ScottyB's 1987 E30 RallyCross Re-Build for Mod Rear

[ScottyB]

Hi guys.

We are new to RallyCross and new to R3vlimited. We decided to give RallyCross a try. The local autocross and track events have been so much fun we had to get out on the dirt too. Through the kindness and generosity of one of our fellow Tennessee Valley Region SCCA members, a Subaru was offered up to let us drive in during the November event. After that we were hooked and started looking for a car to buy. For a while we were all sure a Miata was the ticket. I had one located and just about ready to buy when another R3vlimited forum (Gary Horneck) told us he was ready to sell his E30 that was already setup for Mod Rear. When I started to ask questions about it he began to share information then said, "Why dont you come get it and race it in the last event and you will know all you want". Again, I was humbled by the no-strings-attached generosity. Well, we couldn't pass up the offer so my son and I raced it in Mod rear at our last event of the year in Huntsville, AL. The car in action was better than any sales pitch he could have used. So, here we are the happy owners :) Of course we want to "make it our own" so we will be going through it front to back. He kept it street legal and we plan to make it a dedicated, fully prepped mod rear car. I have already been working on it for the last month but I will post some pics and bring this up to date. For now, here is how it looked on the day we bought it.

[ScottyB]

Here is the in car from our first event. The 2.7 has plenty of power. It might have been a little tail happy for my taste but the fun meter was pegged all day.

[irish44j]

Will be nice to actually see some detailed info about Gary's (now your) car. He's never showed us any of the small details in the FB group ;) lol. I'm surprised you're looking at other springs - Gary had good thing to say about the Dinans. The Dinan rate proportions were essentially what I used to pick my own (somewhat stiffer) rates.

btw, if you're on facebook, join up....it's full of e30 rallycross/rally guys from all over the world :)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/449866455034268/?ref=br_tf

[Gary Horneck]

I shared plenty... sheesh.

[snitzer]

thats a pretty wicked looking wing!

[irish44j]

I shared plenty... sheesh.

lol....it's hard to show much detail on a facebook page, that's what I meant :) Not that you had never shared anything about the car. I meant the little details (like, I didn't even know you had the gauge pod in the vents).

[ScottyB]

It wont really matter at this point because a lot is changing.


Stock wiring harness completely removed.

[ScottyB]

Condor power steering delete installed.

[ScottyB]

Oil level sensor removed and home made block off plate installed.

I also made an aluminum plate to block off the water port on the back of the cylinder head since we don't have a heater.

[ScottyB]

thats a pretty wicked looking wing!

The wing wasn't quite for me so its gone too. Not sure if I will replace it with something else or not yet. I have a 6" aluminum blade spoiler I think I could make fit but I really doubt either one would have any affect at RX speeds.

[ScottyB]

The car was 2462lbs when we first got it w/o driver. The goals over the winter are:
1. Make it as light as possible
2. Simplify it all around to make troubleshooting easy

[ScottyB]

All stripped clean. :D I have been amazed how much work it is to remove all the non-essential parts, brackets, etc.

[ScottyB]

Power steering is gone so no pump, no reservoir, no brackets, no crank pulley. I finished up the mounting of the new 5.5lb 1 wire 35A Chevy mini alternator today. It's roughly half the weight of the stock alt. I picked it up off ebay for $65 shipped. Seemed like a good deal. All I had to do was cut a spacer to snug up the bottom in the factory lower bracket and cut a piece of flat aluminum bar stock for the upper bracket. I'm pretty happy with it.

[irish44j]

Oil level sensor removed and home made block off plate installed.

I also made an aluminum plate to block off the water port on the back of the cylinder head since we don't have a heater.

Can you use the oil lever sensor port for an oil pressure sensor, or is the car already fitted with that? On the M42 they were nice enough to put two sender ports in the oil filter housing, so it can get temp and pressure from there. Don't recall that the M20 has that though.

Power steering is gone so no pump, no reservoir, no brackets, no crank pulley. I finished up the mounting of the new 5.5lb 1 wire 35A Chevy mini alternator today. It's roughly half the weight of the stock alt. I picked it up off ebay for $65 shipped. Seemed like a good deal. All I had to do was cut a spacer to snug up the bottom in the factory lower bracket and cut a piece of flat aluminum bar stock for the upper bracket. I'm pretty happy with it.

man, you're gonna have big arms....I think the few guys who PS deleted in our region ended up putting PS back in pretty quickly (and/or bitched about it constantly) :o

[irish44j]

Power steering is gone so no pump, no reservoir, no brackets, no crank pulley. I finished up the mounting of the new 5.5lb 1 wire 35A Chevy mini alternator today. It's roughly half the weight of the stock alt. I picked it up off ebay for $65 shipped. Seemed like a good deal. All I had to do was cut a spacer to snug up the bottom in the factory lower bracket and cut a piece of flat aluminum bar stock for the upper bracket. I'm pretty happy with it.

hmm...been thinking about this for some time. Got a link to the one you used? Do you plan to run full lighting, etc? 35A seems like it's gonna be tight running headlights (even the e21 stock alternator is 60A and that car had basically no power accessories).

Not sure what the ultimate plan is, but if you plan to turn the car into stage rally spec eventually you'll need it to be street-legal (and can't do things like cut out the front door panels).