Shocks, Locked & Ready to Rock!

[SELfor50]

So, it's been awhile since I've had a chance to do any work on the ol' girl, but with Oran Park coming up there was a few things that needed to be taken care of.

1. New Fan Belts (after loosing cooling at Oran Park last year)
2. New fuel tank / fuel pump hoses (they were old and getting a few drips)
3. New rear shocks
4. New Diff (3.46:1 350SE diff, Locked up)
5. New Tailshaft Coupling
6. Flush the cooling system
7. Oil Change
8. Check Brakes
9. New Tyres

I'd been procrastinating about doing the diff on this beast for along time, hoping to find a good LSD with a 3.46:1 ratio, but after long contemplation (and some great advice from an all-knowing walking library), I decided to go with a CIG locker. Being that the car is only used on the track and will be trailered to all future events, it was the best way to get the most out of the car.
Also considering I was going a half a ratio shorter, I didn't want to continue chewing out rubber on the inside wheel on every corner, which is what was happening with the standard 3.07:1 original 450 diff in place.

I was able to witness the diff being welded as you can see below, but I still don't know who the man was behind the mask.. Rumour has it that he's the Stig's cousin, known only as The CIG.

Along with the diff modifications, I needed to go with some heavy duty rear shocks. I'd previously installed B36 - 0506 Bilsteins to the front, that were new, and also re-valved and firmed up for competition use. Time had come to do the rear shocks, so my weapon of choice was he Bilstein B46-1536 shocks, that have also been re-valved and firmed up for comp use.

The tyres that have been fitted for the upcoming Oran Park BMW Clubsport day are new Yokohama Advan AO48-R's. This rubber stick's harder than..... sticks!!

The remainder of the work was routine maintenance before any event, like oil change, brake checks etc.. I also decided to swapout the feeder hose from the tank to the fuel pump, this had a noticeable leak after my last event in 2008. A new tailshaft coupling was also installed, to ensure that the drive-train remained in a 'driving state'.

And now for the happy snaps:

Some stones that were left in the wheel/tyre from the last 'off' at Oran Park


The cob-webs have gathered, but they'll be cleared soon.


Old vs New


The new B46's being installed.


'The CIG' @ work.


Smokin!





Look closely, and you can see the new rubber pattern.


...now if I can just get my hands on those Pentas......


The new ride height:

 

[B13]

Gosh thats a serious contender now! I wish mine looked that race-bred... Should wipe the smiles off more than a few bimmers now. Watch them scatter when this enormous thing closes in behind them.

 

[BenzBoy]

You've certainly come a long way since you began - you seem to have gone from Lonesome Cowboy to Lone Ranger with one gigantic leap.
Go kick butt and enjoy Cam.
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[oscar]

Great stuff Cam.

"All we know is, they call him the Cig". LMAO. That's confidence for ya - gloveless, short sleeve shirt and shorts. Be it stick, MIG, TIG or oxy, if it were me I'd be walking away with burns gauranteed.

There's a lot more welding to a CIG locker than what I first thought.
Thanks for posting the pics, can't wait to see it out again.

 

[SELfor50]

There's also a plate in there, but only on 1 side, as we still had to get the c-clips back in. I'd imagine that the half shafts would snap before that weld.. but only time will tell. Hope neither do!

I'm confident that with the new ratio, and not losing so much momentum / time on each corner with the inside wheel spinning... there could be some puzzled looks at the next few meets that ol' silver enters. Just need to get a good driver behind the wheel now.


BTW: Ian, you might remember that I thought I might need to order some more QFM's.. No chance! haha, they're as new after all those events.. got plenty of meet on them.
However, one of the rotors had a blue-ish colour coating, like they'd been hot at some point..