1985 BMW 318 Stage Rally Build - 1988 Porsche 924S Street Build - Sequoia Build

Sorry about the water truck, that sucks and really sort of takes the shine off the weekend.
In news sort of tangentially related to your E30 shenanigans, I was able to wrangle a fun run drive in an AE86 Corolla at the rallycross national challenge this weekend. I sort of always thought you rear wheel drive guys were full of it with all the talk of how awesome it is, but now I'm convinced. There really was something magical to how the car rotated from corner to corner. I think I get it.

mazdeuce wrote: Sorry about the water truck, that sucks and really sort of takes the shine off the weekend. In news sort of tangentially related to your E30 shenanigans, I was able to wrangle a fun run drive in an AE86 Corolla at the rallycross national challenge this weekend. I sort of always thought you rear wheel drive guys were full of it with all the talk of how awesome it is, but now I'm convinced. There really was something magical to how the car rotated from corner to corner. I think I get it.

what is even more amazing is that there is an AE86 out there that hasn't already been snatched up by the flatbrim/stance/drift crew :)

Yeah, as someone who drove FWD most of my life and daily drives an AWD car, I think RWD is a blast for rallycross 95% of the time (with the other 5% being directly after the water truck on a red-clay course, haha).

I will post one of my "good" vids later and you should be able to see on a certain section I got the car in a good rhythm and literally just had the rear going back and forth about 8 times right around 8 cones/gates perfectly. And that was when it was dry/loose :). After that run I was like "wow, that was about as awesome as it gets"

Well that was the most fun I've had in my adult life in the dirt/clay! (if you don't count basic )

I would suggest anyone to do this at least once and try and not be addicted!

Was super surprised how the P5 not only held up but how it felt very good out there (a bit of initial oversteer that I would have to work out) and although I am almost positive my duel driver kicked my ass I still had silly amounts of fun learning the car in the dirt.

BTW on that last run when you hit that puddle both me and amber were about ankle deep in mud for the rest of the runs

So ready for the next one, just hope its in April, may im a bit booked with a time trial in the RX, And I would like to see more of that dirty e30!

Next event is April 21st, I believe.....and both of you crushed my time on your first event ;)

so...well, results are posted and I'm actually amazed I beat anyone at all, really. Clearly I'll burn my drop event right off the bat and then make sure screw-ups in future events don't turn into comp-time-killers like I did today.

Here's a rundown of the times. As usual, in the dry I was right up there. The afternoon course layout eliminated two sections that were my weak point and the time on the first afternoon run showed that, as I gained back a bit over a second on the leader.

After the water truck it was total mayhem and disaster. After the first spin I pushed extra hard to try to make up time. After the second spin I just went slow to try not to spin a third time. After the third spin I just said berkeley it and started tagging any cone that was guarding a mud puddle. Halfway through the run I had already decided that this would be my drop event for the season due to one single run, so might as well just drive with some rage.

For the last couple runs I was over it and was basically trying to run the full course cone-free while utilizing as many berms and as much of the course periphery as possible. I suppose I could have taken the last few runs seriously and moved up 1 or 2 positions, but again...drop event. Let the guys who didn't berkeley it up have the points that I don't deserve. I'm going to think long and hard about how to set up the car better to compensate for my obvious lousy driving in wet clay conditions, which was also the case last season.

In the end, my fault for letting pride get in the way of common sense. After the water truck came through, what I SHOULD have done was pull out of line and drop to the back of the pack (where my original starting grid position was) behind the other RWD cars. Adam and the grid captain gave me the choice before I ran, but I definitely let some pride get in the way, figuring that it would be fine "as long as Roberto ran right behind me" and not wanting to look like I was scared of the water truck. Again, major tactical mistake since I have long known that Roberto and that car arecomfortable in the wet/slick, and that I suck when it's not slippery.

If anything, this will give me a nice starting grid position at the next event. Will have to hope for a few dry-course events to make up the points.

have a laugh:

So after some thinking about some of the "things that slow me down," especially in the wet, I'm coming to the conclusion that the light/tall rear end in particular and the soft front end are letting the car "jack" too much on certain types of turns and get loose. Plus sitting so high with so much lean (and looking at pics of me running) it looks like I'm totally unloading the inside wheels on hard turns and losing much traction.

So, will give something else a try. I have some H&R sports on the way (the ones for the 6-cyl cars, not the 318is model). Though the drop is said to be a bit over one inch, I'm not too worried about it since I'm by far the highest e30 out there and the lower cars aren't having any clearance issues.

The sport model I ordered is "said" to have rates roughly double stock rates, but they're progressive so that means exactly jack. I'm going to give them a try and see how I like them. Worst case I'll just sell em. I picked the H&Rs because they're still fairly soft compared to most other a/m springs out there (and soft is generally good for rally-x), and they have a pretty mild drop. If the drop ends up being too much, I'll get some thicker pads for the rear and a spacer for the front to compensate. But as light as my 318i is, I suspect I'll end up around the stock ride height for the 6-cyl cars in the end. We'll see.

So....will probably do that in a couple weeks. I need to do something about the car setup to compensate for driving style, which isn't yet in tune with this car (daily-driving a WRX probably hurts, since it needs a completely different style to drive fast).

Will of course post and update/thoughts on it once done.

Now remember I am a rallycross newb but that sounds like a job for a good sway bar maybe?

As far as the results I did not expect that at all whatsoever, after I thought I killed 3 cones in the 2nd AM run I just started to screw around and have fun, guess I need to apply myself more in April

EDIT: May have another duel driver next time (albeit a different person) too.

Nice, yeah I saw that Amber is already looking for a rallycross car, lol.

For sways, I have a stock 318 front, and the early 318 didn't even COME with a rear swaybar....I currently have a 325i stock rear bar.

I really don't want to add more front bar though, at the risk of adding understeer. I do have a 325 front bar local that I can get whenever I want. Going to do one thing at a time though and see what I can get to work.

And work on my driving...

Tom, you should tell your co-driver to drive your car in PF class.

1. you'll get to see your own car in action while working
2. both of you will get first in class, since no other PF or SF cars seem to be coming this year :)
3. don't have to deal with quick driver changes, more time to chill between runs.

We all have to work on our driving, what about stiffer bushings on the sway bars or just in all the suspension pieces? May just be enough to get where you want.

I have new bushings pretty much everywhere as of last season. I don't think stiffer ones would have much effect on dirt as they do on tarmac.

I mean, honestly some fresh tires with sharp tread and depth would be the best thing, but that's well out of the budget for this season.....

random stuff.

A neighbor is re-doing his kitchen and got new cabinets. I scored up most of his old ones. These houses came with nicely-built hardwood cabinets that are great to use in garages. I need to paint them black like the rest of my former kitchen cabinets in there, but they fit nicely.

before:

after:

random e30 shot from the other day when we got a bit of snow:

oh, and the after-effect of my skidplate "spats:" almost not mud or dirt in the engine bay :)

Some good shots from the event by AJ@SquaredAwayPhotography, who took over 70 shots of just my car alone. I knew having all the vinyl on there would get me in more....last season he'd only get about 15 of me, lol.

This weekend we had a planned family trip down to my parents' place on the bay, and as fate would have it my grandfather died on Good Friday (it was long expected, as he sadly had alzheimer's). That got the whole extended family down there in short order. But this isn't really the place to talk about that further except to say that he'll be missed. In the meantime, a few things:

For the first time in a while got to take the boat out.....me and the dog Finn went solo on a cold, clear day..

Then driving home saw this beauty

On Saturday with not much going on other than family sitting around, I dragged dad out to do something he's needed to do for years: paint the marina's utility pickup. We did it with some flat black automotive paint, brush and roller. It's country-fabulous, lol.

before/after:

So when we got home this evening the UPS man had (as I left a note) deposited a package in the trunk of the e30 in the driveway :)

These are the part number for early 318s with the M10, rather than the ones most e30 drivers buy. They're the sports (not the race). We'll see how they turn out.

I have some of my super-tall stock 318i springs in the garage (the car has late 318is springs on it) and the H&R's are about 1.75" shorter unsprung. We'll see how that translates on the car....I may add the thicker spring pads (I currently have the very thin ones on there).

Also got a couple pieces of mail.....one from red46, who made my skidplate and sells them for a great price on R3Vlimited so figured I'd give him some car space. And one from Seth Lemke out in the Texas region (mazdeuce on GrassrootsMotorsports forum), which I'll swap back for a couple of ours :)

Glad they made it there.

So after consulting with the wife....I registered for the Dixie National Tour event in Tennessee in June. Which is the weekend before our own WDCR 2-day "Conquer the Summit" event. Hence why I needed spousal pre-authorization.

Now to decided if I want to drive this car 8 hours with the trailer, or if I want to tow it down there, or what.....

I'd think about a tow driver/co driver for a weekend that long. Having someone to split the driving with for the drive/tow would be nice and being able to save money by going halfsies on gas/hotel could only make things more peaceful at home. I can't quite imagine 8 hours each way in your car in June, even with the added sound insulation. Hot and loud and hot.

The TN rallycross folks are a fun group. It'll be quite different from what you're used to, but fun nonetheless.

I ran their national challenge in '10 and made the trip down from Ohio solo in an $800 car. Taking a co-driver would have been more fun, but the 7 hour drive in my loud, non-ac car was entirely bearable.

mazdeuce wrote: I'd think about a tow driver/co driver for a weekend that long. Having someone to split the driving with for the drive/tow would be nice and being able to save money by going halfsies on gas/hotel could only make things more peaceful at home. I can't quite imagine 8 hours each way in your car in June, even with the added sound insulation. Hot and loud and hot.

meh, that's not really the issue so much. Hell, I went cross-country in midsummer in a Triumph GT6 when I was a kid. And did DC to Florida twice in college in an Integra with broken AC in the middle of summer. And lived in the Philippines with non-AC Volvo 240, lol......

And the cost of gas, not too bad....M42 gets a solid 30mpg towing the little trailer so far. If I towed it I'd be rocking 15mpg in my 4Runner, lol...

IDK, we'll see. My biggest concern is having a mechanical failure way down there and then not being able to get home (and having another event the next week).

If I can borrow a trailer locally, I'll tow. If not, I'll likely drive and take my chances, I guess.

also considering just loading up the car itself and ditching the trailer.....so I can do Tail of the Dragon on the way down or back :)

Your east TN support crew is ready to help in any way I can.

Thanks

Happily I have a couple months to plan things out. I think a few other locals may be going down as well.

Came home early today to catch some opening day Orioles' baseball. Got home extra early so figured I'd go do the rear springs before the game.

For just the rears, my "before" measurement from hub center to wheel arch (early high arches, remember) was 14.5" (this with my spare in the trunk + trunk battery + rollbar). That matches up with what I've seen for fully stock early 318i's.

After doing just the rears I'm getting a measurement of about 13.25," but that will go up just a bit once I lower the front down. I still have about 6" from ground to anything at the rear of the car (exhaust, muffler, diff, etc) so that's sufficient I think. Right now I have one medium/thick and one thin spring pad in, and I may swap that thin one out with a "thick" pad to get back 1/4" or so, if I get a chance.

After a quick drive the rear does feel more planted and stiffer. Basically feels a lot like adding a thicker swaybar but also moving the car's CG downward, never a bad thing. So, more on this once I get the whole car done later this week.

For the front, I've seen that this model of H&R sport actually has a 2.25" actual drop (on other early 318i's), which is more than I want. So I also got some 1" C-channel spring spacers from Jegs that I'll use. I may also weld some small "ears" onto the strut spring seats to make sure the springs stay where I want them. We'll see once I have it all set up. So more on that later. Time to watch some baseball.

GO O'S!

So this worked out pretty well so far. After reading that the springs I got generally give about a 2" drop in the front, I decided to pick up some spacers from Jegs. They are 1" lift spacers for this spring diameter.

As you can see, the unsprung height of stock vs. the H&Rs....yikes

Everything apart. Forgot how much I hate balljoints....and e30 ones seem to be impossible to use any balljoint seperation tools on for some reason...

So....first thing. These particular spacers are best used on the bottom of the spring. But of course they lift the spring out of the seat itself. I'm not really sure if there's anything to worry about since 4x4 guys do this kind of spacer all the time, but I kind of like to play it a bit safer, so I welded on some metal "tabs" as retainers in case the spring/spacers for some reason decide to walk off the side. I highly doubt this would happen, but it can't hurt to have a little insurance, especially with all the slamming around this car does:

hardly all that stout, but it's 16ga stainless....should be good enough for what it is supposed to do. And more ugly welds...

installed

so a couple issues I ran into:

1. no idea how it happened (maybe when removing the spindle from the lower balljoint, I guess), but the top 3 threads on the balljoint got all messed up. Luckily, the nut leaves about 3 threads above it when tightened. So I just dremeled the 3 bad threads smooth and reinstalled the nut fine. Since there's less surface for the nyloc section of the nut to "grip" now, I drilled a hole in the upper stud so I could pop in a cotter pin. Again, better safe than sorry.

1. When torquing everything down, I was doing the upper strut mount nuts. Set my 3/8 torque wrench to the correct setting (it's low), reached over to grab the right socket size (13mm). Went to tighten. Tightening....tightening....damn, I must be weak tonight because it's starting to get pretty tight and no click. I'm going on, waiting for the click. And then I shear the stud off. WTF??? Oh look, instead of putting the socket on the torque wrench I put it on a regular long-neck ratchet....So I probably torqued it to like 70ft-lbs and snapped it. IDK what the hell I was thinking, but now I need to go source a new stud.

Ironically, this EXACT SAME stud was the one that stripped out when I did the suspension last time (year+ ago), and I replaced it then. So, I officially hate this particular stud. screw it.

So....did one side tonight....dropped the car back down....rolled it around a bit and jumped up and down on the bumper to settle things.

The result, comparing the stock on one side and new setup on the other: looks like I'm going to net about 1/2"-3/4" drop all told, which is just about what I'd like, plus with the stiffer rate.

Anyhow, will do the other side tomorrow and test-drive friday and see how it works out. More updates later, of course...

Hardly slammed, lol

Got the rest of it back together without issue...

still plenty of skid clearance :)

"stance" yo...

so, by my measurements, the front as it sits is approx. 1" even lower than with the stock springs, and the rear about 1.25" lower. This actually puts the car about 1/4" lower in the back (measured from the rocker panel seams) overall, which is fine since I wanted the rear a tad lower.

Anyhow, YMMV, but that's what I did. Test-drive tomorrow but just pushing on the car it has less "bounce" and "give" in the suspension, so I have high hopes...

Man, this thread makes me want to get into RallyCross even more.