Davegerous E21

This is great, really great. Definitely one of my favourite things here. I absolutely love all the fabrication, plus the fact that you're taking some really novel approaches.

[Dave-ger]

yea, I think that's a good idea, kind of what I had in mind for my car.

[Volvosome]

oh yes i can imagine haha. ya i am going to make a ski plate that looks kind of like this ____/ protecting the subframe and steering rack and what not so that if i hit something it will sort of deflect it and slide over

[Dave-ger]

yea, I think I will do a full skid, or at least make the entire front of the sub frame angle up so it won't snag as easily.

You've really got to watch it on those volvo's, my friend snagged his sub frame on his 245 on rail road tracks and barely got the car off the tracks. the sub frame was totally jacked. Easier to fix than my frame rails though!

I think he had his diff welded at that time too, so you can imagine how badly he was stuck.

[Volvosome]

you and i have the same problem sir. raised oil pan=exposed subframe and steering rack waiting to be owned by raised manhole covers. im doing a skid plate asap

[Dave-ger]

Took care of the gap up front between the old and new frame rails:


Forgive the welds, it was a funny angle!


about as shaven as it's going to get.



because I'm lazy, I cut the hose ends off the heater core and went ahead and covered the hole. looks better than it did with the unused heater core sticking out at least.

the car caught on fire inside a few times. O0

anyways, I'm close to rattle canning the bay. I might make it look even better later on, but that's the beauty of rattle can. I can just go in, change things later, and patch it up with matching paint.

[Dave-ger]

thanks lad, I try to keep it fun.

[boostAbear]

Love this, one of my favorite builds on here.

[Funtington]

crumple zones crumble bones shumple dones mumple hones.

[Dave-ger]

thanks man.


Slow progress with the weather and other things I've had to do and/or wanted to do, but the chassis repair is near completion, then I'll be on to these things:

fill in un needed holes in the engine bay
paint the engine bay
repair sub frame (shouldn't be too hard)
put the engine back in and get it running
make bracketry for skid plate and build a skid

then I'm back in business!

look how overkill this is! My crumple zones are ruined!

[AndreasW]

White on blue looks awsome!

[Dave-ger]

Update:




I figure I might as well at least clean up the engine bay a bit more and make it all the same color while I'm at this.

[Dave-ger]

Progress!

It took me a long time to figure out a solution to my problem, but I think I've got it now.

Bent up frame rails:




This didn't work:




sub frame damage, shouldn't be too hard to fix.




The solution to the problem that I came up with:


sleeved to prevent crushage


you can see how the rear hole fits the nubbin' on the sub frame


one new rail chillin' with the stock one on the other side for reference.




Mocked up, but not in place in this pic, it's tacked in now, but barely. I got everything so the worst measurements I got were only 1/4" off. Considering that they are damn near perfect from the firewall to the rear bolts and the maximum any other measurement is off is 1/4", I think that's not too bad considering how royally fucked this chassis has been.


oh yea, there will be lots of plating, so it will be hella strong!


To be continued tomorrow? we'll see.

[Dave-ger]

thanks eskimopunk.


thanks DMclean. Ironically, I was considering swapping to some kind of non bmw 4 cylinder if I keep this car long enough. the weight to gas mileage, power to gas mileage, and displacement to gas mileage ratios are horrible on this engine. Despite that, I do better than most people with 12A's do. I get between 23 and 26 MPG on the highway, and I'm guessing at least close to 20 in town, but between wanting at least 25 in town and not liking how slow it warms up, I'm a little upset with the engine. I guess like everything else on this car, my plans for the engine will depend on how future events unfold, I'd like a different carb on it though if I keep it.

Neek, I get what you're saying. anyways, the clam shell is kind of spread open. I did pull the sub frame today, and to my surprise, it seems straight on the top where it bolts to the car. I measured it diagonally both ways and it matched up, I also kind of checked it out with a steel square tube. it should be okay, but I'm still not so sure about the steering rack. it seems to function properly, and I know it steered just great on the way home even with the linkage hitting the engine, but I'm just a little unsure with the clam shell deal kind of spaced open.

I'm making some progress on fixing this, pics coming soon! this car is such a Frankensteined bastard!

[eskimopunk]

Holy shit, nice work man.