This Build Was Never Meant to be Sensible

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Taking the heart of an M3 and cramming it into the front of a Z4 coupé may sound unhinged, and that could be the case, but we could be creating something way more special than BMW ever dared to build. Join us for this in-depth project. As each week passes, we're getting ever closer to getting this V8 back on the road.

[00:00:28]Welcome back to another episode of the Z4 Evo project. If you're wondering why it's called EVO, I am making it an evolution of the E86. We're putting some slightly newer parts on the car. And at the moment, I'm trying to fit S65 E92 M3 engine and steering setup into the bay. And also I have the steering column in the dash from an M3 as well.

[00:00:58]The goal is to get this hydraulic system working. I'm going to do away with the Z4 standard electric rack because it is horrible. The challenge with this in particular is because the Z4 is a bit more stretched out in regards to where the steering column lands inside the car and the steering rack is at the front.

[00:01:16]So, we need three sections in essence, and we're going to have a support bearing, which has come in the post.

[00:01:22]This will go in the middle of the steering setup to stop any play. It will be bolted to a bracket that will be welded to the chassis. I don't have all the parts. I am still waiting for the stock bar that goes through the middle of that. However, I can start on cutting this standard E90 steering column apart because I want to know what is internal, if it's solid or not. I know it's aluminium, which is a bit of a nightmare because I'm going to steel for the center bit. I just thought I could No, I don't want to use aluminum for the main piece. Let's stick to the plan.

[00:01:57]Basically, I want to see if that is hollow. So, I'm going to cut it off quite far back, see what's inside, and then we can start doing a double D joint because that's what I'm going to have to do to be able to join the aluminum tube to the steel. This is definitely a make it up as you go along plan from now. I'm just going to pick a place to cut this in half.

[00:02:22]To make things easier, I extended the column as far as it will go before I start cutting anything. Improvising on the fly is what we like. So, let's have a go. I want to see how this thing is made up piece by piece. So, ideally, I want to take it apart in sections.

[00:02:41]Now that I can see what's internal, I can choose exactly where I want to cut it on.

[00:02:49]The cutting disc makes light work of this. I'm not sure if that's particularly a good thing, but then we can check to see if anything is steel, but to me it looks like it's mostly aluminum.

[00:03:10]Yo, that's hot. Now it's time to cut the Z4 steering linkage in half so we can adapt that piece.

[00:03:19]Sparks means steel and steel means we can weld it. This side is good for modifications.

[00:03:27]I will just bring you up to speed. I've got a bit carried away getting this job going, but I will tell you where we are.

[00:03:35]This is the piece that I trimmed off the steering column and I need to take another 10 mil off it so it's the correct length to fit into the car. But that's roughly what it's going to look like. This side goes onto the steering rack end. And it will still be fully removable because it's exactly as from factory on that spline. So that piece will come off.

[00:03:59]the bit in the middle, that flat bit there, which is that profile, and that profile is going to be sleeved. So, I'm going to make a sleeve that is approximately that shape and that shape, and it will literally slide on and bolt through.

[00:04:23]So, it's not going to go anywhere because you've got the double D shape, which is essentially you've got D-shape that way, Dshape that way, hence the double D. And with a couple of nice bolts either side, it's not going anywhere. I'm not worried about the strength. Also, where the support bearing is going to go, luckily for me, it slides perfectly on that. So, there's no modifications. And actually, I don't need to wait for the other part that I was going to use there. I don't have to weld that part to this.

[00:04:58]And when I make the sleeve that bolts these two parts together, I'm going to make it just long enough so it holds that bearing in place. We don't have to put any grub screws or any other collars on to stop that moving when it's on the car. Now, the support bearing is going to go actually inside the car rather than in the engine bay. I don't know how easy you will see in this light, but it's probably going to sit about there. It's not going to affect the clutch pedal in any way. It's well, as long as I put it in the right place.

[00:05:39]So, it's probably going to sit around about there.

[00:05:44]and I'll just make a bracket that I can actually weld to the firewall. That is the plan. And tomorrow I just need to cut some plates out and start making this sleeve. Then once I've cut that down, we can get some holes in. And then we should be somewhere near to getting this steering system tested to see if it works. I do have this piece of stock now that does fit into that support bearing.

[00:06:11]rather nice. No play at all. Almost as if it's designed for it. And I was just debating whether to get this piece welded in to that joint. Anyway, I've cut the 10 mil off of this. I just need to flatten it slightly, make it nice and plum, and then I need to cut all these plates out of 3M steel. And then I can start making the sleeve that's going to go and join these two parts together.

[00:06:42]The plan here is to weld a box around each one. Get it nice and flush so that can slide off when it's welded together.

[00:06:52]And do the same with this one. Plate.

[00:06:59]Plate.

[00:07:03]Plate.

[00:07:05]You get the idea. The idea here is to make a really tightly fitting sleeve so there's no play when you're moving the steering wheel. I start off on the one side. We can get the steering linkage flat on a sheet of steel. Then carefully using each small plate, we can make a box. Every time I rotate it, I make sure it's completely flat again on the bench.

[00:07:28]That's the first piece welded on. I now need to take it off. And that might be easier said than done.

[00:07:38]For the moment, we're just going to focus on the pieces that slide on each end, which is a different size. Then we can worry about joining them both together.

[00:07:48]Now, we've got to this stage. It's kind of guess work to get this on straight.

[00:07:54]It's going to bind up if it's too far off, and if it's close enough, it should feel fine. That's all I can say really.

[00:08:02]It's going to be a bit of guess work.

[00:08:04]The reason why it is guess work is because either side is a different overall shape. Also, the fact it's welded together, it's never going to sit flat on some kind of testing jig. I'm sure the best thing to do is to put it on a lathe, but I don't have one. So, we're just going to have to tack it together, get it fitted up onto the car, see how the steering feels, and then just repeat that process until we get it right.

[00:08:33]Once it is tacked into place, I can then get that joint up inside the car. I need to attach the one end to the steering column. And with that piece now sticking through the bulkhead, we can attach the joint that links the steering rack to the column. I don't have quite enough space to get that side slotted in and test it. The easiest solution for me is to actually pull the dash support back out with the steering column slightly.

[00:08:59]I'll just undo the bolts on the side.

[00:09:01]pull it back enough to then hopefully be able to connect it properly. Right, the dashboard is fairly loose. Let's see if I have enough. Yeah, there we go.

[00:09:15]Superb. Fortunately, there is enough room to pull it back. So, once it's connected, we can check how the steering is going to feel. Get a couple of bolts in and then I'll do the dashboard back up tight. As each section gets bolted together, the play is taken up and it should highlight any issues that may be there. Once I was happy the steering was all linked and into place, I can tighten the dash support back up to the chassis.

[00:09:44]Well, it's bolted in and it's connected.

[00:09:48]But to be sure it's right, we need to bolt the support bearing to whatever bracket is going to be in the car.

[00:09:56]because at the moment we have a couple of points which is just going to end up doing that. So with the with the support bracket however it will lock this in place and then it won't it will basically stop all that movement. You understand? We can see a bit more now where the bearing needs to end up which is about there. I'll decide how I want to incorporate this and we'll go from there. So, here we are again. Another evening in the build tent. And I've had some time last night to think about the steering geometry.

[00:10:32]I think we can do better. And I do have time because I'm still waiting on some parts for the engine. I've started ordering them, but there still are a few more pieces to the puzzle. So, I'm in no immediate rush to get the engine back out.

[00:10:46]However, I think the issue here is if I put the support bearing inside the car, it's very close to the steering column.

[00:10:55]It would probably be fine. But to make it optimum, I think the support bearing should go about here and it's going to bridge the whole setup much better and keep a nice true strong structural link.

[00:11:09]It kind of works fine at the moment. It feels pretty free. So, the piece that I tacked together has got to be fairly straight because it feels good on the steering wheel. However, I think we can do better and it's worth trying at this point. I will take everything back out the car. We'll get it on the bench and then I'll try and talk you through what I think could work. Having gone through the effort of upgrading from the electric steering that was in the Z4 to the M3 hydraulic one, I want to make sure we get this right. So, it's worthwhile all this extra work. There are only a handful of inputs when driving a car. And steering is quite a big one. Before I tear it down, I'll try and explain.

[00:11:55]This support bearing is way too close to the joint here. So, it's going to have little support by the time that joint is beamed out towards the front of the car.

[00:12:07]How? Whereas if the support bearing goes there, it's going to have much more support. That's the general idea. And I think I can use this in the system to thread the support bearing through.

[00:12:24]I know I can weld this steel to this side because that's straight steel and we can weld them together. It's just figuring out how how the spline and this join with this will work.

[00:12:41]I'm sure there's a way. It seems I made the first sleeve rather too well because I can't get it off at the moment. It is important for me to split these two parts. So, we can move on to the next step.

[00:12:54]I have constructed a bit of a plan now.

[00:12:57]We're going to weld this to that piece.

[00:13:01]However, we need to extend it about that far.

[00:13:06]What I can do is use some more of that.

[00:13:11]V it, weld it. That's probably the safest thing to do. Or we could sleeve it with some tube, which I found that kind of spec tube.

[00:13:24]Haven't decided. Doesn't matter. Either way, that's going to be welded on. about there. That means that the end of this can go all the way through that joint like the factory spline does.

[00:13:41]So that's replacing that essentially.

[00:13:47]And what I can do is I need to downsize it a bit, which I may as well just show you now.

[00:13:56]You have to be careful measuring the ID with splines. It takes a bit of time to get a good reading. So, that's enough to cut a little groove in there which will sit in there which will help lock it into place. I know it's not ideal the fact that we're putting a steel piece into an aluminum piece, but if it's bolted tight and it can't move, it shouldn't wear away. That's the theory behind it. But I'm going to make this bit fit through there. And then I'm going to have a similar style piece like this, but this time have a sleeve that this tube slots into. have a bolt going through that side into the shaft there. Almost like a grub screw. And then on the top side, we could either do another grub screw or bolt straight through this because this is really, really strong. That seems like the best plan at the moment because it means I can get the support bearing really nicely fitted onto this once I debur the ends, which I've been using this as a chisel. and then it means that it's in the right place as well on the car. I'll roll with that and then any issues we shall figure them out as we go along. As always, once I start drilling these splines out of this aluminum piece, we are fully committed to the new plan because I won't be able to revert back to this.

[00:15:32]Let's hope it works. Starting to remove the material from the aluminum piece. I get rid of the splines because they are now redundant. Plus, it's a lot easier to work with the aluminum than reducing the diameter of the steel rod. It's probably going to be a combination of both in the end. But we can start with the easier stuff. This steel piece is now ground down to size and it slots in there nicely. I'm going to cut a groove in it so it can work as OEM with the bolt pinching up that inside as well as a bracket. an extra bolt to stop it spinning around.

[00:16:10]I'm going to mark where I need to make the cut in this. Now, I mark out where I need to make the groove in that piece.

[00:16:16]And once I've made a basic V with the angle grinder, I refine it with a round file.

[00:16:23]It's taken me a heck of a long time to get this piece fitting nicely, but the good news is it fits so well, I think I only need a grub screw in the one side to stop it twisting around. And I don't need to make some elaborate welded together boss like I did before.

[00:16:43]I have the groove cut out for the bolts and there's no play at all in that.

[00:16:50]And the fact that the groove is helping to stop it spin as well. All it needs is a decent sized either bolt or grub screw. I'm thinking around there. I can see the wall thickness isn't massively thick. So to keep it nice and strong, I want to go as far away from the edge as I can. So I'll probably go somewhere near where it creases in. Happy with that. Took a while, but it's going to be worth it to allow me the best chance to join these pieces together. I V each joining end. This allows a bit of a channel for the weld to sit in and in theory create a much better and stronger joining.

[00:17:35]Step number one, find something flat and then we can weld these two back together. And then I'll trim it off the right length I need to make it work. In theory, this should go together precisely flat and straight.

[00:17:53]As long as I execute it properly, I have decided to use a hub for a straight edge. It's going to work slightly better. Doesn't really matter what it is as long as it is flat.

[00:18:10]That's predictable.

[00:18:12]With the steering linkage clamped down flat, I carefully weld each side, rotating it as I go along and monitoring to see if it starts to go warped or off center. Ultimately, we're going to have to wait to fit it to find out if we got it right.

[00:18:33]Visually, it looks pretty good, but we're just going to have to wait and find out if it is any good.

[00:18:47]I have just gone for it and fully welded it on, including a sleeve. Once it's cooled down, we can get it all refitted to the car and find a good home in the engine bay. The plus side of doing what I've done is it's going to be a lot easy to install the support bearing. One added positive to doing all this again and spending a bit more time on it is that the support bearing is going to be in a lot easier position in the engine bay to make a frame or a bracket for it.

[00:19:14]Otherwise, it would have been inside underneath the dashboard and it would have been a bit of a nightmare.

[00:19:21]But let's let this cool down and then we can see what we can do with this. While I wait for it to cool down, I may as well start drilling the hole, which I'm going to make to tap in a grub screw or bolt to stop the metal shaft from twisting inside this aluminum piece. I'm using a 5 mil drill, so it will be the right size to tap in a 6 mill thread. If I do have enough room and depth to drill into the shaft, the best option is actually to thread through the aluminum and into the steel. That will mean that when I wind a bolt into it, it locks it into place and there'll be no chance for any movement and potentially eventually causing wear to that joint. We're going to have to find out if it will fit.

[00:20:08]However, for the meantime, if it's just a case of using a grub screw, that will also be fine, too. I have made a good start in drilling into the metal stock, but I think I'm going to wait until I get a brand new drill bit because my 5 mil is pretty short. However, we can still get it all test fitted on the car before I go and get another drill bit.

[00:20:33]So, this fits lovely onto there.

[00:20:39]With the support bearing now on, I can tighten the steel sleeve up into that aluminum joint. Ready to go back in for testing.

[00:20:49]Let's get this back in the car. It's bolted in place. This is approximately what we are dealing with. And I'm quite liking the setup to be honest.

[00:21:02]I want it to probably sit about there somewhere.

[00:21:11]And you can see that the center support is in a much better position right between the column and the rack now truly.

[00:21:23]And that's going to be plenty strong enough. Nice clearance on the exhaust and on the chassis.

[00:21:29]I think it's going to go in that kind of angle and then just I don't know if I need to lift it up to be honest. Probably not.

[00:21:38]can go quite shallow near the chassis leg. There's no reason why we can't. And that's a lot of clearance on the manifold if I want to put a guard on it.

[00:21:49]I'll mark it up, prep the area, and then we can think about getting some plates welded in for that mount. After making a basic cardboard template for size, I get the plate cut out of 2M steel.

[00:22:04]Plate goes on For overall stability and strength, the plate wants to be as close to the eyelet as possible, so it's not sticking out really far. The longer it is from the mount itself, the more flex there will be. I need to clean up the chassis, set this at the right height, and then make some templates and start welding the base on. I also need to be wary that I want to be able to undo that nut from the underside.

[00:22:42]So, that needs to go into the design feature, but that's basically it. Pretty simple job to do. Once this is bolted down tight, we can fully test to see how straight I welded that joint. because once we start turning the wheel, if it feels notchy in any way, we know that's probably where the issue lies.

[00:23:02]But I'm sure it'll be fine. Feels all right so far. I'm going to define the area on the chassis leg that we need to clean up. And I'll probably have to remove this to get access to clean it.

[00:23:14]Once the general area is marked up with pen, I could actually get in with a nylon wheel and the drill. So, I didn't have to remove any of the linkage. I could just clean up around it. More cardboard templates were made and I cut those out of my sheet steel.

[00:23:35]I have the first piece for the support mount cut out. This is going to be the tricky one to get right because I need to hold everything exactly in place whilst I tack it onto the car. Not impossible, but difficult. This plate, as you're looking at it, will be on the left. And then I just need to make one for the back. But this should support it enough to hold it in situ while I do the other side. The first support bracket is the most important. So I take extra time to get this in the correct position.

[00:24:06]Eventually I can get it tacked on. And that should be the hard bit done.

[00:24:13]This is how things are looking so far.

[00:24:14]I've got it tacked on almost. I just need to make the plate for the other side. I'm not going to put one in the front because I want to be able to get the nut out easily and I think one either side fully welded in will be plenty strong enough to hold this column in place. Now we need to weld piece number two in place.

[00:24:37]Even with the main structure and the assembly supported under its own weight, the other bracket was actually just as hard just because of the angle to lean in to get access to weld it.

[00:24:52]Now, this is the test. I have tacked it in both sides. It's not going to go anywhere. And I've bolted this up tight.

[00:25:00]That is now solid. It's not even bolted on the bottom of the steering column yet. To see if I welded the bit I joined up is straight. I'm going to turn the steering wheel.

[00:25:14]And it feels free as a bird.

[00:25:19]Can I get eyes on this?

[00:25:23]The steering wheel feels nice and free.

[00:25:25]I can see a minute amount of wonder in the linkage, which means it's just wobbling back and forth. I'll do a final assessment before I fit it. And if there is a way of getting it ever so slightly straight, I will. But I'm pretty happy with how it is. I'm happy with that.

[00:25:43]Loads of clearance on the manifold. And I can groove this out slightly just to make sure 100% I'm not going to get contact on the chassis leg. But that's about it. Make a few more reference points and then we can get this engine back out and do the overhaul. My next important task is to mark out on either side of the chassis leg where the exhaust manifold is most close. And I'm just going to clearance it a bit just in case we get rocking from the engine.

[00:26:15]any movement at all. I don't want my exhaust manifold hitting the chassis legs. I'll mark it out with pen now. And I believe then that is all we need to do before we can get this engine back out the car, but I'll double check before I do so. The fact we've moved on from standard engine mounts to polyurethane ones, we shouldn't get too much rock.

[00:26:39]I'm hoping we're not going to add too much vibration. However, this is a purist build. Any extra feel through the car is a positive. I think marking out the areas for extra clearance now, I think, is well worth it. As we're doing a bit of welding in the engine bay, the last thing I want to be doing is realizing I need to take the engine out once it all goes back together. Once it was all marked up, we can then remove the steering linkage again.

[00:27:09]As you've all seen now, this was a fair bit of work to get right. I'm glad I iterated and changed the design and the setup. Very happy with it. It's still fully maintainable. Everything's unboltable. Nothing's permanent in the car other than the bracket. And that's what we're dealing with to weld in once the engine comes out. Nice and easy.

[00:27:28]Simple design. I should be able to use this bulkhead seal also. It's slightly offset in the hole, but I reckon it will work fine. And I might just need to um oversize the center bearing so it fits on this new piece on the new sleeve. But that should work well. One thing I must do before I pull the engine back out of the car is check what clearance I have to improve and strengthen the subframe.

[00:27:53]I need to get under the car now and we'll have a look and I'm going to make some notes on what I can do and what space I have. In essence, it's how far I can go back towards that part of the sump. and then just what clearance I need to have around the engine mount area on the back side.

[00:28:12]So, I'll get those measurements and then can pull this old thing on out. Again, the subframe that this engine normally lives on in the M3 is very substantial compared to the Z4 one. This is why I'm putting my best effort into making it as strong as possible. I do understand we're adding more weight and we really want to limit that. However, I believe it's important to have a nice strong platform for this bigger engine in a car it's not normally accustomed to.

[00:28:47]It does feel like a good milestone that once this goes back in, we can start building up the car. It's been a long road to get here, but it should be worth it. And here we go again, the engine out procedure. I support the gearbox end with a jack. Then I can remove the gearbox mount, get the engine crane all set up again and support the weight of the engine.

[00:29:10]Then slowly but surely we can get it all free. As we know, we've done it a number of times already. I lower the subframe, remove the steering rack, and then once that's all clear, the engine will be free.

[00:29:48]back home on the ground for now. This frees up space to do the rest of the fabrication in the engine bay. And also, I do have most of the parts. I've got some preventative maintenance items for this engine. I think I have everything I need to do the main stuff underneath.

[00:30:05]And then I haven't got any service items yet, but we can do that at a later date.

[00:30:11]I also want to give this a bit of a clean up. Firstly, I'm going to check to see what thickness this chassis leg is and then decide on what material I'm going to use in there. I think 13 racing had a good idea of putting exhaust tube or roll cage tube inverted to get extra clearance. It's quite a nice idea.

[00:30:38]I have This is probably a bit overkill cuz it's 3 mil wool and we're probably I think this is about 1.5 or 2 mil.

[00:30:50]This is slightly too small, but I'm going to get this trimmed up a bit more. You can see there's a mark on the front edge here, and that's to clearance the exhaust a bit more, which I'm going to do exactly the same on the near side. I have that area there. You can see where it's been rubbing to clearance. Also, that might be quite a nice one just to do a small notch and then put a sleeve of round tube in there. That' be good. option on that side.

[00:31:22]But I think first we need to take all the material off, perhaps square it up a bit more, and then decide how we're going to weld the metal in. By squaring up and generally tiding the area I've cut out already on the chassis leg. It doesn't just make it look nice, but it actually makes it physically easier to make templates to go in. I'm not cutting things at all weird shapes and wonderful angles. So, there is good reason to take more material off the car.

[00:31:55]After securing some of the plumbing lines on the near side, I then go about removing a square patch to clear the exhaust manifold on that side, too.

[00:32:08]I found the right size tube that's suitable to go in the chassis legs. So then I mark out those, cut them to size, ready for them to be tacked into the car.

[00:32:26]I've got to the stage now where I've cut the plates out. That's going to sit inside of there. And then I've done same thing on this side, but just smaller.

[00:32:37]It's going to sit inside of there. Next thing to do, I need to get the welder out. get those tacked into place and then I can make some templates and cut out the pieces for the sides that seal it off. And then I'm thinking spray the back side of that in the chassis. I could actually just put some air aerosol down there and it will put a nice light coating on that or get some weld through primer and do the same with that one. As I start to weld these pieces in, I make sure not to heat one area up too much.

[00:33:12]The insides of the chassis legs are painted, so I don't want to create a fire that I can't get to potentially and put out.

[00:33:22]On goes the smaller plate on the near side. Again, we're just tacking it in for now.

[00:33:31]The main plates are in. I just need to make the template for the caps on either end. So, I've got two on that side and two on this side. What I don't normally talk about is I do have neighbors and I try and organize the work that I do on this to be respectful. So, I try and get as much angle grinding and loud work done in a reasonable hour. So, I want to try and get these done quickly so I can basically cut them out and not get complaints off the neighbors using the angle grinder late at night. Fun times.

[00:34:07]Now, against the clock, I get these templates made up. They're not too tricky to make. As long as I get the outside curve right, I can put them up against the chassis leg, then trace around the outside, and that will give me the tricky shape. It doesn't take me long to whip up four templates, two for either side. Then I can cut them out on the bench. Again, out of 2 mil sheet steel.

[00:34:30]Once I'm happy they are all trimmed and to size, we can get those tapped into the car. I am using a small pen magnet to help me hold things in the right position. This stops me accidentally dropping them down into the chassis legs as well. So, anyone out there doing some chassis leg modifications, use a small magnet. It's a good tip.

[00:34:54]Now I am fully welding the plates in. We are generating a lot of heat. I do want to emphasize I don't want to burn the car down. That would be a real shame. I think it makes sense to pause every now and again and just monitor the amount of smoke coming out of these chassis legs because I do not want to set fire to this thing.

[00:35:16]So I do sections either side just to spread the heat around. Fingers crossed I don't have to get the fire extinguisher out of the rally car.

[00:35:29]All done. Welded up. I'm going to hang around for 20 minutes at least just to make sure that the car doesn't burn down. And then I'll continue tomorrow.

[00:35:40]The next morning, I continue by putting the subframe and steering rack back on, including the linkage, just to check to see how much play I have and if I need to create any more clearance.

[00:35:56]I think I still need a bit more clearance for the joint that comes out of the steering rack. Before I remove it to make the modifications to the chassis leg, I also mark out what other areas need to be cut to create even more clearance, especially around the pipes that go into the rack itself. Once I've done that, the rack comes back out. And before it was removed, I made up some cardboard templates just to create a few support tabs on the top mounts for the rack itself.

[00:36:38]Once all templates were cut out, I welded the area that I clearanced for more space on the off side. Then I could tack and weld in the support tabs for the steering rack.

[00:36:53]I'm going to let all of this cool down and then we can test fit the rack again to see if I've added the right clearance there.

[00:37:00]and also that the welding hasn't affected the gap where it slots into the subframe. After getting the steering rack assembly back into place and it all looks good, I then start making a template for the support bar, which is going to effectively make the overall width of the subframe slightly bigger and therefore hopefully stronger to hold the engine.

[00:37:25]Luckily for me, I found some box section steel, which is ideal. And after cutting it into a nice, simple shape. It slots in quite nicely. And before we start the heavier fabrication, I need to remove the steering rack again. The lower suspension arms and the engine mounts because we don't want to melt them. I needed to make some more brackets and templates. No, it's not over yet.

[00:37:51]including a trickier one which will fill the area that I've cut out for the access for the steering rack that goes through the subframe. This one is probably the most tricky as I need to retain all the clearance and not lose any with welds or extra plates. After cutting them all out, I use a small magnet again and start with the trickier one. Attack that plate in that's going to sit under the steering rack.

[00:38:24]There are two triangular plates that join the main support for the engine to the original subframe. This is going to be quite an important one in bridging the gap and hopefully bringing the whole assembly a lot more strength. You can now see those two triangles. And to bridge the gap between the subframe and that extra bar that I put in across the back of it, I've made a small plate to go across the top.

[00:38:56]Now with all of that tacked into place, I can make the side plates that go around the edge on the left side. That will seal it all in nicely. Then hopefully there's not too much more to do on the top side of the subframe.

[00:39:16]I have managed to cut up all the plates and get them tacked into place. And the heat of the day is over now, so I can enjoy a bit of cooler weather and get all this welded in situ. I wanted to do this while it was bolted up to the chassis rails because it's not going to do anything funky if I was to weld all of this on the bench as it's the thinnest part of the subframe. we could get some distortion going on. So that's why I've done it all in situ. I'll get this top plate either side welded on.

[00:39:50]Welds all the way along there and around there. Also, I need to finish off those.

[00:39:58]And then I can take it off. Actually, before I take it off, I need to put the lower wishbones on and double check the clearance we have on the underside. I'll make some notes of that and then once I've done that I can get the subframe off and we can do all the welding from the underside. Now I believe the majority of the plating is done on the top side so it can all be welded into place.

[00:40:29]I've just bolted the lower arms back onto the subframe. And now I'm going to mark exactly where the maximum travel is before the arm touches the underside of the modified subframe.

[00:40:46]From the start of this project, the big issue we had is the amount of distance we have between the lower arms, the ones that I'm working around now, and the engine mounts themselves. The poly mounts we have been working with I've actually cut down and reduced in size.

[00:41:02]But there is still a very tight area to work in which has certainly brought the challenges to this area of the jigsaw puzzle. That is the custom subframe.

[00:41:12]Once the important marks were made, we can lower the subframe, get it off, and get it on the bench ready to do the underside.

[00:41:21]And that's a wrap for this episode.

[00:41:23]We've made some good progress. There's a hole in the engine bay where the subframe once was. It's now on the bench. We need to do a few more things here. There's not a huge amount of work to do, but we still need to finish off the underside, and then that can be gone to powder coating. Engine bay wise, there's still quite a lot of work to do.

[00:41:42]We need to get the brake lines in. We need to mount the ABS. We need to mount the vacuum pump. A few other bits and pieces before we can think about giving all of this a really good clean up. and the paint potentially before we get the engine back in. If you enjoyed the episode, give it a thumbs up. Any comments or questions about the build, leave them down below. Go subscribe and I'll see you all very soon.