Content > Pasi's BMW E30 M3

Finally got a call this morning that there is some progress with the cage building. So I visited the cage builder and was pleased to see there was now some pipes going inside the car that wasn’t there when I left it. Car had now also the roof sealed up, main bars in place and the roof cross in place. Here are some details about what has been done and some explanation of what is still to come.

First about the roof. Inside the roof the slot where the roof panel used to slide when you opened the roof is now cut out. This is useless piece since I’m never going to turn this back into a cruiser. Other clear advantages are that there is more head room when the cage can be build up closer to the actual roof panel. Second is the weight loss from the very top of the car, which is always something to aim for. The hole is now replaced with thin sheet metal, that has been bend to follow the shape of the roof. Inside there was small few millimeter flanges left, that was then used to attach the new piece to the original roof. This way you don’t have worry about bending the roof when doing the welds. The thin seem was then filled the smoothened. We also sealed the antenna hole, hey all the music I need is coming from the front of the engine . I’ll put more details when the cage is ready and I have the car in the garage again.

The cage is going to be full on race cage, connected to struts from the front and rear. This should make the car alot stiffer and also provide some of the crash protection that the germans didn’t care that much back in the days. Now there was only the main hoops ready. Reinforcements are made to the floor and sides. What is missing from the pictures X pipes from the doors, cross bar above the steering column going from A pilar to A pilar, crossbar in the middle of the car going from bottom of B pilar to B pilar and attached to the drive-train tunnel. Also all the pipes from the back and from the front to the struts. Small diagonal pipes near the B pilars to roof bars. There is also coming small pipes where you can attach the harnesses.

Cage should be ready next week, so I’ll post a full details when possible. Here are few more pics.