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

[kts]

I love the pile of mud/crud on the top of the spring perch.

GO O'S!

GO O's!

Forgot how much I hate balljoints....and e30 ones seem to be impossible to use any balljoint seperation tools on for some reason...

I picked up this OTC separator from Amazon a while back and it worked great on my E30's tie rods and ball joints.



http://www.amazon.com/OTC-6297-Ball-...oint+separator

The bolt is a 24mm

[irish44j]

^^ I'll have to pick one of those up. I have a million tools and somehow don't have that, lol.

[irish44j]

Couldn't you find longer springs from some other application with the same diameter
and spring rate you need (maybe something like a small SUV)?
By using a spacer, wouldn't you lose some travel (you could gain that
travel by moving the bump stop if it is the limiting factor)

No, no travel lost. Well, about 1/2" actually, but that's not a concern. I measured them at full droop vs. stock and full droop (obviously) is no different, and up-travel is only slightly less. I may tune by bumpstop later on once I see how much I'm on them.

Eventually you may decide that homemade Coilovers are the way to go ;)

perhaps.....as pat noted, this was the easy way at the moment. And really it's just a 'test' to see how I like a different rate compared to stock. If I go coilovers, I'm going konis to get some adjustability. Since I have fairly fresh Bilstein HDs on the car, wanted something that will be more appropriate for the valving on them.

[phenryiv1]

^^ I'll have to pick one of those up. I have a million tools and somehow don't have that, lol.

It is the one that I just bought from HF (different brand, same design). If you ever need it again you could borrow mine.

[95maxrider]

Hey Josh, what are you doing Sunday? Want to do some welding on my BMW? :D

Because this.

But now I'm not sure if I should also replace my super-leaky steering box while we're doing this job....thoughts?

[irish44j]

I'll be around sunday (at least in the afternoon), if you can bring the stuff to me. Alternately, I think I'll be up at Spoth's place near Gaithersburg on Saturday working with them, so I could bring the welder with me and you could come there if you want. Let me know, I'll lug it out there if we need to (or can check if he has one there).

Is your steering box leaking at the seals, or internally?

[95maxrider]

I'll be around sunday (at least in the afternoon), if you can bring the stuff to me. Alternately, I think I'll be up at Spoth's place near Gaithersburg on Saturday working with them, so I could bring the welder with me and you could come there if you want. Let me know, I'll lug it out there if we need to (or can check if he has one there).

Is your steering box leaking at the seals, or internally?

Saturday I will hopefully be out at a shop in Poolsville working on the I30 in preparation for the back to back Solo events next weekend, so don't worry about bringing the welder with you then.

I have no idea where the box is leaking from, but I'm not keen on ripping the subframe out twice if I don't need to. But it sounds like I might be able to fix the mount without removing the subframe, so who knows...

[irish44j]

ok, let me know.

[irish44j]

Got the rest of it back together without issue...



still plenty of skid clearance :)



"stance" yo...




so, by my measurements, the front as it sits is approx. 1" even lower than with the stock springs, and the rear about 1.25" lower. This actually puts the car about 1/4" lower in the back (measured from the rocker panel seams) overall, which is fine since I wanted the rear a tad lower.

Anyhow, YMMV, but that's what I did. Test-drive tomorrow but just pushing on the car it has less "bounce" and "give" in the suspension, so I have high hopes...

[irish44j]

So.....I just went for a quick test drive. And all I have to say is "damn." All the wallowing of the stock springs is gone, the car sits pretty flat in corners (not like the WRX, but still a vast improvement), and the rear end doesn't "jack up" on hard turns any more....feels much more planted.

I went and found some rough roads and tested a bit and the ride is firmer for sure but still soaks up the bumps with little effort. All in all, my initial impression of this setup is "very pleased"

[irish44j]

Ok, so first some pics of the car as it sits now, for those interested:





Today I went out to my great-uncle's old farm once again, this time with truck and trailer, to scrounge up some scrap metal and other stuff I can use for projects.

The place is full of old cars and such, even one my uncle drove in high school in the 1970s

new and old





loading up the trailer with some random stuff





the haul:
- new in box (well, the box was destroyed from sitting outside) Harbor Freight air compressor. Nothing too special, but it was free and I can use it for small jobs
- a bunch of angle iron, steel bar, and other material
- some 2x3 stainless steel sheets (probably about 16ga), should come in handy for underbody protection on the car.
- a 1950s cast-aluminum spring rider (playground piece) that I plan to restore for my daughter to use. This brand/model actually goes for $500+ on ebay here and there, so I'll call it an "investment" for the future, since nobody makes these things anymore.



also got a big stainless (12ga) industrial kitchen tabletop or something. I got it thinking it might come in useful for a workbench. And as luck would have it, it is virtually a perfect fit for my wooden roll-away/tuck-under workbench that hides under my main workbench. How about that? :)





Also found an old trailer gearbox (to mount on the front v-neck). I cleaned it up, painted it, and fit a new platform onto the rally-trailer. A good fit. Need to find some latches for it since the key to the lock was missing.

off with the spare mount


on with the box




loaded up with my toolbox that usually goes in the car, and with the big box still packed and tires on the trailer, has a tongue weight of about 60lbs....which is damn near perfect for towing this trailer, IMO.



Tomorrow I'm off to Maryland to help the ETA boys work on their e30 LeMons car that I may get to take some laps in later in the season if time and money allow. THey're heading up to Watkins Glen (IIRC) next week for the Chumpcar race, so a lot of stuff to do on that. I'll post a few pics. At some point I'll be the "style consultant" for this car I think.....they do the hard work, and I'll make it look cool :) We'll see.

[kts]

Very jealous of your haul!

That International Harvester is begging to be restored.

[irish44j]

5 years ago I checked it out thorougly, having just gotten rid of my old XJ and looking for a new project. The Scout is too far gone, unless someone is a true metal master. The floorboards and rockers are all but gone, the hardtop structure is terrible, and it's overall a total basket case. I'm sure it could be done, but it would take an awful lot of top-notch metalwork to do it well. The interior is so-so at best on the surface, and no idea what condition the drivetrain is in, though my uncle said that it was driven to the place it currently sits. But then again, he says that all of his old "field cars" run, lol.

I'll be back there frequently as they are selling the farm and there is enough old stuff there to fill a few dozen dump trucks.....he has like a dozen welders (newer and vintage), tons of big and small machine and metalworking tools, tons and tons of scrap metal, a handful of other old cars (few of much interest, sadly), and then the whole farmhouse is full of stuff. And I didn't even check out the UPPER level of the barn, which is apparently full of stuff too.

40 years of accruing stuff leftover from old businesses of his....he used to build incinerators and other big industrial things back in the day, so he still has all the giant machines used to cut 1" thick steel and stuff like that. It's pretty amazing, and pretty sad at the same time. There has to be $100k easy in old stuff that would be worth good money to certain types of people who like vintage equipment.

Event that bouncy-playground toy I scored today.....I did some research and it's a 1950s vintage piece and they go for $500 on ebay here and there...very rare stuff. But there's so much there, it would take years to inventory it and try to sell it. I fear in the end it will all be auctioned off for pennies on the dollar. IN the meantime I'll buy as much as I can with some spare cash (even though he never asks for any money for stuff he gives me, I always stuff some 20s in his pocket or something since he won't take it).

[unevolved]

Call some antique picking place. There's companies like the ones on TV that would give you maybe 30% of what that's all worth, much better than you'd get from a mass auction.

[irish44j]

Went over and spent the day at Chris Helgesen's place with a bunch of the e30 crew working to get the LeMons/Chump e30 ready for next weekend's race at Watkins Glen. I won't be going, but hopefully will get to run the car at Summit Point LeMons in June.

I always like going to Chris's house because he has the most epic garage. Everytime I go there I feel like mine is totally insufficient, lol

and there is a 3-bay actual garage up top...



Spoth cutting steel plate with some big steel-cutting machine



The LeMons car



Rust repair on an e30...shocker



Their rallycross e30 hiding up in the trees



The master at work