How to Install Lexan Windows in E36

How to Install Lexan Windows - Rear Quarter Windows for E36 Coupe


I have a 1997 328is that I have been slowly modifying into a track car. I have been keeping the suspension, intake, and exhaust completely stock because I am still trying to figure out which race series I want to run. Though I do plan to run some Chumpcar races and keeping the car unmodified would make the tech inspection go a little smoother.

I am a bit lucky and got some 1/4" thick lexan panels from work for free. Doubly lucky for me are that they are large enough to make some of the rear quarter panel windows out of the material.

Why Lexan? 
Most people, when they think of clear plastic they think of Plexiglas, but that material is pretty terrible. Its brittle, you can't form it, it scratches easy, and its not very strong. When you talk about the strength of a material, it deals with how well it take s load without breaking or deforming. On the other hand, Lexan, which is made from Poly carbonate, its the opposite of all these things. Its easy to cut/drill and shape. If you desire, you can actually bend and form it. Sometimes add a little heat to help shape it. Most importantly, for Motorsports applications it won't shatter if its hit by something. Just for perspective, armored windows are made by layering glass and Lexan. Another tidbit is that that in the military, bullert proof glass is called "transparent armor."

I think a video is a good format to show how I made some lexan windows so I am not going to describe what I did. Let me preface this video to say I am not a master race car fabricator. I am able to hack my way through most things and this will give you some direction on how to make Lexan windows for yourself. If you have any other good links that you want to share please leave them in the comments section and I will add them to this post.

How-To: Make 37 Degree AN Hard Lines

Story and Photos by Matthew Eddy




OEM brake tubing in the US have what is called a 45° double flare at the ends which means the end of the tubing is folded in on itself and flare at 45°.  A flare nut then crushes the tube end against the mating surface to make seal.  After the flare has been crushed it will require more torque to seal seal each time the system is disassembled and reassembled as well as the potential for fatigue cracks to form where the metal has been folded over.  This is fine for the commuter-consumer they aren’t going to be swapping out components from week to week or season to season.  Racers tend to tinker with their cars and may have to dismantle everything or replace components frequently so they need components that are designed to be disassembled and reassembled multiple times.  The 37° AN flare is a single flare is backed up by a tube sleeve that is held to the mating part with a nut and is capable of being disassembled multiple times without fatiguing and since it’s a single flare its actually easier to make than a double flare.  Additionally this method is rated at higher pressures and is held to a higher standard so the system is more robust and can endure the extremes of racing.  It is fairly common for a race team to immediately replace all stock brake lines with the 37° AN flared tubing as part of prepping the car for racing.
The down side of the AN flare is that the components are much more expensive and they also require an adapter to connect them to the stock brake components such as the master cylinder, proportioning valves and ABS block.  Also the tools tend to be more expensive but you can find a 37° flare tool on Summitracing.com for about $30 HERE.   If you decide to upgrade your brakes to the AN fittings then you can save yourself some money and time by only replacing the lines that run from the ABS block  (or the proportioning valves for those cars without ABS) to the calipers and leave any plumbing that might be going from the master cylinder to portioning valves or ABS block. The AN fittings can also be used for routing fuel, vacuum lines, and various other fluids.  Make sure to use STEEL fittings on the brakes or any other high pressure hydraulic systems and you can use aluminum fittings for anything else.

It is pretty easy to convert to AN flared lines but there are a few more parts you need to buy.  I would suggest getting stainless tubing and an appropriate tubing cutter because the $5 Acme Autoparts special will just cry when you try and cut a stainless line with them; they are barely adequate to cut a regular steel line.  Try this one from Mcmaster-Carr: part number 2764A14.  I haven't use this particular one but it does say its for stainless and titanium.

Step 1:  Cut the stainless tubing to length and deburr the ends.  PUT THE HARDWARE ON THE TUBE!  Easy to forget this step you get so excited about flaring the brake line and forget to put the hardware on.  So put on a TUBE NUT, then a TUBE SLEEVE.  Make sure they are facing the right direction.  See pictures at bottom. 

3/16" Stainless Brake Line Cut and Deburred.

Step 2: Clamp the tube into the flaring tool.  It should be sticking a little above the surface of the tool.  The one pictured below is from Summit Racing.  You can find it HERE.

Summit Racing 37 Degree Flaring Tool

Make sure you clamp this down TIGHT.  If its not tight enough the tube will just slide out.  I used a wrench as shown below to get it extra tight.

Use a Wrench to Tighten Flaring Tool.

Step 3: Flare it!

Summit Racing 37 Degree Flaring Tool in Action.

Successful 37 Degree Flare

Here is a picture with all the hardware on behind the flare.  These are aluminum fittings, so this isn't to be used for brakes.  The steel ones usually are plain zinc. Left to right are the tubing nut with the threads on the right side followed by the tube sleeve.  The sleeve will be beveled on the side that will sit behind the flare. 

37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing. 37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing. 37 Degree -3AN Fittings on Stainless 3/16" Tubing

The adapters you will need to connect these to the master cylinder for instance look like this.  Most domestic car makers use 3/8-24 (I think) so need this adapter HERE.  Japanese tend to use M10x1.0 so you use this adapter HERE.  These adapters simply screw into the MC or proportioning valve then the new AN fittings screw to these.

How-To: Coil-Over Conversion
Story and photos by Matthew Eddy

Over the last year I have slowly been prepping my 91 Toyota MR2 for NASA (National Auto Sports Association) Time Trials and eventually race in the Performance Touring series.  Last summer I swapped in a 3.0L V6 and over the winter I have built and installed what I am calling a coil-over conversion; converting the stock struts to coil-overs. 

What may not be clear to all my readers is what coil-overs are and what benefits they bestow over struts since they seem very similar.  If you are purchasing a coil-overs, especially good ones, you are pretty much guaranteed that the dampers and the springs are going to be well matched.  Secondly, coil-overs allow for ride height and corner weight adjustments.   Also they have common spring sizes so it would be easy to swap out springs to fine tune the suspension for individual tracks or if you make other modifications.

Measure First

Before doing this conversion check and see how much clearance you have between the front wheels/tires and the strut housing.  On the MR2, the front spring sits above the wheels and the strut housing is only 1/4" from the wheel.  In most cases you will need to either get new wheels with a larger offset or wheel spacers.  I installed 12mm spacers and new longer wheel studs.  Replacing the wheel studs is pretty easy, especially if you have an impact.  I have posted a video on youtube that shows how to do it here.  I bought both teh studs and spacers on ebay.  To find the spacer search for "hubcentric MR2" and they are usually priced at about $60 pair.  The wheels studs were $35 for 10pcs.  Also, keep in mind that you will need to get new front end-links with this conversion because the bracket is being relocated.  You can deal with this one of two ways; buy Powergrid Endlinks which can be ordered at custom lengths (you will need 5.5" center to center), or cut and weld the stock ones but the stock ones are probably so old and rusty you are better off getting new ones anyways.

Powergrid End links.  It might be hard to believe, but these aren't new, they have been on my car for 2-3 years.

Next, measure your current ride height for baseline for future adjustments after installing the coil-overs.  Park the car on a level surface and measure from the ground, through the center of the wheel to the lip of the fender.  Also measure from the center of the hub to the fender lip.  If you have any fender damage or rust that might make these measurements unreliable pick another point to measure to.  WRITE THIS DOWN, or at the very least, text message yourself.  You will want this information later.

New Studs and 12mm Spacer.

Strut Preparation

The following write up is specific to the MKII MR2 but is still applicable across many makes and models.  One major difference you may encounter is that many cars cannot take strut cartridges.   In the MR2, I can remove the actual damper from the strut housing itself but I do not believe this is a common feature.  If you find this is the case with your struts you have one of two options.  Convert the strut to accept the coil-over sleeve or convert the strut to accept cartridges.  I will address this a bit more at the end of the post since my suggestions will make more sense after you see what is involved.

It might be a good idea to buy an old used set of struts to work on that way if you mess them up some how or the project is more involved than you anticipated you can take as much time as you need.

Strut Diagram - parts of the strut.

Strut Diagram - Distances to measure

See the diagram to the left as a reference for the terms I use for the various parts of the strut. 

1. Disassemble the strut and remove the upper mount and spring.  Second, take measurements.  See my video posted on youtube that shows how to disassemble struts HERE. Reference the diagram on the right.  

2.Measure the overall length of the strut, the length of the body, the distance from the end links bracket to the end of the strut (if applicable) (G or F or both), the shock body diameter (A),  length of the strut rod (D), the diameter of the strut end (B), and distances to other brackets you may have on the strut body.  Also measure the length of the spring, and the thickness of the upper strut mount.

MR2 Struts in Before Being Disassembled.

Disassembled Struts with Spring Perches

3. Cut off the spring perches and grind the housing "smooth."  For the MR2 front strut you will also need to cut off the sway bar end-link bracket.


3a (Optional) - To convert struts that don't usually take cartridges you can convert them to cartridges by drill a small hole near the bottom of the strut to relieve the pressure, then cut off the top of strut to remove the guts.

Disassembled Struts with Spring Perches Cut Off.

Struts Close-up; Spring Perches Cut Off. You can see the gland nut just above the grounded down area.

4.  Put the strut housing into a vice and remove the gland nut with a monkey wrench.

Removing Gland Nut From Strut.

5.  For the front struts, weld the front sway bar bracket just above the knuckle bracket.  Then weld a bead around the strut for the coil-over sleeves to sit on.  For the rear struts, the sleeve will also sit on the sway bar bracket, and you should weld a bead around the strut at that location. 

Weld a bead around the struts for the coil-over sleeve to sit on like this.

6. Cut the bump stock bump stop in half.   More than likely you will be lowering the car which means you will be decreasing the travel of the shock so cutting the bump stop in half will give you a little more travel.

7. (Optional) Sand blast and paint the strut housings.  I would also suggest grinding off any sharp features.  That will reduce the chances of the paint chipping or peeling.  For instance there are little tabs on the knuckle bracket that should be ground down.  After painting them, us caulk or silicon to fill in the gap around the top of the knuckle bracket.  This will prevent water and debris from collecting there and causing corrosion in the future.  I used a special caulk that is applied before powder coating (see the second picture below).

Stock Struts Sand Blasted.

I Have Applied Caulk to the Above Area.

Strut Assembly

I have compiled parts list with prices so you can have an idea of what you need and how much it will cost.  I have not included the cost of the struts or dampers (aka shocks).  For certain parts I have included links to where you can buy them. 

Parts List:

Coil Over Parts - (Left to right) Gland Nut, Lock Nut, 1" Washer, Strut Cartridge, Strut Housing, Top Mount, o-ring (center of pic), Coilover Sleeve, lower Spring Perch, Upper Spring Perch, Spring.

Coil-over Sleeves; 2.038" ID, 5" Length (x4): $15.53 ea

Lower Spring Perch (x4): $12.60 ea

2.5" Coil Spring Tops - Upper Spring Perch(2 sets): $64 total (with powder coating)

Springs – Fronts (Set of 2) (Eibach, 250# 8”): $103 – bought as Edelbrocks on Summit Racing

Springs – Rear (Set of 2) (King, 400# 10”): $43 – bought on ebay, used

O-rings (8 total): $4 (local hardware store)
18mm Washer (6): $2 (local hardware store)
1" Washer (2): $1.50 (local hardware store) 
Light Weight Oil (engine oil, shock oil): $4 (local autoparts store)
Total: $334

Part List Notes:

Spring Rates: Not sure which spring rates to use?  Check out my blog posting about choosing spring rates HERE.  For my MR2 - which I drive to a from the track/autoX, I choose 250 in/lbs front, and 400 in/lbs for the 

Coil-over Sleeves:  I used 5" sleeves because I am using sway bars and that's probably as low as you can move the front sway bar bracket.  I would not suggest going sway barless because there might be a time that you actually want a sway bar.  Also you shouldn't need to get more than 5" of travel that I can think of.  However, on the rears, you can move the sway bar bracket down 2" and get a 7" soil-over sleeve.  

2.5" Coil Spring Tops:  You will need to measure the diameter of the strut cylinder and the guy will customize the inner diameter for you.  I would also suggest getting the parts powder coated to protect them from debris.




Assembly


1. Put (1) o-ring on the strut housing (about 2-3" from the top of strut housing)
2. Slide coil-over sleeve over o-ring.  The sleeve should slide over the o-ring and be moderately tight.  If the o-ring is just to thick, wrap the strut tower with electrical tape about 1" above the weld bead.  The purpose of the o-ring or electrical tape is to remove play between the sleeve and the housing and prevent the sleeve from spinning when adjusting ride height. 
3. Take a second o-ring and force it into the gap between the strut housing and sleeve from the top. See pic below.

Using a flat head screw driver to insert o-ring.  Here the gland nut is already on, but its a lot easier to do this before installing gland nut.

4. Screw the lower spring perch onto sleeve (can be done later).
5. Put the strut housing into a vice, and protect the paint with rags.  Pour about 3oz of oil into the housing.  The oil fills the gap between the cartridge and the strut housing to prevent heat building up in the shock.  I prefer not to use tranny fluid or gear oil because of the smell.  I used some engine oil because it was convenient.
6. Insert strut cartridge.  Check oil level, and fill as necessary.  You want the oil to be about .5-1" from the top.
7. Apply some anti-seize to the gland nut and screw it on.  First by hand and then tighten with a monkey wrench.
8. Put spring on. 
9. Put bump stop on the shock cylinder.
10. Put top spring perch on
11. Put (1) 1" washer on (FOR THE FRONT STRUTS ONLY).  This is acting as a spacer so that the top spring perch contacts the bearing portion of the front strut mount.  See below photos.  I also added bearing greases here to prevent corrosion and wear.  This section will be turning with the wheels.  Though I have two pictures, each showing a washer, you only need to use one washer.  The pictures below are just to demonstrate where the washer will sit. 

Washer sitting on spring top.

Where the washer will sit on the strut mount.

12. Put the strut mount on.
13. Put (3) 18mm washers on (FRONT ONLY).  The stock upper strut mount would usually sit under the mount and without it there is some play between the mount and the locking nut that holds this all together. 
14. Screw on the locking nut on the end of the shock shaft.  The hardest part about this is that the shock will want to spin.  You best bet it to snug it up by holding the shaft with your fingers through the coil.  Once it starts to spin you can try wrapping a piece of rubber around the shaft and grip it with vice grips.  Get them as tight as you can.  Don't worry, you won't be able to get it super tight, but it should be good enough. 


When you are done they will look something like this.

Coil-over Conversion.  Fronts for a MKII MR2 with 10" springs.  I later switched to 8" springs.

Here is a pic of them mounted in the car.

Front Coil-overs mounted on the cars.

For struts without gland nuts you can weld on the strut without removing the inner shock but take a few precautions such as welding in short durations.  Do not weld weld near the valves (toward the top or bottom of the strut). But the better option will be to cut off the top of the strut, remove the damper and then weld a threaded collar that will allow you to swap out strut cartridges.  You will probably have to do some research and find a cartridge that is the proper diameter and length to fit. 

Adjusting Ride Height

 When I installed mine I moved the lower spring perch up to hold the spring against the top mount, then mounted the coil-overs on the car.  Measure the ride height from the ground to the fender as described above.  Remember to do this on a level surface!  If, by magic or math you got the ride height perfect on the first go then make sure everything is tightened up and take it for a test drive.  If you want to make adjustments then jack up the car, remove the wheel and measure the distance from the lower spring perch to some point on the strut.  Then adjust the position of the lower spring perch to change the ride height. Below you can see how I measured using a metric measuring tape.  I find metric to be much easier than figuring out what fraction of an inch I was looking at. I was using the knuckle bracket as my reference point.  In this cse I was at 73mm.  I wanted to reduce my ride height by 1".  25mm = 1" so to lower the car 1" I need to moved the lower spring perch down until I measure 48mm.
 
 

Measuring the Distance of Lower Spring Perch to Reference Point on Coil-Over.

Sure enough, I dropped the car and I was at exactly where I wanted to be.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask them in the comment section below.  


Fine Print: You are responsible for your own safety and modifications to you car.  I am not responsible for any damage, injury or death that may result.  Follow these steps at your own risk and if you aren't sure you are doing something safely then don't do it. Always use proper safety equipment.  Modifying or changing existing products on your car is risky and not suggested by the manufacturer so any damage, injury or death is your own responsibility.  Do not attempt if you don't feel you can accomplish this safely.  Make sure to check all the bolts are tightened properly and test the car before driving it.

How to Track Your Car

When I say "track" I mean a road track.  With turns. Right as well as left hand turns.  Usually in some interesting configuration.  So I am not talking about drag strips, speedways, or circle tracks.  Road tracks would be like Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, or anything that Formula 1 races on.  A road course tests the car and driver as a whole, not just acceleration or top end speed, but also cornering, braking and car control. 

It might surprise you how easy it is to be able to get your car out on real race track by participating in an event called an Open Track Day (OPD), also known as a High Performance Driving Event (HPDE).  It is like actual racing but mitigating the risk by limiting how and when cars can pass each other.  Generally this means you can drive your car as close to the limit as you feel comfortable, but you can only pass a slower car on the straights after they have pointed you by.  Sure, sometimes you can get stuck in "traffic" but usually the events are organized in such a fashion as to give you plenty of track time, so the few laps in which you are working through slower cars, you can make up for it with many more open laps and pushing yourself and your car.

Now you might be asking what do you need.  For the car, it should be in fine running order.  Some tracks may require convertibles to have a roll bar, but you won't need a roll cage, race suit.  Just a regular old Ford Taurus would be fine.  Maybe not fun, but a stock car is perfectly acceptable.  I will define what "fine working order" means in more detail a little later.  Cost wise, registration fees can range anywhere from $100-400/day depending on how nice the track is and who is organizing it.  For instance, Laguna Seca is about the $300-400 range, where Gingerman Raceway in South Haven Michigan is about $150.  Gingerman is a nice track, but it doesn't have the pedigree of Laguna Seca.  Your next biggest expense, unless you already have one, would be a helmet and that can cost $250 or more if you want a really fancy one.  Next would be gas.  Not only for driving to a from the track, but also at the track and that expense will vary with the car.  If you have a helmet, and you go to Gingerman, then you can expect to pay about $350 for the day if you are driving 4 or so hours to the track and staying at a hotel for one night.  If you can camp on the track, I would suggest it since it usually means you can walk the track the night before and perhaps even make some friends with other drivers.

Step one; find the nearest tracks.  You may be lucky and live in the Detroit area in which there are 5 tracks within a 4 or 5 hour drive or you may live in a race track desert and will have no choice but to drive 8+ hours.  Unfortunately if you try searching on google maps you can get a lot of false positives, but its a good place to start.  One really helpful website is Trackpedia.com.  On that site you can browse tracks by continent, region and state so you can then easily identify tracks that might be close to you, see the course layout, see in-car video of the track and read through the turn by turn guide.  Once you have identified some local or not so local tracks, you can find their website and see if they have a posted schedule for open track days or what groups are hosting events there.  For instance, you might see that the Porsche Owners Club has an event, and they may be open to anyone who might be interested in attending simply because they can't can't get a large enough group from within the club to cover the costs of renting the track.  Also, there are groups that all they do is track events such as 3Ballsracing.  If necessary, you can always try and contact the track and see what groups are around that allow random people to attend.

Hopefully you have found a track and some potential track dates it's time to get ready.  You need inspect the car for potential mechanical issues that if not addressed or identified might make the day a little more dramatic than you originally intended.  I will post a write up on how to check your car before you bring it to the track.  If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, you can bring it to a mechanic who can do it for you.  Whoever is organizing the track day may have a few local mechanics that they would suggest.  It is better to address any problems ahead of time because the organizers will likely have a safety (aka tech) inspection on site to try and identify and mechanical hazards.  And if your car is deemed as being unsafe, you may not be able to run.

Besides having a car in fine working order, you will need a helmet.  When purchasing a helmet you should pay attention to teh safety rating since different tracks or organizations may have different requirements.  When in doubt a SNELL SA2010 full face helmet will meet or exceed all requirements and you can use it if you start racing.

Most importantly, bring an open mind.  Listen to people.  If available, ride along with more experienced drivers.  Take it easy, and try and work on the fundamentals; racing line, identifying turn in points and getting a feel for the car. Of course, have fun, and you won't be having fun if you are pushing to hard, driving stupidly and crashing. 

Lastly, keep in mind that you will be at the track all day, and it will probably be hot.  Try and get plenty of sleep the night before because you will definitely get more out of it if you aren't hungover or half asleep.  Bring sunscreen, a hat, a chair, some shade if you can, a cooler with drinks to keep hydrated (preferably water),and snacks.  Don't under estimate how much your performance on the track will be dictated by how dehydrated, hungry or fatigued you will become from the heat.

See my next post on inspecting and prepping your car for the open track day.