A race bmw 316, m10, s14, m20, turbo, na, its been the lot!

[Group4_Mark2]

Graham,

When you say drilling the piston are you thinking about drilling down through the crown into the back of the ring or putting a small slot above the top ring in a couple of places around the circumference of the piston using a small cutter on the mill. The second method is by far the best in my opinion as the slot does not get blocked up with carbon half as quick as the holes from the crown of the piston. The gas ports are supposed to improve the ring seal at high rpms when ring flutter begins to happen. It also allows the use of lower tension rings which reduce friction drag when the piston is not in the compression stroke.

Regards
Tom

[Graham]

right done a bit, dropped the rear end out to fit my modded beam, which frustratingly wouldnt fit! anyway got it in in the end but it did involve an angle grinder and the mig, meassured at back edge of the sill the rear ride height has come down a very healthy 60mm, with the very rear of the car being more like a stonking 90mm lower, and thats with a bit less camber in the back than before so i could drop the height a tad more, not a lot mind because the front can only come down by about half an inch



ive also cut off the old arch and bashed the body slightly more back into shape, i cut the arch off for two reasons, with the new projected lower ride height tyre clearance would of been an issue, also last year (quite correctly) at one meeting the scruiteneers did complain the arch didnt cover enough of the tyre to comply with blue book, which was a bit of a surprise with the number of times its been through scruiteering and no one ever noticed before or come to think of it since!

[david_white]

Brilliant Graham, I think getting the car down lower will be a massive step forward and certainly help you to battle the fast front wheel drivers in the corners. Looks like a bit of panel beating is required though

is there a lot more to do mechanically on this shell if you are definately using it next year. If not then maybe i can take it for a bit of tidying and TLC while you get on with the engine(s)

[Graham]

yeah loads to do dave, forgetting the engine for the min, i want to take the escort pedal box out and fit my floor mounted one, revise the engine mounts (last 3 meetings a ratchet strap has been doubling for a broken rubber mount) make/ modify a more suitable exhaust manifold, upgrade front brakes, change the rack for a quicker one and so on.................

[Graham]

oh and sort a new diff, machine a new bigger alternator drive pulley, rewire the waterpump so its ecu controlled plus work 100 hours a month overtime,

anyone got any spare midnight oil?

[exboyracer]

I've got a 27 hour clock if that's any use!

[mervhill]

Double ended candle?

[e21jason]

Graham

Looks like you need some arches from here
http://www.pesch.cz/bmw/bmw-e30

Jason

[david_white]

Graham

Looks like you need some arches from here
http://www.pesch.cz/bmw/bmw-e30

Jason

Those front wings with the built in arches look spot on.. not sure what the exchange rate is though.

[Group4_Mark2]

They do look good. Probably a small weight saving also. Maybe it would be the best option for the new shell.

[stephen bahr]

Those front wings with the built in arches look spot on.. not sure what the exchange rate is though.

1.00 GBP = 29.6335 CZK


http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert/?Amount=1&From=GBP&To=CZK

Which makes the wings about £114. Built in translator is a bit funny, but i would assume that is for the pair.

[mervhill]

Wouldn't it be more advised to have removable arches though instead of the whole wing? Otherwise any ding on an arch would constitute changing the whole wing rather than just a single arch. Arches are same price for four corners rather than just the fronts, and you'd be needing the rear arches anyway......

[Graham]

TBH right now i cant see anything happening, theres something of a financial spanner in the works, though hopefully not to the point it become a for sale thread!

my only issue with fibreglass panels is they tend to explode given contact, steel you can beat back into shape, ive seen scruits refuse to let cars out in the second race due to damaged GRP panles in an earlier race

[Roadsport]

Duct tape mate. Or the carry a painted spare like the pro's.

[david_white]

Duct tape mate. Or the carry a painted spare like the pro's.

As Graham says duct tape doesn't always cut the mustard with scrutes over here, especially if most of the fibreglass behind it has evaporated. I'm tempted by glass front wings for mine but i wont get them unless my steel ones get a knock and only then if i can afford to buy 2 sets and keep spares in the van. There isn't usually such a great weight saving with front wings though compared with say doors, bonnets and boots with are double skinned steel.

[Graham]

as i was looking at some short oval cars yesterday i've been turned to the dark side, it will prob end up getting trailer arches!

but im afraid the cars going on the back burner for the next few months, looks like i have a large bill to pay which is sucking me dry right now, so im going to hang fire on any radical surgery so if needs be it can go back on track with minimal expense

[Pushrod King]

NOOO! Don't put trailer mudguards on it,they're fine on oval racing cars but not on a circuit car! Make some Escort bubble arches fit...same cost but won't need welding on.

[Graham]

dont worry nick, noughts happening yet, the only trailer arches i've got are on my trailer and they are square and about 1.5 meters long!

for the immediate future all spending is strictly on hold, so i've plenty of time to change my mind several times!!!!!!

[david_white]

Trailer arches are fine for an anglia running 8x13s, not for a circuit racer running 10x18s.... unless you know someone with a pimped trailer with 18s on it

[Graham]

Holey-Smoley thread revival time i've worked about 400 hours overtime in the last 4 months and think im out the poo money wise, still not got anything to spend on the car but at least i have a bit more time, so were now on plan C

which is basically just bolt it back together and get out for march 24/25th so technically including worn rings and jenveys not slide throttles (the slides will need a remap) it will be exactly the same as it finished last year with the exception of the massive reduction in ride height (45mm front and 60mm rear) and hopefully it wil look a little less like its just done a seasons racing round arena essex!

[Group4_Mark2]

Great to see you back on the car. Looking forward to some great racing action again this year. I would expect the ride height changes will help handling a lot, not that it was too bad before.

[david_white]

Good stuff, sounds like a sensible plan. I'm certain the ride height will make a positive difference and maybe the engine can get a quick freshen up later on when things calm down a bit.

Guess theres a bit of panel beating to do now, not that a sledge hammer seems to have much effect on it. Maybe better to bang the dents out with a subaru lol!

[Graham]

Maybe better to bang the dents out with a subaru lol!

i recon your right, the only other car that ever managed to dent it was john cross's

infact i've just found a kink in the chassis rail from the scooby impact it was that hard.

[Graham]

some of todays progress


the new rear arch is a simple metal spat, like you find on minis only bigger, just above the arch and swage line you can see a large crease in the wing, unfortunately it wont come out without putting the car on a jig, as it has a bent chassis rail, fortunately the bend in the chassis rail, doesnt have any effect on the shells geometry



the doors pretty distressed too, and i had already kicked the worst out!


with a bit of beating the doors in better shape, it would take a hell of a lot of filler to make it properly straight even them because its stretched it wont come perfect, so i'll leave as is, although i might stone chip the bottom of the car so the ripples arnt so obvious





the swage line above the middle of the arch wanders and dissappears TBH, i didnt make much of an attempt to put it back, because i cant the wing the is so miss shapen even if i did the line would end up as a kink


with some work from the gass axe, hammer and filler the rear wing looks a similar shape to the light

[Group4_Mark2]

beginning to look like a race car again. A few battle scars are to be expected after a successful season racing.

[Pushrod King]

It's coming along better than mine is,it's amazing what you can do when it's snowing outside ;-)

[stephen bahr]

great to see some progress
managing to put a kink in the chassis rail is impressive though, quite an impact!
wing looks good, it'll never be pristine, though that should be expected, looks good and keep it up.

[caprimentle]

nice , good work graham, not point making it perfect, it will probably only end up getting smashed up again anyway.

[Graham]

well its got paint on it now, not a great job, i mixed the paint and hardner and promptly found i didnt have any thinners so the paints rather thick and either not flowed out properly or has runs, still it covered in one coat!

[david_white]

Looks good

[exboyracer]

If it looks good from 5 yards, it's good enough

[caprimentle]

oooooo shiny , looks good to me

[david_white]

If it looks good from 5 yards, it's good enough

We'll have to rope it off in the paddock then, no one within 5 yards and no photography

[Pushrod King]

Should of rollered it on

[Graham]

todays jobs were to bolt the throttle bodies, fuel tank and pumps back on, and reconfigure the ecu to run on the jenvey tps rather than the linear one the slide throttle use, handily it fired straight up, its late so a couldnt run it for more than a couple of mins, but somethings not quite right, its popping and spitting back through all the intakes, so for some reason its gone lean, strange because when idling on the slides it was rich as hell, but im sure i only trimmed some fuel out and didnt actually alter the map (a fuel trim will dissappear as soon as you switch off)

[turbo m]

Looking good do you buy your masking paper locally or off tinternet??

[Graham]

bought it off the web years ago

[Graham]

right had another bash at it today,

started it up and not only was it very lean and spitting back it was idles miles too fast and i mean miles, spraying some wd40 around it appeared the rubber manifold gaskets haddnt sealed against the head, so i whipped the TB's back off and manifold rubbers/ adaptor plates resealed it all again and put it back together adjusted the linkage reset the throttle pot and 90% of the spitting back had gone but i now had a bonkers 2700rpm idle which went even higher when i tickled the mixture, even with the throttle stop backed right off, the only way i could slow it down to an idle was retard the timing to 7 degrees AFTER TDC

dont ask how or where, but somewhere along the line the throttle stop on the linkage itself had bent (possibly when i suffered the broken pedal last year) and was holding the throttles open, a tweek with some pliers and another reset of linkage, tps and pedal stop and i now had a nice happy idle

what im now hoping is some of my lost power was due to the throttles going past WOT

with it running nicely i did a small spot of rewiring, in the wet or cold the engine runs too cool, way too cool in the wet, so i wired the water pump (its electric) into the redundant electric fan wiring ( i removed the fan along with the turbo) and adjusted the ecu settings (the ecu used to control the fan) so now the pump will only run with the water temp above 85 degrees and will turn off when its down to 78 degrees, there is always some circulation as although theres a thermostat fitted it has drillings in it so it allways allows some flow, that was done so it cannot jam shut and cut off all coolant circulation, but can open and pass more water when things are getting hot, it also means its self bleeding without even starting the engine.

the upshot of this is even if the pumps off theres a small amount of thermo circulation so the the motor wont get hit with a huge slug of cold water when the pump does kick in, but it will run hotter when temps are low, plus im saving on power, the pump draws 5 amps, over a busy weekend the battery shows the strain by the end, this should help out no end in that dept, maybe even allowing me to fit a smaller one and save a couple of kg




the engine not running here, i'd stopped it and put blower infront of the rad to cool things down so i could check the pump did infact turn off again which it did

[105Ian]

Good to see an update Graham as yours always make interesting reading as you give us an update as well as an insight of the highs and lows of running a race car

[Graham]

cheers ian, TBH theres more lows than highs but the highs are better than anything