e30 Sedan Weekend/Track car

[Joeyz31]

Ahh, an E30 working it! Great shot! Bummed Yall going E36, E30's take a lot of work to keep up!.

I like the BMW shift knob.

That shot is from “Wheelie Hill” at NYST. If you are ever able to get there for a track day, i highly recommend it. It's so much fun. Mostly used for motorcycle track days (hence the nickname) but it's my favorite track I have ever been to. A ton of elevation, a ton of turns/off camber and it's super technical.
I totally get your comments though… A part of me thinks about all of the time I have spent just to get the e30 to this point and for sure feel like going to an e36 is an “easy button” vs continuing to progress it. I think ultimately what it came down to though is I just really started to like e36s. Esthetically, I used to think they were boring but something changed where I just started to gravitate towards looking for cool e36 builds vs e30s and started fo appreciate a lot of what they had to offer. I still plan to keep the e30 and used it as a “weekend car” and if the e36 is not ready for some reason or down, the occasional track day. I absolutely love driving it to cars and coffee and what not and with it's weight, the m20 is more than enough to have fun on the street.

Looking so good! Man, the M bumpers do so much for these cars, that front shot is great. I like that floor plate too, going to consider that one. This is getting me even more excited about mine haha.

thanks so much dude! I’m really excited to see the progression of both cars over the next year or two, with how similar they are. Another nice thing about e36s is the m3 front bumper reps (which this is) are like $200 so it’s easy enough to do haha. I have a spare for when inevitably need one and in fact, the one on there in the pic is spray painted.


Quick Side note, while going through pics. We have been super fortunate that there have been a ton of good cars and coffees popping up with some great stuff and so on the nice weekends without track days, it gives me a destination to drive to. One of those is McLaren of Philadelphia, which is about 10-15 minutes up the road from my house. It is one of the only and it may actually be THE only McLaren f1 authorized service centers in the country. I went from hoping to some day see an f1 in person to now getting to see them fairly often. The spec on this green was absolutely amazing with a tan interior.
There’s always some pretty wild stuff at McLaren C&C.






Two of my favorite cars of all time.





After getting the e36 up and to the point that It wasn't clunking like crazy and was enjoyable to drive around town, my focus shifted to the e30 and getting everting ready for a weekend at NYST.




Luckily at this point, prep is as simple as swapping to track pads, changing the wheels and a nut and bolt check.
Of course, I waited to the last minute and the day before, found my left front wheel bearing was completely toast. While panicking for a bit and trying to repack it myself with no luck, I eventually found a spare in the addict and crisis was averted.



The only challenge with NYST is it's fairly far from my house. I live about an hour and 15 minutes from NJMP but every other track is 3-5 hours in either direction. Doing 3.5 hours up and back in the e30 is getting old so hoping to start towing by this time next year. Fortunately though, outside of being pretty cold and my back being a bit sore, it made it up, 2 full track days and back with no issue.








This car amazes me all of the time and outside of it just being an absolute blast, I really have nothing to add with regards to the track days because it was uneventful. It was my first time back here after replacing the diff and that made a massive difference. As a reminder, I went from a tired 4.10 to a rebuilt 3.73 with a 3rd clutch and the gearing alone helped a ton. Here is a lap from the second day which is reverse layout, also know as “downtown.” This is my preference of the 2 layouts for sure.

https://youtu.be/fN1NPsSeKvM

At this point, my focus is shifting to the e36 to get it ready for next season. I have since completed the clutch/rear main work, added an oil pressure/temp gauge and just need to drop the rear to do the solid subframe bushings.





I can't wait to get to feel the e36 on the track for the first time!!


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[CubbyChowder]

Looking so good! Man, the M bumpers do so much for these cars, that front shot is great. I like that floor plate too, going to consider that one. This is getting me even more excited about mine haha.

[moatilliatta]

Ahh, an E30 working it! Great shot! Bummed Yall going E36, E30's take a lot of work to keep up!.

I like the BMW shift knob.

[Joeyz31]

Haha dude! So funny how similar our trajectories are. Learning the ropes in our E30's then both moving on to white S50 powered E36 coupes on Kosei K1's! Wish we were closer so we could get in on a track day together. Looks like a solid score though, excited to hear your thoughts of it on track.

I know man, it's crazy haha. I would absolutely love to come out to CA one day and just do a tour of the tracks from Buttonwillow up to Laguna Seca. Dream trip. Can't say it's on my wife's bucket list though haha.

After getting the e36, I knew I would have to go through some stuff and my hope was to make it as close to the e30 as possible without going nuts ($ wise)



The easiest thing to do was to just start taking weight out of it and getting rid of stuff I knew I would not miss. That meant, carpet, sound insulation, air con, door cards, etc…


What a pain in the ass though haha. The fact that the car is white does not help and my OCD for clean(ish) cars made this probably harder than I needed to. Also picked up a floor plate from Elian Motorsport, which I love. I'm short and helps even out the floor area under the pedals.



Overall, I removed almost 200lbs out of the car form when I picked it up (including the spare full size wheel/tire)


I then added some back by getting an SPG XL for the passenger side but still down some LBs.
here is the interior in its current state. Still need to add harnesses back in but that will happen before the first track day.



Mechanically off the bat, the only real thing I had to do was change the diff bushings (they were toast) spherical rear trailing arm bushings and then the guibo. After doing that, the car was driving awesome and cannot believe how fun this thing is. Compared to my e30, it absolutely rips and cannot wait to feel it on the track.



I did a few things cosmetically as well. Mainly Amber corners and tail lights and a new front lip.



The plans for this winter (before it's first track day) will be pulling the trans to do the rear main and new clutch and JBR flywheel and then dropping the rear to do solid subframe bushings.

My hope is that aside from that, new tires and some harnesses, this thing will be ready to rip.

***back to e30 content soon with some retroactive updates on my most recent track weekend.



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[CubbyChowder]

Haha dude! So funny how similar our trajectories are. Learning the ropes in our E30's then both moving on to white S50 powered E36 coupes on Kosei K1's! Wish we were closer so we could get in on a track day together. Looks like a solid score though, excited to hear your thoughts of it on track.

[Joeyz31]

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I had updated this thread.

Knock on wood but the e30 has been absolutely awesome since last winter's round of maintenance/modifications.

Following the April track day, I signed up for another track day with HOD north east.

This one was open lapping and there were some FAST cars out there. After doing open lapping days, it is tough going back to a more rigid schedule. There is just something about being able to come on and off the track as you please.


One thing I realized at the last track day was that my oil temps were still getting hotter than I would like. Turns out, I had put the wrong oil filter housing on.
Got that fixed and oil temps basically stayed in and around 200* the whole time, which was awesome.

After that track day is where things get a bit interesting.
The irony in all of this is that when the e30 finally gets to the point where it's seemingly dialed, I get an itch for something else.
Over the past year or so, I have really been looking at e36s. They are just so capable as a chassis and you can really grow with it. On top of that, I just love the way they look.

Long story short, literally the night I got home from that track day, a light bulb went off in my head and I messaged a guy who was selling a white 95 m3 track car up in ME.



It had full interior, roll bar, Recaro spg driver seat, suspension, wheels and a Bimmerworld exhaust.


Some peeling clear coat but no rust. The car was exactly what I was looking for and felt it would be a great starting point to essentially replicate what I had with the e30 but with the e36. We quickly agreed on a a price and drove up a few weeks later to pick it up.


Quick stop in Portland for lunch. (Awesome place)


It made the 8 hour trip home no problem and was stoked to dive into the car.




The car was not perfect so had a few things to iron out off the bat just to get it to the point where it was enjoyable to drive and really start getting a sense of what it was like.
I had a 2 day event in a few months but had still intended to use the e30 for that (more on that later) but still wanted to drive the e36 when I could.


One of the first things I did was open up the valve cover to replace the leaking gasket and spark plugs and was pleasantly surprised but the condition of the top end.
This car has the original long block (so I'm told) which is 226k miles and by the looks of it, was at the very least, maintained well.



Also threw on a new valve cover because the OG mag one was gross.




**Lots more to update on that will be coming soon.

[Joeyz31]

Figured I would put together an update on where the car is, since it’s been a bit.

I stopped driving the car in December or so, right before the first salt hit the ground around us and spent the next few months getting a few things sorted.
The main issue I needed to address was my rear main was leaking like crazy and driving me nuts.


After long drives/track sessions, the underside of my whole car would be covered in oil.
So I ended up dropping the trans, replacing all of the seals and doing a new OEM clutch and LWFW.
Thankfully, after a few thousand miles, it looks like it was well worth it.

I also took the time to route the breather for the trans up to the engine bay and no more trans fluid leak after my first track day so very stoked to have a dry car for once.

The other items on the list were to get rid of my mechanical oil pressure/temp guages.

Pretty straight forward there and it allowed me to simplify things and go back to the factory oil cooler housing (flipped around) and overall just happier with this setup. I also spent some time doing a secondary fuse box (inside the car) to easily tie in new accessories, vs trying to find wires to splice into.




Given that I was doing the guages, I figured It would be a good time to pull my cracked dash and flock it… (there is never a good time for this)
It was a huge pain and I did an awful job but it looks better than it did and glad it’s done now.
I also got some new hardnesses, since mine were out of date. I’m happy with how things are coming together, inside the car.





Lastly, I had some rust in the Pass floor well that ended up getting pretty bad so had more bad weather ahead so I decided to get a cheap welder and try and patch some stuff up.
It was hard, and I am terrible but glad it’s at least better than it was.




After all of that, I headed to a track day at NJMP and happy to say, the car was perfect all day. It was my first track day with the new Diff (3.73 with 3 clutches) and it felt great.
It is honestly hard to believe sometimes, the abuse these cars can take and cannot wait to do it again soon.



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[Joeyz31]

An update! I had another track weekend (last of the season) a few weeks ago at NYST. I was super pumped to make it back as this was the first time I would be going to a track for a second time/vs learning a new one. Also, running with Mass Tuning is really great. If you are in the north east, I would highly recommend the track days that they put on at Palmer, Lime Rock and other NE tracks. The second day was particularly awesome as the turnout was low (20-30 cars) so we had open track the entire day. There were times where there were only 2-3 cars on track for extended periods. We also ran reverse, which I happen to enjoy more The car felt awesome so very glad I ended up doing all that I did with the front suspension before going up there. For the most part, the car was flawless. Oil temps were in check (ambient was cool though) water temps in check and no mechanical issues whatsoever in the 200 miles up, 2 track days and 200 miles back. The only issue was one of my calipers had massive uneven pad wear. The outside was down to metal by the end of the weekend and Inside was 3/4 life left. I came out of the track day with 1 main takeaway for improvement in the car. I need a different diff. I currently have a 4.10 out of an m3 and it’s getting tired. The harder I pushed him the car, i could feel it falling on its face and one rear wheel barely spinning and not hooking up. I also feel like a 3.73 will suit what I use the car for more and where it likes to be in the power band and could use some more lock. Within a day of being home, I bought a 3.73 with a 3rd clutch so looking forward to trying that out. As for off season plans, I’ll be hopefully keeping it fairly simple. Will figure out an oil cooler, new clutch, flywheel, flocking the dash and finally switching to electronic gauges. Here is a video of one of my quicker laps of the Sunday, while trying to keep up with my buddy in his e36. https://youtu.be/KeTdcrqGT74

[Joeyz31]

Super bummer you didn't get the sway bar tabs when you got the GC kit.

But definaly save your frame, those jack stands will chew them up then rust out.
Jack Stands
Jack Pads

Those links are neat, but anytime you go coil over you really want adjustable end links take advantange of each corner balance adjustment and preload on the bar.

I know! I did not buy the kit as new, otherwise that would have been an obvious add. At some point, I will weld the tabs on and go with the m3 set up but for now, just looking at different options.

thanks for the links! Will snag a set to try and preserve what’s left of the rails.

[moatilliatta]

Super bummer you didn't get the sway bar tabs when you got the GC kit.

But definaly save your frame, those jack stands will chew them up then rust out.
Jack Stands
Jack Pads

Those links are neat, but anytime you go coil over you really want adjustable end links take advantange of each corner balance adjustment and preload on the bar.

[Joeyz31]

Finally got around to refreshing the front suspension to match the back. Picked up new GC race plates with the hybrid insert, new front strut inserts from GC with new gland nuts and bump stops. The strut inserts that were in there were almost 10 years old and had to be tired. The camber plates probably could have been rebuilt but am a fan of the new design over the old one. Getting the car aligned Thursday but took it out this Am and so far it feels way better. I have a track weekend coming up 10-9 and am really looking forward to having the refreshed front suspension. One other thing I will be doing is new sway bar end links. I don’t have m3 sway bar attachments on the front so no matter what end links I try, the sway bar sits at a crazy angle when the car is lowered. Thanks to the spece30 group on Facebook, I found a solution. Ford Mondeo Estate end links. They allow you to remove the bottom bracket that bolts to the front control arm and should lower the bar closer to parallel. We will see when they come in from EBay Uk!

[2mAn]

Isnt it awesome to watch yourself driving! You start to see so many little things that you never noticed before. I agree you probably couldve kept your hands on the wheel the whole time without shuffling. Keep the updates coming!

Post a few more exterior pics, that one from the track was a teaser

[Joeyz31]

So I’m not sure if this is going to embed properly (appears I cant figure it out...) but I was able to finally upload one of the few laps that I filmed from TNIA at Thunderbolt.

https://youtu.be/2-_nJuMQgMQ

Overall, the track was a ton of fun and this was the most comfortable I have felt in the car for sure and felt I was starting to push much harder than the previous track day.

One thing I notice when I watch back is despite now having power steering, I have a bad habit of shuffling the wheel around a lot of corners vs keeping my hands locked at 6/9. One of the plans this off season is to get harnesses for the passenger side so that I can have an instructor ride with me to help with technique.

Also, I was being pretty conservative with gear selection in the back section of the track. The 4.10 made it so that I could squeak by in 4th basically the whole track. In retrospect, I probably should have went down to 3rd for some of it but such is life…

I have a 2 day event coming up in October at NYST again and it can’t come soon enough. This car is such a blast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Joeyz31]

Sorry to hear about the GC debacle. I have been trying for 6mo to get new bolt rings from GC for my GC camber plates and they were so bad to deal with I bought Vorshlag pieces. Got a human on the phone, and same day shipping.

It’s crazy that it’s just me dealing with this. A part of me is mainly frustrated because I like their products a ton but their customer service has been awful. I am glad you got it sorted though.

An update! While Track Night in America is only 3 sessions, it’s pretty affordable for what it is and NJMP is only an hour from my house so I decided to trek the car down to Millville for TNIA.

It was held at Thunderbolt, which is by far the fastest track I have been on. It was a ton of fun but the first session was kind of a wash as I learned the track. Also, having a 4.10 rear, I was basically in 4th the entire track, outside of the main strait. The car was great with the exception of 2 oil related items.

The first being that I am still leaking enough oil out of my bell housing cover (engine oil) that it covers my trans and areas surrounding after a track day/ long drive. It’s for sure not my oil pan gasket, now that it’s been replaced and looks solid still under there. The assumption is the rear main? I guess over the winter, I will pull the trans and do the clutch/flywheel and seals… not looking forward to that.

The second issue was oil temps. I thought Having a new skid plate that allows for a ton of air flow to the pan would solve my issues. For the most part, it had but only on the street. High way and hard driving only saw temps up to 210. On the track though, after 10 minutes, I was up near 240 and the highest I saw was 245. I then backed off. After doing a ton of research on the Spece30 forums I am starting to think those are way inflated because of where I’m picking up temp. I have a remote housing/sandwich plate that has an in and out rubber line to it. Those lines are almost touching the header so my theory is, as that gets hotter, it’s heating the oil that’s flowing to the filter/housing. My water temps never got over 180* and just can’t buy that with the water being that cool and having near direct air flow to the pan, that the oil got so hot. Even without a cooler and with ambient being near 90* but who knows. Oil temps on these cars seem to be a bit of a mystery… Either way, I’m stoked with how the car felt and can’t wait to get back out to the next event.
Looking like 2 days at NYST in the fall, with Mass tuning again!

Also, got a new phone and messing around with the cool new camera is fun… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[AWDBOB]

Sorry to hear about the GC debacle. I have been trying for 6mo to get new bolt rings from GC for my GC camber plates and they were so bad to deal with I bought Vorshlag pieces. Got a human on the phone, and same day shipping.