Justin's LS E46

[MDRracing13]

Haven't checked in on your build in a while. Looks good man! Your interior setup is so clean, i'm pretty jealous of that.

[bimerok]

to the guy using that ihandy level, that app, and that means of measuring angles is garbage. go try and use it to mount something to a wall and youll see exactly what I mean.

It works better then any other method short of an actual digital alignment rack. Like I said in my other post, I confirmed few times my alignment using the app and a straight edge in the rim against the rack and it was spot on. One time it was off by 10th or so (probably me not settling the car fully after adjusting the arms... If it doesn't work for you, you must be using Android. If so, you have bigger problem

app.JPG

[Novablue454]

Well, I used to have a nice car...

[octanematty]

Owwwww

[Novablue454]

Well I got it a little better with some ghetto fab.





Here's a clip of the tap


and a clip of a meh run from before

[protomor]

What kind of course is that? It looks horrible. Dear GOD I'm surprised tons of people didn't find that wall. Eh, I'm probably overreacting.

PS: Commentary on the first video is hilarious.

[Novablue454]

It was really fun to drive, but a ton of people did. I think there were 5-6 day enders and a few more gentle rubs haha.

After seeing how much better everything got pulled out a little, I decided to just take it to a body shop and get the frame straightened and call it good for now. I have No Coast Bash coming up in a month and I don't want to miss it because I chopped my car in half haha

[protomor]

I'm not in favor of courses that have major slow down sections with immediate high speed sections. Makes it hard to gather speed for the upcoming corner without shallowing up. IMO, courses should either be completely decreasing in radii or allow for gentler increases in radius (think road hotlanta)

[Novablue454]

So, after countless google searches I have come to the conclusion that no one makes E46 sedan overfenders.

I want to do something like this
l_2592_1936_81a2c1cc-6486-4250-8950-a7aa04ea1f50.jpeg

HGK racing makes coupe overfenders. I am considering getting a set and trying to fit them on the sedan, and just cutting the door seam in to them. I don't see why this wouldn't work, but it's an expensive risk to take.

Denofa makes full overfenders for a sedan, but I get the feeling they are only for him and not for sale. I emailed him yesterday but haven't heard back yet.

Are there any other options out there I haven't found?

[protomor]

You're pretty much spot on IMO. You'll just need to fab a way to keep the overs from flopping everywhere when you cut them for the door. Or just never use the door again.

[jalopi]

why not cut the quarter panels off of a junkyard car? it might take some work, but so will modding coupe stuff to fit on a sedan

[Novablue454]

i have a parts E46 with good quarters, i'm just not sure how to remove just the outer skin from the inners. I feel like if i'm going to spend the time to tube the rear, then I may as well upgrade some stuff back there.

I'm just crossing my finger's ill be able to score some of Denofa's quarters...



- - - Updated - - -

Wow, Chelsea actually took the time to forward my email to the guy who makes the 1/4's and he got back to me about them. Drifting is real cool sometimes. I am emailing back and forth with him about getting a pair of the carbon-kevlar sedan ones!

The plan now is to get it on a frame rack ASAP and get it yanked back straight. From there I am just going to beat the 1/4s until I can get some tail lights in it and run it for the rest of the season looking haggard, then use the winter offseason to chop the back and get the new quarters hung.

[Mikestokman]

If you have a fibreglass shop in town they might be able to hook you up aswell if you have a decent parts she'll to work with. I was talking with a fibreglass guy last weekend and he said he can just lay glass over the oem body then peel it off after its hardened and it mimics the original fender but is about 1/8 wider. He makes lots of drag race front clips and shit that way. Leaves a rougher finish on the outside but you can smooth it out fairly easy. Might be something to look into if the carbon Kevlar ones are super pricey

[doktor b]

If you have a fibreglass shop in town they might be able to hook you up aswell if you have a decent parts she'll to work with. I was talking with a fibreglass guy last weekend and he said he can just lay glass over the oem body then peel it off after its hardened and it mimics the original fender but is about 1/8 wider. He makes lots of drag race front clips and shit that way. Leaves a rougher finish on the outside but you can smooth it out fairly easy. Might be something to look into if the carbon Kevlar ones are super pricey

man i would love to do this for the entire doghouse.

[Novablue454]

Well, nothing really going on over here. I'm missing one of the coolest races in the state this weekend (google the PIT rally) since my car will be in the body shop, oh well.

Since I started this project, and even before when I was building choppers, I've always wanted a TIG. With some big life changes coming up (we just bought a shop), and after seeing how beautiful a TIG cage can look (thanks alot, derrty30) I decided to just bite the bullet and pick one up. I only have about an hour on it but it's a blast so far!

Here's the new set up


And heres the 2nd attempt at some .120 tube


Car is going to the body shop on Saturday, and then i'm probably going to sit the rest of the month out and save all my tires for No Coast bash in Albuquerque labor day weekend.

[Novablue454]

So...I had one hell of a weekend. The body shop flaked on me for the second time, so I gave up waiting for them and Jeepster offered to help pull the frame. After a few hours we got it (mostly) straight. The tail light hole is beyond repair but that will be fixed with the Denofa flares this winter.





Driving home from Jeepster's my water pump switch wire fell off, and I didn't notice the pump had quit running until the engine temp got to 265 and it started misfiring. I got the pump back on and it appears the engine is miraculously OK, no fluids mixed and I put about another 10 miles on it with no issues. Lucky.

Feeling happy we got the frame fixed and my engine survived an almost certain death, I registered for Pit Rally's Touge 2k on Sunday. Its a badass drift showcase up a mountain road!

Loaded the car on the trailer and headed to the shop to mount all my tires for the next day. Forgot my shop keys, whatever, have the wife bring them. Rip the bead on one of my new tires so bad it wont hold air. Shit. Get the rest done and head out to a buddys birthday party across town.

Driving home around midnight I look in my mirror and notice one of my straps is dragging and sparking. Oh wait, I shouldn't be able to see the back of my trailer. SHIT, my car is gone. Flip a U turn and there it is about 1/2 mile back at an intersection with the bumper ripped off. Turns out all my tow straps broke and 3/4 of my ratchets got ran over.



Luckily the car seems mostly OK. Somehow my wing deck split the whole way across, and one of my SLR tie rod extensions might be bent. Once again, I lucked out as the damage from taking a 2-3 foot drop off the back of a trailer could have/ should have been a lot worse.



Needless to say I gave up on making PIT Rally sunday and spent the day going over the car with a fine tooth comb looking for damage.

I also decided to change up my alignment and run less caster. 9* was too much, and it was causing tire contact with stuff and really bad steering in a straight line at speed.

[protomor]

I saw you posted on FB. I think SLR. lol I made fun of your caster cuz I'm an ass like that.

Holy crap man. you got SO lucky. How did you not hear the car falling off the trailer? Also a good thing no cop found your car first lol.

Hope all goes well with the repairs.

[Novablue454]

I have no idea. It didn't make a sound or upset the truck at all. It was taking off from a light so I think I just sort of drove out from under it or something. After I got to it I just made sure it had oil pressure and drove it off the road, then went and got the truck and drove it off the road, and THEN a cop showed up. I just showed him all the snapped purple straps and he was like "holy crap, I can't believe the car is ok" offered a tow and then took off.

I need to figure out a better way to tie down the car I guess and not rely on ebay tow straps.

[protomor]

Hey facebook friend! Those look like the 2 finger wide strap kinds. I think they are only rated for motorcycles. The ones I had were almost 4 inches wide and thicker than..

But even then, I think you're supposed to replace them yearly or something. A good set of straps is expensive.

[Novablue454]

It was these that failed. All 4 of them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AROSPEED-UNI...35.m2548.l4275

The actual ratchet straps (green) were car tie downs, and they were not cheap ones either. Sucks they got ran over.

[protomor]

oooh those. I use the factory E30 hooks in the front (they used them on the boat to import them). on the rear I have mild steel hooks that attach to the bottom of the shocks. I got them from AKG but you could easily make those yourself.

[JesterMX6]

i use the AKG rear hooks on the shock bolts as well.

i hook through the wheels in the front.

that really sucks about the car falling off the trailer. that's crazy. glad to hear it wasn't worse.

[Novablue454]

Ill check out those hooks. There is nothing good to hook to on the front of my car. There's no way I'm using the SLR arms, I don't have a sway, there's no factory hooks, and the style 5's don't have a big enough gap to fit a strap through.

[JesterMX6]

i swap my front wheels to 5 spokes for loading and unloading. pretty much bought them for just that purpose. borbet type H or something. its a pain, but its the only way i can easily tie down the car lol

[Novablue454]

Genius. I have a set of style 42s on a flip car, ill probably just go that route for the drive to Albuquerque at the end of the month. I want to steal those wheels anyway.