heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[bavarian3]

So this is what I saw when I took a quick look at the calipers yesterday morning:



As mentioned before, not super alarming, but still wanted to figure out why some bleeders appeared to be leaking.

Decided to remove all the bleeders and reclean the taper that they seal against. Calipers were fully dry when installed, so there was a possibility that some dirt/debris I hadn't been able to clean out had accumulated around the taper and was making the bleeders not seal well.

After doing that, I pressure tested them by pushing on the brake pedal as hard as I could for ~30s. Found no leaks on any of them

At the same time, I also decided to cut the dust caps in half, as I don't really like the design of them. Having the retaining ring sandwiched between the bleeder and caliper makes it hard to feel the torque on the bleeder and also means that the dust cap gets caught and spins around.

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"20230829_192052.jpg",":23133 1}[/ATTAH]

Left a little tab of material to make it easy to pull them off.

When I went to reinstall them, I realized why I had seen brake fluid pooled around the base of the bleeder. Here's what happens when you install them:

[video=youtube;522CzbLwKpA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=522Czdeo]

As you can see, installing the dust cap forces any brake fluid left in the bleeder past the threads. Makes sense since these things seal at the bottom taper and not on the threads. Something like this is what's happening:

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"51vl5p0C-achmentid":231332}[/ATTCH]

This was super easy to see with the dust caps cut in half, but much harder when they're installed unmodified. So leading theory is that when I initially bled the calipers, there were no leaks, but there was some brake fluid left in the bleeders that was pushed out by the dust caps. This must have pooled under the dust cap retaining ring —making it hard to see when cleaning up— and eventually dripped out when I took the car out for a drive.

Anyway, mystery solved and fortunately there aren't any leaks on my calipers!

Fantastic info! Thanks for the investigative work.

[heinzboehmer]

Timeserts installed and fitment of hardware validated with 3D printed fasteners:




Looking good!

I need to temporarily swap back to the stock airbox this week for, uh, no reason. I'll likely bond this in when everything is out.

[heinzboehmer]

Heinz, who did you commission to machine out the brackets?

I got them manufactured through Protolabs. Chose the longest lead time they offered to get the cheapest price. Came out to around $1k.

Went with Protolabs because that was the best balance of price and lead time out of the typical big online manufactuters. There were WAY cheaper options (almost exclusively overseas), but none of them would tell me the composition of the material they would be using, so I decided against them.

Of course, someone recommended this place a few days after I placed my order with Protolabs: https://www.rapidaxis.com Local, all machining done in house and comparable prices. I would have gone with them had I known about them earlier. Oh well.

I'll likely be using them for powder coating and maybe even for 3D printing the molds for the CF cabin air filter housing and firewall plug (since they're too big for my printer and would need to be printed in sections).

Anyway, this is likely a way more detailed answer than what you were looking for, but it reminded me of some details I had yet to document. I'll also be posting a detailed cost breakdown of everything once it's all finished.

[maupineda]

Heinz, who did you commission to machine out the brackets?

[heinzboehmer]

That looks relly nice! It's ashame that it will be covered up.

Right?

At least the braces will peek out a little

[bigjae46]

That looks relly nice! It's ashame that it will be covered up.

[heinzboehmer]

Hell yeah

[heinzboehmer]

Very close indeed! You can always trim the corners of the existing duct that hide behind the bumper to buy yourself some extra clearance if you're a couple millimeters off. You planning to make it clip in 'backwards' using the slots for the foglight mount? That would be slick.

Yep! That's the plan. Think that should constrain it enough, but might add another pickup point if necessary.

[Bry5on]

Very close indeed! You can always trim the corners of the existing duct that hide behind the bumper to buy yourself some extra clearance if you're a couple millimeters off. You planning to make it clip in 'backwards' using the slots for the foglight mount? That would be slick.

[heinzboehmer]

Cool man! The first half of the strut brace mold weights 25lbs! lol...I think made it too big and wasted a lot of material. I have more casting urethane on the way. Hopefully get to finish the mold by end of next week.

Nice! Excited to see how it turns out.

It will also need to be two piece if you want to fit it in the Bambu print envelope I think. It’ll be close!

Yeah, it's definitely gonna be tight, but I might just be able to get away with it:



(overlaid picture is not taken dead on, but gives a good enough estimate of size)

[Bry5on]

Also, finally caved and bought a 3D scanner. I've been needing one more and more for recent projects and it was just time. Should help speed up development for upcoming things.

Few short term projects that will benefit from it (in no particular order):

• Strut brace bracket reinforcement plates with an extra pickup point for the E86 braces.
• Clearancing/remaking of the stock cabin air filter housing and firewall plug to accommodate the E86 braces.
• A version of Bryson's CSL duct that uses the entire bumper opening as a feed. Fog lights will get deleted and a passenger side plug will be designed for max aero gains

I like to open source everything I make for many reasons, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing that for the last bullet, unless Bryson okays it. I've been testing and printing his design and there's no way I can keep his IP from bleeding into my version. Would be a big asshole move on my part to release something that's largely based on someone else's design.

Only saving grace of my design is that it will most likely end up requiring permanent modification of the bumper (i.e. cutting the fog light mounting flange off), so I'm guessing that significantly less people will be interested in it.

It will also need to be two piece if you want to fit it in the Bambu print envelope I think. It’ll be close!

[bigjae46]

Also, finally caved and bought a 3D scanner. I've been needing one more and more for recent projects and it was just time. Should help speed up development for upcoming things.

Few short term projects that will benefit from it (in no particular order):

• Strut brace bracket reinforcement plates with an extra pickup point for the E86 braces.
• Clearancing/remaking of the stock cabin air filter housing and firewall plug to accommodate the E86 braces.
• A version of Bryson's CSL duct that uses the entire bumper opening as a feed. Fog lights will get deleted and a passenger side plug will be designed for max aero gains

I like to open source everything I make for many reasons, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing that for the last bullet, unless Bryson okays it. I've been testing and printing his design and there's no way I can keep his IP from bleeding into my version. Would be a big asshole move on my part to release something that's largely based on someone else's design.

Only saving grace of my design is that it will most likely end up requiring permanent modification of the bumper (i.e. cutting the fog light mounting flange off), so I'm guessing that significantly less people will be interested in it.

Cool man! The first half of the strut brace mold weights 25lbs! lol...I think made it too big and wasted a lot of material. I have more casting urethane on the way. Hopefully get to finish the mold by end of next week.

[heinzboehmer]

Also, finally caved and bought a 3D scanner. I've been needing one more and more for recent projects and it was just time. Should help speed up development for upcoming things.

Few short term projects that will benefit from it (in no particular order):

• Strut brace bracket reinforcement plates with an extra pickup point for the E86 braces.
• Clearancing/remaking of the stock cabin air filter housing and firewall plug to accommodate the E86 braces.
• A version of Bryson's CSL duct that uses the entire bumper opening as a feed. Fog lights will get deleted and a passenger side plug will be designed for max aero gains

I like to open source everything I make for many reasons, but I don't think I'm gonna be doing that for the last bullet, unless Bryson okays it. I've been testing and printing his design and there's no way I can keep his IP from bleeding into my version. Would be a big asshole move on my part to release something that's largely based on someone else's design.

Only saving grace of my design is that it will most likely end up requiring permanent modification of the bumper (i.e. cutting the fog light mounting flange off), so I'm guessing that significantly less people will be interested in it.

[Bry5on]

Took the airbox off today to check if the wishbone bracket was interfering with the fitment of Bryson's duct. Here's how everything fits with the bracket fully removed:


Spot on! Must be something wrong with the bracket then...


Well, there you go. Turns out my car was the issue all along.

Tried so many things when the solution was as simple as just bending that bracket back. Oh well, at least my bumper fits pretty great now!

Occam's razor strikes again. Also glad it was something so simple, as this made a lot less extra work for me

[heinzboehmer]

Took the airbox off today to check if the wishbone bracket was interfering with the fitment of Bryson's duct. Here's how everything fits with the bracket fully removed:




Spot on! Must be something wrong with the bracket then...




Well, there you go. Turns out my car was the issue all along.

Tried so many things when the solution was as simple as just bending that bracket back. Oh well, at least my bumper fits pretty great now!