Davegerous E21

[Dave-ger]

indeed sire. The internets is a mysterious place.

[340i]

i agree with neek, raising the whole subframe is a good option (not that there is anything wrong with your solution), as it keeps the steering in the same plane as the arms, which (presumably) should reduce bumpsteer? the other option is custom lower arms, custom kingpin, and space the outer joint down. thats what ill be doing (one day... lol).

[P78]

i like this bimmer

blue and white works with these cars

[TheNeek]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1253615

Seems like the steering is still and unresolved question. I'll ask Chris if he ever figured it out.

[JasonB]

nice car man! and seriously great work with the process, you really put some time in!!!!

[Iam138]

indeed sire. The internets is a mysterious place.

Sure is. Just to spice up the thread a bit, how about a few post wreck shots of my car trying to help yours out?

Not successful BTW.

[Dave-ger]

ha, thanks for posting those Sean! I'm glad the cop is in there too!

Neek, that is a very good solution that guy came up with on his sub frame. I didn't think to do it that way, my solution would have been to section the vertical part of the sub frame (not sure if I worded that well). That thread on bimmer forums cracks me up, those people giving him a hard time about suspension geometry and roll center have no idea what they are talking about... plus, if you're low enough to raise your sub frame and/or control arm mounting location, you don't have a race car anyways. Also, raising the control arm increases camber, because the control arm has less angle than before, so those goons got that wrong!

but seriously, I wish I would have considered the same mod that guy did before messing with my sub frame, but my overly complicated method got the job done at least.

I think I'm going to refresh my stock back seat, anyone want to buy the E30 seat that's in the back of my car?

[Funtington]

Well played sir, well played.

[Dave-ger]

thank you.

well, because I'm an idiot and never got around to putting an angled piece at the front of my sub frame to avoid ruining it if I caught a snag... well, I messed up the sub frame and/or the "frame rail", and hopefully not the steering rack. I hit a man hole cover that must stick up over 2" with it going 45ish. I'm a bit frustrated, but very grateful that it was so easy to get it home by forcing the steering to work. (good thing I have gorilla strength!)



where the steering hits the engine...




not really sure what's going on with the steering rack. it seems fine besides this back part being all split open like on the seam it had.


in this pic, you may see where I think the "frame rail" might be smashed up.



There are two good things about this: I can probably fix it cheap, and it may be a good excuse to fully shave the bay!

oh yea, none of my sub frame welds broke!


my solution will involve straightening, plating, or maybe even replacing a section of the "frame rail". straightening and plating will be a much more viable option if it's doable. I think the nutserts that hold the sub frame in dont' have tubes going down to the bottom edge of the "frame rail", so I did already crush those with dinosaur might when I reinstalled the sub frame a year-ish ago, so maybe the sub frame is just bent.... either way, the "frame rails" are going to at least get some reinforcement and cosmetic help. If it is just the sub frame, i think I'm going to build one, if I can't get one cheap enough.

I'm really really hoping the steering rack is okay.


yup, when i start driving this again, I think I will have a "4 sails" sign on it just in case I get an offer I can't refuse. I could have avoided all of this most likely if I would have put an angled piece on the front of the sub frame to let it hop over things like man hole covers, but, there are other things about the car that I'm starting to feel kind of done with.

[Dave-ger]

I got a chance to pull the engine last weekend. At a snail's pace, it took me and my dad and a friend (both of them didn't do much) less than 2.5 hours to pull the engine. I'm glad I made it so simple.

Also, turns out the sub frame may be okay, I need to pull it and do some diagonal measurements and evaluating to decide, but I'm still unsure of what's up with the steering rack. The reason the steering was hitting the engine so bad was that the man hole cover shoved the sub frame into the frame rails. I'll have to do some reconstruction and reinforcement, and then it should be better than new if I do it right. This is haunting my mind a bit, cause I'm a little unsure of how I'm going to fix this mistake, but I have some ideas that I've been cooking up.





Stay tuned for more!

[TheNeek]

That's no seam on the steering rack. It's a clam shell. Two pieces that pinch down on the steering rack. It looks like you torqued the crap out of the subframe.

[DMclean]

i'm liking the 12a. what plans do you have for it? i have a 12a as well, would love to do a big street port but don't want to spend the money on it

[eskimopunk]

Holy shit, nice work man.

[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!

[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.