Eurotrash Motorsports

Last week I decided to tackle the removal of the A/C system.  It wasn’t working anyways when I had the car on the street, and it definitely will not be used on the track, it’s just dead weight.  I had already removed the auxillary fan and shroud, so I was one step ahead.

The first job I tackled was removing the front condenser.  This will not only help with weight savings, but also with cooling since it is placed directly in front of the engine radiator.  It turned out that this was slightly more difficult than it seemed on paper.  I first had to remove the front bumper – not a big deal.  The condenser was connected to the A/C system through metal hoses that were bolted on.  Obviously, these bolts were rusted and stripped easily.  Because I wasn’t trying to salvage the system, I decided to removed the hoses by cutting them with what turned out to be my most precious tool in this project – the sawsall.  Once it was separated from the system, it was time remove it.  The condenser was held in by tabs that slid into slots in the frame at the bottom, and then bolts at the top.  Both of the bolts were also seized and thus needed to be removed with, you guessed it, the sawsall.  Once those were removed, it should have been as easy as tilting the condenser rearwards and lifting.  Unfortunately, this was not so.  I think the tabs had rusted and fused to the rubber bushings in the frame slots because no matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn’t come out.  After a lot of trouble, I decided to try and just break the brackets off the condenser.  It worked!  I was able to then slide the consender downwards and out through the front of the car.  The next task was to remove the dryer and the hoses.  The dryer was very easy, and it came out in no time (with help from a certain tool of course!).  The hoses were also suprisingly simple.  The bolt that held them into the HVAC system inside the car was nice and clean, and it was removed with no issues.  Once that was removed, the hoses simply slid out.  All that was left was the compressor!  The four bolts that held this onto its bracket came out easily (also surprising!).  The compressor then popped off and slid out from underneath the car.  I was done!  It took about 6 hours (yes I know I worked slow), but I was done.  I removed roughly another 30 lbs off the front.

I then noticed some fluid leaking out the bottom of the car.  Apparently, when I was removing the condenser, my prybar had slipped and nicked the radiator, which was now leaking.  A job for another day!

To finish off the weekend, I intalled heavy-duty rear shock mounts.  These are known to be a weak part on 3-series BMWs especially when being used with aftermarket shocks.  I replaced the original ones with MEYLE heavy-duty mounts and a reinforcement plate.

It was another good week but there’s still a lot to do.  The big winter project will be swapping the transmission, installing the UUC shortshifter and the UUC engine and transmission mounts.

Check out the gallery for a few pics!

So last week Jeff, Phil, myself, my brother Chris and Jeff’s friend the trunk monkey (ie. Pat) got together and started stripping the snowcross cars down.

Surprisingly, everything went great!  Phil, Chris and myself were able to stip the interior COMPLETELY out of the Festiva in about 45min :).  It definitely helped that we didn’t care about breaking anything.  We started by removing the back seat, and then continued to remove the carpeting, all interior panelling/plastic, glove box, trim, door panels, headliner, speaker wiring, and the rear wiper and wiper motor.  We finished by taking off the catback muffler since the catalytic converters weren’t there anyways!

While doing this, we learned something about the ol’ ford:  It’s more than just a two tone racer, its a FOUR tone racer!  The car was originally red, so the interior frame is now red.  While cleaning up the engine bay, we also noticed that the valve cover was painted PINK! So add that to the flat black and navy blue exterior, and we’ve got a thoroughbred race car!

Phil and I were extremely happy to find that the frame seems to be very solid, and has no rust at all.  We completed our gutting, and all that’s left in the car are the two front seats and the dash.  We’re guessing we removed easily over 100 lbs of junk from the car.  On top of that, Phil was able to find us some brand new winter tires, so we now just have to get them mounted on our 12×4.5in Enkei rims, and we’ll be ready for the track!

As we tackled the Festiva, Jeff and Pat tackled the NX1600 in a similar fashion right beside us.  In a race to strip the cars the fastest, we won (although we do have a lot less car to start with).  All the interior was removed except for the front seats and the dash.  Pat WAS disapointed when Jeff stopped him from smashing the t-top glass panels, but it was for the best.  Unfortunately, the Nissan was plagued with some rust around the rear driver side shock tower, so Jeff and Naresh are planning to reinforce the area with some sheetmetal.  A few days later, Jeff came back with Naresh to remove the muffler on the Nissan.  All that was require was a bit of sawsall ;).

All in all, it was a great night and we had a lot of fun!  We filled 5 big garbage bags with the little stuff, and had a pile around 4 feet high by 5 feet diameter of the big stuff from both cars.

Check out the gallery for pictures following the (un)build.  We’re almost ready for January, when we’ll be starting the racing!

Tonight, Naresh and I agreed on a name for our new NX 1600. After careful reflection, and in consideration of its colour, condition, and mission, we have christened the little NX, Private Caboose.

Yes, we named him after the lovable, if idiotic, Blue soldier from Rooster Teeth Productions’ hit series, Red vs. Blue.

It’s no Sheila, but it will do. Don’t expect any muffins though :P

Big ups to Rooster Teeth Productions! (feel free to send up a bumper stick and some free DVDs!)