nwstages09 rebuild after 'clipping' rock face. April

[evofixer]

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down to bare shell for the first time since bmw made it!

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i built the car from standard and had never had the engine out until now.At this point it meant i was able to fit the front turret to rollcage mountings originally supplied with the cage. i removed the wiper panel,bulkhead panel, top double-skin of the gearbox tunnel( better access to b/housing), removed every redundant bracket, welded up every hole and seam welded to just past the g/box mounting absolutely everything. flattened the turret tops and welded in position a 3mm laser cut top mounting ring for the front struts. onto these rings i fabricated a 'X' type strut brace to pick up on a transverse rollcage tube which i added. this enabled me to tie the steering column into the crosstube and get rid of the nasty bmw bolt-on bit! ive lots of pics but im slow at typing, will add more soon, 90% done now!

[evofixer]

lots of pictures of ongoing(nearly there!) rebuild, that's if ive uploaded correctly! [imhttp://img443.imageshack.us/img443/556/logbookpics002.th.jpg[/img]

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Nice work evo - must be the sea air

Great finish to the paintwork.

[evofixer]

Thanks for the comments rearwheelsteercompact. ive been takin my time doing the rebuild because i wanted to do a presentable job. Its not been worked on for weeks at a time sometimes because of funds, you know how it is i bet?! the sad thing is that when its completely ready to rally again, which isnt too far off, i cant afford to rally it! i would really like to do nw stages in feb, thats my target but will have to see how things are nearer the time. ive changed every aspect of the car so i'm starting with a blank sheet of paper regarding set-up etc. i cant take the credit for the paintwork i'm afraid, my mate painted it in my drafty workshop. he painted all the panels off the car doin a bit every nite over 2 weeks and has made a really good job of it, not buffed yet.

[bruvs1]

Tidy job!, looks like something out of star trek with those two "thrusters" out the back!

[evofixer]

They look ok dont they? i made the silencers and system from scratch. ive added a small centre silencer now as well, all 3 are re-packable. no cats either. i used to have twin side exit exhausts, silencers were where the fuel tank used to be but ive put the fuel tank, well half of it at least, back underneath the car. i got rid of the spare wheel well and replaced it with an alloy boot floor which allowed the rear boxes to be mounted really high up. i was sick of seeing my car on video and not being able to hear it, i will do now!! ive made a small adjustment to the tacho needle to help get it thru' the noise test, it shows 1200rpm when its not even running!! it sounds mint!

[rearwheelsteercompact]

How did you attach the system to the manifold?

Is it modified to form a sliding fit or have you welded M3 flanges to the mid-section? The 2nd option doesn't need the manifold removing for modding which is tempting and easier.

[evofixer]

i've retained the m3 bolt on flanges but kept enuf of a 'stub' to enable the rest of the system and any joints to be sliding joints. the original flange actually sits above the level of the 'x' brace if you space it down on the o/s rear fixing bolt by 20mm, ish! the whole of the system moves about relatively freely which i think is preferable.

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Thought so It seems the most straightforward way to go. Guess who no longer has the rest of his M3 exhaust. I'll have to contact Russ off the forum to see if he can chop the flanges plus a few inches off a scrap system for me.

Susiraja on here has done the same - photo's on the second link - click on BMW M3

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2386
http://www.heikkinenracing.suntuubi.com/

[evofixer]

at first glance i thought it was my car! they're doin a top job but im not s sure about the single pipe large bore system... BMW engineers must have tried that approach, you would think, and opted for a seperate system for each bank. perhaps that was just to meet emissions etc, i dont know! single pipe may be the way forward dunno really! what do you think rearwheelsteercompact? by the way, i like your name, it says it all about these cars but it takes ages to type when you can only use one finger!

[rearwheelsteercompact]

You can call me rwsc It's a pain using these long usernames as I found out too late. My Playstation name and other forum names are just as 'kin long

I'm going to go Y piece into single 3" and either single box or with a mid cherry bomb. I'll let you know what I think eventually
M3compact has a single mid/rear section - Any comments Simon?

[M3 Compact]

Mine's 3" straight through from the OE cats/front boxes/front section and it's too loud.

Previously it used exactly the same with a titanium Scooby Gp A rear box (pre-tail pipe) and it was too quiet.

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Mine's 3" straight through from the OE cats/front boxes/front section and it's too loud.

Previously it used exactly the same with a titanium Scooby Gp A rear box (pre-tail pipe) and it was too quiet.

What have you replaced the back box with. Is it too loud as in noise test?

[M3 Compact]

Mine's 3" straight through from the OE cats/front boxes/front section and it's too loud.

Previously it used exactly the same with a titanium Scooby Gp A rear box (pre-tail pipe) and it was too quiet.

What have you replaced the back box with. Is it too loud as in noise test?

Replaced the back box with a well for the fuel tank.

Yes it's too loud now (104).

[evofixer]

I think the basic rule of thumb is to create as much volume of silencer as possible but everything is a compromise! i dont run cats, my centre silencer is only 10'' long and the rear silencers are approx 500mm long and 130mm(ish)diameter. i havent noise checked it as yet but i think it will pass noise ok. all the packing material is wire wool very loosely wound around the perferated tubes.