In reply to fidelity101:
Yea, I meant that since I now have non-blown shocks and new bumpstops that won't be what holds me back.
In reply to fidelity101:
Yea, I meant that since I now have non-blown shocks and new bumpstops that won't be what holds me back.
bah, it was early... reading comprehension owned me.
EvanB wrote: Well I registered for Nationals so I guess I have to go now. Blown shocks and missing bumpstops won't hold me back this time. I keep thinking how nice it would be to just get a E36M3 on snow tires and drive to events in comfort, win SR and drive home.
Which is why I bought my way into a PF car for this year. Towing 13 hours by myself to get beat badly by Evan in MR didn't sound as nice as sharing the driving and still finishing down the order. That and total prep on the car consisted of getting snows mounted. I've got other E36 M3 to do than try to build an Evan beater.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Ew.
Ok, how about some updates here. I've actually been doing bodywork on the e21 for the last couple weeks and the e30 just sitting there, but finally got around to addressing a few things that had been lagging.
First: For the last couple years there's been a slight "clunk" at the front right wheel when the wheel is pulled (by hand) outward. No other noise or whatever, but thought maybe it was a bad bearing, since the bearing didn't feel all that smooth. So I went ahead and replaced it.
The old bearing was pretty nasty:
had to get the Motorsport Hardware studs out of it (red loctite)
New FAG hub/bearing assembly
Installed
Unfortunately, the clunk is still there. Balljoints are tight. Top hat is tight. So I'm thinking it's just the spring clunking against the seat or something. I'm done worrying about it...
Also, with two rallycrosses in November in the mountains of Frostburg, a bit trepidatious about my street tires being Star Specs. I had a white-knuckle drive home last March in the flurries, and don't want anything to do with having to drive these in any real snow on the roads.
So.....scoured craigslist and found a full set of Winterforces in 15" size for $100. Excellent. About 75% tread left. They're 195/65/15, so a bit taller than the star specs but should still fit fine since this car isn't lowered.
I kind of didn't want to deal with changing tires onto my Euroweaves for winter and then putting the star specs on in the spring, so looked around for some cheap 15s that would fit the car. Not as easy as you'd think to find cheap old wheels for e30s. But eventually a GRM member came through with some old "vintage" almost TSW Blades (15x7), which used to be one of the old Spec Miata "spec" wheels in the late 90s and early 2000s. So the bolt pattern was right and since they were track wheels, the usual 40-45 Miata offset is actually 35mm on these. Also they had hubcentric rings for the MIata's smaller hub bore, but after knocking those out they're dead-on for the e30's larger hub bore.
So, they fit. Barely. About 1mm from the front struts and the inner rim wheel weights make light contact. So I'll have to score up some 10mm spacers, which is fine since I have the extended MH studs with about 20mm of extra thread anyhow.
In surprisingly good shape for $175. Two are curbed a bit, two are very nice. A few minor lip bends but nothing I'm concerned about. Also they came with some Falken 512s, two of which are pretty new, and the other two are decent. I'll keep those around for the e21 next year, and put the Winterforces on these.
And yes, I plan to paint them. I'm thinking for winter wheels I might as well go with White :)
clearance is "barely" lol
So that's it for now..
Also, rooting for the other local e30/e28 guys this weekend at the Northeast National Challenge held at our home venue in Frostburg. I'll be at a wedding tomorrow so can't make it up there to try for the win. Too bad too, since there are no RX-7s running in MR class at all, just a bunch of BMWs (e30s, e28, e36).
Got bored this afternoon so I scuff-sanded the wheels, cleaned them up, sanded down the curbed edges (kinda) and hit them with a few coats of white paint. Because.....rallykar winter wheels? Eventually I'll get around to having the Winterforces transferred onto them..
As I mentioned before, I couldn't go to the NE National Challenge rallycross this weekend due to a buddy's wedding on Saturday. So instead I worked on the e21 and some other stuff. Managed to keep tabs on the action from afar via a few people there and session updates posted by WDCR. In the end, Nick took with win in MR in the e28, followed by Stephen Nichols (running up a class in the PR ETA) and Josh Sennet (apparently running Day 1 without any turbo boost...)
Hopefully one of them will jump in here and give some details. Now I have a month to get ready to roll for the next one, with three events left this season.
So RallyCross nationals is going on right now out in bumberkeley midwest. Needless to say, I don't have a spare $1k sitting around for fuel for towing, so I didn't bother with it. However, a couple of the fast guys from OVR went (Pete in the RX7 and Evan in the turbo Miata), so following it to see how they do, since we were all pretty evenly matched at Great Lakes Challenge last month.
Anyhow, the early word is that the nationals course is lousy, they had a ton of rain and it's rutting up badly, and two cars have even rolled over (a Golf and a WRX) due to the ruts. Will be interested to hear the takeaway, but it sounds like a lot of people are pretty unhappy with the event overall, perhaps, but IDK. Aside from that though, Pete's car (with another driver) is currently leading MR with Evan right behind him, so I kind of wish I was there anyhow, lol.
Whatever....we have an event next weekend where I need to get going and keep the pressure on Nick (we each have 2 event wins this year and are tied in points). He apparently fixed a few things on his engine (02 sensor) and says the car is much more powerful now. Yay.....
In the meantime, a little project I've been meaning to do for a while: Seat. The old Sparco seat I've been using has two (minor) problems: First, the black center section had totally faded to a dull green color. And you guys know I like my stuff to match, lol...Also, for my "custom" pass-through for the submarine strap on the harness, I fed it through the foam and have basically just been using duct tape to keep the cloth from ripping, etc. But it doesn't last long and gets torn up.
So today I cut up an old canvas bag and made some "flaps" for the slot to get rid of that issue. Used heavy-duty adhesive to attach it (and it runs through the slot and wraps under the seat cushion as well). It won't make the car any faster, but it gets rid of annoying sticky duct tape under my legs at least. And while I was at it I got some fabric spray dye and re-blacked the seat.
Little stuff, but at least I did something productive today...
Looks pretty speedy to me. Nice work. 
Thanks. When are you bringing the Amazon out again??>
I actually just picked up another Amazon- a wagon. We've been pretty busy with the house and baby, and the garden decided to get ripe all at once, so we'e been busy dealing with all the food storage.
Just got back from SC this weekend visiting her folks and bringing up the last load of our stuff from storage. Next weekend I'm helping a friend demo his partially-collapsed garage. But after that we don't have any more trips planned.
I'd love to at least make one rallycross this year. I'll check the schedule and try to clear it with our planning committee. :-)
Sounds good. Last two events are (IIRC) November 2nd and November 23rd. I'm kind of hoping for a snowcross on the last one, seeing as I have some snow tires for the e30 now 
So, been racking my brain about the vibrations. I took the right rear apart and found that the inner cap of the outer CV joint had popped off. It's press-fit and I don't think I could make it hold easily. Plus crap might already be in there....who knows how long it's been off. So first I ordered a cheap rebuilt from Rockauto. It was crap, the joints were not assembled well so I sent that back. Managed to find a couple OEM axles in a e30 chop-shop locally for cheap so picked them up.
btw, here's the old axle with the cap off:
Installed, checked bearings and they were good. Also checked the driveshaft, CSB, and guibo. Everything looked good and felt tight.
Should be good to go. Test drive. NOPE. Same problem, no change. So while I did fix something that needed attention, it wasn't what needed fixing apparently.
Racking my brain, several more test drives, I'm pretty convinced my diff is shot somehow. Not sure why it would happen so fast. Start looking around for a replacement.
I get to thinking that my diff was fine for the last 3 years, and before Ohio I replaced the fluid with some Amsoil severe gear with some LSD additive, which worked fine for 500 miles. But what the hell, last-ditch I'll replace that and see what happens. Drained the fluid (no metal shavings or anything). Put in some Royal Purple.
What do you know.....it's smooth again. I guess the Amsoil and additive were keeping the LSD from unlocking and/or causing the chatter and rear end "step-out" on deceleration. Once replaced, it works like it should again.
This is what I get for trying to do pre-emptive maintenance, lol.
Anyhow, mystery solved for $20. yay.
Next event next weekend. Gotta beat Nick these last two events if I'm going to win the season. Tall order, we'll see how it goes.
Also, dropped the drivetrain into my e21 late last night (yeah, I have no social life....)
Not much news. I got the snow tires mounted up on the white wheels and put them on the car with the plan to rallycross last weekend. As it turns out, one of the wheels is bent, and it is slightly noticeable, though probably tolerable.
But as luck would have it, didn't have to drive up to the mountains anyhow as the event was postponed due to some circumstances with the sanctioning/insurance. It's been rescheduled for a "doubleheader" on November 22/23, which promises to be a VERY cold weekend up there. According to a local, around Thanksgiving it's usually in the 30s with snow and lots of wind. Will need to make a decision about whether to run snow tires or rally tires if that's the case. Should be interesting.
The weekend will be two separate events, and I have to win both of them to take the season championship. So will have to drive all-out and slightly reckless to stay ahead of Nick, depending on the course layout.
here's a couple pics of the car with white wheels. Very 80s rally, lol...
If it's cold DO NOT RUN RALLY TIRES!!!
They turn into hockey pucks and can actually snap off whole tread blocks. They are useless in the cold.
I love how your dog matches your car.
NGTD wrote: If it's cold DO NOT RUN RALLY TIRES!!! They turn into hockey pucks and can actually snap off whole tread blocks. They are useless in the cold.
Oh I know they are too hard a compound for cold. Problem being that 50 runs on our course on snow tires will destroy them too. Plus debeads aren't uncommon on our courses.
That said, I ran rally tires in our March event (it was under 30 degrees and flurries) and didn't notice any significant wear on them. At this point it's all or nothing for me this season. Either I win both days of this event, or it's yet another 2nd place finish in points for the 3rd year in a row. So I'll decided what's going to be faster, and run them - and not care if I destroy them in the process.
That said, the last pair of rally tires I destroyed were killed by heat, not cold. mid-summer event, lots of runs (with nick co-driving we did 60 runs that weekend). I corded the rears and shredded the tread blocks completely off, and it was 80 degrees that day.
Junkyard_Dog wrote: I love how your dog matches your car.
I'm an uncreative mofo when it comes to colors, that's for certain 
Season 3 wrap
Another season in the books, as we had a double-header event this weekend to close out the schedule. Quite a bit to talk about at this one, but before I get to that I want to throw out some thanks: First of all, to Adam Kimmet, Katie Orgler, Shawn Robers, Matt Berkebile, and all the other people who make these events happen. It’s a ton of work, especially at a venue so far from home for all of us, and it’s greatly appreciated and you guys make the program and events run smoothly. Also want to throw out thanks to Carlos at Condor Speed Shop for his moral and material support throughout another season, as well as Motorsport Hardware, Blunt Tech, Red46 Sump Armor, and a few others for their support/deals on stuff I use on this car :)
So, before I get into the event, we got some bad news this weekend. The site owner, who is one of the largest landowners in western Maryland and has been extremely supportive of our program this year, tragically died in a mid-air collision between a plane and a helicopter locally a few weeks ago. It was big news at the time but I don’t think most of us knew it was him. So prayers and wishes out to his family of course. While it’s still likely we’d be able to run at Frostburg next year at the site, the plan is for several of us to look for some new venues a bit closer to the I-95 corridor (Baltimore/DC/Virginia) which is where most of our drivers live, so we can get turnout numbers up.
I’ll be perfectly honest. The Frostburg venue is huge and makes for some fun courses for sure. It’s also a lot of work for the organizers (heavy equipment needed), a long way away, and lends itself to high-speed “power courses” that don’t really give me any advantage in my light/low-power car compared to more technical courses on grass/dirt. That, or I just suck at driving on really loose gravel, lol.
So on to this weekend. I went up a day early to help Adam set up. We worked all afternoon in temps getting into the teens, lol… Preface this all by saying that I had to (essentially) win both days to win the season Championship over Nick, who had 4 event wins to my three coming in.
Day 1 started with the usual….Nick and I and Josh S. battling it out with a bunch of close times. After 5 runs there was 1 second between Nick and I, and I was running slightly faster. Then, disaster struck. At the start the AWD cars had been digging a trench with their launch control. On my 6th run I set up and launched, but the car walked sideways into the trench and as it dropped my muffler dragged along the hard center section and I as accelerated it pulled the catback backwards and detached it at the slip-flange behind the cat, and let it drop to the ground. I saw them waving the red flag after 2 turns and I had to pull off and take a DNF for the run (pulled the rear hangers off along side the course and got the car back to paddock). Unfortunately, the 20-second penalty (from the slowest time in the class) put me in a hole I couldn’t recover from. Eventually I clawed back some seconds in the afternoon but ended up in third about 15 seconds behind Nick in first and Josh S. in 2nd. First time I’ve ever lost to an e30 other than my own……and knocked me out of a points championship possibility. Also the first run I’ve ever DNF’d in almost 30 rallycross events. On the plus side, the car sounded pretty badass with no catback. An M42 with only a cat and no muffler sounds surprisingly good on course – not raspy/high like a Civic, but more like a real race car, lol.
On the minus side, I knew that slip pipe was a problem last event when it was loose afterwards. I tried to cinch it up with an extra hanger, but apparently that didn’t work. I should have done a more thorough job, but I always hate dealing with exhaust. Lesson learned for me. I could blame the poor start setup that allowed such a giant trench there, but this is rallycross so that would be a lame argument. I spend a lot of time setting up this car with the greatest of care, and my own laziness on this one cost me the season.
Nick and I and Josh did some car-switching, and I basically laid down the same time in Nick’s car as I had been in mine, which is discouraging. His e28 is big and heavy, and feels like a freaking V8 in terms of its torque and power delivery compared to my M42. I’ve driven Nick’s car before, but not since he sorted out his engine and suspension. After driving it, I’m having some doubts if it is beatable in any fast courses so long as Nick continues to drive so consistently. So…..on to Day 2. Turned out that a camera crew from Discovery Channel/Velocity TV was coming to the event for a show they’re doing on a rally car build. The freshly-built car was there (a Focus) along with a 323 Mazda stage car as well. The crew did a ton of filming all over the venue, and I’m guessing my car got in a good number of shots so that would be cool if that’s the case. Not sure when this show will come out. I will note that I put down better times than either of the FWD rally cars :).
I went into day 2 planning to go for a win for nothing other than pride. The course was pure power, nothing tight, and played to Nick’s driving and car strengths. I kind of said berkeley it and decided to put on more of a show for the video people with more sideways then usual. But still managed to stay within a second or 2 of Nick for the first few runs. I started just going all-out aggressive at that point, but then I overcooked the final turn into the finish. Cocked sideways coming to the line there was a good chance I was going to take out the timing box next to the finish gate. I stepped all-in on the pedals and stopped the car with the bumper touching the finish cone (not knocking it over), and the front wheel 6” short of the timing line. I jacked it into revers and finished the run “clean” but losing about 7 seconds. After that I just drove full-on and had pulled it back to about 4 seconds at the end of the morning session.
Afternoon course had a fairly long slalom (good for me) but a dreadful entry setup into the turnaround loop. No way to enter fast. Deep gravel there. Low-power car, essentially screwed being out of my powerband but too fast for 1st gear. Could not find a way to get through quickly and it sucked. Tried to compensate on the other transitions and picked up a few cones, and by that point it was all over.
I did take one final run in the ETA boys’ car (with a passenger, as a favor to one of the other drivers). And even with that stock-engine, beat-to-hell chassis, and full interior, with Comfort Seats…..somehow I knocked down a time about ½ second slower than in my own car. More frustration really. I had considered my car to have an advantage but now I’m not so confident and may have to re-address some things with my setup in the off-season. If I can jump into the e28 and a beat ETA for the first time in forever and drive them just as fast as my car, who knows. That said, the course was better set-up for a car with torque and weight, so who knows…. So……all done. Just had to load up the trailer and go home and stew. Uh…nope. Trailer has those crappy ramps for heavy equipment (with big “ruts” in them so the car kind of “bump, bump, bumps” up the ramp). I’ve loaded the trailer a dozen time with no issue, but for some reason as I was driving up, the rear wheels actually kicked the ramps off the trailer lip and dropped the rear end of the car on the ground (with the fronts on the trailer. Just hung up lightly about midway on the body, no big deal, and we were able to tilt the trailer and use a jack to get it off and reloaded properly. But not really how I wanted this season to end. At least the tow home was fast and uneventful, lol…. So, that’s about it. Nick takes MR in the e28 and I’ll be a few points back. The ETA boys took 2-3 in PR being beaten by Shawn, whose thrashed RX-7 (which only runs due to black magic, I’m sure of it) continues to win. I know it’s not the car, so it’s quite certainly the driver.
Time to think about what I need to do on this car, what is in the budget, and whether I will do stuff this winter or wait until I finish the e21 further. Will update when I figure it out. Hope everyone has a happy holiday season/merry Christmas/etc…..
Will post up some pics and vids later this week, kind of worn out and a bit annoyed at the moment so that’ll have to wait… Here’s a few quick ones
Was the Mazda stage car red? If it is, that must be the 323 GTX stage car I have seen in ages.
I think I saw pictures of it posted on Facebook.
NGTD wrote: Was the Mazda stage car red? If it is, that must be the 323 GTX stage car I have seen in ages. I think I saw pictures of it posted on Facebook.
yep, it was red.
FWIW, Nick and I both beat all of the runs by both that and the Focus stage car which were running right before us , but they were still pretty quick and it was their first time at the venue.
The red Mazda had a mechanical issue after like 3 runs and didn't run any more. The Focus managed to do 5 or 6 runs before they bailed.
irish44j wrote:NGTD wrote: Was the Mazda stage car red? If it is, that must be the 323 GTX stage car I have seen in ages. I think I saw pictures of it posted on Facebook.yep, it was red. FWIW, Nick and I both beat all of the runs by both that and the Focus stage car which were running right before us
I am driving a control car (000) at Rally of the Tall Pines next weekend and my co-driver posted the pics on Facebook.
Small World.
Good runs when you can beat an AWD stage car!
NGTD wrote:irish44j wrote:I am driving a control car (000) at Rally of the Tall Pines next weekend and my co-driver posted the pics on Facebook. Small World. Good runs when you can beat an AWD stage car!NGTD wrote: Was the Mazda stage car red? If it is, that must be the 323 GTX stage car I have seen in ages. I think I saw pictures of it posted on Facebook.yep, it was red. FWIW, Nick and I both beat all of the runs by both that and the Focus stage car which were running right before us
Dave Shindle is your co-driver, I take it?
Interesting, didn't realize that was an AWD 323. Figured it was just the FWD variety.
irish44j wrote:NGTD wrote:Dave Shindle is your co-driver, I take it? Interesting, didn't realize that was an AWD 323. Figured it was just the FWD variety.irish44j wrote:I am driving a control car (000) at Rally of the Tall Pines next weekend and my co-driver posted the pics on Facebook. Small World. Good runs when you can beat an AWD stage car!NGTD wrote: Was the Mazda stage car red? If it is, that must be the 323 GTX stage car I have seen in ages. I think I saw pictures of it posted on Facebook.yep, it was red. FWIW, Nick and I both beat all of the runs by both that and the Focus stage car which were running right before us
Yes.
I am guessing that the 323 is a GTX. It looks like one, but maybe I am wrong.
You'll need to log in to post.
