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

[shiboujin]

Ted. The nerdy skinny guy lol. It's a GC something. I forget my subaru chassis. The wife had a GC8 for awhile.

My car will be done soon. Runs fine, just needs a tune.

[irish44j]

GC8 is the JDM STi with that body style. I think here in the US guys who do STi swaps generally refer to their 2.5RS's as GC8s, but not sure. I do love me some GCs.....

ted

[shiboujin]

yep that's him. DDs some higher boost legacy. It's sexy.

[irish44j]

yeah....he's alot faster than me :)

you should pick up a beater e30 and come out and run!

[shiboujin]

I might. when cash gets a bit looser

[FunfGan]

Psh, just wind the coils up on the drift car and come out!

[shiboujin]

500whp with 12k/18k springs? With dry sport tires? Man I'd rape all yall.

[irish44j]

just make sure to strap a thick pillow to the top of your helmet, and you'll be just fine Yoshi :D

[FunfGan]

just make sure to strap a thick pillow to the top of your helmet, and you'll be just fine Yoshi :D

Heck, I needed a pillow when I drove your car, even in my own at autocross was bad. Also, sorry if I left any marks on your roof Josh, I have some marks on my helmet

[NPCe30]

sorry man its probably in here somewhere but there is so many pages my eyes hurt hahaha but what kind of springs are you running?

[irish44j]

currently on stock 318i springs, with full pads, and Bilstein HDs.

going to try to switch to late-model iS springs this weekend possibly.

[NPCe30]

thank you

[irish44j]

Productive day today. With the weather nice it was time for some junkyard cruising. Went up to Crazy Ray's in Baltimore and met up with Kevin (to give him some e36 rack spacers I had leftover) and then walked around the yard with Stuart (also got some rear 318is springs from him). Didn't find much at the first yard other than a few little things. No e30s there.

On the way back, stopped by the Jessup Crazy Ray's since it's on the way home. There were 3 e30s there, with alot of parts I wanted.

For a total of about $35 I came away with:
- spare tire bolt-down piece (I've been using stacked washers and a nut)
- trunk finisher trim piece in mint condition
- a few little door trim pieces
- a non-stripped adjuster bar and nut for the alternator
- a Kia coolant reservoir (which I'll use in the e30, since I'm tired of the overflow spitting out onto the inside of my skidplate)
- cover for the large relays in the engine bay (might as well keep the dirt/dust out)
- a manual window crank (I still needed one, amazed I found one in a junked car!)
- a bunch of various bolts, nuts, and fasteners (mostly for spares)
- a pair of FIAMM horns from a 5-series (love the sound of these, might replace the Hella Supertones on the WRX with them....they sound much manlier than the Hellas)
- some strut tower caps from a 5-series, that I am going to use for a little project perhaps.



AND....

I just couldn't resist pulling this out of an older 5-series (which was 95% complete and in great shape, incidentally). I will install this in the e30, for pure entertainment value!



on the way home I passed by this shop and took a quick pic of it since two 993 Turbos were parked out front in race livery



about an hour and 50 miles later, as I'm exiting I-495 onto I-95 doing 75mph around a two-lane exit, a blob of yellow appears behind me on my ass. I move over quick, and he takes off at about 110+ inside of me. I'm at the limits of the WRX on that exit at 75. I catch him later in traffic. RUF R TURBO. 520hp, 550tq. NICE!

[irish44j]

quick update on a few little things:

Upon reflection I'm pretty pissed at myself for forgetting to grab two things off the early 318i I found at the junkyard today. I was so wrapped up in pulling trim pieces and little stuff (like alternator adjusters) I forgot to get two "big" things that I need. Probably because neither of them is "in sight" so as I was looking at the car looking for things I needed, I didn't see them so I didn't think to get them:
1. lifter pump in the fuel tank (mine buzzes like a bee)
2. HVAC fan (mine squeals like a wild pig)

So guess I'll be making the hike back to that yard next week. Luckily, probably not many people looking for those parts from an old 318i, lol. We'll see.

On to a few little installs.

Trunk lip trim installed. Not really necessary, but I saw it on the JY car in mint shape so for $3 grabbed it. I know it's not really necessary to have crap like this on a rallycross car, but since I'll be pulling stuff into and out of the trunk constantly, this will keep the metal/paint from getting scratched and then rusting. So there's a reason I guess



my little reservoir project. Unlike most e30s, the 318i has no overflow reservoir for the radiator. Just a hose that hangs down and dumps overflow onto the ground (or in my case, onto the top of the skidplate). Not acceptable for a number of reasons, lol. I had a good bit of room in the front left corner of the engine bay, so kept my eyes open for a small reservoir just to use for overflow. Found a funky one off some Kia SUV that looked like it would fit, so for $5 worth a try. Fabbed up a basic little bracket to hold it. Yay.



so, next we have the front strut towers. Now with the camber/caster top hats I installed, the original "caps" over the strut bearing didn't fit anymore. A bit too small, and too low. Even when "sititng there" they'd get bumped off on hard compressions by the slightly longer Bilstein HD piston tops. Since this car is getting dirty all the time, I don't want dirt and crap in that bearing, else I'll be replacing the strut bearings constantly. Nix. Initially I just had some duct tape criss-crossed over it to hold the caps on, but that's lame and not terribly secure.

So at the JY got an idea while digging around a newer 5-series. Pulled the top caps off its struts. They're much bigger. Took a wild guess that they were about the size I needed. As it turns out, after cutting about an inch off the lower lip, they perfectly cover the entire opening for the strut bearing. On the 5-series they kind of "clip" in there. On mine no such luck....so I just used some black silicone. Not like they need to come off very often. Anyhow, a bit of peace of mind for $2.



Also installed a few random little clips and crap I was missing, nothing exciting.

Last little project was to check out the fuel lifter pump in-tank in my car. It's been buzzy, so figured maybe there was a clog or something, who knows. Anyhow, pretty easy to get out (though hard to do it withough any gas spillage....). Looks good physically, though that doesn't mean much since it sits in gas all day long and can't get dirty. The filter screen at the pickup was perfectly clean, looked brand new. So that's not the problem. Oh well, worth a look.

I've heard that an aux pump from an old Chevy Vega is about the same size and PSI, so perhaps if I can find one of those cheap I'll rig it up and see.

IMG]http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/irish44j/BMW%20318i%20RallyCross%20Project/IMG_0121-1.jpg[/IMG]



incidentally, checked into the tank with a flashlight to see if any crap was down in there, or rust or anything. Didn't see anything of note. The inside of the tank looks brand-new.



now the car is sitting with windows open overnight to get rid of the gas smell inside, lol...

[squidmaster]

Mad I haven't seen this thread before. I love this.

Used to rally my old sti and '00 2.5rs, and want to get back into it, but I would never take the 325 out there.