So here's the M50 in position. Picked her up from Fritz the other day and did a 300 mile run with only minor snags that mostly relate to prior issues - the ride and roadholding are very solid, the performance is certainly way improved at a measured 220BHP. Richard really knows his stuff and has promised to sort the minor snags.
here's the stainless manifold...
...and the green connoly leather recaro's - Windsor upholstery did these for me & a great job too (sadly I now think ought to have chosen the colour better match the carpet/door cards).
seats are quite a cool colour but i think it will definatly be worth trimming the doorcards to match or maybe get a black doorcards and get the centers trimmed in the matching green
...the battering ram sump guard Fritz installed - that tilted M50 involves a frighteningly low sump (never knew that but I'm sure most of you do) and even with the guard I'm nervous of smashing it into smithereens one day when I'm feeling "over-enthusiastic".
...Wearing her Alpina's (with locking wheel nuts!!).
RetroBeemer wrote:I think I'd be inclined to look at Nas' solution and have your sump altered.
That's a serious chunk of steel you've got there!
That's what Richard at fritz says but I still wonder if a dry sump with remote oil tank and associated pump etc is so very hard to do - not having the ground clearance is a real bore the moment you want to go off road (or even on an uneven road...let alone speed humps etc....anybody running a dry sump system?
I have a dry sumped s14 in the shed and I an dry sumping the m30 for my e21.
A dry sump for a m50 is easy you can buy the kits of the self in the states for $3K then you have to fit it. The trouble is you have to fit it in an e21 there is no room in the engine bay for the tank, so you have to put it in the boot then run a pair of 20mm oil lines to the engine. Being a road car you do not want to run them inside you have to run them external past the fuel tanks and in the car.
To do that you want to use flexible lines (teflon lined braided hoses) and protect them with a steel box section as if it comes to an off or a big speed bump a crushed oil line is better than a split oil line.
And if you want to go down that route thornly motorsport or JC racing are the best to ask as they prep a lot of e36/46 M3 for brit car etc.
Jason
BMW e21 race car supercharged s14 cage and fabrication by www.chizfab.com
Z3M Coupe
2.8 Z3 Coupe
Caterham Supersport
Clio 172 Cup factory race car(50%)
Ferrari 348 Challenge track car
If you hit something solid with that bash plate you will be transfering a LOT of load straight into your chassis rails.
You need to do something about your sump itself, i had the sump modified, and planned to run an accusump tank as a backup.
yeah the m50 sits at a real shit angle - dry sump cost LOADS never mind finding somewhere to stick the tank!
I have got my sump made more shallow - and a custom made oil pickup pipe (easier than cutting the original one?)
I copied mk1300 (nigels) idea - hes a legend for coming up with it tbh
Although when i took it to my fabricator guy he was like - yeah i do this all the time for kit car owners when they fit zetec engines! it was relatively cheap - although capacity is lower i dont think its by much as i added a wing on the side.
Thanks for all of that advice folks. All in all I enjoy bashing along without being fearful of bending chassis rails or busting off the sump - but oil starvation is out of the pan and into the fire - at least the big bang makes you stop and presumably before destroying the rest of the engine. Rich thinks he can modify the sump and only lose half a litre of oil capacity...which sounds good but is it enough? What I'd really like is to have ground clearance still satisfied while the front shocks arre fully compressed. If a sump cutting exercise won't provide that I'd rather pay the money & go for the dry system.
