Rusty Slammington v2.0

[saturnstance]

Through your various articles over the years in regards to BMW racing history and things racing related I hoped deep down you'd bring the car back in such a way that was race oriented. Patiently waiting for track videos and more on the build. Glad to see Rusty back.

[M.Burroughs]

that's different though. depending on what was burning and what survived, that odor can cling to stuff like clothing, books, etc...

Metal not quite as much but yes to a degree. But it'll depend on what was burning around it. I can't imagine that it smelled much different than just regular ole rusty metal. Maybe a little woody.

Hey, Mike! Obviously this is the most pressing thing we need to know about your car: How did it smell after the fire?

Initially, it was damn near caustic to the nose. Cutting apart the car, which included plasma cutting through tons of baked sound deadener, seam sealer, and undercoating, was rugged.

Sitting for several years killed off most of the smells. Every once in a while, while working on it, we'd cut something and get an overwhelming whiff of the fire, but as a whole, it's all done stinking.

[Cadaverous]

Superb. I'm glad to see that you've got a build thread going. What an awesome machine!

[thebornotaku]

Yeah but it would stink! You ever had stuff from a real fire? My uncle had a house fire and his stuff wasn't damaged much, but it stunk so bad we tossed a lot of it, like 98% of it

Compromise: sandblast the inside of the shell

that's different though. depending on what was burning and what survived, that odor can cling to stuff like clothing, books, etc...

Metal not quite as much but yes to a degree. But it'll depend on what was burning around it. I can't imagine that it smelled much different than just regular ole rusty metal. Maybe a little woody.

Hey, Mike! Obviously this is the most pressing thing we need to know about your car: How did it smell after the fire?

[brolli21]

Great build to read so far Mike.
Can't wait to see some pics is rusty going round the track.

[Byron]

I'll charge up my old phone and check if I have any of the missing parts

[JONOD]

Inspiring stuff Mike, great to read through the process of a build like this.

[DER E30]

What, sandblast the shell and lose out on all that sweet fire patina? You crazy man?

Yeah but it would stink! You ever had stuff from a real fire? My uncle had a house fire and his stuff wasn't damaged much, but it stunk so bad we tossed a lot of it, like 98% of it

Compromise: sandblast the inside of the shell

[thebornotaku]

What, sandblast the shell and lose out on all that sweet fire patina? You crazy man?

[DER E30]

Love it! Stuff you're doing reminds me of what my dad and I did to my truck! We did basically the same things with the suspension!

I can't believe you didn't have the shell sandblasted to kill the smell! It had to have stunk!

[M.Burroughs]

Well guys, I'm only like two days into this build thread and I've already managed to mess it up. I guess it's my fault for waiting a year and a half to do this, but I managed to lose about a month's worth of photos. I found a few cell-phone photos that help to bridge some major gaps, but overall, some really big parts of the beginning of the build are missing.

Sorry guys.

April 7, 2014

I had done a good bit of research on what rear end I wanted to use. I wanted to keep it independent, but using a BMW rear end either kept the cost prohibitively high (newer stuff, such as an E92) or was a bit antiquated and the track width was too small (E30, E28, E36, etc).

The final answer was using a 2003 Ford IRS, with some extensive modification. Out of the box, this rear end, which is from a Cobra originally, has some flaws, but some research pointed me in the right direction on how to maximize performance, and to get a very competitive-handling rear end out of it.



Essentially everything needs replacing, so I bought tubular control arms that adjust the geometry a good bit. Even still, they weren't quite what we needed, and further in the thread you'll see how we modified them to correct the camber curve.





Paired with replacing every bushing in the rear end, swapping to spherical bearings, as well as some differential shims and a few other touches, the rear end becomes a very good option, and fit what I wanted to accomplish while staying within a 26 year old's budget.

We rebuild the rear end and reassembled it:


From here, there are some photos missing. Look at the photos and you'll see that the original subframe has some serious "arms" hanging off of it in order to mount it to its original chassis. Those obviously weren't what we wanted, so we chopped off the rears (pictured int he next post). We fabbed up new mounts front and rear, meant to meet up to the chassis where we wanted it to, instead of building the chassis to fit the original mounts. So basically, ignore those big ugly arms for now.

Another upside to the rear end is the absolutely massive track width. If I remember right, it's somewhere around 62 inches. Knowing I wanted the wide body, but having somewhat shallow lips (at just 4 inches deep ) this worked out and helped to make sure everything was going to sit appropriately, as well as handle well versus a very narrow track width in the rear.



We slid the rear end under the car, and used some adjustable jack stands I made to help get everything in plane together, before tacking on some braces to hold it in place for future steps.

Here's where another big gap comes in to play, and I know it's one most of you were probably really looking forward to... creation of the main hoop, a-pillar bars, and rear bars for the chassis.



In this photo you can see the progress that was made: the main hoop, which is the "main hub" of the chassis, is in. and the a-pillar bars are tacked in to place, meeting with the front of the frame foundation. We slowly began lining things up, and from this photo, built "back" to support the rear end, fuel cell, and other bits.

[87shark]

Really enjoyed watching this come together this past year. 8|

[M.Burroughs]

I'm frantically digging through folders, there's like a month of progress I can't find

[XkokidureX]

Just wow man, I'm too excited to see all the proccess. Congrats Mike.

[1badg35]

To say I am excited to see a new build thread come about Mike would be an understatement. Wish i was over there with you guys working on this thing. Spectacular so far from what Ive seen