hakhawks cosmos e36 coupe

[P_e_a_R]

You need smaller tyres!

[hakhawk]

so i dropped the diff, gears and helical center off to central diffs in melbourne yesterday. should have it back in 2 weeks if all goes well. then i can organise putting the new rear end and other bits and pieces in finally, then i'll finally be able to unleash the potential of the s50. i've restrained myself for so long, so as not to shatter another 4cyl diff, and cant wait to really give it the beans.

random snap out the front. might still drop the rear down a touch more sometime.

[hakhawk]

calipers turned up today, i didnt realise how big they were until i opened the box!! (phone screen isnt cracked, its the reflection of the insulation on the roof)

you might notice theres 2 pieces missing on one of the front calipers in the first pic, theyre an added weight for nvh, and weigh a bit over 300g each. i ended up removing them off both calipers, easy 1.2kg saving in unsprung weight(granted ill be adding weight over the stock calipers)





they do have some damage to one caliper(looks like its had something grinding against it, or has been slid along the ground), and chipped paint on all of them. not sure if ill just try to colour match and touch up or respray them. i kinda wanna keep the BMW on them.

[hakhawk]

^ :p yeh, i went with the smoked clears all round, looks neater imho. have considered going ambers all round, but sitll not sure if i want to

lazy sunday afternoon bump

i sold the old coilovers to spados yesterday for his e36, money in my pocket, and not wasting away in the shed = win

old. were supposedly built to suit the e36 318is when i bought them, but i was never told the spring rates or anything. i added 900lb rear springs



new. 650lb front, 300lb rear(equates to ~750lb in stock location i belive)



i swapped the rear shocks from side to side the other day, to see if the squeak i had would follow, which it didnt, and theres no wear marks on the body to indicate contact, so it sounds like its just a worn bush in the rear end. i need to get my diff built, and get the rebushed rear end in.

ride is definately firmer, rear is maybe a touch softer, scrubs the rears giving it some through the corners, and on the odd big bump, which is really no more than it did on the old setup, but now i know(or at least am told) the shocks are valved to suit the springs all round, and i know what the spring rates are.

ill give it a few weeks to see if the springs droop any, then i might drop the rear a touch more

random pic in the driveway, as always

[244Brick]

(euro lights) o yo have them just smoked a lil

[hakhawk]

I would love to see the 50/50 tails on this! the black on black is so right!

50/50 tails?

[244Brick]

I would love to see the 50/50 tails on this! the black on black is so right!

[hakhawk]

put the coilovers in tonight after work, all went fairly straight forward. rear coils are super close to the body, left side i think is rubbing, as im getting a squeaking noise, so ill drop that out tomorrow arvo and have a looksee.



had to do some clearancing around the section where the fuel vapor lines run through the body, put some protective palstic in front of the lines, then flattened out the steel lip and recontoured the plastic covering. threw some paint to cover any bare metal spots and to make it easier to spot any rubbing.



getting to the adjusters on the left hand side is tight, but doable



and 30-40mm clearance with my bbs rc010 17x9 et19 wheels on. the alpina 10s should fit, but will test that out this weekend




fronts went in pretty good. i spent a bit of time on one side, trying to line up the bottom mounts with the strut top bolted in place, other side just dropped in.



comparison new vs old. no helper spring on these, but at the height its at, theres only maybe 10m droop. i dont have any troubles in the e21 without helper springs, so these should be fine.



clearance with bbs rc009 17x8 et10



and a finish shot, fronts a touch lower than old coilovers, and rear ill probably drop a bit in a week or so.

[hakhawk]

coilovers turned up today. they look the goods, was going to wait til the weekend to install, but im going to stay back after work probably tomorrow and bang them in.

[hakhawk]

been lazy with airbox, will hopefully get some sanding done on it during work this week, then get the third layer down.

today i finally finished modifying the short shifter setup to make it ready to go on the car.

just as a refresher, the original setup uses 3 small m3~ bolts per side to hold in the raised shifter mount. these screws bite onto minimal surface area and have a tendancy to snap or come loose.

you can see both results in this pic



i bought the shifter knowing this was a possibility, but also knowing that surely i could come up with my own solution before even installing it.

so my solution is tapping 4 of the 6 holes out to m5(m4 probably wouldve been sufficient), grinding down the original shifter mount(i bought a brand new one for ~$20 from bmw to use, so it can go straight in when i install the shifter), and bolting it all up. i also decided to tack the 2 bolts together, so theyre NEVER coming loose. the allen bolts that i was going to use were too short, so i had to dig around the screw bucket to find something more suitable

final product. looks average, but wont be seen once installed, and it should stay solid for the life of the car.




whilst drowning my sorrows about my coilovers still not being here(should arrive this week sometime, after a mess up with incorrect labelling and almost being delivered to someone else), i was perusing the bay, and came across some 6 pot and 2 pot brembo calipers that come factory on the bmw 135i, and decided to purchase them.

theyre a direct bolt on, i just have to sort out rotors to suit. fronts are easy depending what i can fit under the wheels(prefer to stick with 17" if i can), but rears may prove to be fun/require modification of the handbrake shoes to work.



and a comparison pic of the new fronts vs whats on my car at the moment

[hakhawk]

box of parts turned up today.

swaybar mounts(think i now have everything for straight swap of new rear end, bar handbrake assemblies and caliper/rotors)
new lower shock bolts. might as well throw new ones in to replace the 15+yo ones on there now
diff pinion crush sleeves(looking to do diff myself with old mans help, and this is the easiest bit to stuff up)
power steering reservoir
power steering hose
crush washers for p/steer hoses
new air temp sensor for airbox
accelerator cable(original one is looking a bit worse for wear, so when airbox is out next ill install it)
replacement shock tower panels. going to try and use as reinforcement, if they dont fit, ill throw them in the shed for "just in case"



new coilovers are in australia, just waiting for them to make their way to me now

[Bimmer Stance]

Awesome project! Damn what a car ...

[hakhawk]

received some fittings for the airbox today. theyre speedflow style, massive overkill, but will make removing the airbox much easier.

one bulkhead and right angle fitting for the rocker cover breather. ill machine down the bulkhead fitting to shorten it up some more.

and one bulkhead fitting for the iacv hose. this is a bigger hose, bit over 22mm, so instead of trying to add a fitting to the bulkhead fitting and making stuff really long, or cutting the elbow off the oem hose, i thought id put the hobby lathe to use some more and just machine down the bulkhead fitting to make it a hose end

i went with cheap ebay stuff, purely because theyre only for breather stuff, and will be modified anyway



and i had the pleasure of working on this at work today

[hakhawk]

since the rain is coming, i made the decision to swap out the alpinas with the federal rs-r's for a more suitable tyre.

wasnt sure how the falken ze912s would sit on the bbs, but they fit rather well

[hakhawk]

couldnt do any sanding today, epoxy is still a bit rubbery, so ill sand it during the week and do another layer on the weekend

so instead i just trimmed off the excess, which couldve used a touch more epoxy in a few spots but its nothing that cant be fixed



since i couldnt do much else, i pulled some foam out to check the filter fit and started cutting the filter backing to shape





can see the backing in here, just. fits nicely, ill end up "gluing" it in with strips of cloth and epoxy. will also allow me to thicken up areas so the filter sits in a bit better



and filter sitting in place



so far, extremely happy with the progress, super keen to dissolve the rest of the foam, but cant until lasy layers done or i wont have anything to mount it on during.



and seeing as time at the workshop was short, i took the long way home and got a couple iphone shots(tad blurry :p). will be going back there oneday for better photos i reckon