Hot sunday in the valley....

My moms garage is in the valley and boy was it a sauna in there.....! I managed to get alot done and only sweat out a few buckets!

I finish grinding off all the 5 layers of paint in the engine bay and frame rails. Luckily no serious rust to report....

So now I'm ready to start on the cage work....
you might notice I cut out the passenger firewall "foot bulge". This is to make it easier to install and removal the headers....might seam silly but why not! I like making my life easier...

Also finally finished welding on the subframe adjusters. Then I used the air grinder to finish cutting out the adjustment slots. The "eccentrics" required some grinding filing to ensure proper smooth operation....basically it all took some fine tunning to get just right.....

Not bad eh? I'm pretty proud of myself.

Completed subframe
Outermost pickup point adjust toe and inside (vertical slots) adjusts camber.

Completed modified rear suspension!

Reinforced trailing arms and now adjustable subframe ! (also solid subframe mount bushing not pictured)

Bimmerfest recovery....back to work!

I was working the Stealthauto booth at Bimmerfest this weekend and unfortunately did not get a good chance to look around.

I did stop by the Ireland Engineering booth and picked up some camber and toe rear adjustable weld on kit.

SO back home on Sunday I got back to work on the car abit....

Here is the Camber kit

First I clamped a piece of flat stock to serve as a backer so I may take my big F'ing hammer and make the small turned out lips flat.
Marking where to cut so that with the plate on now we have a slot so the eccentric adjuster may move back and forth....
On the Semi-trailing arm design of the 2002 (also e30 and Mcoupe). The more you lower the car or basically move th arm further up into it's travel, you gain toe-in and the tire gains negative camber. So usually a 2002 at race ride height will have too much camber and too much toe-in. This kit will allow you to dial some of that out.

Also if you ever plan on running bias ply slicks, you will want close to 0 camber so these become even more important.

Toe will move back and forth on the outermost trailing arm mount on a horizontal plane. This will give you the ability to adjust toe.

The innermost trailing arm mount (closest to the diff) will be cut so we may move the arm on a vertical plane. As we move the eccentric down we get more negative camber and more we move it up we reduce the amount of negative camber.
My first TIG weld on the adjustment plates

Rear trailing arm reinforcements!

Next up : Reinforcing the rear trailing arms.

Now unless you can find yourself a nice new set of boxed Tii arms you'll have to "box" your trailing arms yourself. I seen many other people doing it many ways....I think my design is pretty sweet. and STRONG.

Initially I was going to add an additional bar across the arms but I really do not think it is necessary.

One of the dimple hole line up with the brake line holes for installation.

Once again fixturing/jigging is the name of the game here. The last thing you want is bent reinforced arms that are useless. Welding tends to warp/shrink everything. I found that I actually had to preload or stretch the arms apart so that when I was done I would had the same measurements.

This whole process takes alot of work!!

Remove arms
disassemble arms
sandblast arms
paint arms on the inside
clean arms for welding (grinding)
make template from cardboard
cut gussets from sheet metal
dimple sheet metal
bend/form gusset to control arm curve
secure in place for tack welding
measuring
applying "jig"
measuring
welding reinforcements
Cleanup
Painting

finally re installation!!

wow...trust me it takes alot more time and work to do it than to write this post!

I know what some race shops charge to do this and now I know why.

That said I made 2 pairs and 1 pair is for sale. I will be making more as well and selling them on my site. If your interested in a set email me.

once again if your going to do this yourself be very careful not to end up with bent arms!!!!

see all the pics CLICK HERE.



forming and bending it so that it would fit perfectly flush took alot of time. Alot of back and forth!







I used a punch and dimple "Dimple die" tool I bought from www.tricktools.com. I bought a 1/2 inch press model $40 and a bigger punch model that I used for the trailing arms....$90+

They have many a few different types. I bought the one that after drilling a pilot hole you bolt the two halves together and by using a air gun as it brings the two halves together it also punches the hole! You can also and preferable do this using a Press. You keep pressing the Die together until your gusset is nice and flat again. If you do it correctly you should end up with a nice flat gusset with dimples on it.

I used 16gauge sheet metal.

Solid rear subframe "bushings"

Fabricating solid rear subframe bushings....

First you have to completely remove the rubber from a stock bushing. I did this by drilling out most of the rubber on my drill press then using a dremel.

then you have to fabricate the to endcaps

then you have to correctly position and weld the central insert/bushing

You can get these ready made from Ireland Engineering...for $125

Worth every penny if you can afford it. As this project too a good amount of time...

I too broke and well I have all the tools and did a pretty good job with the tig welder if you ask me!

see all the pics CLICK HERE.

cage tie-ins ...

More work today......

I'm currently attaching the roll cage to various points on the unibody.

VARA allows this in my class C-Sedan, although in BMW CCA doing this to my cage moved me up from "prepared" class to "modified" class. I would never be competitive in mod. class. But I only plan on racing with VARA so.....

the seam welding and these "ties" will considerable help with the overall torsional rigidity of the chassis.........I hope!

I needed some practice with the TIG anyways.....

I do have to say welding "out of position" is extremely challenging.... this time I was hanging over the door bars essentially looking upside down at the project and welding on a vertical surface!!

a torch operated control would be preferable in these extreme out of position TIG welds. It becomes a challenge to operate the foot control in some positions....

even so........my welds were acceptable. I know they might not look great, but I am confident I got good penetration.

I learned some things doing the right side, now on the other side I hope to see better welds!

after adding a couple more tubes on the cage, I'll be ready for BONDO! then primer.....




my acceptable TIG welds...
did some of the overhead tabs today along the roofline....

not sure how much difference this all going to make but hey I felt like welding something!