E36 M42 Build
Posted by Garrett Griffith
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Grant Hughes Ultra Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Phew what a week! Literally as soon as school ended for spring break, I drove home and worked every day from 7am to 1am up until I couldn't any longer. they last time I made a little comment it was on the fuel issue. That was a simple fix as the ground was not clean. Luckily it took me a whole 5 minutes to find this issue! With that done and fixed, It was time to start checking my to-do list off. It was long. The schedule was tight. Forgive me if I miss detail on the competion of the build. I did so many things so fast a lot of it has slipped my mind.
So finishing the car suspension, John and I decided to try some VW parts on the rear dampers and stay with stock springs because the rear shock towers are too narrow for springs and hats. I little grinding on the upper control arm and they fit! 
Next was time to mount the BR44 black rocket tires. Ha these local tires shops didn't know what hit them! It was hilarious. They jammed all 3 of their fancy red tire mounting machines. After a couple of bodies sitting on the tires later, they were mounted. 
They are probably too big but oh well. No clearance issues. Next I had to mount the dash. Just took a hack saw and went right through where there were clearance issues. I didnt care what it looked like as I was in a hurry. I still dont care lol. 
Next it was time to tackle the biggest problem of the build. The fuse box. Custom Cages sent the wrong version the caused the cage to tie into the front strut towers which is RIGHT where the fuse box was.... 
I can take more picture of the solution if needed, but what I ended up doing was putting everything back into the top section of the box and it just so happen to lay on top of the tube and not have any clearance issues with the hood. Now this left two problems (1. wires are exposed and can short of the cage. 2. there is massive hole in the fire wall) I fixed problem 1 with some then ABS plastic and made a splash shield for water and then laid a piece under the wires so they wouldn't contact the metal cage at all. To tackle the fire wall, I took some sheet metal and cut it to a cardboard template I made. Basically I was two halves that would come together to cradle the wires and cover the hole. I lined the metal with small plastic tubing to prevent wires from chaffing. To make mud flaps, I bought ikea cutting boards lol. They are $7 per package (1 red and 1 crap green) just ordered 2 for the red. I cut them and used angle brackets to secure them to the car. 
next, because I had a light bar, I needed some way to turn it on and off. So I used a piece of ABS sheeting again and cut out a small little switch panel. 
I also took the protective film off the lexan 
Next I wanted to get a straight pipe. My heart really wanted my car to be a screaming banshee in the woods. so I made it happen. 
Unfortunately and fortunately, this revealed a problem. As soon as the smallest amount of gas was applied, the car wanted to die. This could be over came if you just added a little more throttle. But I wanted to know the reason. Any who, my cousin and I made the roof panel with a vent. Once that was on, we went for a test drive with the new pipe installed. It sounded amazing. BUT there was another problem. While heading back to the house, the engine developed a pretty nasty misfire. This was the night I was supposed to car onto the trailer mind you. When we go back to the barn, we looked in the plug connection area. Cyl 2 had about a shot glass worth of oil. this was preventing contact to the plug, so no ignition. We cleaned it out, tested to see if this valve cover leak was minor or major. After 15 min of the car running, it was minor. But the car still wanted to die when a little gas was applied. After my cousin stepped outside to smoke. we both looked at the exhaust and noticed it was sucking in a bit. Whipped out a dolla dolla bill yall and sure enough, it was flapping. My heart sank. the car was supposed to be loaded 3 hours ago. I called my co driver, informed him of the news and we decided to press on regardless. I have yet to do real testing and find the exact problem, but im almost certain it is with the exhaust valves. The next morning, I put the stock exhaust back on to lessen the problem (straight pipe allowed the engine to suck more exhaust back in). I had to continue with my to-do list and just not worry about the engine issue. I did a lot of 5 min jobs the next morning (mainly to pass tech) and HAD to load the car if I was going to get to the race. 
service truck loaded with like everything I own in life. haha 
Time to Rally! with a few minor details. I still wasnt done with the car! haha We arrived in Salem at 3:30am, unloaded the car, dropped the trailer off, then slept. The next morning was crunch time. Carl Payne (co-driver) and I had to finish getting the car ready for tech. 
after adding little things here and there, wiring up so co-driver goodies (camera switch, nav light, ect) we headed to tech!! (after a quick car wash and names of course) 
And yes, you guessed it, I was about the throw up the whole time. This was the deciding factor if all this work will have paid off. Mind you I still havent gotten logbooked at this point. It was a gamble. 
As it turns out, RA send the logbook in the mail before anyone ever personally examined the cage. I guess thats the benefit of having an FIA MSA Cage Cert. We ended up failing tech 
The battery was in a marine box which was secure, but the battery itself has to be secure and the + post must be covered. We register for the race and then head to AutoZone for quick fixes. All in all, after some drilling, cutting, and remounting, Carl and I got the car to pass! It was a green light baby!!! 
We headed back to our little work area by the hotel and continued working on the car/ adding the visual package 
We worked until I had to go to the novice meeting, then I was dark enough to adjust the LED light bars. We were both pooped after that day. Shakedown was at 8am the next morning and an hour away. Joy! Shakedown: (lets review my entire racing background real quick: none)This was my first real time in the car suited up, strapped in, and on a gravel road. I had about 4ish hours of manual time. Yeah you could say I was a little nervous. I was really counting on my DiRT Rally experience to transfer over and help out. Ill say this much, it did... A LOT (especially day two). Anywho, we ran the shakedown stage twice so I could get my feet wet...errrr...dirty. After that we headed to Parc. Again due to my massive race background, I was seeded last, haha. I expected it. no big deal 
No despite no knowing any of the big drivers/teams after SRTUSA left RA, I was not expecting THIS many people to be here! I bet this event was a record as far as total spectators go! It was awesome! 
me on the left 
(Videos of stages will come later) SSS1: The super special. Man it was short and packed for of people waiting for you to make a mistake! I dreaded the right hand, off camber, up hill turn. I go to watch car after car after car make the ruts deeper and deeper for me. I suited up, warmed the car up, and got in line to stage. I put the car in 1st, revved to 6.5k and dropped the clutch. The rest was history. lol. 1.03 was my time. oh yeah let me post the time sheets... here ya go 
SS2-9: After talking to like as many drivers as I could, they all just told me to finish the rally. This wasnt good enough for me though. I set high standards for everything I do in life. I could go 30mph the whole time but this is a race dammit! haha I want to go fast! My plan of attack was to take it 5/10th on Friday. After seeing how things went, go from there. So thats what I did. I was learning to drive the car, on gravel, on new suspension, in a rally. lol. It worked because on the second loop I was much faster despite it being night. But before the second loop I had to go though service. This was hard for me. I didnt have a crew and to make things worse, service was shorted to 30min instead of 45. To make matters EVEN more worse, my parents (crew?) had to set up in the overflow parking....... this means I had to check in, drive around the whole service just to leave where I came in, fight traffic, transit to overflow, and being service all while the clock is ticking. not cool man. So yeah, I jumped out the car and instantly began jacking the car. Luckily, this guy (life saver) named Dan, join me and help give the ol'gal a good once over. He worked for Nick Roberts so I listened to every word and breath he took for advice as I had no idea what people normally check in 30 min on a car thats been through hell. Once we made sure everything was still in working order, we lowered the car and headed back to the original service where I had to fight traffic again, transit, drive the whole service circle again, AND then check out. If you were wondering, no, they didnt give me any buffer. 
Any who, the second loop was faster than the first with a few sketchy moments with a pucker factor of 5.4/10. I was learning how the car moved under heavy breaking, tight corners, and small crest. Every second in the seat I was learning more. 
We finished day one without any real issues, just a 30 second penalty due to a slow transit on my part. Day two Parc: 
Car is still really clean lol. After talking to others and seeing how we compared, I was pleased to have done better than some! SS10-17: As soon as the first stage started on day two, I hit it with vengeance. I was working the gears more, climbing to higher revs, and braking later. My times were actually decent! I would go the correct gear on the correct corners to leave with as much power as possible. Two stages were cancelled for me. 11 and 14 (cattle jump). When heading back to day two service 1, the car died once I entered Salem city limits. It was struggling for fuel. I called in a fuel filter swap during service. Once again, now with the help of others, I got out of the car and got to work. I ended up spraying gas all over my face and in my eyes when pulling the pressurized fuel line off, lol. I got out and took a shower with bottles of water. Once my eyes stopped burning and I convinced myself I will have eye cancer now, I went back and finished the swap of the filter. Once the air got out of the system, the fuel problem was fixed and the car idled properly. Also for this service was a tire rotation. 
We left service with 1.5min to spare. That was a great feeling! We got a lot done in a short amount of time! really cool to see the help come in and everybody do a job. Team work makes the dream work! list of things we got done in 45 min ( car jacked up, hdpe off, fuel filter off (23 years old!!), shower, new filter on, hdpe on, fix hdpe in the rear, windows and lights cleaned, tires rotated, vital bolts checked for proper torque on all wheels and axles, skid plate checked, air filter checked, car lowered, wheels torqued, suited up, checked out) Pure team work to make that happen! 
After that service, we had two stages SS13 and 14 (cancelled). on 13, the honda civic (hoonda) was right in front of us and crashed into a tree two turns from the finish. Then we went back to service. I am glad we only id one stage the went back in. I really needed a break. We did basic over view and cleaned the car windows again. Then we fueled our bodies as well as the car. I let some spectators sit in the car because I knew I liked that when others let me! idk if thats illegal, but they loved it and thats all that counts in my book. for the last 3 stages, I was going faster than ever. I still had the goal "just finish" but driving was becoming much easier for me. I knew how the car was going to act, I was feeling the roads more, I was trusting Carl more, we both just went faster! It was great! Carl was pushed hard because he had to adjust his tempo from day one to day two by almost 1.25 to 1.5 times! its a good day when you can say both co-driver and driver got better! 
quick gopro edit of highlights: video: https://www.facebook.com/garrett.m.griffith/videos/10210922730257599/ so all in all....I FINISHED! ha out of 54 cars that started, only 33 finished. I was one of those! I still cant believe I did 100aw rally with no racing/motorsport of any kind. I just had a feeling I knew I was capable of racing rally without actually racing lol. 
I owe a huge thanks to John for helping me set up my cars suspension (he really knows what hes doing). The front was amazing, the rear could use some work but the car handled just how I wanted it to! With EBC yellowstuff in the front and some random ass pads in the rear, couple that with JVABs, this allowed me to brake hard and get the rear loose so I could rotate the car how I wanted!! It was such a shot in the dark to not have anything go wrong with the setup up. come to think of it, this whole event was a shot in the dark haha. Well like I said, ill come back and post videos later, but for now I have some work to do on the car and I also need money. Im poor. lol Be excellent to each other Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2017 10:37AM by Da_Elderly. |
John Vanlandingham Senior Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Chad Eixenberger Ultra Moderator Location: Grafton, WI Join Date: 02/01/2007 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 484 Rally Car: 1988 VW Golf #687 |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
Matt Follett Professional Moderator Location: La Belle Province, Montreal Join Date: 03/13/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 645 Rally Car: Don't Laugh, the Justy is Fun! |
That was pretty much like reading my first rally... and, um, my last.
Well done. The "rally" part will take some getting used to. Don't sweat it. As long as you don't DSQ... don't worry about penalties at first. Don't "always" follow the car in front of you... 
Driving quick, who cares... yer having fun, that will come with time. Congrats |
Patrick Pieper Senior Moderator Location: Santa Cruz, CA Join Date: 07/09/2015 Age: Settling Down Posts: 42 Rally Car: 84 Volvo 760ti |
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Eric Ewert Super Moderator Location: Calgary, Ab Join Date: 05/13/2013 Age: Settling Down Posts: 366 Rally Car: volvo 240 |
Excellent read, and well done! I second Matt's comment on the similarities to my first event. Hopefully we can make the future ones a little more coordinated! Regardless sounds like you had plenty of fun and a solid first outing, keep it up!
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Daniel Junior Moderator Location: Vero Beach, Florida Join Date: 03/02/2016 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 338 Rally Car: 2005 VW Mk. 4 Golf GTI 1.8T |
Grant Hughes Ultra Moderator Location: Whitefish, MT Join Date: 01/11/2006 Age: Midlife Crisis Posts: 6,818 Rally Car: BMW |
Garrett Griffith Infallible Moderator Location: Dallas, Tx Join Date: 01/20/2016 Age: Settling Down Posts: 48 Rally Car: BMW E36 318i |
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