Pitchblack Motorsports Rally e30 318i (now with M50) - and some Porsche 924S stuff.

[irish44j]

Congrats on the class win, sounds like you had a good time!

yeah man, you need to come up to one sometime!

[irish44j]

I love this thread!

Thanks, good to know some people still following it. When nobody replies I wonder if I'm just getting too boring, lol.

[irish44j]

Back to nuts and bolts stuff, lol. Anyhow, with the rally car still on the trailer since my yard is way too wet to put the trailer away in the back without leaving muddy ruts, will let it sit for a few days and do some work on the Porsche. As previously noted the 924 is making a lot of noise from the back, which we narrowed down to a wheel bearing - Robert Pepper and myself determined it was from the right rear. He was nice enough to let me borrow all of his Porsche-specific-ish tools since he does wheel bearings often, rallying a 944. So big-ass 3/4 drive breaker bar with a big hub nut socket, a heavy slide hammer, and the 944-specific bearing press kit. I will say in advance, I have read a lot of horror stories about how much of a pain in the ass this job is, with a hub nut torqued to 350+ ft/lbs but usually requiring double that to break free, stuck bearings, etc etc.



First order of business: freeze the bearings to make them easier to put in



Then I pulled the CV axles, which on this car unbolt from both the stub axle and the diff with 12-point (triple-square) driver bolts. Thankfully I ordered triple-square set a few months back. These were gunky enough I had to wire-brush and clean them heavily just to get the driver into the holes. Cleaned all this stuff further once off the car.

After that, I easily pulled the hubs with the slide hammer (btw, decided to do both sides at once). Then I broke my "heavy-duty" spring clip wrench on the second hub, after successfully getting these big spring clips out. Had to run to the local autozone to get a replacement, doh. After that, was able to press the right side bearing out intact....though (by hand) it felt smooth, lots of indications that it was anything but good..







The left side bearing didn't come out as one piece, leaving an inner race on the hub. Without a bearing separator handy, I dremeled it down, hit it a couple times with a chisel, and managed to pop it off with little effort. This bearing looked bad too, and the outer section definitely had some crunchiness to it, so seems both sides were bad - though the non-matched grease suggests to me that they've been done at least once before - I guess not surprising for a 30-year-old car.waffles





After that, used some emory cloth to clean up everything, and pressed new bearings in with little issue, pulled the hubs back in, re-installed the CV axles, cleaned up the brake rotors (repainted the rotor hubs), and adjusted the ebrake, which had never worked very well.waffles





All in all, about a 4-hour job working at a leisurely pace and being careful. Not bad for the first time on this car. Since the trailer is currently blocking my garage I couldn't test drive it today, but pretty confident that the noise was these awful bearings. So, hope that was enough excitement for you!

[irish44j]

Sandblast Rally 2018~

This isn't really an event we want to do in our 2WD low-power car, due to the deep sand that is brutal on drivetrain. So instead, I headed down to crew for Adam Moore's Zero car (the course-opening care), since they had no crew. I hadn't previously been to Sandblast and wanted to check it out so it was a good time to head down. So I packed up the Sequoia and headed south to Cheraw, SC.

On the way I made a stop to visit my sister and also fellow DC rallycrosser Neil Cox, had a few beers and checked out their progress on their rallycross e30 and Neil's 1970 volvo wagon



Got down to Cheraw on Friday morning and we immediately did some work to get the car fully prepped. Zero car is extra important that it not break or crash since it has to open each stage for competition. This is Adam's street/rallycross car (no cage, etc) since course cars cannot have full cages (to discourage drivers from going full-out on course).



Also got to run the practice stage in the Sequoia, heading out to help tow a stuck truck out of the stage. Driving a big truck (fully loaded) at decent speed in this stuff was an adventure





The next morning, due to the complicatoins of running a rally, navigator-extraordinaire Matt Rhoades had to do some organizational and steward work, so for the first two stages I got to jump in with Jeff (I forget his last name), a long-time rallyist running the fast sweep vehicle (the first non-competition car after the racers, meant to see who is off course, help people, etc). Jeff has been rallying since the 1980s in everything from Datsun 510s to Mazda RX-2s to Shelby Chargers, so he can drive. On this day, we were in his first-generation Grand-Cherokee, running in 2WD, and he liked to use the ebrake a lot. I'm pretty sure he was runnign the course faster than many of the actual rally cars....we did a lot of sideways action, bouncing through ruts, and some seriously hard hits – enough that we broke the HAM radio antenna off the roof! I got to call tulips (directional notes) for him, which is new to me since I'm usually on the other side of the car.





After that, headed to the service area to do some crewing for Zero – which thankfully didn't break any thing or crash, so it was a pretty relaxing day.



Not the case for many other competitiors though. Sandblast is BRUTAL on cars....huge sand-ruts, wildly changing surfaces, and hard on the cars. Of the 40-something cars that started I think only about 15 actually finished every stage. There were several rollovers (including Seamus Burke's beautiful $$$$$$$$ Mk2 Escort that often wins rallies and Sergei Grishin's Impreza, which is not too unusual). Lots of blown transmisisons and other issues as well.



Gary DeMasi hit a tree head-on just a mile into the first stage, ending his day early (Gary's photo, by the way)



In the end, just finishing was a good chance at getting a podium spot – proven in the 2WD light class, where a first-time rallyist in a Honda Fit took 3rd in class by driving clean and not breaking.



And there was much celebration





All told, a good time. Still dont' think we'll do this one unless I have a spare engine to swap in, lol....seems like my car would be awful in these conditions. Anyhow, here's some more pics of stuff...\

You all may recognize “The Chief” - Chris Nonack's service/crew/tow rig there with mine. Chris was there as the lone crew member for the 3rd place Fit team, teaching them his tricks.



Cool stuff that was there













McNamara's signature move


Yes, this is a former 24 Hours of LeMons car....and it finished the entire rally!

[econti]

I didn't think you guys really had any mk1/2 Escorts there at all. Shame it got lidded, but can be repaired at least

[irish44j]

I didn't think you guys really had any mk1/2 Escorts there at all. Shame it got lidded, but can be repaired at least

All owned by Irish expats who have lots of expendable income, from what I can tell. I believe both of those are actually "shells in white" - brand new reproduction shells built from scratch as rally cars in recent years - not actual vintage Mk 1/2 escorts. Word is that the green and white one is a $200,000 build. And I've seen the brakes and suspension on it and don't doubt it for a second. Its shocks alone cost more than my entire rally e30....

[irish44j]

I'm a bit behind on this thread. So skipping a few things that are in my Grassroots Motorsports carbon-copy - so jump over there if you want to see what boring things I've been up to. Getting back up to the present and recent stuff:

So some updating.

First, a quick project. Trying to get some old tint off my lexanwafflesrear windows, I pretty much ruined them. That adhesive is a bitch, and as I increasingly got frustrated and used stronger and stronger solvents, I found out that Toluene pretty much MELTS lexan, and I totally ruined one window. So time to make some new ones. I've been meaning to do this for a while anyhow since I don't like the two pop-out vents and I want to do some different airflow options, so off to ebay to get some Lexan (well, actually Makrolan, but it's essentially the same).

all cloudy...



making and installing the new stuff....



masking and painting the edgeswaffles



new rivets



reinstalled one of the pop-out vents. IN the upper area I'm going to put in some NACA vents for better airflow on transits and road trips..



After those were on, I had to make new names and stuff, so out came the vinyl cutter. While I was doing that, also cut some new warning stickers (electrical, fire extinguisher, etc) and tow decals for the bumpers (which I repainted). Been a while since I did any cosmetic work on the car lol.

[irish44j]

FINALLY GOT TO RALLYCROSS this season....After missing the season's first event due to being in Vietnam (as well as two other local events), last weekend's second event almost didn't happen, thanks to the weather. After like 8 dry days, it decided to rain heavy the night before our event at Summit Point Motorsports Park. As you may recall from way way back in this thread, Summit is red clay surface and when it gets wet, it is some nasty, slippery stuff! But with other things stacking up behind the event (SOFR, STPR, and other rallycrosses) the organizers made the decision to give it a go.waffles

Now historically in rallycrosswafflesmuddy events haven't been my strong suit, but with now three years straight of dealing with slippery conditions at WMWR (including this year), I'm starting to get more comfortable when it gets "slippy."waffles

I had plans in Richmond (2 hours south of me) on Saturday night and drove down to meet some friends for a concert, which luckily ended fairly early. Then rolledwaffles back up to DC to get a few hours of sleep. I had already decided to just tow up there (which turned out to be a good idea due to all the mud on everything after the day), so jumped in the rig and hauled up.





The day started dry, and I helped set up the morning course, a tight/technical course that would have been great for my car and my driving style. As luck would have it, the rain started and that course got torn up too badly during the first run group to actually run any longer, so we built a second course on a different plot of land, which proved to be somewhat better (though MUCH faster and wide-open).







The MR class, as usual, was ultra-competitive with 15+ drivers registered - most of the regulars plus some new people and a few out of town fast movers. Dirty Industries (Eric and Neil) coudlnt' make it, and neither could Josh Sennett, so that was some of the top guys gone. However, Bee Thao was there in his turbo Miata, Amanda in her and Jim's new Miatawaffles(formerly Jason's), Chris and Stephen in their 325, the MR2 guys were there with their many MF and SA championships in the past, and several other e30s and miatas, plus Nick in the M3 (who won the first event). Many of the cars had full sets of Maxsport mud tires on, but I only had a pair - so they went on the back and I ran some DMack gravels up front due to the sharp side shoulders that I hoped owuld help with steering bite.waffles

It was really, really muddy...





other competitors...







seriously, people were even getting stuck in grid...





I decided to go hard right out of the gate and hope I could hold the lines and get a lead. And I did.....got a few cones on places I couldnt' make turns, but my time was the fastest in the class other than Bee, who put up a similar time. The rest of the class was over 10 second behind, as I recall, after one run! Second run went out hard again and more good results (but a couple more cones too). After that one Bee and I were 6/10ths of a second apart. Unfortunately, due to conditions and the 70 cars out there, we were destined to only get three runs. At least they told us in advance, so Bee and I knew to both go hard on the last run, with nobody else even close it was our event to win or lose. I ran fast and clean and put the pressure on Bee, who was several cars behind me and saw the time. Made one big mistake but mitigated the damage with a good recovery. Bee went out faster than I did (by this point it was so slick we had to have push starts from spectators and other competitors!), but he made a mistake in the same place I did and much worse, losing a ton of time. In the end, pulled off the win by a healthy margin!





Subarus lost several bumpers, as usual..



We also did some fun runs in the mud, hitting all the giant puddle/lakes that were coned off for the competitions runs - so hopefully Steven Philips got some good photos :)

After pulling about 20lbs of clay ouf of my wheelwells I packed up and rolled out. Feels good to get a win under my belt early in the season. Even better, the top threat guys were either not present or didn't do well at all (Nick finished 12th!) so it's going to be a points shootout all season I think. Next event it at the big, open Panthera training center where the power cars really dominated the first event. So we'll have to see what I can do there in a few weeks.



Also, cleaning up took a long time when I got home...

[econti]

I can imagine that would have been the best fun you can have

[irish44j]

I mean, it's fun. But going fast is more fun :)

[irish44j]

Another little thing I've been meaning to do for a while. This isn't for use DURING rally/rallycross, but the car is pretty hot during long transits on summer rallies, and I also drive it to some rallycrosses and around town. With only front windows able to be rolled down, the car gets pretty hot. The little pop-out vents I had before pretty much did nothing, so decided to take it up a notch:

Got some 3" NACAwafflesducts from my man Carlos at Condor Speed Shop and installed







I plan to make a plate on the cage crossbar to allow us to run some neoprene ducting to between the front seats, with some kind of remote block-off plate (haven't designed it yet). In the meantime, need to prevent rain from getting in (and will want to stop dust/mud from getting in at rally/rallycross), so I found a cheap solution: 4" foam baseballs from Target. They push right in and stay securely.



I have since added a piece of thin rope through the middle which is tied to the inside of the door so if they fall out they won't go anywhere...

[formyhealth]

I like the idea of the naca ducts, clever solution to keep the wet out too!

[ForcedFirebird]

Been to countless track events and seen things like tennis balls, racquet balls, balaclavae, socks and tee shirts etc stuffed in naca ducts. But I must say this is the first baseball. Lol. Quite a clever idea using the string.

[irish44j]

Been to countless track events and seen things like tennis balls, racquet balls, balaclavae, socks and tee shirts etc stuffed in naca ducts. But I must say this is the first baseball. Lol. Quite a clever idea using the string.

I'd love to take credit, but someone on Grassroots Motorsports suggested it :)

[irish44j]

With the wife and girls at the beach for a few weeks (their vacation), I get my own vacation, mostly consisting of visiting friends, hanging out, doing road trips, rallying, and working in the garage until all hours of the night. This is the perfect opportunity to get going on a project I've been thinking of for a while: Dash re-do.

So, into the garage goes the car, after much washing and scrubbing of Summit Point clay...



Shoulda just left it outside for another day...



Since I first built the car, the original dash has slowly become a mess of sloppy wiring, mounts, buttons, and switches mounted wherever I could easily attach them, and just general disorganization and crappy arrangement. So time to fix that.

First order of business was to pull the nice-condition (a few cracks) dash from the parts car in the shed. And pulling the old crappy one out of the rally car.



My plan here is to change things a bit by chopping the dash at the edge of the center console. With the stock dash, Jim was really getting jammed up with stuff in the way, and had to mount literally everything on the A-pillar posts, which made getting in and out of the car harder, since the OEM dash has basically noplace to easily attach anything.

The second part of this plan is to install a dash bar for the cage. Rally doesn't require it, and due to time constraints when we built the cage we didn't put one in. But in the interest of safety, I want to add one. The other upside is that the exposed bar on the passenger side will allow Jim to mount his stuff at the bar, which will make things easier for him.

Once out, the scope of the 33-year-old wiring mess is apparent...will do a lot of cleaning up, rewiring stuff, and organizing. Luckily most of the nonessential wires are already gone since I thinned them out years ago. So, on to detaching stuff and labeling wires and such. Will also clean all the grounds and add some more grounds.







Taking a break from that, I made the cuts on the dash (including a cutout for the cage on the driver's side) and then mixed some black and gray flock and flocked the whole thing.

I had also been working on some designs for the center stack to make it more useful and less totally-ghetto. So, after making cardboard templates, got some aluminum sheet and started cutting, sawing, and drilling.







And here's what I came out with:



Oh, I also made a new gauge cluster blanking plate and moved the warning lights to someplace I can actually SEE them.....



I wanted to move the window switches back to the middle of the car, and add some more toggle switches for current and future stuff. I have some on the way courtesy of ebay. Also made new places for power outlets, the KILL switch, and a few other things. And goofed around with my new phone (Pixel 2), which should hopefully provide you all with far better action pics than in the past!



Continued to do wiring stuff, then decided this would all be easier with the windshield out, so I pulled that out too.





So, I have about 2 weeks to finish all this and get the car back on the road for the next rallycross. This weekend I should have time to make some progress and next weekend me and Jim are heading up to STPR to hang out and crew for Dan Downey and whatever other friends who are rallying that we can help out.