BMW's galore!

[Mark]

M3 is currently off the road and stored at Avers Racing. Whilst there the cage is being fitted correctly (including floor strengthening plates) and the inside repainted. The dash is also being flocked and a matching Ridgard passenger seat fitted. Final jub will be electrical cut-out switch and extinguisher. All being well I will enter the Crystal Palace Sprint next year.





Rally E21 with 306 bhp!



Anyway, Happy Christmas guys and all the best for 2015!

[Mark]

Well with the inconvenience of Christmas and New Year, things have been moving more slowly than I would have liked. The E21 is supposed to be getting painted next week, but the E30 is also getting some love.



With the dash off for flocking, we have been chopping out any wiring we no longer needed, such as the heated seat switches. The dished steering wheel has also been replaced as I never really liked them.



The cage came out, in order that it can be re fitted properly this time. This means strengthening the floor, and we are also going to re paint it, once any surface rust is dealt with and the small hole beneath the throttle pedal has been repaired. I'm also going to replace the driver side door bar. The seats are matching Ridgard with Safety Devices harnesses and full cage.



It should look so much nicer once it has all been tidied up.







There's never a shortage of E30 at ARM. The black M3 replica features E39 M5 power! The white car is a 318is



Fingers crossed the next photos I post will be a freshly painted E21.

[106e30]

ha, my car is looking good up on that ramp, got to sort that trim out, its got an ugly rear end without it

[deacs]

awesome, love e30's. ive had about 20 e30's all 2 dr 6 cylinder models.

[Mark]

Well the M3 has been with Joe at ARM and we decided to brighten up the interior. Once the seats and harnesses were out we figured the dash would benefit from being flocked. It's only £60 so well worth the effort. There's also a Ridgard passenger seat to match my driver side one and a Safety Devices harness. The only other mods will be an electrical cut-out switch and hand held extinguisher, as I plan to do some speed events this year.



We removed the old 'strengthening plates', which looked as if they were made from biscuit tin. Goodness knows why the previous owner didn't do the job properly? I don't think some folk realise that simply drilling a few holes and bolting in a cage is actually more unsafe, than not having a cage at all. Had my car rolled, it was quite likely that the cage would have ripped through the floor. Fortunately it's sorted now though. The fuel lines beneath the car had also corroded quite badly and it makes sense to replace them now too. Fortunately they're still available from the main dealer for about £35.



There was a patch of rust beneath the throttle pedal which needed sorting before it really took hold and the whole floorpan needed replacement.



That was the last of the rust and it's pretty much ready for primer and paint. The rear quarter cards are going to be done in aluminium and probably flocked at a later date. I did consider carbon fibre but can't justify the cost right now. I'm really pleased with the way it's coming along and it's a vastly improved.

[stevietuck]

M3 is going to be a nice place to sit mark any news on mib?

[Mark]

Well the rad is due back from AH Fabrication today or possibly tomorrow. Once it's back in place, mechanically it's pretty much done. Other than that MIck said he was getting it on the ground on Wednesday, just to be certain there's no tyre rub or whatever, but other than that it's final paint any time now. Once it's done I'd like to think it wouldn't take long to fit up. There are quite a few custom bits to do and the ICE but even so, we should make this years shows.

[Mark]

Really pleased with floor in the M3.

[mk2polobloke]

As usual, that looks fab Mark.
Keep the updates coming.

[Mark]

Flocked dash and console are in. Pic doesn't do justice to just how great it really looks in there now. Safety Devices full cage is next step.

[stevietuck]

they look super cool mark, is it expensive to have done?

[grifterkid]

WOW...!!!!!!!!!! That is looking absolutely superb sir...

[Mark]

Thanks guys. It's actually relatively cheap to have done and the dash & console totalled around £100. They've really transformed the whole look and feel of the interior now and I'm really chuffed with the end result. I'm trying to achieve a kind of factory ''club sport'' look, as opposed to full on, stripped out race car. Mind you, there's still an electrical cut out switch and extinguisher to go in there, along with the cage and harnesses.

I also got a newsletter from Sevenoaks & District MC and am keen to enter the Crystal Palace sprint over the May bank holiday. I think it's a great weekends motorsport anyway, but to do it in an M3 will be a bit special for me.

[stevietuck]

That's pretty reasonable really for what is in a way a brand new wheel and dash

[Mark]

I think so too. It's coming together now that the cage is back in place.



This is what I need doing to complete the engine bay.

[Mark]

Yet more delays with MIB. Despite looking fine, it turned out there was some minor corrosion on the sills beneath the factory underseal. As this car will be a daily driver I wanted to be 100% certain that any rust is dealt with now and properly treated, to guard against its returning.

Anyway, all done and finally primed for the last time. I hope it won't be too much longer till the colour is finally done, but we're already into the 3rd year of this build.

[sotirisaccord]

Daily driver with a roll cage??

[Mark]

Yeah, it's only a rear section, as I've deleted the back seat. I'm 6' 3'' so couldn't fit a passenger behind me, even if I wanted to. The new Recaro seats are also fitted on custom mounts, to fit me specifically. There's also a little bit of added stiffness from fitting the cage, although nowhere near that of a welded full cage obviously. That said, with over 260bhp instead of the original 100, every little helps.

[Mark]

The past few weeks have been spent sorting the final bits of corrosion in the floor. When the cage was first fitted, by a previous owner, although they attempted to strengthen the floor in critical places they did a curse word poor job. The plate they used was way too thin and was already pretty rusty. Anyway, thanks to Joe at ARM the floor is now totally free from rust and properly strengthened. A fresh coat of paint has brightened things up and the dash and console were flocked too. Added to that, any unused wiring was removed or tidied up. The inside has been totally transformed and has a sort of factory CS feel to it. The old passenger Sparco seat was swapped for a matching Ridgard and the driver side door bar, for the cage, was also fitted. Final job was replacing the old dished wheel for a MOMO, using the original snap-off boss. I have a dodgy left leg, so being able to remove the steering wheel makes it far easier to get in and out of the car. Mind you, the door bar is taking a bit of getting used to!

With the interior done and the rust removed, there were a couple of mechanical jobs to be done. The power steering had started making a noise from cold, but this turned out to be just a leaking washer. I assume this meant a loss in pressure and the noise? Either way, a new washer sorted it. There was also a fair bit of rust on the fuel line beneath the car, so it was simply replaced with a new one from BMW. I also changed the oil, oil filter and spark plugs today. Mechanically everything is just about spot on now and I replaced the worn Dunlop's on the rear, with 245/40 Toyo r888's.

Although my cars paintwork looks OK, it's definitely no show car. I use it as often as possible and plan to finally enter some sprint events this year. There are a few cosmetics I wanted sorting though and they included the carbon fibre front splitter and rear flap. They looked as though the sun had crazed the surface and just looked tatty. Unfortunately, replacement just wasn't an option at over £500 for the pair! Fortunately, careful use of the DA and a coat of clear has brought them back to looking as fresh as new again. They have given the whole outside a lift and I'm really chuffed with the end result.

I took it out for a quick run today and the brakes are still improving, now that the pads have had a bit more time to bed in properly. I don't think I've had such confidence in a cars braking ability before. The only other changes I would like to make eventually, is to fit a quicker steering rack and upgrade the suspension to Ohlin. I may get the paint sorted before that though. I don't want it to be too nice though, in case it puts me off using it.



















Still waiting on news re MIB being painted. I've been getting the 02 ready for selling ice cream this summer though! I've just got to get the tow bar fitted and finish getting the kiosk ready.



My partners 02 is tucked away for the winter, now that we finally have a garage!



I do need an air filter for its Weber though.

[sotirisaccord]

Any updates?