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

[FunfGan]

you don't want to build an STU class car, lol. That's where all the STis and Evos run, and you won't beat them in an e30. I built my WRX into SM just to get out of STU - it's one of the fastest out there and a WRX can't compete with the big guns with the allowed mods. Especially in the DC region SCCA.

An e30 is probably an STX car unless you put huge rubber underneath. Otherwise, bump up to SM or SP class where you have more freedom to do good mods!

I think you should make the V8 car into a rallycross monster :)

I WILL build a rallycross car someday, but this thing is staying low and loud ;)

I think I shall build a fleet of 5.0 e30's later in life, including a fully restored, mint, oem+ e30 just to trick people ahaha.

On another note, I definitely want to get up to some of the events you do, especially rallycross. Where do you usually autocross? Though I'm probably screwed for being in a decently competitive class...

[irish44j]

I WILL build a rallycross car someday, but this thing is staying low and loud ;)

I think I shall build a fleet of 5.0 e30's later in life, including a fully restored, mint, oem+ e30 just to trick people ahaha.

On another note, I definitely want to get up to some of the events you do, especially rallycross. Where do you usually autocross? Though I'm probably screwed for being in a decently competitive class...

Most of the best autocross events are at FedEx, Waldorf Statium, and Bowie Baysox Stadium. Run by SCCA, Autocrossers, Inc., and BMWCCA, among others.

This year BMWCCA autocrosses are "members only" (BMWCCA members, that is). SCCA and AI events you can usually buy a 1-day membership for 10 bucks (+ entry fee) to run.

IDK how much I'll autocross this year though. The WRX is getting camber plates in the next month, but my track tires are pretty cycled out and I don't have the cash for a new set. I may run 2 or 3 events total, not the 10+ I've been running the last couple seasons. I can only give up 1 or maybe 2 weekend days a month for non-family stuff (and non-house/yard stuff), so I'm doing the full rallycross season, and then autocrosses when I have some extra time.

Also there is CDC that runs at alot of smaller lots.

Not sure what class you're in. BMWCCA and CDC use a different style of classing from SCCA/AI. But don't worry about class anyhow. Run in whatever class your mods put you in, and have fun. You won't be competitive right off the bat anyhow.

[FunfGan]

Most of the best autocross events are at FedEx, Waldorf Statium, and Bowie Baysox Stadium. Run by SCCA, Autocrossers, Inc., and BMWCCA, among others.

This year BMWCCA autocrosses are "members only" (BMWCCA members, that is). SCCA and AI events you can usually buy a 1-day membership for 10 bucks (+ entry fee) to run.

IDK how much I'll autocross this year though. The WRX is getting camber plates in the next month, but my track tires are pretty cycled out and I don't have the cash for a new set. I may run 2 or 3 events total, not the 10+ I've been running the last couple seasons. I can only give up 1 or maybe 2 weekend days a month for non-family stuff (and non-house/yard stuff), so I'm doing the full rallycross season, and then autocrosses when I have some extra time.

Also there is CDC that runs at alot of smaller lots.

Not sure what class you're in. BMWCCA and CDC use a different style of classing from SCCA/AI. But don't worry about class anyhow. Run in whatever class your mods put you in, and have fun. You won't be competitive right off the bat anyhow.

Yeah I ran with bmwcca last year and just found out about the new membership rules, so I'll definitely be signing up. And yeah, not thinking I'll be very competitive, just looking to have fun! It will be interesting to see how a ~2200lbs car reacts with that much low-end torque on an autocross course... Definitely hope you can get to a few autocross events so you, spencer and I could meet up. Its always more fun with friends!

[irish44j]

better yet, you guys should come to the first rallycross just to hang (and ride). Because I might need some e30 experts to fix the shit I'm sure to break, lol.

[FunfGan]

Hahah, just let us know when!

[irish44j]

you know I will!

[FunfGan]

Also, I think you need more rally lights. I can't figure out how to rewire my old Hella set-up, so you're welcome to it if you like! Nobody wants to rewire it for me, so I might as well pass it on if you need it, if not I'll ask around.

[shEck3lls0]

Stuart..... I say the rally lights go on my rally car. :D

[kts]

you don't want to build an STU class car, lol. That's where all the STis and Evos run, and you won't beat them in an e30. I built my WRX into SM just to get out of STU - it's one of the fastest out there and a WRX can't compete with the big guns with the allowed mods. Especially in the DC region SCCA.

An e30 is probably an STX car unless you put huge rubber underneath. Otherwise, bump up to SM or SP class where you have more freedom to do good mods!

Like irish said, you really don't want to build an STU car, especially in the DC region where there are a TON of super fast and super skilled drivers. Then again if you are just doing it for fun then go for it, but it can be discouraging for new people who are getting beat by several seconds by the faster guys and can't seem to catch up. You definitely won't be able to beat them in an E30, even with a 5.0 swap.

(Side note for irish, you do have the advantage of that 5 speed vs the 6 speed, the number of times I'm pegging the rev limiter since I don't want to shift to 3rd, or I shift to 3rd and lose time from that + needing to go back into 2nd... But then again you are at a pretty significant power loss compared to the STis and Evos and the 'magical diffs'... I guess a lot of it depends on the course... OK I'll stop rambling now. Sorry!)

With the new rules for Street Touring this year an E30 can't run in STU, so FunfGan, you'd need another ride. (They did this since 'lowly' 89 Civic Si hatches were moving out of ST and into STU, beating the piss out of 'bigger' cars and winning so much. Now if your car is in a particular class you can't bump up into the next class in the Street Touring classes.)

With a 5.0 engine in your car you'd be in a Prepared class (FP maybe?) Pretty much anything goes in Prepared. You can't technically run in SM since only same manufacturer engine swaps are allowed in SM (e.g. an M50 swapped into an E30). However with the local events you could probably get away with it, but if you start doing well you'll probably be asked to switch to a proper class.

Stock engine in there you could do ST or STX, even with the swap you could probably do a few events in those classes if you want to get your feet wet.

http://www.sff.net/people/dburkhead/prepcompare.htm can help you go over the list of stuff you have done to the car and see what's allowed vs not allowed.

For local events the AI events which are usually held in Waldorf I would say are a bit more fun and relaxed then SCCA events at FedEx. I like the lot at Waldorf. FedEx courses are usually much longer (60+ seconds vs 40+ at Waldorf) but it's a lot more cars, people, waiting, etc.

The nice thing about the registration system that SCCA uses is it doesn't always charge you for a weekend membership. (Sssssssh!) I found this out last year when I was only doing a few events and didn't want to pony up the $$$ for a full year membership I wouldn't get much use out of.

[irish44j]

ok, all this autocross talk is getting me off my rally groove :D

back to work! Got a delivery of parts today, courtesy of TurboJake. Who, I might add, is by far the best shipper, packer, and seller on the entire planet. Great parts prices, shipped super-fast, packing was professional, and I got pics of every step of the process. I highly recommend getting parts from Jake if he has what you're looking for!

The parts in question: Everything I need for trunk battery relocate. I already had the OEM 325i cable (oddly, from a Nissan buddy who couldn't use it for his battery relocation on his i30).



anyhow, first to the trunk. The 318 still has all the tabs and mount spots for the 325i tray, so it slid in perfect. Needed to drill one hole in the floor to mount. After install I wasn't terribly happy with how much flex there is in the tray. I have a feeling that it would crack or break during alot of rallycross. So I decided to find something to use as a center support for some additional strength. After digging around the garage, found a Jeep extended bumpstop (for rear leaf springs) that for some reason I never used on the old XJ. Put a screw through the top to hold it in, and there we go.



tray in, and my Red Top fits perfectly. I will need to fab up some hold-downs, since the OEM bracket wasn't included (and probably wouldn't work anyhow). Eventually will move to a lighter race battery, but that's not in the budget right now.



On to the front.....The distro block is an easy install, since there are dimples for drilling the holes in the firewall to put it in the stock position. Getting the cable through the firewall was another story. It comes in from the side, and BMW was nice enough to put a thin metal punch-out piece there, so a couple whacks with a chisel punched it out. Unfortunately, this is where I had previously fiberglassed over, so I had to cut some of that out as well. And the reason I had fiberglased over the area is that there was some rust-through and a leak.

Anyhow, after much cursing and using various flathead screwdrivers to pry and cajole, finally got the OEM firewall grommet/seal in place. Because of the old rust, there's a hole on one side of it, so I'll have to take care of that in the near future.



Everything hooked up, just need to move the ground cable to the trunk and figure out a hold-down and good to go. I think moving the weight to the trunk will be beneficial on this car, since it's pretty damn light back there and I'll want as much weight as possible for traction, and perhaps reduce some understeer. We'll see.

[irish44j]

one annoying thing: while fiddling with things I took off the dizzy cap to get some cleareance for tools. And promptly lost one of the lock clips. No idea where it went to, and can't find it anywhere. Dammit....

[irish44j]

ah, that's better. Used most of the hardware from the engine bay setup, except stole a j-hook from the GT6 (in storage for the winter, will replace it later) for one side. Held down rock-solid now, doesn't budge an inch...

[irish44j]

minor thing today, but wanted to try it.

After going through everything in the engine to make sure things like the AFM, IACV, etc work and that there were no vac leaks, I was still idling around 2000 rpms with the timing set to factory spec. Very annoying.

So the last-ditch effort before I take the TB apart: try my spare idle control module. Getting the old one out was easy except I made the mistake of taking the black "cap" off the plug. Which of course allowed each of the 12 individual wires to pop out of their slots....grr.

Had to dig up a wiring diagram and find which plug they each went back to to get it all back together. Especially annoying since 2 of the wires were not the colors shown in either my FSM or the wedophones online wiring guide (which is for an '84, not an '85). By the length and curvature of the wires I took a guess at which the last two went to, and turned out correct. Phew.

Anyhow, hooked it all up, set my idle to 2k rpm and checked the timing again. Timing is dead-on, and with the new idle control module my idle is now chilling nicely around 900rpms. MUCH BETTER!

So, one more basic thing fixed, pretty happy about that since this seems to be a common problem with e30s, and especially M10/Jetronic cars.



afterwards, my daughter wanted me to put on the big SCCA Rallycross banner that I've had sitting around for a few years (given to me by a friend). I didn't really want to put it on yet (since it seems pretty poserish on a car that has never rallycrossed yet), but 4-year-olds are convincing.

So, it's on. On the rear window since Virginia doesn't allow front banners. I may put one there eventually anyhow, lol.

In any case, this car better do ok (and my driving better be decent) since it now has more than enough stickers and I don't want to look like a total poseur :)

and yes, it's a tiny bit crooked....dammit.

[irish44j]

So....I was tightening my "oh shit"handle on the passenger side, and the screwdriver slipped and put a hole in the headliner. I think it was my subliminal mind that did it on purpose.

And seriously, I cannot drive a BMW with a ripped headliner. That just won't do!

So.

Goodbye headliner. It was dusty and gross anyhow. Good riddance. Also pulled out all the orange padding/insulation as well. There's 10lbs out of the top of the car. That said, I of course still have the heavy sunroof frame in there. But I like having a sunroof, so that's some weight that I'm willing to keep.

[FunfGan]

Those parts get to you yet? Spencer got an email or something saying that there had(somehow) been a mix up during shipping...