BNC's E30

[Bruce Colby]

So true. Hey Bruce, Terry M. from arosc.org is one of my customers, we had a long convo about e30's and I've been planning to get min done and ot to a weekend with all the guys. I take care of those mr2's he runs around in.

Go for it ... get it done and come on out! But don't underestimate the Mister 2's. Terry & Bev hustle them around pretty well.

[Farbin Kaiber]

It's always possible to go faster by applying more $$$$ in the proper places!

So true. Hey Bruce, Terry M. from arosc.org is one of my customers, we had a long convo about e30's and I've been planning to get min done and ot to a weekend with all the guys. I take care of those mr2's he runs around in.

[SA E30]

I've been giving the rear valance a load of thought, I've even cut it up already (the steel valance has been chopped up as much as possible, and the FB M-Tech 2 one has had a cut out made in it.

I haven't been able to get my metals bent up yet, for the rear diffuser that will go in place... For now it's just there so I dont have a gaping hole in the rear, as it's not that affective without the Fullbody under tray (which will only come later once the car is up and running)

I dont see it being a big issue to get a diffuser mounted up, I'm going to be mounting it to the trunk floor via threaded rods, it will be as the same height as the bottom of the diff, running upwards to the valance cut out, the fins will be 14cm long (only 6cm long if keeping the horizonal with the ground.

What it will do for aero, I'm not sure, but I know it will eliminate the parachute in the rear.

[rwh11385]

I wasn't sure if the M3 was one in the same or not. Like how it has come along. I enjoyed it when we gave me a few times around Putnam in it before I was able to track myself (ROS 2005 - bushings failed tech).

Oops, didn't know you did most the wrench work on the SE30. I just know his cars are neither strangers to bad luck nor Zionsville. My home is not more than 2 miles from him and both of us trust Rick as the good local indie shop.

[Elephant]

I haven't seen the car period, and always heard it was still there getting a cage or what-all. It's BACK?! I need to drop by for an inspection so I won't be surprised to see her.

Now that I think about it, the M3 pretty much lived there too.

I built the car, not Vaughn. Well, I don't do roll cage fabrication I have that done exclusively by Mark McMahan but I designed the cage. I did most of the construction/reconstruction and prep and then Vaughn did some finish work and some of maintenance/stuff over the summer. Simon lives quite aways from me so it's not so convenient for me to do all of it since the car would then have to be here mostly.

Unfortunately at NASA Nationals Simon was involved in a sorta nasty incident that took out the right front pretty good. We thrashed on it pretty late into the eve and got it back up and running pretty good. Had to set the camber plates at the full out position and that took us back to just over 3deg negative...the impact had tweaked things enough to put it at over 6. Ouch.

Anyway, he started dead last in the Champ race and finished 4th. A great finish but a pretty tough weekend. Simon does still hold the SpecE30 lap record at Mid Ohio....set on Toyo's with 15 heat cycles on them. ; ) And we haven't done anything to the motor yet.....

Oh, and the M3 is mine now. ; )

[rwh11385]

You mean after the rear end alignment? It's still there from Nats waiting to be fixed. What a pisser that was. Oh well, that's racing.

I haven't seen the car period, and always heard it was still there getting a cage or what-all. It's BACK?! I need to drop by for an inspection so I won't be surprised to see her.

Now that I think about it, the M3 pretty much lived there too.

[Elephant]

Is this a trick question? I never heard of a car similar to an E30 which was quicker based solely on where or how the springs were mounted. Being able to tune the suspension setup easily is useful but once set, I'd be very surprised if there was a significant difference. Perhaps one arrangement has a bit more/less total, and/or unsprung weight but I suspect this is a fairly minor issue in terms of the big picture.

Well, there is a performance factor to it. In addition to the things already mentioned the effectiveness of the spring is improved. When the spring is inboard it moves more in an arc with the TA. When it's outboard over the damper it moves much more linearly.

Additionally, from a roll cage standpoint it's much easier to tie in the rear shock tower with both damper/spring loads at the same point vs the spring, the large majority of it, in a different location.

These may not all be large differences but then it's adding up a bunch of small differences that makes a big difference! ; )

[Elephant]

Simon's car looks hot, and good to see it out of Vaughn's.

You mean after the rear end alignment? It's still there from Nats waiting to be fixed. What a pisser that was. Oh well, that's racing.

[E-Thirty]

It's not a trick question, I'm just curious.:p

[Bruce Colby]

What about performance wise?

Is this a trick question? I never heard of a car similar to an E30 which was quicker based solely on where or how the springs were mounted. Being able to tune the suspension setup easily is useful but once set, I'd be very surprised if there was a significant difference. Perhaps one arrangement has a bit more/less total, and/or unsprung weight but I suspect this is a fairly minor issue in terms of the big picture.

[E-Thirty]

What about performance wise?

[Bruce Colby]

Can you explain in your experience, the benefits of a rear coil over set up?

They're light weight, they make it easy to set rear ride height and adjust cross corner balance, they make changing springs very easy and they were on the car when I bought it. I've seen other ways of achieving all the things coilovers provide except perhaps having access to an abundance of inexpensive springs. Some of the alternatives look a bit contrived to me but perhaps they're necessary in order to get around a classification issue. A potential disadvantage to coilovers is that there is so much flexibility, it might be easy to get things all wrong.

[E-Thirty]

Can you explain in your experience, the benefits of a rear coil over set up?

[pedal2metal]

The car, however, is intended for racing so I doubt it'll ever be highly competitive at autox.

Make no mistake, At the SD autox's that I've seen Bruce run, this car performs very well in the parking lot. And when he says Gutted, think...cage, seat, harness, steering colum/wheel and pedals, thats it! Oh yeah, I think he has a mirror too.

[Bruce Colby]

... What kinda brake setup you running?

I use stock E30 brake calipers. The dust shields have been removed and the front air ducts redirected a bit for improved (I hope) cooling. When I got the car, it had drilled rotors front and rear. The rears are holding up OK but one of the fronts cracked after two races. Because the other front rotor showed signs of crack propagation from the holes, I went to solid (stock) front rotors. After 3 races, they're still in good condition. Pads are Porterfield R-4.

To be honest, I not too impressed with E30 front brakes. The pads are a pain to change and the sweep area seems small. My last race car, a '65 Alfa Romeo Sprint GT, used stock (ATE) brakes. The fronts had about 50% more sweep area per lb of car than the E30 and I could change pads in a few minutes even when they were hot. Interestingly, the rears are about the same in terms of sweep area but pad changes are still a pain in comparison.