Chump Car Project! Thelma, the Chumpster - First race under her belt!

[NigelStu]

After a few years of being on the fence, I finally decided to join the E30 world and picked up my first. The car is a '87 es. 165K, Manual, well-equipped, LSD, and, um, *whisper, cough* Bronzit.... A few issues that one would expect from a $250 car, but overall decent shape and a good place to start for what is planned.... Looked terrible and dirty when I picked it up, basically looked like a $250 car (especially with the right front caliper sitting in the passenger footwell!). Gave it a bath, vacuumed it out and I think I doubled the value.


The main intent is to have a good/fun semi-daily driver that will see track use. Secondary (or eventually) is to have a platform for Chump Car (or maybe LeMons) that will be used as a fun 'boy's weekend' toy for myself, brother, bro-in law and Dad We all have some track/race experience ranging from track days and Autocross to FSAE to SCCA National racing. And since we've all moved away from the nest, group gatherings are becoming harder to come by without good reason. So why not make the reason racing an E30??? :o. It'll be a good addition and extension to the One Lap of America!



Anyway, I knew I was giong to need some new parts and previous research pointed towards building a 2.7i. Initially looking for just the parts needed for the swap, Craigslist search for BMW brought up an interesting ad. Titled "the ugliest car". Worth a look. It is ugly. fact that it started life as Bronzit doesn't help, but someone along the way tried to 'fix' that. And failed.
$500 later, this '87 is (also a 2 door, but w/auto trans) now resides on my trailer. Lots of useful parts (head, wiring, diff, suspension, bits and pieces, and heck, maybe even a chassis!), so I'll consider it a win.



And so the project(s) begin. Meet Thelma and Louise.
Pics of Thelma as purchased and after cleaning.





And Louise; proceed with caution (and let the Barney jokes commence!).



Thelma is the 'driver' es, the better looking of the 2 and destined to grow for the bubbly/fun but standard housewife('s car) into a spirited troublemaker. Louise is the 'donor' is, complete with the unknown, troubled past, but with a good heart and potential (especially to help Thelma come out of her skin).


Eventually, 2 will become 1. or maybe 2 will stay 2, but with some shared parts... Haven't decided fully yet, and depends a bit on the integrity of the chassis.



First step is to get Thelma running right (Damn idle issue...). And then the fun will begin....



As I go, I'll post up some pics and info here, but the full build and eventual Chump results will be on my blog.

https://www.schautspeedracing.com/blog

Happy motoring!
Ben

[JeffNJM3]

I'd say that one 3 spoke wheel was worth all ur money! lol Looks like a cool project, keep posting up pics as u go!

[NigelStu]

yeah... those wheels are Shu-weet! Gives the car a nice rake... lol. 16 inch wheels with way too tall a tire on them. but almost brand new... very limited susp travel in the rear on that car due to those monsters....

little bits and pieces have been making there way off of Louise and either onto Themla or sold to fund the project. Lousie is starting to look a bit, er, naked.....

[NigelStu]

Finally gettin some work done...

Just after Xmas - this is how things looked. I hate working in the snow and cold.


But luckily, Detroit warmed up to 50 degrees, and melted all the snow, so Louise moved into the garage. I started pulling her apart, and have the interior other than dash out, sunroof out, side glass/doors off, some engine items removed, and hood off. I also found that there is a significant amount of rust on the driver floor pan, and a little on passenger side (at the jack point). See pic. And yes, your eyes do not deceive you. The gas pedal has separated from the floor...

Since that pic, I scrapped away all the sound deadening material; more of the actual metal is rusted. There is basically no usable metal for the first 12 inches aft of the fire wall. But the frame rail is in tact and has minimal rust.

My question to those who've experienced this - is it worth fixing? Is it possible to fix this significant rusting? Note that this isn't a street car, it is a potential Chump car. Firewall, tunnel, side rail and frame rail are OK, only floor sheet metal is gone.

Secondary question (that I haven't found answered in search) - are replacement floor pans available somewhere?


My other option is to hope that Thelma's chassis is in better condition, although I already know that the metal is soft at the jack locations on both left and right side of the car.

[NigelStu]

Tackeled a major part of the teardown on Louise this weekend. Pics of 'before' are in the last post. My starting point is a car with no seats or carpet. After a few hour Friday evening and a full day Saturday, Louise is feeling a bit naked. Pics attached were taken Early Sunday.

-Dr Door off
-Hood off
-RR 1/4 glass out
-Headliner out
-All interior trim out
-Sunroof out
-Radiator and hoses out
-Alt, Cruise, heater hoses, fuel liines out
-Engine harness out
-Sound deadening removed from entire DR foot well area, and trunk.
-Intake manifold off, injectors out, cleaned up a bit
-Most of interior wiring uncliped/unplugged and wrapped up
-E-brake handle off


With more stuff removed and closer look at the chassis, there is more rust that I'm willing to deal with. Part of the DR rocker is rusted away on the inside, at the A-pillar. A portion of the driver side outer rocker panel has been replaced, poorly, and is rusting (probably again). More rust discovered on Pass side foot well; trunk seemed OK. End result, Louise will find her way to a scrap yard. Unless someone wants to try to use her for a chassis, in which case, come and get her for $50.

At least there was some good news out of all of this. Initial inspection of the intake valves and top end of the motor looks like the 'is' head is in good shape. Thelma is getting anxious!!! :D And the engine harness looks to be 98% unmolested (There was one plug that wasn't plugged in, and I'm not sure what it goes to yet, and a sensor that is on the lower right side of the engine had a lead (brown/green wire) just wrapped around the pulse trigger wire... damn PO's.....


After working in the cold garage all day Saturday , I didn't feel like freezing all day Sunday too, so minimal work was done. Post picture work included:

-Removed RR glass (perfect shape, if anyone needs one)
-removed grill/headlights
-removed coolant/windshield washer reservoirs
-removed audio harness
-coiled up body electrics harness (still attaced to main harness and RH door, since I cant open that door enough right now to remove...oops, bad placement of the car) - Only electrics still attached other than the dash and RH door are the fuel pumps
-removed trunk lid, tail lights
-removed A/T shifter
-Started removing dash, but don't have a fricken 22 mm socket for the str wheel....


I'm hoping to have the drivetrain, dash, remaining wiring and suspension off by the end of the week so I can either take Louise to a scrap yard or have someone come and pick her up this upcoming weekend.

And then I'll repeat all of this on Thelma.





If anyone is actually interested in the chassis (it would be chassis ONLY - no subframes - body metal only), now would be the time to contact me. It could be saved, I just don't want to spend the time to do it.




2.5 months out until the first Chump race at Road America. It can be done!

[Steve Zissou]

wow I wish i had the work ethic to do all that

[NigelStu]

Got some major work done last weekend. Engine/trans came out as easy as 1-2-3!

Take out the subframe bolts and drop the engine down, life the car and then pull the whole fricken assembly out from under the car!





Weather was nice enough that it wasn't a big deal to have the garage open while I pulled the engine out.


And now, I can get to cleaning up the mess of all the random car parts that came off the car.



Next up is dropping the rear subframe and fuel tank. The very last 2 items still on the chassis. Its going to be COLD this weekend - single digits to mid teens, so I'm not exactly excited. But, once that's done, the rusted out remains of Louise can go to another home and I can get more space to get to work on Thelma!


One of the big bonuses of going through the disassembly process is that I now have a pretty intimate knowledge of how an E30 is put together.

2 months and 1 week to race time.....
:D:D:D:D

[TimKninja]

I've got some rust goin up my firewall , not as nearly as bad as yours tho. Gonna take care of it before cars back on road. I admire your saving of a crappy e30. I'm doing the same. Any moar rust pics?

[NigelStu]

Stage 1 complete.

^
Well, one of the 2 will be saved. The more parts I took off the car, the more rust I found. Entire driver side floor pan junk, the left side frame-rail is compromised and the seams on the driver side firewall (along side and at base of the cowl) are rusted and looking more like fish-net stockings.... Some rocker panel rust on forward portion of left hand side also. Basically, Louise is good for parts only and some sheet metal (back half of car looks to be OK). I've deemed the chassis/frame itself un-usable and therefore will be scrapped. It goes this weekend, so if someone needs rear quarter, roof panel, etc (anything past the B-pillars), now would be the time to contact me.


Rest of the parts that were to come off the car are now gone. Did about the same thing with the rear - unbolted the subframe and lifted the chassis. Those RR subframe bolts ARE a bitch!!!!! left side was corroded enough it broke upon removal. Right side actually separated like it should have... Found that the gas tank is not only severely dented, but also rusting in a few spots, so I didn't even bother removing. I'll pull the pump/sender unit. And that's all she wrote for that one.


So, stage 1 of the Chump project is complete - stripping Louise of all useful and potentially valuable parts.


At least the main wanted components (suspension, RR diff and 'is' head) all look to be in good, usable condition. Head has some carbon buildup (Ok, a LOT of build-up, but its cleaning up nicely), but the cam and valves all look good, no chips/dents in the chambers or other signs of a broken timing belt and no signs of head-gasket leaks, etc. Borrowing a real straight edge to check for warpage, but so far looks good.. :D


This week, stage 2 starts... The actual race car build begins!

[NigelStu]

Finally got some space! Work can commence!

I had someone come out and pick up what was left of Louise this past weekend (SpecE30 racer who needed some sheet metal. Yup, Louise's ass will be haulin around Mid Ohio next summer!). Now Thelma is all alone in the big garage... Surrounded by strange parts.

The fun part is starting! Some initial work will happen this week and upcoming weekend. The following weekend a few of my Chump teammates (brother and dad) will be heading over to get the major stuff done. And then off to the cage shop.

And I think I found a good spot for my GoPro camera to take a pic every 60 seconds to document the entire thing from this point on....


On the to-do list for this week:
-Weight the car (out of curiosity - I gotta know where I'm starting!)
-Strip interior
-remove sound-deadening for less weight and a place to put the cage
-repair any rust on floor
-remove sunroof
-install patch panel
-interior metal clean-up
-refurb my spare RR cross member with a few necessary bushings
-some port clean-up
-clean-up the 'is' head, replace seals, set valve clearances.
-Weight car again. Anyone wanna guess how much weight I'll remove?


Then the following weekend, with some help:
-swap head/electrics from es to is (incl timing belt/waterpump/seals/etc.)
-remove A/C components
-remove P/S components
-modify heater core for DEF use only
-Swap rear sub-frames
-Few other body/door mods for race purposes
-Remove rear glass
-Weigh car again. Play around with those rubber shim pads to try to get a better cross-weight and figure out where any extra weight of the cage needs to go.
-Cage mock-up work

[Cabriolet]

nice gnome, i got the same of for Christmas.
GJ on all the work

[NigelStu]

Wait. Weight. uh, wait a minute...

Holy Shit.

I've read the posts about how much crap ways in these cars, but I dont' think it really hits home about what kind of impact it has until you do a baseline, remove a bunch of stuff and weigh again.

Between last night and today, I removed the interior trim (expect for IP), seats, carpet, trunk trim, sound deadening in trunk and 50% in cabin, sunroof (entire thing), A/C and P/S.

Results. Thelma went from 2682 to 2250!!!!! Yes, that is 432 lb reduction!


Granted, a cage is going back in, along with a driver seat and some new panels. But I'm not done removing stuff yet.... I'm thinking that race weight is going to be in the 2200-2250 range.


Needles to say here, I got a lot done in the last 30 hours. :D



ALSO - hopefully this will work. I got my GoPro camera setup in the corner of my garage. Initial look at the pics look decent. If all things work like I think they can, I'll have stop-motion video of the build up on youtube soon(ish).

[NigelStu]

After a week off from working on the car (had a a nice little trip down to Mexico for work), I was able to get a TON of work done with some help from my Dad and bro who made the trip out for a fun little guys weekend.

Quick highlight:
-End of prior weekend I finished up cleaning up the 'is' intake runners and port matched to the head. (I realized after I had it installed that I don't think I took any pics :( )
-Interior is now empty except for necessary wires/electronics and the HVAC unit.
-Door glass/mechanisms are gone
-Audio components and all wiring gone
-rest of A/C system gone
-Head swap complete
-New seals where applicable, new spark plugs, timing belt/water pump, etc. All the good stuff to do with the head off.
-Oil cooler mounted (and rebuilt with new seals)


Unfortunatley, when we went to go start the car Sunday afternoon, there was NOTHING. No crank, no ICV buzz, no fuel pump, etc. Something wiring related is just not right. I have some research and fiddling to do... I'm really hoping there is something very simple I am missing. Buying a new main relay on the way home tonight to try that. And then diving into the ETMs....

If anyone can point to something obvious that I might be missing, that would be awesome. Some background info.

• Thelma is an 87 es manual car with a 027 ecu, D-shapped diagnostic connector. The body harness/fuse box and ROUND C101 connector stayed on the car. Engine harness/ecu/afm removed for the swap.
• Installed the engine harness and all engine components from Louise. She was an 87 is automatic car with a 153 ecu, circular diagnostic plug and a round c101 connector.
• BOTH cars started and ran OK prior to swap.
• Power is available. brake lights ok, ABS clicks at key on, power goes to DME pin 18.
• Went through one of Jlevie's diag how-tos: Going through his list in order, all was good until I found that there is no power to ecu pin 27 with key in start.
• no smoke or burning wires. So far. We did notice that C101 engine harness side has a brown wire to pin '12', nothing there on the body side. Body side has a brown wire to pin '20', nothing there on the ending side.
• jumping the starter directly with a battery will turn it over, so that appears to be OK.

I thought that an 87is harness was a plug and play to an 87es for the head swap, but apparently not. I haven't figured out what I'm missing yet. I'm assuming a plug somewhere. We tried a 2 '87' relays and 2 '87a' relays, none worked.


Any help would be appreciated to reduce my time peering at the ETM and wires.. Hopefully the engine will come alive later today.


Once that happens, I can sit down and make the slide show of all the work done. Those little GoPro's are pretty sweet, pics look like they came out! I have something like 800 pics between the last 2 weekends that will go into a video of some sort. Anyone have a a song request to have playing while the slide show plays?


Oh, we are estimating the weight to be down to about 2150 now... Gotta clean up the car a bit and get her back on the scales again. :D

[NigelStu]

With 2 months to go until the 25:25:25 Chump race at Nelson's Ledges..... here is a LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG overdue update...


This project is taking considerably longer than initially expected. Primarily due to my work ethic going to shit. Well, in reality, all the other fun stuff I do has managed to get in the way and take major priority.... Its been a fun summer or racing the SM, running, enjoying craft-brews, f'n around on GT5 and the occasional tinkering with Thelma....

Little-by-little, some real progress has been made.

The engine is running, and seemingly quite well. And the BIG step in her transformation from a stripped out street rat to a true racer is now underway.

Last Friday, I dropped her off at my friendly local cage guru - Angry Sheep Motorsports. There is a good possibility that I will have her back this weekend with the cage.

Since the last post, here's what we've managed to get done:

• The 2.7i swap is complete and running. No leaks, weird noises. Revs happily. '87 2.7 eta bottom end mated with the '87 "i" head, intake manifold, 524 ecu, wiring harness, etc. New timing belt, water pump, etc as part of this.
• Also massaged the head and intake manifold prior to installing. Intake side has been enlarged and port matched - cleaned it up quite a bit with the internal bumps from the mounting holes smoothed out and reduced in size. Flow should be much better going in. Cleaned up the exhaust ports as well, to remove bumps/rough spots on the head side.
• Mounted accessory fan wired off of a lower temp temp switch (which appears to be bad. grrr!), manual fan removed.
• removed the rest of the stuff from the interior - welded in the sunroof outer skin, bondo and primer - almost looks like a factory slick-top. HA! not so much.... but its lighter!
• Installed the new Sparco Sprint FIA approved seat, on Sparco sliders and a pre-made seat-frame (hard to argu a ~80 premade piece that bolts right in vs. time/money to make my own!)
• Sub and lap harness installed - waiting for cage to install shoulder
• stripped out IP mounted - will be easily removable once cage is installed.
• DEF ducting in place - HVAC unit can only turn fan on/off - no other function. all air goes to the windshield, ducting mounted to hvac unit/body.
• Hood lightened a bit, hood pins installed and hinges removed - back edge of hood held in place by stock latch system. working on the car is a breeze - pop 2 pins and lift the hood off.
• Springs calculated for cut length to be as close as possible to H&R sport. Fronts should be spot on - rears might be close... (once I find a spring rate checker, I will confirm). This will also drop the car so it looses its monster-truck ride height it currently has.
• re-drilled FR strut top mounts, spun mounts 180 degrees. we have as much camber as possible up front with the stock parts as possible now. Getting more will require getting creative. May do that once we know what kind of camber numbers we have.

While waiting for the car to get back to my shop, I'm in process of rebuilding the rear subframe. New seals for the diff, new bushing to replace the destroyed ones for the subframe, and slotting the rear arm mounts. Plan is to drop current subframe and put the 'new' one up there in its place.

Then, fitting rest of safety equipment (window net, shoulder harness, fire extinguisher, battery cut-off), putting on new brake pads (Cobalt Friction XR2/XR4) and rotors (Cyro treated), the fancy Kosei K1 (in brilliant bright RED) donated by one of the team members (Anyone know best spacer size to run with these? 10? 13?), put some fresh fluids in it and then get the alignment done.

[NigelStu]

Current pictures

Here are a few shots of what she looked like last Friday. Sittin' high and ready for a cage!



Just look at the wheel-well gaps.... Will be fixed once I get her back. Along with cleaning up the dash wiring, switch mounting etc.



Just need to get the star-specs mounted up on the bright red Koseis and she might just start looking like a race car.