carbuilder723 Posted June 10, 2022 Author Share Posted June 10, 2022 18 minutes ago, Aerodynamic said: Been following your build for a little while and I just wanted to say excellent job on your continued progress. I have a wrecked 2005 M3 and have been planning this swap myself for some time. Out of curiosity, what are your plans/goals for the use of the car? Will it be a more track focused machine (chassis reinforcement, minimal interior)? Purely a street car? Or of course, a mixture of the two! Thanks Thanks, I appreciate the complement! My goal is realistically to have a fun street car. But... I do want some key systems to be up to the task of track duty should I want to do that also. (Fuel cell, Recaro seats, harnesses / half cage, lots of cooling for the engine etc...). I do plan on having AC and power steering in the car...the engine and transmission are mounted on OEM BMW rubber isolators, and the exhaust will be relatively tame. I want to be able to comfortably drive it so it will have an interior, albeit not the same as the original. The other thing I've kept in mind a lot is trying to think about the serviceability in the future. I've tried to use parts that should be available for a long time into the future as well as think about the process involved with repairing something should it break down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerodynamic Posted June 14, 2022 Share Posted June 14, 2022 On 6/10/2022 at 2:06 PM, carbuilder723 said: Thanks, I appreciate the complement! My goal is realistically to have a fun street car. But... I do want some key systems to be up to the task of track duty should I want to do that also. (Fuel cell, Recaro seats, harnesses / half cage, lots of cooling for the engine etc...). I do plan on having AC and power steering in the car...the engine and transmission are mounted on OEM BMW rubber isolators, and the exhaust will be relatively tame. I want to be able to comfortably drive it so it will have an interior, albeit not the same as the original. The other thing I've kept in mind a lot is trying to think about the serviceability in the future. I've tried to use parts that should be available for a long time into the future as well as think about the process involved with repairing something should it break down. You're welcome, that sounds like a good balance you're striving for. I also agree with your sentiment that serviceability is important, especially with Z parts getting harder to find (at reasonable prices at least lol). I've been super torn weighing the pros and cons of whether to incorporate a power rack into my own build plan. Right now I'm leaning slightly towards keeping my manual rack.... I'm not sure how hard of a decision it was for you, but your crossmember design is pretty inspiring. What swayed you most in the end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbuilder723 Posted June 14, 2022 Author Share Posted June 14, 2022 @Aerodynamic The reason I ended up going with power steering was pretty much only to avoid having to crank on the wheel so hard in the parking lot/ driveway. Also, I have an M3 already and love the steering feel in that car, granted it's is a much more modern suspension design. I also already had the power steering rack sitting on the shelf, so I figured, "why not?". The custom front subframe was a combination of a few factors... mainly I wanted the engine to be down low and as far back as I could reasonably expect. I started by modifying the original subframe, but found as I went deeper into it, that it just wasn't going to allow me to accomplish those two goals, in addition to fitting a power steering rack in also. So, I bit the bullet and just went custom. But don't worry, if you still want to do the engine swap, it is possible to do it with a modified stock cross member. If that's the way you go, I would keep the original steering rack and just position the engine around it. @grannyknothas done a similar swap. Another thread I've used as a huge inspiration is: https://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/139679/bmw-m3-powered-240z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aerodynamic Posted June 14, 2022 Share Posted June 14, 2022 3 hours ago, carbuilder723 said: @Aerodynamic The reason I ended up going with power steering was pretty much only to avoid having to crank on the wheel so hard in the parking lot/ driveway. Also, I have an M3 already and love the steering feel in that car, granted it's is a much more modern suspension design. I also already had the power steering rack sitting on the shelf, so I figured, "why not?". The custom front subframe was a combination of a few factors... mainly I wanted the engine to be down low and as far back as I could reasonably expect. I started by modifying the original subframe, but found as I went deeper into it, that it just wasn't going to allow me to accomplish those two goals, in addition to fitting a power steering rack in also. So, I bit the bullet and just went custom. But don't worry, if you still want to do the engine swap, it is possible to do it with a modified stock cross member. If that's the way you go, I would keep the original steering rack and just position the engine around it. @grannyknothas done a similar swap. Another thread I've used as a huge inspiration is: https://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/139679/bmw-m3-powered-240z It'll be an interesting comparison having the same rack/powerplant in two cars from totally different eras. I remember stumbling across that retrorides thread a few years ago and getting the idea in my head. It gives good idea of the work involved to make it all fit. Thanks again and looking forward to more progress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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