phenryiv1's Rally Cross 87 325- Caged, B25 Swapped, Rear suspension refresh Last Page

[phenryiv1]

Sorry for no updates in a while. Things have been unproductive lately in getting ready for this weekend's event. Saturday is a test & tune and Sunday is the points event. As of now, the plan is to tow the car to the test & tune and try to get it ready to run for Sunday.

Right now:

No exhaust (the flex pipe ripped near the muffler and I had to replace pretty much everything), but the parts are here and laid out for install.
No dash
No functional cluster
Bad idle (waiting on CCV hose- supposed ot arrive today)
No belts/harnesses. No passenger seat.

So last night I got to get the car up in the air to work on it. It took nearly 20 minutes to get the car to run well enough to drive the 25 feet from the parking place in the driveway, onto the ramps, and to have it lined up to go up on the lift. FORTUNATELY, once it was up in the air, working on it was fairly simple and I was able to get the exhaust laid out. I need to get a few more parts lined up a little tighter, but overall I am happy with the path of the exhaust. Hopefully I can get it on the car and attached tonight, even if it isn't the best setup.

A couple pictures...

On the lift (not all the way up, but as far as it will go without hitting the garage door with it open):





Muffler in roughly the final position:

[95maxrider]

I sure hope you can get things good enough to race on Sunday at a minimum. If we can do it, I KNOW you can!

[phenryiv1]

I sure hope you can get things good enough to race on Sunday at a minimum. If we can do it, I KNOW you can!

Fail...install of the CCV did nothing.

Here is my status:

Exhaust is still not fully installed at this time, so keep that in mind.

• Installed the new CCV hose. No real change to the stumbling. Idle seemed to be better/worse from one startup to the next and had no consistency.
• Stomp test: no response (cluster is an 87 eta cluster with a swapped tach)
• Swapped DMEs for another stock 173: no change.
• Disconnected AFM: idle slowed, recovered.
• Reconnected AFM: idle slowed, recovered.
• Disconnected ICV: no change.
• Reconnected ICV: idle slowed, recovered.
• Removed speark plug wires: each time the motor stumbled and recovered, but on the front one removal caused a stall every time I disconnected it.

Pretty much down to the piss-poor diagnostic concept of replacing intake/sensor/fuel parts 1 at a time to checking for a change.

I plan to try to check injector function after work, and then to check that the spark plug wires are on the car in the proper order.

[phenryiv1]

Got the exhaust installed, but then the car stopped running altogether. We were performing diagnostics and were thinking it was the CPS (the wire was in bad shape) and as we cleaned some other connectors, the car simply stopped running. No-start, nothing. It may have even lost spark.

Swapped in a new CPS...nothing.

Taking it (gasp!) to a shop, as I am running out of time to chase issues on my own here.

After I get it running I will get back to regularly scheduled building.

[phenryiv1]

It has been a while since the last update, but the car is now running and driving.

First off, the idle/stumbling issue was in the c191, but it was actually bad wiring inside of the rubber boot on the engine side of the connector and not with the connector itself. Wiring inside of the boot had rotted out and wa sgetting a bad connection so without a spare C191 around, the shop temporarily bypassed the C191 for the affected wires. I just bought a complete spare motor and will be swapping harnesses for an '87 harness or at least the C191 using the good connector on the harness from the "new" motor, which is complete save for the connection to the fuse box (which was cut off for a 5.0 swap harness).

The more I look at this motor the more I am finding that it was not as nice as I was initially led to believe. It looked good, but it was all dress-up and no actual substance.

Connectors are bad, wires were mis-routed, lots of things are RTV'd together...just not as good of a refresh as I could have done myself...not that I had the time.

So in other news, the motor had a bad alternator. Fortunately I had a spare 90A alternator around, so I swapped that onto the motor that is in the car and we are back in business.

Also, I installed the exhaust in what is about 80% of its final configuration. I need to replace one oddball "s" curve with pre-bent curves, but other than that it should be pretty muich as it will be permanently. Pictures of that to follow.

I also secured a non-slider base for the passenger seat, which I hope to install in the very near future. I painted it yesterday for rust prevention so after it dries I shoul dbe set to install.

After towing the car back home from the shop I discovered a PS leak. I need to replace the crush washers to try to get that stopped. The lines are leaking at the connection to the steering rack, and I had re-used the original washers. Probably not the best idea but I did not have new ones.

Lastly, I decided that while refreshing the suspension- ball joints, upper strut mounts, tie rods, etc. that I might as well swap in brand new springs, so I ordered some H&R OE Sport springs from UUC. With my Bilstein HDs, they should do well for rallyX and possibly for some on-tarmac excursions (with the proper tires, swaybars, and pads, of course).

[95maxrider]

I'm jelly of your OE Sport springs....

[phenryiv1]

I'm jelly of your OE Sport springs....

Josh bought regular Sport springs. He beez nutz!

[95maxrider]

Josh bought regular Sport springs. He beez nutz!

Hmm, I see that. So come next race he will be lower and we will be higher :) Should make things interesting....

[irish44j]

Josh bought regular Sport springs. He beez nutz!

my car is considerably lighter than yours is...... I'll be surprised if I still don't sit higher than you ;)

Plus I'm using a 1" spacer in the front, so my drop will only be just over 1" front and rear....

Nick, you're still gonna have to come up a LOT :)

[phenryiv1]

my car is considerably lighter than yours is...... I'll be surprised if I still don't sit higher than you ;)

Plus I'm using a 1" spacer in the front, so my drop will only be just over 1" front and rear....

We need to weigh our cars once i get mine properly reassembled. It would be interesting to compare weights.

And you may well end up higher in the end, particularly with the spacer- it really depends on the springs. so few people run your spring P/N and there are so many other variables in play it is hard to predict your final height. Or mine, for that matter.

[irish44j]

truth. and if you find some scales I'm down for it. Depending on where you look, early 318i like mine in stock trim lists at anywhere from 2182 to 2460lbs curb weight. I'm inclined based on actual measurements I've seen for others to estimate that I'm at around 2250lbs with the AC delete, interior delete, all the power stuff out of it, all the soundproofing out, sunroof out, etc....

a google search shows an 88 528e at about 2800-3100lbs stock, depending on where you look. I'd guess that your cage offsets most of the weight reduction you have otherwise, but maybe not.

Pat's early 325 stock would be more like 2600lbs I think.

[phenryiv1]

truth. and if you find some scales I'm down for it. Depending on where you look, early 318i like mine in stock trim lists at anywhere from 2182 to 2460lbs curb weight. I'm inclined based on actual measurements I've seen for others to estimate that I'm at around 2250lbs with the AC delete, interior delete, all the power stuff out of it, all the soundproofing out, sunroof out, etc....

a google search shows an 88 528e at about 2800-3100lbs stock, depending on where you look. I'd guess that your cage offsets most of the weight reduction you have otherwise, but maybe not.

Pat's early 325 stock would be more like 2600lbs I think.

My guess is that that weight difference between your car and mine is about 150-200 lb. once both are in track trim. With the deadening removed the base weighs from yours to mine will differ only in the motor/trans/exhaust and the differential weights (small v. med). We are on very similar exhaust setups, the differences between a g240 and a g260 are minimal, and the s/m diffs might vary by 20 lb. Really it comes down to the delta between an m20b25 and your m42 for the cars themselves. Our cages will constitute the majority of any other differentials.

As i said, my guess: 150-200 lb. difference.

You rev better and have better top end; I have more torque. My guess is our overall p:w ratios are damn close. Should make for good racing.

[95maxrider]

My guess is that that weight difference between your car and mine is about 150-200 lb. once both are in track trim. With the deadening removed the base weighs from yours to mine will differ only in the motor/trans/exhaust and the differential weights (small v. med). We are on very similar exhaust setups, the differences between a g240 and a g260 are minimal, and the s/m diffs might vary by 20 lb. Really it comes down to the delta between an m20b25 and your m42 for the cars themselves. Our cages will constitute the majority of any other differentials.

As i said, my guess: 150-200 lb. difference.

You rev better and have better top end; I have more torque. My guess is our overall p:w ratios are damn close. Should make for good racing.

Considering that I have a little more weight removed from my car than either of you do (heater core, AC, stereo) I'm guessing I'm about 300 pounds more than Pat's car. With the extra 20 or so HP I'm hoping to have over him, that should make all of us pretty close in terms of power to weight. Should be interesting indeed. Let me know if you find scales!

[phenryiv1]

The JY where i buy parts has a scale- accurate to +/- 10 lb.

I bet the scrap yard beside SP has one as well. We should call and ask.

[phenryiv1]

Note to self...Need a few of these: 51711874203

UUC still has not shipped the springs because apparently they are not too popular (go figure) and they yhave to come in from a distributor or warehouse. Hopefully they will ship out Monday.

I orderd a dozen each of the o-rings for the PS lines. Cost more to ship than for 24 rings.

Fuzorz.