Nick's Auto-Sprint BMW Race-Car

It turns out Nick, our new workshop manager at work, is an old hand on the amateur racing circuit and [as we've quickly learned] he doesn't do things by halves. For his semi-pro rally-cross efforts he has an ex Hannu Mikkola Audi Sport Quattro [like this], blimey, but for fear of 'getting it dirty' he is now building a new car at work to use for auto-sprint racing next year.

The car he's picked is an old BMW 318is Coupe, which has sat in the corner of our workshop since May, but lately its moved up onto the ramps and work on it has really started to come along, so I'm devoting a thread to the Beemer to cover the ongoing conversion from road car

to all out auto-sprint machine and hopefully chronicle some of its racing efforts. Stay tuned!

As you can see from yesterday's pictures, she won't be racing anytime soon and has long missed her intended debut at the New Brighton Rally in September, but its not as far off completion as it looks. The engine is only a 1.8 and still in stock form for now and I'm dying to see what he will eventually do to it, but probably not much, as for short distance auto-sprint events the pace is generated by an ultra-high ratio gearbox, which probably cost a bit and will be the last thing to go on the beemer.

So here's a list of what has been done to the car so far:

Stripped to the shell - everything except the dashboard out, red + white paintjob, 'Network Q Rally' number-placards on doors.

M3 wing-mirrors.

Battery moved into the boot for weight-balance with new high-power wiring and Elec. + Engine cut-off switches in the dashboard and outside the car in a flat recess in the passenger front wing.

Alloy racing fuel filler-nozzle. No idea how this was done because all E36 BMWs have a body-flush flap, so this one must have been welded into place and a hole cut to mount the alloy-nozzle. It was on the car as Nick got it, so it looks like it was destined for the racetrack anyway.

Fixed-height 'auto-sprint' dampers and lower, uprated springs.

100% custom 'sway-bars' on the back, manufactured at work.

Single Corbeau bucket-seat.

Custom side-exit exhaust system with a tiny sports-cat, motorbike silencer and a curved tailpipe coming out just in front of the rear-wheel. It needed the whole driver's footwell cutting out to fit [you can just see in the bottom-left of the third photo where it's been put back in] and is one of the coolest things I've seen.

COMING UP:

Fully-customisable L.S.D!

Hydraulic hand-brake, made from a scrapped Leyland DAF brake master-cylinder, ha.

VectraLab - SL's new sister-blog!

That's right folks, ScoobyLab has a twin. VectraLab will be covering the life, times and trials of my mate Mike's awesome 2001 Vectra B 'Irmscher' project car... big!

So check it out @ http://vectralab.blogspot.com!

If you're into your Vauxhalls then stay tuned for some big things in the new year!

ScoobyLab's original Vec-Lab page - http://scoobylab.co.cc/p/veclog.html

ScoobyLab for iPad + Gran Turismo 5!

A member of my family recieved an iPad for Christmas so, naturally, I hit up ScoobyLab to see how it looked on the thing and noticed quite a few errors occurring. Its the same story when I've checked on my friend's iPhones [as mine is water-damage dead :(], with Flash not working at all and any fixed-size object jumping into a weird position, so I've spent some time making the layout compatible while I still have the iPad around to check it on.

I'm pleased to say that the blog is now almost completely working on iPad and comes up more or less correctly on most mobile/smart-phone browsers, but I'm still having trouble with the iPhone display. It's a tricky fix, but I've found some great code for accessing the iPhone menu-functions themselves to make clicking the drop-downs easier, so that'll be exciting anyway.

** The other great news is that Gran Turismo 5 has finally landed on my doorstep! When I bought my PS3 [over 2 years ago!] we we're promised GT5 by the following January and boy, it just went on and on didn't it?! My sister has made up for the wait though [bless her] by getting hold of a Collectors Edition box-set for me crizzy prezzy, which comes with 5 unique 'ChromeLine' cars [in the pic] and the 1/2-thick 'Apex' book full of driving techniques and glossy stuff, which is very nice. Its basically an updated version of everything you got in the manual with the original GT games, but I guess in these gloomy economic times they have to sell it as an add-on. Either way its a nice bit of coffee-table literature for gamers and car chums alike as we while away the frugal months ahead with the best racer ever!

As for the game, well it speaks for itself! After all the hype it couldn't possibly turn out a disappointment and I'm happy to say the graphics and gameplay really rocks. When the game eventually installed I was a little cold at first because the intro-movie and menu screens just looked the same as before. They look old, in fact, for the PS3, but once I got maybe two races in I'm already starting to think this could be the best GT yet. I didn't expect them to change the driving-engine from GT5 Prologue, but it feels much, much better to me - smoother and a little easier too. The choice of extra-modes is also staggering, stuff like go-karting and NASCAR is utter sickness and have the potential to be just magnificent online. If you haven't already bought the game and don't take my word for it, then check the GT website - http://eu.gran-turismo.com/gb/.

While we're on the subject of GT5 I thought I'd use this thread to list any cool cars and achievements I stumble upon that are worth noting:

Cars:

These are all tuned up and can be used from the outset in all modes [except Sunday Cup races], but don't count as purchased cars.

ChromeLine BMW M3

ChromeLine Lamborghini Murcialago

ChromeLine Gullwing Merc. 300SL

ChromeLine Shelby Cobra

ChromeLine Audi R8 V10

Silvia S15 Q's Aero Well its between this or the Mitsi 3000 for the sub 20k first car, so a no brainer really.

'89 MOTUL Civic Race Car OK so you win it right away, but its a beast of an FF car!

Nissan SilEighty Another early win - the front of a Silvia / back of a 200SX [180SX in Japan], I love these things.

Impreza STi Type R '99 Wahey my first Scooby, I've always wanted a coupe.

Lowering the Roof Height

Its not a mod I would have thought of for a Scooby, but I spotted this absolutely mental Blobeye STi in a mag [built by Jap shop C.S Hiro http://www.cshiro.co.jp/], with its roof lowered! I've only ever seen this done to classic cars, mainly American metal, although I've seen a few Vauxhall Victors with it done in the UK, but as it turns out the modern Scooby shares a key bit of design with the aforementioned that makes it an ideal motor to do a roof-chop on!

The Impreza has sashless-doors, which of course means that there is no frame around the window glass and that means no alterations need to be made to the doors at all. When the roof height drops, the windows will still rise up and fill the gap perfectly, with the lower part of the glass permanently sitting in the door. In theory the four windows would each fit flush even if the roof wasn't perfectly straight. Chopping the height out of 4 normal doors separately, then matching them to the roof would be a difficult task and this makes it a super-expensive job for most motors. Examining the Scoob though, it looks like all you'd need to cut are the 6 roof pillars and this makes it a much easier job, one you could do at home in fact with enough time and ingenuity.

THEORY:

Roof-Chop:

Wind the windows fully down. Remove the front and rear windscreen, along with both wing-mirror chassis, the roof-lining, a-pillar covers, parcel shelf and unbolt the front seat-belt holsters off the b-pillars.

Sand the a and c-pillars down to the bare metal.

Mark along the base of each roof pillar and cut straight through into the cabin, without deforming the metal. You could probably do it with a small grinder, but an oxy/acetylene 'plasma-cutter' would be ideal to cut a neat curve.

Lift the roof off the car. Mark around the neck of each pillar at a suitable height for the roof to be lowered by [probably about 3 ins.] and cut them again, then file down the remaining pillar ends, as well as the cut-edges on the car body, to as flat an edge as possible.

Lower the roof back onto the car, marry the pillars to their bases and weld completely around where they meet. Grind the welds down and rub them flush to the body with emery cloth. Build up around the visible joins with metal-filler and P38-filler and sand them in a smooth line between the body and pillars. Re-paint the a and c-pillars. Shorten the plastic pillar-covers to fit and replace the roof-lining etc.

Roll-Cage:

** The rigidity of the roof is probably compromised quite a bit by this process so its essential to fit a roll-cage really to stiffen things up, but primarily for safety. If this isn't a major concern you could get away with just bolting or welding in a steel-tube down the inside of the b-pillar from floor to roof.

Windscreens:

With the roof sorted, the real challenge is to make the windscreens the right length to fit. Normal Scooby windscreens are about £200+ so a tailor made narrow one probably isn't cheap, but I've found TW Windscreens in Southampton who will make one. On the other hand, I've seen cut windscreens lying around at work done using a great grinding-disc that only damages about half a cm around the line of the cut. We reckon you could cut the bottom away from the windscreen and seal the fractured edge with epoxy-resin. Then, when the windscreen is sealed in place, make a plastic or rubber sill to overlap the bottom edge [which seems to be the case on the C.S Hiro car anyway] and a smaller one for the rear.

Seatbelts:

Belts are a major safety thing, so if you've made the mounting-holes on the b-pillars too low then its worth scrapping the lap-belts and installing racing harnesses, which the standard STi and post MY96 seats will take. Otherwise you'll need to drill a new hole further up the b-pillar if possible and thread it with a fairly large tap, but the bolt might need shortening as the gap behind gets narrower at the top.

Merry Xmas!

Seasons greetings and all the best for the new year from ScoobyLab!

I hope you've been enjoying the freezing conditions as much as we have and may Santa bring many shiny JDM parts down your chimney!

Can't wait to start working on the car again in the new year, when I'll be enhancing the boot-install with a boot-lid skin and a storage compartment, as well as restoring the power-steering system, which may result in a whole new PAS-pump so stay tuned...

Quick Bumper Fix

I must have got a bit over zealous on the way to work on Thursday morning [racing Big Alex in his Isuzu Trooper 3L], because my back-bumper started to make its way off the car, luckily just as we were pulling up at the gate. The small bolt that holds the corner of the bumper by the wheel-arch has broken free of its rusting mount, leaving the right-side edge hanging loose and letting the bumper become wayward. The plastic-mount on the bumper has obviously always had a break in it, probably after that wheel-arch's scuff with a gatepost, but it was still clinging on. Once the bolt had made its way out of the body though the bumper didn't put up much resistance and the bolt is long gone. All this means there's no meat left to get a cable-tie round so I had to just drive carefully and pray the bumper didn't drop completely before the fix.

Everyone suggested just banging a self-tapping screw through into the metal, but that'd be too easy and no good if I need to take the bumper off in future. Instead I rustled around in the ever fruitful skip for a few minutes and found a nice allen-head bolt, two shiny washers and a brand new nyloc-nut. Outstanding. There's another small hole in the bumper just behind the split one, so I marked where it meets the body-lip and drilled a 5mm hole through the metal. Even with the car tilted on the curb I could barely get my hand into the gap between the tyre and wheel-arch, so I could barely hold the allen-key steady while I got the nut on. In the end I just managed to get the nut a few turns into the nylon, but enough to keep the bumper on until today when [with no help from the weather!] I got the wheel off and tightened it up.

>>> Oh and yeah, I do notice that the rust has creeped out from under the wheel-arch. There's a bit of bubbling too so both arch-lips are going to need rubbing-down and spraying again as soon as the weather turns reasonable, just hope it doesn't get much worse in the meantime. The moral of the story here kids is ALWAYS lacquer as soon as possible after spraying and wax-oil/seal the underside if its somewhere like the wheel-arch! Nightmare.

Carbon Conundrum + Bodywork Update

Spotted this amazing 100% carbon-fibre bodied, Japanese-built Blobeye STi in a mag at work - yeyah! It's got me thinking about carbon again, but I've only got a small patch of the stuff left [about 12x12ins.], which wouldn't even cover a wing-mirror, so I'll have to find something small to fab-up while the weather is too cold to move forward with the car itself.

I have thought about styling, but so far the favourite option is to finish off my alloy-plate cold-air shield with carbon instead. I do have the plate pieces cut and getting hold of a TIG-welder [special light-metal welder that doesn't just rip alloy apart] was something I dearly wanted to have a go at, but to fill the winter gap and get on I may as well bring some more carbon to the engine bay.

And I must finish that darn wind-diffuser!! SHEESH!

** Also I'd like to say a massive big-up to Dave from Howarth's Bodyshop in Pensby [who do various bits on our firm's vehicles] for passing on a couple of cans of Zinc-Primer [which I never have enough of] and Filler-Primer, which I've not used before. Apparently it's the mutts-nuts for filling in the tiniest gaps and smoothing the paint-surface, so we'll have to give it a whirl if I find time to re-spray the wheel-arches. Respect! Will have to ask Dave about spraying my black front-bumper silver so I can replace the damaged one... **

More snow donuts...

Bit more donut fun early this morning. Getting the Scoob sliding a bit more easy now, but it felt a lot warmer today so the snow is on its way out I reckon. Probably for the best - I dunno how much the Scoob can take. Yeah, I know its only ice and there's not nearly as much strain on components as a dry road, but strain is still there and high-revving like that can't be good first thing in the morning, even with a warm engine so naturally I checked the car throughout the day. Neuroses over a couple of snow donuts, I guess I'm just not cut out for this lark haha...

Snow Fun + Update

Well the snow and ice has worsened and brought all work on the car to a halt. I guess this is it until the new year, so I might as well focus on actually driving the thing... and thats one part of the snow and ice nightmare that we can console ourselves with!

I've been dying to donut and drift the Scoob around, but I daren't try it on the gravel car-park at work. It's a different story when its covered in ice though so I chucked it round for a few practice spins afterwards with Laney filming. If we get a good freeze tonight the car-park should be like an ice-rink so I'll have to try and get to work early one day and film some in the daylight!

And yes, this is completely private land with nobody around - the only thing I might harm is my back-tyres...

The Scooby's 4WD has been amazing on the ice - no wheelspins when pulling away and the grip on a wet/slushy roundabout is phenomenal. On the other hand, all this grip is not great if you just want to tit about throwing the back-end around, even on the ice. Spin all four wheels and the front wheels slide onwards with the back ones and it won't snap round easily. Even with less than half the horse-power and no LSD, the RWD Beemer was more giving on the ice when you chuck the back out, where the Scooby finds it hard to let go, so I've really had to put it into a tight handbrake before dumping the clutch. The handbrake was never good enough in the BMW to do that, even on ice, but no need - just drive in a circle normally until the back-end goes and enjoy!

It would seem that the mighty Subaru needs a bit more figuring out before I start attempting this on wet-roundabouts....

The 'Black Socket Trick'

Machines that read fault-codes aren't cheap, starting at about £350 and running into thousands for a pro one, so its good to know that Subaru, like a lot of other Japanese marques, builds in a gizmo that lets us check the codes ourselves, at the roadside if we need to.

There is a male and female plastic connector hanging loose just behind the trim under the steering column, just behind where the socket for the OBD-type reader is. The connectors are unplugged from each other by default and clipping them together bypasses the circuit for the OBD socket so the car's own can be used.

Once the two connectors are clipped together, turn the key so the ignition is fully on, without starting the engine. The CHECK ENGINE light will do a series of long and short flashes. First come the long flashes [about 1 sec each], which denote the first digit of the fault-code and then quick flashes, which denote the second digit. i.e two long and three short would be a fault-code 23.

Here is the LIST OF FAULT CODES that work with the system.

[The car still works with the connectors left plugged in, but its probably best to unplug them to save the car doing a check every time you start up and make the OBD socket accessible if you take the car in to a garage. Not that any ScoobyLab fan should ever have to!]