Pitchblack Motorsports Rally e30 318i (now with M50) - and some Porsche 924S stuff.

[kts]

Katie and Shawn's rental car had a bit of an issue on its last run

I can say I've never seen that happen before... wow, just wow!

[stonea]

That S50 ti.....

[irish44j]

WDCR RallyCross #2 at the Rally Farm



So, I've done a few little things on the car but nothing I really feel like writing about because they're not very interesting. So on to the second rallycross event. This was the inaugeral event at the new "Rally Farm" owned by fellow rallyists Lance and Robin W., who bought it specifically to be able to do rallycross/rallysprint/test and tune there for rally. Even better, its less than an hour from my place via fun woodland and country roads.

So with this venue in much closer proximity to the DC metro area than our usual spot in boonies of Frostburg MD, turnout was high. Close to 60 cars, in fact. The RWD classes were well-represented as well, with 9 or 10 in PR and 13 in MR (plus a single BR-Z in stock).









Since this was the first event ever here, it was fresh fields to break in. As points leader that's a bit of a disadvantage running on the grass before it wore away to dirt for later cars in the run group (reminds me of Great Lakes in 2014). And as expected, me and Corey McKenzie (in his Volvo) started off slowly and the rest of the cars in the class got a jump on us on the first run as grip increased significantly throughout the day. I'll also mention that my rally codriver Jim Spoth came to drive with me as well, his first rallycross in a few years and first time in my car.

Morning was delayed by a timing computer issue so we did a few fun-runs beore getting in three runs each before lunch on a long/fast course that was pretty open. As expected, the power cars had an edge and I found myself in 4th, but only 2 seconds out of first (thanks to my one cone and the three other guys being clean). At lunchbreak the standings were Eric Helgesen in the beat-up ETA up top with Corey, with a S50-swapped 318ti rally car just ahead of me and Eisele in the M20 car right behind me. Jim was busy learning my car. Meanwhile, Nick still didn't have the M3 ready and co-drove Jason's Miata with him, with them mid-pack all day.

The S50 Ti


In other issues, the ETA boys managed to set the field on fire under their car in grid thanks to some tall dry grass and something hot on the car, lol.

And Josh Sennet in the Volvo wagon, blew something up on his first run and put out a massive smokescreen for everyone.

After lunch, the course was changed drastically, becoming very long, with a super-fast backside sweeper turn combo but otherwise super-technical. When I saw it I knew I could work a comeback of sorts since it woudln't favor the power cars much.

We did something like 8 runs each after lunch and it was a battle with a half dozen MR cars neck and neck. In the end I managed to pull away and take the win by about 7 seconds running fairly clean and finding good lines. The technical setup definitely favored lighter/better balanced cars so that was good for me.

Final standings are here for anyone who cares:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4-cZqyirVp1SnNmb3pTOVNnbUk/view?usp=sharing

Also did some ridealongs in other peoples cars (some to give advice, some to see Shawn's mastery in the PR Miata), which I rarely get a chance to do at events.

All in all a great event, car ran perfectly and the venue is excellent. I think we're going to be splitting events between here and Frostburg going forward, so pretty happy about that. Even better, this venue results in zero tire wear (as opposed to frostburg, which tears up even rally tires)

So, 2-for-2 on season wins so far.





Katie's shift knob smoking....wtf?


Katie and Shawn's rental car had a bit of an issue on its last run



In other news, me and Jim helped Pat Henry swap a motor in his vert a couple weeks before...



And I helped Nick out on the M3 trying in vain to get it ready for this rallycross.

(pics later)

[irish44j]

So haven't updated much since I haven't had much to update with some other projects ongoing.

First off, our next event moves to a new venue: the Rally Farm in northern Virginia, which we tested last fall as you may recall. Should be fun to run on grass instead of gravel for once. More on that in a few weeks :)

In the meantime, I was tired of my dented/warped sunroof panel and the knob-style roof vent. So I decided to rip it off, sand and repaint the roof, and redo it all.



Unfortunately on the weekend I couldn't find the correct gauge of steel in the size I needed so decided to save some cash and improvise. Had an old mashed-up e30 hood out back so got out the sawzall and cut it up. So forgot to take many in-progress pics, but here's the finished product:

The hood piece has the same ridged profile which I guess looks pretty nifty, but even better it stiffens it up nicely without the need for any bracing, so it won't flex when opening/closing the vent. For the vent I ordered a new aluminum handle-style vent to replace the knob-style steel vent. So dropped a pound of weight and its much easier to operate.

Also this time used hex-head stainless bolts since those POS allen-head ones stripped like crazy when tightened. This will make it much easier to remove if I ever need to for some reason. Not quite as pretty as the button-head hex bolts, but this car doesn't need to be all that pretty..

So, that's that, here's some pics. More updates when I do something worthwhile..







Also helped out Nick with more work on his M3 rallycross e36, but you can catch up with all that in his thread on GRM if you want to...

[lemansguy]

didnt drive it much this winter, been driving my speed3. But before this past winter it was out there a lot.

[irish44j]

haha dude i work next door in the white building on my part time job. should swing by sometime to BS. BTW love the rally build. really wish i could get into it, just spread too thin right now with projects.

lol nice. I'm only really there in the winter, so probably no more work there for the rest of the spring/summer. Surprised I haven't seen your car around.

[lemansguy]

haha dude i work next door in the white building on my part time job. should swing by sometime to BS. BTW love the rally build. really wish i could get into it, just spread too thin right now with projects.

[econti]

Nice nice. M3 spring thing is cool

[irish44j]

2016 WDCR RallyCross #1 in the books

Rallycross #1 for DC was last weekend. The beautiful spring weather went away and it was slated to snow that night, so had to order up two more Altimax Arctics to replace the two we destroyed at WMWR, just to drive there since the ETA guys have our trailer and were towing their car up with it.



So, loaded everything up in the mini-trailer to tow up there myself. Roads were fine and the drive was fine, and we finally found some snow upon our arrival to the mountain.







So this is the first event with the M3 springs on the back and man they were comfy on the ride up compared to the Eibachs, lol. I also decided to run with most of the rally gear in the car as well as a FULL fuel tank. I want to rallycross heavy the way we run rally....so ran with spare tire, fire extinguishers, gearbag, etc. Everything but the jack since I was too lazy to put it back in after changing tires. Figure with full tank of gas (usually ran 1/2 tank last year for events), full cage, spare and gear I was running with a good 300lbs extra compared to last year - with the same power and same suspension other than the rear springs.

Also removed front and rear sways and had the 3.73 LSD in rather than the usual 3.91. As it turned out the 3.91 would ahve been better for the course, but is what it is.

Anyhow for this event PR was a big class with 11-12 cars signed up while MR there were 7 of us (minus Jason who didn't want to tow up due to weather in the Miata). Eric Eisele and Neil Cox were back out there in the 325i with a new e36 rack and some other improvements. Corey back out with the Turbo Volvo 240 and some additinal rust in its rockers. Nick jumped in and drove PR champion Shawn Roberts' Miata, and we had Justin Kidd in his Swedish-flag Volvo 740 Turbo. Nick didn't have the M3 done in time and wanted to codrive but for the time being I'm only letting Jim codrive this car at rallycross to try to save tires and wear and tear at the moment, so into Shawn's miata he went. A big change from his e28 from last year in terms of driving!





Eric and Drew started out fast and took a quick lead of 5-6 seconds as the rest of us made mistakes and I picked up 2 cones on one run (video shows it was only one, but whatever...). By the lunch break Eric Eisele was leading by a few seconds over me with Drew and Corey right on our butts. Nick was having touble finding speed in the Miata and was about a second slower per run than the top 4 in class. Morning course was very open and fast and definitely gave a bit of edge to the cars with more power.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2duZ...ature=youtu.be

In the afternoon course reversed and tightened up a lot...much more technical and full of slaloms. My style. And I managed to start clawing back, running clean all afternoon. Corey put up bllistering times in the Volvo but was picking up a cone or two here and there. Eric and Drew were still running fast but maybe pushing a bit hard as I was slowly gaining and both picked up a few cones - which is unusual for them, especially Eric.

In the end, I had a good feel for the car and it danced well in the tight course (though the longer diff and M42 did not help in the slow, deep turnaround that bogged me down a lot). I managed to take the win by just under 3 seconds after 17 runs and 830 seconds of course time. Cones told the story - I drove clean today except a couple in the morning and that sealed the deal, with Corey picking up 11 cones but only ending up 3 seconds back (he was FAST), and Eric less than a second behind him with 7 cones - almost all of them in the afternoon, and Neil only 3-4 seconds behind him. Nick ended up about 30 second off the lead in 5th in his first full rallycross in a Miata and I'm sure he'll double his effort to have the M3 ready for the next event.

Here's the afternoon course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzuD...ature=youtu.be

By the way, next event we try out a new venue. The RALLY FARM here in Northern Va. A few of us tested out this venue (owned by a couple rally drivers) at a huge farm last year. Will be interesting to see what the setup is...lots of fields and area, soft loamy surface and grass. Will be quite a change from Gravel Mountain in Frostburg. Nice that it's only 30-45 minutes from me instead of 2 1/2 hours :) Now the Maryland and W.VA guys get to see what it's like to drive distance to rallycross lol.



So all in all pretty pleased with the car and suspension setup. I expected the M3 springs to be unpredictable but actually they were damn near just right - and no more binding or bumpstops banging constantly, which is the real plus. The front sway removal helped with turn-in as well I think.

I did notice the M42 getting a bit rumbly in midrange (3k rpms) on the drive home and noplace else, so not really sure what that's all about. Will have to check out some things on the engine in the next couple weeks.

So, one win in the books continuing on last year's success so far.

Here's some pics.



how many people does it take to fix a Volvo? more than this...


e30 crew minus Eric/Drew


more Vovos


Kimmett relaxing after making this event go..


Some of our new people and old people





Totally unrelated, but Saturday at work this was there. I mean, it's no e30 but it is kind of nice for $400,000.....He was picking up his skis from us. In that. #firstworldproblems....

[irish44j]

No, the diff was definitely fine. The right rear wheel bearing was definitely not. Once we got the axle out it was rumbly as hell. Jim and I replaced it and now the car is in good shape noise-wise. Just a mild whir from the diff and my little exhaust leak :/

[shiboujin]

It's probably fine. I've had 4 different diffs in my car with aluminum rear bushings and they all sound like hell. Should come and ride in mine some time to hear the difference.

[irish44j]

So today took the car on its first real drive since coming back from the rally and installing the M3 rear springs.

The positives first: The M3 rears feel good. Actually, the ride is excellent but they firm up nicely into hard cornering (keeping in mind, I have no swaybars installed either). I think they're actually a bit stiffer than the Eibachs I had back there so will have to mildly adjust my driving style perhaps - TBD at the rallycross next weekend.

Also, the car is running well. I made a few high-speed runs and hard launches and everything functionally feels good.

Now to the bad: When I put in the solid bushigns, there was a mild increase in noise...essentially a light whirring sound like a slightly scraping brake dust shield. Not a big deal and I got used to it. But now, there is a TON of noise back there, like a box of rocks rattling around. Speed-sensitive but oddly doesn't seem to be affected either by accel/decel (as I would imagine diff bearings would) nor cornering (as wheel bearings typically would).

I got under the car and checked for anything scraping or touching the driveshaft or axles. No dice there. I do have one right wheel dust shield that got mashed up somehow on the bottom, but I can't see it scraping against anything. So it's either the diff or a wheel bearing. Definitely in the back end. So today I swapped out my 3.91 for my 3.73 medium case. The 3.91 I recently put new LSD discs in it, but I was pressed for time and didn't do the bearings/seals at the time. So, guess they could be bad, seeing as they're probably the original bearings from 1985, lol.

In any case, swapped out the 3.73 since I don't have a wheel bearing handy. As usual, diff swaps are a PITA, but whatever. Took it for a test drive and I'm happy to report that the 3.73 is very smooth and the gearing is probably better than the 3.91 anyhow. Unfortunately, it didn't chance the noise one bit. So, not the diff. That's actually good news since that means it's almost certainly a wheel bearing.

Did a bit more driving and it's hard to tell, but seems to be coming from the right rear. I replaced the left rear with a new FAG bearing last winter but haven't replaced the right rear in a good while. So, Jim is coming over tomorrow and hopefully we'll swap in one of the spares for the track car (some good cheap Chinese stuff lol). So anyhow, more on that once it's done.

[irish44j]

Jim, someone over on the GRM thread was asking about a build/photo thread of the rage cage car again......;)

[spoth]

Lights.

On the A pillar, they're so we can tell which E30 is ours. Inside, they're so we can read the labels on the switches. Our budget is too low for backlighting.

[shiboujin]

It's an enduro. You get bored. So he turned on the TV.