E30S50

[DrphTa 5]

Looks good man, love your effort

[Jamez 2147483647]

Quick Update-

Driving at the Taupo Trackday - http://vimeo.com/28877615

Driving in my first race ever at the Ice Breaker meeting - http://vimeo.com/32833168

Have got a set of style 5's to go on the car this weekend and will take some pics and upload next week.

[Gotheschu 1]

Quick Update-

Driving at the Taupo Trackday - http://vimeo.com/28877615

Driving in my first race ever at the Ice Breaker meeting - http://vimeo.com/32833168

Have got a set of style 5's to go on the car this weekend and will take some pics and upload next week.

lol. thats what i can hi end torque.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Put on the style 5's, preferred the look of no center caps. Also gave the car a well deserved clean. To finish up I did a spanner check and found the ground wire on the back of the block to be loose so gave it a good tightening.

[hybrid 1043]

Looks good man.

[DrphTa 5]

Nice change, +1 for leaving the caps off

[Lucan 196]

Jelly!

[Michael. 2313]

Marvelous

[Jamez 2147483647]

Best Race Lap from Hampton @ 1:13.97 - http://vimeo.com/33475284

During this lap I had to deal the following which came apparent after the race....

-Loose bonnet, thing causes the front to lift which acts as a wind brake at high speed.

-Loose Radiator

-The rear of the gearbox was sitting on top of the mounts but was not bolted down, this causes huge amounts of movement under brakes

-Buggered engine mounts - the engine had moved forward which is why the gearbox would not bolted down

-Loose steering rack, had about 5mm of lateral movement, this caused it to steer itself under brakes

-Leaking/cracked exhaust headers, this was due to stress caused by the engine moving forward and the headers were the only thing holding the engine in place.

Since they were only minor issues I did two more races in the same state but its definitely time for a overhaul.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Jamez

[e38king 1]

Update:

Have been working hard of the last few weeks to remove 2 Seconds or more off the lap time.

--I have bought solid gearbox mounts as the standard ones have heaps of play

Best Race Lap from Hampton @ 1:13.97 - http://vimeo.com/33475284

During this lap I had to deal the following which came apparent after the race....

-Loose bonnet, thing causes the front to lift which acts as a wind brake at high speed.

-Loose Radiator

-The rear of the gearbox was sitting on top of the mounts but was not bolted down, this causes huge amounts of movement under brakes

-Buggered engine mounts - the engine had moved forward which is why the gearbox would not bolted down

-Loose steering rack, had about 5mm of lateral movement, this caused it to steer itself under brakes

-Leaking/cracked exhaust headers, this was due to stress caused by the engine moving forward and the headers were the only thing holding the engine in place.

Since they were only minor issues I did two more races in the same state but its definitely time for a overhaul.

I am by no means an expert racer but surely these are the sort of things should have been checked out when you did your "spanner check", especially when back in August you said you were replacing the gearbox mounts?

Buggered engine mounts, loose radiator and a loose bonnet would all stick out like the proverbial wouldn't they?

Edited December 12, 2011 by e38king

[e38king 1]

Nice change, +1 for leaving the caps off

My understanding is your are not allowed to run centre caps on the race track.

Edited December 12, 2011 by e38king

[Jamez 2147483647]

I am by no means an expert racer but surely these are the sort of things should have been checked out when you did your "spanner check", especially when back in August you said you were replacing the gearbox mounts?

Buggered engine mounts, loose radiator and a loose bonnet would all stick out like the proverbial wouldn't they?

I was hitting the curbs really hard in practice trying to get past a certain black e36 and that is when I started breaking stuff. The moral of the story is not to ride curbs.

edit - I like this pic Groundsky took, looks like I am sleeping, you will also notice the cable ties holding the front of the car together after all the rivets popped it practice.

Edited December 12, 2011 by Jamez

[hybrid 1043]

Love that video ... really winding up on the straights

[Jamez 2147483647]

Update:

Its home for maintenance, will take about 2 weeks of all nighters to get fixed up, everything is either either getting replaced or upgraded: Springs, Antirollbars, steering rack, Shock mounts, Headers, Exhaust, Diff, Body Panels, Subframe, Brakes, Shifter, slicks and the list goes on. I am wanting to get the car in top shape before next season and as it will be my first complete season so I am not leaving anything to chance.

In the Garage.

The best vice ever.

How to do corner weighting on the cheap, Ideally I would have the proper scales.

[Silver Fox 43]

Your hammer's not big enough.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Changed the rear shock mounts tonight, the old ones were far past usable but I modded them with some cable ties so they would last the season.

Old:

New:

Also found the rear trailing arms to be finger tight and were flopping around. Fixed now.

[hybrid 1043]

clean that sh*t before putting back on the car

[Jamez 2147483647]

clean that sh*t before putting back on the car

Spent part of today giving the engine bay a clean.

Here is my list of stuff to do before next weekend:

Already completed:

Move Engine Back

Move gearbox mounts forward

Fix Front Subframe

Replace Sump gasket

Relocate Oil Cooler

Oil Change

Steering Rack Conversion

Fit Front Antiroll Bar

Relocate Radiator Tank

Replace Coolant

Relocate Engine Air Intake

Relocate Swirlpot

Replace Brake Bushings

Fit Rear Brake Pads

Remove gearshift slop

Fiberglass Bonnet Cracks

Headlight Covers

Wheel Alignment

Fit 120L Fuel Tank

For Pitstop to Do this week

Redo the Headers

Remove the S from the Mid section of exhaust

Nearly there, I will be running some new Hankooks for the 4 hour race at Hampton next weekend.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Finished.

Even though i have spent a shitload of time on this rebuild, the whole thing (including getting pitstop to do the headers) came in at $2279.11 incl, Compared to what others have spent in the off season i reckon thats a pretty good deal for a car that is aiming to do 1:12's round hampton.

[slowe30 0]

thought it was this one i saw at pitstop today, nice car man, evan if it has to be pushed round haha.

i was the one on the bike as you were pushing it up in the morning

[westy 614]

Nice work James.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Managed to get the car back together and went down to Hampton for the 12 Hour, came first in the 4hr and was up to third position overall (4/6/12 Hour) before I pitted (then Chris took over)

Her is a video of my best lap -

I managed to set a new PB 57 laps in, then got close to beating it in lap 99.

Because info on how the Hankooks feel and last is hard to come by (apart from a few Porsche guys complaining they go off really quick) here is my thoughts:

I got the C51 compound 17" Hankook F200 slicks and scrubbed them in on the qualifying - 2 slow laps, 1 fast, 1 cooldown. I was 1.5 seconds off my PB. When I came into pit lane they started to steam an oily vapor.

I let them sit until the next day and overnight they had a oily residue all the way round them, on the warm up for the race it was like driving on ICE. This could have also been because the track was damp.

With the Hankooks I was running 23 cold which gave 30 hot

With the dunlops I run 26-27 cold which give 30 hot

After a few laps into the race they started to match the performance of the old dunlops and for the first 50 laps I didn't push them to hard, was running about 2 seconds off my PB.

After 50 laps I started to lean on them to see what I could do and I instantly got into the low 1:13's and set a new PB of 1:13.187.

After 100 laps I thought they would be well past used but I still managed to do a 1:13.201 in lap 99.

The performance didn't drop even after 177 laps of the 2.8km circuit. Wear was minimal, maybe about 80% tread left.

I may have got such good life because I setup the car to be easy to drive and have minimal mechanical wear but I would have to say the Hankooks are well worth the money at $1600 per set. I expect them to last the Open Series season.

Other cool facts

I burned 32L of fuel every hour, this means the 130L will last 4 hours.

My mouth got really dry after 1 hour, good thing I had a camel pack in the car.

My brakes were struggling to get up to temp, even though they are standard brakes with no vents.

Engine Oil temp was at 110C and water was at 85C for most of the race.

Diff was 120C at the end

edit - I should say that I will be softening up the front and adding a bit of toe out for the race series, this will help aid turn in. Also the weight of the car will be reduced by 120kg as I wont be running so much fuel for 8 lappers. Aiming for mid 1:12's round hampton.

Edited August 7, 2012 by Jamez

[Jamez 2147483647]

Also - here is a video with some highlights - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151162433418000

I must also add the e36 rack conversion was well worth the effort, it has removed the need to shuffle the steering wheel on some corners.

[BM WORLD 1283]

Also - here is a video with some highlights - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151162433418000

I must also add the e36 rack conversion was well worth the effort, it has removed the need to shuffle the steering wheel on some corners.

well done , looks real fast .

nice work

ready for that Z3 steering rack now

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2957]

Nice work James - glad it all went well for you in the race! I'll bet Chris won't get a look in the season??

With the oily residue on the slicks - did you use anything to clean off the release agent from when they were made? Usually has some kind of silicone wax in it that stays on the tyre. I use CRC and a micro-fibre cloth to rub it off before scrubbing in. Just a thought...