Suspension geometry - Part 1

After giving up removing the diff from the BMW I decided to work on the design. As I remembered to measure the steering rack I was able to start planning the suspension geometry.

Whilst static the wheels are 1 degree in negative camber.

In cornering the body rolls 3 degrees before the outside wheel gains positive camber.

As I have chosen to use a relatively short swing axle length (SAL) of 1600mm to improve cornering geometry, the wheel geometry alters quite a lot in squat and droop. The images below are 50mm squat and droop.

Started to remove the differential

Did some work on the BMW today, not as much progress as I would have liked, but started to remove the diff. Originally I planned to remove the engine today but as I thought about it I realised I needed the car on the ground again prior to lifting the engine.

This is so that a; I don't need to lift the engine as high and b; I can roll the car half out the garage to have more space to maneuver the engine once it's out. With the new plan, I needed to make sure everything that needs to be done whilst the car is on axle stands, is done prior to removing the engine. Removing the diff was the most important job to do.

As mentioned, didn't get very far as I discovered I needed to jack the back of the car up higher to get underneath it, then to make access easier I removed the rear bumper, whilst I was at the back I also removed the rear lights (Ready for eBay) and then took an hour to remove just one of the bolts holding the prop shaft to the diff!

Preparation to remove engine

Removed the exhaust and heat shield in order to remove the prop shaft, disconnected all electrics from the engine, disconnected pipes connecting the engine to the heater. All that is left to do is remove the bolts on the gearbox mounting and engine mounts then crane the whole engine out in one piece.

The Teardown

At this stage I am not sure how much of the car I will end up using but currently my intention is to use the engine, gearbox, prop and drive shafts; and wheel hubs. I will use the differential for the build but intend to swap it out for with limited slip version at a later date, similarly the steering rack will be swapped with the quicker ratio version from a Z3. The first stage is to remove the parts I need from the car and then to remove parts I can sell on ebay before getting rid of the left over chassis.

Since I picked the car up I have been working on removing parts but as the car had an after market alarm and immobiliser system I needed to remove it before removing the engine so I could check the engine wasn't immobilised. After removing the dashboard, following wires all round the car and rejoining wires where the alarm was spliced I finally was able to remove the alarm system. A quick test and the engine fired up first time.

Once the alarm was gone I could start getting ready to remove the engine. I had removed the front bumper, grill and lights over the last week so next the car needed to be jacked up and the coolant and oil drained.

The beginning

On the 9th of December I collected my engine. I chose to use a BMW M44 engine, mine came with the rest of the car for free. I won my 1996 BMW E36 318is on ebay for £285, after explaining to the seller what I was using it for, she asked if she could buy the bonnet back off me so in the end I paid £250 for the car (Minus the bonnet).

Inspiration - Lotus Seven

Originally designed by Colin Chapman in 1957, the Lotus Seven was a two seat open top sports car. The design has been copied by many car builders over the years, the most well known being Caterham and Westfield.