Chris's Journey to find.. "The One"

[sasquatchola]

baby update!

been driving this thing every weekend! im slowly falling in love with it, despite temptations to sell it and buy an evo 8/9 LOL

i just got in a cupholder and fixed the windshield washer fluid reservoir!

the cupholder is made in California by some guy on Etsy. It's literally a wooden box wrapped in material with plastic cupholder inserts.
it's pressure fit into the center console and grip tape helps hold it in place very well.

i can finally stop shoving water bottles in between the seat and center console lol






and for my windshield washer fluid reservoir... i decided i was tired of seeing that light pop up saying im low on fluid.

mounted it up, repaired the hose with some vacuum line connector(it was cut right at the hood), filled water... and it all leaked out.

there was a minor crack near the bottom "slit" that helps hold the thing in place. i used some plasticweld to seal it up, then spray flex-seal over it for added measure. it's not pretty and it's a semi-permanent solution.. plus beats paying $50+ for a decent condition used one. ill end up buying a brand new one once i have some extra funds laying around for something that's a small detail.

the washer now works.. kinda? i mean it shoots water and a good 70% of the water ends up on the windshield so that's a good thing i guess? i cant expect much from a 30 year old car lol. More importantly... that pesky light is now gone and if needed, i can get my windshield clean




lastly... mini update on the TE37's

new ETA is September... sadly im not even surprised lol

more to come soon! I may end up doing a trackday soon to get a good shakedown and work out more kinks

[sasquatchola]

Check out the ground control RSM that moves the Mount point up higher. Are they E36/46 rear shocks?

Maybe this would help?

https://groundcontrolstore.com/products/tall-bmw-e30-e36-e46-rear-shock-mounts-pair

ive seen this before. id like to stick to using a spherical rear mount over a solid bushings for the shocks. these would also make it a bit more difficult to adjust dampening. not too big of a deal-breaker, but something to consider.

the shocks are whatever MCS provides for their 2way shocks. not sure if they reuse them for other bmw applications, but i wouldnt doubt if they did.

[moatilliatta]

Check out the ground control RSM that moves the Mount point up higher. Are they E36/46 rear shocks?

Maybe this would help?

https://groundcontrolstore.com/products/tall-bmw-e30-e36-e46-rear-shock-mounts-pair

[sasquatchola]

this looks great, i also love the 996, especially the .1

what went wrong with the rear subframe alignment? this is going to be a job for me very soon and this has now got me concerned, could you shed some more information on it?

thank you!

for the rear subframe, i couldnt get toe anywhere near the proper spec.
the toe adjustment plates had to be cut and moved further toward the front of the car.
the camber adjustment plates had to be cut and welded closer to the subframe itself(this was more of a personal preference since i wanted a specific camber spec)

the lower you go, the more "toe out" you naturally get. on the e30 platform.. or any semi-trailing arm design, the toe curve is pretty wild. its best to have an alignment beforehand then get adjustment plates welded in. i was trying to save money, didnt do that, and didnt realize how wild the toe curve is on the e30.

on the rear of pretty much any car, you generally want a bit of toe in. bmw's in general love a healthy amount of toe in.

You’re going to tether the suspension for droop?

Looks like some fun rides you’ve gone through.

im basically using the strap to limit the amount of downward travel on the shocks. I could always send the shocks out to MCS and have them do this internally, but that means more downtime and a lot more money. with this method, i get to pick and choose when i need and what i like before doing something a bit more labor intensive, expensive and semi-permanent (getting the shocks rebuilt with limiters)

[moatilliatta]

You’re going to tether the suspension for droop?

Looks like some fun rides you’ve gone through.

[benwalsh91]

this looks great, i also love the 996, especially the .1

what went wrong with the rear subframe alignment? this is going to be a job for me very soon and this has now got me concerned, could you shed some more information on it?

[sasquatchola]

V nice car's you got over time ! 996 are probs my favorite porsche for sure !

I quite enjoyed the read too ! v nice updates and upgrades , the front bbk is from massive? 280mm? or it came with the car?

I love those Rs damn , you going to keep em?

thank you!

the front BBK is the massive 280mm kit. I purchased it fairly recently.

i sold the RS already and have TE37's arriving sometime this year

[QuiqueUy]

V nice car's you got over time ! 996 are probs my favorite porsche for sure !

I quite enjoyed the read too ! v nice updates and upgrades , the front bbk is from massive? 280mm? or it came with the car?

I love those Rs damn , you going to keep em?

[sasquatchola]

Some awesome cars and loving the E30 so far! Little Corolla looks like a hoot

thank you!

---

no update or anything.. just decided to snap a pic of the strap mount that Castro made and welded on for me while i was changing out the track pads to something quieter haha

it likely makes a bit more sense now as to why i purchased the angled tow hook points

[Matt@EDC]

Some awesome cars and loving the E30 so far! Little Corolla looks like a hoot

[sasquatchola]

im back with an update!

so.. my alignment.... turns out my rear subframe adjusters were a little off for the height i have the car at....

rear toe was maxed out at -0.29 and -0.09. couldnt go any more..
camber was all uneven as well. one side maxing out at -3 and the other maxing out at -2.

the guy who did the alignment plates did warn me that i shouldve gotten an alignment beforehand to figure out exactly where the plates should be welded.

it's 100% my fault....

the alignment spec i was going for was:

front:
0 toe
-3.5 camber
maxed positive caster

rear:
0.20 toe in on each side(0.40 total)
-2.5 camber

i decided to let Castro Motorsports cut and reweld the alignment plates when he did everything else

i dropped off the car at Castro for the following:

Achilles Motorsport oil pan baffle
Reinforced Front Subframe
AKG Motor Mounts
Fix rear alignment plates and perform alignment(to my provided specs)
weld on rear limiting strap brackets
reinforce rear swaybar mounts


He did it all. did the alignment, tack welded the eccentric adjusters into place and its pretty much set and done for now


remember those tow hooks that i had purchased for the rear shocks mounts? Those will be used as limiting strap mounts. The MCS rear shocks are very long for what they are. They recommended extended top hats, extended hats with spherical joints dont really exist for the e30... the next thing they recommended was a limiting strap.

i decided to go that route, as it also allows me to control rear shock travel.

i dont have any pictures of the limiting strap mounts currently since i literally just drove the car back home a few hours ago.. but that'll all come soon

as for now... i need to install a second set of brake pads that isnt so.... squeaky LOL.

here's a random pic of the first drive after i found out my alignment was whack and i had to redo everything i just did :)



ill be back with more soon!

[sasquatchola]

Took me a few sittings, but I made it through! Welcome! You have had some awesome cars. Looking forward to more e30 updates.

thanks for making it all the way through!

nice ke70

thanks! in America, we never actually got any ke70 models. all models were te72 based since they came with the 3tc, but other than some minor differences theyre the same haha

Damn... both the e30 and the Corolla are sick! I’m looking forward to the next update!

thank you!

[Joeyz31]

Damn... both the e30 and the Corolla are sick! I’m looking forward to the next update!

[BUDNUNTA]

nice ke70

[Mike36]