Things that aren't all that interesting.....
As noted, there was a small leak in my fuel return line at the last rallycross. Upon further examination, the line seeminly for years had bee contacting some little extrusion on the rocker pinch seam and eventually just wore a little hole in itself (not rusty at all)...
So, cut that little section out
I could have bent a whole new pipe, but really the pipe is in good condition otherwise, and its not a high-pressure piece, just a return pipe, so just got some fuel line and "bridged the gap." this area is protected by thick underbody sheeting, so this should work fine. Also dremeled down the little metal nub that caused the hole in the first place.
Also headed down to the parents' marina this week, where I spent a full afternoon doing brakes and new struts on my grandmother's Ford Fusion in 95 degree heat. Because my 90-year-old grandmother still drives like Senna on the country roads out there and I'd rather not have her die crashing into a tree.....
And did some boating...
So yeah, that's about it for the moment. Figured I'd just update for posterity.
Oh, forgot to mention. Post-race check revealed three of my four diff bolts were VERY loose (one had backed out a good 1/2"). This is a recurring problem for most e30 rally cars, and more power probably exacerbates the problem. On top of the diff I have studs now with nuts (which didn't back out as much, but I think I'll double-nut them now), but the diff "wing" bolts are still OEM. I may change those to longer bolts so I can locknut them on the bottom (below the diff wings) as well. Loctite blue isn't getting it done, and don't want to use anything too permanent.
It's tempting to drill some holes directly above the diff into the trunk in order to be able to more easily tighten these things.
In reply to irish44j :
Put nordlocks on the diff mounts? I had the same problem on the merkur, and they haven't loosened at all since adding those.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
In reply to irish44j :
Put nordlocks on the diff mounts? I had the same problem on the merkur, and they haven't loosened at all since adding those
good thought. They still have the best video ever made about washers, on their website :)
I am sure you know this but the 4 nuts on the diff input, as well as the 6 on the giubo, are a one time use only. When you buy them they are slightly deformed and somewhat of a pain to install as you need a wrench from almost the get go.
Slippery said:
I am sure you know this but the 4 nuts on the diff input, as well as the 6 on the giubo, are a one time use only. When you buy them they are slightly deformed and somewhat of a pain to install as you need a wrench from almost the get go.
Yeah, I'm referring to the diff mount bolts, where it attaches to the rear subframe. All nuts on the DS (front and back) are metal-lock deformed types, and i have a big box of them so I don't re-use them. Learned that lesson long ago when I lost two DS bolts at a rallycross :)
Well, I'm over 2500 posts in this ridiculous thread and amazingly, I regularly meet people at rally/rallycross events or other car stuff - particularly e30 guys - who claim to have read the entire thing. So, that's pretty much why I keep this up (that, and so I can go back and find pics of how I made my reinforced transmission mount for someone who was just recently talking about almost losing theirs in a rally). Anyhow...
Meanwhile, all of my rally friends are busy prepping for New England Forest Rally next week (you may recall, it was our first DNF last year thanks to big rock + oil pan). Would have liked to head up there at least to crew for Nonack, but real life (and real money) got in the way, so here I am at home, doing brakes on the wife's Mazda CX-9 due to the rears literally getting down to bare metal. Oops. Guess I should have checked those in the last year.....
And, painting wheels. Because stock mini wheels are just a bit boring. And I like gunmetal wheel.
I've actually read every post... and I don't rallycross or own an e30. It just intrigues me for some reason.
Anywho - when you pain the wheels, do you do the inside diameter too, or just the face?
rustybuckets said:
I've actually read every post... and I don't rallycross or own an e30. It just intrigues me for some reason.
Anywho - when you pain the wheels, do you do the inside diameter too, or just the face?
in the case of wheels for rally, just the face. since they're gonna get chipped up anyhow, so why bother.
when I do wheels for a street car, I do the inside of the barrel as well since I may actually keep them clean enough to be able to see it :)
java230 said:
I read it all too
you guys clearly have almost as little social life as I do ;)
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So....I haven't posted too much about it since it's annoying, but the Porsche has over the past month or so developed an annoying habit to randomly stall when driving, with no apparent rhyme or reason to it. So I've been spending a lot of time chasing wiring, cleaning plus and connectors, checking various sensors, pulling the exhaust to check for a clogged cat, and a dozen other things.
And today, I think I found the issue. Decided to pull out the coil just to take a look at the terminals and as I did I noticed the ground wire ring terminal was literally holding about 2 strands of wire in it, under the shrink wrap. Hmm....lack of ground could certianly cause some problems for sure....So replaced the ring terminal, and.....well, after a good test drive on my usual route, no stalls, no stumbles, and the car feels more powerful than I can ever remember it being. So, That's good, and deserves a couple pictures of the car (not that berkeleying wire!)
Also got in some Nordlock lock washers, per Nonack's suggestion. So, installed them with the diff bolts and we'll see how that works out..
In reply to irish44j :
I'm pretty sure that if it loosens with those washers it means the fastener itself is stretching or whatever it's attached to is bending- if you really want overkill add some loctite while you're at it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:
In reply to irish44j :
I'm pretty sure that if it loosens with those washers it means the fastener itself is stretching or whatever it's attached to is bending- if you really want overkill add some loctite while you're at it.
well, the inch-thick cast diff ears definitely aren't bending lol.....
Headed up to W.Va. to Pat Henry's place to pick up the other set of Mini wheels he grabbed for me off marketplace. Decided to take the Porsche to make sure everything is good to go, and since a lot of the roads going there are kind of fun. 70 miles of rural highways and the car performed flawlessly.
Then, as I entered Martinsburg and got caught at a couple stoplights......stall. Then another stall at the next light. WTF........
Picked up the wheels and turned around to head home. Two more stalls trying to get out of town at stoplights. Then back on 70 miles of mostly stoplight-free roads, with no issues. Then, at the Greenway toll booth, another stall as i braked into the gate (even using EZPass). Goddammit.
So, the rest of the way home with more lights, I pretty much figured out I could keep it from stalling by holding the revs around 2500 slowing into lights and waiting at them, while left-foot braking. Didn't have any more stalls doing it that way, but damn is it annoying to have to do that. So now I'm pretty sure that while the loose coil wire was affecting general performance, it wasn't necessarily the actual issue. The fact that I only had issues when totally off the throttle really has to mean it's one of the two things directly affected when lifting off the pedal - the TPC (which has a throttle closed switch to activate the IACV), and the IACV. So, ordering a new TPC, adn will pull off the IACV and clean it and test function.
So, that was annoying. But at least the car's A/C blew cold the whole way (with windows down, of course) on this warm day :)
And I got a second set of cheap, 12lb OEM 15" Mini wheels for a second set of rally tires. Hope these things hold up well, now that I have two sets of them lol....
more random wheel-and-tire related stuff, since they're all sitting in my garage.
Here's the weight of one of the Mini wheels, bare (13 lbs)
Here's the weight of one of the Mini wheels with whatever all-season tire is on it (28 lbs, so that tire is about 15 lbs)
Now, here is the weight of one of the new Federal rally tires, by itself (26 lbs, so almost as heavy as the wheel AND tire above)
So, that's gonna put me at 39lbs per wheel with the new setup, even with these Mini wheels being pretty light.
Threw one of my bottlecaps with some worn DMacks on the scale....34 lbs.
So, adding 5 lbs per corner, plus a larger diameter. Definitely going to slow things down a bit, though it might improve my gearing for stage rally.
For rallycross, I will likely keep using 14" wheels and "grass type" tires like Maxsports, since they're cheap and rallycross is best with maximum acceleration.
Anyhow, thought that was a bit interesting.
Also, took off some old stickers that were getting grungy, painted a red stripe (hard to see in this pic), and made a new sticker. Because I have a vinyl cutter.........
Do the 14" tires have enough grip to make the acceleration happen?
I'm remembereing my experiment with Hankook rally tires bought from a once-local guy (Andrew Frick) who was running a spec Focus car, I think the tires were 60cm. They theoretically would have had better acceleration due to the mechanical advantage and the lighter weight, but they had pathetic grip.
1000ft-lb at the wheels and locked solid to the dirt is a lot better than a theoretical 1300ft-lb at the wheels and having to half-throttle it.
Knurled. said:
Do the 14" tires have enough grip to make the acceleration happen?
I'm remembereing my experiment with Hankook rally tires bought from a once-local guy (Andrew Frick) who was running a spec Focus car, I think the tires were 60cm. They theoretically would have had better acceleration due to the mechanical advantage and the lighter weight, but they had pathetic grip.
1000ft-lb at the wheels and locked solid to the dirt is a lot better than a theoretical 1300ft-lb at the wheels and having to half-throttle it.
er.... The 14" tires are gravel rally tires and Maxsports. So they have just as much grip as 15" ones (which are the same tread width) would have, tread and wear and compound being equal.
In reply to irish44j :
Not necesaarily... larger diameter tires put down a longer contact patch, so they for more acceleration/braking grip.
Knurled. said:
In reply to irish44j :
Not necesaarily... larger diameter tires put down a longer contact patch, so they for more acceleration/braking grip.
If we were going for a land-speed record or doing F1, that level of minutiae may matter. For rallycross, meh...I doubt it makes a noticeable difference. A few PSI of tire pressure one way or the other probably makes more difference (and I'm too lazy to check more than once or twice during any event). .
So yeah, while technically you're right, functionally I highly doubt it matters in rallycross as much as other factors (like which tread pattern, tire pressure, etc) do.
So the forecast for NEFR this weekend is mid-90s, so kind of happy not to be going. This car is hot enough when it's not super-hot out. mid-90s for two full days would be brutal. The FB rally pages are full of people discussing stuff usually used by road-racing/enduro teams, like coolshirts, additional ventilation, etc.
Meanwhile, it's hot and humid AF here (98 today with feeling like 99% humidity). So with the 15 minutes or so I could stand to be outside, did a little thing on the e30. For some time the steering column has been squeaking loudy and annoyingly due to likely dry bearings (or dusty bearings). The upper one is easy to access by pulling the steering wheel hub. The lower one, not so much. It's up inside the tube just inside the firewall. I've seen a few people put together super-long hoses and try to spray lubricant upward from under the car to get to it. After taking a look, that seems pretty worthless, as there's a dust seal there that would block most of it. Not wanting to pull the entire steering shaft assembly, took the easy route and with a small drill bit put a very small hole about halfway up the shaft under the dash (being as careful as possible to not let any shavings go into the hole, by drilling really slowly). Once there, I just stuck the lubricant hose in there and sprayed and let it run down to the bearing inside the tube. About 10 minutes later I could see it dripping out the other end, and repeated movement of the wheel revealed no more squeaking. Put a strip of aluminum tape on it (which I've been using to seal up inner holes in the rocker panels where dust gets in), and good to go I think (assuming some little metal shaving didn't fall in there somehow and will soon destroy the bearing.......but I'll take my chances).
So, quietness in steering will be nice.
As I think I mentioned earlier, I saw a no-name chip on FB Marketplace for cheap and messaged the guy to see what it was. Turned out he's a friend of Josh Sennet (bluej on here) and the chip was a cloned Dinan chip that he used in his track e36. And then he said since I am friends with Josh he's just send it to me for free, as long as i buy Josh some Natty Ice next time we're out :D
So he did, but sent more than just the chip. Apparently his old box of parts also had a stock silver-label 413 DME (which is for the '94-95 M50 cars with EWS) and another DME which appears to also be for a '95, but isn't a 413 DME, so not sure. I guess these were for if he needed to swap different year engines into his track car from the '92-93 engine with the red label 413 DME (which is what I have and what he had). So, the DMEs don't do me much good so might just see if I can find anyone to give them away to and/or keep them for if I ever have to swap to a different year.
Also he included not one but three chips. Apparently the one labeled "1" is the Dinan standard chip, whereas the "2" and "3" were "stage" chips for cars with cams and other stuff. He recalled that he got them from a certain reputable ebay seller like 10 years ago, so I contacted that seller, but he said they weren't his (though, he may have said that since I said they were "Dinan clones" so maybe I insulted him or he thought I was from Dinan lol).
Anyhow, figured I'd put the "Stage 1" in my DME and see what's up. Car fired right up, idled well, so took a quick run around the block in my neighborhood (it's 100 degrees today, so not trying to stay in the car for very long). Didn't stretch its legs, but it was instantly apparent that it has much more immediate throttle response (there's always been a "lag" of sorts that has annoyed me), and at least in 1st/2nd half-throttle acceleration it feels very smooth. Since I don't want my neighbors to hate me I didn't really push it very much. I'll give it a good go this weekend. Anyhow, seems to work fine, and though I don't know its provenance for a fact, it came out of a track car so no real reason to think it's a "bad tune" or anything. I'd put money on it just being a burned Dinan clone as he said it is.
So yeah, free chip(s) that make the car feel better (TBD if it makes it faster) is never a bad thing....
bluej
UberDork
7/17/19 10:26 p.m.
Crazy how small the world is. Matt is a good dude.
Yep, indeed.
So took the car for a spin today and a few hard pulls out on the parkway, and it runs well, pulls well, no issues. I feel like the butt-dyno is telling me that immediate throttle response is definitely improved, and power/tq gains feel like they're primarily in the midrange. So anyhow, that's good.
Then swapped the Porsche into the garage....
and pulled the throttle body to put a new throttle position sensor on it. The new one definitely has a tighter feel to it and a more audible "click" when it hits the idle switch. One theory is that the TPS once heated up wasn't making good contact inside and causing the idle switch not to activate all the time when the butterfly totally closed. According to most forums, the TPS do wear out and need replacement every so often, so hopefully this will do it.
While I was in there, also put my spare fuel pressure regulator in. Not that I have any evidence that the old one is bad, but I did drop it when first building this car and kind of "bent in" the little vacuum tube nipple. Doesn't seem like that woudl affect anything, but hey might as well just swap for another one.
Anyhow, went for a 10-15 minute test drive and car ran fine. I am almost certain it is idling substantially smoother than before, with zero stumbles coming off throttle or when I turn on the A/C. It also idles slightly higher than before, by about 100rpms. Anyhow, seems to work fine. I guess I'll find out at some point if it decides to stall again (or I won't find out, hopefully).
I think I need a 924 or 944 to commute in.
AWSX1686 said:
I think I need a 924 or 944 to commute in.
It really would be a pretty pleasant commuter. Plenty of torque for around town and cruise is nice on the highway. 30mpg highway and the air conditioning blows cold. Just as long as all the electrical stuff is fixed haha
