March 2010 - Engine plan hatched

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42079&highlight=sr20det

Project comes to temporary halt!

No tools or long nights in the garage for a little while... project E30 on hold. Can you guess why?

February 17th Update - New rear arches.

I've decided to cut off the rear wings I had made and fitted to the car. I'm going to fit these E30 M3 fibreglass replica wings in their place. There's something not quite right about the car's stance with the current flared rear wings - hopefully this will improve the look.

February 2010 - additional pictures

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. They were taken very late after I'd finished putting the new rear suspension on.

I'm beginning to have second thoughts about the look of the arches - especially the rear ones. I was hoping that when the car was lowered (as it is now), they would look better. Something isn't quite right about them. I'm seriously contemplating cutting them off and fitting fibreglass M3 replica ones instead.

This picture shows how the wiring has been tidied behind a stainless cowling I made. It now sits where the glovebox would be and hides loads of messy relays and wiring. An Escort Mk1 centre console has also been dummy fitted. I read in some car magazine that the Escort item fitted the E30 perfectly, and they do! The console will house light and electrical cut out switches, etc.

I have a matching pair of these side mounting Cobra bucket seats (thanks Santa). The driver's one is dummy fitted in this photo. I need to weld some mounting bars across the floor before it can go in for real. I need help here because:

a) I don't own a welder

b) Even if I did, I have no idea how to weld



330mm OMP steering wheel - again dummy fitted. I'm waiting for Screwfix direct to deliver the m5X20 bolts that were missing from the wheel/boss kit I bought. And yes, the horn button in on a squiff! :)

The clocks are the ones I salvaged from the car's original road dash. They plug straight into the existing loom. Now, I need to figure out how to mount them properly.

February Update

Having recently spent days and weeks preparing the inside of the car for painting, it is now returned from Kevin the Painters garage with a shiney top coat of BMW Alpine White. I'm now battling with the wiring loom. Cutting out what's not needed, tidying up the loom wrap and trying to figure out what the hell all the wires do. Truth be known, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing so I'm being very cautious. A good sparky would probably be a lot more brutal with the snippers.

January 2010 - New Suspension

The 318is came with non-adjustable 51mm front struts. They were well past their sell by date and just not suitable for racing, so off they came.

New Year - New Spax Adjustable Coilover Suspension. Thanks to Richard at Vision Racing Developments for hooking me up with Spax.

It's blinking cold out in the garage at this time of year, but the new Spax Adjustable Coilovers went onto the front of the car today. I took the old suspension apart myself as I had to send the struts away to be turned into the bright yellow coilovers I received back for Spax. Gareth, my brother in law, helped me put them on. Now I can measure the distance between the hub face and the spring/wheel arch extensions and pass on the dimentions to Revolution Wheels who are going to make some wider wheels with the correct offsets. Hopefully we can get a suitable wide track for the car without putting too much strain on the wheel bearings.

Next up is fitting the new rear suspension - also by Spax. I also have two new Cobra Monacco Pro racing seats (that Santa brought) and a 330mm OMP racing steering wheel that need putting in. At last! Nice jobs!

November '09 Update

Before

After

I've spent the last few weeks sanding and painting the rough interior of the car. It's now in primer (like the outside of the car) and ready to be sprayed BMW Alpine White. The Yamaha R1 you can see in the background is now sold and the money will finance the next steps for the Beemer - coilover suspension, lightweight wheels and the final paint job.