Martins 2nd attempt at a rally car build

[Dan-valver]

Lush fabrication work as usual - keep it up

[martine30rally]

Front suspension is now all complete, have made all the spacers for the adjustable roll centre aswell as the rack mounting tabs to bring it back into line with everything else and allow it to be moved up an down together with the control arm pick up points, steering coupling joint also done.

I had to make some camber shims for the king pins to get a bit more negative camber You can tell that the e36 geometry is hard to package into an e30 in a way for it to work as it should. I also got my reinforced rear arms done. Next step is the rear beam and the anti roll bar mounts, then its time to send everything off for powdercoating and crack on with the shell.

[martine30rally]

Frustrating day in the garage today more than anything, rear arms were dropped off from the powdercoaters. these were an experiment to see if im happy with the finish. Im chuffed with how they turned out. The problem came when I went to press the e30 325 bearings in - they were clearly too big. The arms came off a facelift 325i so I immediately thought I had the wrong bearings. however once I measured the bearings and the hubs with the verniers I realised I appeared to have 323i trailing arms. The good thing was that I could still go five stud with these as they use the same bearings as e36 compacts, the annoying thing is that I couldnt use the brand new genuine 1 series drive flanges and bearings that I bought. This meant I had to piss 200 quid up the wall to buy compact bearings and some compact drive flanges Moral of this story is measure your bearings before you start spending money on your arms!!!



Over the weekend I modded the rear beam. lifted it almost 40mm up to correct the rollcentres, this brought about the usual problems of the diff carrier, top of the beam and trailing arm brackets hitting the body. will need a combination of panel beating and chopping and welding to rectify. I also ordered high tensile bolts to chassis mount the diff so this is tomorrows job





Chopped the spare wheel well out as I was going to fit a flat floor anyway and because it made the next job easier. I cut out the turrets and made some new ones, wanted them to look fairly standard which I think they do. They are 35 mm higher than standard , will get some 2 way avos made with rose joints top and bottom.







I'm Not happy with the rear cage legs for two seasons, they mount on the arch tubs which is very flimsy and the position of the harness bar is such that the harnesses point upwards with the seats in their current position, will get some roll cage tubing ordered and re-do them to pick up at the turrets.

[hsr2.6]

You do realize you've got to go CAT2 on this martin..........

[Tris-m3]

Nice work mate, Its nice to see you are getting on with it!

Shame about the hubs, Pete may be interested as he is looking to 5 stud his new project....

[bruvs1]

You do realize you've got to go CAT2 on this martin..........

i thought that if you move the suspension point from the orginal position its got to go through a cat 2? aren't these still in the same position?

[hsr2.6]

A local scrut told me if you modify or replace anything that hasn't been homologated on that model then it has to be cat2, i asked him becuase i wanted to use group4 ones in mine, he said i could'nt, i then asked about lengthening the original ones and he said that also comes under cat2, maybe they all have different interpretations of the blue book.

[Daishag]

Funny enough when i had my car log booked last weekend thats the 1st thing the scrutineer checked to see weather any alterations to the tunnel, and the suspension turrets front and rear !!!!!! I wondered what he was doing ??? until he explained due to my shell being totally std it could go under a Cat 1 Logbook which was a lot easier and he could do it there and then !!!!!

Cheers Dave aka Daishag Rallying 07805835655

[roadrally_nova]

who done it dia ronnie

[martine30rally]

They can suck my balls tbh, everyone has a different interpretation of the rules, tunnels can be modified to accomodate gearboxes as long as they are not totally re-worked and supension points can be strengthened/modified as long as they remain fundamentally the same in terms of positioning/and form.

[martine30rally]

From the current stage rallying technical regulations:

266. Category 1. Those that have been homologated in
Groups ‘A’ or ‘N’ of the FIA Appendix ‘J’, or Groups 1,
2, 3 or 4 of the 1981 FIA Appendix ‘J’, Nonhomologated Series Production Cars, or Specialist
Rally Cars.
A Specialist Rally Car is a vehicle of which at least 20
examples are manufactured within a consecutive twelve
month period and is fitted with a Series Production Car
Engine or Specialist Competition Engine.
Modifications are free within MSA Vehicle Regulations
and as defined below in 269. to 282. The car must be
in the configuration as supplied by the manufacturer,
with the engine (any Series Production Car Engine or
Specialist Competition Engine) in the original location.

From section 269:

floor pans, bulkheads
and transmission tunnels may not be modified other
than by localised alteration to accommodate the
fitting of an alternative engine and/or gearbox and/or
differential and/or axle, seats and exhaust. Provision
of access holes purely to facilitate use of an
alternative or modified gearbox control system and/or
braking system is permitted. The internal routing of
pipes and wires, and safety equipment is permitted.
The conversion of left to right hand drive is
permitted including necessary accompanying
modifications.

the suspension must
retain the operating principle and utilise the mounting
points as provided by the vehicle manufacturer.
Strengthening of the sprung parts of the chassis and
bodywork is allowed provided that the material used
is the same material as the chassis/bodywork and
follows the original shape and is in contact with it.
Springs, shock absorbers, anti-roll bars and control
arms and links may be uprated.

As you can see, its always best to do your own research rather than listen to too many people!

[Daishag]

who done it dia ronnie

Yeah Ronnie Roberts did her, still have to wait to recieve the official logbook from the RACMSA though.

Cheers Dave aka Daishag Rallying 07805835655

[Daishag]

Martine 30 Rally

"Strengthening of the sprung parts of the chassis and
bodywork is allowed provided that the material used
is the same material as the chassis/bodywork and
follows the original shape and is in contact with it."

As your post says above Strengthening is allowed so long as it follows the original shape etc BUT as HSR 2.6 said :-

"i then asked about lengthening the original ones and he said that also comes under cat2, maybe they all have different interpretations of the blue book"

I take it as i think you have your modified turret is exactly the same shape as the original but of a diffrent dimension ie taller the problem that may arise is if sum anal scrut actually measures it and knows they are larger than a original turret, could he argue its not the same shape due to its increased size as the std shell ? ? Its a bloody mine field these RACMSA rules because, it all depends on how every individual person reads that certain rule as to how they implemenate said rule and 3 or 4 people may read that rule totally diffrent etc

Cheers Dave aka Daishag Rallying 07805835655

[mef]

Best get it logbooked first then do your minor alterations to turrets etc later, no one would ever know any difference.

Martin

[mike]

Just slap some seam sealer on the welds Martin, once the tank etc is in the boot no one will be non the wiser