BFG Rivals + big radiator + old engine mounts + Hawk pads = oops

[funcrew]

I killed my radiator today at an autocross in St George UT. The Rivals brake HARD, and my fan crashed into my radiator. It's an oversize radiator about the thickness of a Mishimoto, so there's less wiggle room to work with. St George is a nice enough town, but the airport has no rental cars in stock and Autozone has no E30 radiator, so I'm going to spend all weekend getting to LV to source parts and back to St George for repairs.

So for all you weekend warriors, if you are installing a thicker radiator, you might want to replace and/or upgrade your engine mounts at the same time, or run an electric fan.

[ak-]

Nutty.

Did you ask Vatozone if they have e36 rads in stock considering they are the same??

[S14pwrdE30]

Went through all this not too long ago (RE-11A, not BFGs for me). Luckily for me, the fan didn't puncture the radiator, it just rubbed it a bit. I did shear the top off both motor mounts, though.

[iwantspeed]

i broke 2 sets of new rubber engine mounts.

i have been on condor speed shop engine and trans mounts for the last 4 years, no more smashed clutch fans and radiators.

[funcrew]

i broke 2 sets of new rubber engine mounts.

i have been on condor speed shop engine and trans mounts for the last 4 years, no more smashed clutch fans and radiators.

Sweet. I'll pick up a set of those. Is the increase in noise/vibration noticeable?

[my_bmw_sucks]

Is the increase in noise/vibration noticeable?

LOL. Just a tad bit (add a big dose of sarcasm).

[tinkerputzer]

Engine and trans mounts should be maintenance items. If they're originals and haven't failed yet, they will. Fresh stock mounts, not cheapos, are probably fine for most applications.

I've had vac e30 sport mounts with stock trans mounts since i installed my 3.1L m20 2 years ago and have had no issues. Autocross 1-2 times per month. No increase in nvh.

http://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac---e30-6-cyl-sport-engine-mounts-p2092.aspx

Also, 14, make sure you have it. It prevents the engine and trans from shifting foreward under hard braking.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1113&mospid=47309&btnr=11_0073&hg=11&fg=10

[kingston]

Motor mounts won't add much NVH. Transmission mounts, on the other hand...holy wow/ My car isn't twice as loud with them. It's like 5x as loud. No interior, tho. ;)

[91Saleen#15]

Paul, I saw your car was having problems, but by the time I got there you had moved it out of the grid. Didn't know it was incapacitated. You probably didn't recognized me. I wasn't running my black e30 with the wing. I had a maroon e36 with corvette wheels.

I had to go back to Vegas that night in my truck, I could have pulled you on a u-haul tow dolly.

[iwantspeed]

Sweet. I'll pick up a set of those. Is the increase in noise/vibration noticeable?

Lots and lots of noise

[bubbajan21]

If you haven't picked up a new rad yet;

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=334505

[funcrew]

Paul, I saw your car was having problems, but by the time I got there you had moved it out of the grid. Didn't know it was incapacitated. You probably didn't recognized me. I wasn't running my black e30 with the wing. I had a maroon e36 with corvette wheels.

I had to go back to Vegas that night in my truck, I could have pulled you on a u-haul tow dolly.

Richard, it's Tim. I bought Paul's white convertible for my son Jack to get to college classes in. We said Hi to you on Saturday. We took the St George Shuttle into Vegas Sunday morning, picked up a spare radiator in my garage (none stocked in St George), drove my wife's car back to St George, and fixed the BMW enough to limp it back home on Sunday.

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I'll post up photos of the carnage in a couple days. Trans mounts were also completely sheared/shredded. One lower radiator mount was also gone.