E36 328 Kumho Race Car - Pre Season Mods

[RLiu]

It is interesting how you have a spreadsheet with weight and spends. perhaps another column for hours spent working on the car/ hours spent thinking about the car

 

[Tommo Two]

This is one of the best threads on the forum...i have just made plan for my retirement...

Thanks, and do it you'll have more time than me so I'm expecting big things!

With regards to the spread sheet the best way to stay on budget is to look at the spent column! it scares me!

And time wise that would be measured in days maybe weeks not hours!

 

[sam1832]

Nice thread

Can't believe I haven't seen it before on here

It's a good read and a good project


Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tommo Two]

Nice thread, It's a good read and a good project

Thanks, I've had another busy weekend did interior bits becuase i didn't fancy rolling around in the cold on the floor, although with no doors it was much warmer

Dash is back in around the cage

Fire extinguisher is fitted and all plumbed in. I've taken the pull cable and pipe around the cage, so incase of a crash they wont get pinched between the sil and the cage. Also tidied up the wiring with cable spiral wrap stuff

Here is the old panel, its made of cardboard type stuff that went under the glovebox. Wasn't really strong enough to take pull cables etc so made an ally one

Old

New

Its cable tied in place atm cuz i've haven't wired up the cut off yet. Fire extinguisher nozzel pointing at my crotch as well, dont want anything important getting burned!

Got my saftey stickers on and a little bonus one of the tax disk! :lol:

 

[a11y]

Nice progress

What does it say above your replacement tax disc? :lol:

 

[Machine monkey]

You have been a busy boy. I am definently coming round to take a look when i back from holiday

 

[Tommo Two]

Nice progress

What does it say above your replacement tax disc? :lol:

BMW wrote:

'Ultimate driving machine'

I wrote:

'Not the ultimate driver!'

You have been a busy boy. I am definently coming round to take a look when i back from holiday

That was Sundays work with a hangover, Sat i spent changing my mates discs and pads all over on his Astra and his Mums pads on her Mini , btw I hate working on non bmws they are just difficult, the Mini was fine though

 

[Tommo Two]

More updates, been abit slow cuz its been very cold! (cant find the 'Ghey' smiley!)

Any way, with no carpets to dry my feet on I find the pedals quite slippy with wet feet, especially when heel-toeing across the massive pedal gap, might have even slipped off the brake before and understeered my way into a few cones!

So wanted to correct that, standard pedal setup

New pedal set up

Made a pedal face, 3mm ally covered in griptap and stuck & bolted onto the accelerator, also gripped up the brake pedal

Also installed my race seat & harness

Harness going on my harness bar in the roll cage

Seat brackets - 5mm ally bent to suit floor points on the E36, this were then modified to get the right seating position.

How they look with a seat attached

Waiting to get out on track and see if the seat brackets flex round a corner and if they need any bracing welded on

Still need to mount my eye bolts in the floor for my lap belt.

 

[Machine monkey]

Good work Tommo i see my seat looks quite comfy the far side

 

[srhutch]

Is that ali OK for seat mountings, I would have thought it a bit soft.

 

[Tommo Two]

Its not bad at all really, i've sat there while my bro was driving and it was fine although I was holding on tight as i was a bit nervious. I gave him half a days track time in my car for his birthday, he drives a 1976 mini so was I little twitchy!

Is that ali OK for seat mountings, I would have thought it a bit soft.

I know what you mean, because I made them myself (apart fromy the bending) I consulted the MSA Blue book before hand and my options were, 3mm steel / Stainless steel or 5mm ally so I went with the ally cuz its lighter and much easier to workwith, but it doesn't quite fill me with confidence so I might be stitch welding some bracing in

 

[srhutch]

Should be OK then, but as you say some bracing might be worth looking at.

 

[Machine monkey]

I am hear if you need me Tommo itching to make some stuff for you. To get that passenger ride

 

[Tommo Two]

Should be OK then, but as you say some bracing might be worth looking at.

That is the non confidence bit, it 'should' be 'ok' that's why I'm going to look at the bracing so it 'will' be 'fine' should the worst happen!

I am hear if you need me Tommo itching to make some stuff for you. To get that passenger ride

I'm itching to drive the bloody thing, haven't had it on track since sept, and it won't be moving for a while yet:

I recon march / feb will be my next track days, don't worry though I'm building up an intray of drawings for you!

 

[Machine monkey]

Don't let it get to big. I have orders or strut braces.........

Bet you itching to get out in it. My cars Ben off the road or 2 days and I am

 

[Tommo Two]

Decided over the Christmas break to reinforce the seat mounts, 3mm steel or 5mm ally is what it states in the MSA blue book, but extra braceing would be more reassuring.

Stitch welded a 5mm ally strip across the weakest point then painted.

The seat will be coming out again for when the eye bolt reinforcemets plates are welded in and i'm going to tidy up the sharp corners.

I have to have headlights in the championship, so i put my old working units back in, but still stripped the glass off the front and removed the passengers full beam for an air feed.

Before:

Glass removed:

Full beam removed:

Also had some 0.5mm thick ally discs made to reinforce the R-pin holes in the fiberglass bonnet

Big suspension updates to come in the form of Gaz Golds and with the help of Machine Monkey some adjustable topmounts

 

[Tommo Two]

Coilovers arrived today I already had the springs from a chap who raced last year, they are a stiffer rate, 800lb / inch fronts and 400lb / inch rears iirc

Already had the top mounts aswell.

 

[Tommo Two]

Right then big update time. Last time I was updating my coilovers were rubbing the inside of the wheel. 2 new sets of wheels sorted that out.

These will be my rears, the OZ somethings e36 fitment, I'll have wets on 2 and drys on 2 of them. My fronts are Momo somethings with a better offset so I'll be using them as my fronts again 2 wet 2 dry.

Beginning a respray in white because it was a choice of white or black from the £1 store and white and blue works better I recon, and also easier to clean. I bought a £10's worth of paint enough for a respray on both sets.

Also had some rear pillowball topmounts made up:

These were fitted with some topmout reinforcement plates & a rear strut brace nice and strong to handle the coilovered rears

Thats the suspension pretty much done, followed by setting up the geometry at a mates garage. Did the front & rear camber, toe in / out, ride height, corner weighting and front caster

Registered for the Kumho BMW Championship which starts in April and been given the number 56 also been building a website to capture what I'm doing throughout the race season and aid with finding sponsors. Also it means I needed some stickers for my car! :roll:

These are also the Momo wheels (still to be resprayed)

I've also had the exhaust tail peice reworked, points the sound down and also incorperates a trumpet this dropped the noise level from 101 to 94 db. Since the tail peice looks abit diesel style I changed the 328i for a 318d!

All ready for some testing at my local trackday

Day went pretty well, did over 100 miles on track, completely cured understeer, maybe abit to much, was struggling abit with oversteer, I softened up the rear dampers a bit and that improved it, still could probably tweek it abit more.

Updates needed before 1st race in April at Donington:

More bonnet pins in the front, one letgo down the back straight and the front right of the bonnet came up about a foot or so cacked my pants abit!

Fit the M50 manifold i've got in my garage

Finish wiring in the cut off switch

Floor plate beneath the pedals

Paint the Momo's

Remove CDV

Oil & filter change

New brake pads for sure maybe discs all over.

Thats about it for updates at the mo so I'll finish with a going home pic and also direct you to my website if any one is interested - www.AlanThompsonRacing.co.uk

 

[Machine monkey]

Good work buddy sorry didn't hang around long. Things to do and it was bloody cold!!!

Think that's me in the second pic up. Good driving by the way

 

[Tommo Two]

Sorry, forgot to publicly thank you, (generic cross forum progress update) machine monkey made the rear topmounts for me, and they are working well

It was stupid cold up there, I had a 15-20mins flat out blast came in quickly checked my tyre temps, 20-25 degrees! No wonder the caterhams Westfields etc weren't as quick as they usually are!