Corey's JDM-Tech 2

[Simple_Smith]

I love your wheel choice. Looks spicy.

I'm going to need more info about this "Canadian's at the Gap" event. I wouldn't mind coming along!

Thank you for the kind words! Canadians at the Gap is just a small group even I've been doing with some folks from the Niagara region that I met back in 2014 at a car show in Kentucky of all places. They were headed to the dragon for a few days after the car show and my roommate and I told them we'd tag along for the trip next year when we booked some additional time off. Once we did a trip down there, we were hooked. That was 2015 and its become one of the yearly vacations that is a non-negotiable.

[Panici]

I love your wheel choice. Looks spicy.

I'm going to need more info about this "Canadian's at the Gap" event. I wouldn't mind coming along!

[DEV0 E30]

Looking good man!

[Simple_Smith]

And just one last photo dump

[Simple_Smith]

A final bit of work before the trip to Tail of the Dragon was to do a front wheel bearing, oil change, and a valve adjustment. There's a drop off in the power as if there's a step in the powerband, not the smooth ramp up from 3600ish to 6k. It's not quite a hesitation but more like a slight plateau of pull around 5k. The valve adjustment definitely helped since a couple were out of spec, but there are still gains to be had. Someone please talk me out of doing standalone again. What's the quote about insanity being where you do the same thing over and over expecting different results?? As for the wheel bearing that was pretty straightforward and not unexpected with how hard I drive the car and the wheel offsets adding extra leverage, but sacrifices must be made for style.



Unfortunately, because I only did one of the bearings before the trip, the other decided to go while we were on the trip. Luckily I was able to get one in a pinch and did it in the parking lot of the parts store. Its funny how efficiently you can do a job when you just did it a few days ago.



One last touch before the trip was getting my Sparco Pro 2000 back in the car. Again, pretty straightforward since I already had the mounts and whatnot, just had to figure out my seating position again since the mounts had been moved to accommodate the seat in my sim rig. Another thing I wanted to change was where I kept my tool bag. I wanted to put it on the rear passenger floor so I made a mount to attach a ratchet strap through to make sure the 30lb bag of metal wouldn't become a projectile in a worst case scenario and would balance out the weight better in a best case scenario.

And before I completely gloss over it, here are a couple from The Vintage 2023 as well:

[Simple_Smith]

Maybe one day I'll make a habit of updating this more often than year to year. Anyways, I haven't done a ton of work on the car since the last post but I did iron out a couple small details I've been putting off. With the way factory short throw shifters sit in the OEM e30 shift arm, they put the selector rod on an undesirable upward angle and the E60 545 lever i had in there was no exception. I had purchased a Turner(?) shifter ball cup riser from a forum member as a sort of junk sale and was never sent the actual bushing the shifter sits in so I had to improvise a bit. I had already done this mod on a previous e30 so I just had to track down the necessary parts. AWDBOB came through with exactly what I needed, a broken shift arm so I was saved from massacring a nice piece. Basically I needed to raise where the shifter ball sits to level out the shift selector rod and make it both physically easier to shift and less stress on the trans internals by lining things back up to factory specs. Firstly I chopped up the broken section so it was just the actual shifter ball cup, then I massaged the bottom of the factory shift arm so the selector rod wouldn't hit when engaging any of the gears. Without clearancing the bottom, it would undoubtedly hit going into 5th or reverse with where the pickup points are. Luckily I had a spare trans to do the test fitting on the bench so I didn't have to do this with the car in the air or take out excess material. For the front bushing of the shift arm, I used Condor's delrin bushings and the rear I left the factory rubber. This lets the drivetrain have some play but keeps the shift feel crisp. I'm not a big fan of running all solid everything because I like building a sort of "fuse" into the system, a bend instead of break mindset I suppose.





Another small project I tackled before Canadians at the Gap 2023 was an axle back exhaust. I had been low key watching facebook marketplace for exhaust stuff after picking up a straight pipe e30 axle back for $20 (deals are still out there people!) I came across an almost brand new Magnaflow 14815 for $100, purchased a few elbows from the local parts store and got to work. This was to be a low-buck axle back just so I could actually hear my own car when running with a bunch of goons with built cars and minimal exhaust setups. Originally I wanted to build a diffuser and have a muffler tucked higher up and do dual turn down tips dumped right into the airflow created by the diffuser but beggars can't be choosers. After chopping up a couple elbows, doing a bit of math, drawing some circles, and making a round to oval plywood block, I got to hammering. Dual 1.75" merge to 2.5" round collector turned out quite nice for someone with limited tools (I outsourced the welding on this project). After getting the merge collector fabbed up and welded it was just another two elbows and the muffler. I think it turned out quite nice for what I have invested. Nice exhaust tone, not too loud, and way better looking that the 2.0 exhaust that was on the car previously. Only downside is a bit of drone at ~1900RPM but unless I'm slugging along, I'm usually not in that rev range, so its an acceptable shortfall. I'd like to eventually incorporate a diffuser into the works but that will likely be a next year project.

[litu]

Cool story, so sub to follow more

[Simple_Smith]

Have you seen what the M3 has to “flatten” the rear area around the spare ? I was going to direct you to the e30 aerodynamics thread in the race sub forum but it looks like you were posting there years ago when I was too...

Yeah, I'd like to do something emulating the M3 rear setup but extending a bit more towards the wheel wells and out around the perimeter. I'll be mimicking the front splitter design that sandwiched the valance between the splitter and aluminum angle stock. The e30 was clearly not designed for full underbody aero and I'm hoping once I figure out the plan and placement for the exhaust, I'll have a better idea of what I can do with the underbody panels. Again, I'm trying to make this as minimally invasive as possible while still maximizing performance gain so it can be quite a balancing act. I got pretty lucky with the front splitter mounting points but the floor and rear apron will be a bit more challenging.

[2mAn]

Have you seen what the M3 has to “flatten” the rear area around the spare ? I was going to direct you to the e30 aerodynamics thread in the race sub forum but it looks like you were posting there years ago when I was too...

[Simple_Smith]

Well I was a bit too ambitious over the winter and wasn't able to check everything off the to-do list for both cars. The e30 splitter project was completed but the e90 took up the rest of my time getting a full paint correction, black dyed headliner, Logic 7 audio retrofit, M3 control arms, rear shocks, and a set of 19" Style 351 wheels.



The e30 splitter worked out quite well for being as minimally invasive as possible. I started out using a piece of 1/4" plywood to make a template that would be traced to final splitter material. I used a sheet of dibond for the splitter material, drilled holes into the bottom side of the valance and ran a piece of aluminum angle stock along the inside contour of the valance. 1/4-20 allen head bolts and large washers attach the splitter to the threaded aluminum piece essentially sandwiching the valance to prevent flex. For the middle supports I noticed a threaded hole in the frame and matched up the bolt size and ordered up a couple lengths of threaded rod to be used as stanchions. The rear splitter mounts used a riv-nut mounted in the holes in the front subframe. I'm hoping to eventually extend the splitter into a full undertray but for now the front section will have to do. I also had a company in Germany 3D print brake duct adapters going from the MT2 valance to standard 3" DIA hose. As of right now they're not routed to any hose, so that will be a later addition as well. I'm not sure whether to box in the splitter by putting an additional piece of dibond along the frame rail to block off the engine bay more or if it needs the wheel wells open to pull heat out of the bay.


Without proper software, its really a shot in the dark with a lot of aero stuff it seems like. Pipe dream would be to snag another MT2 spoiler and add a multi-position gurney flap but that would be a big undertaking to get it to a level I'd be happy with. In addition to the splitter I want to fabricate side skirt extensions, full smooth underbody, and a rear diffuser in the same style. That likely won't be happening until I decide on exhaust components to use to dial in the sound I want in the space available in order to make the underbody panels as efficient as possible given the build constraints.

After the splitter project was completed (well, at least 80% complete and good enough to drive with), I cruised down to The Vintage with a couple buddies and was able to get a bit of driving done on some mountain roads. Really liking the way the car feels, but I think I'm going to dial out a bit of negative camber before the next trip down. I'm not getting much wear on the outer edge of the rear tires so I'll take out half a degree and see how it feels and how much I complain about the adjustment process. Besides the camber, the car really needs more power. Its fun at higher RPM but the lack of bottom end was especially evident after taking the 335d and its gobs of torque down to the Tail of the Dragon in July.




Unfortunately on my drive back from The Vintage this spring I got a tire puncture and it took about 6 weeks to get a replacement. Luckily no damage to the wheel when I got the flat. Unluckily, the factory widowmaker jack slipped off the pinchweld in the rear and crunched the rocker panel. Thankfully MT2 skirts and pods popped out when it crunched and popped back in once the jack was out and I didn't get hurt in the process. Another thing to add to the list.. It needs some paint work anyways.

Another issue that the car is having is that the power comes on weird at like 4000rpm. During WOT it climbs smoothly, starts to get into powerband around 4000, flattens out, and then keeps climbing after 5000rpm. My current guess is a restrictive exhaust (stock 320i B20) and factory cats. If anyone has additional insight, it would be appreciated. I'm not going after any crazy power with this car but I want a really stout power curve.

[Simple_Smith]

Thanks for the kind words guys! The GTR and the Cosmo are on completely different ends of the spectrum but both incredibly cool. The GTR begs to be driven faster and the Cosmo is content at cruising at whatever speed you want while feeling like you're driving a 7mpg couch. The e30 is in storage for the winter but winter plans include a front splitter, exhaust system, and some paint work. We'll see how far I get on that since the e90 tuning bug has hit me so I'll be giving that a good cleaning along with an intercooler, dying the headliner, and possibly wheels if the budget allows.

[s-thetikz]

those wheels look incredible on it. well done

and that cosmos... super rare pokemon

[e30davie]

yer the wheels are very cool. That action shot above in front of the blue evo is awesome.

[AWDBOB]

Stoked you updated this!! I really like the wheel choice, BTW- it's unique but fits the MT2 vibe.

[2mAn]

Yea the more modern cars are relatively painless. Ive done two fly & drives with ~50 year old cars. Thats always fun.