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

It happened because the ground control collars put all the pressure on the innermost area of the perch along one narrow circle, as opposed to the stock springs which are wider in diameter and distribute the load along two "rings" when under compression.

The springs are a bit shorter than the stockers but far stiffer. That said, I just looked at them and there is evidence that every coil has repeatedly come in contact with each other so perhaps it is binding. IIRC Caswell had the same issue when he was using 8" springs during the famous Baja race and ended up changing to 10".....

So, perhaps a combination of both factors here. I'm going to have to think about it. Perhaps get some IX rear stock springs or something, since 10" springs back there are really going to jack up the ride height. First order of business is to get everything straight again first...

Caswell says: "I am switching to coil overs in the rear because the short springs in the center of the trailing arm coil bind and bend the arm right on the back side of the lower perch. Plus, everytime I see the pro drive cars with the rear wheel off, they had coil overs. Then I went to the site grant posted and found a lot of guys had similar problems bending the trailing arms. I need to do some more research here."

Surprising that I bent the upper mount and not the trailing arms, but since I had the solid mount up top and a poly mount below the spring, that could be the reason.

If you have evidence of binding visible on the spring, I'd say you found your problem. That mount is probably built to take [stock rate * full bump travel * safety factor], let's say 2000 lbs ballpark, and beefing it up will only make the coil binding break other stuff or punt you off the road faster. Longer bumpstops might be an OK temporary measure, but I'd be looking for ways to get a spring with more travel in there... or coilovers.

Yeah, already looking into it. I knew in advance that Caswell had binding issues, but the e30 rear suspension is pretty limited as far as low-buck options go. Hooper and Yuvali use a coilover setup, but that will require substantial bracing of the upper and lower shock mounts/trailing arms, as well as not-cheap coilovers. It's always been the eventual plan, but not on this year's budget if I actually want to do any more events. Most likely will just get some stock IX springs, which won't be ideal but also won't bind and will let the bumpstops do their work. I plan to do measurements tonight and look at options. Other option is to get some 10" eibach coilover springs with a slightly higher rate and eliminate the 2" tall adjuster collar to get more spring travel. Either case the trailing arms are the weak point (Hooper has bent several of them both with stock and coilover setups and has heavy reinforcement on his.

Can't do longer bumpstops since the Bilsteins are internal bumpstops.

In any case, I have a few months to play with it and can still do rallycross in the meantime with some stock rear springs.

So on stock setups, the actual bumpstop is the rubber nub inside the behives I believe. I don't think the internal stops in the bilsteins get fully compressed when the rubber cones are in place. Any way to add something like the cones back in to the equation with the threaded collars/linear coil setup you've got now?

I'm VERY curious to see what the handling is like if you go back to beehives and their progressive rate.

Internal bumpstops don't mean you can't add some external ones.

IDK, I'm going to worry about rebuilding the perches first (and figures I just ran out of welding wire as I was tacking the first piece in place) and then figure it out. Got plenty of time until the next real rally and this setup will be ok for rallycross in the meantime.

Mostly rebuilt the rear mounts (a bit left to do), and while picking up some new plates from Brian Battocci I said something about figuring out spring rates for the rear, and he says "here, I have two old e36 M3 rear springs that I can't give away, try these." I did a few test-fits and did some calculations and research on the rates and these may work well, actually. Direct fit, about 1/2" shorter than my stock springs but based on my measurements and calculations they have almost 50% higher rate (somewhere around 350, which is slightly higher than the ground controls on there now). More importantly they're beehive style so won't bind before the bumpstops arrest compression, which is probably why we bent the mounts (the GC springs were clearly binding).

So, hopefully will test-fit soon....spent today over at Jim's working on the Race Cage chump e30 that we'll be running at VIR next weekend :)

Did a bunch of stuff today, which I'll review in a bit. In the meantime, keep yourself entertained by my awesome ghetto modding

video:

https://youtu.be/X3n8jLpSKGU

Ha that is awesome.

We're headed out in the morning down to VIR for the Chumpcar 12-hour in the Rage Cage Racing e30, so more on the rallycar when I get back....I do have some updates.

In the meantime, here's some great shots from Rachel Lovas from the rally..

Ok, so let's do some updates. First...continuing on the repair of the car after the rally. Finished up the rear upper spring perches - rebuilt the frame rails (seriously, even they got mushed a little bit) and reinforced them and the spring mount with some 1/8th steel cut in a circle and mounted over the stock plate. Then changed to the e36 M3 springs for a test. The result: well, the car certainly sits higher in the back, which looks a bit funny but will be much better for what we're doing (will change back to the eibachs for track days and stuff).

In my limited driving so far, the rear end feels pretty good and the rates feel pretty similar to what I was using before (said to be around 350 or so). Will give it a good test at the rallycross in about 9 days.

pics:

other minor issues fixed but no need for pics: rear exhaust hangar broke off somehow (at the tailpipe)....probably from whatever mashed in the front of my muffler - yet another reason to get the rear end up a bit. So fixed that.

Also I may have mentioned that our horn kept going off randomly during the rally. Turns out the horn pin holder was cracked and the pin was seizing. No real way to fix this easily right now. Eventually will try to take one out of a junkyard e30. IN the meantime, will just use a cheapo bolt-on horn button on the side of the steering column, which should work fine. Pics when done. Really exciting stuff.

Other than that, rinsed out the interior of the car, cleaned stuff up, and reinstalled the skidplate and other stuff now that I've hammered a few of the dents out of it.

Also made up a bit of new vinyl to give props to my crew....

In the meantime, we went down to VIR for the ChumpCar 12-hour in the RageCage e30, with a new high-mileage B25 engine that we hoped would hold up. Weather was pretty good to start and everything seemed to be going ok as we gridded. I was leading off for the start, and then....car woudln't start. Our battery had somehow gone bad. So crew pushed the car into the paddock with me still strapped in and jumped it. Got us on the track in roughly 55th place (out of 60...).

Anyhow, the race was largely incident-free both in terms of accidents and mechanical issues. At a later pit stop we put the Red Top from my WRX into the racecar and finished the race with that. Also lost a hood pin somehow. We clawed back to about 20th place, and Jim went in for the last 2 hour stint, in the dark, with rain starting. And what happens? The wiper linkage rod (under the cowl vents) BROKE. Yeah, who would have expected that, right? WIth obviously no replacement parts around, Jim battled out there in the rain and dark and somehow ran the whole session with one "kinda" working wiper and the car fogging up as well. I think he had a few "two-offs" perhaps but managed to hold on and we finished around 20th overall. So not bad for starting in the mid-50s. Without the no-start issue where we lost 9 laps, figure we could have moved up 5 or 6 spots maybe.

So that was fun. The guys are doing several more races this year (Sebring, VIR 24, Pittsburgh, the Glen, and others). I may do one or two more, budget allowing.

Pics:

Meanwhile, Jim and I did some talking and I think we're going to skip STPR rally this summer. A few reasons: First, would like to toughen up the car a bit more and get it sorted before a hard rally like that. Second, Rally America membership is $235, which really isn't worth it for one RA event (all we would be doing). So we'll probably go up there and crew for Jesse Yuvali and Ozgur Simzek in their e30s, or maybe help out Nonack.

Instead, we're going to plan to do NASA Rally instead - membership is cheaper for one. The first event we're shooting for is Black River Stages in NY in September. In the meantime, will run a full rallycross season locally (including the Eastern States Championship), and try to do one or two rallysprints (TBD). So more on the schedule when we know more, but that's the plan for now!

When is vir24?

August 14th.

irish44j wrote: ...I think we're going to skip STPR rally this summer. A few reasons: First, would like to toughen up the car a bit more and get it sorted before a hard rally like that. Second, Rally America membership is $235, which really isn't worth it for one RA event (all we would be doing). So we'll probably go up there and crew for Jesse Yuvali and Ozgur Simzek in their e30s, or maybe help out Nonack. Instead, we're going to plan to do NASA Rally instead - membership is cheaper for one. The first event we're shooting for is Black River Stages in NY in September. In the meantime, will run a full rallycross season locally (including the Eastern States Championship), and try to do one or two rallysprints (TBD). So more on the schedule when we know more, but that's the plan for now!

We're kind of thinking the same thing about STPR- it's a lot of $$ for one rally, especially factoring in the membership cost (we don't plan on any other RA rallies this year either) and Magnum Opus is about the same cost even when you factor towing.

Black River Stages is a great rally, if you have to pick one for the fall that would be my choice too.

Rally america has 1 event licences. Thought It jumped to 150$ this year from 75$?

Is there a build thread on the RageCage e30. It looks way nicer than pics of most of the low buck series cars you see.

paperpaper wrote: Rally america has 1 event licences. Thought It jumped to 150$ this year from 75$?

Yeah, but still not a very good deal IMO. I'm going to avoid RA as much as possible for the time being....most rally people seem to hate it as an organization but end up running it because they have the most events out there right now.

I'd better watch out though...apparently RA just added new rules saying that you're not allowed to say anything bad about RA. NRS seems like a more friendly organization, and more organized in many cases (just my own viewpoint from attending/crewing a limited number of rallies though).

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Is there a build thread on the RageCage e30. It looks way nicer than pics of most of the low buck series cars you see.

yeah, Jim is a lot like me in his attention to detail (probably moreso, actually) and the car really is built very nicely with a lot of thought. But he's not a facebook or internet-posting guy much (though he's on here with username Spoth above) so no build thread. That's why I occasionally post about it on here.

I'm sure I can get you more pics if there's something in particular that you want to see in the car.

In reply to irish44j:

Oh it's true. NEFR is the dream. Next year may not include it. I have a NASA log book for a reason.

So today took the car on its first real drive since coming back from the rally and installing the M3 rear springs.

The positives first: The M3 rears feel good. Actually, the ride is excellent but they firm up nicely into hard cornering (keeping in mind, I have no swaybars installed either). I think they're actually a bit stiffer than the Eibachs I had back there so will have to mildly adjust my driving style perhaps - TBD at the rallycross next weekend.

Also, the car is running well. I made a few high-speed runs and hard launches and everything functionally feels good.

Now to the bad: When I put in the solid bushigns, there was a mild increase in noise...essentially a light whirring sound like a slightly scraping brake dust shield. Not a big deal and I got used to it. But now, there is a TON of noise back there, like a box of rocks rattling around. Speed-sensitive but oddly doesn't seem to be affected either by accel/decel (as I would imagine diff bearings would) nor cornering (as wheel bearings typically would).

I got under the car and checked for anything scraping or touching the driveshaft or axles. No dice there. I do have one right wheel dust shield that got mashed up somehow on the bottom, but I can't see it scraping against anything. So it's either the diff or a wheel bearing. Definitely in the back end. So today I swapped out my 3.91 for my 3.73 medium case. The 3.91 I recently put new LSD discs in it, but I was pressed for time and didn't do the bearings/seals at the time. So, guess they could be bad, seeing as they're probably the original bearings from 1985, lol.

In any case, swapped out the 3.73 since I don't have a wheel bearing handy. As usual, diff swaps are a PITA, but whatever. Took it for a test drive and I'm happy to report that the 3.73 is very smooth and the gearing is probably better than the 3.91 anyhow. Unfortunately, it didn't chance the noise one bit. So, not the diff. That's actually good news since that means it's almost certainly a wheel bearing.

Did a bit more driving and it's hard to tell, but seems to be coming from the right rear. I replaced the left rear with a new FAG bearing last winter but haven't replaced the right rear in a good while. So, Jim is coming over tomorrow and hopefully we'll swap in one of the spares for the track car (some good cheap Chinese stuff lol). So anyhow, more on that once it's done.

Rallycross #1 for DC was last weekend. The beautiful spring weather went away and it was slated to snow that night, so had to order up two more Altimax Arctics to replace the two we destroyed at WMWR, just to drive there since the ETA guys have our trailer and were towing their car up with it.

So, loaded everything up in the mini-trailer to tow up there myself. Roads were fine and the drive was fine, and we finally found some snow upon our arrival to the mountain.

So this is the first event with the M3 springs on the back and man they were comfy on the ride up compared to the Eibachs, lol. I also decided to run with most of the rally gear in the car as well as a FULL fuel tank. I want to rallycross heavy the way we run rally....so ran with spare tire, fire extinguishers, gearbag, etc. Everything but the jack since I was too lazy to put it back in after changing tires. Figure with full tank of gas (usually ran 1/2 tank last year for events), full cage, spare and gear I was running with a good 300lbs extra compared to last year - with the same power and same suspension other than the rear springs.

Also removed front and rear sways and had the 3.73 LSD in rather than the usual 3.91. As it turned out the 3.91 would ahve been better for the course, but is what it is.

Anyhow for this event PR was a big class with 11-12 cars signed up while MR there were 7 of us (minus Jason who didn't want to tow up due to weather in the Miata). Eric Eisele and Neil Cox were back out there in the 325i with a new e36 rack and some other improvements. Corey back out with the Turbo Volvo 240 and some additinal rust in its rockers. Nick jumped in and drove PR champion Shawn Roberts' Miata, and we had Justin Kidd in his Swedish-flag Volvo 740 Turbo. Nick didn't have the M3 done in time and wanted to codrive but for the time being I'm only letting Jim codrive this car at rallycross to try to save tires and wear and tear at the moment, so into Shawn's miata he went. A big change from his e28 from last year in terms of driving!

Eric and Drew started out fast and took a quick lead of 5-6 seconds as the rest of us made mistakes and I picked up 2 cones on one run (video shows it was only one, but whatever...). By the lunch break Eric Eisele was leading by a few seconds over me with Drew and Corey right on our butts. Nick was having touble finding speed in the Miata and was about a second slower per run than the top 4 in class. Morning course was very open and fast and definitely gave a bit of edge to the cars with more power.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2duZpdWawr0&feature=youtu.be

In the afternoon course reversed and tightened up a lot...much more technical and full of slaloms. My style. And I managed to start clawing back, running clean all afternoon. Corey put up bllistering times in the Volvo but was picking up a cone or two here and there. Eric and Drew were still running fast but maybe pushing a bit hard as I was slowly gaining and both picked up a few cones - which is unusual for them, especially Eric.

In the end, I had a good feel for the car and it danced well in the tight course (though the longer diff and M42 did not help in the slow, deep turnaround that bogged me down a lot). I managed to take the win by just under 3 seconds after 17 runs and 830 seconds of course time. Cones told the story - I drove clean today except a couple in the morning and that sealed the deal, with Corey picking up 11 cones but only ending up 3 seconds back (he was FAST), and Eric less than a second behind him with 7 cones - almost all of them in the afternoon, and Neil only 3-4 seconds behind him. Nick ended up about 30 second off the lead in 5th in his first full rallycross in a Miata and I'm sure he'll double his effort to have the M3 ready for the next event.

Here's the afternoon course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzuDDgt0scU&feature=youtu.be

By the way, next event we try out a new venue. The RALLY FARM here in Northern Va. A few of us tested out this venue (owned by a couple rally drivers) at a huge farm last year. Will be interesting to see what the setup is...lots of fields and area, soft loamy surface and grass. Will be quite a change from Gravel Mountain in Frostburg. Nice that it's only 30-45 minutes from me instead of 2 1/2 hours :) Now the Maryland and W.VA guys get to see what it's like to drive distance to rallycross lol.

So all in all pretty pleased with the car and suspension setup. I expected the M3 springs to be unpredictable but actually they were damn near just right - and no more binding or bumpstops banging constantly, which is the real plus. The front sway removal helped with turn-in as well I think.

I did notice the M42 getting a bit rumbly in midrange (3k rpms) on the drive home and noplace else, so not really sure what that's all about. Will have to check out some things on the engine in the next couple weeks.

So, one win in the books continuing on last year's success so far.

Here's some pics.

how many people does it take to fix a Volvo? more than this...

e30 crew minus Eric/Drew

more Vovos

Kimmett relaxing after making this event go..

Some of our new people and old people

Totally unrelated, but Saturday at work this was there. I mean, it's no e30 but it is kind of nice for $400,000.....He was picking up his skis from us. In that. #firstworldproblems....

So haven't updated much since I haven't had much to update with some other projects ongoing.

First off, our next event moves to a new venue: the Rally Farm in northern Virginia, which we tested last fall as you may recall. Should be fun to run on grass instead of gravel for once. More on that in a few weeks :)

In the meantime, I was tired of my dented/warped sunroof panel and the knob-style roof vent. So I decided to rip it off, sand and repaint the roof, and redo it all.

Unfortunately on the weekend I couldn't find the correct gauge of steel in the size I needed so decided to save some cash and improvise. Had an old mashed-up e30 hood out back so got out the sawzall and cut it up. So forgot to take many in-progress pics, but here's the finished product:

The hood piece has the same ridged profile which I guess looks pretty nifty, but even better it stiffens it up nicely without the need for any bracing, so it won't flex when opening/closing the vent. For the vent I ordered a new aluminum handle-style vent to replace the knob-style steel vent. So dropped a pound of weight and its much easier to operate.

Also this time used hex-head stainless bolts since those POS allen-head ones stripped like crazy when tightened. This will make it much easier to remove if I ever need to for some reason. Not quite as pretty as the button-head hex bolts, but this car doesn't need to be all that pretty..

So, that's that, here's some pics. More updates when I do something worthwhile..

Also helped out Nick with more work on his M3 rallycross e36, but you can catch up with all that in his thread on GRM if you want to...

Roof panel looks nice! You should have offset the raised section to the side for a Gurney bump though

trust me, the thought did cross my mind for a moment !