It'll prob vibrate a bit but it did on the previous build without issue. The gauge is liquid filled and I've been liberal with the use of blue loctite, but I'll keep an eye on it.
It'll prob vibrate a bit but it did on the previous build without issue. The gauge is liquid filled and I've been liberal with the use of blue loctite, but I'll keep an eye on it.
I was thinking more about the aluminum itself failing. That's one not-so-fun fact about aluminum, it doesn't have a fatigue strength like steel, so it's prone to failure from high-frequency stresses, like a mount bouncing back and forth with engine vibration.
It may save you a headache down the road to just brace it so it's not cantilevered out like that.
I'd just make one out of steel instead, twisting it already stressed the aluminum so maybe it'll eat it sooner rather than later.
Tied up a few loose ends today that completed work on a few sections of the car. The O2 sensor got mounted in the downpipe which finalizes the work on that, the rest of the exhaust will get run once I get the driveshaft in the car.
After that I drilled and tapped the lower thermostat housing for the water temp sender. I didn't get a picture of it after I cleaned the metal shavings and grime off but it cleaned up well. Once that was mounted on the motor I installed the radiator hoses for what should be the last time. The only thing left after that is to run an overflow tank.
Lastly, I test fit the gauges in the radio spot. Sadly the shifter relocation is where a lot of people run gauges in this chassis so I had to put them elsewhere and I figured the radio is the next best spot. If I get tired of listening to turbo noises I'll just get earbuds for my phone or something. My current plans are to run boost/vacuum, oil pressure, and water temp gauges in the panel. The panel in the picture is just a crappy parts store one cut to fit, I'll make an entirely new one now that I know the gauges work well there.
Had a frustrating night out in the race shop tonight. I installed the used JM Fab coil relocation bracket I picked up. Due to me running my water pipe under the intake it interfered with where it would put the coil packs so I had to use a BFH to bend it to a position that would clear the water pipe. This worked out fine until I went to run the spark plug wires and only 3 reached the coils. I like how simply it mounted the coil and igniter so I'm going to find longer wires from a used set.
Once I got that installed I moved on to priming the fuel pump system now that it's all plumbed in. I tried priming it a couple weeks ago to no avail, I tried troubleshooting it by hooking it up directly to a fuel hug and running power directly to it but it wouldn't pump anything. I figured running it in the endurance race car for a couple years had killed it through vibration so I ordered up a new replacement. After I put the new pump in it wouldn't prime either, so I got exasperated and hooked the "bad pump" up to a battery and stuck an end in a fuel jug. Now that I was able to see the correct electrical connectors on the pump, lo and behold it pumped gas just fine. I feel dumb now but at least the pump won't need replacing for the foreseeable future.
I also bought some new gauges and a transmission yoke with the fuel pump and coil bracket. Those will get installed after making a new gauge panel to fit in the radio spot on the dash. I also painted the shifter cover up panel and drilled the holes to mount the shifter boot. I'll install that after I wire in the back up lights to the transmission sender.
After fixing the wiring mistake on the fuel pump I pressure tested the system and was happy to see there were no leaks. I also set the base fuel pressure to 37psi with the regulator.
I also started making the gauge panel insert for the radio spot in the dash, I got it shaped to fit and the next step is to cut the gauge holes. I'll be using that crappy parts store gauge panel I test fit previously as a pattern for the gauge holes.
I haven't checked on this build in a while. Wow! I really dig the way you plumbed the cooling and turbo.
Thanks! I was planning out both of those for a while and luckily the car didn't fight me too much on doing what I wanted.
Finished up the gauges today. I used a smaller than needed hole saw to ditch most of the material to be removed, then used a die grinder to get close and finalized the size with a hand file. The weird part was that each gauge was slightly different in diameter, so I had to plan out where I wanted the gauges then fit each one to its respective position. Once they were all in the panel and secured with the backing retainers I tried fitting it in the dash but the plastic retainers wouldn't clear the dash inset. I ended up clipping out the interfering sections and didn't lose any retention to the panel so thought it was a decent compromise. After that I painted the panel and routed the required hoses for each gauge. I also ran the wiring for the gauge illumination, I researched a bit, found a wire for dimmable power but after hooking it up the gauges didn't dim. That was frustrating. I'll put a dab of black rtv on each corner of the panel and that combined with the tight pressure fit in the dash surround should hold it securely.
Respect. This is turning out to be one awesome mutant.
I usually use the stock radio illumination wire to provide dimmable source to gauges. Also,I don't that the autometer led bulbs are dimmab.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/251717930548?nav=SEARCH
Something like this might work for the LEDs.
They're incandescents, so they should dim. The radio harness was severely butchered so I tapped into the light switch itself but they still didn't dim. Not the biggest problem but still sucks.
In other news, it runs!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVXq0hIrIuE
It had a bit of idle surge as I didn't have the cold side piping tightened down as I'm taking off the throttle body soon to get a throttle cable made up. It smoked from burning off the oil on the manifold but I was happy with how it ran otherwise. The radiator pressurized and nothing leaked, so that was good to see. Still lots of work ahead but happy to have hit this milestone.
This is pretty cool. It seems like everytime I see some form of a BMW build, it inspires me to start one of my own. But one thing at a time. Great job. I cant wait to read more about this.
Finished up the throttle cable today. I ended up finding a universal throttle cable on Amazon for $20, I ditched the cable ends but the rest of the cable and firewall clip made things easy to install. I fabbed up a bracket that mounts to the fuel rail that allowed the cable to maintain a straight path to the throttle body with no binding. The only tricky part was making the cable ends, I got a kit of ends from Orielly for $3. I narrowed one to fit the throttle body and enlarged the hole for the cable, adding a set screw to hold the cable finished that side of the cable. The gas pedal side was a bit trickier and I ended up reusing the oem bmw connector by splicing it to the new cable.
I also received the driveshaft I ordered from Coleman Racing. All that's left to get it moving under its own power is to put the trans yoke and diff flange on the driveshaft, then install it. I think I'll have to clearance the rear shifter mount on the chassis for the 2-1/2" driveshaft, which sucks as I had hoped to avoid any permanent changes to the body.
How's the project going?
Did you guys ever settle on the final dimensions of the caliper bracket? Getting ready to do brakes on mine.
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