A purists nightmare - E46 drift build

[Tkuhn]

SteelBlue said:

How much does a shop space like this go for(assuming you are renting)?

Looks a lot nicer(and cleaner) than my current setup lol

This is Sam's shop. He is gracious enough to allow me to have my car there this winter. Mostly for some fab reasons. I have space at home for the car which is nice to not have to drive to work on it but I cant do what we have planned at my home garage. Normally it would be at home. My old shop space was about a 3 car that we paid around $250 a month for but I moved out of there when I moved houses and there was room at the new place to work on and keep my car at. So I cant really put a number on it lol. From places that friends have been before though a space this size would probably be $850+ per month.

[wasnt m3]

I've dealt with a handful of e46s with blower motors inop, every time it was the resistor.

[Tkuhn]

wasnt m3 said:

I've dealt with a handful of e46s with blower motors inop, every time it was the resistor.

Welp atleast I'll have a new motor and resistor and know it's good for awhile lmao. Just threw me off since there was power at the motor. Based on all my other experiences. I went to school for automotive mechanic and now I'm a diesel tech. Been wrenching for almost 1p years now so I was like oh easy. Lol but bmw outsmarted me

[Tkuhn]

Update 

Finished pulling the dash out of the car after some conversations about the cage placement. Pulled the sunroof and then pulled all the wiring down to separate it. Only going to be running the done light wiring back up after the cage is done.

Now that the tube is ordered it's time to really prep for the cage.

Made what I like to call a "CAD" design for the front rocker boxes.

Driver side.

Passenger side

And then I removed some of the rear panels that will be in the way of the rear boxes, not really sure what to call them.

Kinda blew a hole where one of the welds were but easily fixable.

And then I made up templates for the passenger box but called it quits for the weekend after this one. Still a rough design.

[straight6pwr]

"CAD" cardboard aided drafting 

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

"CAD" cardboard aided drafting 

I was going to say "Cardboard Aided Design"

[Tkuhn]

Jdesign said:

I was going to say "Cardboard Aided Design"

Yes that's why I put it in quotes lmao. I've always called it cardboard aided design too

[Tkuhn]

Update.

Revised the front cage box design, measurements only so not much to show there.

Also revised and finished the rear cage boxes.

Then we cut, bent and did ALOT of trimming to get the rear boxes to fit as snug as possible.

Still might need a little more trimming but pretty happy with it.

The cage will most likely be mig welded just because we dont have the torch time to do tig. I have never learned to tig, and I'm ok at mig.

Moved on to starting to clean up the body work from the dent being pulled.

Layed down some filler.

And then sanded.

ALOT more detailed filler work and sanding is ahead but it's a start!

[Tkuhn]

Not a whole lot of progress this weekend but got something done that I've been meaning to do since I first built the car.

Before I scrapped the stock bumper and bumper supports I cut off the tow hook threads, finally got around to welding them to the bash bars.

Here's the front. I welded the threaded chunk into a piece of tube then to the bar. Worked out really well.

The rear was alot simpler since I had added the jack point last spring. Lined up perfect so all i had to do was burn the piece right to the bar.

little thing that wont be noticed really but it felt good to get it done. Both just need some paint and are complete.

I also made some "CAD" templates for the rear door panels once the cage is in. I wont be able to fit the stock panels with how we are doing the cage so I'll be cutting them out of the same ABS that I made the bulkhead out of and then using nutzerts and some nice hardware to secure them.

[B C]

CAD = Cardboard And Duct tape?

[Tkuhn]

B C said:

CAD = Cardboard And Duct tape?

Cardboard aided design hahah but that's a good one too!

[patsbimmer1]

I like this every time it's updated

[Tkuhn]

patsbimmer1 said:

I like this every time it's updated

I do my best! Honestly alot of the reason I update even on the littlest things is for myself. When I built my civic over the 8 years I had it I barely updated the build thread I did have, which was so much work. And sometimes the little stuff is informational and might help someone else too!

[Tkuhn]

So I've wanted to change my orientation of the handbrake for awhile now. I've seen a few people run the pull back style on the left of the shifter and use/make the window switch slot larger to accommodate for the throw of the handle.

Now that chase bays makes a pull back reverse mount handbrake I thought it was time to make it happen. Still need to order the brake but we have begun planning. 

My biggest issue with what I want to do is most people just let the window switches hang. Which I'm not cool with lmao.

Of course this project began with some Cardboard Aided Design, I didnt take any photos of that.

But then @Sam_Holzmann went full design boi on it for me.

The window switches are both being relocated to where the cup holder/slider thing normally is in the center console. And then a small cubby added. Mostly because it would be dumb to not have anything else there.

Actual computer design.

And the first print. Which took 44 hours.

As of now he is going to make some tweaks for the hopeful final print. I'm super hyped for this one off piece! I cannot thank Sam enough for this one, it will be so much nicer than anything I could have made out of an ABS sheet.

[Jdesign]

Tkuhn said:

So I've wanted to change my orientation of the handbrake for awhile now. I've seen a few people run the pull back style on the left of the shifter and use/make the window switch slot larger to accommodate for the throw of the handle.

Now that chase bays makes a pull back reverse mount handbrake I thought it was time to make it happen. Still need to order the brake but we have begun planning. 

The window switches are both being relocated to where the cup holder/slider thing normally is in the center console. And then a small cubby added. Mostly because it would be dumb to not have anything else there.

Actual computer design.

That looks great!

Any pictures of the handbrake set up that you are referring to? Is it like this?

[Tkuhn]

Jdesign said:

That looks great!

Any pictures of the handbrake set up that you are referring to? Is it like this?

Yes! Except the master is reverse so it faces forward.

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE!

Exciting weekend at the shop.

We started on the cage. So thankful for the help that Sam has given me already. 

Main hoop fits nice and tight thanks to the added ability of Sam with solidworks to be as precise as possible.

And then we were able to get the cross bar with the harness bars situated in the right spots for harness angle.

Then the downbars for the rear. Kinda hard to see with the straps holding the main hoop up.

Super excited to continue the process of getting this thing done!

Oh and on a side note I also bought some new windshield washer sprayers for my tire sprayer set up to keep the tires cool after each run, the spray pattern gets the whole tire now instead of only 2 spots.

Here's a pic of the spray pattern.

[Tkuhn]

Update.

Been busy with some personal stuff but finally got some time to get to the shop.

Pulled out the main hoop and got it completely welded. 

Which was a daunting task for me leading up to it. I can weld and do fab work but when it came to something this permanent I got nervous about my welding skills.

But it went well so confidence re-instilled.

Then I cleaned up all the seam sealer under where the rear box plated for the main hoop will be and re-tacked them in. Forgot to take a pic but it wasnt much of anything exciting.

Before putting the main hoop back in we "clearanced" the rear seat area with the good ole attitude adjuster. Aka hammer. The idea was to make room for the chassis harness to slide back down next to the bottom of the main hoop. Really excited on how that little detail turned out.

Next we threw in the main hoop and tacked it in place again, then I got the rear down bars properly aligned and squared up and did a final weld on them to the main hoop.

Hoping to make more progress next weekend!

[YoungCR]

Fitment looks perfect

[B C]

Very nice fab work