elias 253 Report post Posted January 19, 2023 Some more photos of the car as it sits now, very happy with the exterior except for maybe a front lip or different front bumper in the future... on to the interior next. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 29, 2023 (edited) Now that im pretty happy with the exterior and handling, aside from needing some bigger swaybars, Ive made a start on the interior. The overall goal for this car is to build what is my interpretation of the 135i cs that bmw never built, so I started tearing apart the interior today for some major changes coming very soon. Edited April 18, 2023 by elias 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 2, 2023 First mock up of the new seats, only done drivers side very roughly before it started raining again, really need to get a garage... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 7, 2023 Got some photos from Ray (Chubb racing Ltd) who's doing my rollbar/halfcage, its looking great so far, really friendly/helpful guy would definitely recommend him to anyone looking into getting any sort of cage done, all to MSNZ spec. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 11, 2023 Got the car back, halfcage is all done and looks fantastic, very happy with it. Wasted no time and got straight into installing the doubler plates for the transmission tunnel to mount the seatbelts, to LVV cert standards. Took a while to do, had to remove half the exhaust and then try locate the hole which is tricky to do without any reference points. Got there eventually, used 5mm bolts with spring washers instead of Monel rivets as it was much easier to do and still up to LVV spec. Plates have metal to metal contact, sound deadening was removed and the area was etch primed and painted to prevent rust. Used holes on the diagonal in the direction of seatbelt pull, as described in the LVV handbook. now onto masking the interior and painting the halfcage... slowly getting there 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 871 Report post Posted February 11, 2023 Been following the progress here, very cool. I predict within 6 months its a fully stripped race car for the road 🤣 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 11, 2023 15 hours ago, Cement said: Been following the progress here, very cool. I predict within 6 months its a fully stripped race car for the road 🤣 Hahah there has been some scope creep for sure, got a bit carried away recently, but one thing led to another and ive somehow ended up here, no regrets though, should be a fun car! Been following your Nissan E46 build too man, some very impressive stuff in there, great work! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 12, 2023 (edited) Might not look like much has changed, but the half cage is painted, was a bitch of a job I wouldn't ever reccoemnd anyone does haha not fun at all. Began putting the interior back in which is easier said than done, putting things to make it fit and try making it look tidy is quite tricky. Rear door cards had to be split in half, vertically tried to hide the split behind the main hoop of the cage but may still cover it with some form of thick black tape, but doesn't look too bad overall. Put the drivers seat in to move it and pretty happy with how it all looks and especially how the seating position feels. Edited February 12, 2023 by elias 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4016 Report post Posted February 12, 2023 I'll ask the dumb question then, as the challenge of painting an installed cage has come up a few times recently, why not have the construction (welds etc) inspected with the cage out, paint the cage whilst it's out, install the cage, have the installation inspected, and then touch up any required spots? Or powder coat the whole thing out of the car? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 12, 2023 41 minutes ago, M3AN said: I'll ask the dumb question then, as the challenge of painting an installed cage has come up a few times recently, why not have the construction (welds etc) inspected with the cage out, paint the cage whilst it's out, install the cage, have the installation inspected, and then touch up any required spots? Or powder coat the whole thing out of the car? not a bad idea, however due to the geometry of the cage and car, you wouldn't be able to get it into the car after its assembled, has to be welded together in the car. In other cars, with other cages it may be possible. There is a company in AUS who do bolt in powdercated cages, but that isn't MSNZ approved. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 17, 2023 Cage and interior almost entirely done now! 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 18, 2023 Some finishing touches (for now), apex stud conversion and hub centric spacers, as well as boot trims back in now. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted March 6, 2023 Not much progress recently, car is booked in for its cert for early next month. Still need to do a couple minor things to get it ready for that, drill and tap hubs for wheel spacers, get a wheel alignment within 0.5deg of factory spec, and a wow fail sheet, last part shouldn't be too hard. managed to source a muffler for it in case the cert guy reckons its too loud, although strictly speaking it does still have 2 cats and a resonator so might be ok. Also have been looking into insurance, as I have invested a fair bit of money into it but most places don't seem to be too keen on insuring this car, due to the value of the modifications, as well as the driver... 20 years old and about a fair few fines in the past don't make it easy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted March 9, 2023 Lowered the front of the car another 20mm ish, quite like the way it looks with a bit of rake, and the bumper isn't particularly low anyways. Quite happy with the ride heights now, so will probably get it carted for this height. 5 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted March 24, 2023 Car has been parked up on a quiet culdesac near my house due to having no wof or rego, waiting on cert. Parked there as my driveway doesn't have any room, and house is halfway through renovations. Someone hit the car while it was parked, and damaged the front bumper and fender as well as a small scratch in one of the brand new wheels. Didn't leave a note or anything, so ive got no idea who it was, and my insurance is only 3rd party. So looks like im going to have to pay to have it fixed myself, pretty shitty thing to do. Spend all these hours working on making the car as nice as possible, just for some c**t to f**k it up. 😡 Nobody saw anything and no CCTV. Got a good plan for getting fixed and looking better than before at least but going to take a bit of saving, with being a uni student. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted March 24, 2023 Damn, im paranoid about public parking because of situations like this. At least it doesn't look too bad compared to some of the ones ive seen. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted March 24, 2023 15 hours ago, Eagle said: Damn, im paranoid about public parking because of situations like this. At least it doesn't look too bad compared to some of the ones ive seen. Public parking isn't great, but I don't really have much choice at the moment, cross lease and an neighbour who is extremely particular about parking means it can't be on the driveway, and no garage currently. Yeah could've been worse, but going to need a new fender, as well as the bumper repaired/repainted, decided I might as well get a new bumper if im paying for paint anyways, so hopefully car will look better than before. Ill get to that once I get the cert sorted. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted April 4, 2023 Took car in for its Cert inspection today. Few things to rectify after talking to Paul, main concern being the removal of the front seatbelt pretensioners. Currently I have just bolted the rear seat belt buckles to the transmission tunnel, but it appears the pretensioner must be kept. So ive managed to remove it from the oem seat, and disassembled the big yellow connector to now only contain the pretensioner plug inside of it so the connection to the car remains as it was from factory and no wires in the OEM seat had to be cut. Now will just bolt that to the transmission tunnel. Other than that, just needs a few more spring washers in some places, wanted some more information around the brake swap especially the adapter brackets, and to level out the front ride height, seems to be about 8mm difference across left to right. Mostly pretty straightforward stuff, took a bit of thinking with the pretensioners but should be somewhat straight forward from here, and then hopefully a legal car soon, once I pass the wof it failed for exhaust being too loud and the front right headlight angle being wrong... 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted April 18, 2023 Car has passed its cert, got its wof and reg now, can finally legally drive it on the roads again. Also came up with a mount for a old ipad mini to keep track of oil temps, boost, IATs etc etc. Took it out for a quick drive around some riverhead backroads today, definitely missed driving this car. Next job is going to be to get the front right corner damage sorted. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted May 26, 2023 Finally got round to working on the car again, decided to do something about the rather warm oil temps, especially if im going to take this thing to the track. Got my new bumper and started cutting pieces of it out to let more air through the vents. Bought a pair of 19row aeroflow oil coolers and made some brackets to mount them in the wheel wells, positioning them as best as possible behind the 1m style bumpers vents for best airflow. Will make some better ducting at a later stage to force feed them. Bumper off to paint next week. Before After Coolers mounted With bumper Horn mounts added, will have one horn each side considering keeping the stock oil cooler and converting it into a transmission cooler. Just not sure about removing the stock heat exchanger yet as it does help warm up the transmission. Possibly would still warm up quick enough if i used an inline 80deg thermostat. Project for another day... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted June 5, 2023 Oil coolers all done and can't spot any leaks as of yet, but has only barely gotten to temp once so far. Replace the fender and front bumper got painted and installed. Very happy with how it all worked out. just need to stick the number plate back on and give it a good clean now 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted June 8, 2023 Car is almost done, for now, just need to mount some harness eye bolts, put in a baffled sump, and maybe some swayers and it'll be ready for some track duties. Some proper photos of it with the new, painted bumper. 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cement 871 Report post Posted June 8, 2023 Looking great, black intercooler maybe ? 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4016 Report post Posted June 8, 2023 Looks mean, very nice work indeed, proper congratulations. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted June 8, 2023 12 hours ago, Cement said: Looking great, black intercooler maybe ? Have considered it, but this one works really well, and i dont mind the silver too much, suits the black grey and silver theme of the car. Dont want to go full black everything, south auckland spec. 10 hours ago, M3AN said: Looks mean, very nice work indeed, proper congratulations. Thank you sir Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
