Can the extra grunt of a 330 make up for its' significant extra weight in an autocross setting on street tires?? Who knows, but I'm working on finding out.
I've documented quite a bit about my build over on BimmerForums, but I thought I'd post here too. (I get bored at work)
As it sits:
AST 4200's
Vorshlag camber plates
H&R non-M bars
18x9 SSRs w/ 265/35/18 tires
Jim Blanton LSD
old Sparco MonteCarlo seats I picked up cheap (just above 25# with sliders, won't fit anyone over 200lbs)
ETX18L 18lb battery
Vorshlag RTAB limiters
Powerflex FCABs
M3 motor mounts
Weighs 3,090 lbs according to the Nats scales with a sunroof and stock exhaust and just under 1/4 tank of gas. For reference the E36's are weighing in around 2850.
Andy Basham made it work in 2005, taking 2nd in STX, though with a pretty full-bore build, and a ZHP, which has a higher final drive ratio than my sport package. He was using TC Kline DAs, 500/500 rates, and 30/25 bars.
He got his to about 3050 without a sunroof, so I think I should be able to get mine a bit lighter than that, even with a sunroof. High 2900's are possible with an early non-sunroof car, though the higher final drive of the ZHP (3.07 to my 2.93) may be worth the extra weight.
My car started at 550/780, with 27/21 bars on soft/hard. Worked well when the weather was cool, but as it warmed up, grip went up, and I was in the bumpstops up front, giving some pretty ugly push. 650 lb springs up front and the bar on stiff got rid of the push. With the front sticking well, now the rear is wild, so right now I'm at 650/550, though I feel like ultimately I may end up at 650/650. Still working on sorting out the rear end.
I'm able to get about 3.5* of negative camber up front, which is less than the E36's get, but should be enough if I keep the car stiff enough. Pyrometer readings thus far show it to be enough, though it'd be nice to get more.
I started on the RE-11s, but found them to not like heat. They'd be brilliant for the first two runs, but as we'd learn the course better and drive better, the tires would fall off and we'd have slower times. We're on the AD08's now, and they seem to tolerate the heat well.
I drive this car *every day*. This is my only car, and I'm loving it in STX trim. I drive on the Yok's every day as well. I've put about 10,000 miles on the car since April, and I'm not looking forward to yanking a bunch of the parts for winter. I'm begging AST to make some non-adjustable shocks that I can run with my M3 springs in the winter. =]
We have three more local events to go this year, two of which are back to back at one of our better sites, so we'll see how the changes to the rear end work up against some national-calibre competition. Then on to next year...
I've documented quite a bit about my build over on BimmerForums, but I thought I'd post here too. (I get bored at work)
As it sits:
AST 4200's
Vorshlag camber plates
H&R non-M bars
18x9 SSRs w/ 265/35/18 tires
Jim Blanton LSD
old Sparco MonteCarlo seats I picked up cheap (just above 25# with sliders, won't fit anyone over 200lbs)
ETX18L 18lb battery
Vorshlag RTAB limiters
Powerflex FCABs
M3 motor mounts
Weighs 3,090 lbs according to the Nats scales with a sunroof and stock exhaust and just under 1/4 tank of gas. For reference the E36's are weighing in around 2850.
Andy Basham made it work in 2005, taking 2nd in STX, though with a pretty full-bore build, and a ZHP, which has a higher final drive ratio than my sport package. He was using TC Kline DAs, 500/500 rates, and 30/25 bars.
He got his to about 3050 without a sunroof, so I think I should be able to get mine a bit lighter than that, even with a sunroof. High 2900's are possible with an early non-sunroof car, though the higher final drive of the ZHP (3.07 to my 2.93) may be worth the extra weight.
My car started at 550/780, with 27/21 bars on soft/hard. Worked well when the weather was cool, but as it warmed up, grip went up, and I was in the bumpstops up front, giving some pretty ugly push. 650 lb springs up front and the bar on stiff got rid of the push. With the front sticking well, now the rear is wild, so right now I'm at 650/550, though I feel like ultimately I may end up at 650/650. Still working on sorting out the rear end.
I'm able to get about 3.5* of negative camber up front, which is less than the E36's get, but should be enough if I keep the car stiff enough. Pyrometer readings thus far show it to be enough, though it'd be nice to get more.
I started on the RE-11s, but found them to not like heat. They'd be brilliant for the first two runs, but as we'd learn the course better and drive better, the tires would fall off and we'd have slower times. We're on the AD08's now, and they seem to tolerate the heat well.
I drive this car *every day*. This is my only car, and I'm loving it in STX trim. I drive on the Yok's every day as well. I've put about 10,000 miles on the car since April, and I'm not looking forward to yanking a bunch of the parts for winter. I'm begging AST to make some non-adjustable shocks that I can run with my M3 springs in the winter. =]
We have three more local events to go this year, two of which are back to back at one of our better sites, so we'll see how the changes to the rear end work up against some national-calibre competition. Then on to next year...
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