Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Next>>
How much non-essential wiring can be removed for a track car build? This much. And bear in mind, not only is this car a 20 year old base model and so has very little electronic trickery but also retains electric windows, all main lighting, heater system, heated rear window....
Exhaust system refitting next. First, the standard heatshield was cleaned up and steel section repainted in high temperature paint after it was decided to be too large to replace with a lighter aluminium shield material.
A standard exhaust system was deliberately chosen for the build. It will be replaced by a custom stainless item at some point but a system that is as quiet as possible was crucial to enable regular driving without earplugs! This low mileage system was sourced and given a quick one over with high temperature black paint.
All new exhaust fitting hardware along with Goodridge braided brake hoses. These will be complemented by high quality ATE Blue brake fluid.
One rather tidy looking rear wheelarch:
On to the details. The driving position was in desperate need of improvement from the standard E30 'everything offset' arrangement. The driver's bucket seat was fitted on reversed mounts to align perfectly with the steering wheel. This was then brought into better pedal alignment with an offset clutch extension. The vastly lower seat (even lower for the passenger!) however meant that the steering wheel remained far too high for comfort. Drilling out the safety bolts allows spacers to be fitted to lower the steering column at its bulkhead mounting. Just 10mm or so here gives around five times as much lowering at the wheel.
These spacers are available (in two different heights) in our shop here.
The clocks had to come out for a six cylinder coding plug to be fitted and a new SI board. This is when the temptation to paint the dials bright green got the better of me.
Interior painted to look a bit more uniform after the removal of the insulation panels. Aluminium door cards were cut to suit and fitted, along with the Sparco dished steering wheel and a Momo gear knob that was found lying around with a damaged chrome finish. Cue some white paint as it was the first thing I found..
Seats refitted and the interior actually looks quite welcoming considering there is nothing in it.
Gauge pod fitted, no gauges as yet (!) but they will come. As much as I hate chequerplate there was a section lying around and ideal for tweaking the pedal positioning.
A few deeper scratches were wet sanded from the bonnet and then the whole car was given the once over with the machine polisher before a coat of durable wax. It won't get much aesthetic attention once back on the road so a few hours here should keep it looking tidy enough for a while yet.
Paint depth recordings revealed that only the bonnet and a portion of one wheelarch had been repainted over the last 20 years and the rest of the body was as it left the factory.
A 324i? Why so?
Basically, the 2.5 engine as supplied had previously been fitted with a selection of 2.3 and 2.0 ignition parts for a reason unknown to us. However, it ran very well with no noticeable power losses over a 'normal' 325i. This also meant that the engine was running on older Bosch K-Jetronic analogue engine management. Older and and less intelligent than the normal Motronic system, Jetronic however meant that the system responded extremely well to not only the extra airflow at the front but also that it could have the timing set to run on Super Unleaded without any expensive mapping. Or as I like to call it, free power.
So this is why the K-Jetronic system stayed on the car and part 323i and part 325i equals a one off E30 324i. It is just a pity I couldn't find a non-italic '4' badge (from a 540i).
That is 20 year old Diamondschwartz-metallic that is....
