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

[irish44j]

In addition to all that stuff, last night we had the "awards dinner" for last season RallyCross. About half the field showed up and top-3 in each class got their award pictures, which are pretty nice :)

Here's mine:


Then we all went karting at a local track to see who was fastest not on dirt. Yup, still not me, haha....

Dan from MachV (one of our new series sponsors) handed out a going-away gift to Jared, our outgoing series "chairman" for the last two years.



rockin' it, yo.

[phenryiv1]

some good progress today with 60-degree January day and for once I'm not at work.

Also finished up the hood painting (matte black), and repainted the trunk white (it had been gray/silver). So I'm more or less done with painting for a while I think :)

I like the new scheme.

[irish44j]

so it's been mighty cold here for the last week or so. And we got a huge blizzard. Ok, well we really got about 1" of snow total. By the level of nostop coverage by local news and complete panic among the DC-area populace, however, one would think that the snowmageddon arrived and dropped 20 feet.

It sucks owning a WRX on wintersports around here. It rarely gets used in its natural element :P



so back to the e30. Since it's been so cold, even in my (mostly) insulated garage, I haven't done a ton of work recently. Plus I'm now on the homestretch for this season to start and am down mostly to little things, thankfully.

I drove out to Front Royal a few days back and met Jake (e30jake on r3v) to pick up a b-pipe for the exhaust. I don't think it's stock since it doesn't have a resonator, but it's pretty basic. The flanges were all seized (he cut it off a parts car) so I just cut them off and used some union pipes. Need to get them all tack-welded at least, or will maybe install a flange somewhere in the middle.







muffler needs some adjusting



also noticed that (not surprisingly) the muffler still has a hairline crack near the entry pipe. Not sure if it was like this when I got it or if it happened last season, but I'll have to lay down a bead of weld on it at some point.



so what else....

oh, I was browsing ebay and found a dirt-cheap used tire groover. It's the "ideal" brand, which isn't known for being all that great (van alstine is what most real rally teams use, but those run like $400...well out of my budget. So I got the Ideal one used for $30 with a couple sets of tips and blades. I'm not looking to do anything crazy, just want to clean up the shoulder blocks and sharpen them on the rally tires. We'll see how it works out when it gets here. If it sucks.....no big loss. If it works, big score :)

Also got in the harness from Natalie down in Florida (friends with Carlos from Condor Speed Shop). It's expired so she couldn't use it on her racecar, so I got it for next to nothing....like, less than 10% of what it was new :) And it's still in mint condition. It's made for HANS so it has 2" upper shoulder straps, but should be fine for rallycross.

I'll also need to slit the seat bottom for the anti-submarine straps.





Also on a whim had ordered some numbers from some random "fun gifts" place online. It had really cheap vinyl so was interested in seeing if the quality is good. Plus they carried a font that I wanted and nobody else seems to carry of be willing to make without a "setup charge."

In the end, the vinyl is thick and good quality. I got some matte white numbers. Tired of my magnetics that don't stick to the e30's doors for some reason (too many paint-overs? who knows...) Figured might as well just put "permanent" ones on there, even if it's a bit goofy to do so on a car I'll also drive on the street occasionally.

Because balance is boring, they're in slightly different spots on either side of the car.





I'll make sure to get my season subscription as soon as it opens, so nobody can take my number, lol.....that would suck.

[swingard]

I love reading this thread everyweek! I might be running stock class this year up at Summit. If plans come together that is! I look forward to meeting you and seeing this beast in person.

[irish44j]

nice....I hope you mean in an e30! Will see you out there hopefully!

Stock is gonna be pretty empty this year for RWD....the ETA guys are probably going to go to prepared, so the only car still in there is Jesse's 325is (which is pretty quick).

[irish44j]

screw figuring things out. Let's just cut. Because if you can't cut a Sparco that you got cheap, then this isn't a cheap rallykar......

Cut a slit for the 6-point after measuring the required angles, etc. For the time being just used some duct tape to stop the fabric from tearing. I'll do something more permanent later.



Good fit, and it seems to be on the correct plane with the shoulder straps, as required.

[swingard]

Probably not an e30. My buddy has been racing either e30's or e36's for the last 25 years and said he wants something different for this project. Not even sure if we are going front or AWD yet. Running stock class since we are new to Rally and havent even found a project car we like yet. Planning on finding something for 1000 in the next two weeks. Spending some time at his shop getting it reliable as possible and installing some old harnesses from his race car then come out and thump around and see how we like it. If we like it, next season come with something better prepared.

[shEck3lls0]

Very good work. I'm going to be installing a 4pt harness in my car fairly soon.

Also, I really like the numbers. You should give me the extra white 4 I gave you last event since I only have 1 now after losing yet another one at the last event. ;)

[irish44j]

Probably not an e30. My buddy has been racing either e30's or e36's for the last 25 years and said he wants something different for this project. Not even sure if we are going front or AWD yet. Running stock class since we are new to Rally and havent even found a project car we like yet. Planning on finding something for 1000 in the next two weeks. Spending some time at his shop getting it reliable as possible and installing some old harnesses from his race car then come out and thump around and see how we like it. If we like it, next season come with something better prepared.

If your budget is $1000....look for FWD if not an e30 or RX-7. I looked for a long time and finding a decent subie for $1k is tough. Now I'm happy I didn't because RWD is far more fun than AWD for rallycross (I've driven a few of the faster subies out there on some test runs) IMO. A miata would do well do, but good luck finding one for $1k with a required hardtop.

FWD class is pretty sparse - we're trying to recruit more front-drivers. And the Summit courses are really good for FWD cars. The few that consistently came were putting up times similar to most of the subies. Easy to find a reliable one under $1k, and you'd be competitive from Day 1.

[irish44j]

Very good work. I'm going to be installing a 4pt harness in my car fairly soon.

Also, I really like the numbers. You should give me the extra white 4 I gave you last event since I only have 1 now after losing yet another one at the last event. ;)

The gray one? I have it sitting on my workbench. Will save it for you. It's still all muddy, lol.

[irish44j]

Took the car for a quick spin today on the parkway where I could open it up some.

Impressions:

1. This engine has far more power than the M10. And I couldn't really open it up in 1st and 2nd due to the wet/cold roads (and Star Specs). Every time I did I just spun. The M10 never had that problem. It also pulls really hard mid to top end.

2. Got scared for a bit as under light load the engine made a "wop-wop-wop" kind of sound (like a Subaru). But after talking to Spencer (who has had a few M42 cars), that's apparently "just what they sound like." I'm hearing it extra since my transmission tunnel and firewall have all the soundproofing removed, as does the interior. NOw that I know it's ok, I'm going to enjoy it (I love the sound of my WRX!)

3. Put the Conforti ECU in after a few runs and drove some more. Feels like more midrange and high-end power, but hard to tell. Some people I've heard say it's like night and day. I didn't really see that (and yes, I'm sure it's a real JC chip).

So, all in all pretty happy about how quick the car is now. On to rigging up some skidplate modifications (to strengthen it and to make it clear the lower M42 oil pan), and a few last finishing touches on the exhaust. Then I *think* I'm ready to roll.

but of course, will find other little projects to do in the meatime :)

[swingard]

Great to see your plan coming together Irish! Thanks for the advice as well. Budget it 1k with another 1k for tires and fixing things throughout the season. Looks like 1400 will get you a Suby with a blown HG. My wife has an '04 Forester xt with an STI tune, but told me to stick with budget racing lol We have been leaning more and more FWD the last two weeks anyway. Think it would be fun if we can keep up with cars with 2x or more the horsepower. Anyhay enough thread jacking... Glad to see your car up and running!!

[irish44j]

Too bad you weren't looking a month or two ago....the FWD stock champ sold his car for like $400 this winter!

But really, the fast FWD guys (IIRC) were in an old Ford Probe, an Escort GT, a CRX, and a VW Scirocco. Also had some Golfs, Civics, and an Integra here and there. Basically, you can be fast in anything, which is why rally-x is so great.

on the 2x the power thing......many of the fastest subies are old 2.5RS coupes (non-turbo), and they generally beat most of the WRXs/STis' that have come out :)

[irish44j]

Just a small aside. I went to visit my grandfather in the retirement home yesterday. He has alzheimer's, and this may be the last time he remembers anything about me. He didn't remember much today, just asked if I had gotten married yet (been married for almost 10 years), and if I still raced cars. He didn't know I was his grandson, just that I was someone who he recognized a bit.

So, just want to say to all of you to enjoy every moment of the time you have with the people you love, especially your parents and grandparents, before they are gone either physically or mentally.

[irish44j]

so to revert to some lighter fare....a few little things tonight.

I had noticed a small drip when I washed the car last week, so I figured I'd do a bit more sealing on the sunroof delete panel and the roof vent. To do it cleanly, I masked the panel and about 1/2 cm. out on the roof area with tape. Then I used some black silicone sealant and smoothed it with my finger. Then take the tape off and you get a pretty smooth taper and line. Came out pretty clean I think and should take care of the leak.



also took off the "318" badge from the trunk, which was the last gray colored piece on the car other than the street wheels (which will stay that color). Painted them in the same matte white as the trunk...figures it looks ok and I want to keep the 318 badge just so nobody thinks I have a sixer :)



all in all, it's coming along....