E21 project thread
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Started working on the rear coilover setup. I have brand new bilstein sports that I installed the coilover sleeves on.
From the looks of things, I am going to need either longer springs or helper springs to make this work. I am still new to the whole diy coilover stuff, so it will definitely be a learning experience.
Do you plan to reinforce the shock mounts when converting to the coilover setup?
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I was not planning on reinforcing anything since I didnt think it was neccesary. Unless you think otherwise ...
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The E36 and E46 chassis seem to suffer the most from sheetmetal fatigue in suspension mounting points and they make force distribution plates like these:
http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3440-e36-e46-rear-shock-tower-mount-reinforcement-kit.aspx
If you make/buy a rear brace with a circular mounting flange then you should be in good shape.
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Well it looks like the car wont be on the road as soon as I wanted it to. I decided to go all out and pretty much do everything on the list NOW. Saturday I was working on getting the tapped s14 oil filter housing installed since the sandwich plate I was using before was preventing the alternator from swinging far enough to get the new belt on. Plus it’s a lot cleaner without the sandwich plate. Turned out I need to remove the AFM and fuel dizzy (FD) in order to get the top bolt off the oil filter housing. I removed the charge piping and noticed water and some oil coming out. Right then and there I decided to just go ahead and put the rebuilt head on since I had shit apart this far already.
AFM, FD and oil filter housing out
Intake manifold out
After draing oil and coolant, disconnecting wires and hoses and the exhaust manifold, the cylinder head was finally out
Now its time to do some clean up and prep work for the new head, arp studs and mls gasket to go on as well as clean and paint the parts removed that are going back on. As mentioned before, I jump around from project to project. I wanted to make a rear strut brace since it is a simple design and will help wonders with the new rear end and soon to come coilovers, so I started that. A member over on BF sent me a CAD file of the strut plates that he made awhile back. I ordered up some plate steel and steel tubing from Speedy Metals and went at it. Printed out the strut plate templates and transferred them to the plate steel. My brother ended up working Sunday morning (works at a machine shop), so he cut the templates out for me which took WAY less time than it would of if I cut them out myself.
All that’s left on that is to do some finish grinding and test fitments and see how long the cross bar needs to be. Cut the tubing to length, flatten the ends and weld them to the plates. A little black paint to finish them off and that will be that. I also figured more out on my rear coilover setup.
I will be grabbing some helper springs from Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies this week and then my brother is going to lathe some spring dividers for me. Once those are machined and installed that will complete the rear coilover setup and onto the fronts I go. That will be a different update tho.
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You got it Earl! The material is thicker in the area that is normally drilled and tapped for the oil feed line for the turbo. The standard m10 is prone to breaking when trying to drill it for the fitting.
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It has definitely been busy as hell at work and my weekends have been preoccupied with others things, but I can finally post an update. To answer 02intherockies questions, the rear brake hose issue was solved by using e30 rear brake hoses screwed directly into the caliper. It’s a tiny bit of a stretch, but it works. I finally got the crank pulley to come off thanks to the help of a gigantic gear puller from Advance Auto. The smaller one I got from O'reilly just didn’t cut it apparently. I am in the process of replacing the seal in the timing cover right now. Once that is done, I will mount the new machined down crank pulley and mock up how to trigger wheel will sit in relation to the vr sensor. Going along with my copper rear end, I said screw it and used up some more paint on the pulleys. Most of you probably won’t agree, but to each their own, right?
Water pump pulley and vr sensor mount
My brother and my dad both work at a machining/metal spinning company, so I utilized their expertise and machines at their work. I picked up a big chunk of solid aluminum 3-1/4” rod from Speedy Metals for $20 and had my brother throw it on the lathe to make some spring dividers. I just drew it up in CAD and away it went. As you know, when using helper springs you need a divider between it and the main spring. A couple days later and we had this.
S
S
Which gets installed like this.
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From that point, the rear coilover setup was complete to the point of install. I will have to wait and see the ride height once I can put the car on the ground, so tweaking most likely will be needed.
C
C
Along with that stuff I mocked up the front euro bumper using bmacs adapters that I powdercoated earlier in the build. My front valance is dented in from someone backing into the car, so that made it a big rough to mount it. All-in-all I think it looks better than what I had.
F
That is all for now. Stay tuned!
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Havent updated this in a loooooong time! Hopefully I remember everything. This time I will let the pictures do most of the talking. Firstly tho, the rebuilt head, intake mani and exhaust mani/turbo were reinstalled into the block. Timing covers were cleaned and painted with a new crank seal installed into lower cover.
Pulleys/trigger wheel painted and installed.
Steering rack rebuilt with new poly bushings and tie rod assemblies.
Steering shaft cleaned and rebuilt with new poly bushing.
Steering rack covers cleaned and painted.
New control arms installed due to old ones seized completely. This is one way to remove them, lol.
E12 throttle body installed.
Intercooler came in the mail.
Front suspension rebuilt with custom coilovers and Bilstein struts.
Old
Stock springs perch cut off comparison
Coilovers
And for a little sneak peak of whats coming in the winter …..
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nice meeting you today dude!!!
Can't wait to see this thing on the road!!
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Great meeting you too man!
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So I have been busy with getting smaller things done and out of the way. I am hoping to have the car done and on the road for the meet on Sunday, so cross your fingers. The biggest job right now is machining a throttle body adapter from a block of aluminum. With the BAE Century turbo intake manifold and the e12 throttle body, the charge piping wont clear the valve cover. So, I came up with a wedge design to angle the throttle body slightly up to clear the valve cover. Hopefully this will solve my issue. My dad who is a machinist is working on it as I type, so I am hoping it can be done for Sunday.
Raw chunk of aluminum
The design concept that I came up with and Brian (Snap) put into solidworks for me!
Stay tuned for the final product
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Really hoping it is present this Sunday. It would probably be the oldest vintage car there and maybe we could even get some generational photo action goin on with some other 3's
You would do this at my 5er meet
jk I would love to see this too! Hopefully we can both pull are cars together in t-minus 2 days -
I am definitely working my ass off to make it on Sunday. Gonna be putting in some long and late hours the next 2 days.
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It has definitely been awhile since I have updated this. Obviously I didnt make it to the 5er meet with the car. I busted my ass getting everything done and together, she just didnt want to fire up. Since then, I have been chasing this no spark issue forever it seems. I tried everything and tested everything to no avail. I was to the point of just giving up till next spring, but decided to try out the EDIS-4 and see if that got spark. First try after connecting things together and no spark as well. GAHHH!!! I then decided to completely take apart all the wiring for the EDIS since some of it the PO did and I wasnt certain it was done right. After rewiring I bench tested it and sure enough, the plugs all sparked perfectly. Threw the positive & ground in the car and once again, sparked perfectly. So, I threw the plugs back in the head, turned the key, and she fired right up, FINALLY! OH MY BAGOSH!!! I am so freakin happy!!
Now is the time to finish up the little things around the car and wire everything in permanently. I decided to go with a separate fuse panel and for the EDIS, Megajolt (MJ), and throw the gauges on it too for good measure. Most of it will be mounted in the glovebox except the EDIS module and coilpack, obviously. I used a spare sheet of plexi that I had laying around and mounted the circuit breaker, relay, fuse panel and MJ with 3M tape.
I then went ahead and wired everything up. I decided to take the constant power and ground from the glovebox flashlight circuit since I dont have the flashlight anyways. Turns out that some female bullet connectors fit perfectly on the pins of the flashlight circuit. All-in-all I think it looks great and of course, works like a charm.
Now all I have to do is finish the wiring in the car and this part should be good to go. Then its just odds and ends stuff and hopefully I will be driving it this weekend. Fingers crossed!!
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