My E30: Track Car in the Making

[speedblind]

Lee - Thanks for the responses. The car's actually fully alignable at both ends, but I'm having trouble chasing down decent specs for the rear (very few people do the weld-in kit it seems). Do you have any suggestions for a full alignment?

[Massive Lee]

For the rear, I try to get zero toe. As for camber, barely one degre will be okay, but it depends on the stiffness of the suspension.

As a rule of thumb, I'd say go buy a pyrometer, do several hot laps and measure tire temps. Inside, center and outside. Those are the only solid info you need to set your suspension. And it will vary from track to track...

[speedblind]

Cool - that's a good starting point. Thanks!

[iXBeater]

Looks like a great start - that first pic reminded me a lot of our track car:


Still haven't painted the damn wheels and splitter...will do before the season next year...

Lee - Thanks for the responses. The car's actually fully alignable at both ends, but I'm having trouble chasing down decent specs for the rear (very few people do the weld-in kit it seems). Do you have any suggestions for a full alignment?

Do you have pix of your rear kit? Ours looks like this:



Good luck and keep us posted!

[speedblind]

Do you have pix of your rear kit? Ours looks like this:



Good luck and keep us posted!

I have the Ireland Engineering weld-on alignment kit. Basically a set of tabs that weld on to the rear subframe tabs:

[Massive Lee]

Hi Speedblind. I think that the IE kit is indeed the best one available around. It is much simpler to install than urethane eccentric bushings. Cheaper. And offer much better adjustments.

[speedblind]

That was my thought, and as this was the second time I'd done the subframe removal/install, I figured I should just do everything right and never have to touch the damn thing again.

The only bummer is that it isn't legal for Spec E30, but when the time comes to go racing I'm sure I'll be able to find a good home for the subframe.

[sticksdaman]

your car is much too nice to be a track car i saw we trade shells

[E30ownerwithanopinion]

you need more Eurhoooooooooooo

[speedblind]

Time for an update. Since the last post, I've stripped out the interior, added Corbeau seats, removed the A/C and sunroof and cartridge. The forcefull removal of the sunroof cartridge resulted in some bends and burn marks on the roof, so I decided to start experimenting with satin black paint. I also planned so skin and pin the hood and trunk, so that's where I started.

Oh, and I also changed jobs and moved across country. I finally got the car shipped out to my new home, and I've been working to get it up to track worthy condition.

Pic of the car ready for transport. 2,500 miles with no windows = cardboard temporary windows. Not pretty, but they worked!


And here's a pic of the "temporary" hood pins. The actual sparco pins were removed when I started painting the hood, and accidentally got packed and shipped separate from the car. So, some trouble shooting was necessary in order to get the car to VA with the hood still on it.


Another pic of the kustom windows. I was already out here, so my brother did all the work getting it ready and on the truck.

[alpinaclone]

I really like that wheel/tire combo. Keep the updates coming.

[kishg]

looks good. question on the IE kit, does it keep alignment? i've heard lots of folks say it won't hold the settings.

[speedblind]

That's a very good question, and something I'm going to investigate. Currently, the car is all out of alignment, at least in front, due to some creative tie-down usage during transport. I'm going to get it in for an alignment next week, so I'll be able to tell how the rear fared. When I first aligned the car with the IE kit, I neglected to mark the position of the concentric bolts...something I'll be sure to take care of this time around.

[318isbmw]

Did you do both of the IE kits? For the Camber and toe, or are they one and the same. I saw their same price and look like the same setup, so had to ask.

[Quailane]

Did you do both of the IE kits? For the Camber and toe, or are they one and the same. I saw their same price and look like the same setup, so had to ask.

They are the same kit, you just rotate it 90 degrees to get the other setting.