A bit of a slow period due to the cold weather! My garage is pretty good but its just so cold even with the heater doing its best. Anyway, I have not made any significant progress it seems to be all little bits completed. The biggest of which was the handbrake cables. These came directly from the donor and were strangely new. However, I could see how the calliper end fitted but not how they were to fit into the two tubes on the chassis. My solution was to turn up two adaptors. I also used the opportunity to use the length of the adaptor to maximise the range of adjustment to the maximum.. Overall I am pleased with these.

I made up two foam buffers to stop the cables banging on the diff and diff cover (when made and fitted!!).

So, only a short update this time. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should be able to make progress with the exhaust system, some seats and the fuel tank.  

Happy New Year everybody. With all the festive celebrations, family visits and other jobs out of the way I have been able to crack on with getting the interior panels in place. I have enjoyed all of these tasks as everything fits and the end result is very pleasing. 

I completed all the panels for the transmission tunnel before moving on to the two main exterior ones.

Sitting in the car making brumming noise got my head round to seats. Any seat would need to be narrow and browsing the internet turned up a few ideas. A call to Peter at GKD also helped me with what was needed. Anyway, I will let this filter through the brain before ordering anything (a bit like the fuel tank, I still have not made up my mind....).
I am going to leave the tops of the transmission tunnel until later as I going to build a centre console for the fire extinguisher and electrical cut out switches.

This got me to the two main exterior panels and a colour scheme..... I am going to follow others with a vinyl wrap instead of paint so a decision was required. In the end I went for white. Ambitious I realise but there was a precedent:

This was my last tarmac Escort. Anyway, to fit the side panels the cage had to go. With little space there was only one option. I rigged up a couple of anchors in the roof and hoisted it up out of the way. I was concerned that the front legs would damage the wrap and or panel when I was moving into position so I rigged up an expansion tool from an hinge and couple of bits of wood. The really helped as I had the cage up and down for drilling holes etc

Again, I think there has been a design change and the panels have not been modified. The picture below shows the strip I had to cut off and re drill to get the front edge to fit correctly for an effective joint and sealing.

With the fit corrected I had to wrap both sides of the panel and cut away for the Sikaflex adhesive.

With all the panels on I can now get the cage lowered and bolted into place.

With the basic engine location sorted I moved onto the alloy panelling for the tunnel and outside cockpit. 
I ordered a couple of high quality Bosch 3.2mm drill bits in readiness. 

I had expected the panels to need a fair bit of trimming to fit but have been very pleased that they all fitted pretty much as they were delivered except one. I think there must have been a design change to the tunnel at the front passengers side (RHD Car) as I couldn't get it to fit.

In the end I used a G clamp to pull it into shape and the drilled the holes. With a bit of sealer all should be well.

























One of the decisions I made when the engine was fitted was to make a small removable panel so that I could get to the clutch slave cylinder for servicing. So before riveting in the panel I cut out an opening and made a suitable cover. 

On the picture below you can just see the rubber gasket I made from Sikaflex to seal the removable panel.

You will also see that I am going to cover all the interior panels with Carbon Fibre effect vinyl. I am pleased with how good this looks and with the rivets in place it has a very pleasing effect.

One I was happy with the fit and all the holes be burred I cleaned all the mating surfaces with Acetone and put a bead of Sikaflex on the chassis and then with many Clecos riveted the panels in place. 

That's two weeks work! I will add some more photos of the interior in my next post. 

A bit of time has passed since my last post trial fitting the engine. After thinking through the lack of clearance between the bell housing bolt heads and the chassis I did slot the chassis engine mountings and moved everything 10mm forwards. I then jacked up the o/s of the engine to establish how deep the spacer needed to be to get the engine away from the pedal box area. I settled on 6mm and turned up a spacer to fit under the mount. I am now happy that the engine will not touch the chassis even under very harsh loading.

The gearbox mounting was straight forward to fit. I did grind about 5mm of the vertical strengthener to provide more clearance for the gearbox housing.

With the engine in I was able to plan exactly where I wanted all the various front to rear lines to go. I need room for two fuel, one brake and one fire extinguisher. Add to this the wiring loom it its going to get very busy in the transmission tunnel. This agreed in my head I removed the engine so that I could make a start on fuel and brake lines. This has been straight forward although a fair bit of swearing crept in in places. I managed to kink one of the fuel lines twice so I now have lots of short spare bit!

At this point as I am not sure I am happy with the fuel lines. I have left them loose until I either do them again or become happy with them with everything else in place.

Next up is the cockpit panels. 

Well it almost worked. After a busy week and a hectic weekend I did manage to get it on its wheels and out of the garage. Everything is loosely fitted with just sufficient parts to be able move it around.

This enabled me to trial fit the engine. 

My immediate concern was the engine sitting to far back with the bell housing bolts touching the chassis. 

The engine also fouled the pedal box area.  I had run out of time so I left the car on its wheels and rung Peter! He had no explanation to this issue so I am going to slot the chassis brackets and move the engine forwards 10mm. I am also going to turn a 5mm spacer to fit under the O/S engine mounting. I feel this will gain me the clearance I need. 

By my next update I should be able to say if it has worked!

Its been a a busy week. As I worked on cleaning the engine and gearbox I came to the conclusion that I was not going to be able to get the hoist and attached engine/gearbox combination down the side of the car to the front of my garage. Its was obvious but there you go!
My build plan is based on starting in the middle of the car and work outwards meaning the suspension etc would be a fairly late part of the build. A fundamental of the plan is to build the car completely from an engineering perspective so that I can be comfortable that every thing would fit, parts made or modified as required. When the car was complete, strip it down and re build it in its final form.

I think I can still achieve this but I was going to need a rolling chassis to get the car outside to get the engine in.

So, the week has been about assembling the suspension and putting some wheels on.

I used my engine hoist to push all the metalastic bushes in place and a vice for the rubber bushes. The rest of the assembly was straightforward although I will need to shim the wishbones on final assembly to get all the suspension lined up accurately. However, everything fitted very well with no problems along the way. I had been talking to Peter regarding dampers, he was proposing Protech as a supplier so I felt this was an opportunity to pass on the GAZ dampers. I was certainly pleased with them visually, time will tell how they work on the road.

By the end of this week I expect to have a rolling chassis. This means an initial engine fit at the weekend.

Another week gone and more progress. I have continued the strip out of the donor car by getting the diff and drive shafts out along with the handbrake cables. I set about the diff with a wire brush in an electric drill and removed all the muck, rust, and corrosion to leave me with a pretty good looking item. A good coat of Hammerite and its ready to go in. I am having to balance the desire to build against the need to strip!
I am getting funny looks from people living nearby as a fairly decent looking 3 Series is being reduced to a pile of scrap. With no wheels and the load space full of removed parts, mainly interior trim it looks a poor old sight. 
However, I have booked a scrap merchant to come and get it next weekend so hopefully I will avert a complaint. I did toy with the idea of putting it on ebay to see what would sell but thought it better to get shot of it. The only parts I have I do not need are a set of 15 inch wheels. I will keep these so that I can move it around if required.

So, diff all bright and glossy I decided to get it installed. I have to say it was straightforward, the rear mounts lined up perfectly and the front bracket fitted very well after drilling the holes. If this sets the standard for fit I will be very happy.

I am still thinking over the fuel tank. I have received a lot of comments on the Blog and on the GKD Owners Club site for which I am very grateful. I am really pleased people are happy to share their experiences with me. Thank you all.

Whilst on the subject of help, I needed to order some parts from our local BMW dealership, Sycamore BMW in Peterborough I was a little apprehensive about how they would deal with somebody who is desecrating one of their cars to make something very different. I have to say, all the guys in the parts department have been very helpful, interested in what I am doing and knowledgeable. The final positive is the price, old 3 Series parts are very well priced!