E30 Zone

My old girl is coming on slowly but surely.

She started life as a £500 325i SE


A bit of a wiring nightmare, although the stereo I took out and sold pretty much paid for the car


The full leather had to go too


After I mucked it up the sunroof was removed


She was fully polybushed

A custom cage was purchased, the dash removed





We decided a heated screen was a good idea, so removed and plated the heater


Now the heater is out the ECU can be re-housed and give space for the cage tubes which go through the bulkhead to the suspension strut tops.

As the car is a 4-door the door bars wont fit past the 'B' pillars so they have been cut out and plated.


Still loads to come out of the old girl and loads to put in too. A nice set of H&R coil overs are sat upstairs ready to go on at the right time along with ARB's etc etc etc.

The she needs a full respray .........

Loads more to do and the Easter deadline is getting closer and closer

Nice build, keep the picies coming

Not so familar with the saloons but have you turreted the rear arches for true rear coilovers ?

Easter deadline = Easter weekend at the 'Ring?
If so, I'll see you there (the missus wants another lap in Dave's 944 if he's there, too)!

Andy, no not true rear coilovers........

Handpaper, if the beemer isn't ready come and say hello and you will be welcome to a lap in the 205

Bonjour senjourita northloop

ok for a pic of mine i'll put it here & thus avoid the northloop curse

That looks very much like the car I went to view before I bought mine. Where did you buy it from?

Hi, in the 7th picture you posted, it shows the rear panel behind the seats with three large cutouts in it. The middle is obviously for the ski hatch, but did you cut out the holes either side?
Reason ask is the numpty who had my car before me has cut out two 15 inch holes either side of that panel, and screwed some mdf to the rear of the panel to mount some speakers and possibly to regain some strength.
I want rid of the mdf because it creaks and is a load of excess weight, and basically i want to know if it is safe to do so.
I suppose it is easier on your car however, because of the strength the cage adds.

james.

You are correct that the centre hole is the ski hatch. The other holes were cut to take a little weight out. It's as much as we were comfy with doing without removing too much structural rigidity.

I have been to visit the car again today.

The custom cage is an absolute nightmare. I would suggest that at least 50% of the bars were wrong and need modification. Some were stupidly incorrect and there is no way on gods earth they will fit. Pen has been put to paper and loads of head scratching to get over problems and it is just at the point where welding can begin. This has taken AGES though. Once it in will be a msterpiece but only because of the skill of the guy doing the work for me.





This lot still has to be put in place, along with another half a dozen pieces led on the floor at the moment



Where the 'B' pillars are thicker on a 4-door car they had to be modified to allow the door bars to pass. This was done by cutting and chiselling them out, making plates to cover them, spot welding them in place, then fully welding after. This is very time consuming.

Door bar now clears



The next step is to go through the front bulk head to the suspension legs. This isn't easy as there are several layers of steel to be cut through all at an angle. This also means the ECU have to be moved. The heater has gone to give space for the ECU. The jury is still out on how hard it will be to do the front legs against the end benefits.

Next up is to remove the door cards, cut away the inner skins and plate them. New fillets also need to be made to attach the cage to the car. The ones supplied were of such thin guage they were close to useless.

The suspension has arrived from Germany. It's a set which is specifically sprung for the Nordschleife, which is good as that's where it will live.



The heated front windscreen should arrive soon.

After a couple of mods to the dash that will be off to be flocked.

The car will be going to the painters to be coated inside and out in the non too distant future........

Another update to follow.

Gary

Looks a very comprehensive cage

Any engine mods planned ?

Are you staying with the standard fuel tank ?

I have no plans to mod the engine at the moment. We will run the stock one till it breaks. In the meantime we will keep an eye out for something interesting like a 330i engine.

The standard fuel tank is staying

Wow - that looks a real cage install - nightmare included!

Keep the pics coming though as I'm really interested to see how it goes. I have to install an OMP 6 point cage in my track car before May, it's not as comprehensive as yours but it's FIA approved so should be oK for track use.

Any ideas on weightloss would be great, mines down to 1020kgs according to the local scrap merchants weigh bridge. The next stage would be to remove the RSJ's behind the bumpers as they must weigh 15kgs. Then it's bonnet , boot and bumpers of a firbeglass nature..

I could save more with my own diet but beer and chips taste toooooo good

[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... terior.jpg[/img][/img]
[img][img]http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r117 ... G_0007.jpg[/img][/img]

Pics of my track car on my www below

I have no idea what mine weighs or will weigh. I would like to say 1000kg's but the cage is a heavy bit of kit so I doubt it. Plenty more to come out yet though I'm only starting out with one seat fitted so that should help

WOW, its really coming along Northloop.

Great progress and excellent pictures.

Im also going for that cage in the next month or 2 so its great to see so many pictures and find out about the fantastic amount of problems involved - not looking forward to that bit. lol

Keep the updates coming.

James

The car is looking good, that cage is very comprehensive - would be a shame not to roll the car and see what it performs like!

My project is finally underway, I have a pretty much bare shell which needs to be built up with a 3.5l engine and ready for the ring on 19th May...

James.

I kid you not the cage is a nightmare and needs to be bastardised to make it fit.........Loads of the parts are either too long or too short. Some bits defy reason and will not fit anywhere. The fillets are next to useless. The floor has to be cut out to drop the cage through and weld the main hoop. There are no instructions, you might as well steal some scaffold poles and make your own. Other than that it's a piece of cake

northloop wrote:James.

I kid you not the cage is a nightmare and needs to be bastardised to make it fit.........Loads of the parts are either too long or too short. Some bits defy reason and will not fit anywhere. The fillets are next to useless. The floor has to be cut out to drop the cage through and weld the main hoop. There are no instructions, you might as well steal some scaffold poles and make your own. Other than that it's a piece of cake

PMSL.

I look forward to it

Still on topic, ive just taken the roof skin off mine (as it was a rusty sunroof version). Pic 1 & pic 2
Do you think this will aid welding the junction box's and main hoop area's on the top or does the cage still sit snugly against the B-pillar etc ?

Im wondering whether to put the new roof on or wait until the cage is in.

James

I would be inclined to cage it first. You will have much better access without the roof on.

northloop wrote:I would be inclined to cage it first. You will have much better access without the roof on.

Thats what i was thinking, thanks for the clarification.

You know what its like - always useful to be able to talk to someone about plans etc etc.

Cheers
James

Hello, Was you at bedford on the 24th of feb? Just wondered. managed to meet some of the looper's but can't remember if i met you? Keep up the good work with the car by the way.

E30_tracker wrote:

northloop wrote:I would be inclined to cage it first. You will have much better access without the roof on.

Thats what i was thinking, thanks for the clarification.

You know what its like - always useful to be able to talk to someone about plans etc etc.

Cheers
James

CLARIFICATION ! Some ones just read the "C" page in the dictionary.......

My beards grown 6 inches waiting for this, coem on gary, crack on its almost easter, LOL

Looking good by the way

hi gary great to see ye are having loads of fun with that cage.keep up the good work will give u a buz in the next day or two for acat. cheers rusty

E30_tracker wrote:

northloop wrote:James.
Im wondering whether to put the new roof on or wait until the cage is in.

James

Definitely cage it 1st, if you were building from a shell then this would be the right way to do it anyway

Speak to you soon rusty

Progress is slow, but a reasonable amount of the cage is now welded in place. Once the rest is in the welds need dressing and the car prepping for paint.

Eighteen days left, Gary, time to get a wiggle on

And what are those rear electric window mechs doing in there? That's 6 pounds in dead weight and 20-30 in hard cash waiting to be released!

Easter went out of the window months ago ........ Still loads to come out of the car, still loads to do, no time to do it

Progress is slow, BUT and it's a big BUT progress is good. The guy doing it is a genius

mankind set foot on the moon in less time it took to blutack this car together.

its coming on well nice!

A few more progress pictures from today.

Nice pics!! Oakey managed to get his volvo one of them - Sad devil!! You can see my new building in there as well!!

Aghh yes I see the new building

What's next?

Get in !

Looking great there bud.

James

Looking good gary

Nice one! So when you recon you'll have it done?