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

[Mark 42]

Well, they are different, but the same too. This sort of sums it up:

While the SS used the Balkankreuz along with the Wehrmacht (the German navy continued to use the older style iron cross), the old cross and Balkenkreuz were never associated with the SS to the degree that the swastika was. The current German military still uses the Balkenkreuz extensively, whereas the swastika (Hakenkreuz) is illegal in Germany.

So we can agree and disagree. I think the swastika has been made to mean something other than just another national symbol, but the Nazis weren't the ones who assigned it that meaning.

On the scoops - does air flow from top to bottom or from down to up
inside the engine compartment? It's possible that scoops could impede
flow by adding pressure that works against the way it was designed to flow. So it would either help or hurt, depending on the situation. It'd
be interesting to experiment with.

The vents will help cool under the hood, and the backwards scoops
you planned shouldn't change that by much. They could help pull air
up and out.

[irish44j]

So we can agree and disagree. I think the swastika has been made to mean something other than just another national symbol, but the Nazis weren't the ones who assigned it that meaning.

agree, yes. The swastika in other contexts is a positive symbol. But this being on a German car and not a Buddhist car I think the I/C is more appropriate, lol.

my only point was that the iron cross predates the country of Germany to the Prussian empire (IIRC, Kaiser Wilheim established it as a military decoration), and wasn't used as a political symbol, and never had any anti-Jew or aryan implications. It is used to this day by the Germany military, and the order is still awarded. Whereas the Nazis implemented the swasitka as a national symbol of their ideology, and it was used neither before nor after their years in power by Germany.

On the scoops - does air flow from top to bottom or from down to up
inside the engine compartment? It's possible that scoops could impede
flow by adding pressure that works against the way it was designed to flow. So it would either help or hurt, depending on the situation. It'd
be interesting to experiment with.

I'm less concerned with the airflow when the car is moving anyhow, as my car has no heat issues when on the go (especially during 90-second rallycross runs). The vents are primarily intended so the heat in the bay can escape (obviously it would have to rise out the top) when the car is sitting in grid between runs and there is no airflow to push it out under the car.

I'll have to consult the aeronautical engineers I work with tomorrow :) I studied some hydrodynamics but am far too lazy to do the appropriate testing in this case (which would best be accomplished with a smoke machine on the bumper of the car to simulate a wind tunnel and video the airflow).

Would be an interesting test though. For someone with more time on their hands than me, haha...

The vents will help cool under the hood, and the backwards scoops
you planned shouldn't change that by much. They could help pull air
up and out.

If anything the scoops (as you originally suggested) would be mostly to keep the rain out of the engine bay!

[kamotors]

I love the hood vents

[Mark 42]

The smoke test would be fun to see (even if it serves no practical purpose)
With 4th of July coming soon, you can get smoke bombs easily enough.
It'd be a cool video for this thread - "Up in smoke".
Here's a source if you ever want something really big:

http://www.pyrocreations.com/smoke_devices

I bought my son a black powder cannon from them - they are really
nice folks.
I was working on a smoke system for our Ural, and then started to
make provisions on the MR2 as well. I welded in a couple of bungs
on the exhaust near the head for an injector made from a small
pipe plug, got a cheap used motorcycle fuel pump, and a riding mower
gas tank. The plan is/was to inject oil or diesel into the exhaust to
make smoke - like they do on aerobatic airshow planes.
Tailgaters would be discouraged by inability to see, and it's be fun to
flip it on while doing an autocross run.

I'd put it on Fritz, but I'd have to remove the catalytic convertor
whenever I want to use the system.

If I ever get the VW Type 181 (Thing) that I have always wanted,
it would be much more appropriate, I think. An E30 rally car could
possibly pull it off, but a nice street E30 with a lowered stance
just wouldn't seem to have the right "character" for it.

But it could also be a source for smoke under the hood to do a
cooling airflow test.

I do miss the days when I had access to a wind tunnel.
My supersonic aero teacher always wanted to put a model of
Snoopy on his doghouse in the high speed (up to mach 5) tunnel
and take schlieren pictures of the pressure waves coming off of his nose.
(But I had the most fun in the subsonic tunnel).

BTW, I'm up to post #499 in reading this message thread now

[irish44j]

stop it, you're giving me evil ideas. I already want a forward-facing sprayer nozzle so I can douse the driver in front of me when we're in grid.

That and whenever the e30s are lined up in grid together it's total bumper-cars every time we move up in line, hah. Not a problem for me and the ETA guys (we both have old diving boards), but for Stuart and Spencer in the late car with plastic bumpers, they can't hang quite as well, haha....

[Mark 42]

stop it, you're giving me evil ideas. ...t's total bumper-cars every time we move up in line.

Too much top gear :p

If you could make someone's airbag deploy it'd be priceless!

I made the injector from a 1/4" NPT plug drilled out with a 1/16" bit on the
exit end, and counterbored on the other side so I could braze or gas weld
a piece of steel brake tube on the inlet side of the injector.
I haven't put it all together yet, but have all of the parts and made
provisions in two vehicle exhaust systems... it is so hard to make time
for projects.

[irish44j]

Some little off-season stuff.

For a couple years I've always been annoyed at the excessive wind noise on the GoPro. I know they say to use the closed-back case for speeds over 50mph or something, but that has never made a difference. Even with that back piece I get nothing but wind noise above 30mph or so. This is regardless of what car it's on (subaru, bmw, etc) or where it is mounted (bumper, roof, side window, or inside the car with windows down). Usually I would just overdub some music, but it seems YouTube likes to flag videos with any copyrighted songs overdubbed, and I don't want my account to be deleted, lol.

Obviously there will be "some" wind noise no matter what, from the car itself, but I've heard other cameras (including the Contour) that have much, much less.

So time for some experimentation based on standard principles.

First, cut up a high-density foam sponge.


Second, put a small piece over the internal mic


Third, used a second piece with the open backing cover. If you cut the right thickness it will compress and fit inside the case securely.


I've seen this setup get good results from motorcycle buddies, so I'll test it out this weekend and see how it works. Next option will be to make a bit of a "fairing" to get rid of some of the wind turbulence around the back of it. I've seen some people use cut-up soda bottles for this and seemed to work ok as well.

Also, just because I took a picture of it....the 2nd place prize for class at the "Conquer the Summit." Yeah, everyone there got one, but first and second in class got an extra, lol. Well, can never have too many pint glasses, right?

[silence]

im anxious to see the results of the go-pro experiment...

BTW, we're working on a prototype solid m10 mount this week :)

[Mark 42]

Can the Go-Pro use an external microphone?

You could always be your own Foley Artist:

http://www.autospeak.com/library.htm

I used to have a VHS recorder that let me replace the sound on video tape.

I'm curious about the Go-Pro Hero because I'm going to do a
"helmet cam" for Taekwondo sparring. I bought a cheap ($11)
MD80 Mini DV Camera to try it with first, but I have wanted a Go-Pro
since the first time I saw their commercial. When I found out it's
not waterproof w/o a housing, I decided to hold off on buying one
(was going to use it for sailboat racing footage back then).

[irish44j]

The new GoPro Hero2 can, but I have the old HD1 which cannot. Can't justify $300 for a new one just to get better sound, lol.

The Contour HD camera has much better sound.

[irish44j]

im anxious to see the results of the go-pro experiment...

BTW, we're working on a prototype solid m10 mount this week :)

I'll be in touch soon. I need to sell a few small things to replenish the car parts account.

[nathan_carmona]

im assuming you've seen this before:

http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers

[silence]

I'll be in touch soon. I need to sell a few small things to replenish the car parts account.

got a set waiting for you :)

[Mark 42]

im assuming you've seen this before:
http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-50...k-rally-racers

Not to be a smartass... but,

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=3133728#post3133728

[irish44j]

got a set waiting for you :)

damn you for being so quick. I have a 2nd kid on the way in a month and wife isn't working anymore. Trying to resist buying car stuff I "don't need" lol.....you're making it very difficult