A purists nightmare - E46 drift build

[Tkuhn]

More progress from over the weekend

I guess I never mentioned this but the bay is getting cleaned up for stitch welding to help stiffen up all of those spot welded panels. Some of the holes are going to be filled and shaved as well. Not going too crazy like on my civic as this car is being built for street/track but this is definitely where I planned to bring some of my own, possibly unconventional flare to the car.

It seems like not many e46 guys shave bays, or do anything to them for that matter lol. Luckily at our shop myself and fellow wibimmers member nick are both doing close to the same thing so we had a few plates lazer cut to the exact size of the holes we are filling. 

Almost ready for welding.

Also got all the wiring pulled back into the cabin to be sorted through. Going to be getting rid of all the unnecessary things like ABS, SAI, washer fluid and etc. The interior is going to be partially stripped but I am still playing with ideas on exactly how to execute it and make the interior what I want. 

One thing I will be doing is swapping in my black dash from the sedan, will also be looking for some black door cards along with re-wrapping the headliner and A pillars.

Also was able to get all of the leftover tape residue off both the driver and passenger side which was from the windows being taped up while it sat outside for 3 years lol

Pretty happy with the results, here's a little before and after of the passenger side.

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE!

More progress over the weekend!

First and foremost one of the things that was on top of my list to figure out was getting the wiring figured out for the accelerator pedal. After lots of researching and running through diagrams we were able to figure out the wiring.

What we ended up doing was stripping down the chassis harness from my sedan and completely removing the pedal wiring from the pedal connector to X-600004 on the DME where I was able to de-pin it. We also pulled the wiring for the clutch switch completely out of the old sedan harness, also de-pinning it from the ews connector as well as the DME plug. All of the wiring was then installed into the coupe harness. Unfortunatly I forgot to take a photo but I was able to completely wire the 2 harnesses into the chassis harness as if they were there from the factory, most people seem to just wire the clutch sensor to the brake wires but I wanted to get as clean of an install as I could. Proably more proud of it than i should be but whatever haha.

Enough rambling about that though, another larger step was getting both the driver and passenger side harnesses that run through the bay uncovered all the way back. I then sorted through the wiring that was not necessary and removed it from the harness as far back as possible and capping all the wires with sealing shrink wrap.

I have some tech flex along with a few connectors on order that will hopefully arrive before the weekend.

Another large step was also started on the bay. Last week I was able to get the bay completely prepped for my buddy to stitch weld the seams along with start welding in the delete plates.

Then came some grinding. Im going to be leaving all of the stitch welds and painting over them but all of the filled holes need to be ground flat and then a bit of filler will be needed.

A bit more welding needs to be done but its coming along nicely!

[jc43089]

Looking good!

[B C]

The M54 is going to be awesome! One honest question though:  you mentioned that you are doing the swap into the 323i chassis because it is nicer. you also mention that you participate in skid racing. When I imagine skid racing, I imagine inevitable carnage. So from way over here in my armchair I get a little worried for you thinking about all that swap and cleanup work when the original 330i chassis was still "good"

I know im missing something here so please correct/enlighten me, or maybe your skid racing venues aren't as treacherous as my imagination would make them out to be. 

Loving the updates, keep em coming!

[GunMetalGrey]

Holy crap, you are really digging into this thing! 
Looks like you're doing good work, keep up the pace and you'll be done sooner than anyone else here!

[Jdesign]

I see a very bright future. Way to hammer on!

[Tkuhn]

@Snap

Understandable statement lol. So that's the thing, when most people think drifting they assume a bunch of piles of shit that smash into walls and eachother but that's not necessarily the whole case. It's more fun to get close while in tandem and not hit. Although I still have alot to learn and seat time to be had I can tell you that for sure. It's really all in a person's style, which is all drifting is based around, style. While it may happen someday that the bumper drags a wall or there's some contact with another car, I'm completely aware that cars can get thrashed while sliding. The idea behind this car is it's a rust free and unmolested chassis. My goals are a street car that I take to the track on the weekends as well as probably do some dumb shit in the streets (when it is safe) and also to build it to be presentable at any show. I mean when it comes down to it some people like smashing things and having shitty cars haha I'd like to have a nice car that is a looker and still performs well. I hope that makes some sense atleast haha

[Tkuhn]

@GunMetalGrey

Thanks! I'm definatly trying to bring a bit of the style from what I learned over 7 years on my civic to this chassis. The plan is to have this first version of the build done before automotion 2018 in May. Because it's more important to me to get seat time and more enjoyable to have the car done and on the road then tear into it over the next winter to make improvements and build onto what I already have.

[YoungCR]

nice work on the wiring! i don't have the patience for that haha

[Tkuhn]

YoungCR said:

nice work on the wiring! i don't have the patience for that haha 

Thanks! Just wait till the update from this weekend

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE

Welding has been completed on the bay. All of the holes that I wanted to have filled to be shaved are completed as well as the stitch welding on the under sides of the frame rails. Next up is some more grinding then filler, sanding and paint!

My wiring supplies came in as well and I am super happy with the way things are turning out. Got both of the harnesses finalized where they exit the cabin of the car and are routed up though the fender frames. I learned alot about wiring and my work developed alot over the years that I was building my civic, if there is one thing I learned its do it right the first time (I redid the wiring on my hatch 4 times before I was close to happy with it). So with that being said I am going into this car with every bit of knowledge I have and doing everything right the first time.

All of the wiring is wrapped in flame resistant tech-flex and the harness connections are Deutsch plugs as well.

Here is the passenger side connections.

And on the driver side I was able to use just one 12 pin bulkhead style connector.

And I was also able to figure out the routing and set up for the heater valve wiring. This car will still have a heater core and heat, because I enjoy driving in fall with the windows down and the heat on haha.

That's it for now. Grinding, filler and sanding will hopefully start this week. Then once the bay is near ready (or i get sick of not feeling my fingers) I will be continuing the wire tuck with routing to all of the components on the front end.

[B C]

Heat on, windows down, in the fall.

My man

[YoungCR]

Never seen the insides of a wire tuck, great work!

[Tkuhn]

YoungCR said:

Never seen the insides of a wire tuck, great work! 

Thank you! Although not too sure many people do tucks on e46s, atleast that I've seen haha. I'll be doing Nicks as well, but I can gaurentee not many people go this in depth either lol.

[Jdesign]

Looking good. All those connectors and bulk heads add up quick. Where are you ordering your wiring supplies from?

[Tkuhn]

Jdesign said:

Looking good. All those connectors and bulk heads add up quick. Where are you ordering your wiring supplies from?

Wirecare.com ! It's awesome, one stop shop for all my extremely particular wiring needs, even when people are never going to see it lol

[Tkuhn]

Quick little update. 

Got all of the final welds ground down and the bay is ready for filler and sanding.

Also was able to wire up and finalize the driver side wiring for the headlight, corner, horn, coolant level and temp sensor. Pleased with the outcome and next will be the passenger side.

[Tkuhn]

UPDATE!

First off Ill save the boring photos of all the interior wires that were cut and dead ended. Hoping there wont be any issues with removing all the abs, srs, seat wiring and etc. Theoretically there should be no problems and if there are I am confident they can be sorted out.

I was able to finish up the wire tuck on the passenger side.

Heres both of the harnesses completely removed from the car. With the deutsch connectors both harnesses are easily depinned from where they connect at the fender near the door. Then they are able to be removed completely.

The bay is also starting to get closer and closer to the finish line. Welding is completed along with all filler was lair and sanded. Next up is final sanding to prep for paint.

Hoping to get started on stripping some of the sound deadening from the interior soon as well so that the interior can get painted then the entire interior harness can get loomed for final installation.

[Jdesign]

Harnesses and engine bay are looking great! Excited to see paint in that bay!

[Tkuhn]

Jdesign said:

Harnesses and engine bay are looking great! Excited to see paint in that bay!

Trust me I'm about ready to also hahahah hopefully in a few weeks if time permits!