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

[silence]

How does UHMW Plastic hold up over time under such high loads?
Does it have the longevity of Urethane (or is it a type of urethane?)?
Does it creep? Will it work for suspension bushings... or just for
motor & trans mounts?

People have had really good results with it on racing sailboats, but most
of the uses are not for the high load applications. Mostly stuff like rails
for sliding hatches. A heck of a lot easier to maintain than teak!

It lasts longer than the urethane mounts i've seen. Its been tested on the street and the track, and holds up well as motor mounts & suspension bushings... check out the links in my sig for more info.

[irish44j]

with the mid-season break it's time to get back to little projects.

Though I haven't had any overheating issues in this car, I could go for the electric fan kicking in less (it always seems to turn on just 5 seconds before my next run is about to start!). With a solid hood and the skidplate on there, there's not much place for hot air to escape.

So time for hood vent. I just did one for now, roughly above the exhaust manifold, but may add one up in the middle front of the hood just behind the cooling fan, we'll see.

After a quick test-cut on my spare (smashed-up) original hood, it was time to get to work. I templated the cut (to not interfere with the stiffening sections of the hood) and then drilled the corners to get a rounded edge. Then I marked some straight lines and taped the hood to avoid scratching the paint. Made the cut with a jigsaw using a pretty fine-toothed metal-cutting blade (to avoid the metal getting push-pulled/bent).



here's the completed cut. Came out straight and clean. Thankfully I have a very steady hand on things like this.



for the time being I'm just using a leftover gutter guard for mesh. It's galvanized and won't rust, but might put some aluminum mesh there if I can find some for cheap. Right now it's just stuck in the little grooves of the stiffening arms of the hood, but I'll probably use some JB weld or something to secure it well



I parked the car in the grass to be in the shade (since my driveway has sun in the morning) and a little friend came and said hi



The result:







Then, off to a couple pick-and-pull yards to find some small things, and to meet up with Stuart to swap a used CD player (for his rally e30) for a working ignition switch and some M42 stuff he already gave me. It will be good not to have to hotwire the car anymore.

First yard had a pair of early e30 325i's, so I got some minor trim stuff, wire harness holders, etc. Also picked up a pair of Mercedes fog lights (the ones in the grille). These are the same size as e30 headlights, so might have some fun with them. Also they're not sealed-beam, so that's a plus.





While at the junkyard (outside Baltimore) the Blue Angels flew over. That was cool.



Spotted a few other interesting cars at the yard too...

old Volvo wagon


something I couldn't identify, and next to it a Volvo P1800


And an Alfa Spider. Not all that rare/interesting, but was just a funny shot with all the steel wheels piled in front of it.

[irish44j]

Because I'm married and have a 8-month pregnant wife, I'm once again at home on a Friday night. That, and most of my friends are also married with kids/preggo wives and never go out either.

So, a bit of late-night testing out in the driveway (thank God, my large number of lights in the garage can illuminate the driveway pretty well!)

Wanted to test my theory on the Mercedes fog lights. These came off a 1979 Mercedes 240D. And yes, they are a perfect fit to the housings of the sealed beams on the e30.

My plan is to eliminate the inside high beam (since the outer lights still flash to highs also), and wire the yellows to the standard low-beam circuit (so will have 4 lights on when on low, and 2 light on high). I don't do much night driving in this car and don't have much need for high beams anyhow. Plus if I really need light I can uncover the big Hellas.

Alternately, the Benz lights are not sealed-beam, so I could just put a dual-filament bulb in them and have dual lows AND dual highs. So I might do that as well.

Did some temporary wire-jumping and it all works fine, not surprisingly.

Thought you guys might like a comparo pic of the Benz lights vs. my stock lights (which have yellow Lamin-X on them), so here you go. As you can see, the Benz lights have a much deeper yellow tone to them and look better both when off and when on.

Benz lights


OEM with Yellow Lamin-x

[irish44j]

Happy Father's Day to everyone out there!

For mine, it was much like any other weekend: hanging with the fam and working on the cars. Except today the weather was perfect. Had a few things to work on:

1. The inner section of the driver's door brace (the thing that holds it open) had broken off and was rattling around inside the body. Looks like a previous owner tried to weld it back in place, but with poor results. I took the poor man's approach, by using a couple screws (from two sides) to hold it in place. Now no more door banging on my legs or arms when trying to do somehting in the car, lol

it's ghetto, but it works perfectly


2. Then on to vents again. After checking out the engine bay fan pattern on the inside of the hood liner (shown by red clay dust!) I decided to do a second vent, but this one right above and behind the radiator, so air from the electric fan can blow directly out instead of having hot air rushing the engine bay.

So made the cut again after some measuring and deciding. I had my assistant help out with filing the edges down smoother (ok, I used a dremel, but didn't want to let her use that).


Here's a direct-overhead view (more on this later)


Mesh installed again


Since I don't want rain dropping directly down on to the alternator and some other wiring at the front of the engine, I fabbed up a little piece to still allow air out, but not allow water to directly hit anything of importance in the engine bay. The car won't see much rain driving, so it's really to cover that stuff when the car is parked. I did a similar one with the passenger side hood vent as well, to keep rain off the coil.

even used the OEM hood liner fasteners :)


from the outside






ah, while I'm at it, a few other pics of the lighting setup:

off


low beams on (now dual)


high beams on (now single)


oh, and a current interior shot, since I don't know if I ever posted one since I did a few small changes

[FunfGan]

Love those hood vents Josh! They look well done.

[irish44j]

one other thing, lol.

About 25 years ago I saw a black Porsche with a big red Luftwaffe Iron Cross in the middle of its hood. This being in the 1980s, I thought that was cool as hell, and that all German cars should have a Luftwaffe cross on them (and PLEASE do not confuse this with a swastika, as they are TOTALLY different things that are unrelated to each other!)

So I had to find a place that sold said decal, and get it. Now that I have a German car.

[nathan_carmona]

happy fathers day! and vents look awesome! just wouldnt drive it when its raining 0.o any looks toward some sliding covers?

[irish44j]

a couple quick pics of the light output, in case anyone cares. Granted this is 4 feet from the garage door, but whatever.

OEM lows+mercedes yellows


OEM lows+mercedes yellows+hella 550s

[irish44j]

happy fathers day! and vents look awesome! just wouldnt drive it when its raining 0.o any looks toward some sliding covers?

Yeah, if it becomes an issue, I can just throw some magnetic sheeting over them. I've got a couple pieces that are a good size that will cover them (more for use in the winter when the car is just sitting around with snow on it...)

But I designed the inner valances (under the mesh, that you can see) to strategically "protect" things I don't want to get wet. I tested it out with a garden hose on high spray and they worked as intended. Time will tell. But there's not much in the engine bay that needs to "not get wet" other than maybe the fusebox area and some electrical things - and those areas are still fully covered.

The only thing that really gets wet with the current setup are (to a small extent) the belts/pulleys (which get wet anyhow during rain driving) and the washer reservoir (which, of course, is full of wetness) :)

[Mark 42]

I actually intended to use that same symbol (Balkenkreuz) on my car someday.

I have to take you to task here...
the only real difference between the insignia you put on and a swastika
is that people have wrongly chosen to interpret the swastika to be a
symbol of racism and evil. Neo-Nazi racist skinheads co-opted the symbol,
and made it into something it never was.

It was just a national symbol.

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/germany/germanyinsignia.shtml

It's sad that people demonized a symbol. When I was a kid, we used to
put them on our bicycles, and some bikers had them on motorcycles the
same way that West Coast Choppers uses the Maltese cross.

It's true that you wouldn't want to put a swastika on your car, but
it's not because of what it stands for - it's because of what uninformed
people think it stands for.

It's a lot like what people are doing to the confederate flag - reading meaning
into a culture's symbol and the banning it based on their own (wrong)
interpretation of what the symbol supposedly means.

I'll step off my soapbox now.

[irish44j]

I actually intended to use that same symbol (Balkenkreuz) on my car someday.

I have to take you to task here...
the only real difference between the insignia you put on and a swastika
is that people have wrongly chosen to interpret the swastika to be a
symbol of racism and evil. Neo-Nazi racist skinheads co-opted the symbol,
and made it into something it never was.

It was just a national symbol.

http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/germany/germanyinsignia.shtml

It's sad that people demonized a symbol. When I was a kid, we used to
put them on our bicycles, and some bikers had them on motorcycles the
same way that West Coast Choppers uses the Maltese cross.

It's true that you wouldn't want to put a swastika on your car, but
it's not because of what it stands for - it's because of what uninformed
people think it stands for.

I'll step off my soapbox now.

Well....yes obviously the svastika was originally sandskrit and used in many other cultures in a positive light, but it only gained prominence in the West due to it being the symbol of the Nazi party. But it wasn't a "national symbol" of Germany as a country. It was a symbol of the Nazi party (and by extension, used as a national symbol while the Nazis controlled the country). Germany didn't use it before or after the Nazis. So its association with the evils of the Nazis is (in my opinion) justified.

The Iron Cross, on the other hand, was used by the Germans/Prussians long before the Nazis were around, and the Balkenkreuz is just a modified version of the original iron cross. Iron cross was a national military symbol and wasn't associated with a particular ideology.

My main point was just to note to people who may be confused that the iron cross/balkenkreuz was a military symbol in Germany pre-Hitler/Nazis, and doesn't have the "political baggage" of the Swastika.

but yes, point taken!

[Mark 42]

Balkenkreuz is the same as the swastika - look at WWII German Planes.
Very similar to the way the U.S. had several roundels on aircraft.
Follow some of the links in my posts, and you'll see what I mean.

Have you thought about some sort of low profile hood scoops over the vents?
It would keep most of the rain out, and bring in more air flow.

Your build thread has inspired me (as if I really needed it) to drive
even faster over the speed bumps on our street.

[irish44j]

Balkenkreuz is the same as the swastika - look at WWII German Planes.
Very similar to the way the U.S. had several roundels on aircraft.
Follow some of the links in my posts, and you'll see what I mean.

Have you thought about some sort of low profile hood scoops over the vents?
It would keep most of the rain out, and bring in more air flow.

Your build thread has inspired me (as if I really needed it) to drive
even faster over the speed bumps on our street.

I don't want to get into semantics here, but the balkenkreuz is a stylized iron cross, which is NOT the same as the swastika. One was a military symbol, and one was a political symbol. The fact that both were used at the same time only supports my statement. If they were "the same" then why would they use both?

Why? Because one was a symbol of the Luftwaffe (or other military), and the other was a symbol of the Nazi leadership.

The comparison with US would be valid if there was a US aircraft right now with a star-bar roundel AND a Democratic Donkey on the tail.

--

but enough on that. we could argue all day and then I'd have to call and wake up my dad, who was a military historian specializing in WW1 and WW2 :) And he just had a triple-bypass, so I don't want to wake him up :)

[irish44j]

and yes, I'm keeping an eye out for some scoops, but would put them reversed. I don't want to "bring cool air in," (as I would for an intercooler like in my wrx), I want to provide a route for hot air to exit. So if I put a scoop of sorts, it would be more like a cowl.

And this car.....I don't even tap the brakes before speedbumps. Ever :)

[irish44j]

on a side note, I spent a week with the Luftwaffe a few months ago (for work). They still use the iron cross on the aircraft (in the same location as in the link you put), but where the swastika is in your link, they now have the German flag.