Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

Yesterday was an E30-packed day. In the morning Avery helped me get the car on jack stands, inspect the catalytic converter, track down an intake leak, and inspect the rear brakes.

20190922_094617 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Previously I thought I might have a clogged cat, but after pulling the cat-back and taking a peek it appears to be fine. I believed the car to be a little down on power, which may have been due to an intake leak (running lean). Here's the cat:

20190922_091946 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Avery helping out with the brake inspection:

20190922_094326 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Play Date

In the afternoon Zeemz came over with his daughter. The kids played together while we worked on our cars. In fact, the kids played so well together we're going to have to do this again!

Zeemz helped replacing the front brake pads (Pagids) and bleeding the brakes (Motul 5.1) on my car. The rear pads still have plenty of meat left and will be good for a while so I didn't change those.

Front pads (old vs new):

20190922_135248 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Zeemz knocked out some things on his car, which I'm sure he'll post about soon. He really has a nice theme going with a lot of quality parts and quality work. I wouldn't mind if my garage looked like this all the time:

20190922_151723 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20190922_151735 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Thanks for the help yesterday, Zeemz!

[mike.bmw]

HPDE Maintenance Assessment

My helper and I were looking over the car at various times this weekend. As we work on certain things I tell her what their purpose is. It always impresses me when she remembers things that we worked on last year.

Brakes
My front pads have about 1mm of material left. Apparently I cut that pretty close at the HPDE last weekend. New pads, fluid, sensors, and grease should arrive early this coming week.

Plugs
We pulled the plugs and they look normal to me. Though I'm no expert at reading plugs.

20190913_153714 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20190913_153610 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20190913_153347 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20190913_153452 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Exhaust
While under the car I noticed that the exhaust has turned white from the header flange to the cat. It's the original stock cat section as far as I know. Very odd. At first I thought it might be a clogged cat as the car seems slightly down on power, the exhaust sounds more muted, and I thought the discoloration could be due to heat. Based on this site (https://www.2carpros.com/articles/ho...ytic-converter), there are a few things that can be done to check if your cat is clogged.

20190914_103039 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

That gave us an opportunity to learn about infrared temp guns.

20190915_152220 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

The post-cat reading was about 60 degrees higher than the pre-cat reading. That leads me to believe the cat is still working correctly. As a secondary test I picked up a vacuum gauge (lost the old one), but it was broken when I opened it today. I'll try to pick up another this week and perform a vacuum test. At some point I'll just suck it up and unbolt the cat-back so I can inspect the tail end of the cat visually.

Suspension
The suspension and bushings all looked to be in good condition. They should be as they are all fairly new.

Tires
The tires received a good thrashing last weekend, but they are still in great condition. I'll rotate them when I get around to replacing the brake pads and fluid.

[jeenyus]

Mike, I don't have that awesome banked turn though. That thing looked way fun. Mine is more in that speed range though. Utah drivers drive fucking fast.

[mike.bmw]

Track Days are so exciting... Im going through some serious withdrawals, but luckily we have some good canyons out here to satisfy the craving.

Car looks great, whens the supercharger and stroker crank going in? lol

Yeah, I would do a bunch more of these if my schedule and budget allowed for it.

A friend did reach out recently and had a stroker crank available. I had to pass on it, which I will likely regret later.

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

I can't seem to figure out how to quote more than one person in a reply with the new software, but jeenyus, I want your morning commute!

[jeenyus]

That track day looks like my morning commute, lol. Looks like a lot of fun.

[2mAn]

I could probably write about this for days, but I'll just post up some photos instead:

DSC_0562 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Track Days are so exciting... Im going through some serious withdrawals, but luckily we have some good canyons out here to satisfy the craving.

Car looks great, whens the supercharger and stroker crank going in? lol

[mike.bmw]

BMW CCA National Capital Chapter Summit Point Shenandoah HPDE

This past weekend I attended BMW CCA NCC's Shenandoah HPDE. It was a 2 day HPDE with 8 ~25 minute track sessions and a mix of skidpad and classroom time. Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit is one of my favorite tracks. It takes me back to 2007 and my first experience in a BMW: spending a day continuously lapping the Nurburgring in a race-prepped 1995 318ti. Summit Point's Shenandoah circuit has a smaller scale replica of the Nurburgring's famous Karussel. Every time I run through the Karussel in my m42 powered 318is I recall the day at the Nurburgring in that M42 powered 318ti.

The weekend went really well. I had a great instructor, the weather was perfect, I learned a ton, and I had an extraordinary amount of fun. My friend Garret attended with his over-the-top 2016 Chevy SS so it was fun hanging out with him.

Since my last 2 day HPDE at Shenandoah last fall, I've made a few improvements to the car. New wheels with better tires, complete suspension overhaul, and a new exhaust. The changes to the car were a huge improvement on the track. The new tires were obviously leaps and bounds better than the all-seasons I ran last year. Despite the new suspension increasing the ride height, the new springs and shocks pair well together to give a firmer ride and increase my confidence in the car's abilities. The brakes held up really well until the end of the last session when they showed some signs of fading. I'll be changing the fluid and pads in the coming weeks (#VintagePrep2020).

My 318is was the least powerful car in the group by a good margin, so I spent most of the weekend giving point-bys in the designated passing zones. However, on the last session of the last day I did manage to finally receive a point-by. I spent a number of laps reeling in a 340i GT. Here's a video of the culmination of that exchange:

After I got home Sunday night the car was filthy from nearly 180 miles of track time and the time of the wet skid pad. My daughter, Avery, was excited to hear all about the weekend so we talked about it while washing the car and unpacking all the gear. Later in the evening I showed her some more videos of the various sessions. One of my favorite sessions was a "passing" track exercise. I was paired with the 2nd least powerful car in the group and we had to trade as many passes in the designated passing zones as possible throughout the 25 minutes on the track. This lead to a lot of chasing and being chased in the non-passing zones which was a TON of fun. I'll post a video of that at some point.

I could probably write about this for days, but I'll just post up some photos instead:

Update: More photos can be seen here.

Paddock by mike.bevels, on Flickr

KarusselConessions by mike.bevels, on Flickr

SkidPadM3_2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Traffic by mike.bevels, on Flickr

ImportVsDomestic2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

E36M3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

SkidPadM3_1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

JacksonAllen135is by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Karussel by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Skidpad318is by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0534 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0535 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0539 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0547 copy1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0491 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0562 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[Albie325]

Sweet! Glad it worked out Mike

[mike.bmw]

I knocked out a few e30 related things today.

1. Let it be known that Albie325 is an awesome individual. I've really enjoyed following his thread here. He hooked me up with some OEM grill foam, which I received earlier this week in the mail. Today I removed the old stuff, cleaned the adhesion surface, and cut/installed the new foam.

Old foam coming off:



New happy foam installed:



Thanks Albie! You rock!

2. HPDE Tech Inspection and Alignment performed by RRT!



As I've said a number of times, RRT is great. They perform free tech inspections for BMW CCA NCC HPDEs, of which I'm attending in a few weeks. My car passed.

While I was there I had them perform an alignment. Results:



While I was there I saw my first M1 in person. I was floored. Never thought I'd see one of these in real life. I chatted with the owner for a minute and watched it drive away. Apparently it's 1 of only 4 in that color. Super cool.

[ATL_E30]

Vintage is going to be May 15th-17th I believe. I went to my first one this past year and I’m already excited for next years! Vintage prep starts now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Albie325]

What are the dates for the Vintage? Can't seem to find it online and want to request off of work now so I don't miss another one.

Also, very jealous of your C&C's, I wish we had something like that around the Raleigh area. I haven't been able to come across much on the local interwebs.

[fresh_TD]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Asheville, NC Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[jeenyus]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[columbo_01]

Nice pics Mike. As always, very clean e30.

[mike.bmw]

The Vintage 2020

I booked my room at the Clarion! I'll be bringing my wife. My kids will have 3 spoiled/pampered days at Grandma's house. Very excited to attend my first Vintage!

HPDE Prep

I'm registered for the 2 day BMW CCA NCC HPDE next month. I'll be taking my car to RRT for the required tech inspection (RRT does this for free) and an alignment (because I still haven't done this).

What's that smell?

I've been tracking down an intermittent fuel smell. I tightened down all the hose clamps in the engine bay. I inspected under the rear seat. Everything looks good and the smell hasn't come back. Very clean under the rear seat!



Dash Protection

After swapping in a crack free dash nearly 2 years ago, I've become very dash-crack conscious. I apply 303 on a regular basis. I always use a sunshade when parked. I picked up a Dashmat (limited version from Covercraft). The fitment is so-so. It does a good job of keeping the dash cool while driving on long trips in direct sun. It rolls up and stored easily when not in use. For $35 shipped from Advance Auto Parts, it's not a bad deal.



Garage Organization

I've found some time to thoroughly go through my garage and organize it. Things are binned by type (paints, lubricants, new car parts, old car parts, and so on). I moved a few things around based on frequency of access. It's always nice to work in a clean, organized garage.



Fresh_TD snapped this when I was leaving C&C the other day.



And I got this one parked near his super clean E21.