It would be cool to get it shipped from Vancouver to Toronto and start the east coast road trip from there. I’d also like to meet up with other BF FI peeps along the way to BS and check out their cars.
I’m totally in. Duffy lake road or the road from Duncan to Port Renfrew to Sooke would be my picks.
Last edited by chikinhed; 08-31-2018 at 08:04 PM.
Last week end was a total car weekend. First was Friday night drag racing, car show on Saturday, autox on Sunday and a track day on Monday. Drag racing was cancelled due to rain and I wasn’t going to a rainy car show so I decided to install a pair of Corbeau FX1 Pro seats I picked up. They came with sketchy home made mount that I wouldn’t trust my life to. I ended up spending a lot of time designing and fabricating my own and ended up with the ideal position and height. The seats weigh 17.5 lbs each, the floor mounts weight 4.4 lbs per seat and the sliders weigh 5.0 lbs per seat. That’s a total weight savings of 78 lbs. On Sunday I went to the autox in the rain. The event gives us 40-50 runs and is a ton of fun even in the rain. On Monday the sun came out and it was a dry track day. I had put together a water cooling set up for the brakes specifically for this track to deal with the lack of cool down time between braking. I installed caliper temperature stickers on the calipers and mounted the GoPro just behind the front wheel so I could see if the discs were glowing orange like at previous track days. Caliper temps were below 380°F and the discs were probably around 900-1000°F or so based on the color. The water volume was about right as I didn’t run out during the track session. I may even be able to increase the nozzle size I was using. Coolant temp stayed below 200°F and oil temp was below 220°F. I ran the first three sessions at 16 psi and the last one at 21 psi. The car ran surprisingly awesome and just takes anything I was throwing at it. The new Corbeau seats were a vast improvement over the Vaders but I’d really like a harness to hold me tight in the seat, the stock belts just don’t do a good job. I got props from one of the instructors for doing a big long drift out of the last corner before the straight and down the beginning of the straight, leaving two big long black stripes. I had a ton of fun as expected.
Last edited by chikinhed; 09-23-2018 at 05:06 PM.
You've seen these right?
https://www.schrothracing.com/products/quickfit#3366
I've had really good luck with them in factory seats, and know a couple people that have used them with race seats with decent success.
Still no comparison to a real 6 point setup for comfort and ease, but they get the job done with some fidgeting.
im not a subject expert but I have to question the safety of that. With the rear mounts being low and the angle of the shoulder straps you could get some severe spine compression with that in the event of a front on crash. For nhra the harness attachment point can be no lower than 4 inches below the top of your shoulders.
For SCCA rules the shoulder straps are suppose to be 0°-20° down aft of the shoulders, Schroth and the new company, Takata, say no more than 45°. The Schroth harnesses are approved for street use with the stock seats but no longer provide the list of approved cars and Takata has basically the same belts and say the Drift four point belts are street legal. In an impact the belts behave like a three point so that you don’t submarine under the lap belt. I’m considering either but the shoulder strap angle is a concern at 38° down. The v-brace I installed to reinforce the subframe attach would be a great place to mount the shoulder straps to as it is only 11° down. It would be great to say f@ck it and install a full cage but I wouldn’t be doing family road trips anymore like I did this summer.
Would a bolt in harness bar of some kind work in an E36? I'm guessing you can't use the rear seats for anything anyway with those seats.
Also you never want to go under 90* as measured from the seat back as that's where you would get a force component that causes compressison. That's a crappy thing to try and enforce at tech inspections though cause people could move the seat cause they're an idiot.
When I've measured it with the quick fits to factory seats it's way over that. It is certainly a consideration you will want to make. If you need some measurements let me know and I can toss them in and get you some dimensions to see if they would work with the belt holes in those seats.
I’d like to know what they are with the stock seats.
The harness bars can be bad news in a rollover. You really need a rear cage to make sure the roof does not crush you. In a rollover the seat backs are supposed to give so you move out of the way of the roof. With a harness bar there the seat backs cant “recline” due to the bar but the roof can still come down.
Thats the risk with running one. I still know people who use them because rollover risk is unlikely. They work to keep the harnesses at a good angle and are a nice temporary solution. I bought one years ago, but ended up selling before using so I don’t have firsthand feedback.
Check to make sure the clubs you run with allow them. Most did when I bought mine, but that was years ago.
A harness bar could be an option but the v-brace is right there waiting for it. The back seat is still useable with the Corbeaus installed, I positioned the passenger seat more forward on the mount than the drivers seat. This gives better access to the back seat. Schroth has a great FAQs section on their web site that talks about roll overs and the injuries usually encountered. It’s a good read. I think that there are many false facts that are passed on over the internet and in particular about safety gear.
Got some measurements.
QuickFitBelts.JPG
From horizontal it's roughly 45*, maybe a little bit under and that's with a shoulder at 24" off the seat bottom. From the front edge of the seat to the brake pedal is 18.5" and the seat pad is about 19" up to the seat back.
To the back of the seat in the position shown it's about ~85* but the seat is currently in a position that I can't fit in the car with a helmet on comfortably. With the seat forward and reclined a little to fit with a helmet we just barely make it to 88*.
It's tricky without a good reference plane for the back of the seat.
Last edited by Kevin325i; 09-24-2018 at 05:19 PM.
Thanks for the data. Schroth obviously thinks those angles are fine. A side view picture of you sitting in the seat with harnesses on would be best to measure the actual angles.
In other news, I believe my stock head gasket is done putting up with my silly antics after 4.5 years and 70,000 km (37,000 miles). It’s smoking more than it should on start up. White smoke, not blue luckily. My fingers are crossed for it not being a cracked block or my fancy ported head. Is it wrong that I actually feel like that’s a good amount of time?
Last edited by chikinhed; 09-27-2018 at 01:39 PM.
You drive your highly modded turbo E36M3 more than most here. Over the past 4.5 years, I am probably around 30k miles, but my E36 shares my driving with my E90M3.
Ugh, I just remembered that I’ll have to retorque the head studs which requires cam removal to do so because of the 11 mm studs
Last edited by chikinhed; 09-27-2018 at 03:17 PM.
FWIW, stock seats are *not* designed to "move out of the way" in a rollover event. The seatback recliner mechanism might break during a rollover, but this is not a design goal of a seat.
IMO, there are few accidents where a harness + fixed back seat is less safe than a stock seat + a 3 point belt, but there are many where the fixed back seat and harnesses offer much more safety.
Obviously the best solution is a helmet + full cage + seats + 6 point harness + HANS, but that's not something you can ever use on the street.
Makes sense!
I’m getting ready to pull the head off the engine as the white smoke out the exhaust hasn’t fixed itself. The fear of a cracked block or a cracked head goes through my mind. Hopefully it’s just a failed stock head gasket.
I much prefer doing maintenance when I’m able to upgrade or modify which leads me to a bunch of questions....
While the head is off I’ll have it surfaced, pressure tested, valves and seats checked and ground if need along with new valve seals. I’m hoping it’s not cracked. I’ve spent a bunch of money on it previously for new guides, porting and polishing.
I’ll test the valve springs but how often should valve springs be replaced?
Looking at the worse case scenario of needing a new block. I like the idea of going with the M52tub28 aluminum block for the 50 lb weight reduction.
Would that be a ticking time bomb for threads pulling or sleeves cracking?
Can you o-ring or use a cut ring gasket with an M52tub28 block?
If my block is still good, I’m thinking I might freshen up the engine with new rings and bearings and maybe modify the S54 oil pump to a high volume pump.
Are coated bearings worth the extra cash? How about piston skirt coatings?
Any input would be appreciated.
Is the Z3 aluminum M52 really an M52tu or is that an engine with a different head, dual vanos etc? Just looking for clarification as Im not sure what the id for the Z3 single vanos engine is.
The M52tu is basically an M54 without drive by wire, and a few other minor changes.
For the bearing coatings it seems like the best benefit for them is more for protection in low oil conditions than for any kind of friction reduction. I used them on my engine, but thought of it as a setfy of sorts. The skirt coatings I think is a better application.
The M52tub28 is from the ‘97-‘98 Z3. Aluminum block with steel sleeves and single vanos. I think it would be a great way to drop some weight I’m just not sure if it would appreciate being a 750 whp DDer, road trip, track day, autox, drag race engine for very long.
In my dreams I would have the aluminum block with the VAC stroker crankshaft in it. May as well throw in some titanium rods well we’re at it.
I can't speak for the M52BTUB28 block, but the M54 hasn't shown any issues with boost. All of my problems have come from other areas.
I wouldn't timcert the block, I would simply drill out the cylinder head bolt holes to fit an M12 stud, and machine the block for those. (The M54 guys have found that ARP makes a 12mm stud kit for the Barra engine that fits)
Run a stock head gasket.
The Athena cut-ring gasket can be used, but make sure you get the one with 87.6mm ID cut rings. While the aluminum block has an 84mm bore, the cylinder heads seem to have reliefs cut around the valves that can cause sealing issues. The smaller cutting diameter of the 86mm ring will fall into the valve "pocket" on the head. Athena is aware of this, and is revising their product offerings to only include the larger (87.6mm) ID cut ring for aluminum engines.
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