Oh yeah I totally get that. I was pretty sick of replacing steering idler arms in my e34, and look where that got it. (sold)
But I believe that total reverence is required when speaking about god's chariot. "tired" of an e30 m3? Psh, you're blessed to touch an e30 m3. Us mere mortals can't get that close to the divine.
Plop down some money, anyone can have one. I'm fortunate enough to have bought mine when they didn't cost too much...
blasphemy. what's this guys deal?
sorry i have nothing useful to add to this, no person I've paid to do work has actually done it commendably, so i have no recommendations.
Hi Dan! I've folllowed all the online guides and it's not working out. There is something amiss and I have lost interest in trying to figure it out. Maybe I'll try again if I don't get any good suggestions. I know I can do it, but like Rich said, the racecar is much more fun to work on anyway...
Rich! It's Dave.
It's just a rats nest that needs to be sorted out and I'm tired of working on this car. Need to sort it out, then it can be sold...
Struggling with the premium stereo in my e30. Old stereo stopped working, new one won't work anymore, not sure what the deal is. Tired of messing with it. Any recommendations for e30 stereo install pros in southeast WI that I can take it to? Just don't care anymore to mess with it myself
Thanks
Dude, are you running true coil overs in the rear without a boxed in rear upper shock tower mount?
Pinkeys has experience repairing a seriously messed up e30, I've seen pics of what they have done to one car and also seen it in person after the repair. Talk to them, might be worth your time. They can straighten it out me yoj can rattle can it, might be worth your money
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?
the a/c buitton works, it's the fan switch. i built the car.
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.
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.
and that's a large part of what I'm trying to get at here - these cars are not race cars.
But they are advertised as track ready cars -- all the car companies tout their cars as evil track machines. My point is that most of them are, until the weight of any of these new cars shows up around the second session.
that's cute, considering I run hot laps in my 135i with stock brakes and never have any issues after 6 or 7 30 minute sessions in a given day. Stock brakes on these cars are not racing brakes, but to make ignorant assumptions about how durable they are at the track is a step too far.
I have 6-piston calipers in front but I also know that the rotor heat dissipation is not as ideal as it could be, and the caliper pistons are actually made of a shitty cheap material that has actually started on fire and melted on some 135i's at the track. I know the weaknesses of stock brakes on cars as they get heavier because stopping so much weight will generate a ton of heat. There is definitely a limit but you are grossly exaggerating the limitations of the stock brakes on these cars based on their weight.
You are talking as if they are completely incapable of repeated track use. I've never seen a late-model BMW side-lined at the track due to brakes overheating. Ever. 98% of people buying a new M and tracking it will not have the skill to push the car to such a limit where the brakes would actually overheat and fail.
I don't want to discount the fact that a lighter car with good brakes will allow you to brake a lot later before turn-in - there's a reason people love Miatas at the track. I'm not saying you don't have a valid point - I'm saying you are overstating limitations of modern brakes on a car like a BMW M. 2 sessions and being sidelined is laughable.
Maybe it's driver, maybe it's not. My cars are relatively light. In 10 years of regular track duty I've seen e46 m3's and newer have brake problems every track weekend. The cars that don't typically have aftermarket kits on them. I've seen it in Intermediate and Advanced run groups, typically the instructors know by then that the stock brakes aren't worth the hassle and have upgraded.
I saw your car at the BMW club weekend at Road America -- didn't you see any prorblems? One guy ran home for rotors, another needed brake pads -- it's totally common on a hard driven e46+.
I'm glad your experiences have been different, but as you push your car harder I expect you'll probably see what I mean.
yes car bloat is a problem for sure in the auto industry as a whole, but in terms of M division there has been a more holistic improvement in the cars.
as the weight has gone up, so has the braking power, horsepower, and if you've ever seen a modern M chassis right down to the tub, you can see a lot of strength. With a stiffer set of coilovers, I would have 0 concerns about the weight of the M2 and its ability to handle at the track, and it damn sure wouldn't feel sloppy. an M235i is sloppy because it's not an M car. It has shitty soft suspension just like my shitty soft suspension on my 135i. M cars feel tight no matter what.
an e46 M3 CSL goes around the Ring in 7:50. Compared to 7:52 on the M4 and 7:58 on the M2. Think about that. That M3 CSL was 3000 pounds but it was fucking gutted. Utterly gutted. No amenities, just pure driver car. So BMW, for all the weight gain in the M series of recent years, shows the CSL is only a mere 2 seconds faster than it's direct big brother the M4. But that new M4 has driving manners and really nice tech features and better safety features. It doesn't have to sacrifice everything to have a good lap time.
That's called evolution.
BMW M has always been about balance of performance and driving manners. They've never had a mass-production M car that is a purpose-built race car. The E46 CSL was a special vehicle that took some amount of aim at that but was never a household thing. The reason that M has been the gold standard in overall performance for 25 years is because it's a car that does everything very well, with an slight lean towards performance/racing.
you sound like a PR release as part of the new video. I know all the info you suggested -- that is not the point.
The point I tried to make in fewer words is that it is depressing to see the weight of new cars. Sure, it may be great on track -- for two sessions. Then the brakes overheat, the tires wear out quickly and you wish you could lose another 500lbs fast. That is part of the reason why anyone that tracks even an e46 m3 finds out the hard way after 2 sessions that the factory brakes suck. They are not track brakes and I'm sure neither are these -- despite their catchy blue paint job and fancy piston count!
that little car weighs 3450 lbs? What is this world coming to? Is anything even close to 3000 anymore?
I just had a driveshaft done at A-1 last week. It's installed already but it's a project track car that has never run, so it may be a while before i can tell you how it is. Looked good, nice guys, I'd go back unless I have some kind of catastrophic failure
I daily an 04 v70r, 6 speed. Good car, no complaints aside from mpg being low. If I didn't have two kids and a dog to take around it would be an e39 m5 no question. When both kids are forward facing I'm thinking about jetty TDI wagon for the mpg, but will surely miss my 300hp and sweet orange leather interior.
Nice GLK, I've always liked the shape of those....
the owner of this business is a car guy:
http://www.milwaukeepolishing.com/pages/milwaukee_polishing.htm
It's on Brown Deer and 107th St. You won't get a better result anywhere
Where ar you located and are you going to te e30 picnic next weekend in pewaukee to show off any of these parts?
I'm hoping to make it as well -- just have to muster up the motivation to actually clean my car
Don't forget to mention why there is free food and beverages!!!!
