Graceland

Welcome.

After the latest trip to the 'Ring, and batting round in the E39, the decision was come to that the E39 whilst suitably perfect is far too business like for track abuse

So here is the diary of my E36 project.

19 May 2008.

Cleared the shit out of the garage, took a full transit van load down to the tip. A bit of a squeeze to get the van up the very narrow drive with 1 inch either side of it




Now the garage come workshop where my magic happens is now spotless bar the crap on the workbench that needs sorting










The E36 will be arriving home sometime tonight, so once that is home, Pics will follow

dave cos4x4

iTrader: (5)

that garage has had some work done in there Paul.

hope it won't take you too long long to sort the new car out.

Graceland

Well I have 88 days left before I go back to the 'Ring Dave - lets hope that she's ready in plenty of time before then

And that garage is a whore for projects

carlo

iTrader: (4)

What size of engine is in it? is it 6 cylinder

Graceland

Well the E36 arrived home last night, but unfortunately, due to Orange BBand having a fit, I was unable to get online

Here are the snaps of the car in its original BMW form











Looks like there is a LOT of weight to be saved here The tntire interior is going to be removed, and sold on ebay

And here she is in her new home - La Workshop

Lee_R21Turbo

iTrader: (1)

Nice one Gracey!!!

Quite an apt number plate though dont you think.....

Shorty

iTrader: (1)

PMSL! Thats the first thing i said, suits him perfectly!

Looks like a good base you got there mate.

3i_gaz

BOSS reg!!!

that would do me

look forward to seieng updates mate

Graceland

Well today has been an interesting day. Spent 5 hours totally stripping out the interior and took 2 car loads to the tip (thats 2 cars at the same time - mine and brothers, both rammed full of interior shite )

First things first - take the front seats out



Found 2 quid aswell - hapopy days

This pile of parts will get much bigger I fear



More parts out and its starting to look like a wiry mess



Now, to get the upper dash out is a bit of a mission. BMW, being the engineers they are, put the dashboard in before the windscreen - no chance of getting a 7mm spanner or socket in to the top 3 bolts - how to overcome this? hammer + chisel = spanner access





Thats the dash out then



Next the sunroof - another 20 kilo to be saved here in the mechanism alone, it runs the entire length of the roof of the car





So thats the complete interior out and the parts pile is huge, and the car is bare









All these parts to get rid of





Whilst down at the tip with that lot, a box of goodies arrived for me. - Contents:

8 way fuse boxes x 4
Battery isolators x 2
500 cable ties
Stainless Steel bonnet pins
10 toggle switches
2 aero style toggle switch covers
Heatshrink
Rubber things that hold the boot shut instead of the boot lock
100 metres of 1.5mm pvc cable



And a sheet (1.2m x 0.68m)of 1.2mm alloy for making the dash and a blanking off the heaterbox hole once that has been removed.



Also, picked up a set of 4 M3 alloys for the princly sum of Ł170 - I love ebay

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

What engine is going in this?

Graceland

The engine that is sat in it already - no plans for changing it - as said, cheap and fun track toy

fordsportjay

iTrader: (6)

didnt realise the sunroof weighed so much-may have to lose mine.

i was amazed at just how heavy the interior really is!

are you changing the glass for perspex?
what suspension?

Graceland

Glass is all going to be perspex apart from the windscreen (obvious reasons)

Not decided on the suspension yet, but coilovers of sme description would be in order

Dan

Good work, car should be a good laugh on track!

What are you doing about the sunroof, just going to blank it off with a sheet?

How much did you give for the car in the first place Paul?

Graceland

Gave 750 for the car, it was advertised at 895

Sunroof - going to use the original metal panel and spot weld it in place, then a bit of sealant and a sheet of black vynal for the roof

A breif update from this mornings work as I have other stuff to do today (keep the wife happy etc etc

last night saw the addition of a set of 17" M3 reps - Ł170 sheets, bargaintastic

They should look smart with a set of toyo R888's on them



job for today was to remove the wiring harness for the car but leaving the engine loom in place. I good game of "how many wires can I cut before the engine stops" ensured



Just a few then

So with the wiring loom out of the interior totally bar the few bits I need (heater motor, wipers, rear lights and fuel pumps) I set about cutting rest of the loom from the fustbox :thumb:




So from this:



To this



leaving this:



A massive 10 kilo pile of wires

just aswell the engine loom is totally seperate from the car loom - now all that I need to do is find out where the bugger plugs in, I have found the ECU and its cable run, but I have a sneeky feeling that the harness finds a feed for power somewhere under the scuttle panel below the windscreen. Investigation tomorrow will find that out

carlo

iTrader: (4)

That loom looks like a hell of a job good luck

maxest

iTrader: (1)

You dont mess about do you, will be good fun that on track

Graceland

The loom should be much easier now, especially as I will be making my own loom for the rest of it - the engine loom should only be 5 or 6 wires at the most to connect up, thankfully


No point in messing about when you have off work untill the 29th - otherwise nothing would get done

Dan

Cool, cheap car then! Get the wheels on, will transform it!

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

Animal.....

That poor little car

RsDarren

iTrader: (1)

Looking good Gracie!!

You have far too much money and time! ha

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

You should have done a before and after weight test .

dvid

Mucho progress, will keep an eye on this

Graceland

Mike - standard kerb weight for standard car will do for the "before" weight

Need to find a weighbridge locally for the after weight once she's finished

Lee_R21Turbo

iTrader: (1)

Least you'll be able to still qualify for the 'lack of indicators' category all Beemer drivers fall into albeit involuntary due to the lack of control stalks & wiring!!

Twins

iTrader: (18)

Rossco

Great project.

I am sure the saloons are lighter though

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

This seems like a good idea, Would probably be better for me to do something like this rather than take my Pulsar

gar mae

Things going well

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Manufacturers curb weights are usually HUGELY optimistic, so it will appear like you haven't actually lost as much weight as you really did .

pollocks

as dogsmoke as he works at john cottons and they have a weigh bridge as far as i know

p.s looks a cool little project mate

Graceland

There is a weighbridge 2 mins drive from me, I used it with the van

AJC

iTrader: (6)

good project

Graceland

Today was a bit of a steady day. The plan was to clean up the remainder of the wiring loom and get the engine running with what was left. This was started by removing the ECU plug and belling out the wires with the aid of handy wiring diagram - how handy





Then the wires i needed were labled up to quickly identify them when the wiring begins



Was a bit cold at 9 this morning so the heater was on for a bit



Anyway. once the wired had been belled out and checked, labled and double checked, it was time to see if the engine would run. ECu live to the battery, relays clicked, starter feed to the batttery and the engine fired into life perfectly. Absolutely spot on

So with that done, the wires were temporarily shoved thru the bulkhead and the ecu cover was refitted etc etc.



Then my nice new OMP steering wheel and boss arrived- 350mm alcantara 3 spoke - superb. Checked the fit and excellent.



So with that done, it was time to modify the steering column to remove the ignition switch, barrel and steering lock. Now, this would of been easy, but BMW, unlike Ford, use the face of the alloy barrel as the bush/bearing for the collapsable collumn. Not a problem, weld a piece of pipe around the column and then file the alloy down to fit and bray into place. Only job left to do there is fit the new bearing in the column. Happy times Taped up for asthetics, not that it will be seen, but heyho.



Next on the agenda was to make a mockup of how I want the Alloy Dashboard to be - this was done using paper and selotape - very easy to do and saves so much hassle at the alloy stage Once that was done, quickly scribbled on where I want what parts.



And then with the steerywheel fitted




All in all, not a bad days work. Now i'm off to play in Autocad to make a template for cutting and drilling for the switchgear and gauges etc etc

B19LRW

Gracie, you love it!! i remember th write up on the e30!!

good luck with it all m8.!

AlexF

Very good work Paul!!

Cant wait to beat you on track in the golf

lead_foot

iTrader: (1)

Good progress mate.


You and Graceland going to have some 'ring action then?

(and then some driving round the track)

Stavros

i hope your gonna chisel off all that sound deadening, as its a bit (totally) lame to candy strip it with all the big bits that make it showy light without removing the 20kg of rubbery gunky sound deading crap thats stuck to the entire interior floorpan.

id put the top layer of carpet back in after if it was me, weighs less than a kg and makes the car feel a lot less pikey to drive.

gar mae

Your progress is very quick, fair play to you

What's the 'ring like now with stripped out cars etc after the rumor that the were clamping down on race cars and anything similar? Will there be any problems with it being let on the 'ring?

Anyway, carry on the good work

Graceland

All that will have to come off Stav

The original carpet was cut into millions of pieces and weighed a good 8 kilo