cameras ready prepare to flash

[s14brent]

Pretty sure a mixture of boredom, research and curiousity got the best of me. I feel from the past few events since I've been primarily doing drift events that I wanted to get a little less grip/squat (higher rates) in the rear for current my power level. So I've been thinking of changing spring rates on the car for quite some time now. I've been running e36 m3 fortune auto 500 coilovers that had 7k/9k swift springs. I thought about buying eibach springs but the fortune auto's use 60mm metric springs, while Eibach's come in 2.25/2.5 (even though i'm using IE perch in the rear that can take 2.25 springs/60mm). So I wasn't planning on downgrading to standard fortune auto spring set, so I forked up the cash for hopefully a setup more suited to my driving style. The E36 coilovers use 1" larger springs than the e30's do front and rear, so I got a little confused. Basically 7"- 7k fronts, 6"- 9k rears. I figured I'd be okay moving the 9k swifts from the rear up front and add some swift helper springs (so I could maintain preload) and ordering 6" 12k for the rear. Everything is fine all said and done, but I should have probably ordered 5" rear springs since the rear perch is bottomed out/max low but now the fronts can go wayy lower than the rears. I remember my Ground controls (when i was 4 lug) had custom rates 440lb/8k fronts and 650lb/12k rears, and I remember the rears being 5" and I remember the car felt stiffer with those rates than the fortune auto setup (7/9) when I switched over. Anyways, here's some pics and hopefully I learned a little about the suspension out of sheer curiousity.



swift 6" 12k rears showed up before anything else did. My old swift 9k springs (rear) measured under 6" at 5.75" for some reason.



I decided to try and add some torrington/thurst bearings front and rear. (supposedly helps with any binding, and can help with ease of preload adjustments). I noticed these things on a few FD cars when I used to photograph them back in the day. I think a falken tech told me about them when I asked years ago, so they've always been something I wanted to add on a future setup. It was kind of a bitch finding them, bimmerworld sells a pair for $60 with no real details on manufacturer. You can get SKF/KOYO/ETC if you look up the ID/OD you need for much cheaper ($20+ pair). For SAE springs, summit sells a lot of kits which makes research not as bad as metric sized springs.



I reset the rear adjustment (after this picture was taken) so the perch is as low as it can go currently with 6" 60mm springs. I still have about a 1.25" (two finger gap between the flare/tire), but the shock is also threaded all the way in, so preload is just spring being seated (which was recommended to me by Fortune Auto anyways). If i wanted to go lower in the future, I think I'd need a different setup in the rear. It's okay though, i'm not about that LOW-life anymore. - you can see the torringtons on top the IE perch which I believe adds 5mm in height (3mm bearing+ upper lower washers at 1mm ea)



Fronts are a cluster f*** of colors. Grey SLR speed caster/camber plates, blue anodized fortune auto radial bearing, blue swift 60mm spring, yellow-green swift helper springs, torringtons, green anodized fortune auto lock perch. Kind of bugs my OCD tbh - LOL. I set the preload up front to 1/4" of preload.

I spent some time readjusting height to what I had it set at prior, fronts might be a little higher after accidentally over adjusting - but due to time I wrapped it up so I'll reset height another day and test drive ASAP after - I'll try to get some photos of the ride height, but literally making it close to the same as before.



still putting off the stewart water pump/contitech belt and ecs oversized water pump pulley. It's a shame I'm going to have to cut off those beautiful clutch fan threads. I also got the side N15 hood vents to add on - center vent was feeling lonely!! I'll probably clean those up to prep/paint black before install.

[s14brent]

wish i could actually have some updates with some cool shit, but being a 1099 contractor during these times are a little rough right now. I was about to sign up for a vegasdrift event that was supposed to be this past weekend, but it ended up getting cancelled last minute, same with the local SCCA. Our local track hasn't reopened yet, i mean they did have the dragstrip open the prior weekend for test and tune, so i guess we were in high hopes.

One thing from last few events that I've been meaning to get dialed in better was the rear camber/alignment. I was eating through rear tires the past few events due to camber wear, past the point of flipping tires to save money. It would look perfectly usable half way through the day then I'd run maybe 2 more runs and the tires would chunk aggressively past any point of return. When I dropped the rear subframe to do the dual e46 caliper setup I trimmed the upper IE subframe bushings for better clearance (so you can get a wrench in there easier). So everything was pretty much ready for adjustment finally. I scheduled an appointment with Southwest bimmers to do just a rear alignment for me. I guess when doing the weld on tabs, it's probably best to mock it up under load a few times to make sure you can get specs desired. I bought this subframe from a guy from SW bimmers with the tabs pre-welded on (to save me time), so all I did was weld the reinforcements thinking I was good to go. I could only get the rear to a -2.25 from a -3.32 but considering -2 is "stock e30 spec" I guess this will be a slight improvement until I get another subframe (if i decide to redo the whole rear end - which i highly doubt).



Running through the normal checklist for tech inspection I found my battery ground clamp wasn't as secure as it could have been. I'm thinking i could have just replaced the bolt, but I've had this moroso 2 gauge sitting in a battery box from my old s-chassis forever. So I decided to cut off the terminal side and give it some extra length since the wire wasn't nearly as flexible.




So next I guess I'm going to pull the Turner underdrive pulleys out (might only remove waterpump and pulley (replace with ecs slightly larger pulley, also I pulled the trigger on a stewart high performance water pump finally) and may just leave tms (slightly smaller) PS pulley in there- hoping that the stock length belt will work in that config) all which requires removing the radiator/fan setup. But...the real killer part is that its 10pm currently and 102 outside still...so we'll see!! all for the quest of better cooling in the damn desert summer heats. Figured I'd leave the thermostat alone, its a rather new 88 degree I believe, but the mishimoto 68 degree thermostat has been kind of peaking interest, but I have kind of a mixed opinion on mishimoto even though i'm running quite a bit of their products on this car.

[s14brent]

that's an awesome setup man! great work!

Thanks man!
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So I decided to try and box in the radiator support with some 22ga sheet metal. 5x m8 rivnuts are holding everything in place currently and seem to be more than enough to support it since it doesnt protrude past the bumper.



decided to paint it for rust prevention. I used up all the high temp paint i had laying around so that worked out well.




I got the valance on but wanted to take pics during the day because well...i got a bit distracted since UPS dropped off my new toy.
I finally bit the bullet on upgrading my old craftsman 1/2hp block grinder. I absolutely hate my harbor freight belt sander, and it just ate 2 brand new belts working with the sheet metal. Between that and the motor stalling all the time with the slightest applied pressure I decided to upgrade.
I did my research a while back and found out I needed 3" x 1-1/4" spacer to fit the multitool belt sander attachment. I have a buddy who had some spare 3" stainless exhaust piping on his shelf, so i cut off a little bit and ended up with this. I then cut down some random 1/4-20 bolts to sandwich the spacer on the assembly. I also took off the 7" grinding block on the left side of the tool to put an 8" wire wheel since my other grinder only fits like 6" wheels, and they don't last that long.



Remember when I said I used up all my high-temp paint......yeahhh....all i had left was some etching primer & flat grey primer.....whatever, it works. lol. and well...here's the final result:



I'm super stoked with the setup. turns out the miter table is sorta useless in its current config. There are videos of guys on YT jamming rebar into this setup and it won't stall out. Oh, and belt changes on this thing is super quick also, but I have to figure out some kind of wider base. at full speed it wants to walk a little, but i have it hooked up to a foot control pedal because i barely run these on full speed ever and well...safety!

--edit--

took it back all apart to make some modifications already.

this 1/2hp model didn't have the 8" blocks which I think used all 6 bolt holes, but mine only had 3 tapped from the factory. I also got some new mounting hardware and a can of cast-iron paint for the small section of piping/spacer (it was kind of close to a match).




and finally readjusted to the straight position.



super stoked on this new addition to the garage.

and of course i had to mod it more, I bench mounted it since it was "walking" on the stand, and i upgraded to a linear bearing handle for easier adjustment on the miter table

[jeenyus]

that's an awesome setup man! great work!

[s14brent]

Hey I know all about that "rough and tough" appearance, there's something to be said about enjoying a well sorted car and not having to worry about dings and dents.

Looking good!

Thanks! I'll eventually sort out the exterior eventually. There's just a never ending list of things I'd rather do first! Plus i'm not sold on my fender flares currently. I think they're decent, but I'd rather go wider at this point to fit a full slrspeed angle kit under there lol.
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I decided to wire up the aux fan to a relay and a bypass switch to constant 12v so I could help cool down temps between runs out here in the summer. This (supposedly) simple task opened up a can of worms as I decided to redo my oil cooler & PS cooler mounts since I had the valance off anyways. I ended up bypassing the aux fan resistor and bumped up fuse #3. I bent some bar stock on my vise to fit the oil cooler and 1/2" vibration damping mounts. I messed up though and had to order the mounts twice as the 50a durometer ones were wayyy too floppy. and ordered the 70a "extreme temperature" version which can withstand up to 300 degrees. Very happy with how it all turned out. clearance on the oil cooler is kind laughable, but it all fits.






Since i was already wiring up relays and pulling apart the interior, I decided to wire up another relay for 12v ignition for the aftermarket vdo gauges. I initially wanted to add a 8 circuit distribution block. but since I still have my heater core in place I didn't want to run a ton of wiring back and forth - essentially causing more clutter. I did however clean up the rats nest behind the dash and grouped the wires by function.




I've actually gotten pretty busy helping out the family so I probably won't be throwing back on the valance and front bumper for another week. I'm going to try to take some measurements and see what's the best way to direct airflow through the bumpers openings without it escaping back down and under. (thinking at least block in the bottom area, as the sides would be challenging with all the ac components in place.

[zwill23]

Hey I know all about that "rough and tough" appearance, there's something to be said about enjoying a well sorted car and not having to worry about dings and dents.

Looking good!

[s14brent]

So my clutch slave went out on my e39 touring, which means i've been driving around in the e30. It's also been in the high 90s in Las Vegas lately so i've been finding a bunch of small issues here and there. yeah she's looked better, but I do enjoy the hell out of this car. I know I usually avoid photographing the driver side, but whatever!



First issue was the fuel pump. The internal check valve checked out, so I put my walboro 255 back in (which was sitting on a shelf for quite some time). I had a new fuel sock, and installed a new o-ring up top. I'm dumb and didn't even realize all I needed was an external check valve for the 255 and I'd be okay. Essentially I had the same issues with both pumps of low fuel pressure on start up when the vehicle was hot, but the walboro doesn't have a check valve built in like OEM unit and out of my options I'd rather have the walboro in there vs whatever lifetime guarantee pump I bought at oreilly's when I was in a jam. I went with a quantum check valve with viton seals. I figured it was the best one in this form-factor and I also preferred it over OEM because it's not made out of plastic.



I decided this was a good place to throw the check valve in-line. I was going to put it near the fuel filter, but it actually looks really clean here so I don't mind.

I also noticed the a/c was blowing different temps on low vs high. which led me to find out my aux fan wasn't kicking on when it was supposed too and this was due to a shitty connection. I kept the spal fan connector but put some decent spades on the body side. I just have to make sure the aux fan is kicking on when the radiator fan switch tells it too or I'll be wiring in a relay and bypass switch for that while the bumper & valence are off.

Lately I've been thinking of ditching the mishimoto radiator and going with just a behr z3m, but I think if I spent any money on cooling right now I'd get a Stewart pump. I'm going to wait and see how this summer goes before I go replacing these low mileage parts already on my car, but I'm guessing the pump might be a better purchase overall, since surprisingly I'm not having any issues with my current mishimoto .*knocks on wood*

I think at this point I got my first FTE slave cylinder for the wagon and it blew the seal/piston out into the transmission. I ended up getting the parts out thankfully, and got a warranty replacement thank god. (it really paid off buying this part locally). What a gigantic pain in the ass this whole thing was.



And fast forward to today I picked up a cup holder for the e30 locally. I'm pretty excited, this was the one I wanted initially but didn't want to spend $80+ or whatever it was new. I cleaned up the console and cupholders and threw some of that 3M industrial double sided tape on there and couldn't be more pleased.



I have the front bumper/valance removed from the e30 right now and will be doing a few things while it's off. I ordered up some vibration dampening mounts for the oil & ps coolers. I'm going to be remounting both coolers. a little more to my liking. I'm also going to be swapping out the TMS underdrive water pump pulley and replacing it with the ecs aluminum pully (which is slightly larger than stock - ecs claims 8% overdrive on s52's which will be paired with the current TMS under drive PS pulley and I'll be going back to stock sized accessory belt). I think I've grown to like the underdrive pully on the PS pump especially at the local drift events. There are a few other small things I'm going to try an do, but I'll post about it if it actually gets done.

-- I figure there will be more updates soon, I was just excited to show some progress.

[moatilliatta]

Love it, I wish the E30 could hold a bike it the trunk somewhat assembled. I just got a Fit 22''. My last bike got yanked 3/4 years ago, Exciting to be back on.

[s14brent]

I really like those mounts, how does it effect the door seals? I wanted to run a roof rack on mine but got concerned the rack was causing the seals to distort too much.

EDIT: I was running one, but took it off after a week- It was a different style

I'll take a photo tomorrow, it probably would bug you tbh. most rails will clamp down on that seal unfortunately. I had the older style yakima rack a few years ago, i just prefer this design better, and it helped me make some room in my storage.

[Slybeanx]

it was definitely a rubber undercoat, I had to wire wheel it all away before welding. agreed it wasn't black, but I had a can of 3m on-hand, I wasn't going to special order the tan colored can. And i'm definitely not going to leave it exposed to rust all over again.

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small e30 update:

custom roll bar on hold for at least another 2-4 weeks due to covid-19.

meanwhile, I was cleaning out my storage and found an old pair of 48" yakima cross bars. I already had a set of q30 pads, so I ordered a set of brand new q-towers (i've been wanting to try out the q-towers vs the older style mounts for a while so i had most of the parts on hand). I also found my old bike rails, ended up putting one on the wagon and the e30.



The rails are mounted close to each other so i can strap 2 spare tires on track days. bmx would go too since bathrooms at the track are way too far from the paddock. Can you tell i'm bored yet?

I really like those mounts, how does it effect the door seals? I wanted to run a roof rack on mine but got concerned the rack was causing the seals to distort too much.

EDIT: I was running one, but took it off after a week- It was a different style

[s14brent]

BMW's never had the black rubbery undercoating. It was more of a rocker panel spray, Maybe rocker Schultz.

it was definitely a rubber undercoat, I had to wire wheel it all away before welding. agreed it wasn't black, but I had a can of 3m on-hand, I wasn't going to special order the tan colored can. And i'm definitely not going to leave it exposed to rust all over again.

------------------------------------------------------

small e30 update:

custom roll bar on hold for at least another 2-4 weeks due to covid-19.

meanwhile, I was cleaning out my storage and found an old pair of 48" yakima cross bars. I already had a set of q30 pads, so I ordered a set of brand new q-towers (i've been wanting to try out the q-towers vs the older style mounts for a while so i had most of the parts on hand). I also found my old bike rails, ended up putting one on the wagon and the e30.



The rails are mounted close to each other so i can strap 2 spare tires on track days. bmx would go too since bathrooms at the track are way too far from the paddock. Can you tell i'm bored yet?

[ForcedFirebird]

BMW's never had the black rubbery undercoating. It was more of a rocker panel spray, Maybe rocker Schultz.

Definitely rubber under coating of some sort. I've built cages in a bunch of BMW's, and they all have nice little melted areas under the pads/plinths.

[ForcedFirebird]

BMW's never had the black rubbery undercoating. It was more of a rocker panel spray, Maybe rocker Schultz.

Definitely rubber under coating of some sort. I've built cages in a bunch of BMW's, and they all have nice little melted areas under the pads/plinths.

[moatilliatta]

BMW's never had the black rubbery undercoating. It was more of a rocker panel spray, Maybe rocker Schultz.

[s14brent]

3m seam sealer showed up this morning, here's after with first coat of 3m undercoat spray applied.



The SRS gas pedal bracket was installed with loctite and clear silicone under each plate.



The white paint is just for now. I'll end up getting a rattle can of bronzit beige metallic later down the road when things aren't so crazy out, I don't think I want to do a color change. It's such a bitch to do! Future roll bar will probably just get painted black.

Just super happy that rust spot is gone finally.