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

[Digitalwave]

Lots to catch up on for the second half of 2023.

The black #74 has sat in storage

The grey #73 was sold recently

I bought an E90 (well, two)

I got my NASA racing license

I'm racing Gridlife Touring Cup in the E90 next year

RISING EDGE has grown a lot (but it's still free! sign up plz)

More to come soon

[Digitalwave]

RISING EDGE
🏁 Let's drive fast and have fun.
✏ New article every Thursday!
📲 Subscribe for free or read online @ risingxedge.com


Here is some of the latest content from Rising Edge. There's a bunch of new articles, so I flagged my favorites with 🎈


🎈 The Iterative Process of Track Car Ergonomics
Improve your driving comfort and performance with these cabin ergonomics tips. Learn how adjusting your seat, steering wheel, pedals, and more can enhance your connection with the car and increase focus on the track. Don't overlook the importance of comfort for a better driving experience.


Friday Nights @ The Track
Something a bit different from the normal post: this one is a bit of a narrative or stream of conscious post about why Friday nights at the track at the best.


🎈 Dissecting: PTG E36 M3
An original PTG M3 sold on Bring a Trailer recently, and over 260 detailed photos were shared in the auction. This article dissects some of things we saw and learned about the car.


TT6 Campaign Update
When switching the # 74 car from TT5 down to TT6, I had no idea if such a comparatively heavy car would be competitive for the class. Here we go over how the campaign has gone so far.


How To Improve Your Track Videos
Sports action cameras can be confusing. Learn practical tips to make your in-car track videos better.


An Intro To String Alignments
As you've seen in this thread, I've taken to aligning my cars at home using a string setup. This intro post goes over why and how you may consider doing the same yourself.


RE State of the Fleet
Going over what's been going on with my cars over the last year or so. This article is a little bit out of date already, but still a worthy read.


🎈 GridLife Delivers On The Hype
I did my first GridLife event early this year, and was truly blown away by the experience. It has me questioning everything I've done and been working towards with competitive driving. This is a long one, but if you are a track guy or racer, you should read it.


🎈 Slick Tire & Aero Device Myths
Slicks and aero have a lot of misconceptions around them. As you come up through HPDE, you'll hear a lot of good and bad things about both. This article attempts to dispel some of the things you may have heard about them.


String Alignments II: The How and The Why
Part II of the string alignment series dives further into why you may want to try this yourself, what gets measured, and why it is helpful.


Setup For Aero: My Thought Process
My # 73 E30 is the first car that I've driven and setup for aero, and I'm sharing what I learn as I go. The car was not perfect in it's first outing, so I share my game plan for what is next.


Roll Cage Door Bar Design
I love to nerd out about roll cages. This article goes over the pros and cons of the most popular door bar designs for road racing cages.


🎈 Sim Racing: 4 Critical Tips
Since buying my sim rig last year, I've been all-in on iRacing. These 4 pillars of my sim racing have helped me get into the top 5% of racers on the service in my first 6 months racing.


Watch The Replay: An Easy Way to Get Faster and Drive Smarter
There's a lot that can be learned and observed by watching our own in-car footage, but most of it just gets binned. Here is why we should watch all, or most of our on-track footage.


Data, Data, and More Data
We are swimming in data. It surrounds every aspects of our lives. Thus far I have chosen to ignore the data I've generated in my track driving. Am I dumb for doing so? Probably.


On Recognizing Progress
I've been pretty hard on myself, especially when it comes to my motivation (or lack there of) to work on my cars. This article explores the other side of that: using my build thread and my blog to track my progress, and seeing that I'm actually making a lot of it.



THANK YOU to those that have checked out the site and subscribed to receive the articles for free in your inbox! Just knowing that anybody reads them or gets anything out of them keeps me going.

[DEV0 E30]

No, because no matter what trim level of car you have (this is a 318iS), you have to run what was the base model trim for the model series. In that case it's a 1991 318i sedan, no rear spoiler, "i" front lip. Obviously the iS front and rear spoilers aren't going to make any performance difference, but the lower front lip looks way better.

Ah, gotcha, and agreed. It's amazing how much better iS lips look to me too.

[Digitalwave]

No, because no matter what trim level of car you have (this is a 318iS), you have to run what was the base model trim for the model series. In that case it's a 1991 318i sedan, no rear spoiler, "i" front lip. Obviously the iS front and rear spoilers aren't going to make any performance difference, but the lower front lip looks way better.

[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?

[Digitalwave]

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

[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.

[amcp]

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

[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).

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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]

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?

[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