Return to inocence...M3 - Page 2

Kiko · #21 Feb 3, 2010, 21:17

BBS home refurbishing:

Since the rims were pretty straight just a bit dull we decided to tackle the refurbishing ourselves. Took the tyres off, removed the nuts and bolts to be replaced with Stainless Steel bolts:

After scrapping the sealant, the lip comes off:

We did a test (no it's not me on the photo):

And here's a lip partially polished:

Kiko · #22 Feb 4, 2010, 13:18

Here's a shot of the centre nut. It had 2 layers of paint and one of primer! (WHY? WHY???)

The bolts will be replaced be new SS units. More of the wheels later when finished.

Here we see the gearbox after being pressure washed and clean to have the gear change shaft seal replaced to stop the leak. The rear crank main seal was wet so I'm replacing that as well as the slave clutch cylinder.

ALL new gear shift parts are being fitted as well.

Kiko · #23 Feb 4, 2010, 20:40

ALL ready to be sent out to the only part of the done out of doors, the respray:

Kiko · #24 Feb 28, 2010, 01:58

Well, Phase I is sort of complete and apart an erratic brake pedal the car's is OK-ish:

- Evo II cam fitted which I found a nice upgrade and I reckon the 276/264 or 284/264 combo will be the compromise for me on a CF Airbox. Valve clearances were obviously adjusted.

- Proper headlights fitted (Smiley's)

-New Baro sensor, spark plugs, spark plug wires, rotor, cap, intake repair kit, intake O-rings.

- All filters replaced, belts,

- Engine mounts, gearbox mounts, shifter bushes, etc

- New diff oil, gearbox oil, brake fluid.

- Clutch fitted

The whole car was checked for leaks, new air hoses around the intake and new cam cover gasket so we blasted the grime off the engine compartment to check for other leaks.

I have it here at home to be left at the other shop on Monday for major work to be undertaken.

There's still a vibration under load around the driveshaft area although the Guibo was replaced (by a Sport Evo unit) and the support bearing is fine...?!

Kiko · #25 Mar 1, 2010, 17:27

We degreased and cleaned the engine compartment to evaluate what exactly was going to be needed for the restoration and I was VERY happy with the result. Since I was there I decided to check the elephant hose drainer...

Kiko · #26 Mar 6, 2010, 01:49

As mentioned the car is in the workshop for new paintwork (photos soon to be added with the works) but work is being done, here's the set of track wheels fitted with the a set of Yokohama's A038 whicg are standard fitment to the rear of some Lotus Exige's...

The rear wheels (originally 8,5's) were "converted" to 7.5 to match to front and maintain the balance.

Revmaster T · #27 Mar 6, 2010, 03:21

Coming along nicely, BTW congrats to your new purchase.
I am not sure what you mean by converted the wheels ? Do you mean you modified them ( cut a section out and re-weld )? Or did you get different wheels to match the front 7.5" wheels.

Thomas

Kiko · #28 Mar 6, 2010, 09:10

"Converted" them was polite way to describe cut and weld.

groselha · #29 Mar 6, 2010, 17:27

Hello Kiko,

As i said before, nice car.
As usual, another nice restore.

Best regards.

Kiko · #30 Mar 8, 2010, 17:53

Thanks Fabio.

As I said, Phase 3 (Paintwork) jumped in the queue for logistic reasons (i.e. Pmartins car is just not ready yet) so it's now undergoing a respray including the complete boot floor. The engine compartment is going to be left alone because it's in pretty good nick.

P.S. The cardboard on the roof is just to prevent the dust from coming inside the car as they removed the sunroof...

Kiko · #31 Mar 9, 2010, 11:11

Look what I found on my door step this morning...

These are very clean but needless to say I've ordered a can of 0.5ltr paint from BBS, new sealing rings w/ O-Rings and new stickers to refurbish them.

Kiko · #32 Mar 11, 2010, 21:22

More on the paintwork, taken today:

Kiko · #33 Mar 12, 2010, 23:58

The boot floor was sanded down, primed and re-sprayed already:

Kiko · #34 Mar 15, 2010, 14:42

They used the anti-scratch clear which brings up a good glossy finish. There you go, faster than a fast thing going fast.:

Sporty1 · #35 Mar 15, 2010, 17:54

Top marks as always.

Kiko · #36 Mar 29, 2010, 19:48

Ready and delivered:

I picked her up on Friday and drove straight to a Classic Car show were invited to. Here's both mine and Pmartins on a classic "Before" and "After" display...LOL:

Kiko · #37 Mar 31, 2010, 20:09

After fitting an Evo II cam which made the car drive very good without the "excessive" low end grunt and lack of top end typical on the 200bhp becoming more eager to rev on the upper side but still keeping the mid-range punch.

So, today I took one step up and had the Evo II cam swapped to the exhaust side and a Sport Evo cam fitted on the inlet. I'm also replacing the "unknown" chip fitted with a BBR chip for this set up. I'll let you know what my butt dyno says.

Artik · #38 Mar 31, 2010, 23:39

Hey kiko.

I hope these numbers, as you know your car is very similar to mine. New cams pulleys?

Regards

Kiko · #39 Apr 1, 2010, 00:01

Yes, I'll be doing a proper dyno run if that's what you're wondering.

By the way, although I haven't had the chance to put my compression tester to use, I did a side-by-side pull with Pedro Martins 21.000km car in 4th from 3500 to 6500rpm and the cars were side-by-side.

Artik · #40 Apr 1, 2010, 01:03

with the new cams? or older... if it's with older cams, the "magic" hartge cams are near to stock...