ILC's 1991 318 S50 track rat
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Great news that there's no frame damage and all the suspension is intact!
Re the body parts quest: I've had some communication with this seller down in Rockford about the passenger side fender, though he's pretty slow in followup responses and I'm still waiting on promised pics and price detail. Anybody here know the seller?
https://rockford.craigslist.org/pts/5721149272.html
Might get a quicker response if you offer to buy the whole car...and we work out a deal for the passenger fender as a finder's fee.
My guess is the ad fell under the radar since a "BMW 325si" doesn't pop up in an e30 parts search.
yep, Father Hundley sent that link to me this morning as well - I messaged the guy and said I am interested in a few panels or potentially the whole car depending on price. If the panels are intact and matches my color I would definitely help you out with the passenger fender.
My car is Brilliantrot though so I dunno his looks like it may be Hellrot. I also don't know if 325is parts fit a 318is.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Literally the same car besides the motor and trans situation. I would hope you plan to get the new parts painted to match the rest of the car given the paint seemed to be in great shape before your crash.
good to know.
i'm unlikely to bother with much in the way of repainting. It's a track car, and I have the 135i to look pretty. The risk of damage at the track is really too high for me to justify the ridiculous cost of painting so many body panels. To have it done right and match everything you're talking at least 2500 bucks just for the paint and labor. That doesn't include parts.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
I'm well aware of the cost involved in having a car painted....just figured this car deserved it but I guess not.
again, track car that gets driven 10-15 times a year after being pulled off a trailer. The car (was) clean and definitely deserves a nice paint job, it's just impossible to justify for the extremely limited use of a purpose built track vehicle. I agree, it's a shame, a damn shame even, but I have about 500 other places i could better spend that money right now.
Can somebody please tell me how the FUCK to get this white plug/wire cluster out of the body of the car? I am trying to remove the driver side door and cannot for the life of me get this stupid plug out.
Here's where it's at - all disassembly is done except for the driver door:
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Tough call. The car did look good but probably not worth redoing everything to make it pretty if it's going to be a just a track car and you're going to keep pushing the envelope. Put $$ into go fast, cornering and stopping.
Just an FYI for folks doing DE / track day events (non-timed) with a car they're not willing to ball up and walk away from. Stuff does happen, rare in a well run event but it does. Lockton sells track day insurance. Adds $100-200+ to your cost for an event budget depending on the track and the value you place on the car and there are also deductible options 10-20%. But if you've got some serious money wrapped up in your ride it's something to consider.
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Tough call. The car did look good but probably not worth redoing everything to make it pretty if it's going to be a just a track car and you're going to keep pushing the envelope. Put $$ into go fast, cornering and stopping.
Just an FYI for folks doing DE / track day events (non-timed) with a car they're not willing to ball up and walk away from. Stuff does happen, rare in a well run event but it does. Lockton sells track day insurance. Adds $100-200+ to your cost for an event budget depending on the track and the value you place on the car and there are also deductible options 10-20%. But if you've got some serious money wrapped up in your ride it's something to consider.
yup, good advice. When I still tracked my 135i I *always* used Lockton. If whatever you paid for your car will ruin your life or make you cry if you ball it up at the track, definitely be sure to run with track insurance.
Part of why I bought the E30 was because I was sick of dropping $300+ per event on insurance for $35k of coverage on the 135i, given that I'd be popping $5k out of pocket anyway for the deductible before Lockton kicked in anything. I'd need to seriously fuck that car up to get a return on paying for the insurance.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
sorry to see my old car in this condition! I both hope and expect you plan to have the frame checked before assuming it's still straight. e30 frames are old and not that stiff, in an impact them can be tweaked easily.
The good news is that Big Bear was able to align it with barely any adjustment. The car feels as it did before, and at 60 mph on public highway I can let the steering wheel go and it drives straight. Unfortunately that doesn't tell you what the car will do at the limits when taking hard corners
So I'm still going to just run it over to a place like IA in Waukesha that has a laser they can run over the frame to verify, but given what is known from having it at Big Bear, I'm betting the worst case scenario is that the car has a really minor tweak which would likely be worth fixing as the cost of that is a lot less than a harsh bend.
Rest assured she'll be back on track next season in proper running order....and probably with a cooling system overhaul because I want to get a radiator in there that will allow fitment of an electric fan so I don't watch the temp gauge skyrocket on hot days while waiting in the grid
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Didn't it still have a electric fan in front of the radiator? It used to stay cool no problem if you turn it on manually on the grid with the a/c button.
oh damn seriously? yea that fan is still there but I was told it isn't entirely doing that much. It's pretty hot today so I'm going to run the car and see if the a/c button does the trick.
You may have just saved me a bunch of time and effort
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
the a/c buitton works, it's the fan switch. i built the car.
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the a/c buitton works, it's the fan switch. i built the car.
ironically the one guy that I don't know
I bought the car knowing it had a stamp of approval from Charles, john morgan, dan frodl, and our local forum spec racer Boris. I know it works - everything works on that car. I should have used different words - I really meant I was just excited to go test it out. I bought this thing for the long haul knowing it was put together basically perfectly for what it is intended to do and should be able to get another 10 years out of it at the track. I respect your build a ton or I wouldn't have thrown $11k at Charles for the car
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
I did
jordan - you'll enjoy the car, it's strength for me was always the suspension setup worked well and didn't require a lot of fine tuning. Off the shelf j-stock setup is a great setup and very neutral. It had been developed years ago and still works at a fraction of the cost of fancy coilovers where most people screw up their suspension balance achieving a look instead of performance.
I built it in '07, daily drove it as a full car for a year or so, then tracked it once. About a week later I gutted it, got a bolt in cage and drove it at the track a ton for about 3-4 years. I sold it to Charles when he crashed his Mini
You should be able to run about 2:40 at road America and 1:20 at BHF in that car without pushing it too hard in brake zones.
What part of town do you live in?
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I did
jordan - you'll enjoy the car, it's strength for me was always the suspension setup worked well and didn't require a lot of fine tuning. Off the shelf j-stock setup is a great setup and very neutral. It had been developed years ago and still works at a fraction of the cost of fancy coilovers where most people screw up their suspension balance achieving a look instead of performance.
I built it in '07, daily drove it as a full car for a year or so, then tracked it once. About a week later I gutted it, got a bolt in cage and drove it at the track a ton for about 3-4 years. I sold it to Charles when he crashed his Mini
You should be able to run about 2:40 at road America and 1:20 at BHF in that car without pushing it too hard in brake zones.
What part of town do you live in?
That's what I love about the car. It's completely neutral at all times and has the right amount of power for the way the chassis is set up right now. I took note of all the parts listed for the car but if I ever can't figure what something is that needs replacing, I'm coming to you lol.
I'm also coming from a world of previously tracking my 135's, which is utterly incomparable to how good this E30 is. And obviously we're not talking Mike Clemens level of 1-series. I spent my first few years on a car that is soft, vague, and honestly the completely wrong engine platform for the track before jumping into something like the E30. Words cannot express how happy I am driving the E30 now because I can appreciate how good it is after driving a less competent car.
I was not disappointed considering I bought the car in May and even being so new to the car I was still able to put down 2:47's at RA and mid 1:22's at Blackhawk this summer. It's incredibly easy to drive. I showed Charles some RA footage that I took and his first reaction was "you've found a natural fit with this car, it's great to see you so comfortable with it at the wheel", and honestly so much of that is just because of how predictable the car is. It is unfortunate that I caught a bad beat on a damp part of the track at Blackhawk, but I've had it at like 10 other track days this year on dry pavement and it has *always* been completely predictable. The few times I had the backend wiggling at RA as I was picking up more speed while getting familiar with the car, were very easy to correct because the car is so communicative.
I live in Hartland
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Updates - some of you know I found a used door locally that is black and no power windows. Still deciding if I'm going to swap all the wiring over and the regulator/motor. I also got a driver fender from Mitch, and as you can see the paint is pretty close. My plan is to cut the rusted bottom off and just weld in mine because I've got no rust and that part of the panel is still intact.
Door is now removed, so that should be the end of any exterior prep for new body panels. I lined up the new fender from Mitch and it looks pretty good.
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Still waiting for the wheat pennies lol. Glad it'll work!
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