Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 28

Thread: From the last event, my E21 in motion...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320

    From the last event, my E21 in motion...

    Those that know the car, know that it is at best a 20 footer. Someone knows how to photo shop for effect, bless them!

    _MP_0213.jpg _MP_0355.jpg _MP_0277.jpg

    I have 15x7 Kosie rims with Falken 660, 205 50 15 tires. The car is camber challenged and after this the third event on the tires I am going to rotate the fronts to the back to attempt to even out the tires.

    The rears are using the inside 2/3 and the fronts are working the outside 1/3. I have the set at 31psi front and 29 psi rear, bleeding them down after every run. No water sprayed on them has been necessary even with the high temps here in Southern California.

    After the last event I am still behind two cars that I seem to always be chasing, but I have hope.

    If you are in the area, our next event is in September, the weekend of the 26/27. More information is available on Motorsportreg.com.

    David

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    So, in anticipation of the two events I will drive in September, today I did some maintenance on the car. Rotation of the tires, front to rear. I can confirm that nothing looked out of sorts or left streaks of fluids as a tell tail of pending issues. That are new or over the top and have to finally, fix.

    I did find the hard starting cause. BMW and vacuum leak might go hand in hand. Living around an E36 has me well trained. This time the little vacuum hose from under the plenum that T's into my cars valve cover hose had removed it's self and was just laying in plan view. To gain more room, I pulled the air cleaner. Of course it came out of the car as a unit and required breaking it into individual components to get it back into the car.

    These car's offer a "training" opportunity. Drive them and you will have to work on them. Great therapy.
    Last edited by jr02518; 08-29-2020 at 07:45 PM.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    And we are back at AAA Speedway for the weekend, Fontana here we come! Saturday is practice, the "event" is Sunday. The drive home this afternoon was an affirmation that there are almost no old BMW's being driven anymore on the road. Use to see the odd old E36 shlepping around and they have all gone?

    Friday, driving on the 210/10 in the IE, I was a party of one. Not a good thing, yea it was mid to high 90's. You just roll down the windows and drive faster.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    From the last event, shot's of the car again at Fontana.

    _MP_0341.jpg

    _MP_0420.jpg

    The drive to the event went with out any drama. My daughter, the owner of the car was in town and she also got to drive at the event. Sharing the event with family, made this that much more fun.
    Last edited by jr02518; 10-09-2020 at 03:43 AM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    2,126
    My Cars
    E30M3,318is,318i,E21320
    Looks good man! What suspension setup are you on?

    If want more rubber can try like we do and use longer studs, TR motorsports 8" wheels (e30) with 20mm spacers all around. Can roll fenders and fit 225/45/15's. Gives another 1.6" width of footprint front and rear. We did this for our track wheel setup and now finally found some worthy autox tires running 225 azenis 660's. About to scrub them in and see how much better they do.
    Last edited by autox320; 10-09-2020 at 11:49 AM.
    88 M3
    91 318is
    91 318i
    83 320is
    08 X3 3.0si

    "If it flys, floats, or f*cks, rent it!"

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    We are running a self imposed limit of 15x7 rims with 205/50/15's, the fenders will not be massaged. H&R springs with Bilstein sports. Very plan Jane, but lots of fun.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    2,126
    My Cars
    E30M3,318is,318i,E21320
    Quote Originally Posted by jr02518 View Post
    We are running a self imposed limit of 15x7 rims with 205/50/15's, the fenders will not be massaged. H&R springs with Bilstein sports. Very plan Jane, but lots of fun.
    Nice to see another E21 used for autox.

    Thats how I ran for years as well. ST sways helped with the softer HR springs. Very fun reliable setup. Eventually I went to coil overs with sleeves to run higher spring rates of 350/400. Once put on the GC coil kit went back to stock sways (less binding).

    Took FSP class for a time until they decided to cheat.

    Later added some "cheat mods" due to the vw's in our class were cheating(cams, trans gearing/wheel combo). Hey this is late 90's early 2000's. A lot didn't follow rules. Had control arms made up with solid aluminum bushes. Put in the 427 rear end, and 286 cheat grind cam from TEP. We then wiped the class again with them. Fun times.
    88 M3
    91 318is
    91 318i
    83 320is
    08 X3 3.0si

    "If it flys, floats, or f*cks, rent it!"

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Montana/Washington
    Posts
    457
    My Cars
    75 2002 77 323irace 91M5
    The car looks good Dave.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    Thank you sir, I wish you where still in town! We need to get back to Adams and melt some tires.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    One last event for 2020, this weekend at Fontana. Not a competition weekend, I get to be an instructor at a POC event. We get to run the non P cars in the "X" group. I have fun entertaining everyone with the body roll!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    New year, first event of 2021 this weekend at AAA Speedway in Fontana. The practice on Saturday is full, the event on Sunday is still open. It looks to be a small event, my run group is 4 and I work 2. We will be done before mid day.

    www..solo2.com

    The first Cal Club event is also this weekend at the race way, more info at www.motorsportreg.com

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Michigan, USA
    Posts
    1,844
    My Cars
    E21, 04 STI, LS6 Sonoma
    Would be good to see some videos too! Love seeing other E21’s at autocross.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    We had the event this weekend, the weather was windy and warm. The practice on Saturday offered at least 12 runs for the day, my car got 14. I finally found tire pressures that nicely worked the Falken 660's, 32 front and 28 rear. I am still learning to trust the slip angle I can work them at. I only get 4 runs in a competition. My fastest run was my forth. Started at my new 32/28 and did not reset until that forth run. No water or cooling used, on a 81 degree day. Next event I will reset after each run.

    Getting someone to shoot video, that would be the trick!
    Last edited by jr02518; 01-18-2021 at 03:57 AM.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    The events on Saturday are run counter clock wise. I run a little heavy on gas give the number of runs I get to drive. Fuel starvation is not an issue.

    Then we have Sunday, clock wise running of the events. Then we have an issue. The track is one that my times were 78 to 79 seconds a lap and my issues were not limited to just one area of the lap. Any time I try to run less than half a tank showing on the gage I have an issue. I have pulled the pump in the tank and I have the required hose clamp on the pick up. "Old Man" was very helpful with the replacement of every conceivable fuel hose and gasket in the system at the rear of the car. And yes, I will get back under the car before the next event and give every fastener a once over/again before the next event.
    To that end, a friend sent a link to yet again an other accident between two street racers. If you want to really see how good you might be, come to an event and drive it with out fear. Yes, you have to work. Yes it limit's the number of laps. But if you only have to remind your self to buy enough gas to not stumble around the track, you might beat the car you have been judging your self against.
    Until the next event.
    Last edited by jr02518; 01-18-2021 at 11:45 AM.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    And the event season continues this weekend, March 6th and 7th at the AAA Speedway in Fontana. Let's see, a dusting of snow on Wednesday to 70 degrees on Thursday down the hill, yes almost springtime in Southern California. I will be on site on Sunday and our group runs later in the day, work 5 and run 6. At least the correct line will be clean.

    If you enjoy other than our brand of fun cars, a friend is bring out his 914 to join the fray. Just as a reminder, as long as you are on "stock" style springs you can run in the street class, coil overs with the adjustable spring perches put your car in the prepared classes.

    We keep it simple. Come out of the canyons and really drive the s... out of your car!

    David

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    Observations from our last event. I am still learning how hard I can push the Falken 660's. I did have them flipped on the rims and they did get about 35 miles of street driving to remove the OPR, other people rubber, build up on the way to the event. Tire pressures again at 32 front and 28 rear. I do not have any way to adjust the camber of the car or the caster. I do have an other car to use up the 80% of these tires that the stock configuration of the E21 is barely taking advantage of, but that is an other very long story. So, what did I learn and confirm.

    My car will run competitive times with older single cam 4 cylinder cars, even when they might have side or down draft carbs. That also might have enhanced motors, on non camber adjustable suspensions. Once in a while some one will have a really stock old car, but the minute you fix anyone of the know faults with these lets call them running dinosaurs, they are no longer stock.

    My car will not be competitive with 6 cylinder or twin cam cars. At all. I am now going to restart the continuing process of trying to help fix the adoption of allowing older cars a place to run and not be kicked to the curb. I might be a bit obsessed with these older cars, they deserve a place to run and not everyone wants to drive a ......

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Montana/Washington
    Posts
    457
    My Cars
    75 2002 77 323irace 91M5

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    The April event is this weekend. The Saturday practice is full, but running on Sunday is available. Our group works 5 and runs 6, If you get there by 11:00 you car register and walk the corse during the lunch break.

    This event will be a good test of how my car will fair with a NA Miata running E Street and a early RX-7 that runs a CSP index. There is also a BMW 325 running in G Street, Novice, that I can use to track for our group.

    Again, the event is at AAA Speedway, Fontana, CA. Bring a hat and water, it's going to be warm!

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    That was a very fun and challenging course. The very fast drivers were in Las Vegas for a national level event. The corse was designed by a first time volunteer, who did a great job with a more open track.The fact he is a CMod driver might have been an influence.
    In the Historic 2 run group we had 4 drivers. A father/son combination in a well built E Street NA Miata, a first Gen Mazda Rx7 running CSP and my E21 in H Street. As I predicted, my car will get beaten by a twin cam motor, 1.7 seconds is a life time in auto crossing. I did place second for the event, the Rx7 hit a cone on his quick run and I do not think I will relight on his next event ending the same way.
    But I am out to prove a point and I will give up his year of competition to prove it. But I did stick around and got to run after the timed event. We got 35 minutes of uninterrupted hot laps. A good friend has asked me to help sort out his car.
    Lotus7.jpg
    This is Lotus 7 clone, running a turbocharged 13b rotary. He is running on Yokahama 052's in a street tire class. It, is that quick. On my third lap, that was a clean run, I was was going 5 seconds quicker than my fast lap in my car. Three seconds slower than the owner. I can confirm that I understand what a martini feels like, shaken not stirred.
    Driving the car reviled the steering wheel is to small and a front sway bar would help. Yes, you should be pointed in the direction you want to be going when you light it up. Oh, and hang on. Beyond that I am still reliving sensory overload every time I close my eyes. This Sunday I get to relive my experience in the car. Another event and more testing/seat time. Yes I am willing volunteer!
    Last edited by jr02518; 04-17-2021 at 12:04 PM.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    Ok, they have posted the pictures from the event. I will not bore you with the normal glamor stuff.

    BMW320001.jpg

    If you look closely, you see couple of things in this shot. Tires that are expensive will turn to smoke when you have really good front brakes and going off line before the ending timing lights make your lap time linger. And do not hit that timing light, you will really piss off the hosting club. Not to worry, I got back on track and did not give the guy behind me a rerun.


    BMW320002.jpg

    Got to love the stock'ish springs.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    San Jose, California
    Posts
    1,720
    My Cars
    E21 320i, E30 325i
    Looks like you're having fun. Man I miss auto-x, only did a handful before I moved away. I need to install the coil overs I bought off Old Man, get some new tires, and plan a weekend down in SoCal to run with you.
    '81 E21 320i / '90 E30 325i / '̶9̶2̶ ̶E̶3̶4̶ ̶5̶2̶5̶i̶t (sold) / '15 Toyota XW30 / '̶̶8̶0̶ ̶E̶2̶1̶ ̶3̶2̶0̶i̶A̶ (sold)

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    We have another event this weekend at the AAA Speedway in Fontana, it might be wet for the early run groups and it looks like we will have cars running in our run group. Sunday we work 1 and run 2.

    Let us review what wet in Southern California really means. Moisture, in any amount, that might collect on your windshield that may or may not require that you run on your wind shield wipers. Some of you live with various amounts of dampness on a regular basis, Southern California goes on alert. This should be fun.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    It turns out getting to the event on Saturday, was wet in Redlands and dry in Fontana. The West to East atmospheric flow and the surrounding mountains would be the reason. Sunday was dry, a bit of humidity but the surface for the event was not an issue.

    Once again, having a very limited way to introduce camber into my car has razed it self up to be an issue. In H street, you have to run the stock spring hats. That said, you never have to worry about your tires "aging out" before they "ware out". At least the out side 10% of reach side of the tires. They get flipped and then run on the other side of the car. Then moved front to back, got to take advantage of both sides of the tires. The Falkin 660's have now passed the wet driving test, not driven hard and being aware that stuff happens. Yes not up the mountain, but at highway speeds in traffic. Yes, no standing puddles.

    At the events, I am still finding them a very solid performer. Yes, two of them have issues on the center rib of tread. No, they are driven to and from the event and the OPR does build up when driven hard. This event, I had 4 re-runs to get my 4 timed laps. Not at all normal. My fastest lap, the last one( of 8 total ) will be considered a fluke. I will take it.

    The one thing I can say is a well prepared NA Miata is going to beat you, when you are driving a '82 BMW 320i. But the key is by how much? I have a reason. I real question is can I continue to have faster PAX corrected time than the '82 Mazda RX7 CSP car, that might finally get a set of fresh Hoosiers. Helping people spend money to beat my old car is fun to watch.

    David
    Last edited by jr02518; 05-19-2021 at 10:38 AM.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    16121118886

    This hose has proven to be a challenge. First it did not fail in a way that initially made a puddle that would have been traceable. No, it left symptoms. The connection from the banjo end to the hose ultimately cracked to the point it started to fail and fuel escaped the system.

    It was my fault, I had the fuel filter in the wrong orientation and tightened incorrectly. Putting the new hose in the car provided a bit of head scratching. I tried the trick of using some twine taped to the old hose assembly. It would not pull past the threaded end at the tank, the flared end got caught. So with the banjo end of the old hose removed, we used that old hose as a guide to work the new hose into place. Yes, using a length of wire tied the new hose to the old hose and pushing it from the bottom and carefully pulling from the inside it worked.

    The flared fitting at the tank end of the was willing to be pulled into the car, on the old hose it was hanging up on something as I was attempting extracting it. It proves that having a second set of hands is very important and some force is required. But not that much.

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    458
    My Cars
    75 BMW 2002, 82 320
    This time I would like to report a success, after an extended time away from running an event the car proved to be a blast! I had not realized how badly it was being effected by the poor fuel delivery of the degraded hoses. The car was not running anywhere hear the correct fuel pressure. The saga of the leaking fuel filter did not help, but that too is fixed. And fresh tires made the event a very positive result.

    Our local SCCA events have a very active group of older cars and there is a very nicely prepared 1972 Karman Gia that runs in the same class as my 1982 320. We run using the SCCA Historic Class guidelines for preparation and the indexes for the cars, as such we both run HS. Based on the years of the cars he is in the Historic 1 and my later car runs in Historic 2. Practice on Saturday proved we would be close. His car is still in development, but it has the ability to put the power down. This last Sunday I prevailed, but he is not done working on the car or getting used to his new ride.

    So, fresh tires beat new motor, this time.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Autocross Video Request - Last Event
    By PrinceE30 in forum Georgia sponsored by Harrison Motorsports
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 02-02-2011, 09:03 AM
  2. EuroSunday 10/24 (Last Event of The Year)
    By DVMotorsports in forum Hawaii & Other Islands
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 10-22-2010, 06:06 PM
  3. Last of my e21 parts for sale
    By IRideFixed in forum 1975 - 1983 (E21)
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-09-2010, 07:02 PM
  4. last event video 10.7 pass
    By davidtm5 in forum Drag Racing
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 03-11-2009, 03:51 PM
  5. STU M3--Rear end is all over the place at last event
    By chebimmer in forum Track, Auto-X & Drag Racing sponsored by Bimmerparts.com
    Replies: 41
    Last Post: 08-04-2008, 12:40 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •