M2 madness

[jgerock]

Starting out in traffic jam

A little while later ;-)

Friday fun

Saturday afternoon

Yesterday on the way home

"Wanna race for pink slips?"

[Dutchie3719]

Speaking of Follies, I seem to have misplaced the slip of paper on which I wrote down the name of your ride height adjusters. This must be the 150000th time I asked you, but what was the make and brand? Also, great seeing your car in person, for anyone whose been wondering, the ride is just as awesome as it looks!

[M3M3]

pit stop usa is the place!

PitStopUSA.com

here is the part for the rear.

http://pitstopusa.com/i-5066715-allstar-performance-steel-hidden-adjustable-spring-spacer-w-aluminum-adjuster-nut.html

[ray_]

Marshall,

Thanks for the last minute ride Sunday morning, the car is a hoot, as aniticipated!

... I need to send my a/n back to Maxx for the closed loop wb retrofit...

Are you demonstrating airflow here? ;-)

http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn251/jgerock/Vintage%202011%20Trip/Vintage%202011%20Event%20and%20drive/DSC_0470.jpg

Let me know if you're ever near my '02; I'm more than happy to further contribute to scope creep!

Cheers,

Ray

[M3M3]

glad you made it over!

i can't get to pbucket from work, but if that is the picture of me and doug by my car, i am embarrassed that i look like an aviator demonstrating how to shoot down my wristwatch!

closed loop is great. the log files record what correction factor the loop is using so you can go back and alter the map after the fact.

[Emyers]

Marshall,

Aviators do not shoot down wristwatches....

Earl

[M3M3]

but i see the airforce guys doing it in bars all the time!! "there i was, pulling 100g's getting on his 6 when i opened up. dang, there goes another watch!" ;-)

[Emyers]

AF = systems monitors , Army = aviators

Earl

[M3M3]

so several folks at Vintage kindly told me my tail lights were really dim. next project...fix that. took them apart today. neither one was shiny inside. both were painted a flat silver. left one massively melted from too big a bulb at some point. lenses cloudy. no wonder they were dim.

i have a few spares, so i sorted through them to find the best, then cleaned'em up to see what i could salvage.

found good right side parts, but will be ordering some new left side parts.

[M3M3]

Today was alignment suspension adjustment day.

Started off with front toe check. Even after completely disassembling the front end with the engine swap, car still had perfect zero toe. Cool.

Then worked on the camber. Ended up with -2.7 on RF, -2.9 on LF, -2.7 on LR, -2.5 on RR. Would have liked a touch more on right side of car, but that was all there was without doing some more work on the towers. Another day perhaps!

Then on to the corner balance.

Car was set up in “track” state. Full tank of gas, no spare, no extra tools, and just me in the drivers seat.

Some tweaking of the LR and RF adjusters yielded cross weight within .5% of 50/50. Cool.

Of note is the difference between the weight of an M2 and a 2002. I weighed the car in the same state as when I corner balanced the car with an M10 last year. (keep in mind this is a heavier square tail)

See this thread

note - thought of a few other differences. light battery (-15lbs), lighter strut bar (-5lbs), light flywheel (-15lbs)...that puts the S14 another 35lbs up.

M2 – 2452lbs

2002 - 2338lbs

That makes an S14 conversion about 115lbs heavier. (using a CF airbox to save about 25lbs)

[Lee]

That makes an S14 conversion about 115lbs heavier. (using a CF airbox to save about 25lbs)

This is why I am a big fan of moving the engine/tranny rearward. ;-) I don't how much weight is transfered but I know it works. I moved the engine by 3/8" on my e30 Hartge and the front wheel gap noticeably increased.

[M3M3]

this project not as sexy as engine swaps, but i feel better with functioning tail lights!

box-o-stuff from blunt arrived today. some very expensive plastic!

got all the new gaskets, reflectors, lenses, and bulbs in.

much better!

now i have this box-o-spares!

no more m2 work till next week. LeMons coming up!

[Bill_Riblett]

Is that a parachute bag on the rear bumper (like dragsters run)?

That was my first reaction...

New lights should be MUCH better. The difference at Vintage between your old lights and Frank Greppo's all-new lights was really dramatic.

[M3M3]

parachute bag....LOL! its an M2, but not THAT fast!

had to block the lic plate reflection from the camera flash...the tool bag was nearest thing.

[M3M3]

Got to drive the beast this past weekend helping JimG check out a car for sale. OMG is this thing fun…..

Got back onto the work punch list tonight…

Needed to replace the short emergency bolt holding the alternator on from the vintage trip. Off came the airbox, again, for eaiser access. Replaced he 30mm bolt with 35mm one covered in locktite.

While I was in there….adjusted the steering box a quarter turn. Much better.

Then got to the Massive GAZ pedal install.

First had to reshape my “nubs”. Mine were worn off too small a long time ago. I used “quick steel” to build them back up to ball shape. Has worked well for two years.

The Gaz pedal openings were a little different, so I sanded off some of the quick steel and added more. Left nub already sanded, right nub hardening in the pic.

After hardening, filed/sanded the nubs to the correct size and spacing for the gaz pedal mount.

Test mounted it up

Still an issue or two I have to work out with the pedal fit.