Performance BMW — September 2017

86 PERFORMANCE BMW

OUR CARS

DARREN’S E82 DRIFTER

So since my last update we have spent the

majority of the time working on the front panel

and inlet manifold. I’ll start with the front panel,

which will hold the engine water radiator,

chargecooler radiator, power steering cooler, oil

cooler and the chargecooler itslef; that’s a lot to

squeeze in the smallest space behind the front

bumper. Obviously this all had to be custom

made as no one is able to supply off-the-shelf

parts/kits for extra coolers or the option of a

chargecooler rather than a intercooler. The

fi rst challenge is to fi nd out where everything

is going to be most effective and then fi nd out

how to mount all the parts; we fi nd making the

templates out of cardboard fi rst is a lot quicker

and easier than just going straight to making

them out of steel or alloy and it also gives us

a good idea how the plates are going to look

and which way the coolers can be supported.

We used the original mounting position of the

bumper bar to give us a good strong position

to start from and once this was determined we

could start adding the alloy support brackets of

the main alloy support, just tack welding as we

went in case it needed to be changed.

The oil coolers on either side could be

mounted direct from the steel bumper support

bar by using a 10mm solid steel bar, we just

used the oxy-acetylene to heat the bar up to

shape it how we wanted it to sit. When it came

to mounting the chargecooler we just mounted

it via a plate and Rivnuts to the front bumper bar

support; when I fi rst bought the chargecooler

the end caps were not suitable for where we

needed to mount it so we had to cut the end

caps off and make our own. The chargecooler

pipes were a bit tricky and time consuming to

make, we cut 5° sections in straight pipe to

create a ‘lobster tail’ and using this method it

was a lot neater and we could tuck it up tighter

to the chassis leg. One side is complete and

tacked together and we are still on with the

other side. 

Right, next on the list was the inlet/plenum.

The fl ange arrived from a company in the US

and it’s a work of art! A perfect CNC alloy

fl ange for us to make a start from this point, it

was just cheaper to buy a fl ange than making

a CAD drawing and then fi nding a company in

the UK to make one for us. From this point we

just bought six 90° alloy bends and it was just a

matter of cutting the bends down to a suitable

length to get the plenum to sit in a good place,

squishing the ends to suit the oval ports and

tacking them together. We have got to move the

throttle body position but this will be on my next

update, and we haven’t got round to fi tting the

injector seats or direct port meth nozzles just

yet but we will be getting round to that soon.

It’s great to start seeing the project moving

forward now as we start to tackle the biggest

jobs; I think once we start getting these big jobs

out the way it will fl y together! Well that’s what

I’m hoping, as you can see from the pictures

or if you follow the build, the underside/inner

arches are already painted in Individual Atlantis

and I cannot wait to see the car in full paint!

Alongside the carbon goodies I’ve got in mind,

over the next few weeks we are hoping to

fi nish the front panel and all the chargecooler

pipework and then fi nish the inlet manifold off,

everything is just tacked together for now so

there will be a good few hours of TIG welding

for Pete to get his teeth into... 

Custom-made

chargecooler piping

Engine really taking shape now

Progress has been made

on the front panel

Plenum and

intake piping

PBMW217.our_cars.ed2.indd 86 07/08/2017 08:35