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

[stephen bahr]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

no much more, the engines more upright

ah thick moment, thought it was leaning the other way!

EDIT: just a thought, something similar to the turbo manifold you had, i think it was volvo, the very nice shiny one, something like that, engineer it to fit the head?

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!










some obligatory porting pics, fortunatly this time i've started with a big port head so it doesnt need hours and hours of grinding, like a yb or teh small port heads, the ports have been opened a couple of mm, most of the work has gone into opening out the manifold face to suit the slide throttles. bottom pic shows a hole in the port where i broke through, fortunately its only into a manifold bolt hole so of no consequence, tbh i was half expecting to break through there because i did on the last head i did

[david_white]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Nice porting, makes a change to start with a pretty well ported head eh?

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

bit of an un update! had the flu last couple of weeks so what with that and xmas, almost no progress,

i have the new block, unfortunatly this hasnt gone to plan either the owner seems to of lost the bearing caps!

i can probably find enough caps that are a close enough fit to get them line bored to suit the block, yet more money! so the only thing currently happening is farndon should be close to finishing my rods, as for what next, not sure,

ive pretty much decided to leave the AA and open up my own workshop, something i was going to do 10 years ago before the AA headhunted me, 10 years on it feels like time for a change, but knowing most businesses fail in the first year i know to have a real chance of making it work i need a years worth of overheads under my belt before i start, building s14's racing and finding money to fiance a business dont exactly go together........................................

[Toymex]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Good luck if you decide to go on your own Graham ,i know there is never a good time to start a business ,but everyone i know in my line of work is pretty quiet ,could you try doing your own stuff at the weekends and then build up from there and jump ship from the AA when you have a good run infront of you .I know its not great having to work in your time off but it saves any big dramas if enough work doesnt come in

[Pushrod King]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Good luck if you decide to go on your own Graham ,i know there is never a good time to start a business ,but everyone i know in my line of work is pretty quiet ,could you try doing your own stuff at the weekends and then build up from there and jump ship from the AA when you have a good run infront of you .I know its not great having to work in your time off but it saves any big dramas if enough work doesnt come in

I'll second that.

[alladdin]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

what sort of workshop Graham ? are we talking general repairs or a cylinder head / engine building emporium ?

and best wishes for your venture

having a good job just makes the step harder to make

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

general servicing and repairs, with engines and performance stuff as a filler, i'd prefer to do it the otherway round, i.e engines as a specialty and everything else to fill in the gaps.

nothing will happen overnight, my financial position has massively improved of late and will get better still April onwards, there are a couple of reasons why this hasnt happened sooner, the biggest because simply i couldnt afford to risk not having a very good wage coming in, with what the AA pay me most would think me nuts to pack it in, but if i dont do it soon i never will, i have loads of colleges that have been in the job for nearly 30 years, but they are now in the position that they are either too old or dont know enough outside the company to make the move, i dont want to fall in that catagory

the real deciding factor as to when will be when i have enough capital behind me, i have shares in the AA when they are sold of floated which should be in the near future they will be worth something possibly quite a bit.

the slow start up isnt really an option, work consumes too many hours to make that possible. im confident i can make a success, fiancial timing is the key factor, if i can get enough behind me i can cover a years overheads it will work, its short term cash flow that causes most businesses to fail

[evodave]

A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Good luck if/when you go for it !!

I held off setting up Classic & Rally Spares the first time round when we were in Scotland but should have done it earlier to be honest, making the change is the biggest step & having the confidence to do it......you've plenty knowledge & loads of skills so I don't see you having any problems......

We've been running Classic & Rally Spares over in Donegal now for just over 2 years & really just beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel now as things are finally coming together.

I would say that financially, you sit down & do your sums to ensure you have everything covered.....as I was always told "the devil is in the detail !!"

I'm sure I'd you continue campaigning the race car then that should bring you work as well.....it speaks for itself !!

Just shout if you need any help !!

All the best !
David

[caprimentle]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

great news graham imo, i really admire people that have the confidence to start off on there own, wish i could take that leap but i cant see it any time soon. i have no doubt in my mind that you wont find the work, you are one of the very very few i would trust to build an engine for me. i wish you the best of luck graham and who knows, maybe next year off from racing might do you some favours as you can put more thought, time and effort into making the race car even better

[Pushrod King]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

I'm not saying he shouldn't just that he needs to be 1001% sure as like Graham said giving up a secure well paid job in the current financial climate will take some doing,I've been self employed doing what graham is contemplating for years and have never known it to be as quiet/bad as it is now!

[exboyracer]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Best of luck with the new venture Graham, would you be going solo?

A friend of mine started his own business a few years ago and TBH he has never looked back, he is knowledgeable like yourself and he is well known on the forums for the quality of his work speaks for itself as does yours.

http://www.performance-autoworks.co.uk/index.php

[RWD fords rule]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

Good luck with your business Graham, I would get you to port a stage 3 inj pinto head for me if you are interested, all cleaned up and ready to go cash up front, with all of your experience you will make the business work, it is just a matter of getting the word out and being recommended by customers, best of luck whichever direction you decide to take

[Graham]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

cheers jason,

as things stand i simply cant find the time to do everything im asked, for every one job i do i probably turn away 20 to 30 more, no guarantee i would actually get all the work im offered, but it should be enough to fill in some gaps, likewise i still have a few colleges in the trade that would chuck me the odd job and if i can keep a few of my current colleges on side ive got a half decent starting point even without an established retail client base, hense my decision to GO once i have a years overheads under my belt, that way im not panicking every time i have a quiet week or two.

i will go solo, although painfully aware that what i really need is a keen decent apprentice, someone who is more focus'd on learning some decent skills rather than jumping straight into a job paying £££, but finding someone like that is probably harder than actually building a business in the first place!

[caprimentle]

Re: A race bmw 316, now S14 powered again!

i will go solo, although painfully aware that what i really need is a keen decent apprentice, someone who is more focus'd on learning some decent skills rather than jumping straight into a job paying £££, but finding someone like that is probably harder than actually building a business in the first place!

if you said that 10 years ago i would break your arm till you gave me the job so there must be people out there wanting the job, escpecially in these harder times where almost any job out there is wanted by people.