New E30 race car project!

[bimmerphile]

Great build thread! raise:

The anti roll bar bush is about R90 each from agents. I also search for poly bushes and not available as yet...

 

[budha59]

Great build thread! raise:

The anti roll bar bush is about R90 each from agents. I also search for poly bushes and not available as yet...

A local engineering company that smells of Rothmans cigarettes is making them for me.

 

[budha59]

Yooooo!

Did some scratching last night on the steering rack. Removed the old stuffed one (see pic) and measured it up to the E46 one that I bought yesterday. The dimensions are the same, but I could need to space the mounting brackets, they're a few mm shorter than the E30 rack. Biggest schlep is bending the thick, sturdy, difficult to bend, slippery, yet fragile high pressure power steering supply and return pipes to fit the new rack. I gave up on the bending because I was getting impatient and will attempt it again when Wynand is around as the job will be easier with another person around (read: Wynand does the difficult work).

I cleaned the bottom of the motor just to do something constructive and the amount of dog hair and caked on karoo sand was horrendous. Now lying on my back, working with degreaser falling on my face was less than fun, but I had to wash the crap off in the carport, where the hose pipe doesn't reach, so I came up with a brilliant idea and fashioned the most ingenious tool ever made in the northern suburbs! :rollsmile:




Make sure the pipe goes to the bottom of the bottle, fill it with hot water, squeeze the upright bottle and hey presto, a directable jet of hot water! :thumbs:

ANYHOOOOOO,

Have a look at the pics of the old steering rack and the amount of oil and shite on it and the new racing seat and harness. Of course the cat immediately got into the seat and wiped her backside against the belts.

Do cats like oversteer? Mmmmmh.....

I was promised the LCAB and swaybar bushes for today, so will doing some solid work over the weekend.

 

[Henry330i]

Keep up the good work.

Glad to see you're getting CAT Scans done as you go along:roflol:

 

[budha59]

Hey Guys.

I haven't worked on the car as planned the past few days. My dad had a stroke on saturday and has to learn to speak and write again, so no time to work on the car.

I did however do a little work last night and bent the E30 steering rack high pressure pipes to fit the E46 rack and I wouldn't recommend it if you don't have a vice mounted on something sturdy. I ended up using a massive ax, a G clamp and my ample forearms. :thumbs:

Hope to put the front of the car together in my two week holiday coming up.

Later

 

[Henry330i]

Best of luck with your dad I hope he makes a full recovery

 

[UpNcOmiNg!]

All the best. Regards to your father, hope he makes a quick and full recovery

 

[budha59]

Waheeeeeeeeeey!

I had some time to work this week whilst on leave, so finished the E46 steering rack conversion (photos below), but I think I scratched the banjo bolt on the high pressure line during the bending process and have a slight leak, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The new steering rack feels good and makes the car a bit lighter to handle, but I hope I can get the leak sorted.

Steps to do the steering rack replacement at a glance:

1. remove tie rod bolts from struts
2. remove power steering line from the reservoir and from the steering pump (keep the washers)
3. remove the bolt holding the steering yolk to the spline of the steering rack.
4. remove locating bolts on mounting brackets and bend brackets down
5. wangle the steering rack out
6. strip the E30 rack: remove boots and remove the COMPLETE tie rod assembly. You will see locking tabs that you need to bend straight and then unbolt the tie rods.
7. Now comes the difficult part: bend the high pressure and return pipes to conform to the new entry and exit on the E46 rack.
8. CAREFULLY remove the boots of the E46 rack and unbolt the complete tie rod arms. You need to use the E46 boots, so don't cut them
9. Pat yourself on the back, you man amongst men!
10. Remove the rubber disk damper wobble thingy in the steering coupler to make the whole coupler shorter and cut the bottom locating spine in half at the bevel or you will foul the top universal joint. Also enlarge the locating hole in the top yolk, but only big enough for a crap tight fit. You DON'T want a loose fit.
11. You will need to file down a fitting on the passenger side of the steering rack to clear the sump
12. Fit the steering rack up and make sure your pipes don't foul and that the locating holes line up after bending back the mounting tabs. (Be prepared for a wiggle and maybe a bit of filing)
13. Space the bolts ABOVE the steering rack or the tie rod angles will be to acute and you will get bumpsteer.
14. Tighten that bugger up and fit the bottom half of the steering column to the steering rack spline.
15. Fit the boots and tie rods on the car because you have more leverage.
16. Assemble the collumn as per the photo.

I'm going to chat to a few racers tomorrow and they are steering me in the right direction with the build


Steering column after the mod:




Wobbly coupler:



Random pics of new parts

 

[Psymon69]

man amongst men:thumbs: how much did the steering rack set you back if I may ask? mine is also leaking but into the boot at the moment so no idea how long before that fills up and packs up. would it be a viable alternative to do this rather than overhaul?

great work, this is going to be one heck of a little car!

 

[budha59]

man amongst men:thumbs: how much did the steering rack set you back if I may ask? mine is also leaking but into the boot at the moment so no idea how long before that fills up and packs up. would it be a viable alternative to do this rather than overhaul?

great work, this is going to be one heck of a little car!

I got a quote for rebuilding the E30 rack and i9t was about 3k, because the shafts needed to be rechromed. The E46 rack was R1200 and another R180 for new tie rod ends. The E30 racks go for round about the same.

 

[budha59]

Dooooooooooooooh!

So Saturday I was busy working on the car:

Replaced banjo washers on the steering rack with copper crush washers to stop both banjo fittings from leaking
Fit new spark plugs and High Tension leads. (Swapped two plugs around but fixed that quickly)
Fit a thermostat because there wasn't one in the car and it caused the water to circulate through the radiator too quickly, causing the temp to go up when you hoon the car.

SNAP!!!!

Broke the thermostat housing. Booooooooo!!! :thumbdo:

But found one at my buddy Lester in Rocklands which I am going to pick up tomorrow after work.

Oh, some good news and bad news. The bad news is that me and the missus called it quits last week, but the good news is that I have more time to concentrate on the car and also more time to help my dad with his recovery.

If it's got tits or tyres, it'll give you trouble

Work to do this week: rebuild back drum brakes. Get Powerflow to replace the downpipe which is rusty and waaaaaay too small. Send car to have CO2 set right and buy some rims.

Some more good news!!!!! Ordered the semi slicks from first race in Jhb. A bit tough on the pocket book, but will last longer than the Yokis or the Dunlops.

Check these puppies out!

 

[Psymon69]

sory to hear about you and the missus. I did not know tires could be sexy but im telling you im nursing a semi (no pun intended).:inlove:

please let us/me know when the first race down here will be, will love to see it in the flesh!

 

[UpNcOmiNg!]

Good to see some progress on this man.
Apologies with regards to the missus.
Keep us posted man

 

[budha59]

sory to hear about you and the missus. I did not know tires could be sexy but im telling you im nursing a semi (no pun intended).:inlove:

please let us/me know when the first race down here will be, will love to see it in the flesh!

Yo!!

The car is as ugly as FUCK at the moment, but I've got time to respray and take out a few dings later.

There should be a track day on the 29th of Jan, so hoping to do a shakedown run then to see what breaks and what stays in one piece.

 

[e46monk3y]

Epic build thread! Admin's I think this thread deserves to be stickied!

 

[budha59]

Yoooooo!

I got the new thermostat housing last night! The evening ended up being a case of one step forward, two steps back though :-(

I had to remove the fuel rail to get the new thermostat housing in, as its got a face for a sensor where the old one doesn't have one. I also can't get the temp gauge in the car to work, so ended up swapping around sensors till i was blue in the face and decided to give up at 23:30 last night and wash my sweaty self in the pool.

Top Tip: the M20B20 does NOT like fancy Bosch plugs with two electrodes. I fit the old plugs again (fit them, removed them to put on the nipples on the back of the plugs to fit the new HT leads and fit them again. UGH!) and the car fired up without a whiff of throttle.

On the plus side, it looks like the steering rack leak has been cured.

Not going to work tonight, as it's my birthday today and I plan on getting drunk and getting my slutty self a blowjob from an Afrikaans tart. Yay me!

New second hand housing and new thermostat

 

[navigator]

what a nice thread and well written:=):

will subscribe and live my dream of a track car through you!

Raspêk vir Budha!

 

[budha59]

Non build related post.

Feeling rough as an elephant's muddy sack today. Tequila sunrises and hunters dry in the pool till twelve last night.

Going to work my arse off on the car the next few days. Going to Jhb next week till Wednesday, so need to complete as much as possible to make it in time for the track day on Sunday at killarney.

The best thing about Joburg is getting on the plane back to Cape Town. True story!

 

[DikJoe]

Great build so far.im a big fan of e30's.keep up the good work.hope to see you on the open day.

 

[budha59]

Heeeeeeeeeeey!!!!

Feeling much better today than yesterday, could be the lack of booze, but not sure.

So, I drove to work today with the Maroon Menace, unlicensed, unroadworthy and on retreads and she drives well! Temperature is stable after the fitment of the thermostat and the car feels tight with the new suspension parts in. Brakes need a bleed and mixture is a bit fat.

ANYHOOOOOOOO.....

Got my puppies today! Have a look!!






Now the only kak is that I can't find 15" wheels with 20 offset and single 100PCD (4holes, not 8 holes) for the wheels. If you or your aunty know of a set that are straight, give me a PM or send up the bat signal.

Some more Pics: The problem with the temperature gauge that was not working, was that I used the wrong signal wire. Identical brown wires are conducive to fuckups. Going to need to cut that other impotent bugger off.






Car last night, after I went for a spin. Funny thing though, was doing left handed oversteers with the help of a few hefty clutch kicks and when I stopped in the garage, the right rear tire burst. How's that for a stroke of luck! 1 minute earlier and I would have bought a pavement!






Pic of the car today at work.






Other projects we're working on. Count them, two 50HP yamaha's baby!