Finally complete (almost). There’s one day left before race day and only a few little things left to do. The past two weeks have been crazy busy, but it’s been worth it.
Tuesday April 20:
Tuesday was reassembly day. I got my bushings in from Bimmerworld so I was able to start working on reassembling the rear subframe. Removing the old bushings from the subframe ended up being pretty time consuming since they’re very thick. It took breaking a few drill bits before they were all smashed out! Once the new ones were in, the subframe went back in the car! With some extra hands from my brother and dad, the rest of the rear end was also reassembled that night (suspension, differential, axles). It was a late night, but it was done!
Wednesday April 21:
The next night, I finished working under the car – I attached the driveshaft to the diff, the new rear swaybar from UUC (not the endlinks yet) and then reinstalled the exhaust and muffler. After that, I removed the front suspension to install the bump stops on the struts, since Jeff and I had forgotten to do it last year. Next, the wheels! For the first time in over a month, the car went back on the ground. With that, I decided to end the night on a hig note.
Thursday April 22:
Tonight was gauge night. I had purchased a used oil distribution block (Edge Motorworks) from a fellow racer from 8-Legs Racing which would provide me with the ports for the oil senders. After visiting a few local hydraulics stores, I had all the hardware I needed to plumb my gauges. The first step was to remove the intake manifold (again!). With that out of the way, I could access the block off plate that I had installed on the back of the block. I removed it and proceeded to tap a 1/8in NPT hole into it to install my coolant temperature sender. After that, I set up the ODB. Because the pressure sender is large, the vibrations from the engine can cause it to break. The solution to that is
a 3ft braided stainless steel hose that allows the sender to be remotely mounted near the strut tower away from the vibrations. I installed the ODB using a banjo bolt in the OEM oil pressure sender port. Once all the hardware was in, it was time for the electrical. Using leftover wire from the SPAL fan, I wired everything up and ran all the signal wire through the firewall into the cockpit. After that – the dash panel. I had originally started making a wood/fiberglass panel but quickly gave up on that. Since I had to buy some metal for the firewall block off plate anyway, I bought a little extra to make the dash panel. I used an 80gauge piece of aluminum and cut and bent it into shape. Using a hole saw, the holes for the gauges were cut. Since I was on a roll, I decided to finish my night by installing the firewall block off plate as well.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were spent visiting family out of town, so my work resumed on Monday April 26:
Monday I finished wiring all the gauges in the panel. Then, using silicone, I then sealed up the firewall plate to prevent any water from getting in. Once that was done, the dash went back in! Following this, I refilled the oil with AMSOIL 20W50, and the cooling system with distilled water. It was finally time to try starting the car. After a few long cranks to build fuel pressure, it started! That night was one of the best feelings ever! All the work I had been doing, and the car still worked :). Nothing was leaking, and my gauges worked (except my oil temp gauge which didn’t move – it may be just because the oil didn’t get hot enough though). That was a good thing because my alignment was scheduled for the next day! The only issue was that my electric fan didn’t seem to be working. I jumped the terminals and it started right up, so I determined that it was the OEM switch that didn’t work anymore.
Tuesday April 27:
Tuesday, the car went to Canadian Tire on Carling for its performance alignment. As always, the service is excellent there, and I was more than satisfied. Once the car got back home, I did a bit more electrica work – It’s not shown in the pictures, but I mounted an external switch for the gauges since the power source I had tapped into was always live. I also installed a manual switch to bypass the temperature controlled switch for the electric fan. This is a temporary/backup fix, since the new temp switch will be installed on thursday. I then installed the front swaybar and got it ready for the new endlinks that were coming in on wednesday.
Wednesday April 28:
Today, after a trip to Ogdensburg, NY, I installed the front and rear endlinks and reinstalled the strut tower brace. The rear endlinks were part of the swaybar kit from UUC and were adjustable. To match those, I purchased 3/8in male and female rod-end bearings from Pegasus Auto Racing to make my own adjustable front endlinks. Unfortunately I made a mistake in my order and bought left-hand threaded rod-ends, so I didn’t have any jam-nuts to lock them. A trip to the hardware store tomorrow should solve that. Finally – the car was roadworthy. At this point it was starting to get dark, so I just had the chance to wet my feet a bit. Tomorrow night will be the big night for adjusting the rear brake bias, and installing the new fan switch.
After over a month of hard work, long nights & weekends, and a (thankfully) very patient girlfriend, the spring overhaul is complete. And not a minute too soon – the 3-day lapping event at Calabogie this weekend will be the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the “new” car.
As always, the gallery has all the pictures.
Stay tuned next week for results on how the car held up (hopefully it’s still in one piece)!
Shawn
Wednesday night I tackled the cooling system. My goal was to bypass the heater core so that it could be removed. First I had to take the intake manifold off the car. This involved disconnecting the fuel rail, the MAF, throttle body, and various electrical plugs and vacuum hoses. Once the manifold was out, I could access the coolant lines that ran into the firewall. I then disconnected all the lines and removed the heater core valve. i was then left with two hoses – one leading from the back of the engine to the valve, and the other leading from back of the thermostat to the valve. You would think to just connect the two and be done with it, but it that configuration, it would allow hot coolant to recirculate through the engine without first going through the rad. That’s why bimmerworld makes an aluminium block off plate with a gasket to plug the hole on the engine. The other hose was terminated using a steel plug and cap from Home Depot – I was hoping to find a brass plug, but they didn’t have one so I had to be a bit more creative. Seemed to have worked! Once the coolant lines were all set, I reinstalled the intake and went inside the car to attempt to remove the heater core. After removing the cluster and dash, several bolts and lots of broken plastic later, the core was out! All that is left to complete the project is to install some sheetmetal to plug the hole in the firewall and a bit of silicone to keep the water out! Another successful night, and one step closer to being ready for the spring!
Saturday I wasn’t able to work until the evening because I was writting my Professional Engineering exam. Once that was over, it was time to get my hands dirty! I started wiring up the electric fan. Following the instructions and a DIY on bimmerforums, I completed the wiring (successfully I hope). I haven’t tested it yet as the cooling system is still empty, but hopefully it will work. I also started working on a dash panel to close up the hole where my radio and vents were. I also heard some bad news from UUC this weekend – their subframe bushings were backordered so I cancelled my order and purchased the Powerflex race bushings from Bimmerworld. I also purchased some Autometer gauges from Summit Racing: oil temperature and pressure, and coolant temperature.
I started off my day on sunday with some welding. I had received my swaybar reinforcement tabs so I proceeded to weld them onto the subframe and repaint. Once that was complete, I worked on reinstalling my cooling system. I strapped the electric fan to the radiator, and dropped it back in the car. I also had my new gasket for the thermostat cover so I put my 80degC thermostat in as well. One more check off the list. I then installed some creative ducting: using an old crazycarpet, I fabricated a duct from the front bumper into the rad to hopefully improve my cooling efficiency :).
Last night I started replumbing my front brake lines. I had purchased a braided stainless steel flex line kit from UUC, and I decided to redo all my hard lines as well since there is significant corrosion in the rear.