Putting Together A Weekend Racer?

[Bishop]

Bump for more input, brands for each item listed, preferences, etc. etc. etc.

[Bishop]

K, this thread isn't meant to be "help me put MY car together." This was meant, in general, what you guys think should be and would benefit from being replaced on a weekend warrior, time trials, DD, combo kind of car. You can build it to a spec class, you can pick and choose from what you want... BUT, the goal of the thread was to list wear items or what would benefit from an upgrade for track use, name some favorite brands, and where you can possibly pick them up. If you feel something is unnecessary on the car, then post that. If I'm missing something, post that. Yes, I have GC's, but not sure for how much longer. Again.... NOT SPECIFIC TO MY CAR.... If someone JUST wants to do bushings, great, here in this thread is a list of the bushings on the e30, and hopefully people will have suggestions / preferences of what type / brand and where to get em... etc.... Does that make a little more sense, or am I going to have to make a similar post later on in the thread? Not trying to be a dick lol... and yeah, there's no SE30 presence out here, so for ME... I'd probably be building for a TT car, no interest in wheel to wheel in the e30.... So a roll bar and coilovers would be checked off on MY list for MY car... YMMV

[SA E30]

I don't think there can really be a definitive list. Let's face it some peoples weekend track day warrior has more money into it than some race cars, and vica versa.

It all comes down to budget, or the willingness to spend. Case in point my rroad car/ play thing. Has AP 5000+ brakes, tubular front suspension, 240 R Comps all around, and it's it's lowered, with bump steer spacers, roll centre... etc.

Now to some that's hard core race car stuff, but for me it works perfectly on my road car. Although I must add that much of it was developed for my widebody race car.

[Bimmerman325i]

This. I was at our regional scca meeting this past week and it was brought up how people build a car then they bring them out and ask what class they belong to and the whole mess of how the car has some parts that makes it illegal for some classes etc and oftenly it ends up in a class where its non competitive. That is the completely ass backwards way to build a car. You build a car to a class to take advantage of all the rules and none that are not allowed.

That's the thing. Around here there is GTS-*, which is purely power/weight regulated, and Time Trials, which is again, mostly power/weight with some other restrictions.

Autocross here is very competitive, and mostly for shits and giggles.

[Click]

If you are going to turn the car into a "weekend racer" you should consider building the car towards a recognized class, even if you never intend to race it.

This. I was at our regional scca meeting this past week and it was brought up how people build a car then they bring them out and ask what class they belong to and the whole mess of how the car has some parts that makes it illegal for some classes etc and oftenly it ends up in a class where its non competitive. That is the completely ass backwards way to build a car. You build a car to a class to take advantage of all the rules and none that are not allowed.

[Bimmerman325i]

Just some perspective for all the posters:

there is NO SpecE30 presence out here. None. The only wheel to wheel racing out here is the occasional SpecM3, Smash Miata, and sometimes GTS-* classes. No BMWCCA. No real NASA. We have a strong Time Trials program, but there is no competitive racing out here that an E30 has any chance in. There's a higher chance of being runover by a rampaging elephant than of having a SpecE30 race or beyond 2 SE30 cars out here. There are two other SE30 cars locally that I know of, but the owners have to trailer the cars for hundreds of miles to get to a race with half decent participation. Building for SpecE30 out here is like expecting a dead horse to come back from the dead.

Also, Bishop already has GC coilovers, so ditching them and going to SE30 suspension or J-stock would be pretty dumb.

Ben, I'd do your list pretty much as you wrote it.

[Dave]

buy an already built spec car - there are a good number out there for sale.

[Invisible Saddle]

you forgot the Turner J-stock combo. I would think adding to additional information would be the
- repacking of grease in fresh wheel bearings
- wrapping your tie rod and ball joints in heat reflective material to help combat the heat put off by the brakes

[The Dough]

I just did all of that minus the motor swap in the last 2 months on jackstands (so tiring..)

also I just ditched the power steering and the AC completely..

As J Levie suggested I built the car to Spec e30 specs, minus the cage (which I dont have the money for now). Im going to DE it for a few months then race it after the cage goes in. Can't wait!

best of luck with your build and good idea for a post.. Im sure it will be helpful for many who are looking to track their e30..

[SkinnyVT]

change coolant to water+water wetter, add ignition components, electrical cutoff, oil pressure gauge + baffle/scraper

[jlevie]

If you are going to turn the car into a "weekend racer" you should consider building the car towards a recognized class, even if you never intend to race it. The advantages of doing that include a better resale value if you decide to get rid of it, the ability to directly compare lap times with racers, and the availability of "coaches" from the race community. On the west coast, Pro3 is probably the largest group with Spec E30 as the next largest group. For the rest of the country Spec E30 has the largest population.

Your list looks pretty good, though I'd say to go with a full cage rather than a roll bar, keep the stock rack, and consider the Spec E30 suspension rather than coil overs. I'd also keep the stock engine.

[geezerman402]

Haha pretty much what I'm doing. Make a toy I can drive to the track, uncomfortable as it may be.

Of the things you've listed, like sway bar mount bushings, look into upgrades, like beefy sway bars and beefy mount brackets. Might as well while you're there, if you can justify the price. Another example is the Z3 diff back, which has more fins for better cooling.

That said, no need to do everything at once.

You could also ditch the engine fan and swap in an electric fan, or if you do remove the A/C you can convert the A/C condenser fan using M3 evo 3 brackets to mount it.

As well, I believe the Z3 1.9 steering rack is the quickest BMW rack you can put into the e30. Faster than any e36 rack. But it has a lot to do with preference as well. There's also a few aftermarket options that are just as fast.

[Danny]

don't need s50.

[Bishop]

Well, the purpose of my car's going to be lapping days, school, and NASA / SCCA Time Trials. No club racing, yet. And this isn't necessarily specific to my car, just maybe prepping a car that would have similar purposes as my car since I think time trials is about as far as most people can afford to participate in.

[Click]

Do you plan to race it seriously at scca events and such or just the occasional open track day?