Terry Sayther Automotive - Ongoing Projects


	Ongoing Projects
			MONSTER 2002 Racer 1974 2002 Racer 1958 502 Carrera Racer 1965 1800ti Sedan 1939 335 Restoration 2003 MINI Cooper S 1979 M1 1932 AM 4 1974 BMW 2002 for Vintage and BMW CCA Club Racing Last year will be hard to top. We raced a lot in the spring, a bit in the summer, and a little more in the fall. I was pretty fast in my class, but my real accomplishment stemmed from my consistency; Brandon Littleton, my crew chief, kept my car reliable all year long. That reliability and my natural caution based consistency allowed me to become the 2002 National Champion for BMW CCA Club Racing in my L-Prepared class. Hard to top that. But, you know? I wanted to go faster. I love passing late model BMWs in a 2002. Especially M3s. With that in mind, I've decided to move to the modified class for 2003. Debbie gave me a Pete McHenry built engine for my birthday last year, but we didn't install it since I was doing so well in the Prepared class last year. Click here for more on the 02 Racecar Frankenstein '02 1972 BMW 2002 Very Modified What? You say your race car head is off and you can't go racing for a month or two? What to do, what to do? Why, build another race car, of course. There's idle speculation out there in the world about how 2002 race suspensions compare to E30, to E36, and even to E46. Naturally, there's no real answer to these questions. But what if a 2002 was converted to E30 or E36 suspension pieces? And further, what if the mounting points of the suspension were also transplanted into the 2002, and the driveline tunnel, and the rest of the rigid floor pan? But why stop there? Why not use the E36 M3 engine along with the drivetrain? Intriguing questions. Well, I happened to have an early round tail light, no sunroof 2002 body laying around. And I had a rolled 2-door E36 sitting idly by. And time---I had some idle time, as well. Idle hands are the devils play things. Click Here for more on the Monster! 1958 BMW 502 for La Carrera Panamericana 2003 The 2002 La Carrera Panamericana was the most fun we've ever had. We positively have to do it again. The 502 didn't suffer much in the event and won't take much to get ready again. We hope to improve its power and top speed in the next few months through some development ideas that we'll test by racing it at Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing (CVAR) events at Texas World Speedway. Click Here for Carrera 502 updates 1965 BMW 1800ti Sedan -----Car #2 for La Carrera Panamericana 2003 Running the 2002 La Carrera Panamericana in our 1958 BMW 502 was the best, and most outrageous thing we've ever done. We can't imagine not doing it again. But while we were running the race, we kept imagining what the race would be like in a more modern BMW. We resolved to find out. In the last few months of 2002 we looked at the rules, and looked at what BMW's were eligible, and decided to find an 1800ti sedan that was already a race car. We followed a few leads and eventually pinned down a car in Dublin, California that had been a successful auto-crosser and BMW CCA Club Racer for what seemed like most of its life. Darrell Lunge had raced this car for many years and had treated it like a part of his family. He had put a lot of effort and money into the car and his care and expertise was evident throughout. He had only quit racing because the engine blowed up. He did not want to sell the car, but he was getting a new house and needed both space. So...I saved a few pennies and... February 2003: road trip---get into the new Turbo-diesel Ford towing special and head west to San Francisco via the Durango-Silverton, southern Utah scenic route. Picked up the car in SF from Darrell, visit a few friends, see the Blackhawk Museum, and head south on Highway 1. Nothing like a 10 day road trip to take your mind off work. March 2003: Not much time to spend on this project right now, but Mauro Hernandez, our body man, had a couple days free so he prepped the engine bay for painting and gave it a new coat of white paint. Looks great. February 2004:Back to work! We have had a volunteer step forward to co-pilot this car in the 2004 La Carrera Panamericana. Steve Unruh will be competing with us this year. We will be building a hot 1800 for this car, but for the moment Brandon has installed our old 2 liter engine from the 2002 National Class Champion yellow 2002 along with an overdrive 5-sp. March-April 2004: This car came to us with either a very sophisticated or a needlessly complex ignition system. We removed it and wired in a normal MSD box. Brandon also removed the small racing seat and installed a pair of comfortable sport seats suitable for more extended seating time. October 2004: Car wrecked in La Carrera Panamericana 2004. See our Carrera Report 1939 BMW 335 Restoration Project January 2003: I first saw this car in 1981, under a car port in Volente, Texas out by Lake Travis, where it had been parked since 1956. I located the owner then and found out that she believed the car to be worth $100,000, an amount that was to me the same as the GNP of a small Central American country. I talked to her again in 1992 and she was down to $20,000---still well above what I thought was a reasonable price. So this year, another ten years later, I had no idea what to expect, and no real idea whether the car was still there or what shape it might be in if it was. Well, it was still there, and she was thinking of selling the land and didn't want to move the car with her, so she took my $3000 and I had the car at long last. My initial impression on seeing it again for the first time in twenty years was: Oh no! All the external parts are missing! But then she had all the parts (except the speedometer) in boxes in the house, so everything was ok. And it looked pretty good to me, though I'm definitely weak. Continue to the 335 Ongoing Project 2003 Mini Cooper S Long-term Driving Test Click here for MINI Photos 2-15-03: The new Mini is really a BMW, right? And Austin has no dealer still; apparently isn't going to have one for a while yet. So...it makes good business sense for us to have one. We'd get first hand experience, learn about the car, use it for customer rides, public relations, income tax write off----all that stuff. And besides it's Valentines Day AND Debbie's Birthday both in the space of a month. Andres, at Momentum Mini in Houston, found us one: a dark blue Cooper S 6-speed, and Duncan flew down to Houston yesterday to bring it back. Somehow it turned into a light blue metallic one, but Debbie likes that color anyhow. Here's some immediate impressions: Duncan: Sexy! Big wheels! Cute! Mom's going to love it. Terry: I hate that color. Debbie: Oh shit, it's not the right color. Duncan: This is the funnest car I've ever driven. It drives like a go-cart with AC. Debbie (to herself): I love that color. I really like the white roof. It's bigger than I thought. I can't believe Terry did this. Duncan: It has a GREAT sound system. It is REALLY hard to keep under the speed limit. And then we drove it. WOW!! What a great car. An astounding depth of features and comforts---unbelievable car for the price. Quick, too---70mph in 2nd gear and 4 more to go. Ninety sounds like 55. Stay tuned----we'll be adding to this as we learn the car. April, 2003----2500 miles now and we have a few interesting things to talk about. Duncan has installed a BMP Design Cold Air Intake on our car which sounds great, but I can't tell any power difference. It's really a simple installation, though. The "Service Engine Soon" light came on last week. We connected our MoDic BMW Computer to the car and instantly read out that the gas cap was loose!! We tightened the cap and reset the fault codes and were back on the road just that fast. We've changed the oil and filter for the first time---and we've written a little do-it-yourself article about it. Go See It! Our coolant got ugly!! With 2500 miles on the brand new car, and the coolant got ugly. What the heck was up with that? We flushed it out and replaced it with new, pressure tested the system, and there we go again. Wind noise---lots of wind noise!! The moulding at the top of the windshield came loose and started making lots of noise. A bit of glue and it snapped right back in place. Finally, Debbie's driver seat recline adjustment mechanism has stopped working and we haven't had time to fix it yet. We've noticed that John Trevey's Mini has the same problem. May 2003----4000 miles now The moulding at the top of the windshield has come off a couple more times---we're probably going to have to do something about that. Debbie has installed her own factory seat covers----they're kind of ugly, but they have to incorporate provision for the in-seat air bags, so they are pretty special. Mini Rally for the opening of The Italian Job movie!! What fun---about 50 Mini's from around Texas: a rally Friday evening before the movie and then the movie together. Sunday another rally for a couple hours around the lake, including some aggressive driving. What a blast! We handed out brochures and business cards to everybody there and everybody had a great enthusiastic time. June 7, 2003 This past week we sent the car with David Russell to Rhine West in San Antonio for dyno testing to get baseline data before modifying the engine. No surprises---top horsepower was just almost the advertised 163, torque was nearly none at idle [as we've observed] and very flat across the usual driving range. Saturday, I installed the BMP Promini smaller diameter supercharger pulley. Kind of a tough job---count on spending 5-6 hours---but it's well worth it. Now even I want to drive the car all the time---power!! The other thing I learned is that those run-flat tires and factory wheels weigh 49 pounds each! Wow, too much. June 14, 2003 This week we had more dyno runs at Rhine West---with great results: the torque curve is completely parallel and moved up 25-30 ft lbs!! Horsepower no longer peaks below redline but increases steadily up to 7000. Uncorrected readings as high as 190-195!! David Greenwood experimented with software changes next, but didn't find much improvement at the wide open throttle settings used during the dyno runs. A few more horses. Subjective part throttle improvements seem worthwhile, but not worth much expense. Thanks, Dave. Driving this car is a constant joy with 200 hp. BRAKE DUST: the factory pads make more dust than any car we've seen without a three-pointed star. This week we installed some EBC Green Stuff pads, which are supposed to be low or no dust. We'll find out soon. The rear pads are tricky to install because the caliper pistons have to be screwed back into place so the new pads will fit. TIRE WEAR: with 5000 miles, the front tires are half worn out. The rears look new, so I rotated them to the front. Without rotating, they'd be worn out at 10,000. By rotating occasionally, we should be able to get maybe 20,000 out of the set. June 22, 2003---Sunday morning Up at 5.30AM to drive to San Antonio for a 300-mile spirited rally around the hill country. Seven cars and about a dozen people having a great time. Discovered that it plows pretty badly when really driven hard, but handles really great right up to that point. REAR SWAY BAR: understeer designed into the car is for safety----most drivers can't handle a truly neutral handling car. But a bigger bar in the back makes it feel better to me. STAINLESS STEEL BRAKE LINES: Another improvement that even Debbie appreciates---a more positive feel to the brakes. July 2003----7500 miles Still pretty trouble free and a joy to drive. Oil change time. August 2003 Installed a Rogue Engineering dual exhaust system, then had Spillar Custom Hitches fabricate a trailer hitch so we could pull our teardrop trailer. October 2003---15,000 miles Still running great and a joy to drive. This month we did a 4000 mile drive to Guatamala and back---see the report on the Terry Sayther Automotive MINI site. We changed the oil again and found that the coolant reservoir was leaking again. March 2004---what the heck? 30,000 miles!!! Who's been driving that car so far? Some other family must be driving it at night. Well it did go to the MINI convention in Las Vegas, and then to the MINI convention in Florida, and then the MINI convention in Morelia, Michoacan----so I guess we did put a few miles on it. Still runs good. Back to Top 1979 BMW M1 March 3, 2003: 03/03/03---with that date I should be getting a 3-series of some kind, but what am I doing? Buying an M1!! I can’t believe it. Insanity!! It’s been sitting outside for 17 years in the sun, its engine is disassembled, generations of cats have been peeing in it, and it’s beautiful if you squint your eyes just right. My banker must like it, too, since he’s the one who actually is buying the car. This car will need complete paint work, re-upholstery, engine reassembly, location of missing parts, repair of various neglectful areas, and who knows what else. And what if there are parts missing? Oh, boy. May, 2003---Not knowing has been nagging at me. Not knowing if there are major parts missing, not knowing if there are expensive parts broken parts, not knowing if there's a great big rock waiting to fall on my head (or on my wallet, more precisely). So, I've spent a couple days cleaning, examining, and inventorying M1 engine parts. Here's what I've found: The water pump is rusty and frozen. Actually, it felt like it wants to turn, but the rubber seal is stuck to the shaft. After cleaning it up and letting it sit with some Mouse Milk Penetrating Oil it broke free and feels pretty good. I've heard a rumor that replacements are $1200. All 3 double throttle bodies are corroded and frozen closed. Cleaning and penetrating oil freed up one of them immediately, but the other two are still soaking. The Kugelfischer Injection pump is very dirty and was not sealed for storage. It will almost certainly need to be rebuilt. This looks like a six cylinder version of the tii pump, so hopefully it will not be a problem. Other interesting discoveries: The dry sump oil pan is rubber coated from the factory---maybe to keep the oil temperature up for maximum oil scavenging? This engine has a lot of unique gaskets---hope I don't have to make very many of them myself. Never having worked with a dry sump oiling system before, the pan and pump system are very interesting. It has a pressure pump in the usual place in the pan, and a 3-stage scavenging pump bolted to the front cover. (Or do I have that reversed? I don't know enough to say yet.) Both pumps are run by the same chain. The rods are very long and the pin height is so high on the piston that they had to put the oil control ring BELOW the pin---never seen that before. The flywheel is surprisingly heavy, but the dual disc clutch is cool. April 2004 Time to dig out the block and spend a day cleaning. The crank and block look good---the main bearings look like new. They look special, too----lots of oil supply holes. Back to Top 1932 BMW 3/20 AM4 Restoration Project Are you kidding? With all those other projects? We can't even start to think about this one.