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

[nathan_carmona]

Not to be a smartass... but,
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...28#post3133728

i havent made it all the way through his thread yet

[Mark 42]

i havent made it all the way through his thread yet

I was trying to say it sorta tongue in cheek - I hope it was taken that way.

It takes a loooong time to read it all. At 40 posts per page, it ended up 14 or 15 pages.
I printed it all out and read it when I could (mostly in the "library")...
it still took a couple of weeks.

Now I feel like I'm so committed to the idea that I almost have to build
for rallycross (but much less involved than this one)

But there doesn't appear to be a rallycross site close by (I'm spoiled -
in Alabama it was on our property, so I could go home for lunch).
Someday I'll move back out to the country, hopefully with enough land again.

[nathan_carmona]

i think i know a wagon guy who races rally X out there.... lemme check on that.

[irish44j]

there are quite a few wagons. Matt Berkebile is the fastest (impreza with an H6 swap).

[nathan_carmona]

sorry i meant civic wagon lol

[irish44j]

Haven't seen a civic wagon at any events this year that I can recall. Only hondas I've seen are the red CRX and an older civic hatch (not the old 4WD wagon)

[Mark 42]

Haven't seen a civic wagon at any events this year that I can recall. Only hondas I've seen are the red CRX and an older civic hatch (not the old 4WD wagon)

I think he might have been talking about my area (Seattle)
They are looking for a new Rally-X site.
I need to get hold of them and tell them (SCCA) about this place, after I find
out who they can contact there to see if it could be a candidate for them.

[irish44j]

IDK, probably talking to me seeing as Culpeper where he's from is pretty close to where we run.

[Mark 42]

IDK, probably talking to me seeing as Culpeper where he's from is pretty close to where we run.

Good point. I'm not always the most observant.
This week has been a brain frier kind of week too.

[nathan_carmona]

no i meant in washington. there arent many guys who actually race civic wagons so I note where theyre from lol it may be utah though... gotta find that guys thread. the forum im on just switched to new software and a new domain so i lost all my subscriptions -________-

[Mark 42]

It's a small world... just watch, someday I'll retire in the southeast, buy land,
and host a Rallycross & meet you guys in person.

[irish44j]

funny, I was just a moment ago looking at this and thinking hard...

http://wdcr-scca.org/RallyCross/VenueDevelopmentRX/tabid/277/Default.aspx

[Mark 42]

funny, I was just a moment ago looking at this and thinking hard...
http://wdcr-scca.org/RallyCross/Venu...7/Default.aspx

That's the other Washington!
For you it'd be close (even if you're at the other end it's just a couple
of hours, isn't it?
We stayed in Fairfax Virginia when we went to DC to see the Smithsonian...
it was at the other end of the Metro. I would love to live there - it was beautiful.
But that was out impression before we lived in Alabama. Northern Alabama and
Tennessee are the most beautiful areas in the country.

I really miss fireflies and thunderstorms.

[irish44j]

That's the other Washington!
For you it'd be close (even if you're at the other end it's just a couple
of hours, isn't it?
We stayed in Fairfax Virginia when we went to DC to see the Smithsonian...
it was at the other end of the Metro. I would love to live there - it was beautiful.
But that was out impression before we lived in Alabama. Northern Alabama and
Tennessee are the most beautiful areas in the country.

I really miss fireflies and thunderstorms.

I live in Burke (Fairfax County). The Fairfax city border is about 5 minutes from my house ;) Fairfax is a great place to live, but it's freakin expensive for sure.

[irish44j]

First: wife provided fresh fruit smoothies for hot day work. Just like St.Maarten, but without the beach part, lol.



Today decided to take some of the rear end apart to try to figure out why I'm still getting the occasional hard BANG from the rear underside of the car. It's like someone is smacking the bottom of the trunk or backseat or something with a hammer. Only happens when the suspension unloads and the reloads and I get on the gas hard in a certain manner. And only while turning right.

This has annoyed me since everything back there is rebuilt or new pretty much.
First addressed the usual suspects:

driveshaft center support, giubo, and u-joint - all appeared and felt fine

suspension bolts in the rear - all torqued to spec still

rear subframe bolts - torqued to spec still

diff bolts - all of them had loosened up a bit, but not enough to allow movement.
re-torqued them all with some loctite

axle bolts, etc - all torqued to spec still.

exhaust - still tight, hanging nicely, and not banging on anything, even when pushed as hard as I could with my foot.

checked the calipers and they were fine. no evidence of pad knockback or anything (not that I'd expect it with sliders anyhow).

down to 2 possibilities: First, the parking/ebrake. When the car is moving, the first time you pull the ebrake (and no, I don't do it often), there is a loud BANG that I haven't quite figured out what it's from. Sounds like its coming from the cable itself back under the car, but the cables are new and they seem to operate fine. And it's only the right-side cable that does this. So maybe the cable is binding when the suspension unloads or something and causing the same noise.

Took the rotors off and checked the ebrakes and cables, but everything appears to be in good shape and adjusted correctly.

Last thing was the rear springs. When I swapped to the "S" springs I took out the rubber spring isolators on the top and bottom to drop the car in the rear and extra 3/8". When unloaded the springs are now able to move around a bit if pulled by hand. Maybe they're binding on the LCA or something and causing the noise (doubtful, I think). But since i'm under there doing stuff, I went and put the isolators back on.

Long story short I drove the car and couldn't replicate the sound now. That doesn't mean much since the sound happened very occasionally and usually only on-course, but we'll see.

pics, as usual. Nothing too exciting though.

overview. Not too too dirty since I sprayed off the underside last week


this is my rear (extra) exhaust hangar after 2 months. what garbage....ugh.


spring pad-less. you can see there is some "play" in the centerbore on the nub


my neighbor also came over and asked me if I wanted a foot locker/travel container thing. Without seeing it, the answer was of course yes. After removing his daughter's stickers from it (such as "we love you Allie!"), decided to test it out in the car. As luck would have it, this box fits perfectly WITH my current gearbox in the e30 trunk (and with a small cooler, small toolkit, and 2 folding chairs).

So now I'll have one gearbox specifically for tools, fluids, and repair stuff and can use the other one specifically for all the rallycross gear (helmets, spare clothes, bug spray, shoes, towels, etc). Excellent.

Does take up the space I needed for my big pop-up tent shelter, but that can fit in the backseat with the wheels/tires anyhow.

new gear box


old box alone


both boxes, cooler, tool kit, 2 chairs, full-size spare, and some other crap. Damn I love the e30 trunk!!!!!