will be larger.

If/when there’s a next one, I will build it this way, but slightly change the process to (hopefully) make the edge neater.

Specifically, I will cut the tabs into the top first, and then bend all of the tabs in one go in the bender. And only then will the main curve be added.

Or maybe I should just learn how to weld aluminium and weld the pieces together.

Late edit for photo on an actual E36…

Ex850R

Rivets look Kool.

Spac

Years ago, I bought a used aluminium flywheel and clutch but the clutch slipped badly and it was a huge hassle to work out what the clutch was from.

Long story short, it is …. wait for it … a standard E36 clutch. [facepalm]

Part of what screwed me up is that the iron SMFs that I have are actually factory SMFs, but I thought both were aftermarket conversion flywheels (ie: single mass replacements for the original DMFs).

Anyway, I figured it out, and the new kit turned up yesterday.

With The Boy’s help, the aluminium flywheel and the new clutch is in the rally car.

The rally car is 95% prepped for next weekend’s rallysprint. Mostly just needs a wash and the sump guard refitted.

Spac

Rallysprint called off due to the weather. Was always dubious, but it rained the whole way down, so we were not surprised when the official word came through.

Not BMW related, but we did the final round of the Deputy 4-hour series yesterday in a mate’s 206 GTI. No Paulie, so Mike replaced him for the day.

Great little car that goes noticeably harder than the green BMW, but it was awful in the wet - bad snap oversteer in a number of different circumstances. Very difficult to find the balance between power on understeer and lift off oversteer.

Andrew (the owner) is very knowledgeable and got it tolerable by dropping the rear tyre pressures right down (24psi hot - we had 32psi in the front). And then the track dried out and it was a lot of fun to drive.

Mike is the fastest out of the lot of us, but is a real magnet for idiots - the “highlight” was when a much slower car just drove into him on the straight. No real damage, but a genuinely abysmal piece of driving.

He qualified us 12th(?) of 22 cars in the rain when the Peugeot was at it’s worst. Pete and I were setting times right down the back…

Despite ourselves, we managed to be 6th at lunchtime, in the middle of a big battle pack. But a short pitstop put us back to a lonely 12th on the restart. We were 2 laps behind the next car and two ahead of the following car, so the afternoon was mostly an exercise in staying out of trouble to maintain position.

So we finished 11th after the #159 Galant DNF’d. The track dried out a lot towards the end, and the Peugeot was getting more competitive in Pete and my hands.

I am pretty sure that it is the first time a French car has debuted and finished without mechanical or electrical dramas! ?

PaddlerEd

Inspiration for a Compact?

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38513789/v-12-swapped-bmw-316ti-for-sale/

Go on... you know you want to....

Ex850R

PaddlerEd
Inspiration for a Compact?
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38513789/v-12-swapped-bmw-316ti-for-sale/
Go on... you know you want to....

I hear the engines are rare and those in trade pay big bucks for them.

Philia_Bear

PaddlerEd
Inspiration for a Compact?
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a38513789/v-12-swapped-bmw-316ti-for-sale/
Go on... you know you want to....

I was watching hoovies garage on YouTube and he was showing off a 545i motor swapped into an E30

It looked legit amazing except for lack of aircon

Spac

Track day at Wakefield in the race car last Wednesday (22/12/21).

Hot day, everyone complaining about it being a slow track. Managed a 1:16.4 on the Federal RSRRs, which is fine for my first time there in 3 years and the car’s first ever.

Definitely still time to be had with newer tyres, better setup and more familiarity with the track. It flops around too much on direction changes - particularly noticeable between turns 3 and 4. Q

First photo is with Wino at the tiller.

And a bonus photo of me driving someone else’s car.

Spac

Dragged the race car out of the shed today, to prep it for the second round of the D4H on Sunday (We missed the first round due to life being in the way).

Did all of the basic prep, including discovering that the rear brake pads were almost gone. This is weird because they wore proportionally way faster than the fronts at Wakefield.

Also got the shits with the driver’s window popping off the mechanism and dropping into the door. This happens because it is an E36, and the mech is shit, and this one has been bent and straightened several times in my ownership (and probably plenty of times before that).

So I replaced it with the manual mech I bought ages ago.

The front swaybar links were stuffed - just worn out. I was going to convert it to M3 style links that bolt to the strut body (rather than the control arm). This makes the swaybar about 3.5 times stiffer (if my calculations are correct).

I got a bit nervous about that being too much of a jump, especially with rain being forecast for Sunday, so I did this instead.

Basically, I moved the mounts out wider on the arm, increasing the motion ratio from about 0.53 to 0.65, which makes the swaybar ~1.5x stiffer.

It can also be returned to standard in about five minutes.

I am happy that everything has enough movement, but I a bit worried about the moment arm on the end of the swaybar. It’s about double what it originally was.

The risk is that it will twist the end off the flat section of the swaybar over time, but I will just have to keep an eye on it.

Also fitted a strut brace that I got from Wino. It needed a bit of “clearancing” to stop the IACV hitting it. Not expecting miracles, but we’ll see if it makes any noticeable difference.

Let’s see how it goes on Sunday!

Philia_Bear

I thought u had a pajero tow vehicle?

Spac

Pajero sold lateish last year. Rego was running low and the dash was lit up like a Christmas tree… Covid Tax meant that we only took a small loss.

Flagon is more comfortable, heaps more interior room, heaps bigger boot, and uses a lot less fuel (although that part was largely my fault for not staying on top of the Pajero’s issues).

There’s also the X5 and the incoming new Rav4 - depending on whether I can sort the X5’s BCM insanity and how much interior space is in the Rav, the Flagon might be sold on.

Philia_Bear

Flagon == falcon wagon on gas?

Spac

Falcon wagon.

“Flagon” kind of seems to summarise the degree of class the vehicle possesses.

Spac

Mid-race report.

Track was wet in qualifying, I went and drove around to heat cycle the tyres, and temporarily put us in 3rd place!!?

Dropped to 12th at the end of quali, I started the race, overtook three cars and somehow we were 7th?!

Anyway, we spent the morning bouncing between 6th and 9th depending on each cars’ pit stop strategy. Ended the morning in 6th but elevated to 5th once mid-race penalties were applied.

Car has significantly more front end grip, so now it feels taily. It’s not unbalanced, but quite different. More rewarding, and more confidence inspiring in traffic, although Petey and I have both turned it around in the race - my spin was exiting Turn 5, Pete’s was on the entry to the same corner.

Best last time is a 63.5, which is actually pretty slow… but also more competitive than usual?!

And also fortunate because without Paulie here, none of us really know how to make Track Addict work.

Spac

Afternoon report…

Petey somehow got swapped with 6th place on the restart, which allowed the #49 206 GTi to take 5th place on before the second turn.

They were the only car on our lap, so the entire afternoon was about racing them and staying out of trouble.

Then the Peugeot had some sort of problem and DNF’d so we had to make some drama for ourselves… Basically we cooked the rear tyres in the last half of the afternoon, making the car taily and unpredictable. And slow.

El Wifeo looped it in the same spot I had earlier, and I had one of my more dramatic spins in traffic on the exit of turn 3.

Meh. It was fun to drive, and we finished 5th. Car took a bit of a bump on the second lap of the race when I optimistically stuck my nose in and the other driver denied the opportunity, but is otherwise unmarked and it ran beautifully all day.

I need to work out the oversteer now. Both El Wifeo and I found that it was related to body roll and throttle application (ie: mid-corner and exit), but Petey reckoned he was having problems coming into corners.

I am inclined to say that it needs more negative camber on the rear, but the RHR tyre is showing more wear on the inside edge. Maybe some more toe in.

Late edit: Photos by Lin Cotter.

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The photos seem to show the front wheels still cambered over, which suggests too much negative camber.

The rears seem to be standing upright, which is more like what I am aiming for… so logically, the car should be understeering. Ugh.

Spac

The rules for the Deputy 4 Hour have changed, so now coilovers are allowed.

So… the XYZs coilovers from a WRX were modified to suit the E36.

Lots of brain power into getting the geometry right.

Old and new. They are actually the same length, despite how it looks in the photo.

The main springs are 580lb/in and are MUCH stiffer than the cut down 940 springs on the Bilsteins. The UK Compact Cup cars use 600 fronts with 500 rears, so I am close to that now. Will be taking the old struts just in case!

I also replaced one of the anti-anti-dive shims at the back of the control arms. Went from 6mm to 10mm, and can add the 6mm one back in if needed - but the more thickness there is, the more difficult it is to reassemble.

The idea is that the stiffer springs will be better able to resist diving so this should help braking.

Plus all of us usual prep, including putting the f$&king driver’s window back in the tracks again. Swapping to the manual winder and all of the work in fixing the tracks before the last event was supposed to fix this problem … but no.

Spac

Mid race update.

To be honest, we’re not doing anything different, just that about half the field is away.

Car is good, not great.

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