Project e30

Photos for Fuel Cell and Cockpit

2008-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

From left to right----Fuel Pump (Mallory 700hp rated), fuel filter (Trickflow rebuildable), feed line, return line, vent line. All hose is Earl's Prolite 350 with Earls swivel tite fittings.

Yes, I know the computer is held on with a spring clip...I have to fabricate a proper mount. :)

Fuel System plumbed and working

2008-09-08T09:02:00.000-07:00

This weekend I plumbed the fuel cell and installed the fuel filter and pump. For now I wired the fuel pump to the existing external fuel pump circuit and it seems to be working...kinda. It sounds like the fuel pump cuts out every now and then, but I can't confirm it. I think one of the issues is fuel starvation under acceleration from a stop. I only have 4 gallons of fuel in the 12 gallon cell, and I think I'm having pickup issues when I start from a dead stop. I'm going to put some more fuel in and see if that helps. After my track day I'll have to look into fab'ing a small collection tank or swirl pot to reduce the starvation issue.

The glass was also installed last week, I used a mobile service and they sent a guy who looked like he was straight out of a porn. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit that he apparently gave up on buttoning after his belly button, no doubt to allow his massive growth of chest hair to blow about freely in the breeze. I tired to get a photo but I didn't want him to get excited at the site of a camera and try to hit on me or something. Anyway, the glass was installed nicely and I'm one step closer to being kinda street legal.

I'll post photos later, I keep forgetting to bring my camera home from the studio.

I'm back! Paint is on, car is coming back together

2008-08-20T15:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the crummy photos, they are from my iPhone. Anyway- the paint is done, almost. Painting a roll cage is a pain...every time I'd think I was done, I'd see another spot I missed. The paint is decent, but my body work imperfections are showing up more now. Oh well, it's a race car, not a show car and I'm going to drive the hell out of it.

I have to finish putting everything back together, bolting up the diffuser, the side skirts and plumbing the fuel cell. First track day is scheduled for Sept. 27.

Short update...project getting back on track

2008-07-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

The last month has been super busy for me, I just moved my company to a new location and took on a few new employees so work has taken priority over the car for now. now that things are getting settled, I should have a little more free time to continue with the project. I'm planning on getting the paint shot this week....I would like to have the car ready for a track day on August 9!

More updates coming soon.

Making the bumpers removable

2008-06-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

I finally had to tackle the job of cutting the bumper off the front of the car and reattaching it. I had temporarily molded it to the car so that I could smooth out the fenders as one piece...I just didn't want to screw up all my finish work by cutting everything up. It actually went better than what I was expecting, the cut lines came out straight (I used a cut off wheel on my angle grinder) and the bumper came off as one nice piece. Below you can see I'm using a laser level to mark my cut line---

And here's the bumper completely off. I'm going to fab up an attachment system so that the bumper flare and the fender flare will join together to add some rigidity.

The next issue I ran into was the rear bumper. There isn't any reason to make the rear bumper removable since it's only cosmetic and covers up sheet metal behind it. However, I noticed that the rear bumper was distorted and misaligned. I either didn't notice before I made the fenders, or making the fenders misaligned the bumper. Either way, I had to fix the angle and gap of the bumper. The only solution was to relief cut the rear fender and slide the bumper cover forward about 1/4" and up an 1/8". I used a floor jack to hold it in place while I fiberglassed on a patch. As soon as the patch dries, I'll laminate some Kevlar onto the backside of the cut. Hopefully the repaired section will end up being stronger than before the cut.

More body work, more primer

2008-06-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I am a little behind schedule because I decided to take my time and block out the fenders by hand to get them smooth. It's time consuming but I'm getting good results so far. I purchased my paint, OEM Alpine White. I'm planning on getting some color on the car by the end of the week. After paint, I think things will progress quickly (and it'll be back on the road).

Primer is on!!

2008-06-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Utilizing my state-of-the-art cross-draft spray booth (aka leaving the big garage door open and the side door cracked to suck out the air) I laid down some primer today. I used a polyester based primer for its high-build and high-flex properties. It also clings to bare metal really easily, and since it's a 2 part cure, it won't attract water like traditional primer. I was really surprised at what little overspray I had, even though I used an old pressure pot style paint gun. Painting on a 10mph windy day with the doors open was just enough to keep the garage overspray free, with no contaminants in the paint. If sanding the primer goes well this week, I should be able to lay down the color coat this weekend.

Gutting the car (again) for paint

2008-05-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

I set a deadline for myself so that I can finally get some paint on this thing and start driving it again. I have a lot of testing to do this summer, and our summers don't seem to last very long. I removed the seats and anything else that wasn't welded in. I then applied filler in any areas that needed it and had a good full day of sanding...the electric DA I bought from Harbor Freight is doing an outstanding job, I only expected it to work for about an hour. Tinfoil works really well for masking off wires and such, it removes easily without any sticky residue.

A few better pics of the diffuser---

2008-05-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

The diffuser is taking shape!

2008-05-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

The rear diffuser if finally taking shape...I've had to redesign it a few times after it started out way too big. Functionally it would've been awesome, but it looked ridiculous. Now it still looks ridiculous, just less :)

Here it is temporarily mounted for fitting. It is constructed from aluminum honeycomb composite and is pretty light for its size. The main angle of attack is also adjustable.

The tail end protrudes past the rear bumper about 1.5"---it matches the wing uprights nicely. I'll paint the whole diffuser black as soon as our weather gets better again...only 58 degrees today.

You can also see I left an open air channel above the main diffuser surface to allow as much airflow as possible...the fuel cell will block some of this flow, but it's better than having the air get turbulent behind the bumper.

Here's the support brackets I made from square stock and c-channel. I welded in all-metal lock nuts to the inside of the c-channel as mounting points.

I also made a new photo album in addition to this blog, it contains all my build photos so far-

Project E30 Photo Build Diary

New Fuel Cell fitted

2008-05-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

I finally purchased the correct fuel cell...I picked up a flange mount 12 gallon unit. It was a little too tall to just leave it sitting on the floor of the trunk, so I cut a hole in the floor to drop it through in an effort to lower the center of gravity. It sits about 5" below the floor and 4" above. It's a little higher than the stock tank, but I need a lot of weight in the rear so hopefully this should be a good trade off.

I used L-channel steel to distribute the weight across to the frame rails, where I will fabricate a bolt-in mechanism. I was going to weld the whole thing in, but I thought it might be nice to have the ability to remove it to service the differential or sub frame.

After the cell is completely fit, I'll have to figure out how to re-route my fuel lines and install a new pump and filter setup. I should probably do that soon, considering I put Kevlar over the old fuel door and it's going to be tough to get gas in the old tank. Whoops. Maybe I can use a transfer pump and some hose for a while.

Additional door bars added

2008-05-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today I welded on some additional door bars to allow for easier entry and exit. Since the doors are now just thin carbon skins, you can't sit on the sill and swing your legs in, so I added the bars. Now you can sit on the top of the door before you drop into the seat, no worries of damaging the door skins. I also welded in the pin-plates for the quarter-turn fasteners that hold the skins in place.

I believe that the additional door bars added some significant rigidity to the car...they should help stiffen the unibody and transmit the loads carried by the cage.

More cutting, preparation for rear diffuser

2008-05-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

I began cleaning up the underside of the car in preparation for the rear diffuser and undertray setup...it's pretty bare underneath now! I cut off the existing muffler (which was some aftermarket setup that the previous owner had) and made some exhaust turndowns from the leftover bits to direct the exhaust away from the suspension. I had already removed the spare tire well, see a previous post.

I then cut away the bumper to allow fitting of a wide and deep diffuser...which I am fabricating now. The attachment points for the diffuser will be the frame rails, they are the only sturdy thing nearby. I also picked up my fuel cell, so now that I have the correct dimensions I can calculate the proper angle for the diffuser.

Barge Boards / Running boards fab'd

2008-05-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

The running boards or barge boards are just about done- I was able to mock up one side and get the pieces trimmed for the other side. The purpose of the running boards is to tie in the fender flares with the rest of the body, as well as to integrate with the undertray and add more surface area to the undertray. The barge boards also act as skirts to help direct the airflow under the car to the rear diffuser.

The running boards are aluminum honeycomb composite riveted to the chassis. The barge boards are lexan plastic riveted to the aluminum. I used lexan so that if i scrape over something there is should be less damage since the lexan will flex instead of breaking.

I still have to finish sanding the micro on the fenders and then hopefully I can get some priner on this thing. I'm getting anxious to drive it now that the weather is good, I already missed the first track day of the year.

Carbon/Kevlar door skins

2008-05-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

I completed the door skins, made from a Carbon/Kevlar composite. I used Kevlar for the inner layer to protect the driver from shards of carbon in case the doors are destroyed. I was able to do the whole layup in my driveway since we're having nice weather...although the neighbors seem to frown upon a guy in his driveway wearing a Tyvek suit and respirator.

Here are the doors after an initial trim and simply taped to the car. I haven't quite figured out how to attach the skins to the car, but I have a few ideas. I just need to make a trip to the steel shop one of these days. The doors will be fixed (non-opening) so you'll have to climb in through the windows, but I don't think it's going to be a big problem. The skins only weigh about 6 or 8 ounces, compared to about 45lbs each for the complete doors.

Splitter fabrication, sheetmetal trimming

2008-04-21T14:49:00.001-07:00

This weekend I finally trimmed away the sheet metal fenders to allow for more tire clearance. The trim is pretty modest for now, after the Kevlar fenders are on I'll go back and remove more material. I didn't want to remove too much and not have enough room to mount the flares.

I also began fabricating the front splitter. The construction is a composite aluminum panel...a polymer honeycomb structure skinned with aluminum. The weight is similar to .040 aluminum, but about 50 times stronger. It's pretty cool stuff, amazing strong for the weight. I did consider carbon fiber, but I was worried about destroying it on a speed bump or something. The composite aluminum is simple to duplicate and I can have a couple extra in case I break one.

The splitter isn't pinned to the bumper yet, I still have to make some supports to tie it to the chassis. If this thing actually works, it should generate about 160-200lbs of down force...so I better attach it to the frame properly. Attachment to the bumper cover alone would cause too much distortion for the surface to be effective.

Fenders are rough-trimmed and pinned!

2008-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Lots of progress over the weekend- I even cleaned out the garage and chipped some epoxy from the concrete floor...hopefully when I do one of those garage-floor painting kits it'll cover most of the spots. Anyway- the fenders are all pinned on with Cleckos so I can do my final fitting and trim. The car is starting to look pretty good, even though it's 4 different colors.

This time for the rear fenders I used Meguire's mold release paste wax on the male mold and it made a world of difference. The finished parts almost fell off the car...way easier than previous methods. I weighed a rough-trimmed rear fender...exactly 2 pounds! It's remarkably stiff too, at least when it's attached to the car. I may reinforce the backside with a little fabric here and there, in high stress locations.

I also mocked-up a belly pan undertray that will tie in with the fenders. I'm not sure what material to make the undertray out of yet...some sort of composite involving Kevlar for its abrasion resistance. Maybe with a polyurethane foam core? I guess I need to do some testing first.

Below is a Photoshop'd image to see what it might look like with some paint...not too bad so far!

Kevlar on the rears-

2008-04-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

I made a lot of progress today, the rear fenders have a few layers of Kevlar on them and should be able to be removed from the "mold" tomorrow. The epoxy cures a lot better at 74 degrees ambient!

The front flares are mocked up using Clecko pins for now, I'll have a little sanding and filling to do before they are done. You can see the Micro in the photo below, it's a mixture of micro-glass balloons and epoxy. It's very strong and can take a beating unlike regular body filler. I still have to do the final trim of both the bumper and fender flares, the I can start removing some of the original steel fender to allow some clearance for the tires.

Rear fenders are taking shape

2008-04-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to fleecing the rear fenders now that the fronts have cured and my techniques have been semi-proven. I'm planning on putting a coat of epoxy on the fleece soon, so adding Kevlar should happen this week if all goes well. The cold temperatures have really slowed the cure of my epoxy so the whole process is taking double what it should. We are supposed to have 70 degree weather this weekend, so hopefully I can make some progress.

The fronts came out nice, they only needed a little bit of micro to smooth out a few low spots from the deformed male mold (once again, the cold temp made the epoxy cure too slowly, allowing for deformation of the mold during the cure). The biggest challenge was making matching bumper extensions to match the fender flares. I should've made the whole thing as one piece then cut it to allow removal of the bumper. I believe my solution will work, but it was a lot of extra work that could've been eliminated. I am now doing the rear sections as one piece that I will cut later so I can remove the rear bumper.

Another thing I learned is to reinforce my MDF forms with an adhesive in addition to hot glue. I used heaters to cure the front flares, which melted the hot glue at 150 degrees, which deformed the mold. The rears have additional supports as well as standard adhesive that should hold up under artificial heat.

In other news-- the doors have been prepped for molding as well, I am planning on using a carbon fiber/Kevlar laminate to create some lightweight door skins. I'm just going to pin them on using Dzus fasteners, I can't think of a situation where I would need a hinged door (emergency workers can pull me through the window just as easy as if I had a normal door, since the x-brace is in the way anyway). To prep the doors I cut off all unnecessary sheetmetal and filled in the door handle area. The new skins should be about 12-16oz. each.

More fender work- rough trim to test fit.

2008-03-31T23:42:00.001-07:00

The fenders are coming along nicely, I was able to release the Kevlar from the fleece (male mold) without too much drama. The shape gives the fender some rigidity, but it is still a little too flexible with out being securely fastened to the car. I may add some supporting layers of fabric to the back side later on. The photo above shows a quick and dirty trim so that I could test the fit, the finished product will be more refined.

The next step is to add a matching flare to the bumper so that the lines can continue uninterrupted. I would like to make a complete bumper cover, but I think I'll wait until I'm finished with the flares all around. I may start on making some lightweight door skins at the same time, a fixed-position door setup will save about 55lbs over my current setup.

FYI- the weight of the new fender is approximately 2.25 lbs :)

Fender progress

2008-03-30T13:06:00.001-07:00

I added two layers of Kevlar this morning (with help from my neighbor- thanks again!) The fleece hardened up really well and made a good surface to mold to. I used some liquid poly wax as a release agent and I think it was working a little too well...we had a tough time getting the first layer to stick. The second layer went on easily and laminated thoroughly. The creases aren't super-sharp, but that's what you get using a moldless process. Overall I'm pretty happy and it looks like the technique will work well enough to do the rears as well.

I should be able to release and trim the fenders in the next day or so (the epoxy has a longer cure time due to the cold weather.) Meanwhile I'm prepping the rest of the panels for fleece. The driver's front is done, I just need to cut the MDF for the rears.

Started making the new fenders---

2008-03-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got around to starting on the fenders. I'm using a composite technique called "fleece" where you stretch some fabric over a wooden form to get a smooth shape or curve. Fleecing works perfectly for the shape of these fenders. I used 1/4" MDF to cut the wheel shape and the flare. The flare is about 2.5".

Next I stretched some cotton spandex over the forms ( I hot-glued the wood to the body to hold it in place). 3M 77 spray adhesive holds the fabric to the wood and body.

...taking shape!

Here is the fleece with a couple thin coats of epoxy. The epoxy will give the fleece just enough stiffness to add the layers of composite fabric. After the Kevlar is molded, I can release it from the fleece and removed the wood forms.

Doors are for wusses.

2008-03-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

I took of the doors today in preparation for making the new fenders. I was pretty surprised to find they weigh 30lbs each, even though they are completely gutted and most of the sheet metal has been removed. I'm going to consider making some new door skins made from composite and just pin them to the car. It's easier to "Dukes of Hazard" in and out of the car anyway. 50lbs off the car would be great, especially since I added about 150lbs from the cage.

Kevlar testing and passenger seat installed

2008-03-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

I made a test piece of the Kevlar fabric and wetted it out with epoxy- the Jeffco epoxy seems to work well with the fabric, even in the low temperatures (50 degrees F). I'm using the Jeffco quick-set epoxy, it works a little better in the cold. You can buy it at http://www.aircraftspruce.com/
Two layers of fabric should be enough for the fenders, the sample is pretty rigid, similar to sheet metal. The plan is to mold the new fenders from the existing ones, then cut away as much of the old one as possible to save a little weight.

The passenger seat has also been installed, it is the same as the driver's seat, except it's an inch wider (16") to accommodate a wider range of passengers. I haven't decided if I'll add the halo to the seat yet, I may have to in order to comply with instructor safety rules. Some clubs specify that the instructor or passenger's seat must have identical safety equipment as the driver's.

Wing supports finished, rear firewall added

2008-03-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

I finished the wing supports, it is now very rigid. You can easily push the car by the wing, and it's very stiff laterally as well - the whole car rocks back and forth if you push the wing. I had to fabricate a lower brace in the trunk to stiffen up the sheetmetal- it added some weight, but I can use a little weight in the rear anyway.

I also made a new rear firewall since we cut out the original to fit the roll cage. I used 20 gauge sheetmetal and used a cardboard template to finalize the shape. I am going to use epoxy with micro to fill the seams, or a little caulk or something.

My Kevlar fabric arrived, so I'm getting ready to make my new fenders. Kevlar is a pain to cut, but I found a special pair of snips at Home Depot that seem to do the job --- Wiss MPX serrated blade shears. They were about $15 (versus $65 for the special Kevlar shears) and they cut the fabric well, as long as it is under tension. If you don't hold the fabric taut, it is almost impossible to cut.

Wing supports cut to proper height-

2008-03-11T20:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know my garage is a disaster. I need a 10,000 sq ft workshop. I cut the wing supports down about 8", now it's a little less crazy...maybe even a little DTM style which isn't bad.

Hahaha...this is just a test...

2008-03-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not keeping the wing like this...I figured it would be easier to cut the wing down to the right height instead of adding to it to make it higher. I love the photo, funny.

I also fab'd up an X brace out of aluminum tube to add some lateral support. Not the most elegant solution, but I really don't want to use guy wires or anything.

Super-ridiculous wing fabrication begins!

2008-03-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

I really want my rear wing to be functional, so that means making my own. Most of the wings on the market are designed for looks, and not much function. One of the most important things for wing efficiency is getting it "clean" air...not the turbulent crap spinning close to the trunk. My solution- raise it as high as I can! In the end it will be almost level with the roof line...should look pretty lame, oh well.

I started with some 1/8" aluminum and plasma cut the shapes using a cardboard template. The wing will mount to the floor of the trunk and tie in to the rear crash rails for extra support. I cut some slots near the license plate to allow the supports to go through uninterrupted.

MIG welding aluminum is possible, but a big pain in the ass. Get a spool gun or a TIG. I got the job done, but I had to fix the spool every 2 minutes due to feed problems.

Ghetto-fabulous wheels arrived!

2008-03-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

My new cheapo wheels came in - Sportmax 16x8"s. They aren't my favorite, but they were the right width, bolt pattern and offset. For $99 each, I guess I can't complain. Someday I'll add the $800 (each) custom Kodiak wheels. Anyway- the wheels are 8" wide with 0 offset, so they stick out quite a bit...at least until I fab up my new fenders to cover them. For tires I'm using Sumitomo 16-245-45s...pretty damn wide. I think the section width is almost 11". Tirerack shaved them to 4/32nds for me so they should be pretty grippy. $69 each too, plus $15 each for shaving. I also had to get special tuner lugnuts from Summit Racing, my old lugnuts wouldn't fit in the holes.

2008-03-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

The cage is 95% done, I just have to finish a few welds on the A and B pillar ties ( I ran out of welding gas). I'm very pleased with how it came out, very strong and it stiffened the chassis 1000%. I may add a few more gussets in the future, but for now I think it is in good shape, and according to the rules if meets or exceeds all the regulations. I had to pop out the windscreen to get to a few welds, and of course I broke it in doing so. Luckily a replacement is only about $200, and it's always nice to have a brand new non-pitted windscreen.

I also removed the HVAC system. I was going to keep the heater, but my goal of low weight and simplicity overrode the convenience of heat. I guess we'll see if I made a good decision the first time I drive out to the track at 6am on an Autumn day. Removing the HVAC system allows for a lot of simplification of the wiring harness too, and simpler is better on a race car, especially when tracing a bad ground or other electrical gremlin.

Wheels and tires are on order- I bought an inexpensive setup for this year until I decide to drop the $2700 on custom Kodiak wheels.

Cage progress

2008-02-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

We took the car over to another friend's shop to do most of the cage fabrication since it is about triple the size of my garage, and he has all the proper tools too. Thanks again! The main hoop fits very snug, which is great. Looks like the whole cage will fit very well, tight against the A and B pillars. A few things are tacked into place and we are fitting more tubes day by day. It's a slow process because the fit of each pipe has to be close to perfect, and the tube junctions can be pretty complex in a few spots. My friend that's helping me is doing a great job though, he has a lot more patience than I do. It's also nice that he can work on it all day everyday since he's out of work right now :)

Prep for the Cage

2008-02-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

The cage kit came a few days ago from Kirk Racing. It's basically the main hoop with a few pieces tacked together, then the rest is just a bunch of tubes (about 150lbs worth). We'll have to notch all of them ourselves, oh well. I thought I would get a little more for close to $800. I bought a tube notcher at Harbor Freight for about $40, so it shouldn't be too bad.

My buddy and I ripped out the dashboard in preparation for the dash bar install. I can pretty much guarantee that the dash won't ever be inside the car again...I think it would be a huge pain to try and fit it back in. I will plan on making a new dash after I buy an aftermarket gauge cluster.

Next we have to remove all the paint where the cage points will mount and plan the layout of each piece. I'm really glad i already cut the roof off, I have no idea how we could fully weld the cage otherwise.

Lexan windows installed

2008-02-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

The rear lexan windows are finally in, it was a lot more work than I tough it would be. I first had to weld on a bunch of "anchor nuts" (thanks www.aircraftspruce.com !) to the window channel which proved difficult. The nuts have tabs on them, but the steel was very thin and hard to weld correctly. I bought a 4x8 sheet of 1/8" Lexan from Silver State plastics for about $100. 4x8 is plenty to do all 4 windows. After making a template out of cardboard, I used a router to cut the Lexan and a belt sander to smooth out the cuts. A little black paint around the edges finished up the project nicely.

I'm a little burnt out on doing the windows for now, but the fronts will have to be done as well, just for some shred of comfort when driving to the track in cold weather. Since I used anchor nuts, I can unscrew a few bolts and remove the window completely for track days if the club doesn't allow fixed windows.

Fuel Cell halfway installed

2008-01-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

I bought a used 15 gallon fuel cell from my neighbor and got it halfway in the car. It's no "Fuel Safe" cell, but it will do the job well without costing $700. I first used the plasma cutter to get rid of the spare tire well, then I cut a circle of 20 gauge steel to cover the hole. I used a spot-weld method to attach it to the car, which worked much better than I thought it was going to. Now there is a ton of room under the car for a diffuser...if I ever get around to making one.

I cut a hole in the new steel to make room for the sump on the bottom of the tank. I am planning on routing the lines into the trunk to a fuel pump, then back under the car to the fuel rail. The removal of the old tank will hopefully shed some more weight as well as make some room for my side-exit exhaust I'm planning.

Kirkey Race Seat Installed

2008-01-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

The Kirkey race seat finally arrived...it took about 4 weeks to get a 15" size, I guess they aren't that popular. I just wanted the thing to fit as perfect as possible, and 16" was too loose. It is the intermediate road race version, and I added the Halo head restraint. To attach the seat to the car, I welded some aircraft-spec bolts to the chassis and lined up the brackets.

I decided to not buy the seat cover, I'm going to place some fire-proof foam in a few key areas instead. The seat is about 6" lover than the other one, and I can barely see over the dash! This is great for center of gravity, but bad for visibility. A little foam on the bottom should help a bit. The halo is a nice touch, hopefully it will help limit lateral head movement in a side impact. The seat also feels like it will work with a HANS nicely. Overall, I think it's a great seat for the price. After I add a seat-back brace, it should be a very safe solution.

Hood and trunk fitted and trimmed

2008-01-07T20:37:00.000-08:00

The hood and trunk lid are done, the carbon work came out nice. The hood has been pinned and attached with quarter turn fasteners, I'll post photos later. The hood weighs about 7 lbs, although I will probably add some heat shielding to it soon, bumping the weight to about 9 lbs. I think the trunk lid is about 4 lbs.

Short throw shifter and SS brake lines installed

2008-01-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to installing the short throw shifter and bushings I bought a while ago. The shift lever is from a 2.3L Z3 (I think) and the throw is greatly reduced. Installing just the shifter is pretty easy, but if you want to replace the bushings in the linkage, that is where things get tricky.

The recommended procedure is to remove the exhaust system, heat shields and driveline, then lower the transmission 3" to access the linkage. After looking at what a pain it was going to be to remove all that, I almost gave up...until I remembered- THE PLASMA CUTTER! I cut a 3"x4" hole in the transmission tunnel and drove out the retaining pin and cir clip without any trouble. I replaced the badly worn bushings at the selector rod and finished up in about 20 minutes. That is definitely the way to do it, thanks plasma.

I also installed some stainless braided brake lines and bled out the super old brown fluid and replaced it with some Wilwood 570. Easy job, except for the inboard rear lines...I'll tackle those when I replace the diff.

External Kill Switch Installed

2007-12-16T21:58:00.000-08:00

The external electrical kill switch is installed and seems to work well. I used a 4-pole switch from Pegasus, that way I can kill the alternator feed at the same time. The cables were a little tough to bend into the area I put it, but everything seems to fit well. I also installed the Odessey battery right behind the passenger seat, with 4 gauge cable feeding the power block. A braided ground strap is installed directly to the body.

Electrical work-

2007-11-30T14:18:00.001-08:00

I decided to tackle the electrical system in the car...or at least simplify it a little. I got rid of the power windows, power locks, power mirror wiring, stereo, speakers and some misc wires that didn't seem to do anything. Every once in a while I would fire up the car just to make sure it still started. After mapping the tail lights and fuel pump wiring, I ripped out pretty much everything else in the back half of the car. All this added up to about 28 lbs of wire out of the car.

Next I removed the original battery from the trunk and shortened the cables so that I can mount my new lightweight battery behind the passenger seat. I chose to put it behind the passenger seat since mounting under the hood would expose it to too much heat, and mounting it in the passenger footwell would take up space where I want to install a fire system. The new battery is 13 lbs, the old one is 39 lbs (26 lbs savings). I think I figured out a way to install an external kill switch too...I'm just not positive that it will shut down the current from the alternator.

I'm going to finish up the carbon hood and trunk this weekend, I just got in 12 more yards of material and some new low temp epoxy so I should be all set. After the hood and trunk are mounted, I can get the car back over to the scales to see what kind of progress I've made. Plus, I wouldn't mind driving it again, it's been sitting for a couple weeks. I ended up buying a Corbeau seat for the car from the previous owner, so that should help with weight as well. It's actually not that bad of a seat. I initially wanted to get an OMP seat with the halo head protection, but they run about $700 each. The Corbeau is a much better choice right now.

Carbon hood and trunk lid

2007-11-24T22:40:00.000-08:00

I got started on the carbon hood and trunk lid this weekend and it's been pretty slow going. The problem is that it is pretty cold outside and the epoxy that I got likes about 85 degrees to cure. It's taking forever to cure, and wetting out the carbon is a little tricky when the epoxy gels on the cold spots. Radiant heaters help, but not enough.

On top of that, I ordered the wrong S-Glass from Aircraft Spruce...it is WAY too lightweight to do anything to the structure. Of course I used it anyway and now the hood and trunk lid are too thin. Now I get to order 3 more yards of carbon and 8 more yards of 8oz. S-glass. Hopefully with 4 more layers of glass and carbon the pieces will hold their shape a little better. End weight should be about 8-10lbs for the hood and 5lbs for the trunk lid. I'm also going to try a different epoxy. The stuff I'm looking at cures in 30 minutes and has a good cold cure down to 40 degrees. Hopefully that saves the day.

I'm not really sure if the weight savings are going to justify all the work going into this, but it's pretty fun and I'm learning quite a bit. For example, Meguire's car wax works 1000x better than PVA mold release. That was a waste of money, and probably made the parts stick even worse. All in all I'm guessing a savings of about 85lbs (30lbs from the hood, 40lbs from the roof, 15lbs from the trunk lid).

In other news, I ordered an Odyssey PC680 battery, that should save another 30lbs or so. I need to check the SCCA rules to see if I can mount it in the cabin, near the passenger seat. I would mount it under the hood, but heat is never a good thing for batteries, especially being near the turbo.

Bye bye roof!

2007-11-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to cutting the roof off the car tonight, along with some help from my little brother in law (seen using the cutter). We used a plasma cutter to remove all the sheet metal that wasn't adding to the structure of the car. The "halo" remains around the perimeter and the car didn't seem to distort by removing the roof. The roll cage will tie in to the A and B pillars anyway, so I'm not too worried about the integrity of the structure for now. I'm tempted to go crusin' for chicks in my new convertible...Ha! Not sure if my wife would approve.

The carbon roof cap fits nicely and has about a 2" overlap all around. I think a little epoxy and silicone will bond it nicely to the car. Overall weight removed is approximately 41.6 lbs, including the sunroof panel and motor. The new carbon roof is about 3.8 lbs. It was a lot of work, but a nice project and it was a great way to teach myself some composite construction techniques. I ordered about 9 more yards of carbon to complete the hood and trunk. My neighbor suggested "why stop there? Re-body the whole thing!" We'll see...it might just happen if the winter is long enough!

The next few things on the are:

1. Move the battery from the trunk to the engine compartment (or passenger seat?) Replace with a lightweight Odyssey battery. Get rid of the extra 12' of 0 gauge battery cable.

2. Remove AC system.

3. Install short shifter once it gets here (thanks eBay).

4. Replace rear windows with Lexan

53 pounds lighter after removing sound deadener

2007-11-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

Use as much heat as you can get when removing the sound deadener out of the trunk! I put a heat lamp on one section at a time and waited until the area got up to about 110 degrees. 140-160 would probably be even better. It wasn't too hard to remove, but it could've been easier too. Anyway, it was well worth the 53 pounds removed! I was expecting about 20. Now I am feeling a little more ambitious about removing the rest of the sound deadening from the interior.

Also, I was able to pry the carbon roof away from my "mold"...I used paint-stir sticks as wedges at first, eventually upgrading to a 3' long piece of 1x3 to get it to pop. After trimming it, I ended up a 3.8 lbs, although I may need to add some more reinforcement to the underside, maybe another pound. Anyway, it should be saving quite a bit of weight up top...just the sunroof panel alone is about 12 pounds. I need to trim the edges a little more but overall I am pretty happy with how it came out. I learned a few techniques that I will be able to apply to the hood and trunk lid.

Laying the carbon roof for the e30

2007-11-18T16:23:00.001-08:00

Today started out with mixing a test batch of "Poly-Epoxy" resin to determine how much working time I have before it gels. Well, turns out I have a lot of time. At least 90 minutes...it's very slow, probably due to the cooler weather. After my test was complete, I slopped on a liberal amount of PVA mold release and let dry. Now that the carbon is laid up, I'm less than confident that the PVA will help part the roof. Oh well, I guess we'll see in a day or so.

The first layer went on easily, I just poured the resin directly onto the fabric and worked it in with a small-nap roller. When I tried to lay the second layer, it got stuck to the first layer and caused some wrinkles when I tried to fix it. I probably should've had a helper for that part, but I thought I fine. The 2nd layer ended up looking pretty good, but there were some visible imperfections where the fibers had been distorted.

I waited about 4 hours to do the 3rd and final layer, mostly because I was deciding to even do a 3rd layer. After seeing that it wasn't enough fabric to do the trunk lid in one shot, I decided I might as well do it. It hopefully won't add too much weight :) The 3rd layer went on the best, and it helped hide the imperfections in the first 2 layers and the resin finish looks the best. I applied the resin with a squeegee this time, and that is definitely the way to do it. Much better resin control and easier to remove excess.

I have two heaters from Costco that are keeping the assembly warm while it cures. I was shooting for 120 degrees, but the heaters are only able to get the surface up to about 100. If this was summer, I could just park the thing outside and get 120 degrees easily. Oh well, the part isn't load-bearing, so it should be fine.

Now I get to wait and see if the carbon ever separates from the car so that I can cut the sheet metal away.

Also- I took the trunk lid off to prep it as another mold and I was really suprised at how heavy it is. Must be about 25lbs.

More prep for the carbon e30 roof

2007-11-17T16:15:00.000-08:00

Today was more prep for the carbon...more fiberglass and body filler to try and level out the sunroof. I think it's to the point where it'll be good enough for the fabric. Since I'm not using a traditional mold, I can get away with some surface imperfections since the fabric will absorb a lot of it. I used a big block of wood and 100 grit sandpaper to level the filler. Holding the shop vac while sanding was a huge help in keeping the sandpaper from clogging.

Prepping the roof for carbon fiber

2007-11-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

Tonight I began to prep the roof to receive some carbon fiber in an effort to reduce the overall weight even more. Taking weight off of the roof has the added benefit of lowering the center of gravity too, since the weight removed is up so high. My plan is to do a form of moldless composite layup, using the existing roof as a mold. I will lay the carbon fabric directly onto the roof, add epoxy, let cure then remove the carbon "cap". Then I can cut away most of the roof and replace it with the carbon fiber cap. I was really surprised at how heavy the sunroof panel was, so I can imagine the roof section I'm going to remove must be at least 50lbs.

The first step was to ensure a smooth surface for the carbon so that I don't have a noticeable spot where the sunroof once was. I disassembled the sunroof and removed all the weatherstripping. I then used wood shims to prop in in place while I used fiberglass mat to fill the gap that the weatherstripping left.

After the 'glass sets up, I'll cover it with a thin layer of body filler and then sand smooth. Hopefully this will help eliminate and hint of the sunroof when I lay the carbon.

I ordered the carbon fiber from Aircraft Spruce http://www.aircraftspruce.com/ They have a great selection of composite products...everything from fabric to resin to composite tools. It's always good to have an Aircraft Spruce catalog laying around the shop.

Hopefully I'll be ready to lay the carbon this weekend...I'll have a plasma cutter on loan and I'm very curious to see how much roof I can cut off. After the roof, I might try and make my own carbon hood and trunk lid. Maybe some door skins too :)

On another note- I spoke with John at Evil Genius Racing today about fabrication of a cage for the car. John builds cages for spec e30 class, and he is probably the best on the West Coast. His shop is about 2.5 hours from here, not too bad. The price he quoted me wasn't too bad, especially for the quality and complexity of the cage. I'm planning on dragging the car down there in mid-December to begin fabrication work. Above is an example of an e30 cage he did. More photos are available on his website- http://www.evilgeniusracing.com/

Time to lose the weight

2007-11-12T19:30:00.001-08:00

Decided today to start gutting the interior and see what kind of damage I could do. I was supprised by how heavy the stock sport seats are...they must be around 40lbs each. I don't have my race seats yet, so the stockers will have to do for now. The door panels, seats and carpet came out pretty easily, all but the carpet will be able to go on ebay or something. The headliner was pretty tough, I had to remove most of the weatherstripping around the windows to get it out. The sunroof is still intact, I think I'm going to cut out the whole thing with a plasma cutter and call it done. The spare tire came out, as did all the carpet from the trunk. The next step is to take out the sound deadening from the trunk...I might try dry ice and see if I can crack it out in chunks.

Overall it went pretty smoothly, my brother-in-law came over to help so with two people it went quickly. I went to the scales again and I was really supprised to see that we took out 200lbs! That is about double what I was expecting. Race seats, AC removal, sunroof delete and more should really get the number low. 2540 is pretty darn light for a street car. And that's with stock wheels and tires!

Also, the entire interior is for sale! Let me know if you are interested in a 20 year old black e30 interior. Cheap!

The car is here!

2007-11-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally went and picked up the car and got the title. She was super fun to drive back to the house...the tire light up a little easier when you're not on a test drive with the owner sitting next to you. I went over all the receipts that the car came with, it looks like it has been well maintained and has had a few good mods done already, mostly to the suspension. I noticed there is an oil leak and possibly a master cylinder leak, but nothing too major. Took it to the local truck stop to get it weighed as a baseline. 2740lbs...not bad. That is with 3/4 tank of fuel too. I'm sure that there are a few hundred pounds to be lost though...2400 should be attainable.

Possible Upgrade Paths

2007-11-08T21:47:00.001-08:00

Looks like I'll be bringing the car home in a few days...I'm glad to have a new project for the winter. The '32 Ford will be out of the garage (it sold) so I'll have some room to work. I need to come up with an upgrade/mod plan for the car so that I can build it as efficiently as possible...here's the list so far:

-Safety

One of the first things I want to do is to add a rollcage, proper race seats and belts. Adding the cage will mean gutting the car, so I guess gutting it is actually number one. I need to aquire the seats before I really start gutting the car so that it is still semi-drivable if I need to take it to the fabricator. I'm thinking about the Kirkey Aluminum seats...light weight and reasonable cost. Plus, Summit sells them and they are close by. Hopefully the sale of the interior will help offest the cost of the new seats.

Once the cage is in, I can add a fire system and emergency electrical cut off. Undecided on the fire system.

-Performance - Stage 1

Brakes will be the most important upgrade to the performance of tha car, and should probably be considered a safety item. These are the brakes I'm considering- http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/PBC/fitments_E30_325_318.htm

I'll upgrade to steel braided lines at the same time.

I'm still undecided as to what size to get. if I run the 11.75" rotors, I can use 15" wheels (light weight, lots of tire options), but the 12.19" kit is nice too...I'll just have to run larger wheels. I'll call Tirerack and see what kind of wheel options I'll have either way. I would like to run an 8" rim width (or more) so that may put me into a larger diameter.

Wheels and tires will have to be purchased before or at the same time as the brakes. I would like to use Kuhmo v710s on the lightest and widest wheel possible, maybe Motegi Traklites or OZ ultraleggras. Wide wheels may require the use of bolt-on fender flares, Ireland Engineering has a set for about $260 I think.

The next performance aspect to consider is making the car as light as possible. Gutting the interior will be a good start...then I'll see about removing the AC and possibly the power steering. There is a steering rack conversion that I read about that takes the steering ratio from about 4 turns down to 2.7 or something...I'll have to find that later.

The rear side windows can be fab'd out of lexan. Should be easy and will save a few pounds. Plus it looks cool :) The sunroof can be discarded and the hole plugged with something, maybe carbon? I've been looking for an excuse to get out the Aircraft Spruce catalog and start ordering! A complete carbon roof would be awesome, plus it could help lower the center of gravity by removing some weight up top. I'll have to calculate how much time and materials will be to see if it's worthwhile. It may be worth it just for the look!

And so it begins!

2007-11-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like I've done it again- I'm picking up my new toy this Saturday. I purchased a 1987 BMW 325is for a track car for about $2000. It's in pretty decent shape, good enough for a track car at least. I took if for a test drive with the current owner a few days ago and it seems like a good platform. Definitely one of the slowest cars I've ever driven, but I could see some potential, especially in the handling department.

The car already has some suspension upgrades (springs, sways, some urethane bushings) and is very well documented. I'm still trying to decide my upgrade path and figure out which mods I will do first. I guess number one is safety, so gutting it and welding in a cage will be something to tackle while we still have some nice weather.

The photos here are from the previous owner, I haven't brought the car home yet.