California Dreamin': E30 Vert Build Inspired by Katy Perry

[LorenzeTorres]

I'm starting to think that this thread should be renamed "California Nightmare".

Less than having the car back for 5 hours from the shop, I busted through the NEW oil pan. The job is about $800 and this incident has costed me $1600+.

I can't think of what caused the drain bolt to crush into the pan. I drove it around my neighborhood and didn't hear any scrapes or crunches on the drive which makes this all weird.

The only thing that changed was oil pan and new OEM motor mounts. By switching to new mounts, I would've thought that I would get some clearance back.

I'm going to shim up the motor with 10mm using washers. Just not sure how to install them.

IMG_4610 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

You can see above the drain bolt there's a small puncture. To the left there's a stress crack. The fin is pulled back and the bottom of the bolt is shaved.
IMG_4615 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

Here's a shot of where how the pan sits and you can see that it doesn't sit too low. I'm wondering if the motor shifted or did I graze some debris on the road.
IMG_4614 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

Third tow in 6 months. I'm getting tired of this.
IMG_4616 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

As I'm driving to the shop in the tow truck we run into this.... not sure if this is a foreshadow lol!
IMG_4618 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

EDIT FOUND MY ANSWER*
"Use as little shims as possible as it will eat up the motor mounts quicker and yes shim inbetween motor arm and mount." -328ijunkie

[LorenzeTorres]

My thought is you could use a Red46 skid plate!

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

My thoughts exactly! Getting new motor mounts installed so I hope that will help too.

[Levy3Poop]

Who doesn't like a little excitement and heartbreak?

As of this last weekend, my lovely GF ran my oil pan over a road mountain. I don't really blame her for it since she used to driving her monster truck BMW 02.

Initially thought I could get away with just replacing the shaved drain plug, but my discovery the next morning told me otherwise.
IMG_4597 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

IMG_4601 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

IMG_4595 by lorenze torres, on Flickr
Car is currently in the shop. It so happens that my pan gasket was leaking and what better opportunity to take care of that. Also requested the shop install new motor mounts while they're at it. So we'll see what happens.

Also, I've been trying to track down the culprit of a steering vibration or shimmy.

I've balanced my tires and have gotten an alignment.
I'm thinking that it could be:
Need hubcentric ring
New LCAB
New Tires
New rotors

OR! New tranny mount. I've read some where that if the floor is shaking/ vibrating the tranny mounts are toast.

Let me know your thoughts!

My thought is you could use a Red46 skid plate!

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

[LorenzeTorres]

Who doesn't like a little excitement and heartbreak?

As of this last weekend, my lovely GF ran my oil pan over a road mountain. I don't really blame her for it since she used to driving her monster truck BMW 02.

Initially thought I could get away with just replacing the shaved drain plug, but my discovery the next morning told me otherwise.
IMG_4597 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

IMG_4601 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

IMG_4595 by lorenze torres, on Flickr
Car is currently in the shop. It so happens that my pan gasket was leaking and what better opportunity to take care of that. Also requested the shop install new motor mounts while they're at it. So we'll see what happens.

Also, I've been trying to track down the culprit of a steering vibration or shimmy.

I've balanced my tires and have gotten an alignment.
I'm thinking that it could be:
Need hubcentric ring
New LCAB
New Tires
New rotors

OR! New tranny mount. I've read some where that if the floor is shaking/ vibrating the tranny mounts are toast.

Let me know your thoughts!

[LorenzeTorres]

BC Racing/ 10K Swift Springs
This is a follow up to the previous post. I needed to find a solution and after asking around, this was it!

The new springs are 10mm longer than factory. If you like the ride height on factory springs, remove or lower the perch 10mm less so that it equals out.

Best upgrade thus far. I love the ride!

COST:
BC Racing Swift Springs ID 62mm/2.44" 127mm/5.0" Length: $170

Link:
BC Racing Swift Springs ID 62mm/2.44" 127mm/5.0" Length:

https://www.bcracing-na.com/product/bc-racing-swift-springs-id-62mm244-127mm50-length

IMG_4550 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

[LorenzeTorres]

I would recommend going 10mm all the way around and doing 205/45/16 up front and 215/45/16 in the rear if you could find them. People with 16x9 usually go 225/45/16 but then you'd need a 5mm spacer in the rear or you'll be rubbing.

You read my mind! I'll be ordering 205/45's in the front. I'll try 215/45's next.

I shall keep you posted. Also I've placed an order for my new springs. I went with 10K Swift Springs at 127mm. I hope that this will solve my issue with coil bind.

BC reps said they would never put springs that would cause a bind and I might have set something up wrong... we'll see. I hope $170 buys me a more tolerable ride.

[Mike36]

I think so too!! I might even go white face. They're 16x8 and 16x9 et 26 with 15MM spacers all around. So effective offset is et 11.

I want to go up in tire size all around as I'm running 205/40 currently. I might want go at least 45 sidewall on four corners. Any suggestions? I'm looking for a meaty fitment.

I would recommend going 10mm all the way around and doing 205/45/16 up front and 215/45/16 in the rear if you could find them. People with 16x9 usually go 225/45/16 but then you'd need a 5mm spacer in the rear or you'll be rubbing.

[LorenzeTorres]

Issue: Suspension Pre-load Not Set Properly

After installing the suspension, I knew something was wrong. The ride was harsh and jarring coming off bumps. It felt like the shock was going to snap. It was bad that I can hear my tool box jumping in the trunk.

After calling BC's customer support, my suspicions were confirmed. The shock body was too long and they needed to be shortened to match the spring. Below are pics of the process.

You can test to see if the shock body is too long by jacking the car up and jiggling the spring. If it's loose, you need to shorten the shock body so the spring sits snug.

Too much droop
IMG_4412 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

IMG_4413 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

To fix this:
Unlock the collar on the shock
unbolt the bottom of the shock so it hangs freely
jack up the rear control arm up so that the spring sits snug and can't be moved by your hand
thread the bottom of the shock body up to match the bolt hole on the control arm

IN THIS PIC, you can see that the body was too long. This caused the work to be put on the shock and none on the spring.
IMG_4421 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

take two spanner wrenches width (which measures to 5mm) and thread the bottom of the shock up past equal. This will set the pre-load to BC's recommendations.
IMG_4416 by lorenze torres, on Flickr


Here's the after. You can see that there's less droop
IMG_4422 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

And this is where the car sat until I adjusted it higher. It was a bit too slammed.
IMG_4425 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

[LorenzeTorres]

Lol.

Wheels are nice, they would look even better polished! What are the specs on them. I vote getting bigger rear tires too.

I think so too!! I might even go white face. They're 16x8 and 16x9 et 26 with 15MM spacers all around. So effective offset is et 11.

I want to go up in tire size all around as I'm running 205/40 currently. I might want go at least 45 sidewall on four corners. Any suggestions? I'm looking for a meaty fitment.

[LorenzeTorres]

I hope they will warranty it again when this one goes out...

I hope so too. Honestly, I think they didn't pre-load it and at this point I'm thinking of going one-piece drive shaft.

[Mike36]

I hope they will warranty it again when this one goes out...

Lol.

Wheels are nice, they would look even better polished! What are the specs on them. I vote getting bigger rear tires too.

[2mAn]

BC Racing Coilovers

UGH! CSB went out again!.... Shitty part is that they threw on another URO branded CSB.


Thanks

I hope they will warranty it again when this one goes out...

[LorenzeTorres]

BC Racing Coilovers
I initially wanted to go a bit lower and wanted to run H&R Race Springs to drop the height of the entire car. However, after the first drift day, I had discovered that the car was too sloppy and at times unpredictable. I scoured all the pages, and a local homie hooked it up!

But let me tell you, the car rides like ass. Not sure if the PO messed with the pre-load, however the rebound on the car is HARSH! I get tossed like a rag doll coming off of big dips. Surprisingly, it handles small to medium bumps just fine, but it's big ones that will throw you. PLEASE HALP!

Fronts are 7 clicks from softest
Rears are 8 clicks from softest

COST:
BC Coilsovers+ 4 hub centric 10mm spacers: $800+ my setup


Removing the old suspension was the hardest part. Bolting the coils on was eaassyy. Probably one of my most favorite jobs since it's instant gratification.

Here's a pic of the homies and I going out to lunch on a nice and sunny Cali day. The ride height doesn't change much the car loaded up with people.
86ED0624-C9CA-46AC-BF0B-D9935BD411DC by lorenze torres, on Flickr

The tuck is unreal! I'll probably raise it a bit, space it out, and run a fatter tire.
IMG_4336 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

UGH! CSB went out again! Only a few months after it was replaced and about 1000+ miles on it, this happened. It sounds like a loud thumping sounds in the tunnel under load between 2-3.5K RPMs. Fortunately the shop warrantied the labor and the part. Shitty part is that they threw on another URO branded CSB.
IMG_4355 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

That's all for now! I think I'm gonna mess with the pre-load settings and will post about that next.

Thanks

[LorenzeTorres]

EXHAUST HANGERS

The exhaust was saggy and would bang around the transmission tunnel area. I was probably a few hundred miles away from one of the mounts giving out. I couldn't hit the skid pad knowing that my exhaust could fall off.

COST:
Exhaust Donut: $FREE thanks to Simon for hand delivering from LA to the Bay
Split circle hanger: $4

Here's the old saggy one
IMG_4289 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

I removed the bracket and along came with it the hanger. Here's a comparison s shot.
IMG_4290 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

Here's the donut Simon brought up, agains the old saggy one. It looked my car is supposed to have two, however the one close to the rear of the car didn't mount to anywhere. I'm assuming the mount snapped off.
IMG_4291 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

Not gonna lie, this job was hard. I should've done the dish soap method to help the edges to slip over the mount points. I truly worked up a sweat.

*DO NOTE* It took about 100+ miles for the hangers to break in. When I took a test drive, the exhaust was hitting everything in the tranny tunnel. After time, the noise went away.
IMG_4292 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

I set out to find a car that could do it all for me. Road trips, daily driver, and now a drifter. Here's my first track event and I did.... poorly
IMG_4303 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

Diff didn't want to lock and the suspension was sloppy.
IMG_4304 by lorenze torres, on Flickr

I got coilovers now and hopefully that will help.Will post pics in a few days.

[LorenzeTorres]

Yea that spot needs to be put on blast

I'm gonna ask my GF who's a Yelp elite to drop a review. Don't really care for slandering a business, I just want to make customers don't have to go through the same experience I did.

Also, stay tuned on this build thread.... I got one post dedicated to you;D