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Re: Graham's bmw 2002 race car.
with almost all the structural stuff done i turned my attention to the very front of the car, i was aware the a lot of the sheet metal which forms the nose of the car was missing, and that the lower part of the front panel/valence/radiator support panels were badly bodged up. the front end sheet metal for these always was expensive, but you could get it, either a complete front with inner and outer sheet metal or just an outer skin, unfortunately it seems its now all NLA, all i could get was a reproduction outer lower front skin. so i bit the bullet and bought one, and chopped the old one off. we bolted a pair of front wings on to give us something to align the new panel with
next we bolted the front cross member back in along with a mock up engine and box, i did it because we are going to have to fabricate a lot of sheet metal based on nothing but pictures off the internet, im not too worried about trying to make something totally original, but it kinda important that the radiator and engine are not sharing the same space!
at this point i realized i might have an issue with the roll cage, or more correctly the strut brace section of it. when the cage was done there the shell was bare, and the tubes were positioned from memory only, i wasnt too worried at the time, as i never intended to run an engine with a distributor, but building it to a historic spec thats exactly what i need to do. as soon as the block was on the x member i knew we were short on room, the head fitted, but it was clear there was no room for the oil switch, but thats easily relocated to the main oil gallery, in any case i think its better to know what the oil pressure in the main oil feed is, rather than at the furthest point from the oil pump at end of a rocker shaft, more concerning was that as it stands there was no way i was going to be able to fit a distributor! after a lot of thinking i got out the Oxy-acetylene torch and a hammer, heated up and reshaped the tube to clear the dizzy, whilst i was there i also reshaped the tube to give me access to a head bolt without taking the engine out first
with almost all the structural stuff done i turned my attention to the very front of the car, i was aware the a lot of the sheet metal which forms the nose of the car was missing, and that the lower part of the front panel/valence/radiator support panels were badly bodged up. the front end sheet metal for these always was expensive, but you could get it, either a complete front with inner and outer sheet metal or just an outer skin, unfortunately it seems its now all NLA, all i could get was a reproduction outer lower front skin. so i bit the bullet and bought one, and chopped the old one off. we bolted a pair of front wings on to give us something to align the new panel with
next we bolted the front cross member back in along with a mock up engine and box, i did it because we are going to have to fabricate a lot of sheet metal based on nothing but pictures off the internet, im not too worried about trying to make something totally original, but it kinda important that the radiator and engine are not sharing the same space!
at this point i realized i might have an issue with the roll cage, or more correctly the strut brace section of it. when the cage was done there the shell was bare, and the tubes were positioned from memory only, i wasnt too worried at the time, as i never intended to run an engine with a distributor, but building it to a historic spec thats exactly what i need to do. as soon as the block was on the x member i knew we were short on room, the head fitted, but it was clear there was no room for the oil switch, but thats easily relocated to the main oil gallery, in any case i think its better to know what the oil pressure in the main oil feed is, rather than at the furthest point from the oil pump at end of a rocker shaft, more concerning was that as it stands there was no way i was going to be able to fit a distributor! after a lot of thinking i got out the Oxy-acetylene torch and a hammer, heated up and reshaped the tube to clear the dizzy, whilst i was there i also reshaped the tube to give me access to a head bolt without taking the engine out first
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