1 Series (E87) Tarmac rally car build by Mefmotorsport

[mef]

it looks happy in it's new home

Yes, it looks like it's meant to be there! (of course they do make a 130i 3litre 1 series with an alloy 6 pot so I suppose its very similar to that)

I'll check the prop out but I didn't notice a sliding joint. The E90 3 series has a wheelbase 101mm longer so that prop is probably also 101mm longer but I dont know if that will help, it depends on where the extra length is with respect to the centre bearing.

Martin

[notax]

Great to see you are progressing Cage looks fantastic - due to my seating position we couldn't include the additional tube by the windscreen pillar - I'd never have got in We have gone for a removable steering wheel too to aid getting in and out. The new winged seats will no doubt make it more interesting too...

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Now then Foxy Good to see Barry on board too.

We will be fitting a detachable steering wheel as well on account of my middle region

Your car should be finished by this Bank holiday weekend.

[mef]

Now then Foxy Good to see Barry on board too.

We will be fitting a detachable steering wheel as well on account of my middle region

Your car should be finished by this Bank holiday weekend.

Yes, I will also be fitting a detachable steering wheel, (even though I'm still slim!) the doors on the 1 series are quite small being a 4 door and the cage will be very intrusive, I've already had a seat fitted in and its difficult enough to get in and out even before the cage is fitted as the seats I'm using have quite high side wings. A detachable wheel will make things that much easier.

Not sure about the B/H weekend though, maybe the one at Xmas!

The roll cage wont be here for a couple of weeks and that will probably coincide with my next event in the C2R2 which is "Omloop Van Vlanderen" so probably wont be able to really get stuck in until after that, w/c 13th Sept. Hopefully though it looks like a fairly straightforward build, unlike my other creations (as you well know Andy)!

Martin

[david t]

Hi Martin, hows things ?

Good to see your building something new and RWD again, look forward to watching the build.

What steering rack do you plan on using ?

David.

[mef]

Hi David,

yes, cant sit still here, I needed a new project, was bored watching TV!

I intend to start with the standard 1 series hydraulic rack but without the hydraulics and I've fitted a Corsa electric column inside. Maybe there is a quicker rack that will fit but I'm not sure what parts are compatible between the ranges with the 1 series and E90 3 series. I know the later 1 series cars have an electric rack but they are expensive and I wanted to use something thats already proven to be good and reliable. Virtually all good Mk2 escorts now use the GM EPAS column (Corsa) so I figured if it's good enough for them then it'll do for me!

I'm working on the chassis engine mounts just now, maybe post some pics later.....

Martin

[mef]

Well, it's taken me all day but I eventually knocked up some brackets and got the engine hanging from them:



Offside mounting, I'm not too sure about this being so far forward but the steering rack nose was in the way. It could go a bit further back but then it doesn't leave much room on the engine plate for stiffeners as its very narrow further back, that's why I went for the forward mounting where I could get a bigger engine plate on:


Nearside mounting, this is much higher up due to the height of the engine on the nearside with it being canted. The mounting point on the block is much further back too:





It's very solid, currently the tail of the gearbox is still supported by a jack and I have solid alloy bushes in the engine mounting arms at present, purely to aid assembly whilst welding as I didn't want to burn the rubber ones. I intend to add some strengthening ribs on those tubular arms to spread the load around the weld seams. The chassis mounts are not full welded in as yet, just in case I change my mind!

Next job is to fabricate some kind of gearbox crossmember as neither the old 118D one or the M3 one are ideally suited, also I want to use bushes in tubes like a Cossy GpA gearbox mount , thery're much stronger than the BMW bobbins that are normally used and stop the gearbox jumping about. I think this will be important as due to the forward engine mounting position on the offside, there will be more weight sitting on the gearbox crossmember so it need to be strong.

Martin

[rearwheelsteercompact]

The brackets look very nice and businesslike with the suaged holes. One question - what are you doing at home on a Thursday?

[mef]

The brackets look very nice and businesslike with the suaged holes. One question - what are you doing at home on a Thursday?

I'm on my holidays! We hadn't decided to go away yet as the weather has been so crap this week so I had a special concession to work on the car today. Might be the last day on it though as were thinking of going away for the next week.

Martin

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Hope the weather stays nice - have a nice time.

If the weather is still crap stay home and make more progress please

I keep trying to get Dave H to bin his tugger and go BMWRWD

[martine30rally]

Nice work! i would leave the forwardmost mount right where it is, provided your not too far forward of the turret it will make minimal difference to front weight distribution but help with shifting some eight back as more will lie on the gearbox cross member.

Good idea on the gearbox mount too, was hoping to do something like this on my car

[mef]

Today I've removed all the bitumen sound deadening panels, used a hot air gun and a wallpaper scraper. It was much easier than I expected, only took about 1 hour! I put it all in a bag and weighed it, it was 4.5Kgs, must have taken another 2kgs out by cutting off all unwanted steel brackets inside the car! I chopped the dashboard back to be "minimalist" bare minimum required to mount some switches on and look functional!

More or less ready now for the roll cage but I'm not expecting it for a couple of weeks.

Pics to follow later,

Martin

[ultegra]

Some KW goodness on sale here:

http://cgi.ebay.de/BMW-1er-E81-E87-KW-Gewindefahrwerk-Variante-2-Inox-line-/140443937702?pt=Autoteile_Zubeh%C3%B6r

[mef]

More removal of unwanted metal brackets + cleaning up surplus bitumen with petrol.....nice.

I removed a front hub assembly from the alloy upright and drilled out the wheel stud holes to 14mm, the new wheels studs are a nice tight press fit. The bearing carriers and wheel flanges could do really with sandblasting, I'll get that done soon. I also picked up a nice pair of 4 pot calipers, these are brand new and are identical to ones made by a famous competition brake manufacturer but they have "Compbrake" milled into them where there is usually another name! They will take 330mm discs and ar radially mounted so I will have to make up some brackets. these are the same as ones I used to have fitted to my Subaru and worked very well. If anyones interested I can get hold of these at a very competitive price, pm me!



just like these: http://www.apracing.com/info/products.a ... _2679_2678

for sale here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-POT-CALIPERS-RA ... 2229wt_911
Front hub with 1 wheel stud fitted:

martin

[legend]

Intresting read Martin - keep up the good work.
John Stone