my new nurburgring whip

[M-technik-3]

Man do I miss the auto skills centers. Just can't budget 4 extra hours to drive out to Boston to use my nearest one. I have to drop my subframe in the M3, noticed I have some vibration as well the other day. Just have not had time between flying and house.

Enjoying the Hot weather? It was hot over in Germany last week while the east coast was cold. Funny thing Spang's junkyard still has the same two E30 tourings they have had since Fall. There has been no turn over of vehicles and Ramstein is just the opposite they crushed 450 cars two weeks ago and didn't even make the yard!

[Eric]

Ramstein's yard is run by a bunch of idiots. I'm sure there are plenty of people who can learn how to drain a fuel tank and properly dispose of coolant.

They say all those cars can't be touched cause they don't have somebody to prep them for the yard. Hire a freekin german hack mechanic that can do it! They could have such good turn over if they weren't full of excuses

[M-technik-3]

The reason for that is they were selling them illegally to a few Germans who in turn were selling them to Africa! No Customs duties were being payed and SOFA issues and big investigation is under way. Only the two older retirees left everyone else is new.

[Eric]

The reason for that is they were selling them illegally to a few Germans who in turn were selling them to Africa! No Customs duties were being payed and SOFA issues and big investigation is under way. Only the two older retirees left everyone else is new.

It wasn't just to the germans! Every time I would go there some shady looking dudes from africa would try and buy stuff. Not the same guys every time, but they all had the same mannerisms, accent, and general appearance.

The last time I was there the guy behind the window was shooing them off the lot like a bunch of stray cats.

They should build a fence across that access road, that way nobody is going in the yard without gaining access to the base first. A $500 fence would solve a majority of these legal problems.:hitler:

[M-technik-3]

It would also cut down on the number of times I have to play frogger while walking to the establishment.

[scabzzzz]

Love this car. Kind of has that euro-redneck style to it. hehehe

[Eric]

wheel/tire specs?

18x9.5 et 22 with 245/35/18 kuhmo XS's. 5mm spacers in the front and 10mm in the rear.


HPDE update!

This weekend I did a HPDE with the BMWCCA at Motorsport Ranch outside of Fort Worth. Saturday was a perfect day for an HPDE! Nice and sunny, no accidents and a great group of guys to run with. I was put in the novice group since i'd never run a HPDE with the Lone Star chapter, but after one run session my instructor put me in advanced group!
The car hauled major ass out there, and it was a ton of fun to drive. I'm still very intimidated by the boosterless brakes, but I think I definitely have too much front bias. After ever session, the front brakes were blue, but the rears still had spots of corrosion from the boat ride over the atlantic. I adjusted the big blue knob (ratio at the pedals) for more rear brake, but didn't get to really try them out since it rained all day today :(

Although the rain was a bummer for going fast, it was great fun to learn a line other than the DE line. I let a instructor drive my car and we both had great fun... him ripping on the poor E30, and me seeing how much more aggressive the car can be driven!

Another cool thing to happen this weekend is that I finally weighed the car! Performace Speed Tech is based at MSR, and they were nice enough to put my car on the scales while the club race was going on.

Here are the results with a full tank of gas:


and with my fat butt in the chair.




After weighing the car, I asked the tech if we could check the alignment. I've never been super happy with the job the german shop did, plus since the last alignment the subframe had been dropped to fit the S50.



WOW, was it off!!! This would explain the understeer at turn in, and while I would be fighting the wheel like crazy just driving down the highway. I always blamed the big 245's up front, but nope, it was the 1/2 inch of toe in!



I didn't grab a picture of the machine after the alignment, but the new specs are

.06" toe out left and right
-3.4° camber left and right
7.5° ish caster left and right

another nice thing to know is that my right rear wheel is .9° behind the left rear. The tech said this shows the car isn't bent, and is actually a really good number considering some brand new cars he's measured don't have that good of a spread.

All in all I was really happy with this weekend. I had great fun on track, met more really cool people in the BMW club, and gave the car a nice spa treatment with a shop that actually knows track cars.

[freeride53]

Eric, curious, (know it might have been answered before),
but what is your front suspension/steering setup?

[Eric]

Eric, curious, (know it might have been answered before),
but what is your front suspension/steering setup?

From top to bottom then out:

Sparco, or IE ripoff strut bar
Vorshlag camber plates
H&R Nurburgring spec E30 M3 coil overs
Massive's offset roll center spacers (forget the thickness)
E30 M3 steering rack (no PS)
Tree House racing eyeball arms
OE E30 M3 tie rods and control arms
Bimmerworld stainless brake lines
Willwood SL6R calipers
Willwood 13x1.25" rotors
Willwood something or other pads
VAC 5mm spacer
VMR CSL reps 18x9.5 ET22 with 245/35/18 Kuhmo XS's
Vorshlag 90mm studs (need replacing)

I think that's it. I'd really like to bump up the H&R's to a set of AST's... but I need monies for that...:roll:

[scabzzzz]

From top to bottom then out:

Sparco, or IE ripoff strut bar
Vorshlag camber plates
H&R Nurburgring spec E30 M3 coil overs
Massive's offset roll center spacers (forget the thickness)
E30 M3 steering rack (no PS)
Tree House racing eyeball arms
OE E30 M3 tie rods and control arms
Bimmerworld stainless brake lines
Willwood SL6R calipers
Willwood 13x1.25" rotors
Willwood something or other pads
VAC 5mm spacer
VMR CSL reps 18x9.5 ET22 with 245/35/18 Kuhmo XS's
Vorshlag 90mm studs (need replacing)

I think that's it. I'd really like to bump up the H&R's to a set of AST's... but I need monies for that...:roll:

Reading this, I kind of leaked a little baby potion on my office chair. Ugh.

[Eric]

A little update....

I drove the car as a daily for a month in west texas. This happened to be the month in the middle of San Angelo breaking records for drought/heat waves. The week before I left San Angelo TX, the town broke a record for the longest stint of +100°F days. The last record was 60 days set in 1969. When I left, every day was a new record, plus they were working on another record for the most consecutive +105°F days:puppy: Needless to say, my tin can was horrendous for daily driving! Having no insulation in the car period turns the dang thing into an oven and cooks you in no time! For that month of suffering, I started to hate the car since it wasn't being used for it's intended purpose. Going fast.

Luckily I no longer call Texas my home! Colorado has weather that humans can actually enjoy, and the car is back to being just a money pit that gets to chill in an airplane hanger most of the time.




But the real reason for bumping this thread, is I did a few things the car to try and make some improvements. Mainly in cooling the motor and adding some aero. Not sure if I succeeded in either attempt!

I Ordered a VAC oil cooler kit and installed it in the only place the massive thing would currently fit. It seams to be doing a better job of collecting grasshoppers than bringing down my oil temps though. I'm still seeing temps creep past 125°c while on track. Normal driving is a nice easy 80-80°c




I also broke out the jig saw and tried my first attempt at a front splitter! I used some 5/8's birch plywood for the splitter and my spare 318is spoiler for a template.


And here is the finished product.


Version II will stick out 3 inches from the front bumper, not the lip spoiler. I'm also going to go with 3/4 birch as it cost about $20 for a 4x8 sheet, while the 5/8's cost nearly $40 for a 4x4 sheet!



Next up on the to-do list is replacing the stock thermostat with one out of the BMW Motorsport catalogue that opens at 55°c and replacing the wimpy AUX fan with a 14" pusher from SPAL. While I'm digging around in there, I'm also going to relocate the oil cooler up higher behind the kidney grills.






But Most importantly I added a little touch of "home" to my helmet:puppy:

[DTM190]

This car is bad to the boner

[DuMa]

amazing car. amazing. always found it funny for a full-race car, you have no wing

[!AjHoWzA!]

Great looking car! Nice job!

[325ix]

I love your car so much Eric! Thanks for the ride again. When does the wing go on?