M42 Rotrex (for sale!) + track build

[rix313]

Well I've taken my time

Got my front struts back from the powder coaters and built them up this evening. Rather annoyingly ECP have fucked up and haven't delivered my new top mounts in time so the old ones had to go back on




Also fitted the eccentric poly bushes to the wishbones along with new ARB brackets:






And poped it all on:




It was perfection how well it all went together was beautiful lol!

I need to find another steering rack because the manual one needs a different linkage which I can't get on such short notice

1 day till the track day

[appletree]

Nice work rich is it all back togeather then? are you going in it to the trackday

[rix313]

Had it trailered to the track day again not road worthy yet! I got a steering rack but had a problem with one of the track rods. I was only able to get one Saturday morning so missed the first half of the day but just beasted the rest of the day.

Had a play around with the adjustable dampers and was pretty impressed with it.

Haven't got any pics of it on track but took these when I got back

[appletree]

Looks great, is it full steam ahead on the charger now then?

When you fit the Z3 rack with the alternator in our position you have to do 'custom' pipe work to clear it, bit of pain but do able think I bent the larger return pipe from the e30 but 180* out and used a straight connector with an olive to connect to the long pipe that lays on the engine tray back to the resivour.

I'll see it I can get some pictures.

[rix313]

I've got a few bits I want to do before the charger goes on but I've already taken my remote oil filter system off to allow for the bracket, need to find some pipe benders for the dipstick.

I've bought a few new bits for the car since the track day but first things first I wanted to freshen up the inside so I cracked out the rattle cans:




I thought a plumb-in fire extinguisher would be a good idea just incase anything happens, only cost £100 and the car is worth alot more than that (I hope). Que the Lifeline:








Next I've been wanting a new seat for ages and I've finaly got the money for it. I have to put a shamelss plug here for Cobra seats who did me an awesome deal on a Suzuka Pro seat, side frames and E30 specific base frames (although they will need a little modding). Trial fitment:




I've also re-routed my battery cable, much happier with it now:

[GeoffBob]

Looking good Rich. Very neat and tidy. The extinguisher is an especially good idea.

[rix313]

Thanks pretty chuffed with it all! I've just bought a brake bias valve to try and make the front brakes work a little harder. Also bought a Z3 1.9 short shifter too so looking forward to getting that and seeing what it's like

Today I had a bit tidy and sort out of the garage. Cleaned all the work surfaces and put everyting away so it's all ready to make messy again

After that I test fitted a new bit. Can you spot it?



Ordering some hoses this week so let the fun commence.

[GeoffBob]

Bottom right of the pic. Must be an Air Con possibly made by Rotrex.

Did you come right with your head gasket Rich?

[rix313]

I haven't ordered it yet it's on my list thanks for your help

Well the engine bay is in work in progress mode again:

[rix313]

Well my TTS Performance order turned up the other day along with my silicone hoses from SFS so been having a play with them.





I've mounted the fluid reservoir on the corner of the wheel arch I'll get a photo of that once it's properly fixed

I've taken the front valance and bumper off to mount the oil cooler. I've ordered some anti-vibration rubber mounting things so I've got to wait for them to arrive but I'm going to mount it here:




I also fitted a brake bias valve, I want to make the front brakes work a little harder out on track and this will give me some good adjustment. I used copper lines, I was going to go braided until I got the quote through!! Covered the lines in black spiral wrap so they look nice and neat and also wrapped a few more wires and p-cliped it all down:








I don't have any photo's of it but I bought a Z3 1.9 Short shifter and fitted that the other evening, feels good in the car looking forward to using it on track.

Over the next week the oil cooler will be perminantly fixed and the front and can be rebuilt. Once thats all on I can finish the oil hoses and get to work on the air hoses

[appletree]

Nice work rich, new seat looks nice, will the oil cooler still be in the airflow if you put it upside down to were it is in the pic now and mount to the bottom of your intercooler mount?

[rix313]

Not following what you mean about the oil cooler mate sorry?

I'm mounting it there because it meant there was space behind to allow the air to flow through the cooler. It's not in a direct flow of air where it is but I'll make some ducting to get air to it. I've got an M20 oil cooler grill fitted but I've put it in upside down so it will direct abit of airflow upwards.

[appletree]

Sorry didnt see you had already mounted it, thought you was just holding it.

I ment turn the oil cooler upside down to what it is now so the fittings are downwards and bolt the new top to the intercooler lower mount (looks like its made of red angle)

[rix313]

I am holding it Didn't have a tape measure and didn't want to mount it on the piss It's not good to mount coolers upside down incase you get air locks.

It's 4mm aluminium angle painted brilliant red colour coded and hidden.

[rix313]

Cooler mock fitted:



I've taken it back off now to neaten up and paint the brackets ready to be refitted once the rubber mounting arrive.


This is where I've mounted the reservoir:

[appletree]

Nice work rich, were are you going to put the filter, its a akward fooker to find a bracket to fit it well and for me the fittings needed to be able to move round more like a banjo fitting

[rix313]

Got a pic below of where I've mounted it. To fix it down I'll put a jubilee clip around it and bolt the tab to the chassis, simplest way for it. The Oil cooler mountings arrived today so poped it all together and finished the pipes off:

[appletree]

It'll be running by the end of the month at this rate rich, have you got your pully and belt ordered yet?

[rix313]

We shall see, 90% there with saving for the Emerald, just seen Dave has a new version coming out so sent him an email to get some more info.

With recirc valves, where is the best place to put them?
-As soon after the charger outlet as possible recircing as close to the charger inlet as possible.
-Between the FMIC and the trottle body recircing as close to the charger inlet as possible.
-Any where on the outlet recircing any where into the inlet of the charger.

[appletree]

I would say as close to the butterfly as possible to as near as possible to the charger inlet. If I was using a small recirculating valve like a Bailey I'd put one before the butterfly and one before the intercooler.

First fit one before the throttle body and plumb in a boost gauge in the pipework near the dump valve and see if it realy does drop all the pressure out the pipework before the TB or you might end up with the snap throttle leaning out I had when the dump valve didn't drop the pressure enough.

[rix313]

Back from the dawn of time, this saga is still on going

Beginng of December I had most of the money saved up to beast the end of this however I was sharply relocated to Leeds where a flat and other things soon ate up all the money Hey ho it has given me time to pull my finger out and fit some of the bits laying around the garage.

Nearly 2 years since I bought it, I decided it might be time to fit my LSD. Purchased from Hoshy when he broke his 318iS, I fitted the Powerflex bush the other evening. I then set about fitting the diff over the last couple of days around everything else that's going on.



Wasn't that exciting

I've got hold of some 63mm aluminium pipe and I've got some silicone bends on order. When time allows I shall be making up the high pressure pipe work for the super charger and corssing that off my list. Then it's just the low pressure inlet to charger pipe and an ECU.... he says

[tim_s]

Wasn't Hoshy's LSD a bit special? Rebuilt 4.1?

[rix313]

Yeah he had bags of work done to it. Had a brilliant time testing out on track at a local airfield track day. Could feel the car pushing it's self out of corners better.

I bought some Aero Catches to replace the bonnet pins I had. The overall look of them is a million miles from some cheap aluminium pins:






I've also finished my high pressure super charger pipes. I just need to get an air filter to suit the gap I have and then make the pipe work from that to the super charger.





Slowly but surely clawing away at it

[hoshy]

Glad to see the diff finally fitted - in answer to your pm question - ramp angles were not modified but it was multiplate upgraded for durability, it locks consitstantly even after a hell of a thrashing

[hoshy]

Glad to see the diff finally fitted - in answer to your pm question - ramp angles were not modified but it was multiplate upgraded for durability, it locks consitstantly even after a hell of a thrashing

[rix313]

Had a good couple of days on the car and I've FINALY finished the air pipes for the super charger! I fabricated the spouts for the recirc valve and dropped them off at the welders this morning to be done. In the mean time I set to work on making a bracket for the fuel pressure regulator and also doing a bit of weight saving on the S/C bracket. On my way back home I picked up the finished ali pipes, got back and test fitted it all:

S/C pipes:









I'm really happy with the way I've managed to route it all. I've the recirc valve as close to the throttle and the back of the super charger as possible and kept the bends from the air filter > charger inlet to a minimum to aid breathing. . I realise there is more silicone in there than a page 3 model but hey ho


Fuel pressure reg. Simple aluminium bracket which bolts to the engine lifting eye bracket:




S/C bracket lightened. Using a hole saw I cut 2x 57mm holes in the bracket. I expect some may look at this and be a bit sceptical but seeing as it's made from 10mm thick mild steel, I feel it is more than strong enough especially with the gussets in place. The hole in the middle also makes it 10x easier to fit the spacers and bolts. I also went round the edges with a die grinder and a sanding disc and just took the edges off so they weren't sharp.






I've also got the bolts on order for the charger > bracket and bracket > engine.

Next on my list is to get my head around and source pulleys to run the PAS and fit T-pieces to the engine and super charger oil systems so I can run temperature gauges. After this I have to fit my up rated injector rail and route the pipes for the FPR and get that side of things sorted!

[appletree]

Is this running yet rich?

Did you get the pully i sent you fitted?

[rix313]

Don't be silly Matt! As Aloe Blacc sang 'I need a dollar' lol.

I'm actualy weighing up future options and thinking of doing TTRS. So I wouldn't be able to run this, and I'd need some fancy suspension sooo I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I'm bored of looking after other peopls race cars I want to have a go

[rix313]

The head gasket went on this the other day on a track day. Only managed 5 and a half laps and steam started blowing out the exhaust. I'd always been keeping an eye out for the signs of gasket failiure (mayo in the oil, oily looking coolant) but none of the big signs were there, then it just seemed to let go. Didn't over heat or bearly loose any coolant from what I could tell when checking the level afterwards. I also stoped the car on track to be recoverd the second I saw the steam so hoping the damage is pretty minimal.

Gonna pull it all out and refresh the whole lot, might as well if I want to race it next year.

[appletree]

Have you sold your charger set up yet? I've got a spare head gasket if you want it FOC

[rix313]

Still here but got interest from the Netherlands and the USA so will see what comes of it. Got a price for my suspension today so itching to get that tbh

Spare head gasket would be very much appriciated dude if you're sure? You still got my address?

--------------

25/11/12

I thought I'd just ad a quick tag line to this seeing as I never 'wrapped it up' as it were.

Just under a year a go I had a change in direction with the car after spending a lot of time thinking. Subsequently I sold the kit and set to use the money to get the car properly race ready.

The photos on the last page were as far as I got with plumbing everything in etc and I'm pretty chuffed with how it all looked. I haven't heard anything from the person who bought it from me as I lost their details however I hope to see it in the future running well.

Thank you to everyone for their help and advice during the course of this project and I hope that the information within the thread can be of use to others.