cameras ready prepare to flash

[s14brent]

well this week was brutal, I had a client cancel on me so I ended up being free Friday night so I decided to try and prep the car 3 prior to the next local drift event. That meant scrambling between jobs to mount tires, dismount tires, and remount tires LOL.




turns out 40 series is the game changer for me up front however the 17x8 style 32 fronts I had are +20 i believe. I was running a 25mm spacer up front (-5 offset) and even tried 30mm's (-10) with no luck. I still had issues still hitting the aftermarket front sway bar. <big sigh>

This is where I should have just swapped the stock sway bar on first, but I decided to swap the tires with the matching pair of rondals (17x8.5+13 and running the same 25mm spacer - effectively -12offset). Still hit the front sway, so i finally decided to throw the stock front swaybar on.



^you can see the sway bar rubbed off the fresh powdercoat off the style 32s here.....great

When doing the front sway swap, I noticed my R side tie rod boot was torn. luckily i had a spare tucked away. I also got reminded of the steering rack spacers when I removed the boots, so I added 2 more slip on limiters from SLRSPEED. I need to probably order another pack as I believe this was the major fix with the swapping back to stock swaybar.




I remembered the body roll with front sway and remembered I had some 12k 6" swifts (1" too long for the rears) hopefully the stiffer spring rate helps compensate for the smaller bar.



Basically got the car ready at 330pm the day of, but low and behold the event got sold out!! It was a blessing in disguise because I woke up to find a puddle under my clutch pedal.




^looks like its the plastic nipple. I feel like I JUST changed this damn thing. 3rd times the charm I guess.

I ordered the lantzfab wilwood clutch master cylinder upgrade. I'll be running 2pc PTFE -3an lines from the wilwood unit to the clutch slave. I was measuring it at 24" needed from below, but the -an fitting won't stick through the firewall like the stock unit so i needed probably 26" which isnt offered, so I think I will have a little extra long clutch line I have to figure out how to route when it all gets here, maybe service loop it. FUN times in the heat.

[s14brent]

I decided to take my car out to "gears and grinds" last sunday and all of a sudden i'm rubbing at full lock again.......I ended up cracking RF fender flare at full lock.

Thankfully, laying FG mat isn't hard and its better than doing that "ziptie stitching". I do have one more flare that I could cut/replace/rewrap, but I'm going to try to make sure I get rid of this problem before using it.




my swift 17kg rear springs came in finally. I'm not sure why I went with 17kg....16kg and 18kg were readily available, but 18kg seemed like too stiff (feels like lexus big-body spring rates), and going from 14-16kg seemed like it might be a tad too soft for what i'm trying to achieve. I ordered these a month ago, and can't wait to see how the car performs with these. (yes i'm essentially taking out grip from the rear, and hopefully prolonging my tire life but hopefully i'll be able to fine-tune it with dampening and tire pressure to find that happy medium). Sidenote, i've had 10k/12k/14k on the rears over the years. Everyone's ideal spring setup is going to differ slightly for their hp/driving style and local track..i did a lot of searching on other e30 drift-guys spring rates and its all across the board.



I did some more clearancing in front of the RF wheel, not annoying at all. I did all of the measuring/cutting before the wrap, and did a whole drift event unscathed, but parking at a car meet is where the car decides to self-sabotage. LOL!
So I've just decided to go down to 215/40/17s vs 215/45's up front. I ordered 2x 215/40/17s and 4x 235/40/17s in Accelera 651 sports. They seem to be a reasonably priced 200TW tire and other track guys seem to get good life out of them.



i'll gain almost an inch (.8") of clearance across the arch so hopefully this will be the fix and can move on. I know Falken makes 615/660's in 215/40 also, and zestino dredge 140tw are also available so i'm not super worried about being stuck with a some weird size that might be disco'd

[s14brent]

Now that i've had some time to really weigh my options, I figured I should post my road map moving forward. I sold a couple parts off the s52 (cams and obd1 wiring harness) to help offset costs. crank, rods, and block are up grabs (locally). I'm keeping the head, oil pump, and accessories (alternator, power steering pump, vanos) good things to keep on hand basically.

-turbo stuff is on hold for at least a year. I'll collect parts here and there but i have other things I'd like to address first.

-I'm going to dyno the car as it sits with the turner chip, 24lb injectors, & 3.5" maf. Consider this the base-line.

-I need about $1000 more in link ecu parts (can lambda, flex fuel kit, and the can gauge to utilize the warning features that my VDO gauges lack.

-s54 oil filter housing install and reconfigure oil cooler setup. (replace vanos line while here) and add in the 034 fuel pump surge (need to buy a bosch 044 pump) and convert rear lines to -6 PTFE to match the front. Will run walbro 255 with e85 until its time to boost.

-install all link components/convert to MAP and get basetune then dyno tune on e85 for comparison. E85 won't do much in NA config, but the knock protection will be welcomed. I've already talked out these plans with a local tuner so we are all good to go! He's just waiting for the green light! He can also come to my house and do the base map here so I wouldn't have to trailer it to the dyno and pay the extra hours there.

-I'd like to eventually switch to obd1 valve cover with -an bulk head fittings for oil catch can setup v2 (might do this when I pull the head and install ARP headstuds later down the road). Get it powdercoated some ridiculous high-viz color and call it a day.

-stay here for at least another year while collecting parts. also would like to hot tank & resurface spare s52 head and load it up with upgraded valvetrain. It's the only way I see myself not getting distracted and selling off a ton of parts that get collected over time. I also need to move my e39 touring back into my garage before mid-october. (not sure if i mentioned it here before but i bought it back.) That car will be a little fun car while the e30 is down. Not going to be doing much to it but I do want to do the SLS delete/convert the rear to coilovers before the e30 goes under the knife for boost.

[s14brent]

Maybe you can find a cheap M52 block, even if it's scorched, you could have it bored out. Has to be cheaper than boring + pistons lol.

I wouldn't worry about cam journal scoring on the 24v, not sure why, but it is common. If the lobes are fine, I'd send it.

This car always makes me look at wraps, I think my Mini will be first on the chopping block for some sort of vvivid wrap or something lol, it's only a matter of time.

Kind of like the hotboi tails, should go well with the wrap IMO

Always hear good things about kendas from the drift guys

So pistons 4&6 are def cooked. Rings were like fused shut on them. Flex Hone is still a go when it arrives next week. However, replacing pistons on this is over $1000 for mahles, and like $300ea for a JE/Weisco low comp setup. I did find a set of used pistons locally for like $250, but new (nippon) rings alone would be $200ish + new wrist pins. So I kind of do agree a different block (m50/m52) would probably be the best route to go if i want to move forward. The guy who has the pistons for sale is actually interested in the crank & cams if I decide to part out. So that might be a thing.
Thanks for the tip on the cams.
I definitely dig the wrap, like i mentioned before, its a LOT easier when you have a good base to start with. Clear coat issues = just repaint imho!
Hot boi tails go hard in person LOL. also the tail light bulb is more pink, but shows up orange in that pic. I've been meaning to take the car out at night to get more accurate pics but i've just been too busy.
Yeah....most of my local buds are on kendas and are annoyed at me for not just running them already...i'm just stubborn and cheap. I def want to see how the car behaves with a stiffer respring of the rear - before I blow through an expensive pair just expecting better results from that.

[Northern]

Maybe you can find a cheap M52 block, even if it's scorched, you could have it bored out. Has to be cheaper than boring + pistons lol.

I wouldn't worry about cam journal scoring on the 24v, not sure why, but it is common. If the lobes are fine, I'd send it.

This car always makes me look at wraps, I think my Mini will be first on the chopping block for some sort of vvivid wrap or something lol, it's only a matter of time.

Kind of like the hotboi tails, should go well with the wrap IMO

Always hear good things about kendas from the drift guys

[s14brent]

picking up where i left off - I had to replace most of the tail light bulbs to fit the look of the ricer clears lol. This is more for reference to future me - philips is more pink, chinesiums are blood red.




I also got my e30 evo wing knock off back from my wrap guy. I'm guessing he had a helluva time with this one. I'm not SUPER pleased with it, but whatever. I actually have a giant 1750mm frp GT wing in my backyard that I still have to figure out if I'll be using. (i wanted to do a hot swappable trunk for events with the frp lid that I got, but the frp trunk lid was riddled with spider web cracks and I don't trust it from not recracking with that giant wing on there LOL)




I did another little ricer mod. I couldn't help it on this one though... an old-old buddy told me he still had this P2M quick release I had from my old s-chassis that I sold him, and asked if I wanted it back. Kinda crazy but I have something from my s-chassis in my car (18yrs later). So I dug the slim hub out from storage and installed it all. Its about 10-12mm longer than just the momo hub/nardi adapter setup (which luckily still works for me!)



Time for some bad news. Turbo plans are on full halt. Boroscope showed heavy scaling on cylinder 4 & 6. prepare for the worst.



^pretty rough scratches on the cam journals

^at least PO didn't lie about ARP headstuds I suppose.

^ i have no real words......this thing is roached. I'm going to see if a flex hone can clean that up. I actually don't want a fully built engine with over-bore pistons. I don't think its worth the expendable income to build/maintain an engine like that especially for just grassroots level events, so honestly a LS is looking pretty sweet again but I think this will be usable still.. I also still need to inspect the crank/rod journals, but it's honestly looking like a part-out for this motor but the bones are solid and I could also do a rebuild.. I ordered one of those valve spring compressors (2 at once). I'll remove all the valves and then try to clean the pistons/valves as best as possible and then make a decision. At the minimum at least I will keep the head, arp head studs, and oil pump as spares. Its a good thing this motor was so cheap, if i sold the crank/rods/pistons and block, obd1 engine harness and 413 dme i could probably come really close to breaking even while keeping a bunch of parts that i necessarily did not need LOL. So its' not all doom and gloom.




And leaving on a more positive note: I got the print from the last drift event in my office finally. Frame is 20x30 and the actual print is 16x26. I usually go for metal prints or acrylic topped, I'm not sure why I didn't do that this time around, but I definitely am proud to display it!

[s14brent]

a few more photo trickled in from other media members out there.









had some time to stop by a buddies new shop to get tires swapped out. The last set of burners was a hazard pretty much, so i didn't mind swapping them out so early. I'm really hoping these advan fleva 701's work out better than the last set of burners. I still doubt I'll be going to the August event. Ever since the event, there has been record high temps here - and it has been BRUTAL!!



and sorry in advance guys. i'm really committing to the whole early 2000's drifting look/vibe. I ordered these back in April, didn't realize A) it would take so long, and B) its impossible to find a 5007L bulb in red so I ordered a couple pairs of LED's to hopefully sort that out at least.



I'll be putting those in along with my evo m3 wang (when its finally picked up from my wrap guy hopefully saturday before work) and it'll be done exterior wise for a while!!
Also, I pulled the trigger on the 17kg swift springs, however they won't be arriving until mid/end of July. I have to wait for the next shipment from Japan I'm guessing.

I also ordered a 20x30 framed print that my friend took. I think it will actually be something like a 16x24 print but It should really make a nice office addition to the wall space. I'm guessing it won't be arriving for at least a full 7 days. So there will be at least one more update before the updates go silent.

[s14brent]

Now that its' been a few days later, I do have a different plan of attack with the car. First off, review of the event.

It was 113°F on this fantastic friday. This car HAD working A/C... but race car......*sigh*
anyways, I think I got borderline heat syncope at one point, it was brutal out there and I packed 20 bottles of water and I had the last one on the drive home. I have to really stop doing anything in the summers here. I brought 4 spare tires (literally the only 245/35/17's out there from china - petlas velox sports). They had under 3k miles on them from the PO that I got the style 32's from. First off....one of the rear 17x9's +26 (e39 fitment) that I chose to not have refinished was completely flat. Thankfully I found out on Wednesday when I had made plans to pack out the car since I worked 12hrs on Thursday.

Thankfully I have this bead breaker and small tire iron for my mini-motos. I also happened to have this giant tub of tire sealant for just this scenario. I used soapy water to find the leaks and to verify fixed.




BOOM. Left-rear tire popped right down the center. thankfully everything was fine (bodywork and wheel, tire at least worked like a run flat driving back out to the pits, but the tire had corded and wrapped itself around the exhaust, axle, and even the brake caliper.



the photo below is right-rear. at least its a little better than before - which contact patch was only like 50% (which is why I did tire flipping on-site if it was available).



I wish I took a picture of the cords and crap that I cut out, but it was pretty bad. I must have had the worlds dullest snips packed in my tool bag so I was under a hot car with borrowed jack stands (I managed to forget mine smh). Anyways this is where the heat got me, probably the combo of being partially under the car for a prolonged period of time. (I think I will start to carry some sheet metal sheers in my bag from now on). I also did not want to go walk around the pits and ask to borrow more tools as I felt like an idiot when I realized I didn't bring my own jackstands. Also, my tiny hf "racing jack" was low on fluid so the first like 1/3 of a pump was no pressure - not scary at all. I actually added fresh fluid and bled it the day after the event and it works fine now.... but I have brought that tiny little jack to Arizona and Socal for over 10 years now and its' the first time I've had issues with it. I was ready to happily retire and replace it, but it seems like it doesn't want to die yet. After getting all the corded mess out and mounting the 2nd set of wheels on there, it seemed like an hour was needed to actually cool down, rehydrate and recompose myself from the heat/dizzy feeling. My 3rd-5th sessions spanned from 745-1130pm. I actually got about 9-10 full laps out of the 2nd pair. (still not great, but at least better than 6!!). My photographer friend left around 830, so I don't really have any other pics from the actual night session.
-------
Things I want to do to the car next in baby steps

-I actually noticed in pics the amount of squat in the rear is probably what's killing all the tires. At full lock the front of the car appears even higher in ride height. I want to get a pair of 17kg/952in/lb rear swift springs to get rid of some of that squat/grip. I wish there were cheaper 60mm ID springs I could use for testing, I'm currently on 5" length 14kg swifts. I feel like if I go to 16kg/892in/lb it will still have a lot of squat. 18kg seems like too much at 1008in/lb. I also know if I do this, I'll inevitably have to respring the car once its boosted.

-I'd really like to get my hands on a harper fab 24v oil pan. I really have the urge to lower the car a bit more now. I do not trust my luck to lower the car down anymore with the e34 oil pan.

-My next set of spares are 235/40/17 advan fleva 701 take-offs from an auto-x buddy.



I realize at some point I will need to stop running take-off's and buying the cheapest tires. I'm pretty sure once I try out these Kenda KR20A's i'll be happy. This also leads to how much will tires cost me when its' boosted. Sheeeeesh. Oh and I also really want to try out that VTT oil breather cap, I was trying to wait for restock on the vader solutions one, but they seem to have no ETA on restock.

-Not exactly an e30 upgrade - but I want to prep my Tacoma for towing. I need to get get a proper ball receiver, a variation of towing straps and a brake controller. I can't fit everything I want to bring to the track into the car at this point and I need AC if its in the summer. I'll plan to rent a trailer and just use all of my own equipment. I also think the bike rack can come off. It was fun while that lasted.

----
This is quite a lengthy post already. I'll update again hopefully after a few more pics start rolling in!!

[s14brent]

Had a photog friend of mine come and hang out at Vegasdrift yesterday!! Will update more on the event itself later!










^this shot made it all worth it imho. Hopefully gonna get the high res and print this one for the office!!

[s14brent]

Looks great!

Thank you sir!

----------

I finally found an early model speaker deck lid locally (with no 3rd brake light). I've been looking for one since I cut out the sunroof!



Instantly came home and cleaned it up. It wasn't horribly dirty, just faded kinda matted. Its HOT AF out, so it dried relatively quick.



Used a black fabric dye/spray paint



I used the late model [__] vents in the back of the lid vs the [___\ shaped ones from the early model...its kind of more aesthetically pleasing (to me) but no one will ever notice. I do not have the rear seat belt assemblies or buckles installed in the rear as they are pretty heavy and I have my hydraulic hand brake bulkheads under each seat. I installed my old infinity rear speakers in the premium sound housings.....the cover does not clear that giant tweeter in the center unfortunately......bummer. Will eventually revisit, but i'm happy to have rear speakers again. The seat belt plastic trims are kind of held in place by the tension of the seat belt straps.....since they are no longer there, I 100% expect them to fly out at the next event. I have to figure out something to keep them in place before that happens. It's getting more difficult finding little interior pieces locally or without that crazy ebay pricing on smalls.

As funny as it sounds, I really want to install a 4ch amp in this car. I do want the option to listen to something besides rattles and exhaust notes. but that may be scrapped for turbo noises obviously!!

[Chilezen]

Looks great!

[s14brent]

UPDATE!! Picked up the kit in 2 trips, I think they came out great. apparently it took 5pcs of wrap to do the rear bumper, and 15 to do the front..(inlays on inlays).....you can barely see any of the lines without searching for them for a while most of them tucked in the bumper crevices/lines real neatly! I'm pretty damn happy with it!! Unfortunately he ran out of wrap doing the bumpers, side skirts, and 4 flares. I'm kind of enjoying it wing-less, but I can't wait to see it with the wing also so I bought another 5x10' roll.






Rejoice! I have color matched flares finally!! it was over 100°F so I had to wait until sunset to wash both the e30 and the taco. New stainless black m5 hardware makes such a big difference on its own also!!







Both the car and I are now ready for some solid action pics!! It's been a long time coming, and am SUPER happy to see it finally coming together!! If it can stay pretty for a little while i'd be grateful LOL!! Time to just enjoy it and make plans to attack the rear fuel system and eventually turbo stuff!!

[s14brent]

I dropped off my full kit/wing/flares off to my wrap guy on Friday evening. Been kind of just checking things off my to-do list since I've had the time. I went ahead and mapped out my link g4x plans and bought a few things to get the enclosure all wrapped up (for now). I added the CANJST and XS expansion loom and made some holes with grommets to feed them through. I'm waiting on an aluminum bulkhead fitting to fit the on-board map sensor and this should be pretty much ready to close up! ~ nice and tidy!



I'm not sure if I mentioned it earlier but the front brake lines were stretching at full lock (with the slr angle kit). Condor makes some brake lines just for this purpose.



Then I found out my Motive power bleeder stopped holding pressure. At first I thought it was my gauge, but it turned out it was the bulkhead fitting. I cleaned up the fitting and put new teflon tape on both ends, but I had already ordered a new "black" model with the aluminum bmw cap fitting (vs plastic cap). Turns out I bought the original almost 9 years ago, and i ended up fixing it, so i will probably just keep the old one on the side somewhere and gift it to a friend in the future.



Its a good thing I did this brake flush, i tend to do a brake flush every year, but my LF brake bleeder was actually clogged. I made a mess, but cleared the valve out and finished up the job. I also bled the clutch slave "while i was there".



^ The wheel is at full lock in this photo, nowhere near the amount of stretch that the stock length lines were experiencing. very niiiice.


-------Update------

bulk head fitting arrived for the built-in MAP sensor for the Link G4x. Very pleased how this came out!!

[s14brent]

Welp.....wrap guy said he could still have everything wrapped before the vegasdrift night event on the 28th so I'm gonna give it a go! (as if i didn't have enough on my plate).








I tried to apply edge sealer all around the parts that got trimmed or drilled. I used 3m 82018 clear edge sealer. It wasn't a terrible job, just had to mask a ton. After that I filled in some of the imperfections on the kit some from drilling/cutting into the kit (or just pitted areas), one of the big fixes was from me being a dumbass and dropping the rear bumper and chipping the bottom corner.....While I was there.....I ended up doing some fills on the flares, and sanded down the garagistic spoiler as I didn't like the texture. Also got rid of the stamping underneath the gurney flap.

Meanwhile, I did get a banjo bolt adapter from MSW that converts the vanos oil line from 12mm to 14mm (for the s54 oil housing) and added a 1/8NPT to -4AN for the turbo oil feed line from Rally Road (which might be a bit short?). I also got the oil diverter valve from Bimmerworld with the new o-rings. They are not the same as what came out.....oh well, as long as it doesn't leak!! New vanos line and crush washers finally put to use!



Since the diverter valve came with a new OFH gasket, I decided to outfit the motor with a few spare parts that were laying around to clear up some space. (hepu water pump (will replace with stewart pump later), tensioner bracket, 80a bosch alternator, s52 power steering pump, achilles obd1 coolant port. I'm not sure if I'm going to use that or just get an obd2 coolant hard pipe again. Does anyone know if anyone makes the coolant hose thats shaped like a "T" in silicone and sells it alone? - I know HPS makes a kit, but i won't need any of the other hoses really.





Really hoping the wrap gets done in time for me to refit and have time to take some photos of it before the event!!

[s14brent]

Lots of progress!

Love to see more G4X/E36X usage around here. Seems to be such a no-brainer option.

No opinion on T3/T4 adapters, never used one. Agree that it would be nicer if the kangaroo was a vband setup, but I kind of like the flexibility to make something with whatever size vband (or blockoff and put WG on the housing)

Thanks man! I'm super stoked, got a decent deal through a local buddy. I already ordered about $130 in cables (CANJST/CANTEE/XS expansion loom). I am planning to utilize the CAN-LAMBDA (wideband) and ethanol content sensor (e85/flex fuel), and boost controller. It will all be displayed/ monitored on the oled CAN-gauge which will probably be dash mounted. I have almost over $1000 more to spend in Link products unfortunately, but its super cool all said and done to have it all in one unit.

Kangaroo being v-band would be awesome. T3/T4 adapter isn't really a big deal since the PSR3582 is offered in t3, I just don't want to have a super long extension on the wastegate adapter they provide (same reason to not want the RSI v1 manifold. I think I really do prefer a cast manifold, but I think I'll end up with RSI just because its proven to just work. If something ever happens I can pony up the cash and beg my buddy at virtualworks to copy that manifold but make it in schedule 40 or something. I already think intercooler/exhaust/wastegate dump is going to cost more than i'd like to spend. i've really got to practice tig welding on my free time.
------
Update:

I'm now able to be towed off the track. (front bumper cut-out looks like a nissan emblem.....lol). rear looks decently straight in pics, but its a little cock-eyed. its 110 outside.....i blame the sweat in my eye and the fiberglass on my safety glasses





Hoping to get the kit, flares, and spoiler wrapped soon. This month has been effing expensive, don't be surprised if there's a long pause after the next drift event update.