BMW Compact Rally Car Build

[DaveKern]

Originally Posted by tiFreak

I figure the 3rd brake light is so light anyway you're not going to gain much by removing it

Yep, but there's the old racer addage that "ounces add up to pounds." I hope its true, b/c I spent 20 minutes with a dremel grinding off any studs that wouldn't be used once the car goes back together. Losing weight is the best thing you can do for a race car, as it benefits you when accellerating, braking, and turning. For now, losing weight has only cost me some free time.

I'll most likely be leaving the 3rd brake light.

Dave

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by tiFreak

it's like the German engineering motto: "Why make it simple, when you can make it complicated"

I thought their motto was "We make our cars complicated in order to keep our mechanics employed."

Originally Posted by tiFreak

I figure the 3rd brake light is so light anyway you're not going to gain much by removing it

But, the brake light is at a high point on the car, so the weight loss there will be more important! ;-)

[DaveKern]

Originally Posted by roadrash

But, the brake light is at a high point on the car, so the weight loss there will be more important! ;-)

It doesn't have to stay mounted near the top though!

Dave

[pdxmotorhead]

The LED tape on the link I put up would be cool. Just run a strip across the top edge of the back window with Clear silicone to hold it. Would be about an ounce....

It would also be a loophole for a protest, If You beat me by < a 10th and I was after points I'd tag ya for illegal car. (I don't rally but its the idea. )

Dave

[DaveKern]

Originally Posted by pdxmotorhead

It would also be a loophole for a protest, If You beat me by < a 10th and I was after points I'd tag ya for illegal car. (I don't rally but its the idea.)

That's the beauty of G2, G5, and Open. Lots of creativity in the build is allowed. I'll do some more reading up to find out exactly what lights are required, and what can be changed.

For example, some newer cars have lights on the front 1/4 panels. But, since you're allowed to run aftermarket 1/4 panels, some don't have provisions for them.

Dave

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by DaveKern

For example, some newer cars have lights on the front 1/4 panels. But, since you're allowed to run aftermarket 1/4 panels, some don't have provisions for them.

early E36's didn't have the sidemarkers anyway

[pdxmotorhead]

I do a lot of race car prep, helped build 5 cars last year.

Its truly all about reading the rules... A car I take care of got protested because I had a aftermarket BOV replacing the stock unit. So the fools that protested were quite surprised when I turned around and got the whole group (4 cars) disqualified because I knew the rules . I did it because our driver out-drove them, we did not do it with power. We had about 190 HP to their 225 to 250, and a heavy car. The BOV I had on there was smaller than the factory one, but the factory one was out of production. Had to find one off a Wrecking yard hotline...

Dave

[Air Research]

Love the build, I just crushed my rally project to start a Ti.....

Excavators make quick work of gutted shells !

What class will this car be running in ? G2 Rally America ?

I am interested in the engine but i am on the east coast.....

[DaveKern]

Originally Posted by Air Research

Love the build, I just crushed my rally project to start a Ti.....

Excavators make quick work of gutted shells !

What class will this car be running in ? G2 Rally America ?

I am interested in the engine but i am on the east coast.....

It'll be eligable for G2, but depending on the series and final weight, I may run it in G5. For example, if I run a MaxAttack! event, there's no reason to hold myself to the G2 weight/displacement tables.

Engine is going cheap...and I have a pallet I could ship it on. My M3 engine cost ~$350 to ship across the country with $3,000 of insurance.

Dave

[DaveKern]

In the winter I work as an instructor at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School every weekend, so time to work on the cars is scarce. After a week up in Steamboat Springs helping to get the tracks ready for customers, I ended up with this weekend off, so its back to work on the car again.

This time, the goal is to prepare the car for seam welding, which means getting all the seam sealer and tar off the car. Since I'm short on time, I brought an assistant.



Playing with liquid nitrogen is dangerous, so don't try this at home. We used a 3-man team to get this done in the most efficient way, and cycle out one person when their arms got tired, and to make sure nobody was freezing off any body parts. Below are Grant & Mitch at work.





Here's a shot of the car on the rotisserie. We didn't measure out beforehand, but ended up with about a mm of clearance on the rear of the car when rolling the car over.

[DaveKern]

Here's the rear wheel well just after we got started.



Here's a shot of the front wheel well as we are about done.



Here's a shot of the underside after the majority of the undercoating has been removed.



Here's what the floor looked like when we were done, what a mess!



I swept up all the material removed and put it in a box. There was probably another 4-8 lbs of sound deadening that I ended up vacuuming up from the interior, and we've still got a bunch of material still left in the car.



Thanks for following along!

Dave

[tiFreak]

wow, I had no idea all that stuff was so heavy

[Will'sBimmer]

The car looks so clean now. Wow hitting it with the nitrogen really did the job. I wish I could have my car stripped down and cleaned and then put back together. I would feel like it was so clean after having it done.

[boss23]

Everything looks great.. good luck.. and thanks in advance for the door panels.

[DaveKern]

We've pickeup up several sets of Compomotive TH Rally Wheels. They're 15x6.5" and the tires are 16x62x15s. This means they're 16cm wide, 62cm tall, and fit on a 15" rim. The newer version of these tires, now branded as BFGoodrich have switched back to the standard tire measurments, and will be what I hope to run during the season. I'm hopeful that there won't be any fitment issues with running a 195-70-15 or a 205-65-15.



These are Michelin rally tires and are fairly dated. They'll be good for practice days though.



The plan is to start chassis prep tomorrow.

Dave