5 series based Sportster on Flickr - Cammy's build.
 

Hi everyone,

Well this one is long overdue but thanks to some great words of encouragement from Mike, I finally sorted out some photos and got them posted on Flickr.

I think I was one of the first people to buy the new 5 series based Sportster and it has taken me a long time to get this far - mainly due to the issues with the M52TUB28 engine that Marlin provided that was eventually swapped out for an M52B28 because of the inability to delete the EWS. I was also given an engine from an automatic along with a flywheel and a gearbox so it was always going to be a challenege to get the ECU to think manual instead of auto!). Anyway, whilst slow, there has been some progress. Currently I am tackling the electrics and the wiring loom whilst the steering column and rear suspension present a few issues. I am also in the middle of getting the servo swapped to the passenger side after taking the plunge and having the engine re-mounted to be more central. Clearly some knock on effects that will have to be dealt with but hopefully not to severe!

If you want to take a look at the pictures you can try the link below for the photo's grouped in sets;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95403233@N04/sets/

or for the latest photo's in photostream at;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95403233@N04/

I have not got round to adding comments yet but if you have any questions feel free to get in touch.

Cheers for now

Cammy

My wife has just diagnosed me as having garage envy.

Me and mike were discussing this as I don't like the engine being at that silly angle (you've proven it can go in straight as I suspected) and he said you now have problems fitting the brake servo? Have you looked at putting the servo right down at the floor level with a link direct to the pedal? I'm pretty sure that is how it's mounted on Morgans.

It also looks as though Marlin have updated the gearbox mount yet again unless you, like me, have had to invent your own.

Morris,

I have a few friends who have also been diagnosed with the same ailment! I am very lucky, we bought the house a few years ago from a guy who was running a plumbing business and the store he had was just begging to be used for a project like the Marlin build! There is also a sepparate garage to keep the wife's car nice and dry and try to earn back some brownie points!

Have not considered the floor location for the servo but will look into it. The base plan is to put in a comnnectong rod at the original height and move the battery to the back of the car. Craig (McRamsay) is going to go without a servo altogether and I would be interested to see what the forum readers think about that option - especially with a 2.8 ltr engine squeezed into the engine bay?

I did a few checks on the engine mounts before I committed to the M52B28 instead of the M52TUB28 and they seemed to be the same sized mounts. However, when I got the engine in it was further offset than the original and a little further forward so I ended up getting them cut and welded with the engine centralized. It is still very tight and may need some fettling with the side panels but at least the alternator is back in its opriginal place and I think I have found a solution to the air intake as it also requires a very tight 90 degree bend to get inside the panels.

Cheers

Cammy

The car only weighs about 800kg so I guess it's doable. Would definitely need pads made of a different compound though as the standard BMW ones would be far too hard for servo-less operation - even with a very strong right leg. Would probably also need the pedal box strengthening as the standard one already flexes far to much without the extra forces associated with non-servo operation (ie you have to push harder)

The original brake setup - with a Metro servo - was pretty useless with standard brake pads. As I recall the Metro servo only has a boost of about 1.5. (The BMW one is 5 if I recall correctly). The dual-diaphram servo that many of us adopted later was a great improvement.

Robin

Thanks Robin, good info!

I am going to try with the servo on the passenger side and see if it is doable. The fallback option will be to follow Craig and drop the servo.

Cheers

Cammy

I run my last kit car, a gbsc zero which came in at around 700kg with no servo and found no issues at all, if the pedal box flexes I can weld in some webbing to stop this,