Mason’s Build: Superlite SLC

Mason
Since you have it handily out of the car and running now, it would be a perfect time to see how much a running M5 V10 engine weights.
Can you drop it on some scales? Maybe a 4 pack of bathroom scales placed under a thick piece of plywood would distribute the load enough?
 
A few updates on my build.

I received these beautiful exhaust elbows from stainlessBros, they are 90 degree elbows with 4" to 3" reducers. These will lead to some Eisenmann Race mufflers that are from the F10 M5. I bought them on Ebay and the year of vehicle was not stated, so if they do not sound as beautiful as the E60 or E63 version I'll replace them with the correct year.

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I am getting my pedal situation in order as well. I removed the Tilton pedal set for cleaning in the ultrasonic bath and I will be installing RCR pedal sliders and welding ears onto the back of the pedals for direct mounting of the brake and clutch MC. I want my wife to be able to drive the car, so I'm making the pedals and seat adjustable. It will not be difficult to hard mount these items for race duty if/when needed.
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The RCR engine mount has been modified and the engine has been test fitted. Unfortunately all of my CNC parts from RCR were not finished before they were closed for quarantine, so I can't finish modifiying the rear engine mounts until I have the trans adapter and custom flywheel in hand.

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In positive news I bought a pair of Tesla electronic Parking Brake units for $99 on Ebay and they fit over the stock rotors! I've also assembled my own motor controller for about $100. The system uses a Pololu VNH5019 Dual Motor Controller with an Arduino Uno microcontroller. I've made custom software that lets you control them with a simple on/off switch and customize the clamping force. I will make the arduino code available for anyone to use if there is interest. I still need to fabricate mounts, 3d print an enclosure and wire it all up, but I'm glad to know that the core electronics are working.

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I set the windshield onto the spider for the first time and saw for myself how terrible the fit is. I'm going to rely on a great windshield installer to cover up this particular sin, since there are no easy options to fix it without distorting the spider and creating other body gap challenges.

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I also received the gorgeous Superlite Billet shifter, but I need to take some pictures that do it justice!
 
Very Nice.

interested in the Arduino code. I just finished my Arduino SSM to CanBus adapter and the next step was adding the EPB to the sketch.
 
Alan P - PM me if you need the arduino sketch urgently, otherwise I'll post a tested version and link it to the Youtube video.

Mesa - You would smoke me with your supercharged beast power wise. But the sweet v10 song is probably what you are referring to.

Here's a good video overview for the uninitiated of the sweet cocktail of the BMW V10 and Eisenmann Race exhaust.

 
No rush.

My suggestion would be to setup a git-hub page so that other can fork/contribute. For example I will be tying in my vehicle speed via can bus so that I can adjust the clamping force based on speed allowing the electric calipers to work as emergency and parking brakes.
 
Alan P - Great suggestion, I will post the Tesla EPB code to GitHub.

Calling all builders! I need help in planning my brake plumbing. I've opted for pedal sliders, but my current setup uses solid bars from the pedals to the master cylinders.

To accomodate sliders, I'm planning to mount the wilwood brake and clutch MCs directly on the pedal set and running 6pc -3an lines to bulkhead fittings on the chassis for all 3 brake lines and 3 lines to the reservoirs.

Is this overkill? Should I just run tubing to the brake reservoirs through a grommet in the chassis even though I have sliders?

I also could not find bulkhead fittings for the hard brake lines that are provided with the SLC kit, does anyone have a part #?

I still need to figure out brake safety switch and throttle sensor. I'm planning on going with Physical switches since I've seen complaints of the Hydraulic switches failing over time and leaking.

SLC V10 Proposed Pedal Plumbing
BrakeSystemPlumbing.jpg
 

Ken Roberts

Supporter
Replace the aluminum Longacre bulkhead fittings with these steel ones.

I too ran the reservoir lines through grommets like Frank. Two less leakage points. I chose the Goodridge 910 PTFE lined super flexible hose for it's flexibilty and long service life. It's definitely not the cheapest hose/fittings but well worth it in that area (especially if using a slider). I've heard of too many premature failures of the standard hose supplied with the reservoirs.





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Ken Roberts

Supporter
I would make the reservoir lines all 4AN right up to the master cylinders. Purchase the three Wilwood fittings (220-13130), cut off the 3AN male part and then tap the body for a NPT fitting. Finally thread on a 4AN /NPT fitting. Now you have 4AN from reservoir to master cylider.

Verify your Wilwood master cylinders can accept the 220-13130 fittings. Older models did not have the 1 1/16"threads in the master cylinders.
 
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Thanks for all the fantastic guidance, I dumped the longacre bulkhead fittings for the steel ones suggested by Ken. I also got rid of the bulkhead setup for the reservoir lines and now running the pricey race hose direct to the wilwood adapter. I did verify that my master cylinders have the 11/16-20 threads, and I also picked up some 3an Female to 4an male adapters since the race hose only comes with 4an fittings.

Thank Ken, Frank and Mesa who even gave me a phone call to assist, the Superlite community is fantastic!
 
I used my engine hoist to stretch my front roll hoop to follow the contour of the body better. It is still not fully aligned with the body so I may need to replace it with a new hoop.

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I hired a certified structural TIG welder to come and do the final welds on my chassis. He also found some cracked factory welds on the rear roll bar support that he repaired. One trick that he had was pre-heating the aluminum to bring any moisture to the surface and sure enough you could see condensation forming and then burning off around some of the weld areas as he heated it with a propane torch.
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I had sealed some of the fittings on the fuel bladder with Yamabond gray rtv, but after some research decided to remove it and re-seal them with aircraft fuel tank sealant from Aircraft Spruce. I used CHEMSEAL B2 TANK SEALANT CS3204 which is $20 for 2 oz in a one time use kit.
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The brake lines have been installed and tested for leaks, and I've completed all of the coolant piping.
 
Today, I tacked up the eisenmann race mufflers to do a future sound test. If the F10 M5 mufflers don't sing like the E60 M5 muflers I will swap them out. I'm also interested to test if they are too loud or raspy, which I could tone down with some race style catalytic converters.

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Scott

Lifetime Supporter
I will be tying in my vehicle speed via can bus so that I can adjust the clamping force based on speed allowing the electric calipers to work as emergency and parking brakes.

I considered doing the same thing. My primary concern was spinning the car. Even a meticulously balanced race SL-C (i.e., electric water pump moved to nose, engine moved 1+" forward, lightweight sequential transaxle, etc.) will be tail heavy and all of the totaled non-race SL-Cs that I'm aware of, other than the one in the building fire, were ended by relatively low speed spins. IMO this is why good traction control is a must. In any event, excessive rear brake bias gets sketchy quickly. A cable-based system does a reasonable job balancing force and the driver can modulate it via the handle. It would be interesting to figure out how well you can modulate force through current sensing. More of a question about the motor and gearing than software. If you can modulate, then you could add a yaw accelerometer and a "stability control" algorithm to prevent the car from spinning. Would be fun to test in a safe place.
 

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