My 91 325i track car

[kts]

Riced out the front calipers

Before:


After:


While that was drying I tackled the side "trim" on the car.

This stuff worked pretty well for helping me remove this crap.


Put some on the "trim" on my car and let it soak for a few. Used a screw driver to push out the "trim" from behind (used the holes meant for the clips to hold the stock trim in) and it came off.



The 'trim'


Removal left some sticky contact cement behind. Soaked with more 3M remover and then using my finger rolled it all off of the paint.

When I was done I was left with this:


I need to use some more of the remover or some bug and tar stuff to get at the crud that is left from the edges of where this old "trim" was.

Also you can see the body of the car likes to bend quite a bit when the front is jacked up, as you can see the door sticking out quite a bit at the bottom, it doesn't do that when it's down on all 4 wheels. Both doors are also hard to open when the front is jacked up.

Next going to see if I can clean up the proper molding I have for the car with some acetone. I've heard people have used that to prep the molding for trim paint but somehow the acetone works wonders on the molding and makes it look like new. So we'll see how that goes. Hopefully will get to that tonight and then I can install it and have a much better looking car.

[kts]

I didn't like the lame little trunk light in the car. I noticed the 2nd hole that looked perfect for another light and figured I wonder if I would just tap into the already run wires and add another light in. Then I found iwantspeed's little howto here: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=172160 which confirmed that I could do it.

Off to the yard to pick up a spare light. I found some in some 5 series and E36s and noticed they were 10W vs the dinky 5W in the E30. So I grabbed 2 of the 10W ones and swapped one in and wired up the other. Broke out the soldering iron I bought a while back and quickly realized I should have bought a higher wattage one, this thing takes a while to heat up.

My first attempt at soldering anything ever. Ugly but it works.


Results:


Definitely brighter then it was before. Still I wish there was a light further into the trunk to see stuff in there better. Maybe one day I'll look into doing that.

Did all that before I went out of town for the holiday. Got back yesterday and wanted to tackle a few things on the car.

Installed the Sparco bar I had laying around


Fitment was a little off. I jacked up the the car from the cross member and the strut towers flexed a little but but it was still just a *tiny* bit off. I broke out the Dremel and reamed out the holes on the passenger side just a little bit and on it went.

Still most likely more for show but with how much the strut towers flex I wonder if it will help on track. It was cheap at least.

I had never looked to see how little clearance the oil pan has from the ground. HOLY crap it's right there!



I couldn't find a measuring tape in my garage to measure but that's probably only 3 inches off the ground and my car is only on the Spec E30 suspension setup (H&R Races + Bilstein sports)

I dig into the shelf where I have parts waiting to go on the car and dug out the skid plate I bought. I was going to install it but as I was opening up the box a friend stopped by and we had a few beers and I got kinda lazy after that. Oh well later this week it will be going on the car.


I also took photos of my poor rust valance and messed up bumper. I keep looking for an Alpine White II front bumper and valance but I have yet to find one at the yard or locally in good shape. I think over the winter I'll just pull mine, strip it down, POR15 it if I need to, and paint it with the Duplicolor stuff some people have said is pretty close to AWII. It won't be perfect but it's a track car and it will look a hell of a lot better than the rusty crap I have going on now.





Still need to find an un-bent/cracked front bumper as well, it was like this when I bought it.

[bmwstephen]

what kind of side trim are those?

fyi, as for the wipers. loctite does wonders

[kts]

what kind of side trim are those?

fyi, as for the wipers. loctite does wonders

The old "trim" was just some kind of industrial chair rail you'd see used on like a hospital wall or something like that. It was just a hard rubber that was glued on the car.

Thanks for the loctite tip, if I get any more trouble from the wipers I'll have to give that a go.

[kts]

Small updates:

- Found a battery cover at the junkyard for $6. Painted it and installed it. I know it's more weight but I haul a lot of stuff in the trunk to the track and I was worried about something hitting the battery or shorting the terminals.

Not sure why the previous owner had that block there, I removed it and it strapped down tight with it not there.




- Started running new speaker wire for the rear speakers. I really wish I had done this before I put the roll bar in. It's a pain for a fat ass like me to squeeze under/around it.




Also tested the rear premium speakers I got, one worked well the other, only the tweeter works. Guess I'll order new speakers to put in the premium speaker housing today.

- Installed the skid plate. That was a far bigger PITA than I thought it was going to be. The steering rack bolts did not want to budge for me and it was hard for me to find/feel the nuts up top. Got those out, used a small jack I have to help hold the skid plate in place and got to drilling. A few of the holes I need to ream out a bit more and my drill's battery was tapped out so I left it for the night. I dislocated my shoulder a year ago and while it's mostly healed I have issues holding stuff straight up for long periods of time so the drill and skid plate were getting to me. I'll finish it up tonight.

- Picked up new bumpers + a valance. I probably should have passed on these since they were in rougher shape than I thought they were but with some work and a bit of luck I can make them look better than what is on the car now.


- Inside of my current valance and some rust from the little plate below where the passenger side headlights are. Looks like it's time for some POR15 on the plate to stop the rust. Ugh.

[kts]

- New speakers showed up Friday. I tested them on a bookshelf system I have and they sounded pretty decent. Not bad for $25 for the pair.

Old vs new


They are a bit higher than I was thinking they would be. :( Side view:


I don't think the stock grilles will fit over them well. Doh! Not sure if I'll try to get some spacers to mount the speakers under the whole plastic speaker mount or if I'll just run them sans grill. (Probably just chuck the grills.)

For the fronts I'll probably have to use the grills that came with the speaker and not run kickpanels. The car doesn't have kickpanels right now so that works for me.

- Skid plate is finished install. I need some touch up paint for where I messed up the finish in a few spots. I had to ream out the holes just a tad to get the bolts through and the Dremel slipped a few times. Doh!


Feel much safer about the oil pan now.

- Adding some rice to the car. BECAUSE RACE CAR.


- This showed up last night (best packing job ever!)


Yes, adding more weight and plastic to the car. But at least now I have a nifty place to store a few things.

[kts]

Yea I'm a dork. But it perfectly fits my little first aid kit that also has a set of jumper cables in it as well as some spare oil and brake fluid.


Finally got most of the side molding back on the car. The front driver's side fender piece I had was broken and no matter what I tried it wouldn't work and I couldn't find one at any of the local yards so I caved it an ordered a new piece. My friend works at a local dealership and hooked me up.



Who cares it's original and boring but I love it SOOOOOOOO much better than the white crap that was on my car.

Picked up the final piece I needed this morning and I can't wait to get home tonight and install. Also picked up 2 keys for my E36 since I only got 1 key for it when I bought it.


Somehow this thing (along with gasket + new bolts) also came in my box of goodies from the dealer.


Oh and this massive box was outside my garage when I got home last night. I wonder what could be inside?!?

[Lof8]

Who makes that tire/wheel holder on your wall?
Whats in the big box?
Progress looks good!

[Hey_You]

I thought track cars were supposed to get lighter?

[kts]

Who makes that tire/wheel holder on your wall?
Whats in the big box?
Progress looks good!

HyLock makes it. http://www.amazon.com/HyLoft-1000-Mu...4087565&sr=8-1

Tire Rack sells them too but free shipping from Amazon = win.

I have 2 of them and I love them, they have been great for storing the several sets of wheels for my Subaru.

Big box has a shiny new Stromung exhaust. Hopefully installing it Sunday. :)

I thought track cars were supposed to get lighter?

Yea they are supposed to, I just have issues. I don't have the $, space, or want of a trailer and tow vehicle so I want to make this car a bit more comfortable for the long drives (1.5 - 5 hours each way) to the various tracks in the area that I will be going to.

The previous owner also removed a lot of weight already so it kinda balances out. In make-believe-land.

[leegf]

where did you buy the stromung? :)

[kts]

where did you buy the stromung? :)

VAC.

I originally ordered a Supersprint since I liked the look/sound of that just a tad over the Stromung but Supersprint recently really raised up their prices and VAC didn't have any in stock and couldn't sell it to me at the old price. So Stomung it was.

I unboxed it last night. Didn't unwrap the foam covered bits since it'll be a week or two until I install it but from what I can see the materials and welds all look great. I can't wait to get it on the car!

[Jafxod]

You think you got clearance issues?

[Justin B]

...

Helping a friend move tomorrow and then either hopefully installing a stereo so I can have some tunes. Once the stereo is in I can put the rear interior back in the car and then the Sparcos.

Nice choice on the seats, do you have a pair? I love my evo2+'s I used in my e30 build; I was a little too tall for an evo.

[HybridNz]

You think you got clearance issues?

Still dont get why people lower their e30's with stock geometery this low .. it makes them handle like shit. the control arms are inverse!