Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

Collapse
X
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for December 2010: McCall has been traveling a lot for work over the past year, and he burned most of the summer working on our $2010 GRM project E38 V8, but he has managed to get some good parts ordered as well as knock out some work on the Z3M LS1 project. I've got pictures here from the last 3 times I've been by to help him wrench on the Z3 in the last month, and the fuel system is finally wrapped up (well, 99% wrapped up). We're going to cover the December work in this update.



    So the aftermarket fuel rails were installed back in Jan 2010 (yikes!). This was a "FAST" branded fuel rail kit that's affordable, but it comes without any crossover lines - just the bare rails and the mounting brackets. We managed to finish off the crossover line with a short -6 braided line with 90° ends. These connect to the ORB-to-AN fittings that go into the ends of this fuel rail (and also into the regulator). That's what we tackled one night in early December... and we played around with the fuel pick-up assembly and lines, trying to get into the cabin with AN fittings safely. You see running lines on the underside of the track car is sometimes a bad idea, as they can get snagged during an "off" and rip lines apart, spilling fuel everywhere. Many times routing the fuel lines for a race car through the cabin is the safest route, as crazy as that sounds. Of course you want to run them out of the way of the driver, passenger, their feet, etc. So attempt #1 (failure) was the set-up chronicled in the Jan 26th, 2010 update. I wasn't there for that one, just snapped some pics.



    So I took a look with McCall for attempt #2 in early December. This time he had a few feet of 1/4" high pressure fuel line, which was small enough that it had to be heated up slightly to slip over the barbed fittings on the factory pick-up assembly. That sounds bad, but its done sometimes when you're adapting aftermarket flex lines to factory barbs on fuel tank pick-ups. The plastic lines the factories use are often installed with heat, too. Anyway, once we got them terminated inside this small cavity at the fuel tank/rear bulkhead, it was too tight of a fit behind this black oval steel cover plate to fit real bulkhead adapters to this plate. Not enough room in this small cavity for the hose end + fitting + bulkhead adapter. Punt!

    So we drilled some holes in a huge rubber grommet there and pushed these hoses through (bad idea) and terminated them with barb-to-AN adapter ends. Then we used AN style adapters on the hose ends sticking thru the grommet to get to -6 (return line) and -8 (feed line) and make a 90° turn. It was a poor idea that looked even worse once installed - we knew this would never fly as soon as we finished.



    In addition to the ghetto/unsafe nature of this set-up above, the stacked up lengths of all of the fittings and adapters and 90's on the passenger side were going to be so tall that they would be inside of the passenger seat. This double-whammy would never pass any sort of tech (needed bulkhead fittings and only braided or hard lines inside the passenger compartment) so this attempt was aborted for another, better thought out attempt. We tackled attempt #3 this past Saturday.



    We really needed to move the bulkhead fittings away from this black overal fuel pick-up cover, maybe to a spot lower and as far away from the seat as possible. It's just the Z3 has a tiny passenger compartment - race seats have to mount right up against he bulkhead. We found one small location low on the rear bulkhead behind the passenger seat that was open on the backside (the one spot the fuel tank isn't in the way on this side), perfect place for the bulkhead fittings to go. Well, there was a spot welded bracket for a grounding strap we had to remove, but we'll reattach that at a different spot later. This prime piece of real estate was then marked, drilled, and the bulkhead fittings were installed, stacked vertically with a slight lateral offset. This placement will make sense once the lines are installed.



    As you can see, these bulkhead adapters were custom made pieces, as seen above. These started life as simple -4 bulkhead fittings but then adapters and 90° ends were welded to them, to make a one piece fitting with the smallest installed height. McCall had a friend TIG-weld these aluminum fittings together so that it was more compact than the -4 bulkheads and multiple size adapters and 90° ends would have been screwed together (also fewer places to leak). This kept the installed length to a minimum and allowed them to fit down low behind the passenger seat, and adapted from the -4 size on the fuel tank size to the -6 or -8 sizes on the passenger compartment side. Trust me, if you would have seen the 3 fittings before they were welded together, it looked ridiculously tall.



    So now that the bulkhead adapters were installed we had to connect the rubber lines from the tank to the bulkhead, behind the passengers. McCall got 6 feet of 5/16" Goodyear high pressure fuel line, so we wouldn't end up short. This step up to a larger size (essentially "-5") line actually fit the barbed fittings on the tank a LOT better (snug but not so tight that we had to heat the lines to get them to fit!), and they fit the barb-to-AN fittings made for -4 lines perfectly. So this part was a lot on attempt #3 easier using 5/16" line. This Goodyear line was even available at AutoZone, of all places (they didn't know they had it - McCall dug around and found lots of sizes in boxes).



    With the ends/fittings/routing sorted for the back of the bulkhead, we had to fish them under and into the small cavity at the fuel tank / pick-up area. This area is pretty tight on the Z3, but the 5/16" lines just snaked in the gap between the tank and the bulkhead. We did them one at a time, cut them to length, and attached them to the barb fittings at the pick-up. I routed them so that they wouldn't be kinked and covered the sharp edge of the oval bulkhead opening with surgical tubing, so it wouldn't chafe the lines. Then the oval factory fuel pick-up cover plate was reinstalled.



    One thing we're still missing is part of the "connector cage" for the factory wiring harness. This connects the wiring harness to the fuel pump, through the top of the pick-up assembly. If anyone has an extra junk E36 laying around and wants to cut off the factory wiring connector end shown, we'd be happy to pay for that. Shoot me a PM!

    This 3rd attempt was an all-around better solution for the tricky tank to bulkhead hoses. That took entirely too much time, but sometimes weird little stuff like this does. I'll discuss the rest of the fuel system and a few other items in the next post, but this was by far the hardest part. There was some tricky packaging of parts under the hood but we made it all fit very cleanly.

    Thanks,
    Last edited by Fair!; 01-10-2011, 06:23 PM.
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

      Project Update for Jan 8, 2011: We're creeping up on 24 months with this project, so we have got to kick this thing into high gear. This past Saturday I spent about 10 straight hours at McCall's and together we finished up the fuel system, coolant reservoir location, battery cable routing, and throttle cable check. The fuel system work included bits talked about in my last update, but I was so behind on posts that I split it into 2 parts.

      So after we finished the two troublesome connections (3rd time's the charm!) from the stock fuel tank to proper rear bulkhead fittings, we built the rest of the AN braided line fuel system in one evening. Going with stainless braided, over-sized lines and AN fittings is, of course, an expensive option. But in case McCall ever wanted to up the power level, he'd have the fuel lines and such to support 1000 whp. And if we did it correctly it would pass any track tech inspectors' approval, and be safer than pieced-together hard and soft lines. It also looks damn good, and McCall does like his bling...



      So we had laid out the fuel system, after some internal arguments, and then approval of some outside experts, like this: The 255 lph Walbro in-tank electric pump feeds from the stock fuel, tank via the 5/16" Goodyear line, to the rear bulkhead, thru the car via -8 braided lines, thru a front -8 bulkhead, into a -8 AN fuel filter mounted at the strut tower, via -8 lines, then into one fuel rail, across the crossover via another AN line, then out of the other rail via -8 lines into the regulator, then the bypass exists that as a -6 line, goes thru the front -6 bulkhead, thru the car as a -6 line, thru the rear bulkead, then thru the second 5/16" Goodyear line back to the fuel pump return at the tank. Whew! Getting to that layout took several trial fittings, at least 3 hours of debate/mock-up/arguments, and the actual "work" outlined below.



      "Since everything depends on everything else", before we could hope to finalize the location of the fuel filter and regulator, we had to find and mount a remote coolant reservoir at the firewall. This big, space devouring object had to go in first before the big fuel filter could be mounted. Instead of using a stock radiator and small coolant reservoir mounted there, I had talked McCall into using a remote reservoir at the firewall, along with a Z3-fit Mishimoto aluminum radiator (more on that later). We did some searching and found this nice OEM looking reservoir, which we stuck at the highest point in the engine bay. This helps with filling the system and "burping" out air. I mocked up a bracket in cardboard (actually did this twice, and the 2nd time I made room to mount the regulator).

      Once we had the coolant reservoir mocked up, everything else sort of fell into place. Once we started making the braided lines and adding AN fittings, we knocked out the bulk of the hoses in about 6 hours of work. Its the 15-20+ hours (over the course of weeks) ordering parts, mocking up, getting the proper tools, running to the store for one more batch of AN fittings to fit the new layout, and all of the planning that gobbled up 4 work nights before this 10 hour push on Saturday... that planning and little stuff is what killed us.



      We started with the lines at the furthest point back and worked our way forward along the path of the fuel itself. The first line was the in-car, -8 feed line, which went from the rear bulkhead to the front. We found a nice, uncluttered spot under the reservoir for the front bulkhead, mounted it, then measured and built the line in between. The positive battery cable was also reinstalled before this hose was built, as it ran along a slot next to the rear bulkhead fittings and needed to be installed first. We also wanted to find the right hole in the firewall for the giant rubber grommet on that end of the cable, and make sure we didn't cover up that area with any new bits.



      Next we went from the front firewall bulkhead to the fuel filter, and it nestled nicely behind the RF strut tower. It went from the filter, via a -8 line, down and under the regulator and well away from the exhaust header, for maximum underhood working room. You can see the updated coolant reservoir/regulator bracket above. We had the ends with the bend angles we wanted on the fuel rails, and we aimed for those. We had a 60° on one and a 90° end on the other rail, to make for clean routing and un-kinked lines.



      We then went from the far fuel rail back to the regulator, which was mounted just to the left of the coolant reservoir. Then we went out of the regulator to the firewall, drilled and mounted a bulkhead fitting there, and made a short line down tot that (we made it a tick too long so we'll go back, break one end of this hose apart, shorten the line, and reinstall the fitting/end). Maybe we did the regulator before the other -8 line, yea... I think we did. I was worried about the -6 return line going into the -6 bulkhead clearing the big -8 feed line going to the rail. Basically we attacked the "nested problems" in the correct order, regardless of how I explained it here.



      The in-car, -6 return line was built last. It was simple to line up to the front and rear bulkheads fittings, and snug the hose up against the -8 feed line, the main battery cable, and the wiring bundle, all of which fit into an open area that runs along the passenger side door sill. Once the passenger seat is installed all of this will be tucked well out of the way, below the seat and bracket. We made sure that the front bulkheads were mounted high and to the far right, also to avoid passenger's shoes. These two are way up by the factory DME, well out of range of even the most clumsy feet.



      We were both happy with the final set-up, at around midnight, and once I build that bracket we can permanently mount the regulator and coolant tank, and check that all off the list. I also verified the throttle cable length and it looks like the one we picked will work nicely. We also checked the radiator mounts/parts McCall ordered and I took some bits back with me for "home work". McCall had purchased and mounted a new MOMO steering wheel already, but I forgot to take a picture of that (its the same micro-suede covered model I used in my 330). I'll do a short post next time showing the method we used to build the AN lines, including some pretty "cool tools" that many racers might want to check out.

      Thanks,
      Last edited by Fair!; 01-10-2011, 08:32 PM.
      Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
      2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
      EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

        AN hose tips, Jan 11, 2011: After fighting with his first braided stainless hose and AN fitting end install, McCall was frustrated, hands were bloodied, and he was ready to throw in the towel. Honestly, making AN hoses can be a real pain in the ass... if you don't have the right tools. Tools made all the difference, and now McCall is ready to plumb anything with AN. Luckily a friend of McCall's (Ed) owns an industrial hose fabrication business and loaned him almost all of the AN-specific tools he needed. A quick $80 purchase from Summit at my behest got him a 3-piece hose assembly tool kit that made the rest a breeze.

        Tool tip #1: aluminum vice jaws and aluminum AN wrenches

        Most of the hose ends and fittings most racers use for AN plumbing is made of aluminum (a lot lighter than steel fittings/ends!). And most of our tools are made of steel. Installing hose end ferrules takes a good bit of force. Steel is harder than aluminum, so when using our normal steel wrenches installing aluminum hose ends and aluminum fittings, the fitting ends up getting marred or scratched rather easily. Solution? Aluminum tools.



        The magnetic aluminum jaws above are made for use with hose ends, as they have a hex cutout on both sides that will hold the hose ends. And you can use it to hold hose as its being cut off. Likewise, the aluminum AN wrenches above do a good job of tightening the fittings. Note - we still wrapped the jaws of the aluminum wrenches in blue painters tape, which we replaced every so often. I'd rather ruin some tape than the anodized finish on the expensive fittings. These aluminum wrenches and vice jaws came from Ed.

        I found similar aluminum vice jaws from Mr. Gasket for $28, and JEGS has a set for $20! I'm getting a set of these today. AN wrench sets can be found for as cheap as $45.

        Tool tip #2: Koul Tool AN hose assembly tool



        Getting the cut braided hose into the hose fitting is 90% of the work when making an AN style hose. It takes a lot of force and a bit of skill to get the braid to go inside the fitting, and then push everything until it bottoms in the fitting. Using these Koul Tool installation fixtures was the best money spent... this $80 kit had three sizes (-6, -8, -10) and it made pushing the hose into the AN fittings 10x easier.

        They are so simple, but make this chore so much easier... all it does is create a funnel that compresses the end of the hose (and any pesky stray steel braids) and line them up into the fitting. Kind of like a piston ring installaiton tool - sure, you can install a piston and rings without these tools, but why would you WANT to? The included color instructions were great, and it saved our sanity when making these many hoses on this project. No more mangled hoses, and it works fast. And now McCall finally has a tool that I want to borrow!

        Tool tip #3: Cutting the braided line

        The trick here is to use tape around the braided stainless steel hose, then cut through it with a fresh 3" cut off wheel. See the pictures below for this step.

        I've seen 100 different methods for cutting braided hoses cleanly, including hitting the hose with a cold chisel (which would permanently deform the braid, me thinks), big bolt cutters, and more. For me, good tape and a die grinder with a cut off wheel works best. We marked the hose where we wanted to cut it with a black Sharpie, wrapped it in electrical tape once just below the mark, then wrapped it again once above the mark. The mark was then easy to see - it was the crease between the two wraps.

        Our hose expert Ed recommended using reinforced packing tape, as its still clear enough to see the sharpie mark but has the reinforcing threads in the tape to keep the strands in check. He even leaves the tape on the hose end when installing it into the fitting, with no issues. The ferrule applies so much force on the hose/sleeve that it still won't come out of the end. We had electrical tape, so we used that.

        Here is the AN hose construction procedure we used:


        1. Mark, tape, and cut the hose, then remove the tape.


        2. Install hose end into Koul Tool clamp. Use the included shims (orange disc) if needed for a tight fit


        3. Install Koul Tool clamp into vice, grease the funnel, and push the hose into the fitting. PUSH!

        4. Verify the installed depth, then mark the hose where it goes into the fitting with tape (this is a guide used next). A flashlight and a quick peek inside the fitting end told us if the hose was bottomed out


        5. Install the aluminum jaws in the vice, clamp the fitting, oil the ferrule, then thread it into the hose end fitting


        6. Tighten the ferrule end into the fitting, leaving about 1/16" of an inch gap as shown.


        7. Do the same process on the other end.

        8. Blow out the hose with compressed air, from both ends.


        9. Oil the threads and install onto the part being plumbed.

        So if you have a project coming up that needs high pressure hoses, and AN fittings are in your budget, don't forget to locate the right tools.

        Cheers,
        Last edited by Fair!; 01-11-2011, 07:33 PM.
        Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
        2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
        EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

          Project Update for March 6, 2011: This update covers a full month of work on the Z3, so pardon the lengthy post. I spent a full day one Sunday at McCall's on February 13th, working on his Z3 LSx project during the same weekend I worked on Paul M's Subaru Impreza project the day before. We knocked out almost all of the cooling system that Sunday. McCall has been traveling almost non-stop for work so he works on it when he has time, and our schedules miraculously matched up that day. We also did some work at my shop a couple of other times working on brackets and such. Here's the details on the latest work.



          First I had some homework to complete - the cardboard mock-up for the custom reservoir + regulator mounting bracket (shown in the previous update above) was finally turned into steel. I left it partially unfinished (bent, but not welded) so that we could tweak it if needed, and drill the final holes on site. It was a tricky one to bend up with all of the compound angles, but it came out almost perfect. We installed it that one Sunday, drilling the holes for the fuel pressure regulator and coolant reservoir, to fit their existing mounting holes and lines.



          I later took the bracket back to my shop, fully welded the open corner, cleaned it up, and had it powder coated black with a round of LS1 motor mounts and trans crossmembers I had just finished fabbing up. It looks great and the final bracket has since been installed. Powder coating one piece is normally very expensive but when you're doing dozens of parts it gets more affordable - this was lucky timing.



          With the reservoir mounted in place we then installed the larger capacity Mishimoto aluminum radiator McCall bought to fit a Z3 ($230 and worth every penny). Unlike the mystery Fluidyne aluminum radiator used in the car (with modified mounts) by a previous owner, this one fit the Z3 chassis perfectly and was made for factory mounts. Well, it would have fit if it weren't for the two missing OEM lower radiator brackets. The stamped steel lower bits that are normally welded to the frame horns, and that additional plastic cushion mount snap into, both had strap steel welded to them, ruining them for the OEM radiator installaiton.



          McCall had cut them both off (carefully with a spot weld cutter) many moons ago, expecting to have to make all-new custom brackets to better fit that Fluidyne radiator. Once I talked him into getting the Z3-specific Mishimoto, we looked for and found one of the old brackets he cut off. I took it to my shop and managed to free it of the slagged-on welds and big hunk-o-steel pieces. It took an hour of careful cutting, grinding, even some jig saw work, then clean-up, but I managed to save that one. It can now be welded back on right at the same spot welds (and stitched along the seems) and the plastic lower mount snaps in place firmly.



          The other side's old bracket was MIA, and its not separately sold from BMW, I guess since its welded to the chassis. We thought about junkyard sourcing one, but instead of wasting a full weekend day slogging in the mud to find another lower OEM bracket (that would take 2 hours of parts removal and cutting to remove once we found a candidate) McCall came over one night and we copied a stock mount (from Matt's '95 M3 LSx project). After finding the piece of sheet he built it from scratch while I worked on welding some custom lower radiator brackets for our E30 V8. Its not as pretty as the OEM piece but its fully functional. Once we find time to weld it on (and triangulate/reinforce it to the frame with additional welded sheet steel) and cover it with the snap-in cushion bracket and radiator, who's gonna see it or care?



          With the radiator clamped in place on one side and held on at the other 3 points by the factory upper/lower mounts we could then tackle making radiator hoses. This isn't the glamorous or pretty solution, but it works and is done often on engine swaps, including all of the BMW LSx cars we've built. This trick entails combing the warehouse of an auto parts store with some sketches and measurements, then finding some OEM replacement radiator hoses with the diameters, bends and lengths needed. I've done this a time or two and we had the hoses needed (plus a new serpentine belt) within 45 minutes. The upper hose is pieced together from 2 hose sections, and the lower was cut from a funky shaped piece. Both fit pretty darn well.



          We did similar hose work for the water pump to reservoir hose; since he had no need for a heater circuit, we spliced the 5/8" and 3/4" hoses from the water pump together, which are normally part of the "heater loop", and then ran a single hose back to the reservoir. Again, we've done this in the past and it works well, and minimizes clutter underhood. That coolant tank needed a larger sized hose with an integral bend to fit the chassis, which we rummaged at the parts store for and found a month previous. All of this has since been spliced together with machined aluminum hose adapters and hose clamps - it looks good according to McCall, and I'll snap pics of the additional work he completed the next time I stop by.



          At the end of the day we'd wrapped up the cooling system work and Paul M stopped by - mostly to check the progress of McCall's build, as their bet on "who drives their car first" is nearing a payoff from one side or the other. We first bolted the pre-built seat bracket to the driver's side Sparco EVO2 racing seat McCall had purchased, with a Sparco dual-locking slider thrown in between. This "it just bolts on" Z3-specific seat bracket fit poorly and we spent a good hour and a half making it fit the Sparco slider, Sparco side brackets and the car. Then once bolted in, we noticed McCall's head was above the windshield...



          That happens so often I don't even bother buying pre-built seat brackets, especially if I'm gong to be driving the car with another driver of a different height and need a slider in the mix. Luckily with another hour of drilling, grinding, swearing, and modification we managed to get the seat + bracket + slider in the car well enough to slide back and forth, with barely enough room to close the door and keep (most of) McCall's head below the upper windshield structure. Its close enough for a test drive, at the very least.



          McCall has also purchased and installed a new set of E36 M3 rotors, calipers and brackets both front and rear, removing the super thin (and very questionable for track use) Wilwood drag race brake set-up that was on the car when he bought it. That's all for sale - PM me for details! Next up is custom brake lines to replace the stock bits hacked up for a line lock and drag brakes, so we'll end up re-plumbing the entire car in hard and flex lines. That's always fun (we're doing this on Matt's 95 M3 LSx now). We also need to make a custom ABS relocation bracket before that plumbing can take place, so I will load up my welder and head over there when we both have a free weekend (have races every weekend until mid-April) to make that part, and finish weld the lower radiator brackets, too. Once it has brakes and can roll/stop, he can tackle the engine and chassis wiring (he has a stand-alone LSx wiring harness/MAF/ECM ready to put in). Then it can be transported more easily so it can be sent off (my shop or somewhere?) for a custom after-header exhaust. Then... ECM tuning and a test drive?

          More soon,
          Last edited by Fair!; 03-06-2011, 07:41 PM.
          Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
          2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
          EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

            Project Update for March 9, 2011: It had been about a month since I last stopped by so I promised to make time on Saturday to lend a hand on McCall's Z3 LS1 project again. He had been working on the brake lines, which were shortened and re-flared to fit the new ABS solenoid location (OEM location was blocked by the headers, as usual). We'll go back soon and make that bracket, get the ABS unit mounted, and then he can make some short braided lines to bridge the gap between it and the hard lines.

            I had planned on getting to McCall's early, but I had picked up a car Friday evening then left it alone - and that was driving me nuts. So I woke up at 7 am Saturday and washed and clay-barred it and another car. One thing led to another and it was noon before I was at McCall's... sorry, man! You see the "first wash" of any new car I drag home is almost like a baptism; I have to "wash away the sins" of previous owners, and this car had many. It might have even been possessed, as it hadn't seen soap in years, but the paint and underhood areas cleaned up beautifully with pressure washer, brushes, de-greaser, and soap-and-water, then clay-bar. Then our E36 M3 stared at me - pouting like a forgotten child, so it got washed and detailed as well. After the blue E46 330 was de-stickered and cleaned up earlier this week, we then de-stickered the E36 M3, but it had ample adhesive that had to be removed. Beautiful weather couldn't be wasted so I burned half the day washing cars.


            Both of these Vorshlag BMWs are going up for sale very soon; the blue 330 will have the roof and fenders repainted

            Anyway.... I finally loaded up my 220V MIG welder equipment and rolled over to McCall's, also returning his open trailer I borrowed (easier than dragging my 38' enclosed across town for a quick "car rescue", picking up the latest victim). He was going to wire up another 220V circuit in his garage to use for the welder, as he plans to get one someday, but he ran out of time the week before. So off to Lowe's we went for some supplies. Another a couple of hours and another quick trip back to Lowe's (my bad) and we had everything we needed. The aux. circuit box in his garage was then wired up properly with a new 50 amp breaker circuit and outlet for the welder. McCall was excited - this was a long term garage goal he could check off the list.



            Put the welder together than dragged the Z3 closer and put it up on jack stands so I could get underneath and weld the brackets back on. I hate "up-welding" and cursed as each spark found its way under the helmet. These new mounts included the "salvaged" stock lower radiator bracket that was mangled and fixed as well as the home-built OEM replacement for the other side, that was lost. Remember the age old lesson - prep the metal properly before welding! I thought we had the paint+primer off one side well enough but it fought me every stitch of weld. The other side was cleaned down to bare metal over the entire area better and the weld went on like butter. Lots of mock-up with the radiator and stock bracket pieces got it all lined up before the final welding, of course.





            After some clean-up work on the newly added brackets the radiator went in nicely and I took off at about 5:30, headed to pick up my big trailer and load up the Mustang for the autocross Sunday. That was hours more work, into the night. McCall worked for the rest of the evening on the Z3 and got the radiator in and the new electric fan mounted as well.



            McCall had also found the proper length serpentine belt (79.0") for this arrangement of accessories the week before - the TurnOne power steering, Meziere electric water pump, Camaro alternator, Katech belt tensioner, and aftermarket balancer. He had also installed the "Joe's Racing" thermal shifter boot and bracket over the Pro 5.0 shifter. Next weekend we're going to try to knock out the ABS bracket and the final bits... its getting close!

            Until next time,
            Last edited by Fair!; 04-11-2011, 05:11 PM.
            Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
            2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
            EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

              Project update for May 6, 2011: Costas and I have been to McCall's twice to work on his Z3 since my last update, and McCall has worked on it off and on since then as well. Most of this work involved wiring, but some other systems and mini-projects have been tackled as well. The first wok night covered here was about a week and a half ago...



              The stand-alone LSx wiring harness was installed and connected in about 30 minutes. That was the easy part. There's about 14 wires that have to be tied into the chassis and factory harness, which takes a lot longer. Heh.



              There's all sorts of T-taps and wiring hacks that have to be undone, plus a LOT of extraneous wiring is being removed. The basic systems will remain (power windows, front lights, brake/turn/license plate/running lights, gauges) but the rest is coming out. Lots and lots of wires have been traced, marked, and cut out of the harness. And we're not half-assing it, we're taking out wires back to the fuse box.



              There's a lot of harnesses to confuse you. There's the stock Camaro LS1 take-out harness that came with the motor (not being used), the stock engine harness for the Z3 S52 motor (that will be untouched and sold), the chassis side Z3M harness, and the stand-alone LSx harness. The first work night we did in this update ended with a MASSIVE hail storm that lasted 30 minutes, but luckily none of our cars or trucks were damaged. Whew!



              Two nights ago we all met up again and tackled more wiring work. The new 4" offset shifter from McCleod arrived and it fixes the weird shifter location (too far forward) that the Z3 chassis forces. This along with an offset shifter (not shown) should put the shifter right in hand.



              McCall had already built his own cold air tubing and mounted the filter and MAF (using Spectre products) as well as mocked-up more of the interior bits (center console and gauges.



              Costas brought boxes of his wiring supplies and he spent the evening adding weatherpack connectors to things like fans, soldering/heat shrinking ring terminals to various wires, and tracking/cutting out extraneous wiring. He's the wiring master! I spent most of the night buried in the Bentley wiring schematics, being mostly useless.



              McCall installed his new power steering hoses, the clutch hydraulic lines, and several other items underneath the car that I can't remember. He was under the car all night. Oh yea! He mounted the swaybars properly - took grinding on the poly swaybar bushings and some testing with shims, but he got it to spin freely with "pinkie finger effort" before installing the end links. It was bound up like MAD before, which is all too common. The suspension on the car is very temporary, but the bars will stay, so he did these right.



              I got the OEM main power junction block installed, with some custom brackets to mount it to the steel fender liner. I complained about MCCall's supplies (alum angle and bolts), lack of every power tool known to man, and lack of a band saw. I was belly aching all night but they are pretty much used to that.



              Costas had a box full of removed wiring at nights' end, plus more that were traced/cut back up to the dash (he'll get out every inch of unused wire when we're done - he's crazy like that). McCall is still trying to track down a missing wiring terminal for the fuel pump and a few little things like that, then we can finish off the wiring.

              Getting close to firing it up!
              Last edited by Fair!; 05-07-2011, 01:05 PM.
              Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
              2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
              EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                Originally posted by Fair!
                i complained about MCCall's supplies (alum angle and bolts), lack of every power tool known to man, and lack of a ban saw. I was belly aching all night but they are pretty much used to that.
                Yes, he was in raw form. The only tool I didn't have was a band saw but not all of us with a small two-car garage can have one of those laying around waiting for him to use it.
                McCall

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                  Terry,

                  So will you guys offer a Z3 specific, LS swap kit????
                  ---
                  Adrian

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                    Originally posted by s52_bmw View Post
                    Terry,

                    So will you guys offer a Z3 specific, LS swap kit????
                    We already do: different length driveshaft, custom steering shaft. The headers and other mounts are the same.
                    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                      Project Update for May 18, 2011: There have been two more work sessions on the Z3 in the past two weeks. On the first day we just continued to hack away at more wiring. Again this is WAY over the top, crazy, insane, more-than-necessary wiring clean-up. And this car he started with was a non-running, hacked-up mess that needed some wiring repairs anyway. On Sunday May 8th we started in the morning...



                      I brought some "reclaimed wiring" from some previous BMWs, in case we needed a connector or some weirdly colored BMW wire. Costas brought his wiring gear, of course. I made a quick run to Autozone to pick up a pre-made 2 gauge wire for the junction block tot he starter, then loomed it and everything bare on that side of the motor. While I was at AutoZone McCall called asking for some metric nuts and bolts, and I found this awesome Dorman bolt and nut kit selection for $25:



                      500+ pieces, with hex head bolts/nuts/washers in various M4, M5, M6, and M8 sizes. If you have a German car, and have an AutoZone near you, go get this kit. Look at the bottom shelf of the nut and bolt area and pick up one of these metric assortment kits. Good quality hardware in SO many sizes, for a great price.



                      Costas pretty much spent the day under the dash tracing, marking, and removing wire. By day's end he had a box with TWENTY POUNDS of wire that had already been removed! (see below, left)



                      I was still in a lot of pain from my fractured rib, so laying under the car or contorting to get up under the dash was out of the question for me. I became the gopher and wiring schematic guy for the day while Costas and McCall did the heavy lifting.



                      Once he had the cabin wiring to be kept all marked and bundled, Costas moved on to the underhood fuse box. He spent the rest of the day paring out circuits we won't be needing. McCall, meanwhile, mounted a bunch of brackets with the big assortment of metric bolts I found, then re-routed a bunch of hoses and wires underhood, like the steam tube vent hoses. It will look clean and tidy once everything is buttoned up. He also picked up an Odyssey PC680 battery that went into the trunk.



                      At some point the guys helped me mock up the hood and we noticed from looking underneath that the hood hit the cold air tubing. So I took it all apart....



                      And re-routed the bends and filter so that the MAF and hoses cleared the hood and the K-tech manual belt tensioner. By then we were out of time and called it a day. Yesterday afternoon Costas went by and helped MCCall some more, and I stopped by on my way back from looking at a totally beat-to-sh!t E36 M Technic (such a waste of a rare car, oh well). I brought my scales with me and we weighed the nearly complete car while I was there. Before we scaled it the three of us guessed at the weight - this was with drivetrain, fluids, seats, door panels, all glass, center console, dash, and the CCW wheels/Hoosier race tires.



                      As you can see, my guess was closest - within 8 pounds. Suck it! So the car is at 2410. Not bad considering the heavy wheels, glass, etc. It will gain a little weight with exhaust, but this is pretty close. And the minimum weight for X Prepared is 2390 [1200 lbs + (200 lbs/liter * 5.7L) + 50 lbs for ABS], so it won't need much to make race weight. Sure, its still WAY heavier than the 1770 lb boosted CF Lotus that wins XP, but that's a letter writing campaign of its own.



                      The cross weights were pretty funky, but it got better by 2 points when McCall sat in the driver's seat. We can get it to 50/50 crosses with proper set-up/balancing of ride heights after the new suspension goes on (the GC ADs and plates on the car are going to be sold; just on there from previous owner). The front/rear bias kind of sucks, too... When you gut most BMWs they get front heavy and this Z3 is no exception. The E36 Alpha car was around 55%F:45%R, too. "It is what it is." We'll play around with the mounting of some things not nailed down yet to improve F:R balance as much as we can.

                      Since I was still pretty pissed about the CraigsList "find" that was a dud (he claimed it was an 8/10 and it was really a rusted out 2/10 car), after wasting 3 hours driving to go look at it for 90 seconds, I didn't stick around past 9:30 pm - but they worked later. The Z3 still needs some more wiring rework, but the wiring removal looks to be completed. Again, most of this work for the past 3 sessions was optional, just to find that 20 pounds of useless wiring that most people just leave in the car. For a race car, 20 pounds matters. They also decided on a revised ignition/starter wiring schematic last night. Should work well and look pretty slick. It is coming along nicely....

                      More soon,
                      Last edited by Fair!; 05-18-2011, 03:12 PM.
                      Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                      2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                      EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                        Originally posted by Fair! View Post
                        We already do: different length driveshaft, custom steering shaft. The headers and other mounts are the same.
                        Terry,

                        Great to know that this option is available.

                        Is it possible to still keep the car obd2 compliant so that it could pass TX inspection?


                        bump for a great project
                        ---
                        Adrian

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                          Originally posted by s52_bmw View Post
                          Terry,

                          Is it possible to still keep the car obd2 compliant so that it could pass TX inspection?
                          Not very likely, no. This car has lots and lots of sub-systems going into the BMW DME, which would need considerable "black box" programming and wiring to make it work. Nightmare.
                          Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                          2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                          EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                            Project Update for July 11, 2011: Costas and I have pitched in on McCall's Z3 project a few times since the last update, mostly in June. It has almost all been wiring work, which has grown continuously as we have delved deeper into the Z3M wiring harness. There's more work here than necessary, as Costas and McCall are trying to remove every unnecessary wire on the car, pairing the harness back whenever a system is being removed. It's a LOT of work to save another 20 pounds in wiring - which could have been left alone, unused, and in the car. Just know that if you wanted to integrate the LS1 harness into any BMW, and make the main systems work, it would be a TON less work than this.



                            Not to mention McCall keeps buying new stuff to add to the wiring workload, like this new switch/starter panel, shown above left. It is mounted in the dash and beginning to be wired in. What are all of the switches for, you ask? Nobody knows... McCall wants to move sub-systems to these switches "because it looks cool", I guess. (facepalm) Starter, fuel pump, fan, electric water pump, etc. Oh well, all this custom and over-the-top wiring rework is making us all more familiar with the BMW wiring schemes, we know wiring colors in German shorthand, and Costas has improved blood flow to his brain by being inverted for hours at a time (under the dash).



                            At least the engine is wired and ready to start, and the last Friday night we worked on it Costas wired up the starter circuit enough to crank it over. That was a nice sound! Then he wired in the fuel pump and made it spin for a moment, also progress. Still need to connect the PCM, as the engine won't start and actually run just yet. Once the PCM is installed it needs to be reprogrammed to remove the "VATS" (security crap), as that system shuts the car off after 3 seconds if it doesn't see some signal from the original (GM) key. Its simple programming done via LS1 Edit, HP Tuners or any of the many software systems made for the LS series engines. Once we get it to start and run (and an exhaust built) we'll tow the car to a tuner shop for a VATS fix and an initial dyno tune.



                            We were able to fire the fuel pump and turn the starter because we finally got the battery wired in. This took a couple of nights of effort, first by McCall - who mounted the Rennline battery mount hold-down - then by me, who reconfigured the box, mounted the remote kill switch, and wired it all up. The Rennline box/mount is pretty slick, and bolted into the existing "battery well" box bolted to the trunk floor. There's a remote cable operated main battery kill switch the comes with it and bolts onto the mount, too.



                            The main positive battery cable on the Z3M has an explosive charge disconnect end (like the E46) that I carefully cut off. Then I stripped back the outer cable jacket and used the tooling above to crimp the new "lug" end on, which goes to the main battery disconnect switch. Then from the other side of that switch we used an 18" Autozone battery cable with an end already installed to go to the Odyssey PC680 AGM style battery's positive post. The negative post goes to the OEM ground cable, mounted to the rear of the chassis.



                            The factory positive cable was plenty big, and used a #1 crimp on lug that I bought at a welding supply store. I got the "crimp-o-matic" tool (fake name) there, too. This $17 tool is used to crimp the end over the stripped battery cable, and it worked like a charm. You can solder the ends on, with the right "solder pellet" and a torch, but this crimp method worked so well - it was quick and easy and we were able to crimp it with the tool in the trunk, with the cable mounted in the chassis. That lug is not coming off anytime soon.

                            So while we've been plodding through the work on this Z3 for the past 2 years in McCall's home garage, in the very near future we'll have more room to work on it. This car is coming to the new (and 4 times bigger!) Vorshlag World Headquarters and Brewery next month. There we can use the lift to finish the exhaust and wrap up the last little bits of work before it makes its first autocross run. I'll post up a thread showing the progress of the new shop space, and when the Z3 moves in I'll make another update here.

                            More soon,
                            Last edited by Faerus; 07-11-2011, 11:06 AM.
                            Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                            2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                            EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                              Originally posted by Fair! View Post
                              Not to mention McCall keeps buying new stuff to add to the wiring workload, like this new switch/starter panel, shown above left. It is mounted in the dash and beginning to be wired in. What are all of the switches for, you ask? Nobody knows... McCall wants to move sub-systems to these switches "because it looks cool", I guess. (facepalm) Starter, fuel pump, fan, electric water pump, etc.
                              Dork. You are right, who in their right mind would want a seperate switch in a RACECAR for their ignition, fans, water pump, data logger, or lap transponder???

                              Anyways, things are progressing and I can't wait to get it over to the new place! BTW, Costas is da wiring king!
                              McCall

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

                                Project Update for July 22, 2011: Costas and I met McCall last night for some more work on his Z3, with Paul M joining us later for support. It was damned hot all night, as it has been for 2 months, and this makes for slow going. When we left at 10:11 pm it was down to 103°F. This heat sucks. I'll skip the wiring quagmire Costas was stuck in and go over the little crap McCall and I worked on first.



                                McCall had swung by Vorshlag at 4 pm and made this little adapter plate from a template he and Ed marked up a few weeks ago. They want to take one of Vorshlag's ABS relocation bracket assemblies and mount it onto these two mounts on the trans tunnel, and this flat adapter plate McCall made today will allow it to bolt on. Moves the mass of the ABS pump to the middle of the car, which is always better placement for weight on any race car. Not practical on a street car, of course, which has all sorts of dash innards mounted there.



                                The next two are simple. First, the ground strap ($10) will go from the engine block to the frame, for better electrical grounding. The installation of a new oil pressure sending for an aftermarket gauge unit was less simple. First, to get the stock oil pressure sending switch (for a dummy light on a Camaro; we'd all rather see a real gauge) out of the LS1 block took a Oil Pressure Switch socket tool from Nook & Tranny. Trust me, I've tried to use a regular deep socket (doesn't work!) and this $10 tool is worth the cost and hassle of getting one. Then this LS1 block adapter (also from Nook & Tranny) goes into the block, which adapts the big stock hole to 1/8" Female NPT. The Autometer electric sending unit uses 1/8" NPT male, but it won't clear the intake manifold, so an 1/8" NPT 45° M/F adapter from Earl's went in between. Its tight in there, but it all just barely fit, and I didn't have to remove the intake manifold (whew).



                                McCall installed the stock LS1 dipstick (that's Costas pointing it out in the picture), and bent it to clear the hood and headers. It bends easily. He also installed an Autometer "short" sending unit and adapter to fit the LS1 head on the passenger side, for a 1/4 sweep elec Autometer gauge (there's no other off-the-shelf solution). While he hacked away at those I worked on the throttle cable installation, using this too long 48" Lokar LS1 universal throttle cable. The quality is great, but the hardware is all SAE, so leave your Metric tools in the box if you use this brand cable. It doesn't fit the hole in the firewall well at all (I used big washers on both sides), unlike the BMW part number throttle cable I normally use on E36 LS1s, but it does fit the intake manifold bracket better. Very adjustable, too. I bolted one P-clamp around the cable to the fuel rail to secure it and left the ample excess length behind the block. Shorter cable would have been a cleaner installation, but it works.

                                So that's really the last of the "other little stuff" that needs to be done before the engine fires up. We've got it plumbed and bolted in and ready to run (still some brake line work needed to drive it, but we've been waiting on some custom bulkhead adapters for the brake lines for 5 weeks).

                                Let's move to the last of the engine wiring...



                                Costas had already final wired up the starter switch on the Longacre switch/light panel, and tested the fuel pump last time. Tonight he was wanting to finish wiring the electric fan, electric water pump, fuel pump and ECM into the new Longacre switch panel we gave McCall so much grief for adding to the mix. Once these basic systems were wired in then we could finally fire the damn motor. Once it fires and runs (briefly, due to the security restraints from VATS) it could be loaded up and taken to my shop, where we could build the exhaust. The last of the brake line bits could also be taken care of, so it would have 100% all new E36 M3/Z3M brake system and E36 M3 4-channel ABS (this car started with craptastic Wilwood drag racing brakes and a line lock). Then it could be taken to a local tuner shop to have the VATS removed and a dyno tune performed, and actually test driven.

                                After the dyno tune and test drive there is still some tedious wiring to tackle (due to the hacked up chassis/light harnesses from prev owner + the massive wiring removal McCall and Costas due into + some other little things), which Costas could tackle at his shop (an hour away), and work on at his own (frantic) pace, without us slowing him down. The switch panel wiring here should only take another 1-2 hours, doing it right. Well...

                                That Longacre switch/light panel has several problems. First, its pre-wired for crap. See, they have indicator lights that glow when a switch is turned on and a circuit is made. Nice feature to remind you which circuits are on. Once the electric water pump and fuel pump were wired up and switched on, the panel the indicator lights would switch on and off, and the circuit would get 13 volts, but the pumps wouldn't turn. WTF?

                                Lots of head scratching, volt meter probes, and jumper testing from the battery ensued. If we ran a wire straight to the battery each pump would turn on fine, but not through the switch panel. So out comes the cheesy $80 switch panel for a closer look. Let's see... so the pre-wired panels have the entire circuit feed wire run though the little damn light (instead of in parallel), which we found out limits the current dramatically to whatever you are trying to power. Also, this means if the bulb fails the circuit is dead! Useless point of failure and a moronic way to wire a panel. We will instead wire these indicator lights in parallel with the switches and jumper the output from lights together to a common ground, as it should have been done from Longacre's Chinese sweat shop.



                                So Costas starts pulling the entire panel apart to rewire each switches output to a separate wire (in parallel with the lights) to go to each circuit, the right way... and then wiggles the posts on the switches, and each one is VERY LOOSE. WTF? Upon closer look the included on-off switches are cheap Chinese junk. No way is he going to spend hours and hours wiring up this car with twenty five cent switches. So he told McCall to buck up and buy all new Mil-Spec switches from Aircraft Spruce (if its good enough for an airplane...). This morning McCall has already ordered 6 new switches (see picture, above right) + nylon switch covers (weatherproofing) from Aircraft Spruce and they should be here shortly. Then this car will finally leave his hot ass garage, get an exhaust, and then a dyno tune!



                                One hilarious distraction all night was not the buzzing of a giant locust and a huge dragonfly trying to kamikaze into the lights, but McCall swinging a broom like a crazy woman trying to kill them. He was knocking over everything in the shop. Big Paul (observing and conversing with us after his 2 week Alaska trip) was a real man and just grabbed the damn things and threw them out the door.

                                Yes, we know you are ALL ready to see this car run, and probably tired of seeing little updates on small odds and ends, and endless wiring work. Trust us - we are ALL sick of doing these little updates and NOT seeing it running and driving now, and SICK of the endless wiring work, too! The unusually complicated nature of the later Z3M (similar to E46 LS1 we're about to start wiring - so its not wasted knowledge) is what's kicking our asses - everything runs through the factory DME, which has long since been removed. So we're having to re-wire many sub-systems we normally wouldn't. That magic "20 pounds of wire" removal was some work, and this $80 Longacre switch panel (don't buy it) has added a LOT of extra tail chasing, too - lesson learned.

                                More soon,
                                Last edited by Fair!; 07-22-2011, 12:15 PM.
                                Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                                2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                                EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X