2020 build, 1995 BMW 325i sedan

In reply to infinitenexus :

Thanks. The 275 radials are going to be going away soon actually. They were just what I could find already mounted on a Chevy-pattern wheel quickly and cheap. Likely stepping down to something like a 235 or 55 on the pair 15x7 BMW wheels  that came with the car, along with the lowering springs that came with the car. Should sit nice and level. There are way faster cars on smaller tires so i think it will be ok.

In reply to cruisermatt :

I may have something that would work for you if you're interested- I have a pair of M&H 245/45R17 drag radials that I was considering using on my E46 that since I'm unlikely to be bringing it to the Challenge next year that might work for you- and I have a good number of 5x120 wheels around that I could see about getting them mounted on.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Thanks but will probably be getting something new - we scored a full set of used auto-x tires for free at the Challenge so going to put those on the set of 16" Z3 wheels I have so will be doing new drag radials as exempt tires.  I have the pair of 15x7 BMW wheels that came on the car so will put a set of new 26x10's or 235/50's  on there if I can get away with doing that on the 7" wheel. Might have to get 15x8's. 

First thing first is getting the transmission fixed. Also the motor is knocking so guess i gotta fix that too. 

This is what the car should look like on a 26x10.5 on a 15x8". Hopefully I can do this with the rear lowering springs that the car came with. Currently it has stock springs in the rear with lowering coilovers up front which is why it has the crazy rake. 

This car was super cool. I somehow missed this thread so it was a total surprise for me. 
I especially approved of the intake/valve cover. And the cheekiness of that silly little radiator for that stout engine setup. Well done!

In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :

thank you. the BMW intake cover on the LS motor is definetly the most popular feature on the car. The Honda radiator is going away. It's annoying having the car overheat every time it's driven hard

In reply to cruisermatt :

From experience a leaf blower on the radiator in the staging lanes helps.

barefootskater (Shaun) said:

This car was super cool. I somehow missed this thread so it was a total surprise for me. 

Ditto. Just read through the whole thing. Looks like you guys had fun!

just bought another cam for this car for $50, with some lobes that are just as beat up as the one in it now which was $150. It's a much less aggressive camshaft then what's in it now and should be much better matched for the rest of the car and have a little more low end. Can't beat better performance and getting 5% of the budget back. 

What are the rules on doing a double registration entry with the same car, one as a $1k car, and the other in the regular $2k class, and making on-the-fly changes to comply with both budgets? IE, make Auto-x  runs at $1k budget, bolt on $1k worth of parts, make another set of Auto-x runs, then un bolt them, drag race, bolt them back on, drag race again, two concourse judgments, etc

Anyone done anything this wacky, or is a car only allowed one event registration per year? 

I think it's a great idea, show what the $1k of extra parts is good for. 

I also think it'll be confusing as all get out - especially at the concour when your car is judged twice? Maybe simplify it to one registration, and keep track of your $1000 stats independently? and use them for your concour presentation?

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

If done under one registration there’s no way it would accomplish my goals for this car as well as be sub $1k. 

Hence the reason for two registrations would be to win the $1k class as one registration, and accomplish other goals in the $2k class under the other registration. 

Just for reference, this car could be $1k fairly easily and still be a running 5.3 Ls swapped BMW. 

Other thoughts. This one may be a bit odd. The car currently has a complete 8.50-style 10-point roll cage kit that I paid $170 for (I think, have to recheck my book). It’s definitely overkill and I didn’t see any other cars there with full cage. I’m thinking of removing the A-pillars and front hoop and making it a typical 8-point (roll bar with front, rear and middle supports) to get a little budget and weight back. 

What would be a fair budget deduction for something like this? Removing 30% of the cage, does that remove 30% of the price from the original cage kit?

the 1k class is really depended on who else shows up. Last october I don't think there was a single entry. But back in 2015 or so, a previous challenge winning car was de-tuned down to 1k and still got 4th place overall I think?

In reply to cruisermatt :

I think you'd just figure out what the removed tubing is worth if you were to purchase it at a retail supplier and then remove that $ from the budget. 

After typing that out, I suspect that it won't really be worth doing.

Very cool build-looking foreward to seeing it this year!

This is what I'm considering removing. It's 1.75" steel tubing. I'm really looking to loose about $50 of budget. 

That puts the car at $1K and, without the turbo or intercooler (intercooler is going away anyways) 

Anyways, the idea I was playing with was running the car in the $1K class as a NA car, and then bolting on the turbo, using the higher power fuel pump (on a switch so it's not used), etc. and running it as a $2K turbo car. Just daydreaming. May do this regardless for Auto-X, Calvin says we can run this setup sans wastegate so thinking that just running NA for Auto-x, and bolt turbo on for drag racing. (To save $100 on wastegate cost). The car was a mess on 10-lbs  and i can't imaging it being much better on only 5 lbs.  

My suggestion for the budgeting on the portion of cage that you do/don't use would be by weight.  Just weigh the whole cage kit, divide the purchase price by that weight.  With the known cost/lb, you can get the value of cage not used by weighing what is left unused and subtract it from the purchase price.  This seems like the easiest way to figure this.

I version of this is covered in the rules.

It's just like knowing the weight of some aluminum plate and the purchase price.  With the price/lb figured or just purchased at a set price/lb.  Then after fabbing/machining up an adapter, you weigh the finished part and math out the cost of the final part.

In reply to Catch22 :

that seems like the most fair way to go about it. Probably will only be a last minute thing if I really want a chunk of budget back to help alleviate something... big.. I am considering for this car. 

Another big reason for loosing that section of cage that I hadn't mentioned is that it is REALLY difficult to see out of the car with the A-pillar posts. They really do not follow the lines of the body at all. Unfortunately not much that can be done about that besides completely redoing them and the halo. hence further pushing me to just lose them 

Catch22 said:

My suggestion for the budgeting on the portion of cage that you do/don't use would be by weight.  Just weigh the whole cage kit, divide the purchase price by that weight.  With the known cost/lb, you can get the value of cage not used by weighing what is left unused and subtract it from the purchase price.  This seems like the easiest way to figure this.

I version of this is covered in the rules.

It's just like knowing the weight of some aluminum plate and the purchase price.  With the price/lb figured or just purchased at a set price/lb.  Then after fabbing/machining up an adapter, you weigh the finished part and math out the cost of the final part.

I'm not sure I fully agree. I do use the weight rule, but I use it based on what I rough cut. I can re-use the rest of the aluminum plate, but I cannot re-use the chips on the ground from drilling speed holes. 

Also, a roll cage kit is not exactly 'virgin' material. it is cut and bent and processed. If I buy an engine for $300 I can't simply remove 10% of that for pulling off the cast exhaust manifolds PS pump and AC compressor even if they weight 10% of the engine. The front tubes can be re-used, kinda. They certainly aren't as valuable as straight tube of the same weight/length. 

In situations like this I always recommend that the builder come up with something they think is fair based on their own reading of the rules and their own reasoning, and propose it. Little chance anyone will disagree unless its egregiously wrong. But if you don't to put in the work to even do that much, no one on the forum can give you a straight answer that everyone agrees with. 

Re the fuel pump.  If it's on the car it's in budget.  There is no not used exemption.

In reply to Stampie (FS) :

Gotcha. Understood. Will most likely keep life simple and just try to make the car work the way we had hoped it would last year. Still considering swapping between NA and turbo for Auto/x drag to lose the cost of a wastegate.

It needs a better converter, most likely a quality single fuel pump, a actual radiator. Smaller rear tires, and a wideband and most importantly tuning.

Last night we got a bit inspired so we dragged the car out from the bushes where it had been sitting since last Challenge and tore it apart. We knew we had hurt the motor again in Gainesville. Sure enough, three spun bearings and the other five looking pretty terrible as well. We definitely still have a oil pressure issue.

Update coming soon. 
 

...3 months later. Whoops. 
basically zero progress since then. 
In March and April though:

-we figured out why we destroyed the engine twice, we had the wrong oil pump. The original DOD/AFM oil pump does not play nicely with the regular truck oil pan.

-"rebuilt" the engine with another crankshaft and bearings that i pulled at the junkyard. We now have a good mix of Gen 3 and 4 pistons and rods, i think four of each? Don't remember. 

-rebuilt the TH400 ourselves. It was smoked.

-Changed up the turbo placement, deleted intercooler, put original BMW radiator and fan back in, installed hood

-bought a pair of new 235 ET radials to put on bmw wheels.

-lowering springs re-installed.

that's the big stuff. In May I bought a building to be the permanent spot for my Land Cruiser business and that took priority over the challenge for the summer. 
The car is mostly together but needs a bit of work to set up the new ECU and shifter. Planning on attending in October but haven't registered yet. Looking like its about a 50/50 at this point. 
I'll put up some current pics when i get home tonight :)

I think we're gonna make it. Here's what the car looks like now. It's been running and driving for a few weeks and we were able to take it to the track last week. Had some issues but looking like it should be decently fast.