Half-Life | '91 DS 318iS Slicktop | Track & Weekend Warrior

[Digitalwave]

I think you'll love Barber. Its a great track and the 30 is super easy to go fast in.
As always, car looks great with meats!

I've definitely heard a lot of good things about the track.

Quite honestly I don't get much out of working on my cars anymore. I am looking into finding a local shop to help support the cars, and possibly help with transport/track support, so I can do more events. That will help me immensely.

Looks amazing on track! The pics are sweet.

Thanks, appreciate that!

Great updates and pictures. Sounds like you've got things rather dialed in. If the black car may get more street time, can we expect some (Kevin/il duce) wheel turned pics?

I've yet to use FCP's return policy, but just as you said, store credit is just as good as a refund --- it's a revolving cycle of money that goes to them anyways.

If possible I try to buy from them for their service for most things. Which reminds me I need to send back on vent valve for a different one.

That's quite the sim setup too!

The car really is the best it's even been on the track. I actually wish I could go back a couple years and skip over the super stiff/17" wheel phase. I'm surprised I was able to achieve some of the times I did back then, and that I only had one more incident on track. The car was sooooo on edge before. I didn't realize it at the time.

FCP has always treated me well. I think of all the orders I've done with them, I only ever had one item mis-shipped, and they took care of it quickly. Really easy to work with.

[Digitalwave]

Not much new to report today. I was supposed to be in Florida this weekend running the E90 at Sebring, but I got sick at the airport last night (terribly airport food) and then my flight ended up being cancelled anyways. I was looking forward to it since the weather has been so terrible in NC the last couple of weeks!

Last week I picked up the AST's after they were rebuilt by RE Suspension Inc. in Mooresville. Also picked up new bump stops for them. These will be going back on the grey car with some stiffer springs. The car has 400f and 600r springs which is too soft for a heavy 24v track car IMO. It also came with a set of 600f and 800r so I'll be putting those on when I reinstall. My black car has been running 650f and 850r which I am generally happy with. The ASTs are adjustable and have digressive valving, so they should be more "modern" feeling than my linear and super stiff Bilstein Group N's.


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Saving R3VLimited
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[Digitalwave]

Not a ton of updates since my last post, but trying to stay current and not fall too far behind.

After my last event at CMP, I was supposed to go to FL and race at Sebring in the middle of December. I got sick at the airport and my flight ended up getting cancelled anyways, so Florida was a bust!

In January our season kicked off already, at Roebling Road. Not my favorite track, but it's alright. On Saturday I finished second place to my friend Nish who beat me by about 2 tenths. He reset his own track record there in the process. On Sunday, I beat his record from the day before by about 3 tenths! Then, in the very last session of the weekend, he beat me again, by 3 HUNDREDTHS this time. So he got the record back and won both days, and won all the contingency tires. I was kinda bummed, but also thrilled at how close the competition was.

Didn't take many pictures, but there's a gratuitous podium photo (me on left).













Been working on some random projects, and keeping up with maintenance. I finally swapped out my blue tool cart for a matching white one. Love this HF 5 drawer cart. I took the lid off the new one, since I never close it, and it's easier to get in and out from under the cabinets now.











I had the AST 4100s on the grey car rebuilt. They got a clean bill of health. Replaced the dry rotted bump stops with some new ones.










The AST rear height adjusters are bewildering. They don't have a clamp or a set screw like GC adjusters due. Instead, they use some sort of square thread that is self-locking when pressure is on it. It works OK, but I would rather have a locking collar. The head scratcher is that there is a gap between the spring perch and the center portion, and it fills up with dirt, sand, pebbles, and other crap. It was a bear freeing them up so they could spin freely. Dumb design.













The only good part that URO makes. About $20 and is well worth it!









Replaced my season old ducting, it never lasts forever.













While doing a bolt check and visual inspection of the car, I found aot of little issues. The vacuum line from the FPR to the intake manifold had a slice in it, since one of the hood vents of the CF hood sits really close to it. One of the silicone hoses going to my catch can had split due to the angle it was being stressed at. There were a couple more that I can't remember. Check over your car between every event!





Had to sell these Hoosiers as they don't work with the class I'm in. This is a good example of tire sizes meaning nothing. The left is 225/45-16 Toyo R888R on a 16x8" wheel. The right is 225/50-15 Hoosier R7 on 15x7" wheel.






Last week I put new pads and rotors on the black car. They weren't totally shot, but the rotors were looking pretty rough, and the pads are thin enough that the pedal feel isn't great anymore. One of the front pads disintegrated when I took it off, so I'd say it was due. PFC 08 aren't available in my pad size anymore, so I am trying Pagid RSL29s this time around.

The rear caliber bolts are awkward to reach with the rear shock installed. I tried torquing them with a 12" extension on the torque wrench, but the inaccuracy lead to snapping one of the bolts. Luckily it came out of the carrier easily by just cutting a slot into it with a dremel and using a flat head screwdriver to back it out.


















Hat tip to @moatilliatta for recommending billetautomotivebuttons.com to me. I bought some indicators from them for my grey car, since I deleted the gauge cluster. They were pretty cheap and look great! I'm using them as, left to right, ABS, Battery, and CEL.






My tire corner is getting out of control again. I sold the Hoosiers, sold a set of wheels, and I built a shelf in the corner (out of sight in this picture). It's more clean now. Forgot to take an "after" photo.






Lastly, both cars needed new windshields, so I had a local shop come over and install them for me. They look great. Screw that 35 year old pitted crap. Forgot to take pics of the new windshields, though.

Headed to CMP again next week, we have enough entires for contingency again, so I hope to win some more tires!

[Digitalwave]

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Here is some of the latest content from Rising Edge:


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The title says it all! Why I like chassis-mount shifters, and why you should too.


BMW Chassis-Mount Shifter Buyer's Guide
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[Eric]

I think you'll love Barber. Its a great track and the 30 is super easy to go fast in.
As always, car looks great with meats!

agreed, I snagged a track day at barber with Chin when I was down in Alabama for a 6 week training stint. Fun track and easy to go qet up to speed quickly

[CubbyChowder]

Enjoyed reading through some of your articles. I am now considering the IRP shifter for my E36 track car over the Coolerworx. Do you still recommend the Condor engine mounts paired with 95A trans mounts or has your preference on that changed?

[Digitalwave]

Enjoyed reading through some of your articles. I am now considering the IRP shifter for my E36 track car over the Coolerworx. Do you still recommend the Condor engine mounts paired with 95A trans mounts or has your preference on that changed?

I actually just recommended the Coolerworx over the IRP for a friend of mine. When I was writing the article, I was pining for the Coolerworx, as I think it addresses some of the short comings of the IRP (namely, the beefy-ness of the mounting bracket/turret). I've seen the mounting bracket break on an IRP before, so I keep a close eye for cracking on mine.

I am still 100% happy with Condor UHMW engine mounts and 95A trans mounts. I'd probably run UHMW on my transmission, too, but my car just doesn't like them (too much NVH). I think it's a combination of the 8lb aluminum flywheel I run, and the cheap eBay 6-puck ceramic clutch. The combination probably vibrates more than a closer-to-stock setup would.

For my new grey car, I will be putting in either a Coolerworx or a Condor shifter in it.

Glad you've enjoyed the articles!

[CubbyChowder]

Cool, thanks for the info. I tried a Coolerworx in my friend's E30 and really liked it, he runs an S50/ZF, which is what my car will run soon too. Another guy I know runs a Coolerworx on his M20/G260 car and it honestly feels awful, can't believe how hard it was to shift gears - but I blame the G260 for that one, I've never really liked any short shifter or chassis mount shifter setup on those transmissions personally, and have tried quite a few now.

Anyways, keep it up, the articles are cool!

[Northern]

II'd probably run UHMW on my transmission, too, but my car just doesn't like them (too much NVH).

Yeah I agree 1000% with this. I've been in an e30 with solid trans mounts and I could never. More NVH from those alone than every other solid bushing/mount on the car combined.
I just reused the stock rubber trans mounts with their UHMW engine mounts and it's been good for years now. Probably will upgrade to E21 trans mounts this year, just need to install.

[Digitalwave]

I have UHMW for every bushing in the car except the transmission mounts. I feel like I could daily the car if it had softer springs and dampers. It's really just the transmission mounts that are a killer.

[Digitalwave]

Where did we leave off? Oh yeah, refreshed a lot of stuff on the # 74

Finished up prep and took it to Carolina Motorsport Park in February. We had a bunch of entries in TT6 again, I think 7 or 8 cars. I took the win both days and got the track record for the class with a 1:48.3. Even better because I think the old record was when the class was 18:1, and now it's slower at 19:1.

It was cold and sunny. Just about perfect track conditions. Nearly freezing in the mornings but getting up to the 50's in the afternoon.














Obligatory podium pic (I'm in the center).







The car was SO GOOD at CMP. The recent changes and upgrades I had made really brought the car to the next level, and for possibly the first time since I've owned it, I felt like it didn't need anything when it came back from the event.

Thus, I did a nut + bolt check, washed it inside and out, and then tucked it away in the corner to focus on the new grey car.

The # 74 is going to be back-burned for a bit while I focus on other projects, including the # 73 grey car and something else new for next season. More on that later on.












My friends and I have had our eyes on GridLife Track Battle and Touring Cup for the last 8-10 months or so. When they announced the 2023 season, we were thrilled to see them coming to CMP, which is about an hour away from me, for the first time. That event was a must-attend for us, even though it conflicted with a NASA event.

GridLife was awesome. I wrote an entire article about the experience which you can read here. Suffice to say we were blown away by the event and cannot wait to do more of them.

With about a month to go after parking the # 74 for a while, I focused on the # 73 to prep it for GridLife, the first time I'd be taking it on the track. I was going to do a local Track Night in America at Charlotte Motor Speedway to shake down the car, but the day before when taking it for a spin around the block, I realized the alignment on it was trash. I was told it was aligned and never looked at it, but the car had rear-steer and the steering wheel was off by 20* or more, so I knew I shouldn't bring it to the track yet.

I ordered up a string alignment kit and spent the next week or so dialing in the car on the scales and with the string kit. I've been working on a string alignment series for my site.








I bought some cheap turnplates to check the caster but they sucked so bad. We ended up just making some make shift turn plates with cardboard and garbage bags, and an angle finder, and they worked way better. The car has about 10.4* of caster on both sides, so I didn't have to make any adjustments there.













Put some ballast in the trunk since you have to hang the string frame from the trunk, and thus don't have the trunk lid or wing on the car while doing the alignment. I put a few wheels on the engine as well for the same reason (no hood on the car). The initial balance numbers were terrible. 46% cross weight.








The alignment went well. The DTM rear adjusters are super easy to use since both the camber and toe are adjustable on the outboard and you can easily access the adjusters without even jacking up the car.

I put a baseline alignment on it and called it good.

The 24v pan sits super low so I put a Red46 skid plate on the car.







Then it was time to do something I put off for a long time.... BUILD A SPLITTER!

This needed to be a real-deal splitter with that huge wing on the back. NASA limit is 4" protrusion, so I stuck with that.

Parts used: 1/2" Birch plywood, Professional Awesome quick releases (short mounts), 370Zed vertical adapters (allowed me to mount the quick releases underneath the front frame rails), Professional Awesome carbon support rods (18"), Home Depot 1.5" garden edging (attached to the wood), Home Depot 3" garden edging (riveted to the smaller edging to make an air dam), stock iS lip spoiler.

Started with CAD. Then cut and sanded with a jig saw and palm sander.



















Cabin is pretty GTG, everything is working for now. Made it to the track. The car is fast. 3 seconds faster than the Great Lakes in the very first session.






















The car did admirably well. The first issue was a "No VSS" code due to not having a cluster in the car. The DME gets the speed signal from the cluster. I would have thought that would have been deleted in the tune, but it wasn't. Luckily for me a friend had just landed back in Charlotte so he swung by my house on the way to the track and brought my box-o-clusters to the track. The car had a soft-cut at 6K and I don't think VANOS was activating so it was a little down on power, but it still did the 1:45.2.

Putting the cluster in fixed that issue, but then the next one popped up. The MAF was throwing a code. I tried another MAF and the code remained the same. In hindsight it was probably because I had a huge 90* bend in the intake tract right before the MAF. They don't like that apparently. It wasn't causing any issues but I want to resolve that.

Other than that, I just got to drive the car a lot. I never got any faster because my tires were pretty shot, and the track got worse through the weekend due to all of the drifters on the track and the lack of it being cleaned/swept.

The car is pretty pushy, so I will need to work on the setup more to balance it better.

Overall, I was really happy with the car, and it has a lot of potential. It had pace to probably in the top 1/3 of GLTC as it stood.

The crowd was huge, I have never seen so many spectators at an amateur race weekend. There had to be 6,000-8,000 people at the track on Friday when the weather was good. A little less on Saturday due to rain.













When I got home the first project was to put a straighter intake tube back on there. Tucked the filter up where the high beam used to be. I had to move the catch can over in front of the ABS, closer to the fender, and run new lines to it.












Got E30 front lips all over the garage....






Taped up the radiator and cleaned up the core support while I was working in the area. The rest of the engine bay badly needs a good scrub down. I'll get to it eventually.






I spent some time adjusting the fitment of the trunk with two goals in mind. Better alignment for the looks, and tighter fit so the wing can be as effective as possible. A few more body panels need some adjustment to help the car look a bit better, namely both doors and the hood. The rest of the body is pretty good.






Ended up in Watkins Glen for GridLife take two. I had to be up in the area anyway, and Carlos drove up from Florida to run GLTC again, so I crewed for him. It was cold and rainy all weekend, but it was still an awesome weekend. Did not hamper our excitement for GridLife at all.








Back to the # 73. The shifter was sloppy as hell, so I was going to rebuild it. I had a terrible time getting the bitch clip out of the trans. Not unlatching it, but getting it to slide out. I had to drill a hole in the trans tunnel and hammer it out. I should have known the new one wouldn't go in. I got it most of the way there, but couldn't get it to align on the right side. I ended up breaking the ear off the trans by trying to gorilla it in there.

Oh well. Time for a chassis mount.











To do the chassis mount I had to upgrade the mounts, since it had AKG polyurethane on there and it was pretty soft. I put Condor swap mounts and they fit perfectly. Matching trans mounts, and changed to their very nice swap transmission crossmember.










That brings us up to current. I still have a lot of parts to install on this car, including new brakes, safety equipment, and the shifter. I went with the Condor chassis mount shifter, but haven't installed it yet. I have new belts, a new fire supression bottle, new harness, and new window nets to install, since they were all out of date and I need them current to do comp school soon.

For the brakes I have rebuild kits for the calipers, new stainless lines, new Castrol SRF fluid, new blank rotors, and new Pagid RSL29 pads.

I've never used Hawk DTC pads and I hated the ones that are on there. I can't explain it much other than they don't feel good compared to what I'm used to. Going to the same Pagids I have on the # 74, I like them a lot.

The next event is in about 8 days, so finishing the shifter is the top priority. Then installing some tie down latches on the rear subframe. This car is lower than the # 74 and I have a hard time strapping it in the same manner since I can't slide under the car easily (need to drop some lbs).

I probably won't get to the brakes until after that event. The Hawks still have a couple weekends on them, so it will be okay.

I put a rear sway bar back on the car and stiffened the front bar to take some roll out of the car, and hopefully to help low-speed rotation with the aero.

Need to find a front hood hinge and latch so I can put the vented carbon hood on this car, which will also help with the aero balance (and cooling).

[amcp]

Always a fan of the updates.
Looking forward to the GL updates

[Digitalwave]

Pics of the # 74 from NASA at Carolina Motorsports Park in February.

Man I hate that I have to run the little "i" front lip.

[Digitalwave]

Pics of the # 73 from GridLife Carolina at Carolina Motorsports Park, March 2023.

[DEV0 E30]

Great work getting not one but two cars dialed in for racing.

Splitter looks legit.

If you slap on a "325is" badge can you get away with an iS lip?