31 August 2008: I guess this is the most appropriate section for this to go in. I was using the slip roller at work to make some rear brace/battery mount plates and rolled up these-
Interior Upgrades
I have decided to make some pretty drastic changes to the interior.
1. Fabricate and install a roll bar from 1 3/4" tubing with braces to the rear shock towers and a harness bar.
2. The passenger side floor will be removed and replaced with hand made panels and installed about 4" higher than the stock floor. This will give extra clearance for the exhaust.
3. The console I made earlier has been removed and will be replaced with a different design made from aluminum.
4. New hand made sheet metal to seal the trunk space from the interior once everything is in place.
5. With both stock fuel tanks gone I will fabricate a custom aluminum fuel tank to go just behind the differential.
31 August 2008: I guess this is the most appropriate section for this to go in. I was using the slip roller at work to make some rear brace/battery mount plates and rolled up these-
What are those for? When I install the roll bar and rear tower brace I don't want to just weld them to the sheet metal so these will be installed like this-
They will be welded in place to give the roll bar braces and tower braces some real meat to connect to.
15 Oct 2008: Last week I received my new sheet metal bead rolling machine from Summit Racing and have done a few practice beads on some scrap aluminum sheet. I will hit the steel store this Friday for some 20ga. steel remnants to practice on. I can see it WILL take some practice to do professional looking beads consistently. I also found it's much better to have someone turn the crank while I feed the sheet into the dies so I can concentrate on doing it accurately. I'll add some pics as I get projects going with it.
Yesterday I started work on the roll bar. I used a tube bender from work that we bought for a project that was canceled. It's from Williams Low Buck Tools. The instructions say it's good for .120 wall steel or .095 wall 4130 chromemoly tube. Well, I tried it on .120 wall 4130 which caused a bent cross shaft for the lower roller die and ruined the seals in the jack. My shop partner at work made some modifications to the frame to support the cross shaft better and that's no longer a problem, the jack still leaks though. The instructions that come with the bender give you a math formula to figure out where to make 90* bends for a roll bar that seem to work just fine, the problem with an e21 is the roll bar should have 4 bends to make it fit the car correctly and there is no formula I could find to help get the bender in the correct position for each bend. I tried making a full size drawing of what I wanted and after a couple revisions I was happy with it, however it didn't help much. I tried to bend up a main hoop, I got the bend angles correct but the straight distances between the bends were incorrect.
1 3/4" .120 wall 4130 is over $10 per foot plus gas and bridge tolls to get it. I had just made 12' of tube completely worthless!!! Epic FAIL!! This is definitely the most frustrating thing I have ever done with a car. So how do I fix it? I whacked it into 3 pieces with my chop saw and hauled it to work with the full size pattern. During lunch I laid the pattern on my large welding table and started laying the segments over the pattern. I made cuts in the correct spots and had a 3 piece main hoop that fit the pattern perfectly. I beveled the ends of each segment and tacked them with the MIG welder. I ground the tacks down flush, fired up the TIG welder and made it all one piece again. I used a special filler rod for chromemoly that is stronger than the base metal. Will it protect me if I get upside down? Sure it will. Will it pass a SCCA tech inspection? HELL NO!! I will sit down with the bender die and the main hoop and see if I can make sense of how to do it in one piece correctly. If I can figure this out I will make a new hoop out of .095 4130 and die a happy man... This may take a entire 6 pack of ice cold Coke and a ton of thought. We'll see how it goes. Here's a pic of the "fabricated" main hoop, I like the way if fits the shape of the interior.
After spending several hours wrestling with the tubing and bender I completely understand why the cool Saturday morning hot rod/4X4 shows on Spike use an expensive tube bender and special software to lay out their projects.
I also cut a chunk of 1.25" dia. 4130 to weld between the rear shock towers. Once the main hoop, rear braces and shock tower brace are all welded in place I will start removing the rear bulkhead sheet metal. I want the roll bar and tower brace in place so the body doesn't flex too much as I crop out sheet metal.
July 2009: This project has taken a serious turn so the interior plans may change some.
The rear seat will remain out, the roll bar and rear braces will be installed with no forward braces.
An aftermarket A/C system from Hot Rod Air will be installed.
The sun roof will stay in the car even though I don't like it.
The fuel tank will go in the trunk area to help balance the weight of the S50 6 cylinder.
I am seriously considering converting to electric windows.
I WILL install carpet.
A decent stereo will be installed.
Aug 06 2009:
I just received a REALLY nice Nardi steering wheel I bought on ebay from a seller in Japan. It arrived several days before I expected it and it's nicer than he described. It's complete with the Nardi horn button and all necessary mounting hardware other than the column adapter. I have ordered a Momo to Nardi adapter so I can use the adapter I have on hand. The cost was $85 delivered, not too bad I think:
Aug 15 2009:
I pulled the gauges, heater controls, wiring harness, steering column, pedal box and heater box out of the car today in preparation for the Hot Rod Air A/C and heat system and to get ready for the digital dash and new wiring harness. I am replacing the stock steering column with a tilt column form Ididit. I would use a plain steel column painted body color. It will have no key switch on the column, starting will be by a trick push button system that uses a proximity sensor for security.
Aug 22 2009:
I tore the pedal box apart, cleaned it all up, shot it with a couple coats of satin black, greased the pivot points and re-assembled it all. While the pedals were apart I spent some quality time dressing the pedal arm edges, they were pretty crudely made so I smoothed them out nicely. It is unlikely that anyone will ever notice that but I like them smoothed out.:
Sep 8 2009:
I just picked up a pair of these electric door lock actuators:
They look pretty cheesy but I used them on my mini van for 5 years with no problems.
Oct 8 2009:
My newest Summit Racing catalog has these really nice simple gages:
Here's part of the catalog text:
"These gauges contain advanced, high-speed stepper motors for steady
and precise readings and, unlike air-core gauges, the pointers return
to zero when the ignition is off. Activate the ignition, and these
gauges perform an auto-calibration and full-sweep test cycle that
demonstrates full operation and ensures accuracy (plus, it just looks
really cool). These advanced gauges also feature white and amber
through-dial lighting and illuminated pointers."
I prefer full sweep
analog gauges because my eye picks up the reading MUCH quicker than digital readings. In fact, years ago NASA did a study and found the same thing. Many analog gauges have only a 90* sweep which is too narrow in my opinion. These have a 270* sweep which give a nice wide needle movement with well spaced graduations. The brushed aluminum trim will go well with the new steering wheel and shift knob. The dash switches such as headlights and wipers will get brushed aluminum knobs too.
March 14th 2010:
I spent a little time today working on the drivers door. I pulled the mirror off for a sanding and repaint in satin black. I was considering painting the mirrors body color when that choice is finalized but decided to keep them black. The electric mirror adjustment function never worked on this car and I just can't imagine why!!
All the wires were broken inside the door. They will be repaired and run through a stainless wire shield in the door jam.
I also installed the electric lock actuator:
Here's a shot from inside the door:
I tested it's function with my small battery charger and it works great. Remote entry locks and central locking is a modern convince I've really come to appreciate. I will wire the actuators with a couple relays and a switch on the console.
I removed the door wiper rubbers - the horizontal rubber seals that run on each side of the window where it goes into the door - they need replaced badly.
March 7 2011:
I can't believe it's been a year since I've updated this page, time has really flown!
I've cut out the passenger floor and sub frame to raise the floor for exhaust clearance and install a stronger sub frame as the original sheet metal sub frame was pretty much crushed to hell. As always it was a bigger job than I thought it would be. Here's a pic of the sub frame in place with the exhaust mocked up awaiting fabrication of the tubes from the manifold to the "Y". If you compare the pic of the exhaust to the last one on the "Engine Upgrade" page you will see the cats are now flat rather than sideways, this change was necessary to gain ground clearance. The trans tunnel over the trans mount was boxed with .095 sheet metal for strength. The new floor sheet metal will be flush with the perimeter tubing along the trans tunnel and door sill. The tubing cross pieces in the picture are just there to represent the new seat mounts and will also have exhaust hangers to support the cats well.
The new sub frame is MUCH stronger than stock and as you can see ties into the new tubing added to the door sill. Once the exhaust is finished and I have the seat mounted I will do the floor sheet metal and try out my new bead roller.
I have made the final decision on seats, I have chosen the Scat/Procar 1200 Elite with adjustable lumbar support.
I also have an e36 electric window regulator almost working in the drivers door. This modification is definitely NOT for the normal DIY guy!
Jan. 27 2012:
The steering column is mounted and connected to the rack.
The Scat seat is mounted in the drivers side and mocked up on the passenger side.
The dash is out but I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it yet. The original dash is quite cracked, I have another that is not but if I change the VIN number over it may cause problems with DMV. I am considering having the original dash sent out for a complete professional make over by a company that rebuilds dashes from the ground up with new foam and vinyl. The cost may be extreme, we will see.
Jan 30 2012:
Here's the gauges mounted in a stock gauge panel with the plastic lens removed.
And the gauge panel slipped in a dash with an aluminum panel that replaces the original ventilation controls. This panel will hold the oil pressure gauge and the A/C & heat controls and maybe an A/C vent.
