The hikfab plate has saved my pan so many times, it owes me nothing. If it’s bent bad you can straighten them in a press (ask me how I know)
Glad to see the car made it relatively unscathed
The hikfab plate has saved my pan so many times, it owes me nothing. If it’s bent bad you can straighten them in a press (ask me how I know)
Glad to see the car made it relatively unscathed
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)
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
Truck
Bump
Looking for a single vanos e36 head. 1738400 or 1738070 casting numbers
Overexposed dumpster pic from my ride to the farmer's market this morning. Picked up some excellent strawberries and sugar snaps. I'm moving again and I'm considering unburdening myself of the e21 in the off-chance that someone's been waiting for an opportunity to buy it.
!
Must ignore the overwhelming urge to purchase this for an ice racer
Done as in….?
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
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
GoPro crashed and decided to turn hypersmooth crap back on, but here’s a lap at USAIR HPDE
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
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
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
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
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
This S50 swapped and front-end dinged e30 went quick, Madison phone number.
These are the times when i wish I could setup forsale alerts across multiple sites ha
Yes. The glass is in poor condition. Some chips in the paint. Pictures of the worst damage.
@jc43089 Even so, might be worth pulling before you scrap the car - few examples in pretty rough condition: