'88 325is M30 street car-->S54 -->S50 -->M54 Enduro Race car

[Joeyz31]

its back! this is the best version yet, IMO. Looking forward to updates.

[jpod999]

Hah you are about as indecisive as my wife is! Since you were previously running a S54, why are you guys going S50 first?

[Jb325is]

Well, we already had an s50, so that was the main reason. The s54 is just too much to be honest, a really properly developed s50 car with good shock package and driver(s) should be enough to be pretty competitive anywhere, so that's what we're going for. I still have a long way to go to get up to speed.

Gonna be tough to fit the 17x9's (ET30) on here with the Nasieg 5 Lug kit (+12mm offset), I have about 2mm of clearance to the lower spring perch in in this pic.

20160802_203617(0) by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

Here is a picture of the caster issue... Wheel is way forward in the wheelwell and is going to hit everything up there.

20160802_203519 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

[FredK]

Sweet! The cage came out awesome!

New suspension goodies look great as well.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

1. Caster/Wheel placement. I'm like 1/2" forward in the wheel well right now and I'm not sure why. I have brand new control arms, brand new AKG offset bushings, not sure what subframe I have in the car but I will need to check and make sure it isn't bent. This is my first time using offset bushings in stock lollipops, the car had Treehouse stuff before.. Whats the deal?

Here is a picture of the caster issue... Wheel is way forward in the wheelwell and is going to hit everything up there.

Isn't this just a function of using the offset bushings? The bushings move the control arm body mounting point outwards which translates to a forward shift of the wheel center in order to gain some positive caster?

[RampageRR]

I didn't plan on updating this thread, but things have changed a lot. After all but finishing the spec e30 build, I decided/was convinced that having a spec e30 and not being able to afford to run in consistently for a whole season would be pretty frustrating. At the same time, some friends that already run spec e30 were looking to build a faster e30 for endurance racing. They had an s50, I had a chassis with a nice cage, so we decided to build a proper e30 race car.

The baseline formula is as follows:

s50
Nasieg 5 lug (e46 m3/e39 540i brakes)
MCS 2-Way Remote Res dampers (600/800 springs/GC Plates/AKG Poly everything)
17x9 Apex ARC-8

Later on:
-Aero that actually works (not random panels cut off and pieces of plastic riveted to the bumpers)
-Spherical rear subframe with adjustment (right now bending trailing arm to specs and no adjusters)
-Adjustable pick-up points to play with geometry
-S54 again!

We pretty much have everything,except for free time at the moment, my summers are pretty busy. Also, we just keep running into dumb issues... Anyone have any input on these?

1. Caster/Wheel placement. I'm like 1/2" forward in the wheel well right now and I'm not sure why. I have brand new control arms, brand new AKG offset bushings, not sure what subframe I have in the car but I will need to check and make sure it isn't bent. This is my first time using offset bushings in stock lollipops, the car had Treehouse stuff before.. Whats the deal?

2. Steering coupler binding after e36 rack install. I re-built the coupler with a Dungeon motorsport spacer kit, the spacers and hardware are corret, but I'm bottoming out the coupler and feel it bind in the steering. I could probably gring out a little pocket in the coupler to clear, but would like to find another solution first. Anyone had this issue?

I'll figure this stuff out, just haven't gotten the chance to look much into it and won't be able to for a week or so... So any input from someone who has encountered similar issues would be appreciated in the meantime.

Offset CABs will give you increased caster, so that very well may be what you're seeing.

As to #2 - I just did an E46 rack swap in my early model, and I definitely had to smooth out all the coupler corners as well as a bit off the top. This post (not mine) helped me visually - look closer to the bottom of the pics to see where to grind. The top joint was the main offender in my case.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=4403258&postcount=1058

You want to basically take off the squared edges and make the entire radius round, even taking a few millimeters off the top part as well. You can definitely do this with the coupler still in the car from underneath if needed with a dremel, so it's not a huge deal if it's installed and binding.

[nando]

Change to centered bushings. You could also rotate them 180 to reduce caster, which will pull the wheels back.

[Jb325is]

Good to know about the steering coupler, thanks for the link! Mine is binding in the top joint as well.

As for the wheel placement, I thought about rotating the bushings but I think I'll just get a set of centered bushings instead. I thought geometry would be the same with these and the Treehouse bushings, but I don't remember having this issue with those

[Jb325is]

Just a quick update, car is better than ever but has never looked worse. Got it running with the s50 last night, taking it back apart a bit tomorrow to replace a bunch of hoses and tidy up the wiring. We are pushing to have it ready for a shakedown autocross on Sunday, see if we can get anything to fall off of it, and then prep it for first time on track in 3 weeks. I'll try to update this more as it goes back together

e30 fenders 2 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

[2mAn]

Well, we already had an s50, so that was the main reason. The s54 is just too much to be honest, a really properly developed s50 car with good shock package and driver(s) should be enough to be pretty competitive anywhere, so that's what we're going for. I still have a long way to go to get up to speed.

This is exactly my thinking as well. I was planning to build my car towards SpecE30 rules and then swap back to a M20, but just decided that leaving the 24v in and improving my own skills will make the car very competitive in a GTS2 NASA class.

What group are you guys planning to compete with it?

btw nice front fenders ;)

[ak-]

Yay, updates! Any plans for the rear quarters? Going lexen?

[MX339]

This is exactly my thinking as well. I was planning to build my car towards SpecE30 rules and then swap back to a M20, but just decided that leaving the 24v in and improving my own skills will make the car very competitive in a GTS2 NASA class.

What group are you guys planning to compete with it?

btw nice front fenders ;)

An E30 platform still isn't ideal for us, but since we're running AER with a pretty much unlimited ruleset we're at less of a disadvantage. The only advantage you have in an E30 over newer platforms such as E36's and E46's is weight; the others are better in pretty much every regard. They've got better rear geometry, more trackwidth, stiffer chassis, more efficient aero, tested aero devices and more.

The issue with an E30 in GTS is that the power to weight class structure negates any advantage the E30 holds over the newer platforms. Our only hope is to get as much weight out of the car as possible, and even then we more than likely won't be able to compete for overall wins depending on what shows up and who we have driving.

In my opinion, SE30 will advance your skills much more quickly than running in GTS. My reasoning is that in SE30, you will almost always have a rabbit to chase that you more than likely have a chance of catching of passing. In GTS, most of the time it's going to be more so about the equipment which results in large gaps that stay the same throughout the whole weekend. In that case, even if you're not getting the most out of your own equipment, you aren't going to push yourself or learn anything just because the defeatist mindset is already there. I see a lot of GTS or open class drivers who seem to be to complacent in their driving skills, and that it's only the equipment holding them back. To be fair though, there's still plenty of Spec drivers like that too. Hopefully I wrote that in a way that makes sense. ;-)

Yay, updates! Any plans for the rear quarters? Going lexen?

We don't actually have any clearance issues in the rear right now, so no plans now. If we did, it'd only be for the sake of making things match.

[2mAn]

An E30 platform still isn't ideal ....

so you're saying I should just sell my car and buy a Cayman? :rippedoff:

[Jb325is]

We didn't make the autocross on Sunday, but have been getting some work done on the car. Once the car was running and driving on Sunday, it was obvious that the tires weren't going to fit @ the ride height we were shooting for. I ended up cutting off the front corners of the fenderwells and the front corner of the battery tray on the passenger side, then made some little filler plates and had my friend TIG them in while I blew out all of the fires. It turned out pretty alright, and the car can do U-turns now without rubbing, which hasn't been the case for years. I also cut/ground down all of the pinch welds @ the top of the front inner fenders to hopefully add some clearance under compression

2016-10-27_08-34-12 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

2016-10-27_08-33-47 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

2016-10-27_08-34-00 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

2016-10-27_08-34-40 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

I've also been working on a spindle sleeve to adapt the MCS strut housings (they build their dampers into stock e30 strut housings) permanently to 5 lug. The car currently has a 2 piece sleeve 5 lug kit, which is fine for a street car, but I don't think that setup is safe or serviceable enough for race cars. This piece threads onto the e30 spindle, then welds on the rear step to the surface where the dust cover normally mounts on the back of the spindle, then the front will be welded where to the nose of the e30 spindle (where the threads end, inside of the sleeve. First prototype is finished now, and I'm going to test fit it this evening to see where we'll end up for offset.

2016-10-27_08-34-24 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

[FredK]

That's a pretty cool spindle adapter!

I'm looking forward to install pics!