Day 3 – 10 Day Build – E21 S54 – Garagistic

Day 3, primarily reserved for Exhaust, Suspension, and radiator mounting.

Fuel filter stuff removed. I am going to a walbro 255 external pump for this assembly. I'm sticking with the same fuel filter (new), and fuel accumulator to keep fuel pressure up on starts.

Front hubs cleaned up, installing new bearings and races. Then install onto GC struts.

Mounted the E46 M3 exhaust - Had to cut out some of the piping to fit. I didn't want to do a completely custom exhaust system, but it looks like that's what may happen. Everything is custom.

Thus far, I'm going with 2 mounts for the muffler assembly itself. Then after I start welding the mid pipe, I'll be adding a 3rd one in the same vicinity.

The top of the muffler is just at the top of the spare wheel well I cut out. Might need to figure out a new method of capping the wheel well.

I decided to use the new exhaust cut outs to plug the old exhaust outlet. I maintain the same curvature, bend, and character line, so it's seamless.

For now, I'd like to simply add weather stripping, but in the future outlook, we've got some cool Ares LS1 ideas for this exhaust.

The radiator mounting is being prototyped, but at the moment this works very well. Used some M12 bolts, 19mm head actually fits these poly bushings perfectly.