Round 3....another M3 build

[hinrichs]

You buying items from the city I live in gives me the stomach butterflies of joy.
Let me know if you need me to scope something out for you if you see something else of interest in my area.
Bike is killer

If I knew where to look I would take you up on that.

Those Inpros look amazing, total facelift (tail-lift?) for an E36.

X2

Thanks guys, I am very happy I ended up ordering them.

Wow, great job in knocking several seconds off your previous best! The smoked tails look great.

Thank you









So for some minor car/garage updates.

Got one of these...itll come in handy soon enough im sure.

IMG_6710 by minthinrich, on Flickr

TV is finally up, waited too long to grab it from my old house. Kinda just put a movie on and zone out while working on stuff.

59138458757__E697F022-A191-4918-8026-98FD0F902CED by minthinrich, on Flickr

Decided to make my life slightly easier, I will take the doors off again. They dont really like to stay open anymore so that alone is annoying enough when trying to work on anything inside the car. I plan to sell the cage (no one has been interested) so I can upgrade to a better weld in option. I have been working on wiring which I will get some pics of this weekend. JEEP MODE ENGAGE !

IMG_6689 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Also trimmed some more of the doors.....this is kinda pointless since Im 95% sure I will be going fiberglass but whatever I was bored. Bad picture since this was before I pulled out the center.

IMG_6708 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Managed to clean the bike up a little, replaced a bunch of dumb things and made it slightly better. Ride from lunch today.

IMG_6731 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_6729 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

Current wiring progress, I think I have like 11 fuses left. Starting to plan the rewire and will be ordering what I need.

IMG_6833 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_6834 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Planning to keep the following;
- headlights
- taillights
- turn signals
- horn
- Ignition
- Fuel Pump
- Start Button

[Miroteknik]

Man the tail lights really go well with the gray. Looks great!

[Fruttolo]

I see your last pic and automatically panic

[hinrichs]

Really have not had a lot of time in the garage lately, but made up for it last night. Turned on the heater and got to work. Well worked with what I could.

Rear bumper pulled....I will have an update on why for this later this week. Diffuser made it kinda annoying, but it was mostly 4 bolts. Man is the bumper/diffuser setup heavy as hell.

IMG_6984 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Now back onto the wiring. Here is the heaviest and largest box. I really need to get a battery for my scale. This has what I thought would have been everything I was going to pull. Well I was very wrong.

IMG_6988 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Here is more I pulled....

IMG_6987 by minthinrich, on Flickr

This is kinda what will go back in, or adapted into other things and new harness. I have some ideas like a removable harness for headlights...but thats down the line. I figure when they are needed I can plug all that in since they are only installed for inspections.

IMG_6986 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Finally got the stock fuse box out. I know a lot of guys will say they used it....I might since I saved everything and a lot of wires I pinned out. Its just large and I dont see it being necessary. I will make up a block off plate soon enough.

IMG_6989 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I really want to look into a new steering column. I pulled out the stock ignition switch and also the lock cylinder. Sadly there is a bearing somewhere in there so I cant just remove the housing for all those parts. Once I do a new cage I can mount a better shaft if I find a good solution.

IMG_6991 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I need to really start planning my wiring and decide which way I want to go with it. I have some ideas but they are all $$$. I dont mind spending it...but its really hard to justify. I just want it clean and to work well. I can tell you tho, its a lot easier to just pull all the wiring and start from scratch. I traced so many wires and man was that a royal pain.

[Fruttolo]

Do the solid state thingy, you know you want it
I like this is going full racecar, is the rear diffuser actually functional/useful? If it's just hanging weight I'd ditch it

[hinrichs]

Do the solid state thingy, you know you want it
I like this is going full racecar, is the rear diffuser actually functional/useful? If it's just hanging weight I'd ditch it

I dont think it really does much, but not really sure. I see a lot of track guys who cut the bumper high and run nothing like my friend did. I think you need a full flat bottom for it to work.

I am researching power systems everyday. I kinda know what I want, just cant decide how much I want to spend.

EDIT:

Well looking into the system that I ran previously which was 8 switch in my jeep..Switch Pros 8100 they are making a new 12 switch setup for next year. Might be enough after some thinking in my head. I was originally going to just try and find their older system or go with the new 9100 which has more colors (kinda pointless update). I would have needed 2, but this is what I think I will need power wise. https://store.switchpros.com/sp-9100...-power-system/ One of the advantages they have, is the unit can be customized and flash and whatnot which would make turn signals and stuff very, very easy to wire in. Any switch can be momentary for start/horn as well which is a big plus to some of the cheaper systems out there. I really want a cartec setup...but I would be looking around $2500 for what I really want.
1. Ignition
2. Start
3. Fuel Pump
4. Fans
5. Left Turn
6. Right Turn
7. Horn
8. Lights
9. High Beam
10. Wiper
11. Blower
12. Cool Shirt

[OrangeBlue]

1. Ignition
2. Start
3. Fuel Pump
4. Fans
5. Left Turn
6. Right Turn
7. Horn
8. Lights
9. High Beam
10. Wiper
11. Blower
12. Cool Shirt

13.Radio?

Even if it's a racecar.., there are new single din radios that are 1/2 depth...


About the wiring, is the solid state thing really necessary? I always feel like it is neither cost effective
nor nice to set up... software wise.
And these new switchpanels, what if you need more switches later...

The racecars i looked into keeped as much oe wiring as possible. Thinned out and simplified of course.
You can refer to the wiring diagram and don't have to make you own.
You already have it and a fitting fuse/relay box too, which is a saving to consider imo.
And the switches for headlights, turn signals and so on also the matching connectors.

Wiring tools, connectors and terminals are expensive and sometimes a pain to work with.

I'm putting a standalone ecu in my car atm, and even making a patch harness to the factory engine harness
is not fun at all. But it's easier than building a new engine harness.

Anyways nice to see soild, well thought out progress.

[hinrichs]

13.Radio?

Even if it's a racecar.., there are new single din radios that are 1/2 depth...


About the wiring, is the solid state thing really necessary? I always feel like it is neither cost effective
nor nice to set up... software wise.
And these new switchpanels, what if you need more switches later...

The racecars i looked into keeped as much oe wiring as possible. Thinned out and simplified of course.
You can refer to the wiring diagram and don't have to make you own.
You already have it and a fitting fuse/relay box too, which is a saving to consider imo.
And the switches for headlights, turn signals and so on also the matching connectors.

Wiring tools, connectors and terminals are expensive and sometimes a pain to work with.

I'm putting a standalone ecu in my car atm, and even making a patch harness to the factory engine harness
is not fun at all. But it's easier than building a new engine harness.

Anyways nice to see soild, well thought out progress.

If you saw the wiring diagrams for this car you would understand. Its a lot like they kept adding things after the fact, and its such a jumbled mess. There are grounds that could be a few inches from the parts, but it runs across the car or to the back instead. I really did try to thin out what I could and it was still a mess. About 95% of people online will just tell you its easier to start from scratch with these cars, and what I went through it sure makes sense. I was not planning on really keeping anything in the car with most of the stock systems, there was just no point in really using the stock wiring anymore. The car really is just a racecar anymore, since I only drive it on the street to 2 events which are right up the road from my house. All others its on a trailer.

For the wiring I want a pdm/solid state simply to keep it super clean. The pricing however is making that seem pointless. I will probably end up just getting a painless panel or something very simple and wire it myself. Each system that is retained will be very easy to trace since I did all the wiring.


Well body saws might be my new favorite tool. Did some work on the trunk floor. Need to get some alum sheet soon or just sheet metal and I can make a nice panel that is removable. This will help working on the diff and weight savings. Also have an exhaust idea I might try depending on how bored I get.

IMG_7012 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[gnmzl]

You just biased me towards buying such a saw. Was contemplating for some months, but you tipped the scales!
Good decision on starting from scratch with the wiring, excited to see how you go about it.

[hinrichs]

When you need a lot of parts, but cant make up your mind whats the next best decision to make?

Buy another car of course.

1994 Mk3 Golf. It needs some love, will be getting a full euro treatment, and some motor swap. Its fun and I like it. I think its #7 or #8 that I have owned.

IMG_7074 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Threw some vinyl on (needs a hatch which I have) and some reindeer antlers cuz why not.

IMG_7093 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_7095 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[bwwaaaa]

Haha you and I have the same problem. I very nearly bought a W140 last week instead of buying parts for either of my projects. It's a disease, but a fun one.

Love the Mk3, always been a fan of them. Can't wait to see what you do with it. When you say swap, am I correct in assuming 1.8t?

[saturnstance]

I do the same...instead of fixing one truck..i buy 3 more lol

[hinrichs]

Haha you and I have the same problem. I very nearly bought a W140 last week instead of buying parts for either of my projects. It's a disease, but a fun one.

Love the Mk3, always been a fan of them. Can't wait to see what you do with it. When you say swap, am I correct in assuming 1.8t?

Not really sure. I originally planned on doing a TDI swap since my cabrio was a blast with one, but I need a whole parts car which isnt as easy to find anymore I guess. The stock 2.0 isnt bad and it has pep so I might just leave it in for a while since its free. I might start a new thread for it.

I do the same...instead of fixing one truck..i buy 3 more lol

At least I am not alone haha

[hinrichs]

Well looks like the car is for sale, I know there havent been any real updates to this in a while. Car is still apart, and this week I need to get it at least running. I wanna swap back into an E46 M3 that is a little more street friendly. I will still race it so dont worry I am not out of that game. Just dont want to own a car I only drive 4 times a year anymore.