mk4 GTi v6.0 - v8 RWD Edition

rustomatic said:

I've heard good and bad about the metal chop saws.  With that in mind, I've had my crappy H-F carbon/grit blade model for most of a decade now without failure, so even though it makes a freaking mess, it just works (not so precisely at that).  Definitely interested to hear of how careful usage of that Evo thing (without YouBoob sponsorship of testimony) results in nothing but precision and symmetrical cuts (the perfectly drugged bodybuilder of chopsaws, no doubt).  Also, much jealousy over the chili event . . .

Yeah, nothing comes without criticism, blades are expensive, impatient operation/usage will certainly cut down life of said blades....but for what I do, hobbiest, trying to get into a fab side hustle, it should work well for increased precision/accuracy of cuts....honestly, cutting angles is the biggest benefit I am looking forward to....also, been a loyal user of abrasive saws for at least a decade now myself, even upgraded from the HF unit to nice heavy cast base craftsman unit I picked up from a co-worker probably 7-8yrs ago and that was a huge improvement over the HF unit

At the end of the day, having ~$400 in lowes gift cards made it a much easier pill to swallow, I know it will out perform my current abrasive saw and much lower barrier to entry from the $4k + cold saws on the market today

If you are ever in SC late-Jan / early-Feb, all are welcome at chili cookoff!  Its is 90% car folks that attend! 

Kind of forced myself to go out to the shop last night, wasn't super motivated, but #6 runner was so close to being done, I felt like I needed to make something happen.

Continuing to get better at removing the engine,  will be interesting to see how it goes back in with the headers on, if possible, it did come out, but needs to come up pretty high to get around the frame mounted engine brackets

Decided to tack #7 runner in place before finalizing #6, happy to report it was a simple fit of some additional straight and a 2" CLR 90° brought it all together....I am not super thrilled with how #7 looks, so might need to pull it back off/apart and see if i can get a cleaner routing.....#8 also needs some love, it doesn't fit all that well at the header flange, but that should be an easy clean up/fix

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

All-in-all, I have to say I am pretty happy with the result...thus far

Drivers to passengers comparison

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Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

View from behind, you can see the sharp/deliberate turn around the steering shaft

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Pure art, nicely done.

Shavarsh said:

Pure art, nicely done.

Thank you sir!

Went out last night to address the poor fitment of runner #8, quickly realized that I would not be able to get a socket on that runner....so pulled it out and cut it apart....found out that in order to get the socked on that last flange nut the angle I had cut was going to be a bit short....

SO...placed an order for another 2" CLR 180° bend along with a couple items I missed during my last order...

Bummed, it was so close :(

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

But, this gives me time to pause on the headers, placed my order for materials this morning to build the cart for my new chop saw

Wow!  Very nice work!  Makes me wish the plugs on my old Ford V8 were in a different location too!   

Figured I'd post up my initial impressions of the new Evo chop saw....after cutting some mild steel 1-1/4", 16ga square tube.....THIS THING ROCKS!  I see the abrasive saw collecting dust for the foreseeable future

Cart material order was placed at 8am'ish, picked up around 3pm'ish....really like having a Metal Supermarket so close....just wish my local metal scrapper was as close and flexible with hours

Home and unloaded and ready for evening shop time

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Saw assembled on temp stand ready for some action

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These cuts are fresh off the saw, no debur

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All materials for the frame of the cart

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Hard to tell in the photo the amount of chips, its not crazy, but there is a fair amount, but I guess that is to be expected with an ~1/8" blade cut width, will be curious to see how it does on the cart with the chip collector/chute.....closing though it that its nice to not have the garage smell like burnt abrasive material and metal

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No car projects this weekend, but did get my saw cart completed...header material should arrive Wednesday, hopefully jump back into that late week

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2pAexVZ]

Geez man, even the saw cart looks great!

JohnnyWholesome said:

Geez man, even the saw cart looks great!

Thanks, any chance to fab something I try and use/challenge all my tools/skills possible

I see what appears to be a chip (swarf?) collector funnel, do you have a holder for a coffee can or something at the bottom or is it a slide-away panel? 

cheese said:

I see what appears to be a chip (swarf?) collector funnel, do you have a holder for a coffee can or something at the bottom or is it a slide-away panel? 

Good question, didnt realize I grabbed the wrong photo.....those two sticks of angle are to support a 5gal bucket....here you can see the saw in its new home....press got relocated, this seemed like a better spot for the saw

Evo saw cart by fouckhest, on Flickr

No ground breaking progress, but did get some work on on the front suspension and after a day'ish of research confirmed that my steering rack position is correct

Got my spacers back from being shortened

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Got them and the new inner/outer TRE installed, seems to look pretty good on the ground, they will likely move a bit with the engine, but shouldnt be dramatic

passenger side

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driver side

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Now this is whathas been bugging me, even from when I last installed the spacers, found out they were too long, but that wouldnt/shouldnt impact this condition, so left that problem for future me to solve....well future me was yesterday....once everything was installed, I saw this and it just seemed ODD...but I am not a BMW guy....so before freaking out, I repeated my measurements from that little center hole to the center of the rack, both on the car and with the OEM rack and another subframe I have....they are VERY close in distance....nothing that would cause the angle to be this dramatic....see below (this is all e9x front suspension)

passenger side

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driver side

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SO...this led me to the computer to begin scowering the interwebz, which looking at photos on line are very deceiving due to angles, etc, but it seems like the angle of the tie rods is as designed, but again, just seemed odd, then I found an BMW e90 specific technical bulletin detailing the changes to this model and the front suspension geometry....while this is only a graphic, it certainly represents the exact condition I am seeing, which I think puts my mind at ease, at least until I can drive the car

Double Pivot System by fouckhest, on Flickr

As always, any feedback/info/experience is welcomed

I believe that angle is intentional to create positive ackerman. I've been wrong before though.

Shavarsh said:

I believe that angle is intentional to create positive ackerman. I've been wrong before though.

I figured that it would have some impact on ackerman, just wasn't sure in what way.

I need to see if I can get my buddies 335i on the lift and take a look at his car, but seems like it is intentional, which is what I wanted to validate

The last 180° bend showed up yesterday....went out to the garage to look at runner #8, using the old short bend as reference I made a mark, then cut it and somehow nailed it!

Initial fitup here...the leg came up a touch short, so it will have an ~1" section welded in around the back of the head....also, you can see where I taped the 1/4" drive deepwell to the runner below to ensure that I could access that manifold flange nut

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Tacked it up and called it good, I do still need to weld in some extra straight where #8 goes into the merge, but thats not a big deal....still debating on giving the ugly duckling #7 another visit

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Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Currently debating next steps for the overall project....I am currently thinking it is going to be a combination of new transmission support with exhaust provisions that will bleed into new floor, tunnel skeleton and seat mounts.

Holy cow, crazy that a month has gone by, but I recently started a new job, which meant a week in NJ for onboarding, then home for two weeks, then spent last week traveling for work in San Diego for a tradeshow, always fun, but exhausting....then I get home and my head and chest are a mess, still hacking up things daily....so been a low key week....

BUT....in pursuit of getting back onto the project, I know tunnel fabrication is going to become a thing very quick.  SO, in fun garage things news, my new toy showed up yesterday, like any true gearhead, I had to start digging in, regardless of feeling like garbage

Now the most expensive tool I've ever purchased, and maybe the most expensive shipping bill I've ever paid....(5 boxes, totaling ~515lb, which came it at ~$510, not horrible I guess)

Rogue Fab Tubing Bender - Purchased the "Tradesman Package" with upgraded hydraulic ram, cart, etc

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Kit includes 1" up to 2" dies in 1/4" increments :)

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Purchased the main part of the bender pre-welded and powder coated...I knew it would be a struggle to get it to a coater, so bit the bullet and spent a little extra there

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Currently in the middle of prepping the Cayman for a trip up to Tail of the Dragon, so bender cart assembly will have to wait till I get back from that trip, but the wife is then on a 2wk work trip, so should allow some free time to work on that side project.

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After almost exactly 2yrs of owning the Cayman, it was time to upgrade the brakes, went with a set of Frozen Rotors, they came highly recommended, then went with Hawk HP+ pads, seem like they should be a good option for street and spirited mountain driving

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Successful trip to ToD, all my crew kept it shiny side up, lots of miles, many fuel ups, came home with some very dirty wheels (guess my new brakes are working) and one cool photo from the trip

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4415038 by fouckhest, on Flickr

Came home and relaxed Saturday afternoon....Sunday, got up, did some chores, pulled the cayman back out of the garage for some cleanup, then decided to put the engine back in the project car

I am relatively impressed, just over an hour to get it installed, headers stayed on....this is promising!

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I have to admit, I like how they came out....now I need to find/make the time to get them welded out

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Almost forgot....finished assembling the tubing bender before I left, they forgot the bracket that mounts the pump under the cart, that arrived while I was up at ToD.  Part of my Sunday projects were finishing assembly of the pump/cart, hooking up all the hydraulics, then cycling it to bleed the system, seems to work well.  

Currently waiting on some info from metals supermarket to get some tubing on order to start practicing

Also need to get some material to build a die holder

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Just read this thread from the beginning, loving the thought processes and the fabrication skills fouckhest, it's a brilliant project with some brilliant history!

(As an aside, and not being American, when you said you had to go to flaming river for some parts I presumed this was some cool "Berkeley This E36 M3" forum type slang that I wasn't aware of. Maybe it was Amazon, cos the Amazon is a river? Took me a while to realise I had that wrong....)  

Is there anyone who doesn't have a Harbor Freight engine hoist?

NotSoSmart said:

Just read this thread from the beginning, loving the thought processes and the fabrication skills fouckhest, it's a brilliant project with some brilliant history!

(As an aside, and not being American, when you said you had to go to flaming river for some parts I presumed this was some cool "Berkeley This E36 M3" forum type slang that I wasn't aware of. Maybe it was Amazon, cos the Amazon is a river? Took me a while to realise I had that wrong....)  

Thanks for the kind words and stopping by!

rustomatic said:

Is there anyone who doesn't have a Harbor Freight engine hoist?

I sure hope not! LOL

Tested the bender out yesterday, seems to work as advertised, now to start getting into making parts

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

I have been severely lacking on updates (still lurking here), but that is because I haven't had (or made) any time to work on the project, but I tend to stay away when I can't focus and keep on task.

That being said, somewhere along the way about a month'ish ago, I picked up a new side distraction project.  It is close to being what I will call "done," for now....but should be a fun little kick around town car.  2001 Golf GL, TDi, 5spd, slicktop w/manual windows

Day I brought it home

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After a little suspension refresh, had to put the exhaust back together (cat was cut out/missing).  I traded an extra/spare gearbox I had laying around for the wheels, sanded them down and polished them up, I think they work well with factory size tires and the Cup Kit used for the suspension refresh.

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

.....I am leaving for a 2wk work trip next weekend, hopefully when I get back time will permit to get back on the v8 car project....fingers crossed!