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My E30 RallyCar Cross-country Adventure!

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    My E30 RallyCar Cross-country Adventure!

    The plan was very simple, two friends and I took two weeks off work to drive from Rhode Island to Pismo beach for huckfest 2014. We came up with a bunch of things we would like to see along the way and that's about it, just about as little planning as we could manage. In the end we camped twice, cheap hoteled it 3 times, and the rest was crashing with friends. Not too bad for a 14 day trip. The car ran great with a few small hicups along the way, it is an e30 after all. We covered a little over 8,000 miles and ran 24 hours straight for one day west and one day east.

    I'll let the pictures do the talking, I'm sure some of you will get a kick out of it.

    Day 1: Sunday
    Paul met me at my house and we did a few last minute touches to the car. I had just thrown brand new tires on it and the car had been clearanced for mostly bald ones, so a little trimming was in order.



    Then we were off to stay with some friends in northern virginia.



    Didn't get to take many pictures there (beer) but got one of our buddys sweet buggy.



    Day 2: Monday
    The next morning (noonish) we headed to Nashville to pick up ken. With three drivers we drove straight through the night to try and gain some time.

    Day 3: Tuesday
    The next morning we found our first failure, a dead alternator after the intense rain in Tennessee.



    We called around to all the local parts stores but early 90's BMW's must not be common in oklahoma, so we sent paul off with a stranger to grab a deep cylce battery, some jumper cables, and a cheap mulimeter. We called around some more and found a junkyard an hour and a half north that had ONE BMW, an m50 e34... Perfect :up:



    Changed it in the parking lot and we were good to go.



    The junkyard was full of awesome not rusted away stuff (we're from new england) so we poked around for a while.





    From there we continued on, stopping at dusk to take some pics.







    Day 4: Wednesday
    We stayed with some of kens family in Santa Fe then headed out the next morning, taking a break to play in either New Mexico or Arizona, I forget.





    That Night we camped at the Grand Canyon.



    Day 5: Thursday
    Woke up and wandered around the Grand Canyon for a bit, it's absolutely incredible.



    From there we headed to San Diego, stopping at a few things along the way.

    Some blown out gas station.



    The Salton Sea







    From there we met up with Byron (e30spdfrk) and a few others for food.

    Day 6: Friday
    We headed over to Byron's work (5150 racing) for an oil change. I know the owner of the shop is on here too, but i'm terrible with names.



    From there we headed straight to Pismo beach for huckfest.


    #2
    Day 7: Saturday.
    Huckfest is a crazy place, we met a bunch of awesome people. That soft sand is crazy stuff!















    The dude with this benz was the man



    After being on the sand all day we caved and stayed at our first hotel of the trip.

    Day 8: Sunday

    Headed up towards San Francisco to meet up with some friends and see the sights.

    Driving the PCH



    Met up with everyone at the golden gate



    Got the best tour from the infamous Pavel K. Not too many pictures though





    From there we carried on and got a cheap casino hotel in Reno.

    Day 9: Monday

    We set out to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. Turns out they had some crazy rain this year so the whole place is flooded. We did find a small dry section to play on for a bit, but that caused vibration issue that we would find shortly.









    Then we headed to Salt Lake city to meet up with an instagram acquaintance. He let us use his garage for a tire rotation and a quick once over. Turns out we broke the passenger side motor mount on the salt flats...





    Fixed.



    Day 10: Tuesday

    We headed down to see Arches National Park. Some really cool stuff.



    Found a little road to play on.





    After we were done poking around, we headed to a friend of Ken's in Colorado.

    Day 11: Wednesday

    We woke up to find ourselves pretty much at the base of Pikes Peak! so naturally we had to go up it.









    From here we drove straight through to Buffalo NY. Just rotating drivers and stopping for gas. This is pretty much where my pictures stop (kansas etc. is boring), we got to buffalo Thursday night and hung out with Paul's buddy with a 900+hp Nova. Then Friday morning we headed back to my house, getting in just before dark.

    This is mostly the e30 based/abbreviated version, but I had a blast on this trip. Feel free to ask any questions.
    Last edited by mikeday; 12-05-2014, 12:22 PM.

    Comment


      #3
      Yeah. This is cool. Way cool.

      Originally posted by SpasticDwarf;n6449866
      Honestly I built it just to have a place to sit and listen to Hotline Bling on repeat.

      Comment


        #4
        Awesome, loved watching your progress on Facebook. Where did you get those lenders in your sig picture?
        My E30 v1.0 | v2.0 | v3.0 | My E28 |My E34 | My feedback

        Comment


          #5
          This is awesome. I was following it on the R3V facebook before I got tired of the endless shit and unfollowed the group.

          Silly question. Where does the 3rd person sit and how comfortable was it? I can't imagine a stripped and caged E30 was much fun to sit in the back of, lol.
          91 318is M50 swapped
          05 Honda Pilot

          24V swap thread
          http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=302524

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Eric View Post
            Awesome, loved watching your progress on Facebook. Where did you get those lenders in your sig picture?
            I got them from the good people at Gutenparts. I think Levent mentioned he got them from you.


            Originally posted by Nick_S View Post
            This is awesome. I was following it on the R3V facebook before I got tired of the endless shit and unfollowed the group.

            Silly question. Where does the 3rd person sit and how comfortable was it? I can't imagine a stripped and caged E30 was much fun to sit in the back of, lol.
            The car still has a full interior and isn't really that bad. I made the cage so the back seat is still fully functional.

            We rotated positions so it went Driver -> Navigator -> Sleeping in the back. It worked out pretty well

            Comment


              #7
              So cool.

              *suddenly desires to build a jacked up e30 rally car and drive XC*

              1991 BMW 318i (Old Shell RIP, Now Being Re-shelled & Reborn)
              1983 Peugeot 505 STI
              1992 Volvo 240 Wagon
              2009 Toyota 4Runner SR5 Sport 4WD

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by mikeday View Post
                I got them from the good people at Gutenparts. I think Levent mentioned he got them from you.
                Haha, cool! It's too bad I didn't know you were in the springs area, I'd have invited you over as I'm only a few miles from pikes peak in the old downtown area.
                My E30 v1.0 | v2.0 | v3.0 | My E28 |My E34 | My feedback

                Comment


                  #9
                  Looks like an awesome trip! Thanks for posting!

                  Rippin' Proper | Youtube | Vimeo |

                  Comment


                    #10
                    This car is so bad ass, I love that engine bay too. Sweet looking trip, have fun out there.
                    sigpic


                    '88 325is-daily
                    '89 325is-project
                    '84 633csi-its there
                    '00 528i-daily (wrecked)
                    '01 525i- sold

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I love a good road trip. Awesome.
                      Originally posted by Andy.B
                      Whenever I am about to make a particularly questionable decision regarding a worryingly cheap diy solution, I just ask myself, "What would Ether-D do?"
                      1987 325iS m30b34 Muscle car (Engine electrical phase)
                      ~~~~~~~~~~
                      I was born on 3/25…
                      ~~~~~~~~~~

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Awesome stuff! Love the car, love the adventure.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          a+
                          Lorin


                          Originally posted by slammin.e28
                          The M30 is God's engine.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Coooool
                            Byron
                            Leichtbau

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Epic
                              ~Stay Thirsty~

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