325 Vert Drift Build

[mcfilmwerks]

Enjoyed this thread randomly. What did the tech guys at CL say about the cage? Looks like you just need a front section and down bars to run A group? Could the top go down with that roll bar without issue?

Haha, thanks man! Cage is required for all verts so I've been getting by using it for C and B group. Yeah I would need door bars and a front section for A most likely. Me being inexperienced when I got the cage done didn't notice that the diagonal from the main hoop driver side to passenger floor is notched in and the harness bar is solid when it should be opposite so if I were to get to a group I'd probably redo the cage completely but for the time being I've been running with it.

I haven't really updated this anytime recently, but there really hasn't been much going on. I need a new valve cover gasket since it's still leaking slightly so that's not a big issue. I figured the fan thing out, it's been so long idk if I ever made a post about it. I found the spal I ran for like 2 seasons was completely seized to the point it wouldnt spin anymore, so I popped the radiator out, got a new spal, put everything back in, went to bleed it, found I punched a hole in the radiator, pulled everything back out, replaced the radiator, put it back in again (lol), bled it and was good.

Still had random fan issues and narrowed it down to 2 things, the obd2 harness is pinned differently than the obd1 so the wire I tapped into for the ignition source was no longer an ignition source so that would do it and afterwards I decided to ditch the spal connectors which is just a basic male over female terminal style for an actual clip in since I think while driving the wires were moving around and the connection was becoming loose and pulling more power causing to blow fuses. Since then no issues

Other than that I was trying to trade the car, I like it but I would have liked something else, I didn't have much luck though so I said to myself it's either I sell it or I actually make it completely how I want it and enjoy it so I decided to keep it. Since then I ended up buying new wheels and over fenders but this has also been a fiasco lol. I went with 18's for this go round, SSR Vienna Courages and Fitment Lab Phase 2 overs which are supposed to add ~50mm per side in the rear and ~30mm per side in the front







and the faces refinished...



I bought the wheels from vr wheels as well as the fitment lab overs on black friday, the wheels came in the next week but I ended up not getting the overs until the end of January. So since I knew I had to relip the ssr's I let them sit until the overs came in and I could measure it all out, once they did I threw them on and took my measurements, ordered new lips going with 4 inch front and 4.5 inch rears, went to go take apart the wheels and found they were welded under the silicone that was already there which sucked. So I took them to a shop that said they could cut them and I could reuse the barrels, I go to pick them up and the removed material off the mating surface of the barrel so I don't feel comfortable using them anymore so now I had to spend another $680 on barrels after already spending that much on lips. At least at this point I'm able to make them exactly the spec I want, which is 9.5 all around, with that they should be close to 0 offset.

So the barrels should be coming in this week or next, I need to find a body shop to do the over fenders since I would rather have them done right, and I need to test fit the faces/lips to make sure everything is going to fit.

Other than that I'm hoping to replace the vanos unit on the s52 since it's been rattling since the swap and I'll do the valve cover gasket at the same time obviously. Was going to just buy the unit from dr. vanos unless anyone else has experience with another company. I'd like to throw some resonators in the exhaust because it's too loud and raspy and I'd like to put as much interior back in as possible, but those are less of a priority as of now. I'm currently in process of buying a house so after this my money for fun stuff is gone unfortunately so we'll see how often I make it out to the track and have money leftover for fun things on the car but it's pretty much set for a while so I'm not terribly worried

[OBEEWON]

Yesss. Wheels look good boss. If you ever sell, let me holler for that hard top. The part I'm worried about for mine is tying the rear down bars into the strut towers while maintaining the roof functionality.

[mcfilmwerks]

I don't see it being an issue, I've seen a few other verts with still functioning tops. Mine would still work but I think something is slightly messed up so I just put it up and down manually before the hard top. I'll let you know if I do but I dont think I will be any time soon, it's crazy the prices these things are getting to lately

[mcfilmwerks]

Haven't really made much progress since I've just been messing around lately. Opening Moves at Clubloose was supposed to be next weekend but that got postponed so we'll see if I'm gonna be ready. I still need to buy some spares, I may just get carbynes for now since theyre cheap and should work fine. Got the barrels in so I started putting the wheels together, never built 3 piece wheels before it's painfully tedious lol. Car is also at the body shop so hopefully I get it back next week and everything is buttoned up. Excuse how dirty my car is in the pictures lol

IMG_9280 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

IMG_9145 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

IMG_9153 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

[protomor]

Man events are getting canceled left and right. Even F1 has been canceled. I think 5 races now? Although the average drift event doesn't have much physical contact. I understand the desire to limit infections.

[mcfilmwerks]

Picked the car up and got it all together for the most part, still a lot to do. I went aggressive on the wheel specs and I'm gonna pay for it. The plan was 4.5 inch lips up front and 4 inch lips in the rear but it's looking like I'm going to swap that around and run the 4.5's out back and the 4's in the front, that should help with not destroying the fenders because with the 4.5's in the front the fender was basically laying on the tire. When I swapped them the rear is now laying on the fender lol so I might raise it a tad and either add a tiny bit of camber or run 215/40's instead of the 225/40's. I raised the front to the sky just to take it for a ride before swapping the fronts for the rears so it looks a tad wonky in this photo. Luckily the rears are just going to be for the street so I can get away with being a little aggressive since they'll come off at the track. Surprisingly it doesn't look like the wheels are leaking so that's a plus given I've never built wheels before

IMG_9425 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

[mcfilmwerks]

anyone have any experience with kumho ps31's or firehawk indy 500's for steer tires? I bought 225/40 nankang ns2-r's but they're a bit too meaty and rub a bit while driving normal so I don't want to waste money paying for an event to go and get screwed with rubbing. It doesn't seem like 215/40 is as common so there arent as many options but ps31's or indy 500's seem like decent tires for a good price so I figured I would ask before I ordered, I would ideally like to keep it between $250-300 if anyone else has suggestions for steer tires in 215/40/18

[mcfilmwerks]

First event of the year went pretty good, Club Loose ran 3 weeks in a row of events once the state allowed it and this was the last of the 3 weeks so I wanted to get out there. It was supposed to thunderstorm but it held off all day which I was happy about.

Was nervous about the front rubbing but it didn't have much of an issue, it did a little but the fitment lab overs are still pretty much perfect so I was happy there. The car felt great and did awesome, pretty much no problem mechanical wise. I ran through the first pair of tires and swapped on some 225/40 federals which are super meaty on my 18x9 spares, they ended up being so meaty that they would hit the old metal fender that was cut up for the overs, I didn't have this issue with the first pair of tires but they were 215/35 rubber bands. I ended up skyjacking the rear of the car so I could keep driving.

They invited me to drive on the new FD layout with A group which was cool but that track has so much grip that I struggled so I called it after a couple runs. For anyone interested that hasn't seen it it's basically a big figure 8, it will be interesting to see some of the high horsepower cars out there.

Looks like I'll have to keep running the rubber bands or take the rear overs off and cut more of the fender (which is what I'd rather do at this point so I'm not running into this issue anymore).

Surprise Moves by Brad Rosstedt, on Flickr

untitled (1 of 1)-47 by Barry Margetich, on Flickr

untitled (1 of 2)-2 by Barry Margetich, on Flickr

untitled (2 of 2)-2 by Barry Margetich, on Flickr

[protomor]

I'm hoping someone makes the new track for Assetto Corsa.

Car looking good bruh!

[mcfilmwerks]

Thank you!

I think someone will, like I said it's relatively basic. They're supposed to be running a comp July 24-26 at some point I believe so there'll be some good video to come out with some battles. For only doing one run on front track I was surprised to find the amount of photos I am, here's some more from the bank. I ended up spending most of the first session on back track and then finished this pair of tires off on front

IMG_0305 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

IMG_0306 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

IMG_0307 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

[e30 394]

I hate you for how bad you make me want a hard top vert e36. This thing has come such a long way man. sum'bitvh makes some good smoke

[mcfilmwerks]

I hate you for how bad you make me want a hard top vert e36. This thing has come such a long way man. sum'bitvh makes some good smoke

Thanks dude! It’s been fun so far! I’ve been in this weird crossroad where I don’t know what else I really want to do with the car, on one hand I would like to supercharge it, run 300-350hp and have fun. On the other hand I partly want to keep it as is and just drive but sadly I’m getting a little bored of this chassis. Between buying a house in March, getting promoted at work which has just lead to much more stress and more hours, and getting married in November drifting and this car has taken a back seat. I feel like throwing some power at it, quieting the exhaust and putting front half interior back in may make me slightly more inclined to drive it more often. I’ve been saving for another car though, ideally I’d like to buy a jzx100 as they start becoming legal for import but I’m an impatient person and have contemplated getting a jzx90 for now and cruise around with and enjoy as a night street car. Regardless I’m hoping to finish out the season drifting the last couple events and see where I end up

[rouwdouw]

Any updates on the rowdy vert?

[mcfilmwerks]

Not much recently actually, i drove last year as it was and will probably be doing the same for this season. I just want to do some basic maintenance and "repair" type things and just keep enjoying it as is. It's had a small oil leak so whenever i give it some throttle it starts to smoke, i can see a little black spot on the header so i think the valve cover is leaking and dripping onto the header so I changed that over the weekend, I want to redo my exhaust to quiet it down, i added a seat slider in and got drift lessons for my wife for her birthday in a couple weeks so she has 4 hours of private track time with an instructor so she can start learning, and I just need to change the oil basically. I did notice the paint cracking on one of my strut towers near one of the shock mounting holes although it doesn't look like it's actually cracked yet so I bought the front reinforcement plates so I'll probably throw those in this weekend.<br><br>I did go ahead and buy a jzx100 chaser though, i came across a post for a car at auction and it looked super clean. It has a 10/96 build date which means that it would be eligible for import in October this year, so I went ahead and bought it, so the vert is going to be a full time track toy going forward, not like it wasn't already since i didn't enjoy driving it on the street much before lol.<br><br>I'm just excited to get back out on track again and drive much more this year! Here's a couple pictures that i didnt post of the e36 some pictures of the chaser since I don't have many updates on the vert<br><br>IMG_0435 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

IMG_0326 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

2E8FF79F-BB80-4F55-8533-B60D74D192C6 by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

3443C00B-39C6-46B9-A30E-83D26392163D by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

[DinosDi]

To participate in the European Championship, an international drift car, requires a relatively significant investment, which usually never ends. But, to start in the National Championship, the investment in a drift car is relatively small. And to participate, I also needed lessons from https://driftschoolwa.com/about-us/, which I support and thank them for making me able to drive well and have the necessary skills to debuted further in competitions and races with a prize as high as possible. What car do you want to start drifting with?

[protomor]

I really want a JZX100. But DAMN the prices for them went up 10 fold in the past couple years. The absolute trashiest examples are $10k. A decent one is like $20k.

[OBEEWON]

Congrats on the JZX. You just beat the price hike. Prices are nuts!
I finished my E36 and was planning to come up for freedom moves but boofed it at an event in VA.

[mcfilmwerks]

Man it's been a while lol, thanks guys, the JZX got in here a couple weeks ago, I expected it in October 2021 but it showed up in March this year. At this point I'm just happy to have it in my possession, now just getting the title squared away and start throwing stuff on. Was able to pop the wheels and coilovers on, still needs adjustment though.

Untitled by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

Untitled by Mason Campbell, on Flickr

But back to BMW stuff... haven't really touched the e36, overheated it at the last event I was at in August last year and I've basically let it sit. I changed the thermostat this weekend but the battery is dead so I need to jump it so I can bleed it. Hopefully after that I should be good to go again. First event is this weekend I think although I'm not gonna make it but hopefully I can get to another coming up. Hope y'all have been good, I need to catch up on the other threads

[protomor]

ooooh man that jzx looks fresh. I love that red.

[mcfilmwerks]

Alright, time to get back to the e36. After I overheated it I never got it back to normal, ended up getting sick which basically put me out of commission from July until almost November. After trying to mess with the car and getting nowhere I decided to bring it to a shop since I’m still dealing with some residual issues from what I had going on and this would be easier. Cylinder 6 leak down at 20% while the rest around 5%, head gasket is also cooked. The shop is removing the head to make sure there’s nothing else but decided to get a new AMC head, cometic gasket, arp studs, and rebuild the vanos while doing all of this since it’s been rattling since I swapped the s52 in. I just want to drive so I’ll probably drive it like this for this year and maybe decide to do some sort of boost next winter. The itch to drift is back big time! Looks haven’t changed really, hopefully can actually post photos from events in the next couple months once it’s back in commission.

Hope everyone else’s projects are going well, north east drift season is right around the corner!