24 Hours of Lemons Contender

[camaroz1985]

We aren't going to get to the junkyard before this weekend's test, so if anyone has a spare bracket that connects the sway bar to the control arm, and you can drop it into an envelope to us ASAP it would be much appreciated.

[gp.plus]

Ill look when I get home, I may have one, do you need the whole link or just the CA bracket?

[camaroz1985]

Thanks, and just the bracket. Hardware too if you have it.

[gp.plus]

This it? I don't have the nut , pm me your address ill mail it tomorrow.

[camaroz1985]

That's the one! PM Sent. Thanks a lot!

[camaroz1985]

May 14-20, 2011

You will notice post is not a specific day. The week was a blur for most of the team, and the others still have not woken up from their much needed sleep.

It started on the 14th with the final push to get the car out the door and on the track for a test session during the Import/Kit Car Nationals at the Carlisle Fairgrounds on May 21-22.

A long list of tasks was made, and the team got to work on making that list disappear.

First, the engine had to come out to make some room for the clutch fork. The team is pretty proficient at this now, and it only took a matter of minutes. The hammer came in, and the appropriate beating began. Within an hour of the start of the day the engine was back in its (final?) resting place.

A new fuel filter and rubber lines were installed, and the chassis hard lines were attached to the engine hard lines. The clamps were double checked for tightness, and the fuel system was complete.

The electrical system was next. The battery is to be mounted where the passenger seat used to be. This allows a shorter wire run, and doesn't leave the battery vulnerable to hits, as it might be in the right rear quarter as was stock on other E30s (but not the convertibles for some reason).

Even though a sealed battery is being used the battery was mounted in a marine box. There is a 1/4" thick steel strap under the floor, and one on top of the battery that are bolted together with threaded rod. The lid is then attached with the supplied strap. The battery is now a part of the car, and is going no where.



A wire was run from the battery to the kill switch, then to the starter solenoid. The other circuit in the kill switch goes to the ignition/ecu/fuel pump/any other electrical system. Rubber boots were installed on all terminals, and we moved on to the more complex part of the wiring. (There are now boots on the smaller terminals as well, they just weren't available when we did the initial wiring.)



A distribution center, and fuse block (factory Mustang part) were installed on the transmission tunnel. The ECU will be installed further forward, on a foam pad. The relays were mounted, and the switches wired. It was intended to be completed on this work day, but as these things go it took much longer than expected.

The cooling system was the next thing on the list. We found two hoses that looked like they could be cut to make our mismatched radiator work. We are using the stock E30 radiator. The bottom hose was made from 4 pieces of the radiator hose, and 3 pieces of pipe (steel roll cage tubing). The hose was zip-tied to the radiator support. This should give us room to run the exhaust behind the radiator hose.

The upper hose was made of two pieces of hose, and an inline filler neck was added, as there isn't one on the radiator itself.



We used the Mustang upper radiator mounts as the BMW ones were missing from our car.



We are re-using the stock Mustang instrument panel. It has all the gauges we need, and the wiring is fairly simple. The fuel gauge will read backwards (BMW is high resistance when empty, Mustang is High when full). The only logical place is in the center of the car attached to the roll cage and the steering support. It seemed weird, but Jim drives a Prius so he is used to it. We don't have the heart to tell him that we won't be installing a backup camera.



The throttle cable, and clutch cables were attached to the pedals, and the transmission and differential were filled with oils.

Before we knew it 16 hours had passed. Half the team was gone and the others were loosing tools and forgetting what they were working on. Time to call it a day.

Throughout the week the team worked on getting the wiring done. The final result is pretty clean, and will be better when the wire conduit is put back on. It will remain unwrapped until everything is proven to be working.

Wiring was run to the fuel sending units, and the pump. Extra wires were removed from the harness, and everything was bundled together to clean up the harness.

We had to make a dipstick tube to plug the hole in the oil pan. The old dipstick was left in place to plug the hole in the block where it used to reside. The dipstick is there, but doesn't do anything. The new dipstick tube is a piece of fuel line, and a bracket that was found on the garage floor (we think it was for the fuel lines on the Mustang engine) was used to keep it in place. We also made a bracket to keep the fuel lines in place as they now are routed along the valve covers.





The ECU was mounted on the transmission tunnel on a piece of foam. Zip ties secure it.

The starter cable was run and the final engine wiring connections were made. The team left the car at 2AM Friday morning knowing that there wasn't much left to bring the car to life.

Ryan and Dan began working on the car Friday evening not knowing the marathon that was in store for them. Finally after the distributor was installed, wires run. The engine was ready to come to life.....Well not just yet. Three or four more tries of distributor timing (one tooth this way, two that...) and finally the engine roared to life at 3:30AM Saturday.

The harnesses were then installed, the seat bolted down, and final checks were made. The instrument cluster was wired and mounted again, and small details were finished.







For more pictures, check out our album for this work week.

[camaroz1985]

May 21-22, 2011

The car was loaded on the trailer about 7:30AM for a 8:00 departure for the Carlisle Fairgrounds.





When we got to the fairgrounds the car was unloaded, and we noticed there was not any oil pressure registering on the gauge. Chuck brought a mechanical gauge, and much to our horror no oil flowed in the line when we started the engine. We quickly shut it down, and tried to figure out why this could be. Turns out the oil pump drive shaft is important in this situation, and that in their drowsy state Ryan and Dan didn't think anything of the fact that the distributor slipped right in every time. Maybe they assumed it was perfectly aligned every time, but as anyone that has done this knows, that never happens.

With that taken care of 50 psi shows on both gauges, and all is good. The mechanical gauge was removed and the car was readied for the track. On another final check the cooling system was brought into question. The overflow from the E30 radiator was tee'd into the overflow from the filler neck and into the bottle. This would never allow the system to be pressurized, so a vacuum cap was put over the nipple on the radiator, and all was well.

The car took to the track during a lunch break, and made a handful of successful laps with no known issues. When the car pulled back into the paddock there was water spraying from the radiator. The vacuum cap was blown up and doing its best impression of a balloon. Another cap was added on top of the first, and the car was parked for the night, as there wasn't any more time to test the car in the normal autocross.





The team was finally able to go to sleep.

Sunday morning brought with it lots of promise. The car was on the track before 9AM and everything was going well. After about 15 laps, Ryan ran out of talent and the car slid off the track. It finally came to rest after mowing over several large cones, and a fire extinguisher. The unfortunate sight of water spilling out of the bottom of the radiator was a sad but expected result. The bottom of the radiator support was unsupported, and bent back into the radiator breaking one of the mounting studs.

Here you can see the tire tracks through the grass. The timing truck was about 15 feet to the left of the tire marks, and the cones and fire extinguisher were obviously right where they stop.



The radiator was removed and dried, and JB Weld was used to fix the crack. The stud wasn't broken off, just bent over and cracked at the base. The rubber mount was placed back on top of the wet JB Weld to aide in sealing.

The radiator was reinstalled, and filled, and no leaks could be found so the car took to the track for the final time of the weekend.

Everything worked without a hitch (including the camera for the first time of the weekend).

Here is a video from the outside, taken trackside. The car has open exhaust, and is loud coming toward you, but super quiet going away.



Finally in-car footage.



The only casualty of the weekend was Brian, a crew member. The hood of the Boneyard Racing Neon blew shut on his head. Brian is an EMT, and Dan got to say a favorite movie line to him. From Saving Private Ryan "Tell us how to fix you!"

He seems to be in good spirits now, I'm sure it wasn't the same after he got 3 staples in his head.



We tried to take a picture of his head so he could diagnose himself.



We would like to take the time now to thank gp.plus on r3vlimited.com for his contribution of a sway bar to control arm mounting bracket. There is a beer waiting for you in our pits if you can make it.

Also we have our first sponsor. Thank you Motorsporthardware.com for the wheel stud and nut kit. We have not installed it yet, but can't wait until we can stop searching for the lug holes while we try to balance the wheel on the hub. This will also allow us to run wheel spacers should we decide that we need some more rubber in the future.

For more pictures, check out our album for the test session.

[camaroz1985]

The car will have the last details completed, and the final inspections completed tonight, and the car will be loaded to arrive at the track bright and early tomorrow.

Follow along on the website, we will try to post occasional updates. Also if you are at the race, stop by and say hello.

[gp.plus]

Good luck! Wish I could make it.

[MR 325]

Lovin it.

[KenC]

Good Luck during BS :).

[camaroz1985]

We made it!!! We were running at the finish, and most of the race. We had our share of problems, but none of them too bad.



I will post a "race in detail" report soon.

Oh and we didn't get any BS laps!!

[bmwmech1]

Congrats to all of you on the Team... just finishing is a victory in itself!

Garey

[I*Do*Werke]

great project! looking forward to the results

[zxert]

Congrats. What did you place?