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.
29/05/2006
Pump & Filters
Fuel system sorted! Two new fuel filters from Sytec (BTC spec - maybe a little over the top!!) one with 12mm unions and the other with 8mm. The pump sits in the middle on two short pipes. The hose clips are not too tight so that the pump can move a little.
Click me
22/05/2006
Coil overs
Coil overs have arrived from Gaz - first test fit. Its tight and the chassis might need a bit of modification to get everything running nicely! Finish quality is excellent with ball joints at the top are welded into the E46 top mounts I sent to them.
Click me
21/05/2006
Wheels
Sanding, sanding, sanding, sanding.... after find there is not enough paint in a halford repair kit to do a proper job it turns out you can't buy the paint separately?!?! Ok plan B filler primer, sanding, primer, Honda Noble silver, lacquer! That should yield much better results than the paint in the kit. The stuff for filling the holes was good though.
Click me
14/05/2006
Wheels
We've decided to use the stock 4 stud alloys to start with, but with larger tyres that we've got from and E36. The alloys have seen better days after a good 15 years on the car! So today we've had the old rubber taken off the rim and started the refurb process. None of the pro restores I called would touch the plastics caps and most wanted £55 per wheel. So as these are only until we've worn through the tyres we decided to try the Halford wheel restoration kit. The results are pretty good consider its DIY - only finished one of the three so far, it take a long, long time with lots and lots of sanding to get anywhere!
Click me
Also a small job in the engine bay, mounting the coil and arranging the pipes. The Car Builder Solution pipe that I had custom made instead of the 3rd radiator cap is install with the pipe over to the header tank:
Click me
10/05/2006
Downtime
We've been moved to a shiny, new and faster server (again!) sorry for the down time.
03/05/2006
Doors!
Today we worked on the doors installing the latches and trimming out the door pockets so that the latches are usable and there are no square or sharp edges. Had to cut the opening for the latch about 1 cm bigger at the top over
the marked line so that they would unlatch the striker pin.
Click me
Click me
01/05/2006
Stoneleigh 2006
17/04/2006
Bits and bobs
Misc items done such as finishing the steering column mount and putting the pedal box in for the last time (we hope!)
Click me
New tubes added
Click me
AFM Mount:
Click me
Also started wrapping the engine wiring loom ready to go back in the car.
