peter's canadian imola ZHP project

[slater]

You recently changed all the sub frame bushings correct? So you didn't find any cracks then?

nope. i did a full inspection last october/november when i had it apart to do the bushings/mounts/diff/etc.

i can only imagine that it's my driving that caused it, but i'm not that hard on the car at all - no clutch dumping or smoky burnouts.

[Rovert]

How did you see the crack without pulling the subframe off?

[slater]

How did you see the crack without pulling the subframe off?

it was right in the bend where the LR always cracks first... easy to spot with the subframe still on the car.

here's a pic of what it looks like cleaned up (not my car), to give you an idea of the exact location. for reference, the crack below is about 25mm.

[Rovert]

Oh I thought the sealant would mask the crack underneath.

[slater]

Oh I thought the sealant would mask the crack underneath.

it's not that thick... it can mask it, depends on how much grit and grime you've got on the bottom of your car. mine is pretty clean because i cleaned it last fall.

[Sockethead]

That sucks Peter. At least you caught it early on. There is really no difference between the M and regular e46 other than the fact that the M cracks on the front right first since the diff mounts are basically the opposite of ours. The root of the problem lies in the spot welds between the layers. It Looks like your kit will address that perfectly by through bolting the subframe.

I'll be looking forward to your review of this too...

[slater]

That sucks Peter. At least you caught it early on. There is really no difference between the M and regular e46 other than the fact that the M cracks on the front right first since the diff mounts are basically the opposite of ours. The root of the problem lies in the spot welds between the layers. It Looks like your kit will address that perfectly by through bolting the subframe.

I'll be looking forward to your review of this too...

thanks, rob!

you're correct that the M and non-M have the exact same RACP. the M's crack in the LR first, it seems - that is also where BMW was filling with their structural foam. i'm going to likely fill the fronts, and together with this 'vince' kit that i'm putting in, should be sufficient - this kit transfers a lot of the load to the rear frame rails and away from the main failure points. and, really - for the price, it's not bad! it's a lot of work, but then again vince put a lot of engineering work already into the kit. it should be doable in a weekend. i'm going to document the process of mine and post it up here.

and re: the spot welds - yes, those are a major problem. vince drills some of them out and replaces them with rivets, with large washers. i like that idea.

oh - and i found another SMF clutch kit! valeo was making an SMF conversion for the 5-speed cars, and now they have one for the 6-speed cars - only, they are on backorder everywhere at the moment (i guess they were popular ). at $545, it's less than half the cost of the SPEC kit and for my basically stock-powered car, should be totally fine.

i'm planning to do the clutch + SMF and the RACP reinforcement at the same time. my new parts car has an M3 rear end and some bimmerbrake headers on it... thinking of putting those on too... but i might stick with the MFactory helical LSD over the M3 one.

[Sockethead]

swap the headers, you going to like it... more torque everywhere.

[slater]

swap the headers, you going to like it... more torque everywhere.

yeah, i'm just concerned about the ramifications of removing the cats...

[Sockethead]

We don't have inspection here so luckily, I don't have to worry about it... other than that there aren't any issues with the car itself by removing them