Black & Tan 332iT

[enjoy_m3]

slightly off topic, is there a build thread on that jag? Looks like another cool project

[Bry5on]

Quick photo drop while I'm short on time. All the parts arrived for the seat base weldment, including the weld fixture:

[Obioban]

You might like the previous version, which is about 3/4” lower than the Brey Krause brackets, no welding and much easier to install: https://cart.sendcutsend.com/fsud8iqarj9k

He’s working on an e39 for the CS’s.

already got him ~1” lower than the BK’s— have been discussing replacing the Recaro frames to get them lower still.

Surge is 6’6. 🤪

might request your part files when you’re done so I can pull the Recaro seat mount point dims…

[Bry5on]

I have the same issue (just lack of skills) so very interested in where you end up!

You might like the previous version, which is about 3/4” lower than the Brey Krause brackets, no welding and much easier to install: https://cart.sendcutsend.com/fsud8iqarj9k

[Surge709]

Once again because I am OCD and tall, it's been bothering me that I knew technically I could find a way to drop the Recaro sportster seats by another half inch if I designed a replacement for the lower support frame even though I'm still dead set on using the factory electric seat rails with position and mirror memory. Well it so happens that kaiv had some of these lying around, so here we go. This part will be a weldment that will replace the three parts I currently have mounting my seats. This is about 4-5x the cost and a bunch of extra work to gain that extra half inch, but oh well.

Factory part for measurements:


And some shots of CAD. Will keep you all posted on how it goes:

I have the same issue (just lack of skills) so very interested in where you end up!

[Bry5on]

Once again because I am OCD and tall, it's been bothering me that I knew technically I could find a way to drop the Recaro sportster seats by another half inch if I designed a replacement for the lower support frame even though I'm still dead set on using the factory electric seat rails with position and mirror memory. Well it so happens that kaiv had some of these lying around, so here we go. This part will be a weldment that will replace the three parts I currently have mounting my seats. This is about 4-5x the cost and a bunch of extra work to gain that extra half inch, but oh well.

Factory part for measurements:


And some shots of CAD. Will keep you all posted on how it goes:

[Bry5on]

Okay, seeing natural brown from the trunk and not having a spot to velcro the leather to was bothering me. So I added back a half pound:

[Bry5on]

Quick and easy 4lb weight savings by removing the ski pass:

[heinzboehmer]

This looks way better:




Ribs in line with loads and has space for fasteners in the corners of the topmost + frontmost surfaces.

The above parts should weigh ~300g if made of 7075. Add in weight of welds + rivnuts and you're getting awfully close to the 428g weight of the machined part. So yeah, really only worth exploring this route if you want to drive cost down. Otherwise, I'd stick with the proven machined design.

[heinzboehmer]

The cost of drill bits and rivet nuts (or rivets), plus the cost of Heinz's design Just shoot a few strategically placed holes through it - although I think one of those holes would have to be right under the plastic windshield cowl which is not super great.

+1. Just add some holes and run some bolts through.

All of the red locations look like they'd be fair game in the sense that the bolts wouldn't run into anything in the chassis:




Blue spots would land under the cowl, like Bryson said. Maybe some (big) rivets in these spots would be low profile enough to not interfere with the cowl? You definitely want fasteners up front though, that's the part of the mount that most wants to peel away from the chassis.

If you're going through the effort of redesigning for bolting, I would be inclined to attempt a sheet metal version. You don't need material along the top if you're not bonding, so a "sideways J"-shaped piece might work (maybe add a couple weld-on ribs for extra strength). The resulting parts is probably gonna be similar weight, but should be much cheaper to produce.

Give me a sec, let me draft up something real quick, just to explain the idea better.

Edit: Super rough, but something like this:


Maybe rotate the ribs inwards a bit to have them be more in line with the loads.

Here's the machined version overlaid, for reference:

[George Hill]

The cost of drill bits and rivet nuts (or rivets), plus the cost of Heinz's design Just shoot a few strategically placed holes through it - although I think one of those holes would have to be right under the plastic windshield cowl which is not super great.

I wasn't sure if the bracket would need to be redesigned for a bolted method, but I guess as long as its bolted through something solid it should be fine.

Sounds like I need to fire up the printer and report back.

[Bry5on]

What do you think the manufacturing costs and easability would be for a bolt on piece?

I can have a heater case out of an E46 in under 1.5hrs 👀

The cost of drill bits and rivet nuts (or rivets), plus the cost of Heinz's design Just shoot a few strategically placed holes through it - although I think one of those holes would have to be right under the plastic windshield cowl which is not super great.

[George Hill]

If I ever want to change the layout of any of this, all I need to do is redesign the piece that bolts on. Achieves 90% of my maintainability/scalability/extendability goals with 10% of the install effort.

What do you think the manufacturing costs and easability would be for a bolt on piece?

I can have a heater case out of an E46 in under 1.5hrs 👀

[heinzboehmer]

What about if the heater case was removed?

Yeah, I think pulling the dash + the whole HVAC unit and using a right angle drill is the only way to make the install of a fully bolt in solution palatable.

Still didn't want to go through all that trouble, though

I compromised by designing the mount in two pieces, one that's bonded to the chassis and one that gets bolted to the first piece. If I ever want to change the layout of any of this, all I need to do is redesign the piece that bolts on. Achieves 90% of my maintainability/scalability/extendability goals with 10% of the install effort.

[George Hill]

Honestly I wasn't about to pull the engine to get that thing installed.

What about if the heater case was removed?