Betty the Beater- Just a beginner drift thread

[awp235]

Been a bit since I posted here. As per my "shake" thread, I'm goign to order up some Moog inner tie rods and hope is fixes my steering shake at high angle. Club loose independence moves is next up, which is a pretty technical track. It'd be really nice to solve my shake before then!

Having a no-start issue. My battery voltage seems ok, but I'm not sure.... the battery could be fried. I'm not sure how, but I'm going to set my nice charger to "repair" and see what happens if a jump starts the car. Turn key, no significant dimming of lights or headlights, and it just clicks once. I'll try jumping it off my X5, if that fixes it, then I assume it's the battery.

I'm going to try to jump it, but before I do the tie rods I've got to change the clutch in my dirtbike, and rejet the carb. That's this coming week's job, since my sister is in town from cali all weekend preventing me from just holing up in my hangar and working on everything.

[protomor]

Most of the time I see your issue, it's a bad engine ground.

[awp235]

Most of the time I see your issue, it's a bad engine ground.

Good to know- That's easy enough to check the connections at least. You're talking about the one from the passenger motor mount to the frame, correct?

[protomor]

Yep. They get corroded with age and starting the car requires a lot of amps. So cars will generally jump and run fine but not want to crack over to start. It's one of those two second quick checks that costs like $5.

[Liquidity]

It’s a problem with the signal wire going to the starter from the DME box, not enough current is running through it to engage the solenoid. I’ve had this issue with multiple E46’s. It really came to a head when I did my swap, it could not power the LS starter solenoid at all when the engine was warm. Failed 100% of the time. The only time I finally got it to stop doing it was to put a relay on the starter. Now the signal wire only need operate the relay, not the large solenoid. Haven’t had a no-start again since I did this 2 years ago.

575BF0DD-FB56-4753-A3AC-68888D9E6D42.jpg

[awp235]

It’s a problem with the signal wire going to the starter from the DME box, not enough current is running through it to engage the solenoid. I’ve had this issue with multiple E46’s. It really came to a head when I did my swap, it could not power the LS starter solenoid at all when the engine was warm. Failed 100% of the time. The only time I finally got it to stop doing it was to put a relay on the starter. Now the signal wire only need operate the relay, not the large solenoid. Haven’t had a no-start again since I did this 2 years ago.

575BF0DD-FB56-4753-A3AC-68888D9E6D42.jpg

It's a good thought, and if I can't figure it out I'll give it a shot to just wire it up to another battery and see if I can just make it turn with straight battery power. If that fixes it then I guess a relay would do it.

But, I think my solenoid does trigger, as it clicks once, and sounds like it's clicking pretty solidly. Haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

[Piner]

Did you change flywheel/flywheel bolts recently?

[Novablue454]

I've always operated under the impression that no start with multiple clicks = battery issue, no start with one big click = starter

[awp235]

Did you change flywheel/flywheel bolts recently?

Nope, everything having to do with the driveline is the same as it's been for almost 2 years now. I'm really with Nova- I think the starter is bad. Last even I had to bump it in reverse rolling off the trailer, because it wouldnt start, and then it started for the rest of the day/ even once on the track. Brushes must have gotten jerked enough to make contact. I don't want to tear my brand new motor mounts when doing the starter... but if I can avoid pulling the intake manifold for the 5th time this year, I probably will. But....... At the same time, I can pull it in a matter of 20-30 minutes now no problem, so I'll just have to look at it and see what needs to be pulled. I'll stil check the ground strap though.

[awp235]

God damn. Been a weekend.

Got the starter swapped, and the starter was definitely the issue. Cranks great now. Also swapped the heater water valve so maybe my car will blow fresh air instead of only blasting heat.

BUT..... She won't start. Doesn't cough or stumble at all, just cranks. I don't hear the fuel pump priming, so that's kind of my suspect right now. I'm a little bit down to the wire, since I still haven't been able to swap the inner tie rods. I need to get this running, and figure out what I believe is my fuel issue.

When I took the rail off, it was full of fuel. I took the rail off because I believed I was going to have to yank the entire manifold, but ended up only needing to yank the intake piping and the throttle body off to fit the starter on the way out. I'm not sure what plug I could've left undone to prevent from starting, as I had checked that everything was plugged back in. I'm going to see if I can get a fuel pump and relay today, so I have them and can return them if either isn't needed. My multimeter broke last week too, so I need to go grab one of those too. But if the rail was full of fuel before I took it apart, what the heck would cause the pump or relay to go at this moment? I have no interior, and even have the panel above the fuel pump off, and can't hear any priming with the key going on. It's kind of my only lead to why this thing isn't running. The fuel pump fuse was fine.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears. This car needs to run today, hopefully in time for me to swap the tie rods too... and hopefully get the exhaust back on too! ugh.

[mcfilmwerks]

dang dude, it always sucks when stuff snowballs like this. After replacing everything in my e fan system minus the relay the relay went bad yesterday, luckily I met someone that had an extra that he gave to me since i had a 40 minute drive home, it gets pretty frustrating.

If all goes well are you gonna be at etown this weekend?

[awp235]

dang dude, it always sucks when stuff snowballs like this. After replacing everything in my e fan system minus the relay the relay went bad yesterday, luckily I met someone that had an extra that he gave to me since i had a 40 minute drive home, it gets pretty frustrating.

If all goes well are you gonna be at etown this weekend?

I'll be there regardless, my buddy's coming down from MI to drift at CL for the weekend. If all goes well, my car will be there too! We should have a keg of homebrew with us- walk up and say hi! (after driving of course)

[mcfilmwerks]

now thats an offer I dont think I can turn down lol, been wanting to give some brewing a try. I just need to pony up and buy all the equipment. I'll catch you there!

[awp235]

Good and bad news! Found an engine fuse box fuse #3 blown, next to the ecu, in addition to a bad fuel pump. Car runs again!
now I just need to get the exhaust back on tomorrow(by myself, always a joy) and swap those darn tie rod ends. Ifd love tog rt my car to BC for an alignment but I might have to just call it a day and grab all my wheels and tires on a small trailer, and bring them to BC without the car. We’ll see tomorrow if I have enough energy to do the exhaust, tie rod ends, and tidy up the car, in addition to swapping the rear wheels out for ones that I don’t need to swap tires on, and getting it on the trailer and safely home. It’s lookong like I’ll have to tow it 50 miles to work so that I can go straight to BC right after work, get there on time for an alignment and for the tire techs to do their magic on 6 of my wheels. Picking up like 16 tires so my drift car and x5 will probably be pretty full on the way home!

[protomor]

I'm tired just reading that. GL!

[awp235]

OK! got the exhaust back on, and man, it's SO QUIET! It's been so long since lost the bolts to the exhaust brace in the middle, but I finally grabbed new bolts, so connection to the header isnt under a ton of stress and making crazy leaks. New exhuast gaskets and hardware, and it's sounding like a normal muffler delete now. Then while doing the tie rods I realized one side's rack limiters are completely porked. Called up Piner and sean at SLR and had a nice conversation, including finding out what diameter their limiters are so I can whip some up to hold me over until I can get new ones from them. Sean told me PVC won't hold up but it's all I could find at a store near my shop, so I grabbed the right size pvc and I'm going to whip up a spacer that really just needs to last friday and saturday's event. I think I'll make 2, in case one gives out.
Didn't tow it in for an alignment, I counted threads on the tie rods and I'm going to eyeball it. No way I was going to get the car there on time to be aligned today, unfortunately. Should be pretty close, but I'll make up some toe plates just to be sure I don't have anything crazy going on. Other than that, I think I'm going to give the car it's first wash in like... 2 years most likely. Going to wash it and pressure wash all it's wheels, so I can dip the steers white, and the car's already blue, and I'll dip all my burners red. Have to have SOME spirit! Also going to give the X5 a much needed wash, it's probably driven 5k miles since it's last. It's in DIRE need, it's filthy.

Towed the small trailer to work today, just an 7x12 utility thing. Commuting with the trailer went smoothly, I presume because so many people took today off. Only have 6 wheels on there now, but I'm picking up 14 or 16 tires, something like that, so I needed a way to get them home.

[Piner]

Apologies for not being much help when you called me, I was lighting my hands on fire with my welder building some extended stock control arms for Chelsea's School cars. Trying to knock them out before the shipping cutoff that day. Almost made it but not quite lol

[Novablue454]

I made some for a buddies car on the lathe with polypropylene in a pinch since SLR was out of them. They seem to be holding up after one test day. We had a problem with the SLR ones breaking apart and have already gone through 3 this season. I need to remake them though as I only measured the OD of the rack shaft on the pass side never considering they might be different, and sure enough the drivers side is narrower.

[awp235]

Apologies for not being much help when you called me, I was lighting my hands on fire with my welder building some extended stock control arms for Chelsea's School cars. Trying to knock them out before the shipping cutoff that day. Almost made it but not quite lol

Totally get it, I was pretty darn busy with drift prep. You guys were my last minute "Shit ace closes in 20 minutes they're my last hope but I have no clue what size I need" hail mary. Worked out, I ended up using PVC, which I need to check on. Sean said PVC gives up really quickly, but my secret is that I used a full circle. I ended up using a slice of a PVC fitting for .75" pipe, so the ID was the OD of .75" pic, just over 1". It was too tight to get on, so I heated it up, popped it on the rack, and then let it cool and harden when it was on. The tie rods completely solved my issue on day 1, but I got a single shake, once midway through the day on Saturday. Maybe I deformed the PVC already, haven't looked into it yet.


Nova-I used PVC out of desperation and last minute. Worked out great so far, but suspect I killed or damaged it after it rained and I was forced to throw some crazy angle at times. I'm not sure if I should try to find a metal washer that'll fit, or really what else to do to use as a limiter.



As for the event, it went freaking fantastic. I had a few really mundane runs on friday, and then during night drifting I kind of accidentally tried a completely different entry line, and it transformed the entire dang course. I kept taking that line on saturday and had run after run of absolute fire driving. I'm really proud of how far I've come, especially since it's only my second event ever at english town. By the end of the day I was starting to get ballsy and running high on the bank gunning for the wall. Sometimes they hang a pool noodle off the fence above the wall, and I hit the noodle twice! I was screaming like a dang schoolgirl both times, I'm so pumped.

I think it was 5 years ago that I watched my first drift event, east coast bash in 2014. I knew then and there that one day I'd be on the track one day, and now my second time here and I'm gunning to leave my paint on the wall. I'm feeling good!!

The only video I have is from a friend of a friend, and I'm a little disappointed that this angle doesn't show just how close I get. It feels pretty crazy being within feet of the wall! I'm waiting to see if any more media has pictures of me, but this will do for now.
https://youtu.be/pvvcvNHnOl4



Also... I'm glad the car performed 100% flawlessly with it's new starter and new fuel pump. I'm unhappy that the AC is having problems, as it was over 90* with 100% humidity both days. I was sitting in a pool of my own dang sweat. I need to diagnose that and fi it before Pocono bash.

MC- it was great meeting you finally, your car looks so fresh in person. SIGN UP FOR BASH!

[protomor]

Video looks good tho! I should go back to that track some time soon. So darn far away tho

[awp235]

Video looks good tho! I should go back to that track some time soon. So darn far away tho

It's a really fun track to drive, has a really nice flow to it. I'm dying to get to panthera/seneca, which is closer to you, but I'm not positive it'll happen this year. Looking like I'm headed to pocono bash and then a month after that I'm going to trailer to FR Jam at US AIR. Not sure I'll be able to afford much in between....

[protomor]

Panthera is insanely difficult from what I hear. I'm too lazy to go for a track I probably can't link yet.

[mcfilmwerks]

Very nice meeting you too man! I went to stop by your guys tent before I left but I think you were still out on the track, I ended up packing it up mid session. I'm going to try and make pocono bash work, shouldn't be an issue but if anything I'll just come to hangout!

[awp235]

Yea, I stayed on track until the absolute last moment I could. Just... one more.... run.....
So nice having a dead reliable drift car again. I think I'm honestly going to bring it to a trusted family shop to diagnose the AC. I'll replace the compressor myself if I have to but I think I'll have them vacuum the 134a out, and refill it with the amount it's supposed to have in it. After that I think it might go back on my insurance, so I can street drive it and torture test the AC a bit on a really hot day. I'm looking to have nice cold AC the next time I'm waiting in grid.

[awp235]

So, Wednesday I'm going to insure the drift car and pop it over to my local mechanic. Going to have him diagnose the AC for me, and tell me what's up. Hopefully it's just mischarged.. but who knows. The compressor doesn't want to stay engaged, and I'm hoping its just a high pressure cutoff switch that's kicking it off.

This is in preparation to have an air conditioned vehicle to take me to work, in case any of the X5 jobs take longer than expected. My 330i is good to go besides the AC, but my X5 needs the following:
Sport steering wheel- have the wheel, just got the airbag cover, have to spend the 30 mins swapping my airbag into the sport cover, and pop it on. Shouldn't take that long
Front tension struts, have the part, should be a quick hour or two to swap them, these are likely the culprit of my highway wheel shake.
Glow plug controller, this is the reason my CEL is on. Annoying, but doesn't actually affect drivability.
I should put in the airbags into the coil springs, and see if they work out as helper bags in the rear.
And finally, my trans is in desperate need of service. To go to Club FR jam, I'm planning on towing 1000 miles there, and 1000 miles back. Right now, I think my trans solenoids are getting weak after 226k miles. Totally reasonable. I'm going to do a full service+ new solenoids in the mechatronics unit. This includes a new pan, filter, all mechatronics seals, and the solenoids. Never gone into an auto trans before, so I'm a bit nervous, but I'm determined to get my X5 to full health before embarking on such a strenuous trip with it. 2000 miles with 6000 lbs behind it will be a bit of a torture test for it.