‘91 E30

[KaiserRolls]

Car has been pretty solid since the last update, I did end up making a (crude) mount for the  MS3 to get it out of the way in the glovebox 

Finally got the car out to an HPDE at USAIR.  So glad the new management is cool with these events. There was a morning and afternoon session, we only signed up for the morning. It was a total of 4, 15 minute sessions for $125 (afternoon would’ve been an additional $125) - autox out there is usually $55 for 8 runs-  Ended up being about 36 miles of laps.

Car exceeded expectations as it didn’t break lol. Temps stayed in check the entire day. Coolant temps maybe peaked around 210/215 and came down very quickly on a cool down lap. Oil temps were maybe around 230 or so at their peak

The chase bays power steering reservoir with their “spill proof baffled design” did just the opposite, had to wipe that up between sessions.

Had one weird issue with the expansion tank cap, seemed like the orings/gasket had the worlds smallest leak and it would mist the intake pipe during the session. New cap will be here soon & expansion tank just in case. This was the quick fix trackside

 

car used maybe 1/4 tank of fuel, GFs evo x went through like 15 gallons of e85 lol

Nankang CR-1 were also a casualty, this event finished them off after 2 years of service, no complaints there—might try their updated 200tw compound “CR-S”

i only ran the racebox gps on 2/4 sessions, borrowed it out to a few cars on the other sessions-still need to get those laps overlayed but here’s some footage from the day

this was one of the last sessions so tires were pretty smoked 

Next lapping day is in September. This one actually still had open spots, definitely recommend.  
 

next on the list is to order up some tires and change all the fluids

[Boris3]

Great trackside fix!

[HipMF]

KaiserRolls said:

This last weekend was the first fvscc event at USAIR. For this event they ran the layout backwards which was a first for me. They also usually cap the event at 100 cars, this one had 137. Ended up placing 1st in XSB and 3rd overall raw time. 
http://fvscc.com/results/2023_Summer/event2_raw.htm
 

here’s my fastest run of the day

gf brought out the e36 and ended up placing 19th overall

I missed this one. You've definitely progressed since the days when I was almost keeping up with you in my jalopy. Nice work driving the piss out of that thing!

[KaiserRolls]

Had another autox event as USAIR this last weekend. New layout this time around which was interesting. 

i coned my fastest run, but still had a time on the books good enough for 1st in XSB and 3rd/132 total drivers 

 

I’ll have to change the expansion tank out to my spare new one. Same-ish issue from the lapping day persisted even with a new cap. I think the neck/threaded portion of the tank is screwed

[KaiserRolls]

Changed out the expansion tank/paired with the new cap - unfortunately I think I’ll need to wait until an HPDE to see if the issue is 100% resolved. 
 

Autox at Golden Sands last weekend. Fun site being a banked oval, even with limited course layout options 

took 1st in XSB (small class) and 4/34 total drivers 

Next weekend is the second local event, the site (fairgrounds) was repaved/made larger so will be interesting to see the layout

[Rekpoint]

The "FAWK" at the end

[KaiserRolls]

Rekpoint said:

The "FAWK" at the end 

I couldn’t find any more time lol. 1-6 place was basically all within half a second from 1st 

[KaiserRolls]

Local autox last weekend. Took 1st in XSB and 3rd/69 total drivers, car was co-driven & did well

@Rekpoint was there too

Next up is USAIR lapping day

[KaiserRolls]

GoPro crashed and decided to turn hypersmooth crap back on, but here’s a lap at USAIR HPDE 

IMG_9219.MOV

car did great, weather was a little cooler this time around. Only did the morning run group (4, 20 min sessions for $100). 

New expansion tank seemed to do better, so that’s neat. New tires are now oldish tires 

next event is in wi dells/baraboo

[Jdesign]

I love that you are putting this thing through the ringer. So awesome to see! I did a USAIR Autox event long ago in a supercharged civic and had an absolute blast.

[KaiserRolls]

Jdesign said:

I love that you are putting this thing through the ringer. So awesome to see! I did a USAIR Autox event long ago in a supercharged civic and had an absolute blast. 

I feel like I’ve missed a lot of events over the past few years (at least in an e30) so I’m trying to make it count ha

[Jdesign]

KaiserRolls said:

I feel like I’ve missed a lot of events over the past few years (at least in an e30) so I’m trying to make it count ha

Well it sure seems like you are!

[KaiserRolls]

Forgot to post this, 3/4 RTs had normal wear after the HPDE - 1 got smoked after the lapping day. Unfortunately, not uncommon with the RT. Luckily I have 3 decent condition take offs that I kept (2020) so was able to get it swapped out before the dells autox 

[KaiserRolls]

Dells autox went well, 2 day event. Gf and I codrove the car both days. I took 1st/4 in XSB (7/84 raw) and she took 2nd/4 (14/84 raw) in XSB on day 1. Day 2 I took 1st/5 in XSB (5/92 raw) and she took 2nd/5 in XSB (15/92 raw). The 3 year old RT was in the rear and held its own too ha. 
 

the lot was extremely bumpy so it was 2 days worth of lockups with no abs, adjusted the bias as much as I felt comfortable with, but just took it as an opportunity to get better at not blowing the fronts off over the large cracks/bumps

^the finish on day 1s course was sketchy, in 3rd gear across the line and trying to stop after basically a straight, before the parking lot ended

here are the layouts

And an outside shot because Intake noise is great 

Pretty much 1 event left before Halloween, night time autox at golden sands. Usually end up taking the beater Miata to that one

[TDesire]

One of my personal favorite e30s! Love this!

[KaiserRolls]

Long story short, turns out back in late may 2023 I cracked the head on this car which explains the “expansion tank” issues I was having. I raced/codrove it like that for a year without much issue. In April 2024 after an event I decided it was time to dive in as the “expansion tank” issue was getting worse. 
did a compression test on it and every cylinder checked out great which was weird
did a leak down test and cyl 5 took a shit  cracked from exhaust valve to spark plug

sourced 2 spare heads, took them to the machine shop & they fixed them all up & then they cracked them both in the fixture when pressure testing lol. (Clamped them wrong)

IMG_4260.mov

Shit happens and they ended up sourcing 2 heads fairly quickly - just something to note if you’re dropping these off at a shop that normally doesn’t touch these heads, make sure they clamp them down from the head bolt area and aren’t just putting a bar across the top of the head. 

Raced gf’s Supra for most of 2024 & didn’t have much motivation until recently to get this back together. 
 

turns out a few of the bores on the cam trays had some pretty bad scoring so grabbed a set from my spares since I had to reshim the solid lifters anyways 

this is usually the longest part of the process but it’s pretty straight forward, putting the cams in/out a few times to measure is the longest part 

also did valve seals because everything was part anyways 

 

Just in case anyone is curious since I had to buy spare motors to source heads lol:

slapped it back together over the weekend with oem headbolts, Running distilled water&water wetter instead of coolant because I hate cleaning up coolant. Also don’t let me forget for the winter lol. 

plugged the laptop into ms3, hit the key, everything still worked & it fired right up. 
beat on it a bit & temps held around 190-195, didn’t have any weird leaks, expansion tank issues, etc -so hopefully it’s good to go. Still need to drop the current oil/filter, bleed brakes, check PS fluid, move fixed seat forward, address dumb valve cover leaks & re tape radiator gaps

 

might run this at the next RA event or just wait for a USAIR lapping day to fully shake it down

[YoungCR]

Glad to see it back on the road