Monster
2002
E36 M3 Suspension and engine in a 2002 Body
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October-December
2003
 Rollcage
construction. We bought a tubing bender and a notcher, ordered and
received a bunch of special DOM seamless steel tubing, and did an
extensive internet study of E36 and E46 factory roll cages. There
is a Rollcage Symposium website that was instrumental in our final
design. We have copied the factory E36 cage and modified it for
a car 8 inches shorter. We have also closely examined factory E46
cages and added details to our cage that we learned from that examination.
We are very happy with this cage. The cage ties together every suspension
mount point, adds substantial rigidity to the car, gives occupants
an exceptional margin of safety in the event of roll-over or side
intrusion,
and looks very substantial.
We are also very ready to move on.
December
2003-January 2004
A bit of cosmetic prep now: flip the body upside down, clean off
all the surface rust, prep the surface with a phosphoric acid surface
prep, prime the metal with a metal etching primer, and finally paint
all the bottom surfaces with bright Dakar Yellow.
Next, flip it over and do all the same things to the interior and
roll cage. Painting a complete roll-cage is very time consuming
and uses a lot of paint. Next, do the same thing to the inside of
the roof and weld it back onto  the
car. NOW, it looks like it is really going to be a race car.
February
2004
Now it's my turn to work. Cleaning and preparing the front and rear
subframes, welding in Turner reinforcements for the rear sway bar
mounts and front motor mounts, installing Ground Control racing
parts at the rear semi-trailing arm bushings, the rear lower control
arms, and the front lower control arm bushings. Ground Control also
sold us springs and front upper adjustable camber plates to go on
our used but Bilstein rebuilt Group N racing struts. Stock E36 M3
rear brakes compliment front Euro E46 rotors with 4-piston Brembo
calipers from an 850i. Finally, the complete front and rear subframe
assemblies went into the waiting car---and the beast rolls!
March
2004
Next, of course, it needs an engine. We'll start with a '97 3.2
liter M3 S52 engine and replace the stock oil pan with the race
pan made for the 95 M3 lightweight. This is the dual pick-up pan
that has a two-stage pump where one picks up oil from a front sump
and delivers it to the rear for constant supply to the engine. Beautiful!
Ebay supplied us with a set of Euro M3 headers to bolt on. A new
aluminum flywheel and stock M3 clutch went inside the bellhousing
of the stock M3 trans with a JT Design racing trans mount bolted
on. The plastic water pump and thermostat housing were replaced
with real ones and the stock OBD II intake was removed and chucked
Duncan helped me install the engine and trans; then I finished the
OBD I conversion. Lookin' good.
April
2004
It's Paul Webb's turn:
First Paul parked a 95 325ic parts car besides the race car and
began removing and transferring brake components. He started with
the ABS hydraulic unit, then one-by-one all the steel brake lines.
Finally he removed the entire wiring harness from the parts car
and cut out the complete ABS harness---that's a huge job!
 
  
 
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