FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

Im also contemplating if I should just find a cheap fuel cell instead of replacing the fuel tank.... Thoughts?

What's wrong with the fuel tank?  Maybe I missed it.  The stock tank seems like a good design, it's low and fits around the components of the car well.  Any fuel cell is going to be further back and higher up.  Also capacity might be an issue, it would be annoying to stop for fuel every 150 miles.  I would think tanks should be all over from junked cars, there isn't anything to go wrong on them unless it gets punctured.

[straight6pwr]

roof rack +

[straight6pwr]

another idea: put a hole in top of the trunk lid and put that tank in the trunk so you can see it. maybe leave the filler hanging out a hole in the lid or the fender.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

What's wrong with the fuel tank?  Maybe I missed it.  The stock tank seems like a good design, it's low and fits around the components of the car well.  Any fuel cell is going to be further back and higher up.  Also capacity might be an issue, it would be annoying to stop for fuel every 150 miles.  I would think tanks should be all over from junked cars, there isn't anything to go wrong on them unless it gets punctured.

It has a hole in it. When the car bottoms out, it smushed the floor into the tank a poked a small hole in it. I patched it, but I have a new tank I got from TJ. But since the floor is all destroyed, its likely to happen again unless I smasheth everything with a BFH. Not that I dont mind doing that, but I thought it might be smarter to just get a fuel cell. IDK you are probably right about keeping the stock tank. 

straight6pwr said:

another idea: put a hole in top of the trunk lid and put that tank in the trunk so you can see it. maybe leave the filler hanging out a hole in the lid or the fender.

LOL. I plan on cutting the whole floor of the trunk out while im doing the subframe and all that stuff back there. I think its a smart move to relocate the battery between the strut towers vs. the stock quater-panel location in case I hit something. With that, I figured it might be easy to run a fuel cell but in the end it more messing around that I dont need to do right now. I just want to get this thing road worthy again.

This is similar to what I was thinking:

[straight6pwr]

you'd never have to stop for gas with 45-50 gal.

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

you'd never have to stop for gas with 45-50 gal.

IDK if I would even get moving with the weight and use of diesel in a gas engine. But seriously, that's obnoxious and  would require some extensive fabrication to make sure I don't explode when I hit something. (I really plan on hitting something)

[straight6pwr]

they hang these off the sides of trucks and everything is hunky-dory.  i've never seen a semi truck on fire before.

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

they hang these off the sides of trucks and everything is hunky-dory.  i've never seen a semi truck on fire before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpnCB2OwgVY

[YoungCR]

straight6pwr said:

they hang these off the sides of trucks and everything is hunky-dory.  i've never seen a semi truck on fire before.

I’ve seen more cars burning on the side of the road then tractors but it does happen haha. It’s usually electrical issues.

[jc43089]

Also for a truck it's filled with diesel which doesn't readily burst into flames like gasoline...

[Jdesign]

So, I finally took some time to work on this. Despite the parts being moved around the shop as I tended to other projects, I finally moved the crate for the last time and got this going last weekend. Up on the lift I pulled the old wheels off and found that one of my spacers became no longer hub centric..

Besides that I was able to get 6"s of lift out of the coilovers up front before the bottom of the uprights hit the control arms. I made a slight adjustment back down to prevent this. In the future I might need to add a spacer to the subframe and control arm bushings to get more lift and travel out of this set up. I also had to remove the brake lines from mounting locations as the flex section was maxed out and would have prevented me from turning. The PO deleted the ABS and its a mess, so I might find myself addressing the brakes again in the near future, but for now I will just weld tabs for new "lower" mounting locations to allow the lift.

I had to remove the front bumper due to the tires rubbing and I was unsure if I wanted to trim it and the filler panel with the kidneys. After I removed it I test fit the front wheels and kind of like the look with no bumper cover. I might need to attach some kidneys of some sort just because of the BMW factor but I will revisit this later.

I then started the rear last night which was a whole different situation. I started by removing the over fenders and exhaust. As mentioned earlier, I was upgrading to ///M Swing arms and axles. So with that, I have all new bushings, subframe, control arms, control arm supports, ETC. I am swapping out everything besides the shocks, brakes, and diff. I was able to remove everything without any major issues. Once everything was set aside, I started to trim the arches more to allow the bigger tires.

After this I gave up for the night and will return tonight.

...... But obviously I had to see how it looked on the ground, so I set it all in place and lowered the car back on the ground. Needless to say I was pretty happy with the results.

[jc43089]

Excellent!

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Excellent!

[straight6pwr]

WhistlinDiesel would be proud

next step:

[YoungCR]

Mount the kidneys to a custom brush guard? Or make your own monster kidneys

[Jdesign]

YoungCR said:

 Or make your own monster kidneys 

You mean use a set from a 2020 BMW?

[Jdesign]

Got the gas tank out last night. Despite what I thought, the gas tank wasn't actually what was leaking. Turns out the brake lines behind the fuel tank for the rear brakes was extremely rusted in the corners and was leaking. The vent tube on the top of the tank was in pretty bad shape which may have been leaking too but only when the tank was full. Speaking of full, I also had 3/4 of gas in the tank. 

The line above the two vent lines:

The spot where I thought the tank was leaking once I cleaned it off.

It was rubbing on the chassis but I fixed that with a hammer once it was out.

Also, thinking ahead, I realize the fuel and brake lines running to the back of the car are low an pose a threat to any obstructions I may find, So I will be building bash plates to "fix" the floor and cover all the lines to prevent damage. 

Pics of floor to show you why cars have windows and leaving wet carpet in your car for a year is bad:

[Jdesign]

I figured the rust wasnt removing enough weight fast enough.  

Also needed room for this

With nothing in the back of the car, I noticed that the car was starting to tip off of the lift so I had to strap it down LOL

Some quick C.A.D.

I found some nice sheet metal at my work from an industrial washing machine, which made a perfect new floor. I will be using the same stuff under the rusty sections too before I fully flintstone the car. 

[KaiserRolls]

Me, every time I see this thread updated 

[Jdesign]

Just bought a BIGGER BFH. 

If anyone is bored and has a desire to be destructive, wants a little extra arm exercise, or just wants to watch me break something, I need to persuade the chassis a bit, for some slightly larger wheels, you are all more than welcome to "swing" by.