The first item on our shop list, the roll cage, turned out to be the easiest. In any case, we opt for a welded instead of a cage. So there weren’t many alternatives left.
We saw 2 possibilities. Either we let a recognized installer fully assemble the roll cage, or we go for the Custom Cages roll cage. The latter is a bit ikea-style, although the building kits are better documented there.
As mentioned earlier, the intention is that we will develop all electronics ourselves. ECU, display controllers, power controllers, ignition/coil drivers,….
To reduce development costs, we try to test as many concepts as possible with evaluation kits and test platforms (sample boards).
Perhaps the most counterfeit S14 part with as a result also a very different quality. Since finding an original Wethje airbox is looking for a needle in a haystack, unless you have a fortune for it, we were also forced to turn to the fake versions.
One of the first choices we made was the suspension. We not only took the quality of the product into account in our elimination, but also the availability of support and the distance to the manufacturer.
At first we looked at Reiger but due to the high price that was not feasible with our budget.
Only Proflex and Intrax remained. Both have a large number of satisfied users spread across different disciplines. Intrax is in any case the most chosen on track while Proflex has long earned its spurs in the rally event. Nevertheless, Henk was able to convince us to be a guinea pig with us.
So it has become the Intrax 4 road system with black titan coating.
The choice of the brand was quite easy for us. We chose AP fairly quickly because of the quality of their products and the good service of Guus in NL
The selection of the type of claws and the size of the discs took a little more time.
Fortunately, we could again count on the drawing abilities of Nick who expertly put various rims, discs, bells and suspension parts in Pro Engineer to bring them together in 3 D and see what can and cannot be done.
The gear lever seems like a fairly simple part in itself but it has kept us busy for hours.
From the beginning we were not super enthusiastic to put our – nice looking and far too expensive – Sadev shifter next to the vertical handbrake on the tunnel. Not that you will easily miss, but it is emotionally out of place there.
The original plan was to take care of the engine completely last. Because the work took a little more time than hoped for, we did some things in parallel and from then on time, energy and money is put into the engine.
After hours of puzzling with proportions and tire sizes in excel and with the wise advice of various experienced sources, we have finally made the decision. We go for a pre-loaded Drexler bar and a pinion crown wheel ratio of 4.75:1
Sadev’s e-mail with the message that our switch box could be picked up was a perfect excuse for us to go out again. Since, as always, we think first of all about our madams, we quickly came up with the idea of taking them for a day of shopping in London.
The International Motorsport Fair in Cologne and Birmingham was the ideal location for us to hunt for a suitable gearbox for the R-Box M3. All manufacturers under 1 roof within walking distance, from now on we know what the R-Box women mean by shopping center.
