Round 3....another M3 build

[Fruttolo]

Thats a good question, havent ever really looked. I think they are relatively flat, but not 100% sure. I am not really that low. I did get an alignment appointment for Tuesday tho, and its gonna rain, and he said it should be on my race tires so I will be trailering the car out to the shop. Need to seal up the sunroof so my front seats dont get soaked again.

You may need an outdoor cover to put on it when it rains...or an enclosed trailer
Post your alignment specs when you are done, I am always curious about that aspect in relation to different modified cars and subsequent handling changes

[hinrichs]

Kinda kicking myself for not getting an enclosed trailer to begin with, but I feel that is down the road. If I didnt have a jeep that needs a trailer, I would have went that way. I do have side windows for towing which really helps, but I didnt have the rear vented windows last year.

I think im going with -3 to -3.5 camber, 0 toe front, -1.5 to -2 rear camber and .20/1.8 total rear toe. My friend runs a lot of toe in up front I think, or out I forget which. I am gonna try and pick his brain this weekend when I see him. The alignment guy I am sure will set it up well for me. He did say toe in up front for autocross but thats not good for high speed. I will let you know however what I end up with.

[hinrichs]

Off to get an alignment this morning

58194565912__4930FEF5-55D4-46BC-A10E-F6F4086097AA (1) by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

At the alignment shop. Learned a few things and will be back for sure. Mike was an awesome guy and really knows his car setups. He and his friend Co-drive an old 1977 honda civic. I went to grab the car when he was working on the back, nothing strange other than he had to heat up my rear camber arms. I will end up changing those this winter when I do all the subframe bushings. They are ebay specials anyway. I am not happy with the rear height, but I put the adjusters back in the car after some spring slop I wasnt happy with either. Might try some 4" height springs and see what happens since I have a lot of adjustment in the perches.

Ended on -2 camber and 1/8 total toe in, or a hair more.

IMG_5656 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Then we made it up front. Well that was an interesting one. Camber plates maxed out, driver side was at -4 camber 2.9 caster, passenger side -2.7 camber .8 caster. The camber didnt make sense but it is what it is. We adjusted both sides to be -2.7 which really isnt enough but oh well. I will get the slr upper plates over winter (wanted them but kept pushing it off). The caster however, I am not sure what I will do yet on that one. I have an idea I might try to. I do want to get new lower control arms from bimmerworld since I think my amazon specials are part of the problem.

Settled on -2.7 camber 0 total toe

IMG_5657 by minthinrich, on Flickr

Then I got home and noticed that my driver side tire sticks out a lot more than the passenger. I am running 5mm spacers but that is just to clear the strut on both sides. Eventually I feel I will be dropping to a 275 slick since these 285s are wide and hard to fit. Thinking its the control arms here again. Terrible pictures to try and show it.

IMG_5659 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_5660 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[Miroteknik]

Tow setup is nice, car is looking good!

[Fruttolo]

That much difference from one side to the other is really weird, was the car in an accident before?

[hinrichs]

That much difference from one side to the other is really weird, was the car in an accident before?

No accidents that I am aware of or can tell. I just sent you a message on insta about it. I went super cheap on control arms, and I think that mixed with centered lolipops is my issue. Trying to decide now if I should just order new arms/mounts or wait. I do have another alignment setup for next thursday however at another shop.

[hinrichs]

Test fit the new OMP wheel.....lets just say its the exact same shape and all as the momo it replaced. Only thing is its suede instead of vinyl or whatever the street version is. I left the momo button simply because that wheel is back in untill the car is aligned. Dont want my new suede wheel to get dirty at the shop.

IMG_5674 by minthinrich, on Flickr

New control arms and offset mounts show up tonight so I will be swapping them out. Hopefully they are easy to pull.

[hinrichs]

Spent my friday night working on the control arms since the GF was working her closing shift at the vet. Figured it would take a lot longer but it went really well surprisingly.

Wanted to stick with the control lolipops, but switched to bimmerworld offering since they had a package and I was told it would work. I think all I really needed was the mounts, but I got new german made arms as well. I hope I can sell them to recoup a little money. Condor are rusty mainly due to install mistakes the first time around. I plan to blast them if they sell so someone can paint them. Pulled the arms out, compared them, and installed the new ones back in.

IMG_5695 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_5699 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_5696 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I should really get swaybar bushings, since its still on the stock ones which have 165k on them, but that I will do over winter. Kinda was just laying there looking at things to eventually fix....which will be a lot.

[hinrichs]

Spent my friday night working on the control arms since the GF was working her closing shift at the vet. Figured it would take a lot longer but it went really well surprisingly.

Wanted to stick with the control lolipops, but switched to bimmerworld offering since they had a package and I was told it would work. I think all I really needed was the mounts, but I got new german made arms as well. I hope I can sell them to recoup a little money. Condor are rusty mainly due to install mistakes the first time around. I plan to blast them if they sell so someone can paint them. Pulled the arms out, compared them, and installed the new ones back in.

IMG_5695 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_5699 by minthinrich, on Flickr
IMG_5696 by minthinrich, on Flickr

I should really get swaybar bushings, since its still on the stock ones which have 165k on them, but that I will do over winter. Kinda was just laying there looking at things to eventually fix....which will be a lot.

Woke up early saturday morning, and headed up to the hill for cleanup. We will do this again friday morning as well. Walked most of the course a few times while weed whacking all morning

IMG_5707 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[hinrichs]

Found my jeep emergency cover....it should work for racing to keep the cab covered and dry. Might end up cutting the front a little and re sewing it. Also want to modify the sides for gromets so I can strap it down.

IMG_5739 by minthinrich, on Flickr

[Fruttolo]

That's a neat solution, I come from the offroad world but had never seen one of those covers. If you mod it in the front leave a "lip" you can close under the hood so that wind can't make a big balloon when you trailer it

[hinrichs]

Race weekend happened. I had some fitment issues saturday which led me to race on my street tires. I was having major rubbing issues, and it ended up being a nose panel screw I missed. I will get pics of the tire damage tonight of that. Ended up only getting 2 runs saturday along with everyone else. We had timing issues and also radio problems which delayed everything. Took the car home and sorted out the problems Saturday night, and was on the slicks the next day. Ended up dropping my time from a 107 down to a 98.888. I wasnt the fastest but I learned a lot about the car. 2 pics from the newspaper.

27947607E by minthinrich, on Flickr
27947604E by minthinrich, on Flickr

[19birel]

She's looking good out there! I always consider a race weekend successful if you had fun and learned something along the way, keep it up!

[Ramrod]

Looks like a blast to drive...