BMW specs

NoCoast Wrote:
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> I can't explain it, but there is something I
> intrinsically do not like about the E30s though.
> Bill Caswell's that he entered Ojibwe and Rally
> Colorado in he bought built for $500.
>

I wound up randomly crewing for Bill's E30 318i at Ojibwe after Paul attacked a boulder on the practice stage.

While I was a little too amused at the situation to ask him a whole lot about the car, I do have some 2nd hand info on his fairly basic setup. Like Grant said, it was a $500 craigslist special he bought a few weeks before the event, and he built the cage and everything himself. For suspension, he was running Bilstien HDs with Ground Control coilovers and top hats. He was running some Eibach 2.5"ID springs... he had a dozen or so different springs with varying length and rates in the service van from road racing. I didn't ask directly, but I'm pretty sure the rates were close to the 2x rule. He had massive open class tires on that thing, so I'm sure it was just skating over the gravel anyway. At the first service I dropped his pressures down from 42psi, and he said the car handled a bit better after that ;-)

I was impressed with how the car held up with so little prep. It finished it's first rally without even a skidplate, or a working odometer! And from looking at Colorado's results, he finished quite well there despite the little motor hemorrhaging oil. He said he has some plans for an S14 motor and some fancy-pants 6-speed.... it will be quite the terror with power.

The non-pretty E30 shells are getting quite cheap these days, so it'd be easy to accumlate some parts cars and make it a fairly viable RWD option.

-Matt

Some tame links on my efforts...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/sunset-bowl-seattle

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/346126_sunset05.html
http://www.myballard.com/2009/04/27/building-replacing-sunset-bowl-gets-green-light/

Typically it is easy to dislike people you do not know or understand,now that I have meet with local groups I am now on good terms with the community and we are working together for the common good in the area.

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In the long run reality always wins.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2009 05:59PM by derek.

NoCoast Wrote:
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> This site claims it's different.
>
>
> From what I've seen in pics, looks like the E36
> has multilink rear instead of the semi-trailing
> arm style on the E30 and Z3 coupe things.
>

The E36 318ti is basically the same rear as a E30. They couldn't fit the spare tire and the fuel tank under the car with the multilink stuff in the way.

One of my friends is involved with road racing a E30 and the shop where he does his work also races E36s, and according to what he's seen, it LOOKS LIKE the shells are similar enough that you can swap suspension from one generation to the other. And that it looks like the weirdball one-off-for-everything E30 M3 front suspension was just a preview of the E36, so maybe you can put together a home grown E30 M3 by junkyarding parts from an E36.

Lots of "I think" and "maybe" and "he said" because I haven't done it myself, and if I haven't done it myself then I don't know for sure and I won't say definitively. I know this is against Internet Regulation where hearsay turns into hardcore proven fact but there you have it.

My next car will probably be an E30, given how rare/expensive RX-7s are getting, so I'll have this firsthand knowledge someday, hopefully not very soon...

---

Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2009 07:17PM by Pete.

derek Wrote:
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> Some tame links on my efforts...
> Typically it is easy to dislike people you do not
> know or understand,now that I have meet with local
> groups I am now on good terms with the community
> and we are working together for the common good in
> the area.
>
>
> See me go at:
> www.11tenths.com
> In the long run Reality always wins.

> Edited 1 times. Last edit at Oct 1, 2009 by
> derek.

Wow that's you Derek... sad to see Sunset go though. You breaking ground any time soon, I drive by it everyday and with all the graffiti and general disrepair - it looks really bad

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-Jason

NoCoast Wrote:
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> Then again, it doesn't have that strange devoted
> following that VW's somehow have.
>

Oh, you wanna make a bet?

Dazed_Driver Wrote:
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> By the way, is anyone going to answer Miller's
> question? Or just keep going off on tangents?
>


Miller had a question?

yes I had a question about Build specs, spring rates and alignment specs, thanks anyway. I Received the info from a BMW site... I should have know better.... I was primarily looking for historical information because I figured they did it right. it should be a fun little build. Thanks Timmy (Dazed Driver)for helping me drop the car off. ok... let the rants continue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2009 08:03AM by miller3339.

You tore down a bowling alley! For the love of god man!
I thought for sure you were just an oil lover that had tried to halt construction on a public transportation project because it interfered with the income from a nearby parking garage. Haha.

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Grant Hughes

Inverse condemnation is an interesting subject but I rather disliked the assignment where I got to try and extract imapct fees from the light rail system. I finally talked some reason into my bosses heads and we dropped the case. I was one of the first riders of the light rail system - I look forward to it growing. Having changed companies I now work for the possibliy the largest developer of Transit Orintated Development in the USA.

When the bowling alley closed they also closed a 24hrs Karaoke bar... it was tragic.

---

In the long run reality always wins.

Transit oriented development is smart as is high density housing.
I was just kidding to by the way. That was the only work related article google found me easily when searching your name. Years of rallying kinda fills the page.

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Grant Hughes

derek Wrote:
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I was one of
> the first riders of the light rail system - I look
> forward to it growing.

Funny, I'm a big fan of light rail and streetcars. I've researched Chattanooga's history, and the vast majority of the street railway rights-of-way are still in place and owned by Chattanooga Area Rapid Transit Authority which only runs buses and the incline railway. I've even been published in the paper advocating that they be reestablished along with lightrail on the five rail corridors heading out of town.

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"Talk about drugs. Driving a car like that, going that fast, it’s like all the drugs at once." - Tommy Byrne

"Now, Pinky, if by any chance you are captured during this mission, remember you are Gunther Heindriksen from Appenzell. You moved to Grindelwald to drive the cog train to Murren. Can you repeat that?" - The Brain

PHASE 1
As you know currently I'm building a 1991 318is for rallycross/auto cross. The first phase was handling and traction. I sourced a set of bilsteins and HR springs (50406) I thought that these may be a little low but the ride height actually remaind almost the same as I had due to stock spring sag. Because the car will be used for both Rally cross and Auto X I can just slow for the rough parts during rallycross and get a good skid plate. For the first phase I also had a 4.10 LSD installed. Greg M installed everything and accommodate for my busy schedule. Phase 2 is steering. So a E36 rack is being installed as I type, this is in work by Greg as well. Phase 3 will be a lightened flywheel and steel brake lines. Then the car will probibly go to Oregon for a proper skid plate at All Wheels Driven in Bend. I've raced with Barrett for a few years now seen his work and trust that he'll come through. Not sure what to do about more power later... I just want to learn how to drive the car at first so I will see. Rally has taught me that reliability and car control ability usually should come before horse power...

My prior Rally cross car was a 1988 VW GTI so it should take a little getting used to. To make up for my lack of time behind the wheel in a RWD car (i had a Trans AM and a Mazda RX7 in highschool 25 years ago but since then all my cars have all been FWD's and Subaru's) to make up for that lack of seat time and to gain skill, I"m taking Paul Eklund's rally/rallycross school the weekend of 10th in Oregon. I've done this school in my VW and I saw a dramatic increase in my abilities after the class.


PHASE 2
I just picked up the car last night from Greg. I sourced a rack from Fosters in the Oregon. The thing about improving parts of your car is that often it reveals short commings in other areas... I'll get to that in a little bit. My first impression is that this was worth every penny. The car feels like it now can properly respond to what I'm doing to the throttle with the steering. the car feels like as I slid the rear and compensate with steering that it doesnt take much effort to get it pointed. A huge confidence inspiring change. There is a bit of a vibration though so Greg will look into it after the driving school in 2 weekends... now for the other areas. With the Springs and shocks installed and the steering up to standards i can corner a lot faster, if I over do it I stay in the throttle let the rear come out and point the wheels where I want it to go and it does it. BUT!!! that means things come up a lot quicker,... things that require a person to slow down and that means Brakes!!! currently when I depress the brakes i feel a shutter comming from the rear and honesty the brakes feel soft. SO my next phase will have to be Brakes (pads and Rotors all around and steel lines for feel and some Dot 4 . i would like to figure out how to bias the brakes more to the rear so i have some more research to do and also figure out if I want to remove the ABS system or just unplug the fuse. The weight of the ABS stuff is probibly no more than 20-30 lbs and it will be a huge undertaking. So I might keep it in for a little but I really need to have more braking effort in the rear to help induce slides. Since we are still figuring out the lightened flywheel situation, I'm going for exhaust to free a few more ponies and get rid of some weight. Not sure if I want to go for a high flow cat and 2.25 or 2.5 in dia. tubing. so any suggestions will be appriciated.

thanks for reading...
I'll keep ya posted...if your interested.

Dazed_Driver Wrote:
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> the biggest bags of douche are driving old ass 2wd
> cars. A lot of drifters, a lot of VW guys, a lot
> of non drifting corolla guys... a LOT of the "old
> car following" people are douchebags. I really
> hate the "If you cant weld/wrench/fab/X/Y/Z then
> you shouldn't own this car" mentality, which
> unfortunately most of the non new car groups
> have.

The reason for that is, you will likely go bankrupt if you can't do those things and are working on an old car.

The new car scene is 99.9% bolt on this and bolt on that with no rust repair.

Ever stop and think about it?

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

hudson Wrote:
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> Dazed_Driver Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the biggest bags of douche are driving old
> ass 2wd
> > cars. A lot of drifters, a lot of VW guys, a
> lot
> > of non drifting corolla guys... a LOT of the
> "old
> > car following" people are douchebags. I
> really
> > hate the "If you cant weld/wrench/fab/X/Y/Z
> then
> > you shouldn't own this car" mentality, which
> > unfortunately most of the non new car groups
> > have.
>
> The reason for that is, you will likely go
> bankrupt if you can't do those things and are
> working on an old car.
>
> The new car scene is 99.9% bolt on this and bolt
> on that with no rust repair.
>
> Ever stop and think about it?
>
> Andrew McNally
> Hamilton, ON
> 29

Yeah, but I mean the people who legitimately think they are better then you if you cannot do any of that.

BTW, thanks for pointing out that it actually IS cheaper to run a newer car, say a impreza RS or focus, over an old 2wd car.

But SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell anyone..

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Dazed_Driver Wrote:
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> Yeah, but I mean the people who legitimately think
> they are better then you if you cannot do any of
> that.

Spending thousands of hours building a car would make anyone grumpy, you don't have the cred

> BTW, thanks for pointing out that it actually IS
> cheaper to run a newer car, say a impreza RS or
> focus, over an old 2wd car.
>
> But SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell anyone..

I don't think I agree.

You pay regardless. If it's buying some super overpriced bolt on thingy or fabing something up. It's all variations on time and money.

And not all new cars have bolt on shiny rally wonderfullness.. does the focus have a bolt on rally kit? New cars are way heavy, not really a direct cost, but you will spend time/$$$ lightening or adding more poop to the motor.

Also by the time you put a cage in any shell and do suspension turrets and stitch welding and and and and.. what's the difference if one needed some floor patches?

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish