"Our" LeMons e30

[Nygdup]

yeah, we know who you are :)

Jim has talked about your car, and I posted in your thread a couple times.

Because we're e-famous..! duh.

[kronus]

nice lemons e30! it'll never be that clean again...

here's ours from this last Sunday:

[JGood]

oh, for a second I thought you meant you were in that v8-swapped 242 that was blowing everyone away in the straights, lol.

this you?

That's us! That other v8 volvo is nuts, lol. We spent 75% of the weekend in the pits. I'm going to have a hand in rebuilding the car over the winter, so we hopefully stay out all weekend next year.

What was your teams best lap time? I did a 1:57.1, I saw some of the e30's were in the 1:47's. Pretty crazy, I was running 1:47's when I was doing time trials a few years back with a well prepped spec e30 on r-comps. I don't know how these $500 cars are doing it...

[irish44j]

Getting Chump to pay attention to their own rules is hit and miss. One day they penalize you, the next they let an E36 328i run with no penalty laps. Go figure.

We have a whole thread here, but just in case you missed us... John Allen Special ChumpCar:

yeah, we know who you are :)

Jim has talked about your car, and I posted in your thread a couple times.

[irish44j]

I was at Capital Offense in a white & blue Volvo 240. I remember seeing this car several times while on track. I could see that satellite dish from miles away, lol! That car is definitely quick! Well, compared to ours at least. Nothing like an ETA making a 90whp Volvo feel slow...

oh, for a second I thought you meant you were in that v8-swapped 242 that was blowing everyone away in the straights, lol.

this you?

[imprttuner88]

Getting Chump to pay attention to their own rules is hit and miss. One day they penalize you, the next they let an E36 328i run with no penalty laps. Go figure.

Rumor has it that the Tech inspector was using an outdated set of rules sheets and that one luckily scraped by. I too thought it was some crap for that car to have been allowed to run without any penalties.


We are hoping to hit the tracks in ours in 2014, she is a bit rough around the edges and we affectionately refer to her as "Dawg"

[Nygdup]

Getting Chump to pay attention to their own rules is hit and miss. One day they penalize you, the next they let an E36 328i run with no penalty laps. Go figure.

We have a whole thread here, but just in case you missed us... John Allen Special ChumpCar:

[JGood]

I was at Capital Offense in a white & blue Volvo 240. I remember seeing this car several times while on track. I could see that satellite dish from miles away, lol! That car is definitely quick! Well, compared to ours at least. Nothing like an ETA making a 90whp Volvo feel slow...

[roguetoaster]

Sounds good.

I don't have $135 in my AIV to accommodate even the minimum charges for shocks and springs, and it seems to me that Spec E30 grade parts would get dinged additionally, but that's my impression of the rules, seeing as I actually haven't teched a car with that level of modification.

I was going to fab some bushings because I can do it inexpensively. We were dinged $10 for using some poly FCABs I had on the shelf, so I think I could take a $20 TCV hit for offset delrin FCABs and aluminum subframe mounts made using material we already have lying around.

I haven't looked too closely, but all of the chump/lemons E30s I've seen with significant camber have been running plates, since they seem to want to put strut mounting holes where the big circle in the strut tower is. I suspect spinning around the strut mount and redrill/slotting holes might also work.

Thanks. Everyone should have a rally car.

Well, I am sure we could be persuaded to sell some of our AIV docs for the right price. Or just troll CL as I do.

If Chump is following their rules any non stock bushing (one or the whole cars worth) should be a $75 addition to AIV IIRC.

[spoth]

Sounds good.

I don't have $135 in my AIV to accommodate even the minimum charges for shocks and springs, and it seems to me that Spec E30 grade parts would get dinged additionally, but that's my impression of the rules, seeing as I actually haven't teched a car with that level of modification.

I was going to fab some bushings because I can do it inexpensively. We were dinged $10 for using some poly FCABs I had on the shelf, so I think I could take a $20 TCV hit for offset delrin FCABs and aluminum subframe mounts made using material we already have lying around.

I haven't looked too closely, but all of the chump/lemons E30s I've seen with significant camber have been running plates, since they seem to want to put strut mounting holes where the big circle in the strut tower is. I suspect spinning around the strut mount and redrill/slotting holes might also work.

Thanks. Everyone should have a rally car.

[roguetoaster]

roguetoaster, hopefully I at least said hi to someone on your team (I do remember stopping by the 318 car, not sure if there was anyone there to talk to). I tried to get around and help out or at least introduce myself to most of the E30 teams there, but you know how it goes in the paddock.

I've spent the last three months or so working almost full time on the car, and we broke some semi major stuff at Shenandoah, so we're going to take some time off from actual racing in the short term. My plans are to fabricate some bushings and camber plates, and rebuild the diff, and run the car at some trackdays to give us all the opportunity to concentrate on getting faster or figuring out how to make the car faster, rather than driving in the mirrors and avoiding smashing things. (We are all rookie road racers at this point)

I'm resistant to all swaps at this point, mainly because there's a lot of room to improve in areas that aren't the car. We typically keep running hour stints since I still don't trust the car, and we run a lot of drivers so I want to make sure everyone at least has a shot. Our pitting and driver changes could also use improvement. Most importantly, we aren't particularly good drivers. We actually already have an M20B25, but I'm open to an M42 swap. Mainly, I'm waiting to see what happens with the Chump rules for next season before committing to any major mechanical project.

We had fuel starvation after 5 gallons used at WGI, but that was just the in-tank pump not working. We swapped to for a good-looking junkyard one for Capitol Offense, and we ended up running it down to 4 gallons left or so after my day-ending two hour stint there with no issues, so I'm shelving any immediate plans to mess with fuel delivery. Long term plan is to swap in a 63L (we have an '87 with a 55L) tank with the auxillary pump roguetoaster described for added longevity. The Overengineer'd guys at capitol offense ran a 63L tank with an M42 and were doing three hour stints. Crazy.

I'd also like to use this summer break to come up with a team name, but I really suck at that kind of thing.

No idea who stopped by, at the Glen, we were mostly holed up in the trailer. But if you are at future Chump races where we are stop by anytime and say hi.

As far as car mods we are running H&R race springs, Bilstein Sports, and PFC pads and the tank upgrade. I would suggest going with stock bushings to keep the AIV and costs down as there is really no real advantage to doing anything else suspension/driveline wise. As far as camber plates I thought it was possible to reorient the stock strut mounts and add negative camber.

Good luck getting better and see you at another event or maybe rally-x, if I ever get another GTI or another ugly E30.

[spoth]

Fair enough. Our rallycross skills are very handy when we're drifting the car, four wheels off, or having a little too much fun in the paddock.

Still, driving is driving, and I think part of the reason we have been turning out decent laps is rally/auto-cross experience.

[irish44j]

Most importantly, we aren't particularly good drivers when we are driving on tarmac, as opposed to dirt and grass. .

Edited. Hey, let's be at least a little fair to ourselves. The drivers on this team have collectively won about half of the top class finishes in two rallycross classes this season, and all of us are near the top of the standings (including you, if you go to all the events!) :D

[spoth]

Wow, you guys work fast. I don't post much since I've only really been working on E30s seriously for about a year now. I don't think I have enough experience to provide much value here.

Anyway, here's the car as raced at WGI:



And yes, that is positive camber in the rear. As Josh said, not particularly memorable, although I can guarantee you had a fun time passing us.

roguetoaster, hopefully I at least said hi to someone on your team (I do remember stopping by the 318 car, not sure if there was anyone there to talk to). I tried to get around and help out or at least introduce myself to most of the E30 teams there, but you know how it goes in the paddock.

I've spent the last three months or so working almost full time on the car, and we broke some semi major stuff at Shenandoah, so we're going to take some time off from actual racing in the short term. My plans are to fabricate some bushings and camber plates, and rebuild the diff, and run the car at some trackdays to give us all the opportunity to concentrate on getting faster or figuring out how to make the car faster, rather than driving in the mirrors and avoiding smashing things. (We are all rookie road racers at this point)

I'm resistant to all swaps at this point, mainly because there's a lot of room to improve in areas that aren't the car. We typically keep running hour stints since I still don't trust the car, and we run a lot of drivers so I want to make sure everyone at least has a shot. Our pitting and driver changes could also use improvement. Most importantly, we aren't particularly good drivers. We actually already have an M20B25, but I'm open to an M42 swap. Mainly, I'm waiting to see what happens with the Chump rules for next season before committing to any major mechanical project.

We had fuel starvation after 5 gallons used at WGI, but that was just the in-tank pump not working. We swapped to for a good-looking junkyard one for Capitol Offense, and we ended up running it down to 4 gallons left or so after my day-ending two hour stint there with no issues, so I'm shelving any immediate plans to mess with fuel delivery. Long term plan is to swap in a 63L (we have an '87 with a 55L) tank with the auxillary pump roguetoaster described for added longevity. The Overengineer'd guys at capitol offense ran a 63L tank with an M42 and were doing three hour stints. Crazy.

I'd also like to use this summer break to come up with a team name, but I really suck at that kind of thing.

[irish44j]

I think it was just one of the things that we didn't get around to doing before raceday. The plan (TMK) is to pull the tank and clean up/improve the whole system at some point.