B35 hibernation mode with MS3X

[Bearmw]

Although it looks like regular electrical tape it isn't. I learned that regular electrical tape gets really gummy and sticky when exposed to heat so I got some non-adhesive harness tape and just secured the ends with the sticky stuff. The non-adhesive stuff is pretty cheap and easy to undo if need be.

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[Bearmw]

The ms3x unit. The orange hose is for DET CANS I made so that we can listen for detonation when I finally get it on a dyno.

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[Bearmw]

My less than stellar paint. Someday......maybe never I will get around to repainting her. Body work is the last thing on my list though due to the cost and the fact that I want to get it running and driving perfectly first.

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[Bearmw]

I also swapped out the front springs from M3 to regular H&R sports. Because my front end is fairly light the M3 springs had it up pretty high. I had drop hats at one point but decided to remove them because they aren't designed for the E30 spring angle although its debatable whether that would really be an issue or not. Now with the M3 rear springs and the H&Rs up front I am happy with the height and handling. There is still a good amount of ground clearance and travel for a street car in my area as the roads have many large potholes and I drive on country roads fairly often as well.

I did a quickie string alignment which seems to be OK but I want to recheck it later.

[Bearmw]

Here is a shot of my steering linkage. I went with Flaming River stuff. I really like the direct feel of the manual rack. It is 3 turns lock to lock and is not progressive. What i realize now is that there is a small amount of play which I think is the lower steering collumn bearing. It is nothing major at this time so maybe I will get around to replacing it next winter.

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[Bearmw]

I also made some improvements to my ground wires. I got a ground wire and and a heavy duty alternator wire from GregsM. Good stuff and my car starts very quickly and seems to be electrically stable. I have found you can chase your tail unless your overall wiring is up to par.

[Stuffing]

What exactly is your shifter hardware, along with the UUC DSSR?
I'm currently using the stock 325e plate-styler shifter with (probably) 30 year-old bushings and a shitty fab by yours truly to get it to thread into the M30's G260. The throw is massive and it shifts like ASS. Looking for something a little more satisfying.
Also following this thread closely since I'm considering going megasquirt in the future. Great stuff here :)

[Bearmw]

The short shifter and the DSSR are both UUC items. They are pricey but nice. I also have a newish factory.rear carrier rubber bushing. Since my car is an 89 it had the newer style aluminum shifter arm/carrier rather than the older sheet metal type.

I am hoping to get the car on a dyno in the next month or so to see if I can gain any extra power over my street tune. I will post the results.

[Bearmw]

What I thought was a bad steering column spindle bearing was actually the 3/4" DD rod that goes in between the two steering joints. When I made it I was less than precise which allowed for a small amount of play. I made a new rod with a bit more attention to detail and the play is gone.

Now I realize that I have a bit more steering effort than I like which is in part due to the extra caster from the E30 M3 offset CABs. I am probably going to swap the offset bushings for some 96-99 M3 centered bushings. With power steering the extra caster is no big deal but with manual it is for me. Since I seldom drive the car at high speeds of over about 80 mph I don't think I really need the extra caster.

[Bearmw]

I finally decided to figure my fuel economy.

I run 93 octane gas. With my usual mix of highway, stop and go, back road cruising, and beating on it the beast used 31.24 gallons in 571 miles which comes out to a whopping 18.27 mpg.

My other car with its 1.5L engine makes this doable.

I really like this engine even if she is thirsty.

[Bearmw]

Managed to get the car on a dyno for cleaning up my tune. I went to Six Sigma Tuning in Brentwood N.H.

Kevin who owns the shop and does the tuning is a real nice guy and he explained everything he did. I recommend his shop for tuning or fabrication. Kevin uses a Dynomite dyno because it is very consistent and can be used on the 1000 HP cars that are sometimes in the shop.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=117201&stc=1&d=1506116453

[Bearmw]

I was glad Kevin found my homemade knock detectors useful.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=117202&stc=1&d=1506116601

[Bearmw]

The tune gave me about 15-20 more overall HP. I lost a small amount in the midrange because I had a bit too much advance to be safe in that area. I learned that this motor is a bit knock limited so with higher octane fuel I could get some more power but I am not going to do that...at least for now.

The driveability is significantly better and much more responsive. I should get better gas mileage too. I take the numbers with a grain of salt as what I was looking for was improvement. The faint dashed lines are what I started with.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=117219&stc=1&d=1506201347

[Bearmw]

I learned that my IATs were pretty hot (but not too bad) during tuning. I am going to try a few tricks to get intake and underhood temps a bit lower. The intake plumbing going directly over the headers is an obvious culprit. The engine itself doesn't get super hot but the under hood temps get up there and so does the intake tract when idling or moving slowly.

I also recently picked up a 3.73 diff that I will refresh with new clutches and seals. I'm also thinking of an 8.5 lb. moly steel flywheel.

I figure with cooler intake air and the diff and flywheel changes this car will have some good quickness. If that doesn't help then maybe back to the 3.46 and approximately 50 HP wetshot ?

[Bearmw]

This should help with intake temps.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=117281&stc=1&d=1506557596