Building a e30 for the 24 hours of Lemons

[LTDScott]

No pics showing up....

[bam2002]

new picts

Front adj is at its highest. So we can lower that. Rear needs some work,

http://www.imageposter.com/uploads/get/295680

http://www.imageposter.com/uploads/get/295677

http://www.imageposter.com/uploads/get/285018

[ecniv]

Regarding the slotted strut towers: We haven't made any measurements yet, but we gained a pretty significant amount of camber.

[LTDScott]

Subscribed...

We looked at doing a LeMons build with an E30 but couldn't get the numbers to work... the "$500" budget would turn into $2000 after brakes/safety, plus boatloads of hours, yet the event guarantees 100% destruction of the car. Just didn't seem worth the effort... but I still salute you guys that build these things!

No way dude. Last year I was on the Saabs Gone Wild team, and they ran the same car (well at least one of them) in three different races. The hood, bumpers, and a door needed to be replaced, but mechanically and structurally it survived just fine. And unless you drive like a douchebag or have a ridiculously overpriced car, the chances of being picked as the "peoples' curse" is very slim.

We're hoping that our car will survive to race again another day. We were hoping to enter the Vegas race in June, but it has been cancelled, so we'll probably have to store the car until the next west coast race in December.

[bam2002]

Fair, go check out the last race at Thunderhill. The cars were barely damaged. They changed the rules. No more Nerfbars. They blackflagged agressive drivers. It was like a real race.
We figure the car will be good for a few Lemmons races. And some AutoX or track days in between. Yea it wont be pretty but it will work.

We installed our suspension today. Talk about a frankenstein set up. ( on the front) We used the $40 Ebay Focus pearches, with some springs from a Nissan and machined some aluim for the top mounts. Worked out really well. On the rear we used the foucus kit with a Adjusted BMW front strut plate and some cutting. SO now we have about 2 to 3 inches of height adjustment on the car. All for about $50 in parts.,

We also slotted the tops of the front of the towers. With the smaller springs we have plenty of room. Ill have to do some measurements to see how many Deg we get.

B

[Fair!]

Subscribed...

We looked at doing a LeMons build with an E30 but couldn't get the numbers to work... the "$500" budget would turn into $2000 after brakes/safety, plus boatloads of hours, yet the event guarantees 100% destruction of the car. Just didn't seem worth the effort... but I still salute you guys that build these things!

[LTDScott]

A local alignment place here does have the tool, but the cost to get the struts bent is the same as buying some fixed additional camber strut plates!

Oh, and we got accepted into the May race! 142 entrants for about 85 open positions.

[bam2002]

Yep I saw that. THen call around to alignment places to see if any one had that tool. No luck.. we will be slotting the tops of the towers and putting in the narrower springs within the next week. ill post photos when its done.

B

[LTDScott]

NOTE: I just pulled apart a set of front struts.. Well the inserts out of the front suspension tubes. They go All the way to the bottom So I dont know how good an idea of Bending them will be, Since you would also be bending the Strut itself.

*shrug* I dunno, but it has been done before....

http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2007/11/05/race-review-saturday-pre-race-setup/

[ecniv]

We tried slotting the strut towers and... well we required some welding, and were not able to slot it much. Bending the strut housing is an option.

Heh :)

I'm curious to put it on an alignment rack and see what we gained. They're in about 1/4" from stock, which should equate to a pretty decent amount.

[bam2002]

we got a ford focus coil over kit off ebay for $40. it has adjustable perches and the narrower springs. A guy in a local club has aready used this set up on a street car.

I am hoping the spring rate is Ok. if not we can swap out the spring for HD ones ( it looks like s set of e34 rears will fit) . But the narrower spring should let us slot the towers and get some camber.

NOTE: I just pulled apart a set of front struts.. Well the inserts out of the front suspension tubes. They go All the way to the bottom So I dont know how good an idea of Bending them will be, Since you would also be bending the Strut itself.
So it looks like the upper mounts- slotting is the answer?


We should have the car drivable in 2 weeks and take it to an autox to test suspension and how the car turns.

As far as Cages go We found a lical shop that custom bend us the cage and pre cut and notched it for $300.
It did still need some trimming and more notching. But we were able to get it in and done in 7 hours.

[LTDScott]

Yeah, we plan to just rivet some metal over the hole. Our car is going to have some... things... on the roof, so we may need sheet metal for rigidity.

[TXBDan]

We also removed the sunroof and cassette. It took one person about half the day to do it. Just start going crazy w/ a cutting wheel on an angle grinder. the whole front out. the rear should pull down, its just glued. Then we cut a piece of an old road sign (nice aluminum) to a proper shape and riveted it over the hole. Worked out great.

I deleted mine and reinstalled the skinned stock panel back in place and made it look nice and perty on my track car, but this was much easier and much faster.

[LTDScott]

For the lemons race, i feel its more about dependability.. the 20 lbs wont be a huge deal. I could be wrong..

Agreed about the weight, it's not the end of the world, but my main concern was headroom. I'm 6'3" and all torso and I need as much headroom as possible. Plus we're buying an Autopower cage (they're here in San Diego and they gave me wholesale pricing) and from what I understand the cage is much easier to install without the sunroof cassette.

We tried slotting the strut towers and... well we required some welding, and were not able to slot it much. Bending the strut housing is an option.

[TXBDan]

Also, guys,

If you need a weld in cage kit, KOPerformance is doing a group buy on the Kirk cage. Its a great deal. If just one more person goes in w/ me, it'll be $550 for the cage. More people and it'll be even less!