Swaybar replacement options

Ever more, research and planning is a large portion of this build. While it's often great to come up with ideas and solutions to problems completely on your own, there's no point re-inventing the wheel. Whenever I hit a snag I do my research on forums, google, and other sources in the hope of finding one or more ways in which others have solved the problem or challenges that I am facing.

In this instance, the issue at hand is the front swaybar; some may recall in the post about the engine finally being installed, I had to cut the front sway-bar to clear the sump on the AU motor (http://www.e21build.com/2013/01/some-adjustments.html)

A lot of drift cars remove the front swaybar to smooth transitions when changing direction, however this usually relies on very stiff springs to control the body roll (at this point since I can't drive the car I don't know how stiff cutting the current springs has made them), and more seriously, it requires some form of control arm to hold the rest of the suspension in place.

The E21 front suspension setup is relatively simple - the swaybar performs a dual action as both anti-roll, AND as a front control arm. 

To help understand a little better, I've borrowed the following image from http://carsiparts.com:

Basically the problem this creates for this project is that currently were I to drive the car as it stands, the swaybar sections remaining and the factory sway bar mounts would be taking all the lateral forces of the front suspension as well as trying to seperate the chassis rails at around 30 degrees (thanks to pandemonium001 from http://bmwe21.net for that).

For this reason, I've been trying to think of alternatives, and doing my research on what others are using. It's extremely difficult to find anything from the Group 2 or Group 5 race cars, and buying pre-done custom setups is exorbitantly expensive for my goal of low/no budget on this build. For those of you interested in this but not keen to do the work yourself, and with some cash to splash - check out the tubular front suspension offered by VAC motorsports (http://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac---e21-tubular-race-front-suspension-p2170.aspx) as seen on DavidMcIntyre.org:

Following this discovery I also found a few photos on bimmerforums.com by E21Jason (who may also be Jason_323i on bmwe21.net) of a custom front setup (quite beefy):

 

I also found these images but appear to have neglected to record my sources for them (sorry! if these are your images contact me and I will attibute you accordingly!):

The first one (above) is a full custom arm in-progress, this would require new mounts and I'm under the impression this will limit my already-very-limited category compliance in Australia as some CAMS requirements need the original suspension mounting points to be used,

This setup looks more like what I'll be trying to make, it uses rose joints and stronger mountings but in the factory locations in addition to being able to later add an adjustable swaybar (I think I'll try it without a front sway first, once I've got the control arms sorted)

Initially, I had thought of putting a thread on the remaining sections of swaybar and fitting a large washer and nut and using the original mounts, however it was pointed out to me that these mounts are not built to take a sidewards load, only the load created by the twist of the swaybar, and that they therefore are likely to fail in the use I had intended for them.

This is a poorly proportioned attempt at drawing the front suspension. A-B are normally linked as part of one single swaybar but obviously that is what I have cut. The idea is to beef up brace C which is already an added brace, as it will need to hold the chassis rails together when forces are imparted on the wheels (i.e. in any forwards motion). Mounting points at both A and B will need to be beefed up and hopefully joined to the beefed up member C (which is actually closer to these mounts in real life than in the drawing so not a huge ask).

Pandemonium001 came through with some samples:

And Jason_323i offered up a picture of a previous setup he had used:

And his current setup (which he notes is a work in progress):

This gives me a lot more to work with and a lot of food for thought. Now I just need to get some materials (rose joints and bar stock)!

Fuel pump and alternator charge warning light

If there's anything I've learned by undertaking this build, it's that small steps add up and help you gradually overcome what seems like an insurmountable to-do list at first glance. Following that philosophy, tonight I crossed off two items from the list; one was the alternator charge wiring.

Upon very brief study of the EA factory workshop manual schematic, it was apparent that one of the two "indicator" wires needed to be joined to the main power feed coming from the alternator, and the other needed to be a trigger for the warning light (it's ground when the alternator is not charging, and +12v when it is, which means the light on the dash is illuminated at any time the dash is supplied with 12v from the ignition but not with 12v from the alternator. Thankfully, I'd planned (although possibly forgotten) for this and previously ensured the dash was wired to function the same way - my handwritten wiring diagrams quickly showed me what colour wire I needed to connect to under the dash and stated that this wire was a -ve trigger for the warning lamp.

It certainly helps to make things easier for yourself when undertaking a big wiring job and this was no exception, not only did I have the colour and function of the wire listed, but when I looked under the dash I'd had the foresight to tape and label the relevant wire with a peice of masking tape. It's the little things that you do while they are obvious that make jobs like this soo much easier to come back to!

Extending the alternator charge lamp trigger wire.

The next job was actually relevant to moving forward my progression to a test-running of the engine. I wired in the fuel pump.

Unfortunately, Ford in their infinite wisdom neglected to include the pin configuration for the fuel pump in the wiring schematics (despite including what would appear to be accurate pin outs for the entire remainder of the vehicle). This connection is a standard 2-way connector as also used in falcons on the door speakers and indicator lamps; as well as on many other vehicles. Unfortunately, Ford don't seem to have a consistent manner of using the connectors - on one of the two examples listed above, the top pin is ground, and on the other, the bottom. Ford's diagram only list wiring colours but these don't match the wires at the pump and I can't find that part of the Falcon loom (it's possible we never retrieved it from the donor car).

As a result, I've taken a punt that the red wire coming from the pump will be positive and the white wire (again from the pump to the 2-way connector) is the ground - the Ford diagram shows that power runs to the pump from the pump relay and then to ground. I've grounded the pump in the boot area and run the wire back to the rest of the relays in the passenger footwell through the metal tabs provided by BMW for wiring down the passenger side of the vehicle.

I made a slight change to the Fuel Pump relay (pictured above as bottom left-most relay) in that while it is still fed a positive signal when switched, it does not have a constant ground. The ground is now triggered by the ECU which allows the ECU to turn the fuel pump on and off per the factory configuration when the motor is switched off. The manual toggle switch will still allow me to cut fuel with the engine running in case I need to relieve pressure to work on the fuel system, and I will be leaving a permanently grounded female spade connector next to this relay so it can be changed over for priming the system etc.

Finally, a picture of the ECU mounted. I think I've already taken a photo of this, but I worked out if I hold the LED stick light next to the iPhone when I use it for these interior photos, the lighting and hence definition is a little better. You can see my masking tape labels in full effect here :)

More progress to come through the next week!

A break from our regular programming

So, I went to Melbourne this weekend to see Rose Tattoo, ZZ Top and Guns N' Roses in concert. While I was there, I decided to try my hand at some street photography. Since neither Facebook or Flickr show the images the way I want (i.e. in a large size, continuously scrollable page), I have decided to post them here instead.

Temporary Exhaust

So I'm slowly checking off my list of things to do for the motor to be test fired; the exhaust has been a hard one to get to as I often don't get out to the shed until after 10.30pm and this means I can't realistically fire up the grinder and start cutting up donor peices of exhaust. Tonight I decided to get out there early (straight after tea) while I could still make some noise and while I still had some light.

Hot-spot welding the thin exhaust tubing means good penetration without blowing holes and without too much weld sitting proud of the metal.

Cleaning up with the flaps wheel after making a relief cut and folding one of the bends tighter.

I now just need a flange for the bottom (although there's no reason it can't be test run as-is now)

In terms of remaining jobs to be able to fire the motor, I have the following (assuming the rest of my wiring is functional):

• Run power and ground to fuel pump in boot
• Make and run fuel hoses from fuel rail to hard-lines in engine bay
• Run fuel hose between hard-lines under car to pump in boot, including installation of a filter.
• Burn non-smartlock tune to J3 chip from http://www.tiperformance.com.au and install into ECU and install to car.
• Install this exhaust pipe at the very least

Making the tailshaft fit

So today I decided to try and get the tailshaft to fit. It took a LOT more than I had expected. First I began by roughly marking out the area around the handbrake platform so I could cut it and lift up for clearance:

Then I lifted it up and did a test fit, unfortunately the actual handbrake lines were then the next thing to hit the tailshaft preventing it from sliding home.

So, I cut some more, and bent some more:

With the help of a bottle jack:

Finally the tailshaft fits!

Now I have to make templates and sheets to fill in all the holes I've made. Not a bad job, if my auto welding mask hadn't failed :(

Small jobs - it's still progress!

So tonight, rather than achieving nothing on the car, I decided I'd go out and just pick a couple of random things that needed doing. First, I've connected the alternator charge wire.

I've also done up the exhaust manifold. It's easier to move forward with a project when you're actually making progress - even going out for an hour or two and thinking while actually moving forward through your list of things to do means you're actually getting somewhere.

As a side-note, I've actually got some cut off blades for the angle grinder now - I'll be able to modify the handbrake mount location to clear the tailshaft soon.

Milestone reached - engine turned over for the first time!

So tonight began with the relatively simple, yet optimistic goal of having the engine turn over.

• First I located a suitable engine block->body ground and connected that
• Installed battery to battery box and installed ground
• Removed isolation switch and installed positive feed to battery
• Located a distribution block and connected all the temporary twisted positive wires from testing to the isolation switch
• Connected the dash->engine bay loom plug
• Connected the engine loom to the bay loom, including TFI.

I also located, while in the shed, a part that I'd thought I didn't have (The dusty looking cowl that sits at the back of the bay and seals the vents in the bonnet to the cabin rather than the engine bay). I couldn't remember having ever removed or even seen it (but had seen on many videos posted by others on youtube), yet I managed to spot it on top of my shelving under a pair of EB Fairmont seats.

Anyway, with all that in place, I decided to try and turn it over.

Voila, first go:

Small progress - two steps forward, one step back

So I went out tonight to cross some easy (no-grinding required because I am out of discs) jobs off my list. Of course as one does I picked an easy job first - refitting the tail shaft only to discover that it ain't so easy any more. Having to lift the gearbox to clear the steering rack with the au sump means the tail shaft is hitting the floor under the handbrake. No big deal just means I need to cut the handbrake assembly and lift it up by approx 1" to give it proper clearance. I could just lower the box and install tailshaft then re-raise it as the tailshaft should clear ok once slid into the box however this would make removing it in the future a much harder proposition than need be. Oh well.

So next job was to mount the battery kill switch, that's done now and I have also routed and attached the starter power cable. Need to hook up other engine bay looms and a ground and I should be able to see if my wiring will make it crank!