Bronzit E30 - OBDII S52 shaved bay - weekend/autox toy - Journey

[Razor1981]

Awesome build page. You have done lots of cool mods to that car. Great motivation. Can't wait to see what idea you have in your head for those leds.

:popcorn:

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I had to cut out early but we had fun today. Hoping those FRspeed guys got good pics of our cars

Glad you made it! I had a blast. We will have to go again.

When I fill the motor during an oil change, I pour 8 quarts into the engine. How did autocross go?

I measured 8 quarts as well.

Awesome build page. You have done lots of cool mods to that car. Great motivation. Can't wait to see what idea you have in your head for those leds.

:popcorn:

Thanks man! I'm working on the leds, but they shipped me 4 fewer than I needed luckily still in prototype phase. Glad I read this now to remember to give them a call.


So, the autocross was a ton of fun. I feel like each time out I am improving dramatically between learning the car, and learning how to drive :P It's also been nice to make some tweaks and feel the results. I think I have some suspension changes I can make to help the car rotate a little better; higher rear spring rates to 10k/550lb (I'm still on the original 8k f/r megan springs which is ~450lb) which seems to be the typical setup, I'll also try disconnecting the rear swaybar, and change my alignment to something more aggressive and suited for autox (currently at -2.5 camber in front and -1.5 rear) and I forgot the toe, but it was very minimal front, and slightly more rear - this was a "compromise" alignment to give me something suitable for tirewear on the street and decent performance at autox. I'm thinking -3.5 (or more) front and -2 to -2.5 rear for camber and for toe, probably 0 front and about the same rear for stability.

Looks like I had my tire pressures about right looking at the wear indicators the treadwear appears to be touching the tips of the triangles. I'll chalk them next time to play with it a little and be sure.







So this is something I noticed last time as well. My power steering leaking out the top. I have a feeling it is getting overheated and blowing out the pressure relief on the top lid. It was not overfilled. Originally on the e36, there is a very rudimentary cooler that's just an exposed, looped hardline which I'm sure doesn't do much, but better than nothing. Currently I just have lines straight from the reservoir to pump to rack and back. I am considering doing a full system upgrade to include a cooler, AN lines and a baffled aluminum reservoir which should cure all leaks, keep the temp down, and stop it from spewing out the top.





This car was SICK. There are cars that were loud at the event, but this was different. The noise this thing made, you could feel it in your bones. So cool.












No that wasn't me leaking under the front there. Though I have noticed some more small leaks from the koyorad radiator so I will have to followup on that...





My brother suprised the shit out of me with this sick birthday present! He visited a few weeks ago (and told me my e30 is the coolest car he ever had seen/rode in :) :) :) ) and I guess I mentioned off hand that I wanted to have cross stitched shift/ebrake boots made with yellow stitching to match my steering wheel, but ti wasn't a priority. So he took it upon himself to have them made for me!! They are BEAUTIFUL!!





More to come.

[2mAn]

Glad you made it! I had a blast. We will have to go again.

So, the autocross was a ton of fun. I feel like each time out I am improving dramatically between learning the car, and learning how to drive[emoji14]

You should see the video I posted, you make an appearance, then an off-camera event happens between you and the finish line

[Sh3rpak!ng]

You should see the video I posted, you make an appearance, then an off-camera event happens between you and the finish line

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA that's rightttttt man that was actually a VERY good run, I think it would've been my best, maybe a sub 55 if I hadn't killed the finish. I still pulled a 56 on that one (and for the record crossed the finish line straight, didn't hit the timing lights) but I did wipe out like every cone at the last turn. Had my friend riding with me... we were laughing like fools. What else can you do I felt bad for the workers :P

[Sh3rpak!ng]

So I got some work done this past weekend. Finally got around to installing the e36 window switches and one touch module. It was quite simple, cheap and effective. Total cost was ~$70 for everything. This is one of those mods I wish I had done a long long time ago; funny how something so simple can make the car feel so much newer. Also a cool aspect about the module I bought is that it's got a ton of other functions that are controllable through an alarm, or remote start etc. so there is a lot of extra functionality that I could later integrate if I were so inclined.

Making a mess, testing the switches to confirm what goes where. I used the white base e36 switches. These are not the "one touch" e36 switches. Using those requires a bit more ingenuity than I cared to expend, though there is a DIY on how to make them work. I bet for someone with a background in electrical engineering it wouldn't be tough to pull the board out of the module and find which traces should be cut and where extra wires should be added to have full function of the newer "one touch" e36 switches.

These work by tapping it once quick, window goes auto up/down, holding it down controls position. I love it.





And done and nicely trimmed to fit using uninsulated butt connectors and heat shrink. I carved a section of carpet out under the center console to give the module a space to fit. It's nice and snug.





Work on the e30 has been slow lately for two reasons. Mainly, it's taking far longer to get the "daily" e36 sedan back on the road than I anticipated. I had a set of style 32s sand blasted, then went to paint them only to find the sandblaster did a sloppy job and missed some spots so I had to lug them back and wait a few more days. They are there now and hopefully back in my possession soon so I can have them powdercoated and wrapped with tires to make the car safe to drive again. Then I will tackle some more bigger projects, first on the list being paint for the fenders, hood, bumper and valence which is LONG overdue.

Other reason is because I've been helping a friend tear apart an s52 for a rebuild and a swap into his e30. This motor has been the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Came out of a 95 m3, but as we started taking it apart we were finding things that just didn't add up. First clue was the oil filter housing which my buddy finally figured out came off a z3m (which is cool because it can already have an oil cooler added easily like the s54 housing, and has an extra port to run an oil temp sender). Then after we pulled the head, we found the pistons were stamped 86.395mm..... soooo its not an s50, but an s52 out of an z3m and a PO somewhere swapped it in, and slapped on a hodgepodge of obd2 and obd1 parts ultimately running the motor with obd1 electronics. This was a score for my buddy since the car it came out of was the absolute biggest pile of shit that I would actually be scared for my life to drive. The motor is surprisingly clean aside for the fact that the PO ran it with like no oil, so the whole motor was full of this soupy BLACK burned oil.



Here's why it was running like shit. Failed a compression test miserably for these 2 cylinders, so we knew it had a blown HG at least, and also it was somehow failing a leakdown on 2 other cylinders.



Stripped it down and found the bearings all looked very good as well as the rest of the internals so in the end it was a good purchase! I might make another small separate thread detailing the reassembly.

[kts]

I am considering doing a full system upgrade to include a cooler, AN lines and a baffled aluminum reservoir which should cure all leaks, keep the temp down, and stop it from spewing out the top.

I'll be following what you do here. I have been pondering the same thing if I get back into autox since I remember power steering systems usually took a beating back when I was autoxing Imprezas back in the day.

[Jaker]

No that wasn't me leaking under the front there. Though I have noticed some more small leaks from the koyorad radiator so I will have to followup on that...

I've had multiple little leaks out of my E36 Koyo over the last 2-3 years and it pisses me off. There's one right now right near where the temp sender is screwed in and it's not the sender.

I tried to get it replaced under warranty last year but was politely told to pound sand. I'm disappointed because the Koyo that I had in my Honda years back was flawless and I know of a couple guys with Koyos in their S13s who also have had good results.

[SkiFree]

Ha, that R8 is from work. It is literally an R8 Challenge race car we sold with a plate on it.

Allen should have been out there racing a black Carrera with a wing and gmg stickers.

Those boots look fantastic!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I'll be following what you do here. I have been pondering the same thing if I get back into autox since I remember power steering systems usually took a beating back when I was autoxing Imprezas back in the day.

Yea the system definitely takes a beating, especially without any cooling whatsoever. Some searching shows it's a relatively common issue for cars driven at autox/track. Then of course there are the never ending leaks... I replaced all of the components brand new when I did the motor... I think I got maybe 8-10 months of no leaks...

I've had multiple little leaks out of my E36 Koyo over the last 2-3 years and it pisses me off. There's one right now right near where the temp sender is screwed in and it's not the sender.

I tried to get it replaced under warranty last year but was politely told to pound sand. I'm disappointed because the Koyo that I had in my Honda years back was flawless and I know of a couple guys with Koyos in their S13s who also have had good results.

At this point I am getting very pissed off. I took some photos, it's leaking out of the bottom return side where the fins meet the tank. I also noticed it's leaking badly from the drain plug. I tightened it even though it wasn't loose... I called FRSport yesterday and the rep immediately exclaimed "OHH there is definitely something wrong with your car". I put a stop to that thought immediately. Then she looked up the order details and mentioned that it was over a year old.... :roll: and was the second replacement :roll: :roll: this all irritates the shit out of me... I thought the whole point of the aluminum rad was that they are far more durable than the oem plastic ones. Never buying one of these again.

Ha, that R8 is from work. It is literally an R8 Challenge race car we sold with a plate on it.

Allen should have been out there racing a black Carrera with a wing and gmg stickers.

Those boots look fantastic!

HA you're kidding!! Yea it did look like a serious race car.. we were all kinda scratching our heads trying to figure out how that one got built. SO does the owner really race it/know how to race it? He wasn't driving very fast at the autox :P Also did see black carrera, that was a cool car and VERY fast!

I'm loving the boots. They were exactly what I imagined, my bro is a good guy :D

[jpod999]

this all irritates the shit out of me... I thought the whole point of the aluminum rad was that they are far more durable than the oem plastic ones. Never buying one of these again.

JGood here on r3v has nothing but awful things to say about Mishimoto for this exact reason. He went through a few leaky rads and then they started sending him units where the nipple was welded so closely to the core that you cannot get a hose over it. The OEM rads are so cheap that it just seems easier to run one and not have to deal with shitty aftermarket parts.

[wilholl]

At this point I am getting very pissed off. I took some photos, it's leaking out of the bottom return side where the fins meet the tank. I also noticed it's leaking badly from the drain plug. I tightened it even though it wasn't loose... I called FRSport yesterday and the rep immediately exclaimed "OHH there is definitely something wrong with your car". I put a stop to that thought immediately. Then she looked up the order details and mentioned that it was over a year old.... :roll: and was the second replacement :roll: :roll: this all irritates the shit out of me... I thought the whole point of the aluminum rad was that they are far more durable than the oem plastic ones. Never buying one of these again.

JGood here on r3v has nothing but awful things to say about Mishimoto for this exact reason. He went through a few leaky rads and then they started sending him units where the nipple was welded so closely to the core that you cannot get a hose over it. The OEM rads are so cheap that it just seems easier to run one and not have to deal with shitty aftermarket parts.

I am gonna chime in here to say that every aluminum radiator that I installed in my e36 and e30 (CX Racing x2, Mishimoto) started leaking after about a year or so. I went back to stock and have had no problems since.

[Northern]

3 years on my ebay Z3M rad, no issues yet.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

JGood here on r3v has nothing but awful things to say about Mishimoto for this exact reason. He went through a few leaky rads and then they started sending him units where the nipple was welded so closely to the core that you cannot get a hose over it. The OEM rads are so cheap that it just seems easier to run one and not have to deal with shitty aftermarket parts.

Funny, I've had a mishimoto aluminum rad on my e36 for years. That said, the z3m seems to be a good oem upgrade. 42mm core vs 34mm core and ~170. I KNOW that one will last me 5-7 years...

I am gonna chime in here to say that every aluminum radiator that I installed in my e36 and e30 (CX Racing x2, Mishimoto) started leaking after about a year or so. I went back to stock and have had no problems since.

Yep. That's what all these cheaper aluminum rads seem to have in common. Between turner and bimmerworld, the aluminum rads there are PWR, CSF, fluidyne, C&R, CSF.... but you really have to pay to play.

3 years on my ebay Z3M rad, no issues yet.

I think that might be my route.

Just a little frustrating since I DO want the thicker core to help handle the LA traffic, heat and driving events.Pretty sure the koyo is a 48mm core, so the 42mm z3m isn't much smaller...

[SkiFree]

HA you're kidding!! Yea it did look like a serious race car.. we were all kinda scratching our heads trying to figure out how that one got built. SO does the owner really race it/know how to race it? He wasn't driving very fast at the autox :P Also did see black carrera, that was a cool car and VERY fast!

I believe that was his first time out in the R8, he only just picked up the car very recently. He's certainly got some learning to do.

Next time you see that carrera, say hi! Allen's a good guy.

[Poopie]

yup all the heat and expansion and cooling takes it toll on the welds. especially with the pressures it sees.