Hatchet: 1979 BMW 320i Race Car

AxeHealey said:

In reply to Stampie :

Yep, but it didn't work out. Guess I've got to go grab the hoist.

If you just need a little bit I've done a 4x4 across the fenders.  Jack up the engine from underneath and chain it to the 4x4.

In reply to Stampie :

I may go that route. The trans is now out and the rope still doesn't want to lift the engine.

Speaking of the trans. Yuck.

Turns out the mount was torn in half also.

Am I going to run into any issues if I make this and the shifter support solid mounted?

EDIT: My resting view after wrestling that oily mess out of there.

I had a couple blocks of time today to spend with Hatchet. I crawled under, confirmed that it's running the stock flywheel and clutch set up and pulled them off. The clutch has a ton of material remaining but it's outta here.

I also confirmed my diagnosis of a rear main leak.

Unfortunately I also confirmed that the distributor housing is leaking too.

I bought a few seals for the transmission becuase it leaks as well and was met with this slightly mangled nut on the output shaft for which I need a thin walled long socket.

Not pictured - I was able to pull off the remaining OEM firewall insulation that has been sandwiched between the trans and the transmission tunnel. It felt pretty heavy but only weighed out to 9 lbs. The stock flywheel is 17 lbs and the stock clutch and pressure plate are 13 lbs. The new flywheel is 7 lbs and I believe the clutch setup is around 10 lbs. So that'll be down 13 lbs. in rotational mass and 22 lbs. off total, putting the car exactly at 2,000 lbs. from the last weigh. I like that and I expect the carb setup to be much less than the mechanical fuel injection was.

Also not pictured - the new rust holes that appeared when the insulation was removed.

Also also not pictured - a bunch of parts and hardware that went through the ultrasonic cleaner while I was working on other things.

Well, after about a week away, I'm back at it. I upside-downed Stampie's suggestion.

And, yeah, that motor mount was shot.

No pics but the oil pan was totally absent of sludge or any scary surprises. Bottom end looks great too. I haven't taken any bearing caps off... I'm trying to convince myself not to because, at this point, if it needs bearings I would have much rather just built the thing this off season.

It's mid-June. Schenley is the first weekend in August. I should have time but I am feeling enough of the squeeze that I've started to map out weekly goals. 

New bearings shouldn't be that hard at this point!   If you're like me you just want to get it together but you're so close....   I think if you did it you would be happy. 

I'll go the other way and say leave well enough alone unless oil pressure wasn't great or there were drops in it through corners to suspect damage. You've mentioned maybe doing a full tear down this coming winter so I'd leave it until then.

There's also mixed feelings on reusing connecting rod hardware (at least with M30's), some say it's fine, others you need to replace and others use again unless it's a race engine. Then should you get the big ends re-sized once you've hammered out the hardware to replace it or is it still good? For myself I decided to repalce them with some Maxingspeedrods seeing as their rods actually have a decent reputation and so far so good. The price was fair, real ARP hardware that you can reuse and everything was sized perfectly and much lighter than stock.

Well, I ended up checking. I too generally lean to the "leave well enough alone" but, two things. First, a good friend that runs a race team was really on me about checking and he's just about always right. Second, I realized part of not wanting to do it was just general apprehension about it so I wanted to push past that.

I checked one and it looks perfect.

Here's hoping I got it back on there nicely and I didn't create any issues.

Also checked off the list today was the removal and cleaning of the rear main carrier, removal and cleaning of the trans output flange, removal of the shift rod seal, a pretty thorough cleaning of the oil pan and...probably some other little things I'm forgetting.

Now that you've checked I wouldn't lose any sleep over it causing problems.

Remember these bottom ends held 1400 hp for about a lap in M12/13 F1 spec* 

*F1 spec may include billet crank, forged rods etc and other than the basic block casting may not look anything like what your M10 does. lol

In reply to adam525i :

Hah! I did discover that this was rebuilt at some point but it's all stock parts i.e. not an F1 engine, unfortunately. Some day? Nerp.

After a few hours this afternoon, the trans is now "clean".

One of the many reasons I'm excited to drive it once I'm done is the shifter. It's always had so much movement while in gear. The shift tower bushings were shot and the tower was torn as well. As I understand it this is pretty common. Today I mashed it flat and I'll weld it back up.

I didn't get everything on my list for the weekend done but I did so much cleaning that wasn't even on the list that I'm calling it a success.

Edit: I'm big time struggling with getting the shifter apart. These BMW shifters are two pieces like below:

There's a little circlip that holds the two together. I bought a new rubber piece for the inside but absolutely cannot get that clip out to take it apart. Anyone have a trick? I've been pushing down hard on the washer with one screwdriver and trying to pry the clip out with another. It's the type of circlip without the eyelets.

I honestly didn't know they were supposed to come apart! Looks like that ended sometime in the very early 80's I'm guessing along with threaded shift knobs.

In general to get a BMW shifter apart you need to position it such that when it does you smash yourself in the face as it lets go, at least that is how you remove the newer shift knob that aren't threaded.

If you feel like an easy fab project I made a DSSR to replace the stock shift selector rod that connects the shifter to the transmission. This thread was my inspiration but instead of the nice round tube in the middle I just used the square tube for the entire length. For bolts I used 10 mm OD shoulder bolts from McMaster- Carr with locking M8 nuts so I could set the exact tension on it without worrying about it loosening off, I also used some of the stock plastic washers in there too just to get things perfect. Much better than dealing with the little stock clips and washers.

My G260/6 transmission had a bit of play in the 6 mm hole in the shift selector shaft so I'll admit I drilled it and the corresponding rod joint out to 1/4" and replaced the dowel. 

On the shifter just another thought, if the only thing that is not metal is the part you are replacing some heat from a MAPP gas torch might do the trick.

Hm. I'd never seen that concept. Makes sense. I think I'll put that in my back pocket for next time. 

The piece I'm replacing is rubber but I've freed the lock ring, I just can't get it out. 

This is the offending ring.

I didn't mess with it today but I did mess with the alternator which now has fresh bushings.

Tonight I got the rear main replaced and all of the related surfaces cleaned so that the pan and brand spankin' new windage tray can go on tomorrow(?).

I really feel like I did something else but, guess not.

Oil pan and windage tray installed. Second gasket not pictured but it's there.

Shift tower repaired. Fresh coat of paint not pictured but it's there.

Lower front cover installed. Alternator bracket not pictured but it's there. I'll probably take it back off and paint it tomorrow but I wanted it on there to help the thin coat of RTV set.

I was a dope and didn't have the water pump ready to go back on and I wasn't about to throw it on there as filthy as it is so hopefully the passenger side RTV sets up alright. I was also a bit of a dope and didn't install the crank pulley seal on the bench. Oh well.

It is absolutely no wonder that this trans was so leaky and gross. The output flange carrier is totally gacked.

It was really hard to get a good picture of how bad it is but that's after I carefully filed off the snaggles. The old seal was totally slathered in RTV. For the first time ever, I also used some RTV for a seal like this but only in the places I was very worried about. It'll definitely still leak, unfortunately.

The input seal area isn't nearly as beat up but, Bugs Bunny, cool it on the RTV, wouldya?

I, frankly, did not know that there is an o-ring in the housing (you can't see it in that pic because it's slathered in RTV) so I'm adding that to my next order. I'm not in a huge rush because I'm not expecting the clutch and flywheel for another week or so.

I also did the shift rod seal, shift rod end bushing thingymabobber and the two shift tower bushings.

By tomorrow I wanted to  have the trans all buttoned up, battery tray removed and all engine gaskets done. I know I won't have the trans finished and I haven't decided whether to bother with the distributor housing gasket right now but I should definitely be able to knock out the old battery tray and make a new ground.

We're like t-minus 5 weeks until Schenley with lots and lots to do.

After I got a visit from Mr. & Mrs. Nukem and got my son down for his nap, I had a few hours to give to Hatchet. I felt like I got a ton done but don't have much to show for it.

I got the old battery tray cut out and welded ground that was attached to it back to the fender well. I actually think this ground will be more-or-less obsolete after the carb swap given the fact that I never use the lights but, oh well.

I cleaned the intake side of the head and block in anticipation of the carbs going on and actually cleaned in the bell housing a little more. 

I measured for a puller electric fan and found that even the slimline fans won't fit between the water pump and rad. If I go electric, it'll have to be a pusher. I think an electric fan makes sense for Hatchet. While out on track, it shouldn't need to be on and I can just run it switched for sitting on grid and cooling off headed back to the paddock. That would mean when it matters there will be no load on the engine directly nor via the alternator.

Added to my list of things to do is repair the old Stahl header.

It has never sounded like it's got a leak and it actually doesn't look like it does but I'll drill out the ends and weld it back up. Hopefully that doesn't spiral. I ordered flanges so that the exhaust system is no longer one piece. I can't remember exactly but I think I took Hatchet to a muffler shop before my race school and they had to cut off the original flange because it was rusty.

This excites me. 

On top of that, the exhaust flanges showed up well ahead of schedule. 

I've got a BMW flavored electric pusher fan from (I think) an E30. Free if you want it.

I'm trying to scrounge up interest back in CT for Guac as a Lemons car. We'll see if that goes anywhere...

In reply to Nukem :

It's a small space. Looking forward to the measurements, thanks!

The header is fixed and flanged. That one little dot in the middle of nowhere is just me making an oopsie.

I welded the strap back across there as well.

Tonight I cleaned the mounting surface for the valve cover on the head and decided I'm ditching the stock (very rusted in some places) fuel lines so I started pulling them off. I need to figure out what I'm replacing them with...

Busy day but I've been able to squeeze in a short break here and there. Because I'm waiting on parts, I've had to do what I don't like doing and that is move on from a given task before it's done. I thought I'd tackle the new camber plates. 

While everything was slacked, I put in the poly bushings I've had on the shelf for years that connect the sway bar to the lower control arm. 

So far I've run into two issues with the camber plates. The first was that the bush inside the spherical bearing has a significant ridge on it that I had to carefully file down. 

The second is, uh, this. 

The company that sells these absolutely never answers the phone so I've got an email out to them. It would be hard for me to imagine that they expect a normal person installing camber plates to cut space into the shock tower to allow for full adjustment but... we'll see. There's also a chance that the slots in the camber plate are just cut long and I need to move the adjustment to inside the existing hole. 

EDIT: Their website states that these don't require any body modification so I assume they just expect the max adjustment to be limited by the existing hole. 

If only there was a bit more room on the black plate to drill and tap extra holes into so you could move the offending bolts over to them and get more adjustment. Both BC and Fortune Auto camber plates I have had have come setup like that out of the box to give that extra range.

You could also look at some bolts with lower profile heads and adding some spacers so they clear underneath the tower, not sure if that would compromise the strength of the setup though.

In reply to adam525i :

Yeah. I don't know strength-wise regarding spacers underneath. I have the same hesitancy to open up the shock tower without adding reinforcement.

To be fair, the ones that came off the car also had extra range available if the hole were bigger but I figured this BMW-centric company would be engineering their parts more specifically.

I'm just going to move them inside the hole for now.

As I get more nervous about receiving the flywheel and clutch on time, I'm powering through on other tasks. Yesterday I finished up the sway bar bushings and camber plate on the passenger side. 

I also started playing with how to stiffen up the shift tower. I'm thinking I'll take some left over poly drop link bushings like this. 

There's usually just a rubber isolator that slides into place between the shift tower and that little bracket so I'll probably weld a bolt facing down to the shift tower so that it's easy to tighten up from underneath. 

Last night I spent a lot of time attempting to prep the area under the main roll bar hoop for a nice, solid jack point. My idea was to plate the underside and then weld a section of tube straight down for the jack to catch. This area on the driver's side had the stock fuel lines running here and they clearly held a lot of moisture between them and the floor because it's nasty nasty. 

It's about as good as I can get it without major surgery and I have the two pieces of plate cut. 

Luckily the passenger side isn't rusty at all in this spot. 

I also spent a sort of ridiculous amount of money on the remaining pieces needed to get the new fuel system run as well as the carbs set up. 

Jam packed day again but everyone needs a little break, right? Right?? 

Some of it looks damn good. Some of it looks like an amateur was laying upside down welding dirty, rusty metal. Wonder why...

Along the pinch weld is just stitched because it's almost impossible to get to from how I can lay under/next to the car. I may try to finish those two stitches tonight but honestly, this is surely enough as is. 

Back to work. 

Well, not a big surprise, I finished that edge, cut the tube and now have what should be a nice, solid jack point.

It was more difficult to weld it than I thought it would be with all of the angles involved. I actually may not be able to do the passenger side until I can move the car.

Here's how far it hangs below the rocker.

I like it.