heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[0-60motorsports]

Update from the manufacturer:



So cool.

Now just have to wait for them to get to me. I'm excited!

Beautiful

[Bry5on]

Man, we're really living in the future.

Many No Longer Available parts almost no longer matter

[discoelk]

That was fast. Protolabs or somewhere else? I want to re-design all of this myself but ultimately I guess I'll just copy your stuff 1:1.

[heinzboehmer]

Man, we're really living in the future.

Right? I'm constantly blown away that regular consumers can just do this type of thing now.

That was fast. Protolabs or somewhere else? I want to re-design all of this myself but ultimately I guess I'll just copy your stuff 1:1.

Got these through Craftcloud. 3DPnxt is the manufacturer making them.

And go for it! Would love to see others iterate on this design. The original CAD document is linked in the documentation I wrote up (https://drive.google.com/corp/drive/...ib65e2dj8d9FKH). It's got a bunch of scans and other references that will likely make your life easier if you want to redesign it

[bavarian3]

Update from the manufacturer:



So cool.

Now just have to wait for them to get to me. I'm excited!

you're the mad scientist. this is awesome

[heinzboehmer]

Brackets have arrived!




Super happy with how they came out. Think they're gonna look even better once they're painted to look like the stock parts

The surface quality is amazing (much nicer than the stock cast parts), but I still think I should give them a very light skim on the mill. Designed this quick fixture that should let me flatten both the face that contacts the strut tower and the faces under the nut flanges:




Very similar design to last time, except for a couple changes:

1. Ditched most of the stiffening holes. Turns out the printed part was more than strong enough without them, so only added a few to keep it from warping/cracking when clamped in the vise. Chose that funky teardrop shape so that it can print without supports.
2. Added a big hole in the middle. This way I can add some hold down clamps and not just rely on the fasteners to hold the piece flat. Should make my life a little easier.

There are two other surfaces (E86 pickup point and stock strut bar pickup point) that should be flat, but I don't think I trust my skills enough to do those on the mill. There are a ton of features around these faces and I feel like I'm gonna crash into them so quickly. I might just sand those down flat(er) by hand.

But honestly, I don't think these things need too much work. Look at that surface!




The other bit of post processing needed is to tap the threads for the stock strut bar studs. Got to work on that aaaand immediately messed the parts up:



These things are super weird to work with. Not sure if it's the alloy (AlSi10Mg) or the manufacturing method (lots of localized heat on the exterior walls?), but they're incredibly gummy. The chips don't really break, but instead just kinda get smushed around. Very weird.

Anyway, tried tapping the M8 holes and immediately gummed the tap up. Didn't realize it in the moment and destroyed the bore. Here's what the tap looks like now. Those bits of aluminum are really wedged in there. Tap is now in the trash because I was unable to clean it up:



No big deal though. I figured something like this might happen, so I left enough material around the holes for timeserts. Was much more careful with the tapping this time around and managed to get through all four bores without issues:



Think I fully backed the tap out five or so times per hole before I was able to get through. Again, weird to work with.

In hindsight, it seems likely that the original holes were undersized. They're sized for an M8 tap in CAD and I just trusted that they were accurate in real life without measuring. I bet it would have gone way better if I had run a drill bit/reamer through before tapping. Oh well, next time.

Will try to get in the shop sometime next week. I'm excited to put these to the test on the car.

[maupineda]

I can only imagine the feel of satisfaction Pal! Excellent work

[heinzboehmer]

I can only imagine the feel of satisfaction Pal! Excellent work

Thanks! Feels pretty great to finally have the real thing in my hands.

Also, was talking to some friends about the parts and Bry5on mentioned that he printed the threads in his super knuckle and then just ran a tap through to clean them up. I usually do this with any plastic printed parts and it works great. Not entirely sure why I chose not to do it for this one, but I bet I was afraid that the bore would expand when cool and the thread fit would have been too sloppy. Anyway, have added threads to the CAD design, which should make it so that others don't need to go down the steel insert route.

[Sajk]

Please forgive my ignorance. I am unable to open the documentation provided. Do the design files provided allow one to have a tower strut brace machined that will mount to an e85 z4m ?

[heinzboehmer]

Please forgive my ignorance. I am unable to open the documentation provided. Do the design files provided allow one to have a tower strut brace machined that will mount to an e85 z4m ?

Other way around

This project retrofits the E85/E86 front triangulation braces into the E46 chassis.

I was just looking at a Z4M the other day with the silver BMW strut bar installed and the strut tower brackets looked very different to the E46 ones. Definitely lots of changes for hood clearance, but it did also look like the strut bar angle was a bit different.

[Slideways]

Please forgive my ignorance. I am unable to open the documentation provided. Do the design files provided allow one to have a tower strut brace machined that will mount to an e85 z4m ?

Just get a used E46 brace - https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2020289

[heinzboehmer]

Test fit went great. No adjustments needed anywhere:






Next up: milling.

[karter16]

That looks SO good! Well done man, you must be stoked!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[0-60motorsports]

Test fit went great. No adjustments needed anywhere:






Next up: milling.

Looks so good

[heinzboehmer]

That looks SO good! Well done man, you must be stoked!

Looks so good

Thank you! Very happy with how these came out.