M2 redux

[Ian]

After toiling away underneath the car on rust repair, I was beginning to feel like one of the dwarves from the Hobbit, working away underground in a smokey, dirty cave. I decided that I needed a dose of bling before getting back to the rust repair. So I started prepping the engine to go back in the engine bay. When I bought my S14 it came with a baffled m10 oil pan and pump. Back in 2006 I pulled the pan, and discovered that there was no baffle in the baffled pan! Fortunately, Ireland Engineering offered an m10 baffle and windage tray, so I ordered both and then used a die grinder to clearance the windage tray to fit the S14 rods.


Then, just as I was about to weld in the baffle, VAC started selling their hybrid S14/2002 oilpan, which had two extensions to give an extra 2 quart capacity, baffles, windage tray, trap doors to control oil slosh, and probably a butler to change the oil.

Whoa! Since the achilles heel of the S14 is oil control in sweeping turns, I thought this might be a good (if excessive) investment. Plus, it looked uber-cool. I also had to get an M3 oil pump, since the S14 pickup is more towards the front of the engine than the m10. The pic below shows the engine with an M10 pump (left) and S14 pump (right).



So I also sent VAC some more $ for an EvoIII pump with a keyed shaft for the pump sprocket. The VAC pan came with studs and nuts instead of bolts, and as mission creep delayed reassembly over the years, several of the studs had run off to hide. I called VAC about replacement studs, and was assured they would check for extra hardware and "get right back to me." After several days I decided that their idea of "right back" and mine were slightly different; like the difference between geological time and real time. So I specced the studs out on McMaster Carr, and had them in two days. I never did hear back from VAC...

With studs in hand, I shimmed the M3 oil pump to install the pan and fit the sprocket to the oil pump shaft. And dropped the key for the keyed shaft onto the floor. Normally, you'd just reach down and pick up the tiny metal rectangular key and get on with the install. But on my garage floor, with all the metal cut-offs and scrap from previous projects, the odds of finding a tiny piece of metal in the sea of metal scrap and shavings were not good. After half an hour of searching, I gave up for the night. I could call VAC again for a replacement, but I figured I'd save myself two days of waiting and try to find some key stock locally. The next day I stopped at Home Depot to look for some key stock, and discovered that they were not selling enough (actually, any) of the stuff, and the distributor was in the store removing all the key stock. Lucky for me they let me dig through their boxes until I found something almost the right size. I bought this, and that night Joe and I ground it down to the right size to fit the keyed shaft of the VAC pump. Then I could finally install the pan. The VAC pan is actually quite cool, and replaces the upper and lower pans usually used on an S14. This makes keeping track of parts easier, but raises an interesting question: how do you install the nuts that are hidden by the overhanging sump? The answer: three removable plugs that more-or-less allow access to the studs below. I say more-or-less because installation requires a 1/4" socket with swivel, extension, and many swear words.


But eventually all the nuts were torqued down. VAC recommends using just gasket maker to seal the pan, and I'm partial to Permatex "Right Stuff". But my buddy Joe, an experienced S14 engine builder who was helping me, is old school and insisted that we use a paper gasket. So I placed the gasket on the block, frosted the oil pan with the Right Stuff, and set the pan down. Now I appreciate the studs that VAC included instead of bolts, because it made landing the giant sealer-gooped pan much easier. And Joe's insistence on using a gasket on the block will make it easier to clean if I have to remove the pan.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Ian

[Ian]

I also extended the bling to the rear of the car.  I'm running an e21 3.90 LSD in the M2, and many more years ago than I care to remember, I got one of the last Alpina e21 aluminum finned diff covers for under the cost of a year of college tuition.  These covers increased the diff oil capacity by 2 qts, had an internal baffle, and had fins for increased cooling, and while not completely necessary even for a track car, they were again uber-cool.  

 

I thought I'd "throw this on" while I was on my bling-spree.  However, this is not quite a plug-N-play swap.  First off, while the diff came with stock BMW e21 diff bushings, I thought I'd use some urethane bushings, partly because all the other bushings on the car are urethane, and partly because it would be easier to swap than pressing out the stock bushings.  However, the e21 diff bushings are 53 mm diameter and the 2002 bushings are 50 mm, so you can't just order up a set of 2002 bushings.  No problem I thought, I'll just order up a set of e21 urethane diff bushings.  However, I struck out after calling all the usual suspects.  It seems e21 folks are really limited in options, and eventually I discovered that there are exactly two places in the world (or at least the internet) that sell urethane bushings for the e21 diff:  Eurometric in the pacific northwest, and a company in Poland.  We should count our blessings that 2002-specific parts are so readily available.  Anyway, a week after ordering I received a package from Eurometric with the bushings, and I started to test fit the diff.  

 

I measured the distance between the ears, and the Alpina mounts are .25" farther apart than the 2002 mounts.  So I egged out the holes on my car, test fit with the diff cover, and since that looked good I bolted up the Alpina diff cover to the diff with the RIght Stuff.  Then I jacked up the subframe to bolt to the mounts.  Fail!  What I had neglected to notice was that the 2002 mounts were not symmetrical.  If measured from 4 main bolts that hold the cover to the case, the driver's side mounts are out 2.25" and the passenger side mounts are 3.5" out, while the Alpina mounts are a symmetrical 3" out.

 

How un-German to engineer an asymmetric mount!  And why didn't I get the memo!  It's probably to counter torque of the driveshaft or accommodate the optional flux capacitor.  Either way, I resorted to a series of measuring and fitting steps that I would charitably call "successive approximation", which means to make a first guess, and then base your second guess on the results from the first guess.  I measured, modified the diff mount, jacked up and installed the subframe and discovered that I was wrong, dropped the subframe, re-modified the mounts, jacked up and installed the subframe and discovered I was wrong again.  Rinse, lather, repeat.  The good news is I am now damn good at installing the rear subframe.  The bad news is that if it was possible to get repetetive-stress injury from installing the rear subframe on a 2002, I would have it!  Eventually, I got the mounts egged out correctly and the diff mounted.  Contrary to all my measurements, it seems that the driver's side mount could stay the same, but the passenger-side mount needed to be moved outboard.

 

I discovered that I had two problems.  First, on my car the Alpina diff was too tall and hit the cross member.  This made installing quite difficult.  To correct for that, I cut out about .25" of the cross member.    You can see the region removed in the pic below.

 

I'll box it in with some steel when I drop the subframe (again!).  The second problem I encountered was that the Alpina ears are about .25" too far towards the rear of the car compared to the diff mounts, and push them back.  Unfortunately, my diff is already adjusted all the way forward in the slider, so I can't compensate with the diff adjustment.  So I'll fab up some new mounts when I drop the subframe.  The stock mounts are kind of flimsy, so I'll use this as an excuse to beef them up. 

[Ian]

Time to work on the front of the car for a bit.  I want to get the engine in for a test fit, and get the exhaust system mapped out before starting on the cage.  First order of business was to make a new radiator support.  Way back when, I stopped by Ireland Engineering and saw one of their custom Ron Davis radiators.  Very cool, but very custom and therefore very $$.  In contrast, Ron Davis radiators for 'Murican cars are cheap, less than half the price for customs!  I called up, and after a very helpful discussion decided I wanted a double-pass radiator for increased cooling efficiency.  In this setup the radiator core is divided horizontally, almost like having two radiator cores stacked on top of one another.  Water enters on the right in the top tank, passes to the left side, then down to the lower core, and back to the right.  It turns out what I needed was a Chevy-style stock car radiator.  Unfortunately, even the smallest size in their catalog is fairly massive compared to the 2002 engine bay, measuring 22" wide x 16" tall with a 3" core.  No overheating for this 2002, If I can just figure out how to stuff this radiator into the nose!  The answer seemed to be to remove the existing sheet metal radiator support that runs across from the headlight buckets, and fabricate a new support that runs just inside the nose.  

 

I broke out the cut-off wheel, the sawzall, and borrowed a friends plasma cutter, and after a day I had the old sheet metal removed.  While I was in a renovating mood, I also cut out the bumper supports endemic to the '74 and later cars for the big diving board bumpers.  Here's a before and after pic, with all the "optional" metal removed.

 

 

Before I could move on with my upper radiator support, I had to weld up the corner where I had removed the sheet metal.  I tried quick and dirty, and that (as usual) failed. I tried to weld up the corner without removing the undercoating on the backside in the wheel well.  Big mistake!  Lot's of burn through, noxious smoke, and expanding "snakes" of undercoating spewing out the weld.  It looked like the snakes we'd get on the Fourth of July, where you would light a tablet and an expanding "snake" would erupt out of the tablet.  Okay, lesson learned.  I broke out the angle grinder with a wire wheel and removed the undercoating and the paint from the backside, and stitch-welded the corner.  

 

I wanted to use some left-over 1.5" x .065" DOM tube to make the upper radiator support, which would also tie together the two corners behind the headlight buckets, restoring some of the structural support that I removed with the stock sheet metal. So I bent up some tube, and layed it out to see if I calculated the angles correctly.

 

Looks like it worked, I'll notch the ends of the tube to match the corners of the engine bay.  But first I needed to weld in some support to the exposed corners.  At the top I cut a piece of 13 ga leftover from making my roll cage baseplates, and bent it so that it wrapped around the corner, and would serve as a surface to attach the tubular radiator support.  

 

I was a bit concerned for the strength of the remaining corner, so I ground the corner welds flush and made a corner brace out of 18 ga that I cut so it wrapped around the corner.  I welded this in place, then ground the top down so it looked pretty.

Edited May 6, 2014 by Ian

[M3M3]

radiator suggestion.

don't center it. mount it as far to the right (passenger side) as possible.  this serves two purposes.  1/ opens up left side of engine bay for a decent airbox and cool air.  2/ moves that big heavy (when full) radiator closer to the "light" side of the front end for better corner balancing.  for same weight management consideration mount it as far back as possible while still clearing the nose of the crank.  bigger is not always better with a track car radiator.  you want just enough cooling.  any more and you are just adding weight ahead of the front axle.

Edited May 6, 2014 by mlytle

[Ian]

After a little more welding, I notched the radiator support, and reinstalled the engine for a test fit.  

 

 

 

Man, how cool it is to get the S14 back in the car after 8 years!  It seems like just yesterday that I removed it for a "minor modification", and before I knew it work, family and life conspired to make 8 years pass by.  It looks good sitting there, and with the new motor mounts it sits slightly lower and can finally clear the Ireland Engineering strut bar.  These cars are all slightly different after 40 years, and the S14 always seemed high in my car, rubbing the paint off the front of the intake plenum. 

 

And the radiator fits!

 

Next up is to cut the lower valence, which will allow me to mount the radiator in a more vertical position, and as Marshall alluded to, get the weight back towards the engine.  But the radiator does look truly cool!  I'll also make a lower radiator support out of some tube, which will let me lower the radiator, and will double as a nerf bar to protect the uber aluminum oil pan.  

[Ian]

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work we go!  Back on the cage, but first: more rust. Seems I can't escape the tinworm on this project.  Before I can tack in the baseplates for the main hoop, I have to get rid of the rusty floor that might or might not support the hoop.  Cut out a patch, and used the bead roller to make a stepped center to add a little stiffening to the 18 ga panel.  The corners or the patch ruffled a bit with excess material after the bead roller, so I used the torch to heat shrink the corners.  Then I butt-welded the patch in place.  

 

[Ian]

Next up, I had to figure how to land the braces from the main hoop that landed at the rear shock towers.  Several years ago I bought rear coilovers from Ireland Engineering.  I'd read a lot of debate about whether you needed to brace the rear shock towers if you converted to coil overs, or whether you can just bolt them up to the stock towers.  Jeff Ireland always promoted cutting a hole in the wheel well to enlarge the shock tower, and I am firmly in Jeff's camp now.  The coilovers with 2.5" springs just barely fit inside the stock shock tower, and I think they would bind.  

 

 

From the previous picture you can probably guess which route I chose.  I borrowed a plasma cutter, and my daughter and I cut a 6" diameter hole through the inner and outer wheel wells.

 

Here is the passenger side wheel well after the inner wheel well is cut, with the stock liner still in place.

And here are the wheel wells after removal of the stock shock tower and liner.

 

 

And a test fit with the coilover.  This looks like a good fit with the enlarged opening.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Ian

[Ian]

I ordered the coilovers with upper and lower heim joints, and I'll attach the upper mounts directly to the cage.  The lower mounts will go in the stock location in a double-shear mount I haven't made yet, so for now a long bolt will hold them in place, and check spacing with the Wilwood calipers.

 

Next up, getting the upper mounting points.  Jeff Ireland suggested that the upper mounting point should be 1-2" above the stock height in order to get the most shock travel on a lowered car.  The Proshock coilover has 7" of travel, and Jeremy at Ireland Engineering suggested that at neutral ride I would want 4.5" of shock rod exposed, so that I could have 2.5" of travel available for droop, but the majority of travel would be for compression.  So, I put the car up on jack stands so it was 12.75" from the jackpoints to the floor, and then set the rear trailing arm so that there was 6" from the bottom of the wheel to the floor, leaving 6.75" from the wheel to the jack point (6.75" ride height).

 

Now I could start to make the upper mount.  I plan to tie in the rear braces from the main hoop at the upper shock mount, as well as the rearward bracing to the diff.  The easiest way to do these seemed to be to make a horizontal tube that runs across the trunk over the coilovers, at the desired height.  I broke out the tubing bender, and made a test piece.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Ian

[Ian]

With the height of the coilovers set, I need to address the gaping holes in the wheel wells.  I wanted to make a 6" diameter cylinder to be the liner, and while the shock towers no longer need to be structural since the cage will support the suspension, I didn't want to just use sheet metal for the liners.  I had some leftover 13 ga steel (.095" thick) that I had been using to make the base plates for the cage, so I decided to roll some into a cylinder.  Right.  Rolling 18 ga sheet metal is one thing, but this was going to require a bit more force.  So I went to the steel store, and found a drop from a 6" diameter piece of .25" wall tube, and used that as a hammer form to form a cylinder.

 

Next I held the cylinder together with some 7" hose clamps and welded the seam, to produce two 6' diameter, 5" tall cylinders.

 

And with a bit of fiddling they fit.  Well, okay, a LOT of fiddling!  Install coilovers, measure travel, check for binding, remove, tack liners, re-install coilovers, measure, move mounting point, remove, tack again, install...

Eventually you end up with this:

 

Which looks pretty good, except that the eagle-eyed viewer might notice the hole in the driver's side wheel well: more rust.  As I ground off the undercoating in preparation to start welding, I noticed some pinholes in the driver's side wheel well.  It seems the wheel well rusted through, and a repair by the PO involved applying a piece of metal over the rust hole, and sealing with caulk and a couple to tack welds.

 

Time to start cutting.  After cutting the tacks, I used a chisel to pry the cover off the patch.

 

And here is what it looked like inside the wheel well.

 

And now it was time for a beer.  Ruination seemed an appropriate choice.

 

I decided that if I was going to cut out some of the wheel well, I may as well tack in the liners for the shock towers, so at least the repair will fit the new liners.  After a bit of surgery, I needed up with this:

 

 

[M3M3]

that is some cool work Ian!  and a great choice of IPA!  

[ray_]

The Phoenix rises!

 

[Ian]

Thanks, Marshal.  And Ray, I'm trying to increase the rate of ascent on this Phoenix 

[Ian]

Seems like it's about time for an update.  Life slowed progress on the car, but thanks to the cajoling, kidding, and threats from my friends, I'm back working on the cage again.  Big thanks to my friends Matt Cain and Joe Ajavon from the Genesee Valley Chapter of the BMW Club, who have been coming over in the evenings and helping me to bend, cut and make pretzels out of DOM tubing.

 

After bending cages for a couple of friends, I finally got back to work on one for myself.  Here is the Main hoop.  

 

Next Up was the A-pillar bars.  This must be the third iteration of these things, and I finally am satisfied with the fit.  It's tight to the interior to keep the bars away from my noggin, yet fits with the headliner and has enough clearance for the window and door seals.  Here's Matt bending and fish-mouthing the first A-pillar bar.

 

 

We went through a stack of tubes to get the final design, but now I'm happy with the fit and we can move on and finish the cage.

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2016 by Ian

[Ian]

Next up, tie the front cage to my enlarged rear shock towers.  I decided to make triangles for stiffness, so made one triangle from the main hoop that landed on the rear shock tower, and a parallel triangle that landed on the subframe mount, and tied in the door bar.

 

And as long as we are being OCD, why not make a little filler piece to tie the two parallel triangles together?

 

I set the door bar low, so it would deflect any errant cars or armcos, and also allowed fairly easy access.  

 

Next up, test fit!  I can't drive it yet, but I can sit in the car and make "Vroom" noises.

 

Headroom is a bit tight, even after removing the stock seat mounts.  I might have to drop the seat another inch.

 

So much tubing, so much welding to do.

[kris]

Inspiring work Ian. Your car is the godfather M2! I hope to meet you at WGI one day, or Mosport if you come up this way.