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

[Sh3rpak!ng]

nice shifter, and the price is certainly more attractive than the CAE shifter... might have to get one of these once i have my swap and cage done. My car is down for the swap right now, hoping to have it done by end of 2017. Let me know when you start going to more track events!

Yes and yes. The CAE appears to have a few extra bells and whistles, but this one appears to deliver on what's important. If you're as obsessive with shifter feel/performance and willing to drop ~$400 on other aftermarket shifter assemblies (AKG, UUC, Rogue, Bimmerworld etc.) you might as well go straight to something like this and that'll be the end of your quest. At this point with all the time and $$ I've spent chasing shifter feel/performance I might as well have gotten a CAE but this is certainly a very nice option.

I will be hitting more track events once I am happy with all the little details I'm currently finishing and testing at autox. Where are you located? If you're close I'd be happy to swing by and take a look if you get stuck or need advice anywhere, or just to shoot the shit :D

[HertE30]

What do you think about under-driving the power steering pump to make up for the lightness in the steering?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

What do you think about under-driving the power steering pump to make up for the lightness in the steering?

not sure since I didn't try that, but I'm not so sure that'll help. If I understand the pump operation properly, it just bleeds off pressure over 110 bar and it's built to be making that pressure at most RPM. So my logic is that while the pump may be spinning slower, it's still making 110 bar.

Honestly though I am not sure. I just mimicked the e36/e46 hoses and restrictions as best I could.

[dasmanschaft012]

Where are you located? If you're close I'd be happy to swing by and take a look if you get stuck or need advice anywhere, or just to shoot the shit :D

I met you at streets of willow a couple months ago, I live in long beach. My swap is a little different than yours, Im adding 2 extra cylinders ;)

[ak-]

Shifter v5 arrived from coolerworx. It's beautiful. I already installed it and tested it out. WOW!! It's really an incredible transformation. I can wack the 1-2-3-4 shifts like never before with total confidence. Shifts are short and crisp. Yes this is a very similar shifter design to the CAE with a few differences, though I don't feel like any of them really take away from the performance of the piece. I'll post more pictures of the install and product and do a proper review after it's totally in place and everything is back together.

LOL dammit Charlie

[2mAn]

LOL dammit Charlie

My feelings exactly

[Northern]

Care to give a comparison of that coolerworx shifter to the PMC shifter? What made you ditch the PMC?

[Jb325is]

Looking great man... Really interested to see how you like that shifter. My enduro car still has the AKG, which I don't hate, but I would be willing to explore options like that in the future for improved feel.

Your autocross post above, where you are talking about the progression to slicks, I would really recommend looking at dampers at some point if you're really wanting to get better by being methodical about your upgrades and analytical of the results. I think you're going about everything in the right way, and your execution is spot on, but the dampers may end up causing you to chase setup problems that aren't there, and may end up holding you back at some point.

I made the mistake of going straight to (shitty) slicks, and since I haven't spent enough time on track on street tires I'm struggling to let the car settle in slip on the slicks. My friend that I share the car with is way way faster than me, and is able to drive the car on the limit of the tire but I have a bit stronger grasp on the setup/damper stuff. Luckily, we have a really nice damper package, that does what it's supposed to do and is proven repeatable. So I'm working on getting faster in the car and imrpoving on the setup with his feedback, while he gets better at feeling/calling setup stuff from the driver's seat. People always ask if you really "need" really expensive shocks on a track car, and the answer is no, but if you're really trying to develop the car it's certainly advantageous to have a known quantity there throughout your progression.

[itskingsteelo]

Dam dude, you never cease to amaze with the attention to detail or new things you do to your car.

[rzerob]

Again? Lol. I hope this setup works out for you. Also I just realized you never shadow lined the trim on your bronzit.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I met you at streets of willow a couple months ago, I live in long beach. My swap is a little different than yours, Im adding 2 extra cylinders ;)

Yes! I remember you, the car and your plans. How is that coming along? Any chance it'll be done this season? That would be a blast racing with a v8 swap on the track :D

LOL dammit Charlie

My feelings exactly

Care to give a comparison of that coolerworx shifter to the PMC shifter? What made you ditch the PMC?

Sure, though they're not "really" comparable.

The way they each work is completely different. There wasn't anything wrong with the pmc shifter, its a very nice piece, well made and was the best shifter with the least amount of slop I've ever used (probably on par with the comparable AKG, bimmerworld etc. floor mounted shifters). Mechanical shifter slop was basically 1mm, the play that was left was in the gearbox itself. Because you're able to use set screws to set the "gates" of the shifts with the coolerworx shifter, you can effectively reduce play in any gear to zero. I have always had trouble finding 3rd gear on fast 2->3 upshifts unless I slowed the shift down a bit and shifted very deliberately. That's an issue I've had with every shifter I've tried and I don't think it really has anything to do with the shifters themselves, rather the design of the gearbox. I've also had this difficulty on my e36 shifting into 5th instead of 3rd on fast upshifts (I've since learned that a cheap trick to avoid this is to replace the 5th gear spring with a reverse spring - much stiffer - and makes getting into 5th gear as difficult as getting into reverse). With the set screws and the lockout function of the coolerworx shifter, all of that goes away. I have it setup so that 5th and reverse are locked out unless I lift up on the release mechanism. This is great because I can now bang the 1-2-3-4 shifts without any hesitation or doubt about which gear I'm in. The shifts are also super short... it's just click click click... Between this shifter and the clutch I've got I can shift gears literally as quickly as I can move my hands and feet. So finally the limitation is not the mechanicals, but the operator :D Also, the quality of the piece is top notch. It looks just as good as it performs. To say I'm happy would be an understatement.

Looking great man... Really interested to see how you like that shifter. My enduro car still has the AKG, which I don't hate, but I would be willing to explore options like that in the future for improved feel.

Your autocross post above, where you are talking about the progression to slicks, I would really recommend looking at dampers at some point if you're really wanting to get better by being methodical about your upgrades and analytical of the results. I think you're going about everything in the right way, and your execution is spot on, but the dampers may end up causing you to chase setup problems that aren't there, and may end up holding you back at some point.

I made the mistake of going straight to (shitty) slicks, and since I haven't spent enough time on track on street tires I'm struggling to let the car settle in slip on the slicks. My friend that I share the car with is way way faster than me, and is able to drive the car on the limit of the tire but I have a bit stronger grasp on the setup/damper stuff. Luckily, we have a really nice damper package, that does what it's supposed to do and is proven repeatable. So I'm working on getting faster in the car and imrpoving on the setup with his feedback, while he gets better at feeling/calling setup stuff from the driver's seat. People always ask if you really "need" really expensive shocks on a track car, and the answer is no, but if you're really trying to develop the car it's certainly advantageous to have a known quantity there throughout your progression.

Regarding the shifter, so far I love it (see above post for some more details). I'll do a more comprehensive review etc. after it's totally installed and I've done some hard driving on it.

I think you're absolutely right. I've kinda put off replacing/upgrading the dampers since I've already "done" it, but I know they're really not up to the performance of the rest of the car. When I made that purchase I had no intention of using the car as I am now. I've been really curious how much of an impact that could be making on the handling characteristics, but I think the only way to really know is to bite the bullet and do it. Your suspension is just simply Though it may not look it based on what I've done to the car thus far, I'm on a budget and something like the MCS kit is wayyyyy out of the budget :p My "budget" plan has been to take the megan coilovers to a local shop that does some serious custom suspension setups, build their own dampers, rebuild, revalve many high end brands etc. and have them rebuild the megan dampers with all their quality internals, fluid etc. and have them valved specifically for my springs. The guy there is confident that this will significantly improve the suspension into the performance territory of a ~2k kit. I also agree that I'm not ready for the move to slicks. Been thinking of the toyo r888s as the next tire. Regardless, as I mentioned before the biggest limiting factor is the fool behind the wheel :D

Dam dude, you never cease to amaze with the attention to detail or new things you do to your car.

Thanks man!

Again? Lol. I hope this setup works out for you. Also I just realized you never shadow lined the trim on your bronzit.

Yup. I know. I'm laughing at myself at this point. That damn shifter has been a never ending quest since I bought the car. Hahahaha good eye, that job has been on my list for years but I never get around to it. I really want to pull all the trim off to paint it (or have it PCed) but I am worried I'll damage it, but also worried that painting it on the car won't look as good and it'll bother me. So instead, I just do nothing. I should stop being a bitch and just do it. I hate that chrome trim. Also really need to shadow the taillights. And install the plate filler.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Cool. I just made the 1,000th reply to this thread (or 1,001th post)

[rzerob]

I originally pulled my trim and powder coated it. But one day driving down the road my driver side trim piece flew off the car. I was going kind of fast and it bounced off the road but no damage. Just some paint marring. So I sanded and painted it with sem. I thought it looked better with sem so I taped up the whole car, sanded and painted the trim with sem. I would skip pc and just paint it.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I originally pulled my trim and powder coated it. But one day driving down the road my driver side trim piece flew off the car. I was going kind of fast and it bounced off the road but no damage. Just some paint marring. So I sanded and painted it with sem. I thought it looked better with sem so I taped up the whole car, sanded and painted the trim with sem. I would skip pc and just paint it.

Good to know that. In that case I won't bother with the PC and I'll just paint with the SEM. I've got a couple cans kicking around.

[butters]

Good to know that. In that case I won't bother with the PC and I'll just paint with the SEM. I've got a couple cans kicking around.

Vinyl wrap the trim! I did mine 6 years ago using bulk signing vinyl and it still looks brand new, doesn't chip, still nice and glossy (I went for gloss black). Pretty easy to do without pulling the trim off, no messing with masking or overspray. Shadowlinetrim.com came into existence and sells a product specifically for this purpose, for $20-30. I recommend it to everyone.