Alpine e30 progress/build thread
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156.8k
I had a blast with @KaiserRolls and @AsparagusMike at the FVSCC event at Road America this past Sunday! The car ran flawlessly, but boy do I have some dialing to do on the handling/my driving after all the changes I've made. Well over half the course was spent counter steering... and while this was hilariously fun, it made for quite the white knuckle ride when trying to push and improve lap times! I'm already looking forward to next season!
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Im happy you got a chance to do some proper flogging! What’s your gameplan to balance the car?
Agreed!!
For adjustments I think working towards reducing oversteer (I know, boo) is going to be the main focus if I want to go faster. That and getting more practice of course.
I didn't really get an opportunity to dial in the brake bias so I'd like to play around with that a bit and just see what happens. Right now it doesn't feel bad, but it might have too much rear bias as the car feels like it pivots quite a bit when braking hard into a corner.
Another thing I'd like to try is softening or even disconnecting the rear sway bar. Mike said that really made a difference for him so I think it would be worth giving it a go too. Right now I have it set on the middle setting (19mm UUC bar), so dropping to the softest or even disconnecting it all together could help the rear end stay in line a bit better too.
It is also entirely possible my tires have gotten pretty hard as they sat in an unheated garage for the last two winters... I know the RA motorplex surface is pretty slick, but it did feel like I had significantly less grip in every aspect compared to the last few times I was there with this car two years ago. Not much I can do about that one, so I'll just work with it for now.
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Toss some 225 RE71R’s on. It will be transformed lol
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fast times are great and all, but power oversteer is addicting! now you know what i've been up to whilst you beat me with the 1.8
awesome to see this thing out being pushed
Dan
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fast times are great and all, but power oversteer is addicting! now you know what i've been up to whilst you beat me with the 1.8
awesome to see this thing out being pushed
Oh definitely! Its WAY too fun to power out of a turn with a bit of opposite lock. It's the whole 'very sideways when you don't want it' part that I'm looking to dial out
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156.8k
I was hoping to get another few weeks of driving in with this car, but the weather had other ideas so it is parked for the season and will get prepped for the winter this weekend. Boo.
With snow on the way it is officially entering build season and I'm excited to announce that I'm not participating in anything significant. The goal for this winter is to keep it very near running condition so that there is no "picnic or bust", only "picnic" in the spring. I do, however, have a hit list of things I'd like to accomplish:
- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit
- Re-do exhaust mid section
- Finish horn relay/wiring
- Diagnose/fix driver's front running light (currently no power)
- Re-do water temperature sensor ground
- Once the weather warms up in the spring, repaint all the faded trim and a few other things
- Maybe some other stuff
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- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit
lol
With snow on the way
stop. the snow storm tomorrow is now your fault
Dan
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Finally got a chance to winterize the car over the weekend and I just realized that I forgot to fold the mirrors, so looks like I can't count that as done yet.
I also had an itchy trigger finger on Black Friday and got a pair of Condor speed shop door handles. They look neat and I figure my car is modified enough to have silly "lightweight" door handles not look wildly out of place.
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i like the style of those and as a bonus you can cable lock your car to the parking meter for extra security
Dan
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i like the style of those and as a bonus you can cable lock your car to the parking meter for extra security
I never thought of that... brilliant!!
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Here's what I got done on my winter to-do list:
- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit - nope
- Re-do exhaust mid section - nope
- Finish horn relay/wiring - nope
- Diagnose/fix driver's front running light (currently no power) - nope
- Re-do water temperature sensor ground - nope
- Once the weather warms up in the spring, repaint all the faded trim and a few other things - nope
- Maybe some other stuff - nope
I did stop by the garage yesterday and cranked it over with the fuel pump relay pulled to build oil pressure, then popped the relay back in and it fired right up! Can't wait for driving season!
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Finally re-worked the exhaust mid section. I got rid of the crappy glass-pack and replaced it with a pair of more substantial mufflers
Before (old pic):
After:
I promise the welds are less boogery than they look in the picture. I'm going to re-paint it sometime this summer, so for now I reinstalled everything and took it for a test drive (also first drive of the year, this car is so fun). Its not necessarily much quieter, but the awful rasp is significantly better and it finally sounds half decent. The ground clearance is a little worse but I'm overall really happy with how it came out.
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