My new e21 drift build

[SLR]

I'm guessing you've seen this car:

[audioscience10]

I'm guessing you've seen this car:

Yes I have and its actually the background on my work computer right now. Although I didn't see it for the first time until long after I started my build...

[SLR]

Nice retrofit on the front suspension and I like your thinking on the rear suspension. I came up with the same idea for E30's to have better camber control in the rear. I'm curious to see how it works out for you.

[audioscience10]

Nice retrofit on the front suspension and I like your thinking on the rear suspension. I came up with the same idea for E30's to have better camber control in the rear. I'm curious to see how it works out for you.

Thanks! Yeah the front was pretty easy (btw if u wanna send me one of your e36 angle kits that would be awesome ), the rear was a pita. I'm still kinda concerned with the strength on the trailing arms. I guess once its finished I'll take it offroading or something to verify the strength... Lol.

For those wondering how the driveshaft was going to make it around the e21 sub well the answer is it wasn't. So here is my answer to that little issue:


How it all fits together:


Gonna start putting it in the car tomorrow and start working on the rear mounts for the subframe.

[Nisanda]

wow alot of work but i like it!!!.

[audioscience10]

wow alot of work but i like it!!!.

Thanks man! Yeah after looking at it its not done... I'm going to have to do some vertical support brackets back by the mounts for the e36 sub. But that will come after its in the car.

[jjjjjjj]

Wow I love it. You will have the easist to mod e21 around, very creative with the fabrication! What are your plans for subframe bushings? Those look stock

[audioscience10]

Wow I love it. You will have the easist to mod e21 around, very creative with the fabrication! What are your plans for subframe bushings? Those look stock

Thanks. Yeah its funny I'm going all e36 so aftermarket parts are easy to find and I'm probably still going to end up making it all myself since its way cheaper. Yeah the bushings are pretty much all stock now and will probably stay that way for the time being. I'd like some reassurance that everything I'm doing is gonna work before I spend the time and money on bushings. Turning them out of Delrin all around is the plan in the end since its cheaper and easier to work with than aluminum.

[jjjjjjj]

I figured you'd fab something up. I'm sure we will all be tuned in for more!

[audioscience10]

Exciting daily update!!! The back end is in the car, well at least the 2 bolts that have mounting points right now. The rest of the mounts will be built with the subframe in place.

Had to clear a little bit of room for the trailing arms:


Like it was ment to go there:



The wheel is a little rearward of stock but I compromised to make the trailing arms the right length. I'll fix it with the flares. I'm gonna run flares like on the car SLR posted above:

[audioscience10]

Didn't really do any work on the car over the weekend... But I did decide that a cage has moved up my list of things to do since I found a guy locally that had a welded in cage that was removed from an Audi s4 (they must have cut the roof off the car because the cage is all in one piece.) Surprisingly to me just for the heck of it I had him measure it and the only way I could be closer to the right size is if it was made for my car. Some disassembly will be required to put it in the car and I am going to change the front down tubes while I am at it (they narrow at the top of the windshield too much for my liking.) But worst case even if its more trouble than its worth I only gave the guy $25 so I'm not out much and I have some decent chunks of tubing.

[audioscience10]

So the rear end is all bolted in now. Built the mounts for the rear of the subframe and the mid-support brackets (forgot a picture.)


And I only caught the undercoating on fire a couple dozen times

[audioscience10]

Trimmed the quarters to make clearance.


Eventually I'll build some fiberglass flares but I'm looking for some wheels with a lower offset so I'm gonna hold off. Getting it running is more important anyway.

Ran into a problem that I was half expecting... Went to put some tubing in to act as a strut until I figure out my rear struts but the upper control arms are in the way. Gotta build new ones tomorrow that don't have the spring bucket.

[audioscience10]

New rear control arms. One down 3 to go (the lowers are gonna be pretty much the same but with more adjustment.)


Theyre gonna get painted for real later.


Edit: I almost forgot, got my master cylinder for my hydro today.

[kidE30]

are you dong all this work alone? I think your build is awesome!

[audioscience10]

are you dong all this work alone? I think your build is awesome!

Thanks man! Yeah I'm doing all myself for the most part. Really the only thing I've let anyone else do is I let the guy I work with turn the delrin bushings for the trailing arms and the control arms. He didn't have anything to do the other day so I said hey you can make these for me. And I go and grab the girlfriend when I need more hands.

[Mylch]

Trimmed the quarters to make clearance.


Eventually I'll build some fiberglass flares but I'm looking for some wheels with a lower offset so I'm gonna hold off. Getting it running is more important anyway.

Ran into a problem that I was half expecting... Went to put some tubing in to act as a strut until I figure out my rear struts but the upper control arms are in the way. Gotta build new ones tomorrow that don't have the spring bucket.

You should look into welding some VW golf mk2 wheel arches. Could go to the JY and cut your own off one or get panels like this:

WheelArchLH2Dr.jpg

A friend of mine fitted them to his 2002 and the look great:

421136_10151176489085946_876586213_n.jpg

[audioscience10]

You should look into welding some VW golf mk2 wheel arches. Could go to the JY and cut your own off one or get panels like this:

<img src="http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=462787"/>

A friend of mine fitted them to his 2002 and the look great:

<img src="http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=462788"/>

I thought about heading to the yard to see if I could find anything that would fit but I really think I'm gonna end up with something similar to the car SLR posted. Idk why but I really like the look of universal flares.

So finished the 2 upper control arms and started working on mounting the struts. Well turns out the strut still won't make it to the factory e36 shock mounts. I think its due to how far back the wheel sits. So I came up with a solution... I fabbed up a mount to go in front of the control arm. I think this is gonna work fine.


Of course I'm going to gusset underneath.

[audioscience10]

For those waiting to see an engine in the bay...


Gotta modify the firewall a little bit up by the head to twist the motor to get it to sit straight but it fits a lot better than I was expecting with the e36 oilpan. Most people that swap an m5x motor have to go with an e34 pan for the front sump.

[audioscience10]

Small update time. Hit a snag over the weekend... Was going to have the motor and trans all bolted up in the car, until I realized I forgot to buy flywheel bolts and a pilot bearing. :facepalm So anyway I found the bearing relatively easy but couldn't find bolst anywhere locally except the "Bolt and Screw" place but they wanted $5.65 a piece for them. I really didn't want to spend $50 on 8 bolts so now I'm waiting on the ones I ordered. They should be here like the end of the week.

Anyway while I'm waiting I'm going to go ahead and start stripping the interior and working on the wire harness. Maybe if I get far enough by the time the bolts get here I'll get to fire it up this weekend!

[SLR]

Of course I'm going to gusset underneath.

You'll need shocks that are valved for roughly a .6 motion ratio it looks like, and E30 spring rates should work decent.

[audioscience10]

You'll need shocks that are valved for roughly a .6 motion ratio it looks like, and E30 spring rates should work decent.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. The Megan Racing setup that I have has the adjustable damper so I'm gonna play around with that. One thing though, I know when you run struts in the rear instead of a divorced setup (e30) you're suppose to run a higher spring rate, also I feel like I'm going to have to boost the rate a bit more to get over the fact that I changed to leverage ratio by moving the strut to in front of the hub. I think my coilovers have a 6k spring in the rear that I'm going to put on for the time being and I can change it later if I desire (you have to have a starting point right.)

- - - Updated - - -

Stripped the interior yesterday after work... Didn't take any pictures but you guys know what the interior of a car looks like without the interior. Gonna get rid of some wiring today. The only wires that get to stay are for the lights because its either wire the existing wires into the fusebox or run the e36 harness and splice all the light plugs onto that. I'm opting for the fusebox.

[SLR]

Actually when you go to shock-with-spring on E30 or E36 you LOWER the rear rate because you're increasing the motion ratio. But yea, on yours, you'll need to basically double the rate. I'd go way stiffer than 6k to start.

[audioscience10]

My flywheel bolts were in the mail today when I got home! Mounted the motor and trans together and put them in the car...



Its a tight fit. No trans mounts, the motor is holding it up. Going with solid mounts so the tight fit shouldn't make too big of a difference.

[kyillest]

shouldva just cut out the unibody of this e21 and welded it on the e36 . hahaha

this build is intense .