My 91 325i track car

[leegf]

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!

please post a sound clip when you get a chance!

[kts]

You think you got clearance issues?

Oh I know my car isn't that low, I think I even stated that somewhere. Still, for the minor drop the H&R Races have that oil pan is scary low. I'd think folks who have a car as low as the one in that photo you posted would be crazy to not have something protecting the oil pan. Cheap insurance.

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.

Yes, I bought a pair. I too was a little too tall for the Evo 2, so the 2 Plus it was.

please post a sound clip when you get a chance!

Will do! These are 2 clips that helped me figure out what the Stromung sounded like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA6snasH0QE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQzZYJj25Z8&feature=related

[kts]

When looking for the antenna connector for my stereo I couldn't find it. Some digging behind the dash and I found this:



Kinda pissed at whatever previous owner cut this out instead of just unplugging it from the stereo.

I looked at replacement options, the E30 antenna harness is NLA so I found some options and asked my friend at the dealership. The only one that was local and wouldn't need 2+ weeks to ship from Germany was the antenna harness for an E28 (used in a few other models as well) which was about 2.5 feet too long but I'll deal.


I was going to use it all but it was too much of a pain so I removed the antenna piece from the other wiring.


Miles of electrical tape


I have a stock antenna to use but I went to the local yard and pulled this from a 318ti, same antenna as the Z3. $6 = works for me.


It only needed 1 wire compared to the 2 the E30 has so I made this little adapter (ghetto but it works.)


Ran new speaker wires and wired up the stereo. This wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be! I'm looking forward to getting a new head unit for my E36 and installing it now. YAY FOR FINALLY HAVING A RADIO IN THE CAR!



Hard to tell from the photo but the red matches the rest of the car pretty well. I'll tweak the LCD screen to match as well. I have since removed the sticker, I was just so excited that this all worked that I took the photo before removing it! Stereo sounds pretty good to me. Nothing earth shattering but for ~$200 I took a car missing everything and with pretty messed up wiring to having a full on stereo for good general purpose use.

Dropped the muffler since it's being replaced and I needed it out of the way to get to the rear bumper shocks.


The heat shield above this is pretty rusty, I'm trying to figure out if I want to replace it ($26 according to my friend at the dealer), hit it with rust converter ($10-15), or just ignore it ($free.)

One of my hangers was broken and the metal hangers were rusty. Not wanting to put that against my shiny new muffler I picked up all new rubber and metal hangers. One of the sealing rings doesn't want to come off the cat pipe so I'll need to cut it. I should get the Stromung on there later this week.

My friend stopped by my place to help me remove the roll bar backstays so I could reinstall the rear trim panels. Then we tackled getting the rear seat reinstalled. The seat back was a big PITA to get around the backstays and I busted my lip when my ratchet hit me trying to bolt the rear seat back in. Whoops.

The seat bottom was a breeze to get back in.



I also picked up a set of 5 basketweaves earlier today that are in great shape. They need a deep cleaning and new tires but I got a great deal on them. I will probably get a set of Star Specs for them and use them as back up track wheels.


I also picked up these the other day to go along with the 1 extra bottle cap I have.


I'll probably get a cheaper boring daily set of tires for these and then use these for "stupid stuff" I want to do to wheels, like painting them bright F'ing green.

Well that's it from today. I have off all week from work so I've been trying to maximize work on cars and the house. Next few days will have me focused on other stuff but I'm hoping to get the Stromung on by the 1st as well as fixing the elephant drain leak when I pull the rear bumper (+ rear bumper shocks since the T55 bolts are rusted in place and stripped.) Then it's just throwing in the VAC seat mounts and Sparcos and I'm good to go for race season!

[kts]

Spent the last 2 days working on my house and helping a friend cut up a rust 2002 shell no one wanted. Got to installing the seats this afternoon.

Lots of test fitting and cursing at the front bolt connecting the side mount to the seat up front by the transmission tunnel since it wouldn't thread. Finally it threaded and I ended up with this.



1 down, 1 to go. What an unbelievable pain that was.

Time to get ready for NYE, looks like the driver's seat the the exhaust will get finished up tomorrow or Monday. Happy New Year everyone!

[irish44j]

really enjoying this build. It's giving me good ideas.

Have you installed the e36 rack yet? This is going to be something I'm going to have to do soon, as the stock steering in mine is sooooo slow and going to be absolute hell in rallycross. Interested to see how much (or little) work it is.

I'm sure I'll see you up at Summit sometime this summer. I may even bring the rallycrosser out on the track since I'll have star specs on the street wheels. I'll be the slowest car out there, lol.

[kts]

really enjoying this build. It's giving me good ideas.

Have you installed the e36 rack yet? This is going to be something I'm going to have to do soon, as the stock steering in mine is sooooo slow and going to be absolute hell in rallycross. Interested to see how much (or little) work it is.

I'm sure I'll see you up at Summit sometime this summer. I may even bring the rallycrosser out on the track since I'll have star specs on the street wheels. I'll be the slowest car out there, lol.

Thanks man, your build has been inspiring me as well. I've been spending pages whining about minor things with the car, mean while you're tearing your 318i apart and putting it back together again!

No I haven't installed the rack yet. Looking back I should have done that before I put the skid plate in. I want to clean up the rack more and then will probably get to it. I have debated about getting a rebuilt one and use the one I bought for the core, or buy a rebuilding kit and trying to DIY. The E36 rack install DIY is in the DIY section and doesn't look too bad. My 91 is an air bag car so I think it's even easier for me, I don't think I need to take apart and steering knuckle. Even needing to do that it doesn't look too hard.

The rack currently in my car feels more like a manual rack, not sure if that's how an E30 rack is supposed to feel or if my current rack is dying.

Hopefully I'll see you at Summit sometime soon. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths before yet since I also come from the Subaru world. (05 STi and now an 08 STi.) And you might lap me on the track, I'm known as Mr Slow on the autox course.

[irish44j]

Thanks man, your build has been inspiring me as well. I've been spending pages whining about minor things with the car, mean while you're tearing your 318i apart and putting it back together again!

No I haven't installed the rack yet. Looking back I should have done that before I put the skid plate in. I want to clean up the rack more and then will probably get to it. I have debated about getting a rebuilt one and use the one I bought for the core, or buy a rebuilding kit and trying to DIY. The E36 rack install DIY is in the DIY section and doesn't look too bad. My 91 is an air bag car so I think it's even easier for me, I don't think I need to take apart and steering knuckle. Even needing to do that it doesn't look too hard.

The rack currently in my car feels more like a manual rack, not sure if that's how an E30 rack is supposed to feel or if my current rack is dying.

Hopefully I'll see you at Summit sometime soon. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths before yet since I also come from the Subaru world. (05 STi and now an 08 STi.) And you might lap me on the track, I'm known as Mr Slow on the autox course.

lol....that's because I have automotive ADD. Once I start the project, I have to go full-bore otherwise I'll quit halfway when I find another project! It also helps that I'm doing the stuff that isn't terribly expensive (especially with all the used parts I have). I'd be going alot slower if my projects were involving $$ rollbars, sparco seats, etc (I'll get to those eventually, maybe next winter).

I actually autocrossed with BMWCCA (Capital chapter) for the last 3 seasons.....in my WRX (I won the "X2" season points the last two seasons). Done a couple SCCA/AI events but I'm an STU car so I get whooped by all the STi's and Evos, lol.....So I hang with BMWCCA where the classing is more open to my mods :)

I have a couple new steering wheels on the way (Momos, one 350mm one 360mm)....One will go on the e30 and one on my GT6 (the 360mm retro), so we'll see if that makes the steering a bit more manageable for the time being.

My stock steering is very light...but that could also be because I'm running 185-width winter tires at the moment and my car is very light as well.

BTW, is that a Kirk rollbar you have?

[J308]

Subscribed. Looking good and nice find.

I haven't had a chance to go through pages 2-4... Any reason you put the rear seats back in after the roll bar? Did you do it for sound insulation or for classing purposes or just for appearance?

[robgoesvroom]

Liking your build very much. Be sure to record some track videos when you get this beast ready

[irish44j]

btw, check out my thread - might give you an alternate idea for the back seat area. Nothing particularly new or creative, but it's made to be easy to take out at the track.

[kts]

lol....that's because I have automotive ADD. Once I start the project, I have to go full-bore otherwise I'll quit halfway when I find another project! It also helps that I'm doing the stuff that isn't terribly expensive (especially with all the used parts I have). I'd be going alot slower if my projects were involving $$ rollbars, sparco seats, etc (I'll get to those eventually, maybe next winter).

I actually autocrossed with BMWCCA (Capital chapter) for the last 3 seasons.....in my WRX (I won the "X2" season points the last two seasons). Done a couple SCCA/AI events but I'm an STU car so I get whooped by all the STi's and Evos, lol.....So I hang with BMWCCA where the classing is more open to my mods :)

I have a couple new steering wheels on the way (Momos, one 350mm one 360mm)....One will go on the e30 and one on my GT6 (the 360mm retro), so we'll see if that makes the steering a bit more manageable for the time being.

My stock steering is very light...but that could also be because I'm running 185-width winter tires at the moment and my car is very light as well.

BTW, is that a Kirk rollbar you have?

automotive ADD? Sounds like the E36 that has been sitting up on jackstands for over a year in the other half of my garage now. :( it will be getting some love soon since the E30 is nearly done. and it needs to become the daily since the STi is going away soon.

I have yet to make it to any BMWCCA events but I ran STU the last few years at SCCA/AI events. (Picked up some cheap Hoosiers and did a few events in BSP this year.) But yea it's hard for the 2.5L WRXes in STU.

Yea everyone talks about how light the BMW steering is, at speed it's pretty good but when I'm in a parking lot it feels more like a manual rack. We'll see what the new rack feels like.

Yes, it's a Kirk bar. Picked it up from a R3V member in NJ a few months back. Fitment was great and the install was very easy. If you pick one up let me know I'll give you a hand if you want.

I haven't had a chance to go through pages 2-4... Any reason you put the rear seats back in after the roll bar? Did you do it for sound insulation or for classing purposes or just for appearance?

All of the above. It will help with autox classing but I did it mostly for sound and appearance. I know it's a track car but I want it to look good too! (I have issues. ;))

Liking your build very much. Be sure to record some track videos when you get this beast ready

Will do. I have a roll bar camera mount ready to go along with a camera so I'll be recording a lot of them to review and figure out how I can get faster.

btw, check out my thread - might give you an alternate idea for the back seat area. Nothing particularly new or creative, but it's made to be easy to take out at the track.

I saw that and like your plan for the rear, especially in a sedan where you have easy access to the rear seat area. Having a coupe with fixed back seats that aren't on sliders I don't think I'll be able to use my rear for storing much. I did think about trying to make some kind of carpeted trim to finish up the back but in the end figured I would just put the rear seat in and leave it. With what a pain it was to get it back in there I hope I never need to remove it and put it back in again! I know it adds weight and all of that but I'll live. Gives me motivation to offset that extra weight by losing some of my fatass-ness.

[jink0619]

Awesome car, nicely build!
I just recently bought my e30, and from a guy in nj also and................mine is alpine coupe also! :pHope u see u around.

[kts]

Awesome car, nicely build!
I just recently bought my e30, and from a guy in nj also and................mine is alpine coupe also! :pHope u see u around.

LOL that's funny. Small world. It seems like a lot of good (alpine) E30s are hiding in NJ.

[kts]

Got the driver's seat installed this morning before work. I did the VAC floor/seat mount last night, the seat ended up only taking 30 minutes this morning. I was shocked how easy it was this time compared to how much of a pain it was for the passenger side. (Which still wasn't too bad other than 1 bolt that didn't want to thread.

I also fixed the lengths of the harnesses some since they were WAY too long. Should be good for just about everyone now with the shorter lengths.



I put my helment on and got in the seat and found my helmet still hit the roof. Damnit! I took out the bottom seat cushion which is only held on by velcro and BAM! I fit in there with plenty of room now. A bit less comfortable but I can handle 20 minute sessions with no seat cushion just fine. A bit surprising how much room you gain with that cushion removed since it's not very thick.

On track mode:


Center console will go back on tonight and hopefully I can get the rear bumper finally off in this cold. Then I just need to find a way to get the stripped big bumper bolts off of the bumper shocks. I have a plasma cutter (MUAHAHAHAHA!) coming in the next few days which will probably come into play. Not sure if it will really help much but with a new toy that's as fun as a plasma cutter is I plan to make full use of it even when I really don't need to use it.

Then it's time to install the new exhaust and put the bumper back on and then it will just be time to wait for track season to get here.

Well maybe there are a few other tweaks to do to the car... In the "I can never leave good enough alone" department I am debating about swapping out the chip that came with the car. The guy I bought it from installed an eBay chip in there (ugh) and I know nothing about it (more ugh.) Debating about swapping it out for a Turner. I'd look at Mark D's stuff but I believe he only makes them for 173 DMEs and mine is a 525.

[325ix]

How much clearance do you need above your head? You could try trimming the seat foam.'

I would highly recommend Mark D. Just buy a 173 ecu, they are about $50.