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

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

rest of my new wheels just turned up

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

not much more progress

i spent a while pondering how to make my new dash, and decided i had a perfectly good one i just needed something to attach it to, in the i found a lovely piece of composit materail which slide into the back of the dash with a nice snug fit making no other fixings nec and it quick release

i also drilled the colume mounting bracket to take the fuel pressure gauge (actually an oil pressure one) and the bias adjuster knob. and ground off all the redunant bits of upper steering colume which used to carry the ignition barrel and the switch gear etc

i thought tom burgess wood appricate my choice of composit material for the dash mount


















plywood, thats a composit!

[tom burgess]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

cant see nothing wrong with the choice of materials used therelightweight aswellalthough all my wood has gone now
Oh and the rims look wicked

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

long long shifts and finally getting the builder back to finish the garage roof mean little progress, but i did get as far as testing the fuel pumps and plumbing for flow



meassuring the amount of fuel returned to the tank after going through the pumps, fuel lines and pressure reg showed that the pumps are still in good shape and on normal pump fuel can flow enough juice for 600bhp, i think the 8mm fuel lines are restricting the pumps a bit because the pumps will flow more than that when tested with shorter fuel lines, but im not worried they are flowing plenty enough for my needs



my son stephen testing the driving position



now the engine has moved the strut brace wont fit any more to i removed its mounts, its main purpose was actually to support the bonnet anyway as the struts are tied into the roll cage

[carpmart]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

long long shifts and finally getting the builder back to finish the garage roof mean little progress, but i did get as far as testing the fuel pumps and plumbing for flow

This looks like some kind of bomb your building there Graham!

Timing device, power supply, combustant - Al Queda would be proud of that!

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

not been totally idle, i've taken the pedal box out and welded the pedals back up, they looking a bit messy now having been cut and rewelded twice, while i was at it i boxed in the back of them to stop them flexing and twisting, i also adapted some small end bushes to replace the worn/broken o/e nylon ones





onced id removed the pedal box from the car i found a small half penny size rust hole under one of the spreader plates which secures it, after a dave roberts style exploritary inscision its was some what bigger!




next a welded some brackets on to hold the coil pack, which became homeless now im not running a strut brace


thers no money in the kitty for a fibreglass boot lid so i removed the outer skin form all its stiffening and mounting gubbins, its not now much heavier than a grp one and very cheap

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

one drawback with reusing the boot lid, it has holes in it from the old rear spoiler, such holes are difficult to weld up in a thin single skin, so i hatched a plan

grind area around hole


place piece of aluminium under hole


weld up hole, the weld wont do any more than barely stick to the aluminium


pull aluminium plate off


grind smooth


almost flat underside of repair


once you have ground off both sides you have invisably repaired a thin skin with no or almost no distortion

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

so i can repaint and have it looking nice and shiney i've been cleaning the inside of the car with a wire brush in an angle grinder, the idea isnt to actually strip it back to bare metal, just get rid of and remaining bits of underseal, dirt, crap, my previous efforts at tidying it with a pot of paint, rust etc.

googles and thick clothing are a must though, in the angle grinder these brushes shed bits of wire like like arrows, they get everywhere and often go through you clothes, even found one in nesting in my pubes in the bath last night



once i got feed up with wire brushed i started to mock up for my bigger rear brakes, im using alloy 5 series calipers which give 35% greater pad area than the current 3 series ones aswell as being a lot bigger they are also much wider and take a vented disc they weigh the same as the old ones

[Retromotorsport]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

A bit too much info there Graham..

[david_white]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

Great progress as usual Graham, I'm jealous

You could have just stuck a grommet in the hole in the boot you know

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

You could have just stuck a grommet in the hole in the boot you know

could of done but the holes werent symetirical, more sort of random so it would of looked stupid

[david_white]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

could of done but the holes werent symetirical, more sort of random so it would of looked stupid

Ok I'll let you off then. Boot lid looks nice and light, like you say probably not much different in weight to a inner skinned fibreglass lid

[tom burgess]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

Thats a fair bit of progress you have done there Grahamyoure changing quite a lot of things on the car.Can i ask why?was it because the things werent working to suit you or are you just developing it as you usually do in a trial and error sort of way
The boot looks very neat aswell

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

its something i do at the end of most seasons, review what worked, and what could be improved, usually the things i change one season if they work ok then stay untouched for the next couple of seasons, the suspension is basically staying the same as is the drive train, most of whats changing is in the name of weight saving and distribution to avoid making the car too light at the back end,

at the end of the day its because i want to be able to run at the very front of the grid, the aim is to take an overal championship win by anialating the opposition, the trouble is the opposition are getting stronger so i have to as well,

secondly for me half what i get from racing is developing the car, which is probably why i never plump for a car you can build into a winner with of the shelf knowledge and parts

[Graham]

Re: a very powerfull and troublesome bmw 316

whoops i've just gone a bought a very chavtastic rear spoiler my daughter is pretty disgusted with it and suggested i'd be buying noens next my sone had a grin though because he knows no way is it gong to end up on my car looking like it currently does, so take a look now cos its never going to be seen like it again