Well Here goes the next few years of my life

Chassis and more has arrived today, the wait was only 6 weeks if that, managed to get the donor taken away/garage ready and chassis delivered all on the same day!

The kit seems very good quality and well thought out, the build manual is on another level compared to most which should help.

Peter(GKD owner) is very committed to the car and it shows. He spent time showing me around the car and putting the panels where they'll be located and what goes where etc etc. Good 1 to 1 service.

Garage started the day like this....



and ended about 20 minutes ago like this

Very Interesting design of the scuttle but more importantly looks really good. Really look forward to the progress of this thread...

Nice ! Have fun with the build !

Good luck with the build, and thanks again for the parts. Sorry for my timimg in turning up when everything was being deilvered.
Chassis looked great in real life. Has a very different front end to most. Caught site of what was left of the donor when I left - Was it an M3 ? Should go well

No worries, Sorry if I was a bit disjointed, it was a case of an excited man! It was an M3, on it way to being a pile of scrap now.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by franky]

quote:

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Originally posted by franky
....on it way to being a pile of scrap now.

[Edited on 24/2/10 by franky]

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My GOD.... He has the Hound of the Baskervilles protecting his build

God help anyone who tries to break in there

That's one spooky dog.

Isn't it normally red eye???

Good luck with the build.

Subscribed - should be an interesting build to watch. Good luck!

Looks very nice, i expect to see a lot of these being built soon.

Hound of the Baskervilles maybe... but what freaks me out is the dog blanket making an appearance in almost all the pictures, but in completely different positions them dogs get around a bit lol

Oh btw, i'd suggest you get all the fibreglass bits out the way or at least wrapped up while your working on the chassis, cos they'll get damaged easy!

[Edited on 25/2/10 by Ben_Copeland]

quote:

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Originally posted by designer
That's one spooky dog.

Isn't it normally red eye???

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That looks good Jason. I did consider one myself for racing in Welsh Saloons and Sports and Magnificent 7s. Enjoy.

quote:

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Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
Looks very nice, i expect to see a lot of these being built soon.

Hound of the Baskervilles maybe... but what freaks me out is the dog blanket making an appearance in almost all the pictures, but in completely different positions them dogs get around a bit lol

Oh btw, i'd suggest you get all the fibreglass bits out the way or at least wrapped up while your working on the chassis, cos they'll get damaged easy!

[Edited on 25/2/10 by Ben_Copeland]

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Good luck - definitely subscribing to this one.

Watching with interest - I love my 530i and think an m powered 7 would be awesome.

looking good mate! I like the premolded scuttle. Its going to be awesome

Does your lurcher only have 3 legs? I've got a whippet staff cross and shes spindly as anything, did he/she break one?

Yes, only 3 legs. She fell over and did the splits tearing all the nerve endings apart so she had to have it off.

Still fast though

looks like a good bit of kit does that. should be an animal with that engine in it.

pete is a really nice chap, he lives locally to me and offered to give my car a look over before the iva, its not even one of his cars! its a really good sign that the bloke loves what he does for a living. you can also see he loves his work as the result is sitting in your garage.

im just wondering how long its going to take everyone else to jump on board and use bmw running gear in a 7. at the moment he has the market cornered.


[Edited on 25/2/10 by ashg]

This is definatley a kit i would consider in the future, will be following progress with interest , keep the updates coming

Good luck with the build. I’m looking forward to see you’re updates. But that green laser eyed, 3 legs dog scars the hell out of me…

Good to see your getting started!

Ive hit a bit of a dead stop with mine since christmas, but ive got a couple of weeks off coming up so hopefully get cracking again.

Wish i'd ordered the full cage now looks excellent.

Interesting chassis design but I wonder why they change from square to round tube at the front?

[Edited on 10/3/10 by MikeRJ]

I asked the same question but can't remember the answer. The cage is nice but they look good with a roll hoop too.

Build is going well, got all the hubs together/reconditioned some parts/fitted bushes and the 2 ally gearbox panels.

I'll post some pics up when i get it rolling or all the hubs mounted.

Proper update now....

The build has gone quite smoothly, pressed in all the bearings/bush's etc etc, made up the hubs, reconditioned and rebuilt all parts from the donor including the LSD.




3 corners are now built, on the fourth there's a slight error with one of the brackets so the guy who builds the chassis is coming round to alter it.... what customer service from a kit car company obviously i'm impressed.




Managed to get 2 inner gearbox panels on and the two side panels without too much drama.





The eagle eyed among you will notice that the front wheels point inwards.... cock-up on my part for getting the wrong rack




I've taken the gearbox off the engine so I can get it on a stand. The 3.0 lump (fingers crossed) is the strongest of the m3 engines however when raced it can suffer from oil starvation so I've got a twin pickup pump and sump from an m3 evo to fit which stops this(£100 bargin).





Once the car is rolling i'm going to fit all brake lines/fuel lines/loom before I build up the courage to tackle the engine.



Starting to slowly take shape now though

Sorry for all the pipe lagging on the car but i've only a few brain cells and I was fed up of hitting my bonce.

The main thing I've picked up is to not sit on the sofa after sitting on the garage floor as i'm running out of bits of the sofa to turn around to hide copper-slip marks

[Edited on 16/3/10 by franky]

Looking really good and quick progress. Well done, keep it up

Cheers

Good thing happened today... I sold the wheels for more than I ever thought they were worth so can get some new ones.

Oh its means i've broke even on the cost of the car too so free engine/box/lsd

heres a tip - buy some throws for the sofa so your dogs can lie on it without messing it up. then when you sit on it with mucky jeans .... you just put the throw in the wash and get brownie points for doing the washing!

(if you're really clever you'll fight to get a dark carpet so you can't see the muck you tramp in from the garage ........ )

Looking good - you've made good progress there !!

The steering rack that's in there is that a BMW one or the Escort one ?

When you say it's too short are you looking at another rack or track rod end extensions of some kind ?

they use a triumph spitfire rack.... I thought I got lucky with a new one at a jumble... turned out to be for a herald, so instead of 104cm from one end of the trackrod thread to the other this is about 90cm so the front wheels point in towards each other.

To be honest its an evolution of the Ginetta g27 chassis that's proved to be very popular with great handling/feedback using more power in some cars so i'm not worried at all. No one thinks the ginetta is a poor handling car. Its too easy to look for triangulation and not see it as my pics aren't the best

We could pick holes in every chassis by everyone if we wanted, i'm happy its got the right history/development and its been well designed with more power than my engine in mind too. Hence the e46 m3 option.

[Edited on 18/3/10 by franky]

build looks great franky
wish it was mine

Guys, this thread is a BUILD DIARY of a car from a Manufactured chassis .....please don't go off topic.

If you have any concerns regarding the Manufacturers' design, please take it up with them.

If you have any SAFETY concerns regarding the manufactured chassis please START ANOTHER THREAD where I am sure a lively debate will ensue, but please, NOT on a personal Build Diary thread.....

Any posts going 'off topic' to this builders build diary will be deleted to keep it uncluttered at the request of the OP.......

Thanks guys........
Fozzie .....Admin

About time for a bit of an update

Doesn't look like much has been done but it has!

Steering now all in and completed, had a bit of a delay while as we had an idea about routing to make the manifold fabrication easier.



uses the original crush tube to keep iva types happy



Started fitting the rear panel, its getting there.


also we've altered how the engine sits so its further back in the chassis and lower so now i've got some good clearance all round under the bonnet and a very good weight distribution.



Looks better now, this is the engine in its final resting place for now.





also added side impact protection to the passenger side, I wasn't going to do this due to the extra weight but I took a look in the mirror and thought I could do with loosing a few LB!

So now i've a fully msa compliant cage with passenger protection too for on the road.

Progress had been slow due to a new born in my life



Plan is to get an exhaust sorted, mount a rad and oil cooler then take the engine out to do the bits I want to and re-fit the clutch as it may be of more use than in my garage.

Fuel pumps are mounted in the tank, i've sorted a dash and brakes are 50% done.

Looking excellent there - new engine position looks better. What's clearance like underneath ?

Panels look a good fit as well - have you had to bend them youself ? If you have that's a tidy job indeed.

Keep up the good work and keep the updates coming.

With the front set to the correct ride height it's coming in at 10cm however with a bit of a tweak it's going to be a good genuine 8.5cm I'm pleased with this as it saves the cost and hassle of chopping sumps about.

Looks stunning, Can't wait to see it finished and in the flesh!

What's your plan for the exhaust manifold?

It's looking really good by the way!!

I've got some designs for length of the primaries etc and a custom 3-2-1(x2) Its just got to fit around the steering which is tight as its not a huge car.

Hoping to have something made up over the next month or so.

I can't wait to see it, now i'm planning on using the BMW 2.8!!

Good choice little lighter than the m3 lump too and not that much in it in terms of power.

Well a bit of an update..... struggling with time due to work/baby and training for the Nottingham Marathon on the 12th of September : My long runs are now 3 hours which I spend thinking about the car!!

A few bits and bobs done, I got the exhaust back all finished, looks much better now, I've got the Lamba sensors fitted at an angle pointing under the car so its nice and Tidy, When I refitted it my first job was to cut the side panel to fit over exhaust, I've done it as tight as possible while still being able to remove the panel to get to the brakes, I've going to get a trim made to cover fit tighter to the exhaust that I can remove... This is what it now looks like coming out of the side of the car...





Also I sorted a route for the alternator belt now the aircon/pas/clean air pump have been removed. Its a 6kp1365 and £8.35 from GSF..



Once that was sorted I looked at fitting the oil cooler onto the mouting plates I fitted, this was a little time consuming as I had to make the lines up, I also mounted the oil cooler on vibration rubber mounts as hard mounted can cause issues...





The issue mounting the oil cooler raised was that the oil connections were in the way of the hose set-up for the radiator, I've sorted this but need another 90deg bend which i've ordered. I've also mounted a temp sensor in the top rad hose for my dash.





I've made a slight start on the electrics, Just routing things to where I think's best(i'm open to suggestions on better places!) the 3.0 m3 has a normal ecu(DME) and a M division Vanos controller too so space is tight. I've been marking up the scuttle and mounting things on so when its all working I can properly prepare the scuttle and it should be plug and play..... I've wired the engine loom back on too as I removed it for some(stupid) reason. I've followed Daves example and removed the plastic housing to increase the space on the scuttle, This along with the smaller battery should help.




Finally I've mounted the brake fluid res.... with this I've looped the clutch feed through the scuttle and back on itself, I'm hoping its IVA friendly!

I've 3 full days on the car at the end of the month so hoping to make some progress then!

Looking good!

That is one crowded bay! my engine looks lost in my chassis now having got used to seeing the bimmer lump there!!

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Originally posted by sdh2903
Looking good!

That is one crowded bay! my engine looks lost in my chassis now having got used to seeing the bimmer lump there!!

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Has been in but now back out while I fit other bits, update and pics to come this week.

Small update now...

Finally got her running.... had a few issues with the bmw wiring, like positive connectors being covered in black insulation :roll: also the fuel pump switched ground out of the ECU isn't switching. I'll look at that later on when I get more of the wiring done. The main thing was to work out what bits went where and wiring in my stack dash.

Major issue was getting oil pressure as the oil cooler filled up with oil and seems as my oil cooler is about 1.5ltrs all in I ended up with an air pocket in the oil pump so the sump had to come off so I could remove the oil pump and prime it again. I had to remove it 3 times in total to get pressure up, along with having the incorrect figures for oil pressure I had a bad few days! FYI 0.7 bar on tickover going up to a max of 4.0 bar! :smt002

Seems to pick up revs quicker without the aircon/pas/cleanair pump connected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-fFLbD-ehE

Since getting it running i've removed the scuttle panel and de-burred all the holes that various wires come though, also working out where to mount the ECU's, relays, connectors, brake fluid res and the engine diagnostic plug. Along with removing this i've connected the clutch hose. I rerouted a few cables back through the engine loom 'box' to keep it neat and looking like a factory job. Since the pics all the power leads have been trimmed to a more suitable length.






I've now got the engine bay more or less wired up, it looks neat(to me!) and should meet most the IVA requirements, i've installed the main engine loom connector on the bulkhead too.

This is the rear of the scuttle, a little bit of work to do here :mrgreen:



The airbox has been mounted to see what fits around it and find all the hoses hiding in the garage! I had to move a few bits about and the hose I put on to blank out the heater stuff needed moving to rest on the top rear of the airbox. its a tight fit!

it all just about fits in the bonnet lines, the dipstick will need trimming and i'll have to look at the throttle linkage, i'm hoping most of it will fit under the bonnet scoop.

I've ordered an ITG filter and some 90mm flexible 2ply silicone hose to mount the airfilter in the nose cone area, its going to sit in the front right as I can protect it from any heat there and and set up a nice air scoop at the side of the nose cone to pull in plenty of cool air. Hoping this should do the job quite well.

Its going in the front here...


So a busy month but now I feel like i'm getting somewhere.