Rich's 328 Compact Project

[rally_rich]

MOT'd and Taxed

It is now road legal and I have been giving it a bit of a shake down on local roads. There has been a fair few teething problems to sort out as expected. They are mostly due to bolts and jubilee clamps that I have forgotten to do up



I had the bracket for the monit trip meter made by 3D printing. I have a colleague at work who has set himself up with a printer as a side business. It is a very handy manufacturing method.









Some weight redistribution.

[rally_rich]

Bruvs Style

Here is a few ideas that I have taken from the Bruvs build. I thought the door pocket idea was brilliant. I used a plastic box from ikea to make the recessed compartments on mine.





I also liked the idea of the recessed pull cables in the hood. The oval hole cut into the double skin on the hood so I had the shroud 3D printed.

[rally_rich]

I only have a few jobs left before it is log booked: fit a hand held extinguisher, mud flaps, roll cage padding and remove the rear spoiler . It is still on standard (328 on front) brakes at the moment with standard pads and I need to sort out the rest of the wheels and tyres. I do have a snag list of things to sort out too. There is a few oil leaks and electrical issues and the sump guard is too low at the back so I will re-make the support bar. I am really pleased to get it to this point though and get it drivable.

[Garry.M]

Really nice looking car mate - awesome build!
This is kind of how I picture my compact looking apart from the rear spoiler,,,never get it passed our scrutineers!
Have you weighed her yet?

[bruvs1]

I'll second that! Nice door cards

[gartrac]

Lovely work Rich, you must have worked really long hours over the last few weeks

Couple of questions for you if you don't mind

Where did the seat mounts come from I see they use the standard BMW floor mounts

Can you tell me where you got the electrical box from and the relay and fuse holders

I really think you should market the roll cage looks to fit perfect

[mrfuzzyfelts]

Well done, Nice to see a car from start to finish.

Did you make the bowl on the bonnet for the Pulls? tried to get one for a mates car and couldnt anywhere

[GAJ1]

He mentions he had it 3D printed or Additive manufactured as some like to call it.

[rally_rich]

No weight yet Garry though I am really interested to see what the front to rear distribution is. I will post the results when I get it done.

@ Gartrac - The seat mounts are from http://www.driftworks.com. They definitely make the job of fitting the seats easier as I would expect it is quite hard to get the position right without a bit of trial and error. I find the position of them really good and it is in the middle of the adjustment range for me @ 5ft 11. They are strong enough however are only 400mm in inside width (between mounting faces) and there isn't much adjustment. Most seats are in the range of 410mm to 450mm in outside width. I measured a fair few at DTweeks when I was looking at seats. I had to elongate the slots about 12mm to fit my Corsa's and they are a narrow seat. A large washer sorts it out though. A few other companies sell there own version - automac and JC racing I think?

I had the electrical box made to my own design by laser cutting and I bent it myself. Its a triangulated box shape so it doen't matter if the nav kicks it. I had a lot of things on the car laser cut. I can make the CAD drawings to cut from so this keeps the cost minimal. You only end up paying for the material you need and it is quite cost effective I think. I just had to plan and group batches of similar sheet material sizes to make a jobs worth and I found a good local supplier to work with. The electrical bits I mostly sourced from http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu. Feel free to ask if you want more info on things.

The navigators view.



I welded in mounting brackets to the shell which can be seen in this picture.



The pull cable shroud on the bonnet was bespoke as well. I made a CAD model and a colleague 3d printed it. PM me if you would like one (or the Monit bracket) made and I could happily arrange it. What did the Bruv's use?



I don't know what the other two parts are as they were not for me.

[bruvs1]

I cut up the centre console out of the compact, cup holders nothing wasted

[gartrac]

Rich, thanks for the reply and information

The CAD drawing of the electrical box would be very helpful, I have a local company who can laser cut it, will PM you my personal email

Peter

[kmsrallying]

You could file this under "how it should be done", great job well done and I really like you're approach to it all.

What events will you be entering with this car?

[rally_rich]

Thanks. The debut event is still undecided but I plan to do both forest and tarmac events and I am based in Bristol. Any events that I fancy really. I still need to get the car log booked and my BARS test done. I want to get a few road miles in the car as well as do a track day to shake out any issues and have a bit of fun with the car. I will test on gravel too. Action shots will be posted.

[rally_rich]

Testing at Walters Arena

It has been quite a while since the last post. I have spent the time doing the finishing touches to get the car log booked and sorting out the little teething problems and putting a few road miles on the car. I had a lot of little issues with the brakes to resolve but they are sorted now. I have also done a few grass autotests in the car which was has been a bit of fun.

Now the serious business. My prospective navigator and I took the car along to Walters Arena for a proper shakedown and it's first taste of gravel. Walters Arena is a great place and the day was really well organised. We had a different route for the morning and afternoon and we could go round and round as much as we wanted. We did until we wore the rear tyres out! The day was well worth it and really helped with preperation of mostly me for the first event. The car ran faultlessly all day long. The only thing we unpacked out of the pick up was the tyre pressure gauge and some lucozade. I was really happy with how the car was handling as a starting point as the spring rates etc were guess work. It does seem to tramp a bit at the rear but I am not sure if thats normal? Anyone with a Compact/E30 get the same thing on the loose? It turns in really well and felt quite easy to drive really. So much torque with the 4.45 diff and I found we were better short shifting to a taller gear than rev'n it. A lot of fun.

In gravel trim.


A youtube clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4y0TlOtCwY

This was a near new Dunlop DZ86 at the start of the day. Probably a bit soft for the conditions.

[rally_rich]

The Woodpecker Debut

I decided on the Woodpecker for the first outing. It's reasonably local to me and a good event with good stages. I have navigated on plenty of forest rallies but never driven on a rally. To ride shot gun I found a rally driver who has never done either a forest event or and event on patterson notes. So between us we had the skills and experience! About 170 cars started the event and as we were seeded near the back we could see most of the cars that had gone off. We took an appropriately cautious approach to the event as for so many reasons it is important to finish the first rally and I was determined to do so. It was a lot of fun though and we did get into it in stages 3,4,5 and backing off a bit on the last stage to ensure we got it home. We finished 100th O/A which I was really happy with for a first outing on a BTRDA. The car never missed a beat and my service crew were bored with nothing to do. Can't help that!

The car still needs a bit more colour.


A mix of excitement and apprehension at this point.