**2012 E30 Calendars are here** - R3VLimited Forums

**2012 E30 Calendars are here** - R3VLimited Forums

PAST due for an update.

I haven't updated in a LONG time. A ton has happened since the last update, so I'm going to try and keep things on the correct timeline... here goes.

Back on May11, we received our custom valved shocks from Bilstein.  I assembled them with Ground Control struts, some drilled rotors, Hawk HT10 race pads and stainless steel brake lines.

Mark Massa from ground control provided me with the new front springs some stickers and a cool bottle opener.

While they were out i went ahead and cut off the brake dust shield to try and keep the brakes cool while on the track.

Unfortunately I received my Cometic metal head gasket AFTER assembling the stroked M20 for the magazine shoot...  so over the course of the next few weeks, I pulled the head off..

Installed the metal gasket, and slapped the head back on the car.

John and Ben were able to source some cheap high-flow  injectors at the junkyard. I went ahead and modified them to fit the fuel rail and prepared them for install.

Other than the head gasket, another "insurance" item on my to-do list was adding a Spal fan I had picked up at the junkyard a few years ago. I mounted it up and it works great. Its wired to a switch on the dash.

Another issue we had had with the car at the 2010 GRM CHALLENGE was uncontrollable boost. It wasn't a bad thing when the car only needs to last 2 days, but now that we were prepping for the UTCC, things needed to be kept under control.  So, while everything was apart I added a wastegate flange to the turbo spacer plate we had made last year.

A pic of the new flange mounted to the HX35.

 I also had to figure out a way to keep the stock wastegate flap from opening, so i drilled and tapped a small hole on the exhaust housing, and using a small piece of steel and a bolt locked the internal wastegate closed.

My next mini-project was to create a dump tube for the wastegate. Basically this directs all the extra HOT turbo gasses underneath the car. I took some scrap tubing john had lying around and i tack welded this together.

Once i knew it would fit, i threw it on the welding table and did all the final welding.

 
In order to keep the engine bay temps in check, I wrapped it with heat resistant header wrap.

 Its a lot closer to the turbo oil drain than I would have liked , but I was running out of time to finish things up. I wrapped the drain with a Spark plug sleeve and hoped that the temps would stay cool.

Right around this time, I received the used Goodyear Race slicks I purchased online. I was still waiting on my Diamond Racing 16x10 race wheels... more on that later.

 

Its all in and at this point she's almost ready for the 2011 Ultimate Track Car Challenge!

Jay and Jason stopped by to lend a hand.

A few days later Ben and I did some tuning of stock Motronic... or I should say, Ben did the tuning while I drove, watched and asked a lot of questions.

 

One of the last things left to do was install a NASA legal seat belt...

 Finish up the hood pins, add side-view mirrors and a tow hook...

...place a few of our sponsor stickers on the car.

This takes us up to about 2 weeks before the Ultimate Track Car Challenge held this past July.

Condor Speed Shop Shirts

Guys, the Condor Speed Shop shirts are here, I have limited quantities, so if you want one, let me know soon. We have white (M,L,XL), grey (L,XL) and black (L,XL)! We also have a handfull of Ladies tank-tops. Email me for availability on these.
Please send $20 per shirt to silence8@aol.com I'll ship on Tuesday before heading to the Ultimate Track Car Challenge.

...and a quick tour of the neighborhood around the shop...

Hopefully, by now most of you who follow this blog already know, that we've been invited to the 2011 Ultimate Track Car Challenge!
 

Our goal is to leave VIR with the $500 BimmerWorld Fastest BMW Award. It's less than 2 weeks away, and we need your full support. Its going to take over $1000 to tow the car to Va and back home again. I've designed some stickers so you can show your support for our team, while helping us get there.

These are 3"x3" and 9"x1.25" screen-printed stickers. Please donate $3 and I'll drop one of each in the mail for you. Send a PayPal payment to silence8(at)aol.com with a current mailing address. If you don't have PayPal, send me an email and ill send you my mailing address.

We appreciate your support. Don't forget to follow us on our Facebook page. Condor Speed Shop

 Make sure you "like" us to keep track of all our projects!

Facebook Page is up!

I have a few updates.

First of all I'm happy to announce that Bilstein has sent us a set of custom valved shocks for the UTCC!  Awesome! We are very happy to have them as one of our sponsors. I'm currently in the process of installing them now.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on since my last update. Ive installed some new hood pins, and i have some spark plug wire heat resistant sleeves ready to go on.

On a side note, I've created a Facebook page chronicling the day to day activity going on in the garage. So if you want to know whats going on on a more regular basis, visit our page and watch us prepare our e30 for the 2011 UTCC at VIR. Tell us how much you 'Like' us today!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Condor-Speed-Shop/209850452380223?ref=hnav

You can also visit the eBay store I've opened. I sell m20, m42, m50 motor and transmission mounts along with power-steering deletes and a few other parts that were originally designed for this car. Visit www.condorspeed.com.

PERFORMANCE BMW photoshoot.

We had just installed the motor on Saturday, I installed the transmission with no lift and no help on Sunday... let me tell you, its not an easy thing to do...  Jay and Jimmy showed up a bit later and we buttoned up the intercooler pipes and all the accessories. We beld the brakes, and  installed the driveshaft.
I went to work on Monday, and Tuesday morning came way too soon.  The first thing i did was drill the holes for the hood pins and exhaust on the new hood. While Jay and Jimmy cleaned the car, I strategically placed the sponsor stickers. So far we have had help from Turner Motorsport, Bilstein, Mach V, and AEM. I really appreciate their support.

The Performance BMW crew showed up after lunch. It was a pleasure finally meeting Louise Woodhams, after only knowing her via email. She had told me she was interested in shooting the car back when it had the Warbird livery. They flew into Miami and will be in town for 11 days shooting 18 cars, as far north as Raleigh North Carolina.

On to the Pics:

After a long day, the guys and gal relax and admire their work.

In our next update we should be tuning the low compression M20 to work with the Holset HX35.

Checkout our powersteering deletes and UHMW motor mounts for M20, M30, M42, M50, M52 & S52 E30s at www.condorspeed.com

The 2.7 M20 is finally in the car!

Things aren't always what they seem. I thought the head was ready after we milled it using sandpaper and a granite counter top... unfortunately there were still some deep scratches, and after quite a long fiasco... which involved loosing 4 days before finally taking it to the machine shop and getting it professionally milled. Once it was done, I was finally able to start getting things back together.

I soaked the springs retainers and cups in some degreaser.

 Guiness to keep me energized for this task.

Parts are clean and dry.

I used John's modified valve spring compressor to install all the valves.

Intake side done!

Im ready to start the exhaust side. Always make sure you have lots of assembly lube.

Still sporting the smashed hood in this pic.

Ok now that they are all in its time to get ready to install the rockers, rocker shafts and camshaft.

Everything is lined up and ready to go in. THere is a very good step by step on www.e30zone.co.uk.

looking ready to go!

Not bad for a bunch of used parts.

After cleaning all the carbon off the block, we soaked it in transmission fluid.

clean as a whistle.

I put it all togther using the stock head bolts.

The very next day the ARP M20 head studs arrived.... I wasn't waiting to install them

A perfect fit...

Before installing the motor, Jay prepped the sub frame for Turner Motorsport sub frame reinforcement kit.

While Jay did that, I installed a Walboro 255 fuel pump. This should be more than enough for our power goals.

The stock lightened flywheel and SACHS clutch and heavy-duty pressure plate are on and the motor isready to go in.

In a very short amount of time, we were able to get the motor in the car.

Now all that's left to do is clean it up and take it for a test drive.