Smackley's Alpine vert grocery getter

[smackley]

Back to the vert:

I finished the power steering rebuild last week.

These white plastic o-ring protectors were a pain to get on the pinion gear. Pro-tip. Warm them up in a cup of very hot water for a bit before you attempt to put these on.


Some people had a hard time getting the final seal/gasket out of the rack housing (the last gasket you remove, that the rack slides through inside the housing). I found an easy removal method instead of the "find a long rod that can catch the lip of the gasket...bang with hammer" method. Just take a shop rag and stuff it down the driver's side of the rack housing, then take a long socket extension and force the rag through the gasket. It should be enough friction to just pull the gasket and nylon washer out with it.

All done.


Subframe re-assembled with new engine mounts and all new hardware. Pro-tip: don't pre-assemble steering rack like I did here. It makes forcing the rack over the steering knuckle a very curse-word-prone process. Just get the subframe up enough to just barely start the threads on the subframe bolts, then angle in the steering rack as you slide it into the steering knuckle. Also, steering rack-to-subframe mounting bolts go up in towards the engine with the nuts on the top side of the bolt. This makes removing them possible without having to raise the engine/lower the subframe fully...should you need to remove the rack later.

[smackley]

Sean, you need a bigger garage! I'm gonna start that build thread for that rust bucket budget track e30 here tonight.

Good. My hands still have grease/oil stains that will probably never wash out.

[Twelve80]

Sean, you need a bigger garage! I'm gonna start that build thread for that rust bucket budget track e30 here tonight.

[smackley]

Team captain's time lapse videos of the chump repair:

Lifting the car at the track after the damage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qchT9hyzysU

Some of the repair process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9VbHW8HubI

Pulling the motor...again...because it died...again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D49Sgv3m7I&feature=youtu.be

[smackley]

Time for another distraction.

Back in the summer of 2015, our team's Chump e30 met the outside wall at turn 10 of VIR. Our team captain was brave enough to see if we could repair the damage to the car's body. The nose took a good hit, and bent all body work forward of the firewall. We decided we'd cut it off, and weld on the front end from a donor car.

This was a very painstaking process, but we are getting close to getting her rolling again. We have more pictures of this process than I know what to do with, so I'll just post a couple so you get the idea.





donor car

[smackley]

Since the engine was still free hanging, I went ahead and did the oil pan gasket. I used a cork one, but put a little coating of RTV. The old gasket was burnt to a crisp, and the previous owner appears to have just put gobs of RTV on the OUTSIDE of the oilpan to try and stop the leak. It took forever to get it all off, but it cleans up nice.

[smackley]

Rebuilding an old set of +'96 /M control arms with e30 ball joints.



Hacked up some old struts, and installed Koni inserts.



Picked these up from a local shop that was stripping a '97m3.


Craigslist find.

[smackley]

Now that it's 2016, I really want to get this project back on track to enjoy in the coming spring. So...

Oil leaks, worn rubber mounts, and a loose steering assembly need repair. I braced the engine and dropped the whole front suspension assembly.



Steering rack looks like it had been leaking as well, so I decided to try my hand at a rack rebuild. I got my kit from eEuroparts for ~$30, and holy crap it has a lot of o-rings and plastic gaskets.



I'll post a few DIY tips on this process later. Is it a worthwhile job? If you are on a budget, and have no interest in an e36 rack down the road, then yes. Would I do this again? Nope.

Now that the suspension is out, I have a dilemma. I could put my e30 stuff back in. I'm not a fan of the JOM suspension at all. The control arms are 'new'. I could just get a better spring/strut setup and throw everything back in.

meh...5 lug. This way I can utilize my heat cycled track tires and all the brake pads I've accumulated over the years. I already have most of the front end parts needed.

[smackley]

Then, I found yet another distraction from vert work...

A buddy and I went halvesies on a budget e30 track car. We found this very-rough e30 325e for $350, and we are now working to get it moving in time for HPDE season. It has not been for the faint of heart, as this car is the dirtiest thing on four wheels I've ever worked on. Hundreds of roaches, rust and grime coating everything, and at least one dead rat so far.





I'll let him post a build thread for this one later.

[smackley]

Woof, it's been a long time since I've updated this "work log". The e30 is currently off the road again. Between a pretty constant oil leak, and a very loose steering rack, I haven't taken the appropriate time to show the vert some care and attention.

Back in August of last year, I pulled the tags off the car, and put her up on stands to get started on some work.


I then got thoroughly distracted by a trip to Germany. I GOT TO DRIVE THE NORDSCHLEIFE THOUGH!!!







...this was parked outside my hotel every morning. Drool.

[peter321]

I like the white bottle caps!!

[TimeMachinE30]

Nice work.

[Nats88M3]

Looking good..

[yosh]

Nice work

[Oaklandia30]

I've been looking everywhere for wheel/tire combinations and this looks great to me.. Can I ask you what tires you're using. Brand/size. It looks great and I might actually do the same to my AW 4-door. Thank you!