My 320ise S62.

[davethegoat]

I bought a roll of lightweight carpet a while back, and finally got round to fitting it. I'd been putting it off because of a), the weather, and b), because I had an idea it wouldn't make me giggle from start to finish. I wasn't wrong! I decided to give myself a slightly easier time of it by running the wiring above the carpet. It should be out of the way enough to not be a problem unless I end up with an epileptic octopus in the car
Anyway, it's in there now. :


While the sun was out, I gave the driver's seat a clean, and fitted that too:


I've got something to replace the standard steering wheel which is on there temporarily to get it on a recovery truck. By this time tomorrow it should have te very start of an exhaust on there!

Cheers. Dave.

[Duckmann]

Uhh looks nice Dave Looking foward to see the manifolds.

[davethegoat]

Thanks Duckmann.

Here's a picture of the manifolds.... They're not quite finished yet. :


The car is now residing at Full Flow Customs.

[turk]

mmmmmmm..... Stainless.... Nice

[davethegoat]

So, James (Full Flow Customs) has been up to his neck in pooz in the last week, there have been delays in getting a couple of exhaust bits, and he's been stuck at home in the middle of some people riding bicycles quite quicky. In amongst all this, he's been happy (outwardly anyway ) to talk on the phone listening to my ramblings/answer my questions and give advice.

Anywho, work's started on my collectors. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Milled:


Tacked:


Welded. :


Proper job!:


Cheers James! Dave.

[turk]

i have gone a little lumpy

[Barx325i]

i have gone a little lumpy

afraid to admit a similar reaction

[davethegoat]

Cheers Turk and Barx!

James welded a fitting to my fuel pressure regulator:


So I could fit these:


I'm sitting next to an un-opened bag which contains some heat resistant sleeve, which will mean that I can re-fit my injector rails, which now have enough braided hose swaged to them to go back to the FPR in one go.

There has also been some of this going on. :


The first pipe is tacked:


And test fitted:


There's not exactly a ton of room to get 2 banks of equal length pipes in there! Luckily, James is making it all look reasonably straight forward so far. (He seems to know what he's doing! )

Cheers. Dave.

[Jonsku]

That looks very good indeed!

BUT

As you're positioning the collectors under the floor (?), are you going to have ANY ground clearance. .. ?

[davethegoat]

Haha Will, there's definitely something going on there eh!

Hi Jonsku. Way back in the mists of time, I cut away parts of the floorpan to make room for the collectors. The bottom of the collectors will have more ground clearance than the standard M5 exhaust mount bracket which bolts to the bottom rear of the gearbox.

Cheers. D.

[GermanGorilla]

Hi,

Fuel system is looking good,
AN fittings tend to hold on
better than hose clips.

Nice Jar of Johnson's Baby Vaseline
on hand when you connect them up
and you will be good to Go !!!

What length are you aiming for on
the Primaries ?

17.5 inches from exhaust flange to
collector springs to mind, as being
what Super Sprint used for the S62.

Regards,

The Gorilla.

[davethegoat]

Good advice with the vaseline Gorilla. I'll have to look in my special cupboard to see if I have any! I'll take some pics when I install it.

I got an e'mail at lunch time, with a couple of photos attached:


Apparently it's "getting a touch tight now" (I'm not sure the Vaseline's going to fix this one!) There's a chance that the engine might have to come out for a final time to get the 3rd header installed. It'll be worth it though.



The header length will be just about double that Gorilla. ;) (measured from the exhaust valve face)

[GermanGorilla]

Hi,

Little tip on the Head Studs.

When your all done check the length
of your Head studs, as more often than
not they are about 5-10mm longer
than need be.

Its just if you ever need to remove
a manifold with a lump in you
will be surprised what a difference
it can make.

Headers look good, and the point
by Willnz makes sense if your
fabricator can accommodate say
4 ''slip collars'' in the primaries
where from the looks of the pic
they go straight ?

A Guy who worked for the Arrows F1
team told me about the Johnsons
Baby Vaseline for AN's.

Its vaseline in its ''purist form'' !!!
so it makes a good seal but contains
no toxin's even better when its
AN alloy to steel fittings.

Regards,

The Gorilla.

[mc_carthy]

All four pimaries are slip jointed at the collector. They will remain this way so the can be taken off and put on the car one by one for ease. The motor has to be removed for the 3 primary pipe to be fabricated as there is physically now no room to get you hands in there to mock it up.

The exhaust manifold studs on Dave's car are actually a very nice length. One some of the old fords, with n/a cosworth conversions, you swap the suds put for treated bolts as there is no room at all to allow for the stud length.

All fun and games though!

[davethegoat]

What he said! ^

I should have said that the engine might have to come out for the header to be fabricated, rather than installed! Duh!

I'd spoken with James about removing the headers with the engine installed previously. If he's not worried, there's no reason I should be.

Cheers!

[davethegoat]

I popped into Full Flow Customs today. There's been some welding going on. :


While this has been going on, I've been out and about buying more stuff/getting some of it blasted etc. All being well, there should be a few more bits being bolted to the car over the next few weeks.

Cheers. Dave.

[Duckmann]

Wow, that looks REALLY good

[davethegoat]

Wow, that looks REALLY good

It does doesn't it!

I owe you an e'mail Duckman!

Cheers.

[turk]

Very cool !!!!

[davethegoat]

So, while James is getting on with all the flash exhaust stuff, I've been doing some boring bits and pieces.
I got some late E36 M3 bits and pieces ages ago which today I attacked with my angle grinder fitted with a wire brush attachment.
Here they are after a coat of rust treatment:


And after a coat of paint:


A pair of these will be bolted to them:


I've got a couple of options as far as top mounts go. The first is to get a set of E30 mounts complete, with appropriate sized bearing spacers and nuts. The second is to try and find/get made some mount plates with the correct camber adjuster spacing and fit them to the existing HSD bearing retainer shown here:


So, the car will be ninety-something percent a road car, however, if there are some small sacrifices in road manners which will make it turn in/improve corner traction, so be it.
Bearing this in mind, would caster adjustable top mounts be a good idea? (I've only a very sketchy idea of car geometry. Too much time playing with motorcycles!
)

Cheers! Dave.

[mc_carthy]

Caster,camber,ride hight,roll bars,toe adjustment is never a bad thing, you can't have too much adjustment in my opinion. fast bump,slow bump, fast rebound,slow rebound...... more more more!

But on a serious note yes its a handy adjustment to have give the mods you've done it will really help you to dial the car in once its all back together.

Your new toys look very nice by the way.

[davethegoat]

That's pretty much what I was thinking James.
I was waiting for someone to say that the stock E30's caster is absolutely 100% better than sliced bread in every way possible, in which case I could have gone with camber only adjustable (read cheaper) mounts.
I know the benefits of adjustments from the bike stuff I've done (spring rates, wheelbase length, high and low speed damping, altering shim stacks, piston design, steering head angle, yoke offsets, swing arm pivot position etc etc ), though this doesn't translate very well to cars!

There is the option of using the E36 topmounts I have and making new mounting holes in the turrets, but that doesn't seem like the best solution. I best just man up and order some mounts!

Cheers. DtG.

[ajay]

They look similar to the treehouse racing ones, also with good feedback.

[ajay]

I ordered my treehouse bushes from ca automotive they have accounts with vac motorsports and other us suppliers and offer an exellent service delivered to your door.

[davethegoat]

Thanks guys, those look just the ticket. I've already bought a set of M3 bushes though.. I'll definitely keep them in mind for an upgrade for the future!

I popped the fuel rails back on, complete with crimped fuel hose:


The fuel hose is protected against heat (and leakage):


Here's what the inside of the plenum looks like with no lid on it:


Here's a small teaser as to what else has been going on recently.
There'll be more pics to follow soon.
Snakey!:


:


What room there was is pretty much filled!


It's really hard to get a camera in there to show exactly how the headers are routed, but I can assure you, it looks pretty mental!

Cheers! D.

[Jonsku]

Goddamn the exhaust manifolds look great!


All the wiring sorted out already?

[davethegoat]

Cheers Jonsku. I took a couple more pics today which show the headers off a little better.



Proper job.


One more. :


The left hand side has the two front headers tacked in place which I didn't get a photo of. An order has been made for a few more bends to finish it off later next week. Can't wait!!

Ah yes. The wiring isn't what you could call finished yet.
Funnily enough, some wires turned up today which I'll join to some connectors. There's somewhere close to 50 metres of the stuff! :


Cheers! Dave.

[liquidsmoke]

Love this project. Can't wait to see the finnished article! Sorry to semi-hijack but is it best to use a specific E30 chassis for this conversion? I.e is a 316 auto chassis just as good as a 325 manual?

Cheers!

[mc_carthy]

She was a 320i from what i understand, funny Dave a i where having a chat about that eailer today!

[davethegoat]

Sorry, I somehow missed your post here Liquidsmoke! I could have shared the long arsed e'mail I sent you with everyone!
Yep, mine started out as a 320 6 pot. As I said to mc_carthy earlier, the poor old girl's in for a shock!

Wait 'till you see my perspex inner wings Will!