Team Orange

2011-12-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Bel's New Baby

The Kilner family picked up a new family member today. With Bel moving to a new job in the resorts above Park City, the little MX-5 was never going to cut it. Sadly, after a year and a half's faithful service, we had to trade the Mazda in for something bigger and with more driven wheels. After an intensive 3 hour search where the car gods determined Bel was NOT destined to drive a Jeep, we found this nice Audi Allroad. She's done a few miles, but the price was right and she's already got snow tyres fitted.

Now Bel will be good to make the climb up and down the canyon each day.

2011-11-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

Tearing it Down to Build it Up

Work started on the Mustang this month to get the front end tidied up before Mum and Dad's next visit in 2012. It all started with the simple idea to whip the front fenders off and apply some rust proofing. This proved to be a major exercise as the previous owner was an idiot and had painted right over everything including the panel joints. I certainly spent some time cursing him over the last few weeks.

It's been a real learning experience to get the panels off. I read the workshop manual, but it is way too general. The number of little bolts and screws was amazing. Then there was the matter of all the extra bits and pieces that had to be taken off before you can get to the bolts. Things like splash guards, brackets, lights and wiring before you even get to the mud and rust. Despite all the mud and rust, there was only one bolt that had to be cut off.

After managing to get the panels off, it was time to attack the suspension. I needed to get everything off in order to get the build up off the inner guards. After successfully making my own ball joint splitter, I got the springs off and removed the masses of dirt that had built up over the last 40 years. The inner guards turned out to be OK, but the rust holes in the top of the guards was not a good sight! I've cut it out since the photo and it's ready to have a patch welded in. I just need to go buy a welder and find the time to get organised to do it.

Now that it's all torn down, it's time to start painting the parts and put things back together. The new angle grinder and wire brush have been getting a work out and there's plenty more to go. I have all the components to strip back and clean up. I want to get them all painted before I start work on the car itself.

The original paint is a matte or satin finish in the engine bay and it's hard to tell under the guards. It seems to be black with sound deadening bitumen, but it's also got layers of paint, especially the white over spray from the stupid owner. There's also a good layer of dirt and surface rust on everything.

I've got a gallon of Chassis Saver paint which is supposed to be the best for painting over light rust. I need this as I won't be able to completely clean up the surfaces under the guards. I got this in satin to match the classic look.

The components which are hard mounted to the car will be painted in satin as well. Things like brackets or supports. I decided that the parts that are not hard mounted - like springs, control arms, shock absorbers - will be painted in gloss to give a bit of contrast. The paint shop is a bit rough (since it's the garage) and one of my biggest problems is that it is bloody freezing which is not good for painting. Can't do much about that, so it's time to push on.

2011-09-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of News and New Cars

It's been an absolute age since the last post. Four months to be exact, and hasn't some action occurred since then!

Firstly, and the biggest news is that there has been a major addition to Team Orange. Dad made the outrageous purchase of a classic e12 M535i! What a car it is too. The first of the real M cars for the road. 3.5 litre M30 in the still fairly light body gets this thing along in a real hurry.

Dad imported "Black Beauty" from England where it was sold by a typically crazy car enthusiast who wanted to get it away from England's salted roads!

It successfully made the journey and has since been imported, quarantined, washed and registered. Of course, being an e12, it has also burnt out its ventilation fan and has a misfire that is proving difficult to track down.

The only work completed so far is Dad covering the bottom of the car in a good layer of fish oil to keep the rust away and the remedying of the misfire. I've sourced some fresh badges for the rear and a new set of bellows for the rear CV joints and they're on their way to Dad to get installed.

In Mustang news, the old girl spent 2 months at the shop getting a new dash installed. Turned out to be slowest dash repair in history. By the time we got it back, we'd moved into our new house and Winter was long gone and it was stinking hot. I had to pick it up on the same day I got a root canal and it was 100 degrees outside. Nice timing by the workshop! Whatever; the results look really good (the dash, not the root canal) and it is a very respectable place inside the cabin now.

While it was in the shop, they also fixed the heater controls and fitted a new speaker in the new dash so the old dodgy speaker on the floor could go. I haven't had a chance to try the heater out since it's still in the thirties and there's no way to tell if it's working.

While I had the e46 in the shop getting the transmission serviced and the next worn out part of the cooling system replace and generally making a massive donation to BMW's service department, I had to fall back on driving the Mustang to work. Apart from losing several kg and nearly passing out from heat exhaustion, I also noticed the mysterious brake shudder had disappeared! Maybe the brakes were just tired and needed a couple of months to rest up? Unfortunately, it also developed a bad habit of overheating and embarrassing itself on the garage floor when I got home or stopped for any significant time. I flushed out the radiator and replaced the lower hose, but it didn't help. The fall back plan is just to leave it in the garage until Winter.

While I had the bonnet open, I took the change to tidy up a bit. I straightened out all those awful steel lines (fuel and vacuum) and re-ran the throttle switch wire to make things a bit nicer. Not a dramatic change, but all in the right direction.

In a rather strange coincidence, we developed a Mustang parking area at work during the time I was driving it. I always park over on the Southern end of the car park and then one day, there were three generations of Mustang there!

2011-05-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Small Steps

It's been small steps since the Mustang returned from its 2000 mile road trip. We still have a fairly firm pull to the right when you first go for the brakes which is rather disconcerting. We decided to buy in some new bushes and change the front brake drums.

It turned out the drums were chipped and worn, although the chipping shouldn't have made any difference as it was only the outside, sealing edge. I was planning on painting the drums to keep the rust away, but the spray can was missing the nozzle and I didn't have the motivation to go back and complain as we'd already been 3 times in 2 days!

We got on to the sway bar and straight away, we could see the main bushes were the wrong diameter. Back to O'Reillys but the proper ones had to be ordered. We'll get them on Tuesday. We put the old bush back in and changed the sway bar end links and bushes. The old ones were completely stuffed and the new ones certainly look better.

While we've been on the job, we changed the radio aerial for one that hadn't been snapped off, installed a battery clamp so the battery wouldn't rattle around and Dad fixed the hoses on the windscreen washer bottle so he could get some water on the screen. The washers now work so well you can clean the screen on the car behind if you want!

I also had some time to get some photos of the new head liner. It's all in and I added the new interior light to finish it off. Dad is going to get a new dash, so we didn't put the A pillar liners on as we'd just have to take them off again.

2011-04-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Road Trip

Despite leaving, what I thought, was plenty of time, the mustang was just not ready for Mum and Dad's arrival. A windscreen seal held up installation of the headliner, so the road trip started a day and a half late. Dad got a service, transmission fluid change and some new wipers before he left. We also installed the new front bumper which made a top difference at the front end.

The mustang took most of the road trip in it's stride. Around 2000 miles and just some new fuses, some carby adjustment and a whole lot of fuel.

They got snowed in at Kingman Arizona and had to spend an extra night. It was pretty cold the whole trip and the heater doesn't seem to be full on.

In general, the car went excellently. It even covered the "Million Dollar Highway" which included a pass over 11,000 feet above sea level. I was proud to see the old car make it back. She's bloody filthy now and needs a good wash. Dad's already had the carby rebuilt and she's done a trip with me to work. Hardly seems worth it after Utah - Nevada - Arizona - Colorado - Utah!

2011-04-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

Getting Set for the Big Road Trip

With Mum and Dad's arrival in the US of A, the Mustang's got to be ready to hit the road. They're going on an epic 12 day road trip through Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.

I finished off the wheels with their hub caps, threw on the new rear bumper, installed the shiny chrome door lock knobs, replaced the liner in the trunk, touched up the scratches on the paint and drove her down to the shop to get the head liner installed (complete with new windscreen and seals). We're just waiting to get her back so Dad add the final touches (front bumper, new interior light and windscreen wiper blades) and head off into the wide blue yonder!

2011-03-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Retro Treads for the Stang

I finally got around to picking up some wheels and tyres for the Mustang this week. Those polished alloy wheels were pretty bad and once I had them off, it turned out they are generic four stud wheels, so the hub diameter and the offset were all wrong.

I got a set of old steel wheels and gave them a clean and a coat of paint. My workshop/bathroom came back into serious use again! A set of Cooper Trendsetters with their nice little whitewall sets off the car nicely. I also have some original Mustang hub caps, but they will stay in the cupboard until the car rolls out as they are worth too much and are too easy to steal.

As with all things on the Mustang, a simple job like changing the wheels turned into a 3 day event. First I had to get the new wheels there which involved a shopping trolley and a ride to the parking lot. Once set to go, it turned out the lug nuts and the tyre spanner weren't friends, so everything had to be packed into the Mustang so I could get down to the store and buy a new tyre spanner. Luckily I got a 4 way spanner because it then turned out the 4 of the 16 nuts were 13/16 while the remainder were 3/4!

They all on there now though and looking quite sweet. Just have to sell the old wheels off and get them off our patio. Headliner and new windscreen seals are booked in for Monday and then Dad arrives Wednesday to go on their road trip. Hope the Mustang's up to it!

2010-11-15T01:27:00.000-08:00

A Return to Action

We had a big return to action on November 7th with Dad and myself driving the e12 at Wakefield Park in the final round of the BMWDCNSW Supersprint Championship. Wakefield Park surprised everyone with a beautiful day of 25 degrees with no rain (or snow, ice, etc). The practice session was very disappointing with the car understeering everywhere with both Dad or I at the wheel. An inspection after showed that the front tyres were work down to the canvas with a big flatspot on the passenger front. We quickly swapped out the rears for the front (even though they are the wrong size and rubbed on the springs!) and we were back in action. The "new" front tyres weren't much better, but at least we could get around the track.

The afternoon sessions started to heat up and times started to fall. We were down in the 1:20 - 1:22 range but the main competition was in the 1:21's. As the day wore on, the engine sounded less and less healthy. The GPS telemetry showed a dramatic drop off in acceleration compared to the previous round. It was the equivalent to having about 300 kg dumped in the boot (I know this because I went out with Dad in one session and the drop off from engine performance was about 3 times more than with my added 100 kg).

The time crept down in the final sessions and I managed to break into the 1:19's and Dad down into the 1:21's. Sadly, neither of us bettered our times from previous rounds. I'm putting this down to work tyres and low engine power. As a reality check, I previously did a 1:19.0 on road tyres prior to the new injection system. I'm convinced that once we get the engine tuned and new tyres, there will be an easy couple of seconds for the taking.

Over all and excellent day despite the troubles. I couldn't stop smiling all the way back to Sydney. We couldn't of done it without Matt and Mum who were out pit crew and changed transponders and numbers for us.

2010-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

E12 Getting Serious

While the Mustang has been getting prettied up with interior trim, the e12 has been getting more serious on the track front. A new roll cage has been installed to improve the safety department. There was much internal debate in Team Orange as to the best way forward for cage. My initial thoughts of a simple bolt in 4 point were in stark contrast to Dad's idea for a welded in full tower-to-tower cage! We ended up settling on a bolt in 6 point cage with harness bar and side intrusion bars. Looks fantastic and should do the job if the worst happens.

There were some fiddly issues such as the glove box not opening anymore, the rear window winders not being able to be turned and the sun visors not being able to be lowered. The rear windows are not a problem as they haven't been lowered in years. The sun visors are annoying, but a pair of sunglasses should fix that. The glove box was more of an issue. The latch for the bonnet is in there, so it has to be able to be opened. In the end, the glove box was just taken off. We'll work something out later.

Dad's biggest concern was that the extra weight would slow him down! Luckily, the new engine components were shipped last week, so the build can commence as soon as they arrive down under.

2010-09-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Interior Coming Together

The interior on the Mustang is starting to come together with some slow and patient work by the "Chief Mechanic" (me). Slowed down mainly by the poor workshop facilities (my bathroom) and the lazy and incompetent staff (me again), it's been a slow process. Luckily, the addition of the e46 has taken the pressure of the Mustang so things can stay apart for longer.

The first step was the completion of the interior panels. The paint on the trims and new arm rests made a huge difference for what was small change. The door trim panels themselves are still the old ones. I just gave them a bit of a clean and stuck them back in. Yes, they have a crack or two and all the chrome is gone, but they still look decent enough.

With the panels done, it was on to the steering wheel which I had previously prepared with a few coats of varnish. The wheel itself went in quite easily and looks awesome. The horn button is a piece of work though! The pieces they sent didn't seem to work and then the wheel itself came with a different electrical connector which was supposed to solve the problem. Don't get me wrong, the button makes the horn work fine; it just keeps the horn on continuously which can be a little annoying and distracting for other drivers! I think I have a work-around involving electrical insulation tape, some drilled out washers and a great deal of swearing.

Finally, the front seats. I purchased some new vinyl upholstery and after reading the instructions in the "trusty" Ford workshop manual, got to it. The work shop states (roughly) "Remove existing upholstery and install new upholstery with dog clips." Yes, that is what I did. It just neglected to mention the multi-layer install, removing securing wires and the amount of skin I lost on those bloody dog clips. The results were well worth it in the end and I no longer cut my rear just getting in on those old seats.

Still to come, headliner, front end suspension (can anyone say "Unsafe at any speed"?) and new tyres. Fun, fun, fun!

2010-08-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

Another New Addition

Although we're hardly short of transport, we added another new member to the team. After a huge day of test-driving e46 325xi's, we found the only 330xi in the Salt Lake area. It was a good 40 minutes drive away, but he was the one we'd been looking for. We got a 2003 with 88,000 miles on the clock. He's got the usual stone chips and scratches for the age, but is solid underneath. It is going to be a huge difference compared to driving the Mustang!

2010-08-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Dad Fires at the Creek

The e12 made a fabulous re-appearance at Eastern Creek on Saturday with Dad taking the old girl out for a run at round 4 of the BMWDCNSW Supersprint championship. Although he started the day pretty conservatively, the times tumbled in the afternoon. With a best time of 2:08 only a few seconds off the e12's record at Eastern Creek, it was a fine show of form from both car and driver.

The end result was a third in class which puts Dad within 2 points of the Class B championship lead. With two rounds left and his times coming down rapidly at each event, chances of a strong podium or a win look very good.

Dad's son-in-law (otherwise known as Hak) kindly volunteered to flag marshall to meet Dad's commitment to the volunteer. He also managed to sneak in the photos and some cool videos. There's a top one at the link below
EasternCreek7August2010013.mp4
What a noise this thing makes!

2010-08-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

One Door Done

I managed to get the door trim and the arm rest on to the passenger side door. It was an absolute bugger of a job as one screw hole in the arm rest didn't line up with the actual foam of the arm rest. The screw kept going out of alignment. Bit of work with the round file and some oversize washers saw it get attached eventually.

Also got a couple of coats of varnish on to the new steering wheel. It is going to be way nicer than the crappy old split one and safer as it won't have the loose cover on it.

2010-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

Starting to Shine

I managed to get a straight day at working on the interior of the Mustang. I had to go and work in the car park at work as I was sanding and painting. It was bloody hot, but at least I had good light and no other cars to worry about.

I finished off the passenger door and got some undercoat on that pretty easily. I ran into a bit of a problem with the top coat. I think I tried to go too thick too early. That left a big run which I'll have to get back to and touch up later. The driver's door went much easier. I went a lot lighter with the top coats and ended up with about light coats and nice finish,

While I was painting, I hit the rear side trims with some new paint and got them back in. It made a great difference. I also threw some paint on the rear parcel shelf which made things match up a bit. All up, the effect was really good. Just have to get the door trims back on to finish up that part of the car.

Finally, I got the driver's harness in as well. Some tweaks to the mounting design made a huge difference and I managed to get it installed with a minimum of swearing.

I was absolutely wrecked at the end of the day. It was 34 degrees and I was feeling light headed from dehydration on the way home. Not a good option driving a Mustang that likes to bump steer itself around its lane on the freeway!

2010-07-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Forward Progress

Finally, some forward progress on the Mustang last night. I managed to get one of the harnesses installed. It's not perfect by any means, but it's in and a lot safer than that single lap belt.

I also got some time to wire brush the passenger side door trim where it was all "rusty". Not sure if it was rust or 40 years of built up arm sweat (gross!) but it came off with a wire brush and wire wheel on the drill. There's a before and after shot below. All I have to do now is get some time on it to get the paint on.

Also got under the rear to check that leaky area in front of the axle. The good news is, it doesn't look like fuel. It is a red oily substance. Looks like transmission fluid to me, but I can't work out what it's doing way back there.

2010-07-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

The Nasty Interior

Started work on the interior of the Mustang last night. A whole lot of boxes turned up with parts, so I thought it would be a good time to get cracking.

We've got trim parts, headliner, seat upholstery, paint and harnesses to put in. The harnesses are top priority for me as the old lap belts are just not safe enough. The headliner should go in first as all the trim around it will need to be removed to get it in. I don't really want to remove them twice!

Once I got into it, things got a little messy. The door trims came off OK but under the back seat was just a garbage tip! I think I'd better take it down to the car wash and use their industrial vacuum. I think our Dyson would explode if I tried to suck all that up with it.

I don't understand why, but Ford attached the door arm rests with two meaty hex head screws. Why not just a couple of little Phillips heads? Maybe that would make my life too easy.

I needed to get the door trims off so I can rub back the door panels and get some paint on to them. 40 years of arms resting on the window sill have removed the paint and replaced it with surface rust. Not bad, just going to be tedious.

I got all of it out in the end. Even the rear set belt mount where I'm going to mount the harnesses. Worryingly, while I was under there, I noticed what looks like a fuel leak. I'll have to get the professionals on to that one!

I'm going to install the harness on to the seat belt mounting point for the rear seat belt. It should work well. I just need to get a piece of angle and drill some holes in. Would be easy if I had a garage, work shop or even a drill!

The seat upholstery is going to be a tricky one too. It looks simple to cover the seats then clip them on, but I'm guessing this could turn into a fairly serious job.

I'm looking forward to the steering wheel getting here too. They sent me the mounting kit, but now wheel. That old plastic one is cracked as hell so they put a cover over it. The cover would be OK, except it's not tied on so the cover just slips over the wheel if you don't grip it tightly!

2010-07-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

Collecting Engine Parts

I've started collecting the engine parts I'm going to need to build up our new track motor. So far, I have the new double valve springs, valve retainers and valves. The valves are 1 mm oversize, so should provide a bit better breathing ability.

I've also got new pistons, clutch, aluminium flywheel, camshaft and sump baffle on order. Should be about 5 weeks plus shipping to Australia from California. The pistons are custom 11.7:1 JE pistons designed to suit the cam, the e21 1.8i head and are 2 mm oversize. The cam is a Top End Performance grind with 316 degrees duration and 11.5 mm lift. I decided to go even bigger than the 304 to make the most of the other mods and to keep the current engine running by not having to take parts out to re-use. By the time we port and polish the head, the engine should breathe a lot better. We're looking for around 180-190 bhp which should give the e12 the power to weight similar to an e30 M3!

2010-06-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Expansion into American "Muscle"

Team Orange has expanded into American Muscle... well it looks like American Muscle, but it's only got the 6 cylinder. Dad decided he needed a Mustang and he found this one in Colorado for a steal. She needs a bit of work (failed the safety inspection mainly because of the brakes), but she is plenty cool.

2010-04-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

The USA Adventure Begins

A big change has come across at Team Orange. We've moved to Salt Lake City in sunny Utah! It's been a big process and quite difficult. Perhaps the hardest part was leaving the e12 in Dad's shed. While I thought it would just sit there under the car cover, Dad has had her out twice to Wakefield Park. Couple of good runs although the first was wet and rainy. Second time out showed some big improvements and the times are getting competitive.

No opportunity to invest in a new e12 in the US of A yet. There are a couple for sale in California, but they are both too far away and too automatic. I'm waiting for that pristine 528i 5 speed to appear before I jump in. Oh yeah, it would be nice if they have already done a euro bumper conversion too!

Team Orange transport consists of the work Ford Explorer at the moment although Belinda has gotten into a nice little Mazda MX5. She's a great little goer (the MX5 that is) and I can't wait for summer to get the top down and hit some of those winding canyon roads.

2010-01-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Odd Tyre Discovery

In the process of packing up the e12 to be stored while I'm in the US, I removed the wheels to clean out all the rubbish. In doing so, I noticed a strange wear pattern on the fronts. They are worn about 2/3 of the at out to the outside of the car in a distinct "valley". I'm not sure how this came to be. Maybe it was too high air pressure? It also happens to be about the same point as the edge of contact due to the amount of camber we run. Intriguing!

While I was in the shed, I took the opportunity to pull the motor, gearbox and diff out of the old wrecks I had lying around. Dad's new hoist paid for itself the first day. It made life so much easier.

2010-01-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

Final Run for the E12

As Bel and I are moving to the US early in 2010, the October round of the BMWDCNSW championship was the last round I would get to run in for quite some time. I decided to take the e12 out as it was a special day and I wanted my special car for this one!

There'd been some upgrades with a new camshaft installed (a Schrick 304) and I had hopes for big things. It had been quite a while since I'd been out, so the start was pretty slow. I began with 2:07 which was slower than last time I'd been there. Not looking so good for a car with (a little) more power (the camshaft was too big, so we had about 5kW more, but under 4000rpm was pretty sad). I also cut a power steering hose as it was rubbing on the body, so that slowed me down for a session while we fixed it (thanks Peak Performance for their help!).

Things started to get moving in the afternoon session and the times started to come down. First to 2:05, then 2:04, high 2:03 and then 2:03.1 on the last lap of the day. I think that shows there was still some more pace to be found. At that point of the day, everything was a bit overheated and could do with a rest! Still, 2.5 seconds under the personal best and a new club record for Class B was a great result.

2010-01-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

Fathers' Day Out

Team Orange headed to Oran Park to celebrate Fathers' day in September. Bel's step-dad Wayne went out in the e21 and my Dad headed out in our trusty Ford Laser. It was a beautiful day but very sad as it was the last time the BMW club would drive there before the track was demolished to build more houses. It is a terrible waste and a horrible end for one of our finest motor sport venues!

The day itself went well with both Dads getting into it and having a great time. The e21 ran without a problem for the whole day while the Laser was fine except for a small coolant leak at the inlet manifold that was solved with some judicious cutting and extra hose clamps.

Andrew was also there in the MX5 and had a great day mixing it up with the bigger cars. The reward for his efforts was race rubber stuck to his road tyres that refuses to come off!

Must send out special thanks to Tom and Robbo for being the trainers for the guys.

2009-08-09T21:40:00.001-07:00

The Number Plate Fiasco!

We spent an incredibly frustrating 1.5 days changing the front number plate on the e21 over the weekend. I actually went to fix a rattle in the front driver's side strut. That took all of 5 seconds (it was a loose nut on top), so I thought I'd put on the new Historic Plates. Turns out the old plates were pop-riveted on to the fibreglass Alpina bumper/spoiler. We drilled those out and figured we'd just put some small bolts through. First problem - new plates are smaller and there is an ugly section where the old plates were. Easy - we'll attach a piece of aluminium to the bumper then the plate to the aluminium. Next problem - there was no way to get my hand behind the bumper to put the nuts on. This was obviously why the old ones were riveted. Next solution - loosen the bumper to allow hand in there to do the bolts up. No good - The grill is in the way so it won't rotate far enough. So ti was time to take the grills off. Once the grills were off, I took the bumper off completely as it was already disconnected. The actual attaching of the plate was about 10 minutes. Then we could start re-attaching things. The bumper was a bit of a pain. It wouldn't line up properly and the attaching screws were embarrassing - most were wood screws! Finally got the bumper in about the right spot just in time to tidy up as it was getting dark.

Got back into re-assembly next morning. I decided to use some better grills and blinkers off the wreck out the back as the old ones were all cracked and the attachment points broken. They looked good after a tidy up. The next problem was that the driver's side blinker wouldn't line up. It turned out to be the grill not lining up as the blinker is mounted through the grill - thank you BMW :( . This was because the headlights were in the wrong spot, forcing the grill towards the centre of the car. Some inspection showed that there had obviously been an accident at some point and the front of the car was badly repaired. I knew this when I bought it, but had no idea it was this bad.

The light mount was still pushed in about 10 mm. So we took the headlight assembly out and fixed it as best we could, then elongated the mounting holes to get it in the right spot. Now the grill fitted nicely. The other grill was less of the same and we managed to get it in with less swearing. I also took the chance to fix the broken passenger side blinker while I was there. Finally got the centre (kidney) grill on again and added all the missing screws that the dodgy repairer hadn't bothered with. Also put some grill clips from the later e21 just to be sure. Gave her a wash and she looks exactly the same! Luckily, I know how much better it is underneath.

2009-07-13T18:35:00.000-07:00

Some "Infrastructure" Work

We're busy helping Dad build the new headquarters for Team Orange, otherwise known as his new shed in the backyard. This is no ordinary shed though. It's 20m x 10m x 3.1 sidewall. The 3.1m sidewall is high enough to allow installation of the car hoist he has put a deposit on. There's room for 11 cars (as long as they are Escorts or BMW and not another Prado) with still enough space for a 6m x 10m workshop. He's already purchased a lathe, pedestal drill, band saw, benches and loads of other miscellaneous tools. It promises to be a real heaven for petrol heads.

This photo is just the first section of the slab. There's another 4m to go on the left hand side yet!

2009-06-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

Great Debut for Matt at Wakefield

We headed down to Wakefield on Sunday for the 4th round of the BMW Drivers Club NSW Supersprint Championship. Matt was making his "debut" in Bel's e21 323i so there was plenty of excitement in the lead up. The e21 was primed with a rebuilt front shock, new rear Konis, modified rear springs and the experimental double sway bar set up front and rear.

Matt had a great start getting the car and himself through practice with no dramas and some solid times. Rough hand timing had him at about 1:25. The afternoon kicked off nicely with times straight down to high 1:23s. More time came off in the second session with some really consistent runs culminating in a 1:23.0. Sadly, the same front shock started to play up with some (as yet) undiagnosed rattles!

Matt stuck with it until the end and, quite literally, drove it until it stopped; with the e21 running out of fuel in the last session of the day! It was a great result as it is the quickest time for the e21 ever around Wakefield. Matt had a great day and we all enjoyed his spirited driving.

2009-05-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Suspension work for the e21

I've been using the time off from track days to get some work done on the e21. The front driver's side shock was rattling, so that's out to be replaced. Turns out it was from a 2002, but it is also a Bilstein sport, so better to fix that replace. As with all things Team Orange, it turned out to be much more complicated that it should have been. Luckily, some help from Herbert at Bavaricars saw me fixed for no cost! Just needs to be re-fitted and we're good to go. My wife's, sister's partner is coming down in 2 weeks to drive the e21 at Wakefield, so it needs to be in top condition.

Since I had the opportunity, I've made some adjustable coilovers for the rear of the e21. If I'd known it was that simple, I'd have done it years ago. Doesn't really help with the ride height yet, at the springs are still stock(ish), but is all ready to use the Eibachs when I upgrade the ones in the e12.

Now I've got all the bits, I just need to get them back into the car!

For those that are interested, I've detailed out what I did to make the coilovers:

1. Buy car that happens to have a spare set of Koni adjustable shocks left in the boot with some aftermarket springs! Alternatively, you can buy them. Most Konis are rebuildable, so a decent second hand set will do for starters. Bilsteins have a similar mounting system, but are more expensive. Depends on you wallet and your needs.

2. Measure up outside of shock - these Konis are 42.4 mm.

3. Purchase threaded collars with ID to suit OD measured in step 2. Make sure you also buy spring seats and locking rings. I bought mine from Fulcrum and they were $120 for the two sets delivered to work.

4. Remove existing struts from spares car (or from original car if you're brave enough)

5. Remove lower spring seat. On the Boges, it was just pressed on, so some good solid hits with the hammer got it off.

6. Cut out the centre section to suit the spring seats. In this case, mine are to suit 60 mm ID springs. I cut it out by drilling a series of holes and using a jigsaw.

7. Apply electrical tape to take up 0.5 mm gap between shock and threaded collar.

8. Fit collars and seats to shocks.

9. I trimmed the springs by a couple of mm to remove any preload. I didn't want any, but this is up to personal preference, requirements and springs.

10. Trial fit to make sure it all works.

11. Paint the bits you worked on and put it all together.

One set of coilovers complete. There won't be any downwards adjustment unless you buy a set of superlow springs. Then you could adjust them up for daily driving and down for track or show.

2009-04-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

Big BMW Nationals

We got very lucky with the weather at the BMW Club Nationals over Easter with almost no rain during the events and a completely fine day at Oran Park. The e12 was at the Show of Excellence although it's there to fly the e12 flag, not to be judged. We also entered the Supersprint at Oran Park. The e12 was first in class B at the supersprint with a time of 1:30.79. Not bad for a tired old four cylinder!

2009-04-13T20:26:00.000-07:00

Ready for the Nationals

The e12 is finally ready for the Nationals. I painted up and installed the front and rear strut tower braces and gave the old girl her annual wash and polish. Not bad for a track car.

2009-03-05T17:47:00.000-08:00

More Work in Progress

The last two months have seen very slow progress on the e12. Since the last post, I've pretty much only done the two strut tower braces. I did manage to get the all the lights back in and working and re-install the grill. The strut tower braces took many long hours with the drill, file and hacksaw, but it was a learning experience and beat just buying one!

Rear strut brace mock up

Front Strut Brace Mock up

Grills cleaned and re-fitted

2009-01-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Parts Going Back In

Started getting some of the e12 back together at last. The front paint work is "done". There's still more work to be done, but I've got to stop somewhere or I'd be repainting the entire car! The radiator looks a lot better with some new paint, but the inside was amazingly clean. There was no gunk in there at all! While the radiator was out, I took the chance to remove the fan (there's a thermo fan in there as well) and tidied up some of the hoses.

The headlights were in a shocking condition. One was rusted through to the inside reflective surface and one has cracked glass. I wasn't able to get new ones easily, so the old ones copped a bit of paint and went back in until I can get the new ones. The headlight mounting bracket was very rusty, so this got a good scrub with the wire brush and some new black rust guard paint. Looks much better. Some idiot replaced one lamp with a non standard one and got rid of the nice neat electrical mount, so I'll need to do a search for one of them too.

Still plenty of work to do, but it's finally coming together.

2008-12-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

Repair Progress

The going has been slow, but I've made some progress with the repairs to the e12. I finished off putting the battery in the boot. It looks quite neat, just needs the spare wheel well cleaned up. I'll get on to that once I've finished the front end.

I removed all the bad paint and surface rust from the front of the car. Turned out to be a much bigger job then expected. Especially when my Dremel died half way through and I had to remove the little fiddly bits of paint by hand! I got the undercoat done last week and got some orange on over the weekend. There's some little tidy up bits to go, but it's looking much better.

Next up is the radiator, windscreen wipers and strut brace. Lucky I've got until Easter!

2008-12-07T14:04:00.000-08:00

Some Repairs for e12 (at last)

Now that the season is over and there might be some rest for the e12, I thought it would be good to get to some of those little jobs we never seem to have time for. I've got the old girl in the garage for the next couple of months, so I'm hoping to get some good time at it. The plan is:

Relocate the battery to the boot (partially complete now)
Fabricate a front strut brace
Paint the area in front of the radiator under the bonnet
Paint the repaired bonnet hinge (it's only been 14 years!)
Fix the passenger door lock that was broken by an attempted thief (this one's been 11 years)
Remove the rust from the passenger side rear door
Cover the holes left by all the speakers that have now been removed
Remove the rust under the driver's side tail light
Install larger diameter brake cooling ducts
Fix the leak in the power steering system
Paint the windscreen wipers

So far, I've moved the battery to the boot and run the new cable. Very hard to do as it is so thick and didn't want to bend around corners. It all works now and just needs a new earth cable in the boot (mainly because the blue one looks dagy).

I've taken the bonnet hinge off and underneath looks pretty ugly. Not all that rusty, but the paint is shot and needs to come off. The hinge itself should be pretty easy to paint though. It all looks in good nick and just needs a rub back and a new coat.

2008-12-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Beautiful End to a Great Season

It was a wonderful end to the season at Oran Park over the weekend. The driving rain from Saturday disappeared for Sunday and it was clear and sunny.

We skipped the skills section in the morning on the basis that the e12 could do without the wear and tear but ended up running one of the skills tests.

The afternoon saw the track a little more slippery than last time from all the rain. The pace was still good and the e12 dropped 2 tenths off the best time to a 1:32.4. Some fiddling with tyre pressures improved the front end grip but, by that stage, the brakes were past their best and times didn't improve. At the end of the day it was a win in class B for the day which meant an overall championship win in Class B for the year. A great result for such an underrated car.

Many thanks to Dad for his tireless help during the year. We couldn't have done it without him.

2008-11-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

BMW Beats Porsche - Finally!

After four years of trying, the BMW Drivers Club NSW finally beat the Porsche Owners Club in the annual BMW-Porsche Challenge at Oran Park. The times were incredibly close all day. The event was invite only and there was some serious machinery on show. The Team Orange e12 ran faultlessly all day. Although it recorded the second slowest time of the day, it was still valuable points for the team in our speed class. It was also an improvement of four seconds over our previous best time.

2008-10-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

Day in the Sun

We had both cars out at the BMW Drivers Club NSW Show of Excellence on the 21st. It was a beautiful day and a well attended event. There were over 80 cars ranging from an Isetta to the latest X6.

No prizes for the e12 (it was entered in Track class) but the e21 took home best late 70's. Sadly, it was the only entry! We scored far more points for the e21 this year (82 vs 19!) with a proper wash, polish and under bonnet preparation. Next year I'll tackle the built up grime behind the engine and try and crack into the hundreds.

2008-10-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

EFI Trouble Strikes

There was huge anticipation for the Wakefield Park Round of the BMWDCNSW supersprint championship after the upgrade to Microtech EFI and having some new brakes installed. Sadly, there was no time for testing, so the car went straight on to the trailer at Bavaricars and next came off at the track. She sounded sick from the start and was hard to get going. Things didn't improve during the day and power was down enormously.

Much fiddling brought zero result, the program seemed perfect and nothing obvious was broken or worn. Times were down an amazing 10 seconds on expectations! The only good news was that the bigger (3.0CSi) brakes were fantastic!

Fearing the worst, we returned the car to the shop and starting compression testing. It was then that Herbert started getting some shocks from the spark plug leads. Turns out they were no good. Replacement brought instant gratification! We'll have to wait until November for the next round, but we're hopeful that the problems will be solved.

2008-07-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Team Orange gets the Blues!

The e12 stayed in the shed this weekend awaiting it's new brake package, so it was off to Eastern Creek with Bel's e21. We'd spent quite some effort in tidying the e21 up since last time out. It had a new tail-shaft, centre bearing, rear wheel bearings, lower front springs, adjustable camber plates, new steering tie-rod, plus a re-upholstered rear seat top and rear parcel shelf. All up, she was looking pretty good.

The first turn however was a complete shock! With the lower front and 3 degrees of camber, the turn in was amazing. The rear however had gone to the dogs! There was absolutely no grip at the back and it spun up the inside wheel with the slightest application of throttle. It had plenty of straight line speed, but she was so slow out of the corners the terminal velocity was lower than the 4 cylinder e12!

Some fiddling of the tyre pressures helped a bit and familiarity helped work out the best way around the corners. My times improved from 2:18 in the first session (where I think I was in shock!) to 2:10 in the afternoon session. While not all that quick (5 seconds slower than the e12) it was an absolute hoot once I got used to it. The quickest way was to keep as much speed as possible into the corner and let the front end drag it around. Once past the apex, I could get some gently throttle on and start accelerating. The "fast in" method lead to some interesting lift-off oversteer moments when I'd over done it. Going past the turn two apex sideways was probably not my fastest lap.

Some lower springs for the back are definitely on the cards before Wakefield.

2008-07-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Team Orange Road Trip

Team Orange headed to Winton in Victoria for the 4th round of the Supersprint Championship contested with the BMWCCV. It was a cold Winton that greeted Bel on Saturday when she headed out for the driver training sessions. There were some good runs with continuous improvement all day. I got a few rides with other drivers and then a sneaky drive in the last session which gave me a good idea of what I was in for on Sunday.

Sunday was slightly warmer, but still cold. Luckily, the rain held off and the sun came out. The e12 was going wonderfully and the times fell from 1:57 to 1:55 to 1:54. Some tweaking of the tyre pressures got rid of some slight understeer and a quick bleed of the brakes brought them back nicely. Sadly, the pads cried "enough" after the first afternoon session and I tore the rubber rushing to get the new ones in. We missed the last sessions, but it was still a wonderful weekend away. It was unfortunate that there were no other cars in class B, but a win is a win either way!

2008-07-07T16:02:00.000-07:00

New Tyres - Different Class

The e12 headed to Eastern Creek to meet up with its new R spec Toyo Poxes R888 race tyres. An amazing difference it was too. Although it had been 2 years since the e12 did a proper time at Eastern Creek, it was 11 seconds faster! The new tyres probably accounted for 4 of these seconds.

Another first in class for the e12 and we ended up ahead of some much faster machinery (an e46 M3 for one!).

2008-03-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

The Proper Battle Commences!

A depleted Team Orange headed to Wakefield Park for the 2nd round of the BMW Drivers Club NSW Supersprint Championship on the weekend. There was no e21 as Bel had other things to do that couldn't be put aside, so there was just Dad and myself there to fly the flag.

The track was newly surfaced and promised some very interesting times. It was hot (as expected) which didn't bode well for getting any top times though.

The morning sessions went well with an unofficial 1:20.00 being recorded which would have been a personal best. Bleeding the brakes the previous day had brought them back stronger than ever and I had an enormous amount of confidence into the corners. Unfortunately, there was a very slight vibration under braking in the afternoon timed sessions which ruined my confidence and added 2 seconds to the lap time. Investigation revealed nothing wrong with the brakes and what appeared to be a flat spot on the front left tyre, so I headed back out determined to push on.

It was well worth it as the vibration started to fade away and the lap times dropped. I got down to a 1:20.3 then 1:19.6 then a 1:19.0. A wonderful result and fantastic to be in the "teens" with some of the seriously quick guys.

It was a win in class A cementing the e12 at the top of the table after 2 rounds. It was good to see a 5 person turn-out for class A and the competition was inspiring. With some new tyres on the way for next time, there should be some more speed at Eastern Creek.

2008-03-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Good Run For Team Orange

We've had a good run in the last couple of months. February saw a return to the track for the e12 at Oran Park and also the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual presentation dinner.

Oran Park loomed as wet and nasty as Saturday dawned. Luckily, the rain had stopped before we got anywhere near the track and there was only the smallest of sprinkles all day. It was the first proper hit-out at Oran Park for me and the e12 as last time the extractors were hitting the steering box which brought the day to a premature end. We started conservatively and slowly built up a bit of speed. A best of 1:36 doesn't sound great, but I was very happy. There's probably another second in tweaking the car and at least two more seconds in the driver!

The presentation dinner was a wonderful event put on by the BMWDCNSW. We walked away with 2nd in class for the e12 and 3rd for the e21. Belinda also picked up the club encouragement award. Very happy.

Bring on Wakefield Park and the rest of the Championship!

2007-12-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

Hot Day at Wakefield

A hot day greeted the BMWDCNSW drivers at the last round of the Supersprint Championship. The recent rain had made a bit of a mess of the track, so times weren't great. Team Orange had success though with the fastest time in class giving us overall second place in class for the Championship!

Once again, we couldn't have done it without the help of our ever patient pit crew, Dad and Hak. Thanks guys.

2007-10-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

More trouble for Team Orange!

The Eastern Creek round of the supersprint series started well for the e12, with the new rear coilovers appearing to provide much improved grip in both tight and long corners. The car was hooking up so well that we (Hak) got best time in our class in morning practice. I maintain that I could have gone as quick, but had to pull in as there was a repeat of the extractors vibrating against the steering box and I had a sticky throttle!

The afternoon session only lasted 1 lap before there was a very strange noise from the exhaust. Expert opinion named it as a collapsed muffler! While I cruised around to record a notional time, all chance of the win was gone and we packed up early. The drive home was excruciating, especially with the development of a large amount of backlash in the drive train.

Bel's e21 ran like a train all day and performed excellently. Hak did discover a missing bolt in the rear subframe mount after arriving home, but it didn't slow her down.

Next outing for the e21 will be Wakefield Park, but it's rest time for the e12. We'll need to save up some budget to get the exhaust fixed and the new 5 speed gearbox in.

2007-09-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Show-n-Shine

It was a lovely day for the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual Show-n-Shine. There was a healthy turn out, although less than last year. The old e12 shined up nicely and came in a respectable 2nd in the pre-1976 category. Sadly, she was the only e12 there, although there was a really nice e28 M5 on show.

2007-09-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Oran Park Trouble

It started off wet at Oran Park and just went down hill from there. A strange vibration turned out to the be the new extractors rubbing on the steering box. The engine mount appears to have collapsed over time, and the new extractors have closed up the tolerances so much that they now rub.

We ended up not being able to turn right and accelerate at the same time, so were 10 seconds off the pace.

Once it dried up, Bel's e21 was getting along nicely and she dropped 12 seconds off her time.

2007-08-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

New Extractors!

Picked up the e12 with its new extractors yesterday. Very happy with the look and the resulting power increase. There seems to be an improvement up high in the rev range. Will only really tell once I get it back on the track. There's a little touching up to do with the spark plug leads, but nothing that didn't need doing already.

2007-07-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

Success for Team Orange!

A very successful weekend for Team Orange. We had 4 drivers out in three cars with Denis joining us for his first track day. It was a close fought battle in the e12 between myself and Hak for class A honours, but I just got him at the end by 0.09 seconds!

Bel had a fantastic weekend in her e21 shaving an incredible 7 seconds from her personal best. Amazing stuff considering there were absolutely no modifications to the car.

Denis also had a great start to his track day career. Not only did he come in at a very respectable time, but he was also lucky enough to get a ride in a Lancer Evo 9 set up for Targa Tasmania!

Huge thanks to Dad for looking after us all day, swapping number and transponders and generally keeping everyone on track.

2007-05-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

Trying Times for Team Orange

What a shocker of a weekend! e12 was missing cylinders on the way down, then started making a horrible grinding noise from the rear. The e12 refused to start in the morning, then the e21 refused to start at the track and had to be pushed started all the time. Luckily, Bel and Hak both took some good seconds off the best times so the weekend turned out OK. Can't wait for the next one and put this weekend behind us.

2007-05-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of Preparation

It's been a pretty long road getting the two cars ready for the Wakefield Park Supersprint. I was totally unprepared for the amount of effort required to get two cars ready. Especially as we have no "work shop" and I either need to work on the cars in the communal garage, or take it to a professional.

It's been a long list of work, and here are the main ones:

e21 323i

Bendix Ultimate pads
Bushes - rear subframe, front caster, steering rack
Engine mounts
Tailshaft centre bearing
K&N Air filter
Front wheel bearings
Rust removed from boot and under rear windows
Spark plugs
Tuning - advance timing and correct mixture
Oil change
Rebuild alternator

e12 520i

Oil change
Removed insulation from floor behind seats and respray
Remove seat belts
Fabricated front struts with adjustable spring mounts
Lower rear springs
Bilstein shocks all round

2007-03-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

Successful Wakefield Outing

We had a great day out at Wakefield last weekend. The slight modifications to the suspension, the new LSD and probably some driver training made a dramatic improvement. Lap time since I last drove there came down from 1:29 to 1:23, and our overall best for the car came down from 1:26. A three second improvement was very pleasing.

Bel also took the e12 out for a run. She was a bit tentative, but put in some respectable laps. Some more experience and some "brave pills" will see her right on the pace soon.

The car ran flawlessly all day, with nothing broken to report. It rained mid afternoon, so we called it a day rather than take a risk. Overall, a fantastic start to our 2007 campaign. Next stop is Oran Park, where we'll be back to learning new tracks again.

2007-03-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Another "new" Addition

We've added another member to our growing BMW family. Bel's now the proud owner of 1979 e21 323i. It's going to need a little work, but it's a lovely car with lots of potential. Here's our two together.

Picked up the e12 last night after it gots it's new diff (LSD), adjustable camber plates and a better tune on the timing. I couldn't stop smiling all the way home!

2007-03-11T03:33:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Wakefield

Been doing a few upgrades in preparation for the Wakefield Park Supersprint. Main one is the new fibreglass bootlid. Who would have thought that the bootlid would weigh 13kg! New one only weighs 2 kg! The photo is pre-paint (obviously).

Had an LSD fitted with 4.44 gears rather than 3.91. Hoping for much better drive out of the "Bus stop" corner. Going to make driving on the freeway a bit of a problem though! Also had adjustable camber plates fitted at the front. Some negative camber is much needed.

2007-01-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Cooling System Mods

We removed the radiator fan last weekend. It's one of those direct drive units, so it always runs at the same speed as the motor. Dad believes it draws as much as 3 kW. In the world of e12 520i's, that is a big number! Off came the fan and in went an electric thermo fan. Lots of mucking around, especially with the assumption that the wire colours on the fan and relay would match up (they were from the same manufacturer after all), but no, black connected to blue and blue to black. How obvious!
Test runs seemed positive. I could feel a little more urge up above 5000 rpm, so could be useful at the next track day.

2006-12-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

Wakefield Park

A stinking hot day at Wakefield Park for the BMW Drivers Club Skills Day. We had Bel out in the Laser and Hak piloting the e12. Both cars ran faultlessly and both drivers did superbly. Highlight of the day was the two of them trying to overtake a 318is at the same time!

2006-11-17T19:35:00.000-08:00

Big Problem!

Had a big problem recently. At some point in the past, someone had stripped the thread off the bleed nipple on my passenger side rear drum brake cylinder. Instead of replacing the cylinder, they justed used a larger nipple and forced it into the cylinder. Of course, when i went to bleed the brakes, the cylinder casting cracked. Bingo! One useless brake system. BMW quoted $206 for a replacement. Luckily, good old Dad found someone who could do one for $60. At least it was better happening now than at the track.

2006-09-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Back on Track!
Team Orange were back at the track on the weekend. The old E12 went well apart from a slightly soft brake pedal at the end of the day and a tiny oil leak from the 'box.

Had a great day out with plenty of dicing with Wolffie in the Swedish brick.

Special thanks to Dad for all his help in getting the car up and running.

2006-09-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

A new addition to the family!

I picked Dad's "new" E28 528i last night. A top buy for $1000.

That's my lovely fiance behind the wheel. She likes the 528i a lot more than my old E12 520i. Shame on her!

2006-08-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

The re-work of the drivers side is almost finished. I've got a couple of coats of orange on now and just need to do the final cut and polish. Looks pretty good to me.

Less than 3 weeks to the next track day and I'm getting pretty excited!

2006-08-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Here's some rust removal work going on. Paint match was about 99%, but we can still tell. For a first, go, it was pretty good.

We then moved on to the other side of the car. Got the rust out, patches welded in and some filler in and partially sanded. Had a little problem and then the light ran out; so it's back next weekend to work on it some more. You'll notice the mighty little Escort (part of Team Brown although this one is "The Red Car") next to mine. This is my Brother-in-law's new project and something that will keep us occupied once the BMW is back on track.

2006-08-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

Team Orange is my dear old E12 520i and the lovely people who help me go out for a race. I've owned her since 1994 , but have only recently starting making proper modifications. I have been out with the BMW Drivers Club of NSW and have had a great time.

Here's the beast in full flight at Wakefield Park.

We're in the process of removing some rust from the body, and looking to be back on track in September at Eastern Creek. Only mods since Wakefield have been to rebuild the brakes and fit SS braided brake lines. Also removed the dust covers and fitted cooling ducts to the brakes.