Welcome to our BMW E30 based Marlin Sportster Build Site,
we hope you will find this documentation interesting and helpful.
The site has grown massively since its inception in 2005, I hope to one day soon improve the navigation as it's a bit overwhelming to start with. The main areas of interest to builders will be:
The rolling chassis build
Bodywork Fitting
SVA Issues
Final Assembly
If you would like read about the build in date order then have a look at his page.
It took 2.5 years to build the car and pass SVA and a lot longer to get to where it is now! To see the Sportster out on the road have a look at one of the videos here.
During 2008 we rebuilt the BMW engine from 2.5 to a 2.8 creating an M20B28 stroker engine. It uses the crankshaft from the later BMW M52B28 and the conrods from the M20B20. Not much more work is needed other than a clean up, slotting those bits together and a crank spacer. To read about the engine build click here (very picture heavy!)
Finally in March 2009 it was painted, a full set of images is here.
To read the whole build from the start click here.
22/07/2007
Headlights
Front bumper installation - just like the back the front does not fit so we made some spacers.
Spacer installed, with the spacer in the bumpers fit very snugly!
Headlights, spotlights and indicators mounted. The driver side is wired up.
Done a load of small things as well like zip tying cables in the engine bay, extra paint in the battery box to protect it, hole cut for brake fluid level sensor, lots of polishing on the headlights, spot lights and indicators.
Spacer installed, with the spacer in the bumpers fit very snugly!
Headlights, spotlights and indicators mounted. The driver side is wired up.
Done a load of small things as well like zip tying cables in the engine bay, extra paint in the battery box to protect it, hole cut for brake fluid level sensor, lots of polishing on the headlights, spot lights and indicators.
20/07/2007
Driver seat
And then there was two! Driver side seat fitting, it was much easier second time through.
However the second seat needed to line up the same as the first seat, they are not 100% but it's very close.
However the second seat needed to line up the same as the first seat, they are not 100% but it's very close.
19/07/2007
Passenger seat
After many hours of measuring, cutting, getting it wrong and making the holes bigger these steel square bars now fit! Only realising half way that the runners on the seat itself were not parallel! Problem solved though. Did the front holes first and then later the rear ones, which you can't get to very easily!
The steel bars will be drilled and bolted on the outsides through the chassis for extra strength.
Seat in the forward position
Seat all the way back
The steel bars will be drilled and bolted on the outsides through the chassis for extra strength.
Seat in the forward position
Seat all the way back
18/07/2007
Floors
Step 1 - measure out and drill 40 holes in one floor
Step 2 - drill 40 holes in the the floor of the other side.
Step 3 - drill 40 holes in the driver side
Step 4 - drill 40 holes in the passenger side after a trip to the DIY shop to get a new drill bit! Despite the extensive use of cutting compound the drill bits just get blunt after drilling 120 holes in hard steel!
Step 5 cover driver side with black goo from CBS and put 40 steel rivets in
Step 6 - repeat on the passenger side, then go and rest hands / arms...
And some more wiring, some more wiring added, the dash is now easy to remove if need by unplugging a few multi plugs.
04/07/2007
down time
Sorry for the down time, site got moved between servers again. For some reason they managed to break the ODBC everytime its done!
19/06/2007
Glovebox
Another small step forwards - a hole cut in the dash for the glove box. The fuse box will sit in the back of here.
17/06/2007
Bonnet Catches and Centre Console
After nearly a whole measuring the bonnet catches are now install. They really finish the car of nicely.
Spent a few hours day creating a centre console out of the scrap bits left from making the metal backing for the dash sponge / piping. Not sure if this will be the final piece or not yet!
14/06/2007
Parts 'n stuff
First off the bonnet catches, a price item but look really nice and should go well with the rest of the bright work on the car. These are supposed to be SVA compliant, we shall see! (Got them from Marlin, better price the Europa)
Due to damaging one of the original brakes lines we had some new ones made, this time with a banjo connection for the calliper side. The problem with the original ones is that the cable comes out the top of the calliper and on full lock gets trapped between the wish bone and the front wing carrier. With the banjo its possible to angle the pipe so that there is no contact at any point in the movement of the wheels (there is a lock in place on the rack to reduce movement but experimenting showed that this is enough for slow speed manoeuvring)
Second bit of construction news, the air intake (which will be domed to create a low pressure area around the intake) now has a new much more flexible pipe than the one that came with the BMC making installation much easier:
Finally small bit of interior work. After fixing the sponge / piping for the doors we test fitted them - needs more work but getting there:
Due to damaging one of the original brakes lines we had some new ones made, this time with a banjo connection for the calliper side. The problem with the original ones is that the cable comes out the top of the calliper and on full lock gets trapped between the wish bone and the front wing carrier. With the banjo its possible to angle the pipe so that there is no contact at any point in the movement of the wheels (there is a lock in place on the rack to reduce movement but experimenting showed that this is enough for slow speed manoeuvring)
Second bit of construction news, the air intake (which will be domed to create a low pressure area around the intake) now has a new much more flexible pipe than the one that came with the BMC making installation much easier:
Finally small bit of interior work. After fixing the sponge / piping for the doors we test fitted them - needs more work but getting there:
07/06/2007
Dash Trim
New dashboard? Not quite...
...nope the, the vinyl covered sponge for the dash is completely the wrong shape. It was the wrong shape before stretching the dash and after it was even further out.
The bolts as per the Marlin item are glued in the metal. We've used fibre glass filler, the bolt heads have extra cuts in them for the fibres to rest in. The original Marlin sponge glued on to the new metal.
The inside edge of the metal is now trimmed out to the shape of the sponge and mounted on the scuttle. The sponge now follows the shape of the scuttle nicely. Dash and trim now in place. As you can see the gauges got very close to the trim so we've made some recesses to match the placement of the gauges.
A side shot of everything in place. The dash itself needs a bit more trimming down. The metal piece backing the sponge has a rolled edge which should cover the dash nicely.
...nope the, the vinyl covered sponge for the dash is completely the wrong shape. It was the wrong shape before stretching the dash and after it was even further out.
The bolts as per the Marlin item are glued in the metal. We've used fibre glass filler, the bolt heads have extra cuts in them for the fibres to rest in. The original Marlin sponge glued on to the new metal.
The inside edge of the metal is now trimmed out to the shape of the sponge and mounted on the scuttle. The sponge now follows the shape of the scuttle nicely. Dash and trim now in place. As you can see the gauges got very close to the trim so we've made some recesses to match the placement of the gauges.
A side shot of everything in place. The dash itself needs a bit more trimming down. The metal piece backing the sponge has a rolled edge which should cover the dash nicely.