NOR-CAL General Chat.

[Cabriolet]

E46s are such a good deal now.

Cabriolet Best Wishes, you'll love the PNW. It was hard for me to move back to CA after being up there for ~7 years. I was supposed to be there for about 4, nearly doubled that without even noticing. Good times indeed.

Thanks Simon,
It has been an interesting change. the pros and cons list is HUGE. I had never guessed it would be such a change but the not state income tax saves us >20k/yr... I could buy a M3 and crash it every 2 years and still be ahead of living in CA. No smog but no lane splitting. my job is really cool but it is hard. The weather is by far the drawback. It's rainy enough to not be safe to motorcycle every day which sucks.
We pay less per month to live in a 50% bigger place on the lake.

[betz]

I made an aluminum sleeve to sit on the lower spring perch nub, the sleeve keeps the riser pad(s) centered and allows me to stack higher than I would feel comfortable if I only had the nub. Then I made some HDPE disks to use as risers. Now that the fenders are rolled, I can lower the stack height, maybe even go back to just stacked spring pads.



I know the Z3 axles/wheel bearings come in 3 sizes (4-cyl, 6-cyl, and M), but I had no idea they came with different track widths. Can someone back that up?



This is what I what I want to avoid. It just doesn't make sense because I had this setup on my vert, but without the adjusters. On that car I had excessive camber but toe was within stock speck. Now I have corrected the camber, but the toe is in. I guess I need to sit down and think about how everything is related (TA angle, camber, & toe). Unless someone has an alignment rack I could use to experiment on?!?!?!

I'm gonna go with the 6 cyl trailing arms being the issue somehow. If you search, I see people doing Z3 1.9 full assemblies or Z3 6 cyl hubs and bearings on E30 trailing arms. But never Z3 6 cyl full assemblies. Is the toe issue on both sides of the car? If so that would point to the trailing arms I think, seeing as both sides are identical, rather than something being bent or your welds being off. Especially considering you said the same settings were fine on another car w/o Z3 trailing arms.

[McGyver]

What risers? On the subframe?

I made an aluminum sleeve to sit on the lower spring perch nub, the sleeve keeps the riser pad(s) centered and allows me to stack higher than I would feel comfortable if I only had the nub. Then I made some HDPE disks to use as risers. Now that the fenders are rolled, I can lower the stack height, maybe even go back to just stacked spring pads.

Also I think you're supposed to go with Z3 1.9 trailing arms because the six cylinder ones are too wide

I know the Z3 axles/wheel bearings come in 3 sizes (4-cyl, 6-cyl, and M), but I had no idea they came with different track widths. Can someone back that up?

If nothing else, you will have to reweld the toe adjustment further to the right (?) so you can pull it back further and dial in the toe.

This is what I what I want to avoid. It just doesn't make sense because I had this setup on my vert, but without the adjusters. On that car I had excessive camber but toe was within stock speck. Now I have corrected the camber, but the toe is in. I guess I need to sit down and think about how everything is related (TA angle, camber, & toe). Unless someone has an alignment rack I could use to experiment on?!?!?!

[betz]

What risers? On the subframe? Also I think you're supposed to go with Z3 1.9 trailing arms because the six cylinder ones are too wide.

If nothing else, you will have to reweld the toe adjustment further to the right (?) so you can pull it back further and dial in the toe.

[McGyver]

I gotta problem with excessive rear tow in.

I am on H&R Race Springs, Z3 6-cylinder trailing arms and hubs and some home-made risers to allow the old e38 Style 5's to fit (mock-up with H&R Sport springs):


I installed some adjustable TA brackets on my car, with the toe centered:


The car is at essentially stock ride height, and I have the toe fully adjusted out. Yet my rear wheels are toe'd in something stupid, making for a twitchy drive:


Will toe angle change with the angle of the trailing arm to the car? (is the trailing arm mounted square to the center-line of the car?) Would lowering the car a bit help things? Do I need to just re-weld the adjustment brackets based on the current geometry?

I'd love to make a solid model in SolidWorks to play around with the angles, but I'm not sure how to make accurate models of the rear subframe, TA, etc.

Any help would be awesome, thanks!

[dadsbmw]

Hey everyone! Does anyone want to lend me a hand in finishing up this s52 build? Shoot me a message and we can work out details!

[wworm]

e46 tourings are pretty sweet

[2mAn]

E46s are such a good deal now.

Cabriolet Best Wishes, you'll love the PNW. It was hard for me to move back to CA after being up there for ~7 years. I was supposed to be there for about 4, nearly doubled that without even noticing. Good times indeed.

[betz]

I copped a new cop. What does R3V think? Original owner 325xi touring, 135k miles, 5 speed manual, heated manual sport seats, manual climate controls, topaz blue over tan interior. $4300.

[betz]

Sorry, I meant SCCA, Sports Car Club of America. San Francisco Reigon. Event Entry is $55, weekend SCCA membership is $15, so if you're not a member it will run you $70. They do Crow's landing and Marina Airport typically. http://www.sfrautox.com/

[BlackbirdM3]

Who is SSCA? How much do they charge to run. I'd really like to do some autoXing again, but most groups are charging WAY too much to autoX.

Will

[ohthejosh]

Best wishes to you Eric. Time to boost the e30 my friend!

[Cabriolet]

Family,
The time as home and we are moving out of CA. I was born here in the south bay and really thought i was going to live here my whole life. but as times have changed it has become increasingly difficult to live here. I have accepted a job at a rocket company in Washington where we can live on 1 income and have no smog. I have been looking for the positives as it has been really hard to move from literally the best place on earth. Tank you all for the good time and don't forget your PNW brother. and forever, go ninners!

YL7A9611

[betz]

Nice, hows the stroker running?

It's been awesome ever since I figured out it runs the best on the stock ECU and stock chip somehow. Idles great, AFRs are great, WOT is bliss and has better power than ever. It passed smog again too recently.

Got the wilwoods to fit under my wheels only to realize my reman brake booster was shit the whole time. Put in a new ATE booster and the brakes are fantastic now.

Doing the autocross I realize the tires are definitely a weak spot. They're 3 year old direzza DZ102s. My suspension wasn't even getting a work out my car would just slide lol. Though it made the autocross pretty fun cus I had to counter steer through all the corners to keep it in check, which is super easy in this car. Got okish times. I'm not that fast. But it was super fun! The car is a total blast :)

[McGyver]

Just took mine to the SSCA autocross in Monterey!

Nice, hows the stroker running?