If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
Hey all. Did some small projects on the car recently that I thought I'd share. Also have some pics from some recent area "meets." We will finally be heading back to the track a couple of times in October! Almost everything car-related got cancelled in September due to Hurricane Irma and damaged one to our local track.
As a side note, I've been thinking about what's next for the car now that I don't have any major projects on the short list. I know that some time down the road I want to convert the suspension over to coilovers. Secondly, I do still have a PNP Megasquirt ready to go into the car. I want to do a baseline dyno soon, then perhaps install the MS and see how much I gain by deleting the AFM. However, after that, I have really gotten the itch to do an RHD Engineering ITB kit with the carbon plenum. I think the gains would be good with my built motor, and we all know ITB's are just awesome! I also want to start looking into some new (lighter) wheels, perhaps in 17" for a better selection of track tires.
Any feedback in tire and wheel size would be appreciated. I like the ZII Star Specs in 225/45-16 I've been running, but I know there are a lot of new/better/faster tires on the market these days. However, the select in E30 ~24" diameters really sucks!
In the mean time some of the interior projects I was working on include putting speaker covers and wiring covers back in to cover up the rocker panels. I reused the stock rubber covers for now. They suck. I want to trace them and recut them out of ABS plastic down the road. To hide the wiring behind the speaker grills, I cut out some pieces of suede and glued them over the opening on the back side. I will be using the rest of the suede to cover the roof trim piece that surrounds the sun visors/check panel (which will be deleted), and the a-pillar trim. Those pieces are only a couple of pounds total, and it's nice having the sun visors I think.
These are the stock rubber trim pieces, which I ripped in a few places. They don't get noticed much once in the car, and they hide the wiring well.
I forgot to get an after picture, but this is essentially the area I was covering up on both sides of the car. It's also nice on the driver's side as it tucks away a lot of the wiring that runs around the dead pedal area.
Suede patches cut and 3M spray adhesive'd to the backs of the speaker grills.
The number one question I get about this car is "what's in it?!" The straight exhaust and lopey cam with 1,000 RPM idle sounds really awesome. I've been wanting to toss the 318iS badge back on the trunk just for shits and giggles. It took a lot of searching due to Photobucket broken links, but I finally found the diagram with the proper spacing for the badge on the trunk. The 318iS using the same pattern as the iX.
In other news I finally got to weigh the car. It came in at 2452 with the spare tire in the trunk, and about a 3/4 full gas tank. The spare weighs 41lbs, so with half a tank I'd say the car is easily in the 2,400lb range! I was going to guess it was closer to 2,500 after the roll bar went in. I was pleasantly surprised by the weight.
And here's some random pictures of the car from recent events.
Any feedback in tire and wheel size would be appreciated. I like the ZII Star Specs in 225/45-16 I've been running, but I know there are a lot of new/better/faster tires on the market these days. However, the select in E30 ~24" diameters really sucks!
The Direzza ZIII is out in Japan and I think we'll get it in the first few months of next year.
ZII Star Specs are really good tires. They have just been surpassed over the years by tires like the RS3, R888, RA1, RE71R, etc. I'll keep an eye out for the ZIII's! I hadn't heard about those yet. That should be around the time frame that my ZII's will need replacing.
Did you have to roll your front fenders to fit the 225/45s on the 16x8 et18? How much room do you have from the tire to the fender? I'm setting up a similar wheel/tire combo at the moment, but have a 10mm spacer (putting me at et13) and am trying to figure out if 225/45s will fit.
Did you have to roll your front fenders to fit the 225/45s on the 16x8 et18? How much room do you have from the tire to the fender? I'm setting up a similar wheel/tire combo at the moment, but have a 10mm spacer (putting me at et13) and am trying to figure out if 225/45s will fit.
Your car is awesome!
Thanks man! The front fenders are totally stock, haven't touched them at all. One of our autocross courses is extremely bumpy, and I also like to attack the curbs on the track as much as I can. They have never rubbed at all in the front. I have about 2.1* of camber and the ride height is about 12.25-12.5" from the center of the hub to the fender lip in the front (about 1 finger gap or so).
ET13 should easily fit if you are able to run a little more camber than I am able to. If not, you might possibly have to raise the car a little higher than mine is. I'd say these 2 pictures should give you a good idea of front clearance with my setup:
I've been shopping for new wheels, but haven't found much that ticks all my boxes. I'm not sure if I want to stick with 16's, or move to 17's. It seems like there are good tire choices in 235/40-17.
Happy Thanksgiving all. I really need to update this thread over the weekend. I've got videos, dyno'd the car, been installing the Megasquirt, bought some new wheels... ;D
Comment