like the skid plate plan. really need to get a full coverage one for mine. one that actually allows for skidding
like the skid plate plan. really need to get a full coverage one for mine. one that actually allows for skidding
In reply to paperpaper:
Well, if it turns out as expected, Red46 will have the template for it, so you could probably just order another one from him :)
So working on some underbody protection. This is HDPE sheet that I got two 24x48" sheets of, which gives me most of the coverage I wanted.
Anyhow, cut and mock-up install. Don't mind the hardware, it's just whatever I had sitting around. The final install will use weld nuts on the body side and low-profile inverted hexes underneath to try to get the minimum amount of ground-down bolt heads. The main key of coverage for me is the fuel lines, brake hardlines, and gas tanks (at least the forward halves of them or more).
So, here's some pics. Still have more fitting to do and more refining of the mount setup, but this is basically what it is...
Oh, and some highly excellent door pulls (mad custom yo).....since I took off the stock handles and pockets for cage clearance...
And a little extra. This is at the forward end of the driver's side frame rail, which has fuel and brake lines running on either side. For this one, I took some of my scrap HDPE, cut 15" or so of it, and then put it in a vise and used a torch to heat it so I could bend it to a profile. Notched one end to let a jackstand still sit directly on the frame rail (when needed).
sloppily welded a couple weldnut inserts into the frame rail (one hole was pre-existing)
so with the profile it nicely covers up the hardlines on both sides of the rail for protection. Since it's right behind the lollipop and there for spray protection more than a direct hit by anything, I'm just using normal head bolts without much worry of them getting worn down.
In reply to paperpaper:
Probably would do. Not sure about oil pan clearance though.
paperpaper wrote: In reply to paperpaper: Probably would do. Not sure about oil pan clearance though.
Pretty sure the M42 oil pan sits lower than the M20 pan...
In reply to irish44j:
Reallllly..... ok well ill have to keep updated about this.
So quick update:
doing a bunch of boring under-dash wiring reorganization while the dash is out. It was a rat's nest under there so my cut-and-splice game is at full throttle to get it all straightened out and organized. I have a few interesting plans for electrical accessories, which I'll show once they're installed :)
prepping various areas of the car for the cage and skidplate mounting.
Ben has finalized the skidplate design with me, so he'll be making it pretty soon. Already have all my mount setup planned out.
Possibly the most interesting news is that the Wellsboro/Waste Management Winter Rally on Feb 20th - which is the planned first rally event for this car - is NOT a Rally America event this year. Apparently SCCA worked out a better deal with the rally so it's going to be a RallySprint event. Will use the same courses and same mileage as it has in the past, but with SCCA running the show that has a few plusses: First....I'm already an SCCA member so won't need to buy a $235 yearly Rally America license at the moment. Second....SCCA is lowering the price by about 35% of what RA has charged in the past. So, saving a hundred bucks or two is always a good thing. Otherwise, it appears that the rally will be the same as it always have, just with different sanctioning.
Nick came over for my birthday. He finally settled the insurance with the trucking company whose truck totaled the e28 in the fall, and I guess it was a good payoff. He showed up with his new rallycross car: an e36 M3 sedan. Looks like the bar just got raised for rallycross. I still plan to compete for the RallyCross championship again this year (while doing a few stage events), but of course he'll now be faster by a good margin over the e28 (in theory), and I'll be slower due to a lot of added weight. I've already decided that for rallycross I'll likely run the car with a full "stage rally loadout" - e.g. spare tire, toolkit, jack, 2 seats, harnesses, fire extinguishers, etc - since I want to be most familiar with how the car behaves with the weight and loadout. Of course, if I'm losing by a tiny amount I may take all that stuff out in the end, lol. We'll see.
Oh, and finally....for my 40th birthday my wife had a cake made for me. It's pretty excellent:
Nice!
That cake is awesome. 
For the skid plate bolts, I'd be leery of any Allen-head bolts under the car. All it takes is a well-placed rock and the hex gets bunged up and the bolt becomes a SOB to remove. BTDT with MINI skid-plates. A whacked standard bolt will generally leave enough material so you can still grab it.
Your wife should get an award. That cake rocks!
Ian F wrote: That cake is awesome.
yeah, was just thinking about that last night myself. I think what I'm going to end up doing is just putting a lightweight steel "flap" ahead of all the exposed bolts...something that I can bend back to access the bolts but that will protect the heads to some extent from any direct hits. For the snow event it's not a concern either way, so I have some time to think on it further :)
Love the Idea of running Rallyx in full stage setup. Even forcing bystanders to ride with you for race weight.
As before let me know how the plate goes. How thick is the aluminum?
paperpaper wrote: Love the Idea of running Rallyx in full stage setup. Even forcing bystanders to ride with you for race weight. As before let me know how the plate goes. How thick is the aluminum?
1/8".....stainless steel, not aluminum .
In reply to irish44j:
Why steeeeel?
paperpaper wrote: In reply to irish44j: Why steeeeel?
because I want it to be strong and durable - strong enough that I can jack from anyplace on it. The extra weight is down low on the car, and with a nice little M42 up front I have weight to spare up there compared to you 6cyl guys ;)
Also, with the aluminum oil pan hanging extra low on the M42, I want MAX protection there.
Comparable strength (1/4") aluminum plate would cost me a LOT more, also. And 1/4" aluminum vs 1/8" steel the weight difference is really only about 15 lbs in the end on a piece this size. I expect this plate to weigh about 35-40lbs tops.
Another point is that on a hard hit on something jagged (e.g. a big rock), steel "slides" better, while aluminum can "gouge in" and catch on the object. This was heavily discussed back in the day when I used to be on the Jeep and 4Runner forums....
It being stainless is a bonus, and since Ben works in stainless for his off-the-shelf plates that made it easier for him since he probably gets stainless sheet in bulk (I don't think he builds in aluminum). No worries of corrosion (alu) or rust. My Red46 small plate after 4 years of rallycross is still in great shape...no dents, no gouges, no rust, no rounded bolt holes...
In reply to irish44j:
I'd agree with that. I have (had?) an aluminum aftermarket skid plate for my TDI. While better than the OE plastic belly pan, it is by no means perfect. I was humming down a back road going home from work and saw some road work up ahead... "what's that? ...OH BERK!" (WHAM!!) They had cut out about a 6' section of the road surface for something and filled it in with gravel... but not quite up to the asphalt level and I nailed the skid plate on the opposite side at about 45 mph. The plate took the brunt of the hit (saving the low oil pan) and then ripped off the bottom of the car (I had to turn around and go back for it). Now I'm searching for a factory steel plate VW used to sell as an upgrade...
Hmm Ok sounds good. Ive seen no issues with Alum thus far. Will see what It will cost me first I guess. As you said 6cyl front heavy.
In reply to Ian F:
These guys make them in Canada. If you are in the US that $205 will be less than $150.
http://www.precisiontuning.ca/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=785
Well, hope you all had a great Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate, or just a couple days off work...). With all the family stuff going on I didn't do too much on the car over the last week, but did do a few little things.
First, finalized the design of the skidplate with Ben, so he said he should have it made next week and then ship it to me to figure out the best way to mount it. So looking forward to that. If it fits well, he has the template to build a nice heavy-duty skid for other e30 people (e.g. some of you).
Meanwhile, it's been in the 60s and 70s here in DC for the last week (winter??), but that gave me a chance to do a bit of painting with not much "real" work left to do until the cage goes in. So I did one of my favorite things cosmetically, with some new "ghost stripes" on the doors....flat black stripes over the original gloss black paint. About half of this will be covered up with number/series panels, but I think it turned out pretty cool. At some point I'd like to do the entire hood like this, but that's a summer project for sure.
For Christmas, got various tools from my wife and family, and a few things for the car. My dad got me two fire extinguishers with heavy-duty metal mounts (required for Rally America), so will need to figure out where/how to best mount them.
The in-laws got me an NRG quick-release for the steering wheel. It's really nice quality and I'm quite impressed with it. I knew that adding it to my momo hub would push the wheel out closer to the driver, but figured it would be ok with the seat back farther. Upon test-fit, though, I think not. To put the seat far enough back to make the wheel in a comfortable position, I do not have the good pedal control/touch that I like. So I just ordered up the NRG "short hub," which will bring it back close to the previous depth.
Also, previously we drilled out the security bolts on the steering column, and I put in some 3/4" spacers there to space the column more horizontal than the stock "school bus" angle. I did it as far as I could go without the u-joint binding or clicking....in the future I may clearance the joint to allow me a bit more drop on the wheel, but this should be fine for now.
Also got my DPDT switch for the dual-circuit on the LED/floodlights. More on that later when it's installed and wired.
Also my harness came in the other day....Jim will bring his own for co-driver duties
And a few Christmas-y pics....I work days in an office, but weekends I work at a ski shop (which pays for this car stuff, mostly)....so Christmas Eve working there we drank Irish Coffee and put on ugly clearance rack sweaters....good times.
Me and the woman who puts up with my obsessive and expensive automotive hobbies.
Some Sunday work, in between other projects. Managed to get the car turned around in the garage so it's in a better position for building the cage.
Also finished prepping the cage mount positions, with our planned install less than 3 weeks away. Messed around with some seam welding, but I need practice and I don't really want to deal with that right now....maybe this summer.
Then for my evening project, I decided to figure out how to mount my floor jack (HF aluminum). Floor jacks are much preferred for rally vs. scissor/bottle jacks since you can lift at more parts of the car easily, they lift faster and higher, and are generally more useful (steel handle as a large lever, etc). But they're heavier and can't have it banging around back there.
So....got some angle iron scrap pieces out of the scrap bucket, figured out placement (to get the jack wheels into the trunk floor "grooves"), tack welded the angle iron snug on the jack base so it can't slide any direction, and put in some eye-bolts for tiedowns. And that's that. I can't make it budge with all my strength pulling in various directions, so should be good to go.
The jack mount looks solid, although I'd be concerned about how well it will work in practice. Mainly how quickly can you re-secure it after use in the heat of competition?
probably quicker than I can re-secure the stock jack in the stock location, actually. Really it just takes a few seconds to strap this down. If I need to use it while on stage....I've already lost plenty of time already, lol...
Using the Idea given to me last year. Sizzor Jack with two 17mm nuts welded to the end. JAck is strapped between the spare tire and the car(wont get out of there) and you use the Impact Gun to jack up the car. proven to jack up a whole half of a MK3 gti.
paperpaper wrote: Using the Idea given to me last year. Sizzor Jack with two 17mm nuts welded to the end. JAck is strapped between the spare tire and the car(wont get out of there) and you use the Impact Gun to jack up the car. proven to jack up a whole half of a MK3 gti.
My issue with a scissor jack is location. Like if you need to jack by the diff or something, it's hard to get in there. Really you're limited to pinch welds only with the scissor, AND they're not all that stable. Fine for changing a flat on the road, but not as versatile on bad terrain IMO..
And hell, a heavy scissor jack weighs just as much as this HF aluminum floor jack lol.
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