FUBAR 528e 2/16 NOS Steering Box

[LeiseyJr]

Solid gains. Are the gains in ignition timing?

Yes ignition timing is everything. Mainly what your paying for in any tune is the ignition map.
BMW or BOSCH cut it pretty hard in that area on the stock euro DME looking at the .bin I have.

[LeiseyJr]

Update.

The camshaft begin to fail around October...? Tracked it in August and oil pressure light was coming on at idle. Glitter upon oil change.

TLDR changed oil pump and the whole cylinder head. Got oil temps too hot and valve spring pressures were too high and eating camshaft alive. Brand New schrick Lasted 2 years and 30k miles.

Car was down for awhile. 1-1.5 month? Someone gave me an e46 330i 6 speed for free. So daily'd that until I finally found a b35 camshaft. Cylinder head is now all stock components. B34 head with b35, cam valves and springs. But all stock stuff, rocker arms, no rocker locks etc.

It doesnt really feel down on power still feels quick.

Had a blast with it at TexFest.


Other than that car is pretty much the same. Still doing track events with it. Did two in November, and two this month.

Last event while trail breaking, LF strut housing failed. Tore the tube.

So that is now repaired and reinforced. Found a Koni was blown so that was replaced with my old Bilsteins.




So idk what I plan to do with car now. Still daily it sometimes, forcing myself to drive e46 more. Shell is cracking in a lot of places. Cowl is cracking, bulkhead is cracking, b pillars are cracking.

Pushing this old shell hard with probably 300k on it. Current plan is to keep band aiding it together and keep driving it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je4Jv0Q49IQ


School has been hectic. But still making progress there. Have a full time job at NOV and I moved out with my girlfriend.


Will probably follow this post with picture dump. Have to remember Flickr log in and all that. but for anyones curious, I still own it. Still being used, broken and repaired.

[athayer187]

Pics of the failed strut tube? Curious to see what failed and where.

My opinion - drive the crap out of it. You're having a great time, fixing what needs to be fixed, and likely embarrassing cars worth 10x or more what yours is. It may never win a beauty pageant, but it sounds like it still puts a smile on your face.

[Nebraska_e28]

School has been hectic. But still making progress there. Have a full time job at NOV and I moved out with my girlfriend.

Props to you! Learn me your ways on fun time management.

[LeiseyJr]

Still locked out of my Flickr. Update.


I had some major breakthroughs in terms of lap times. Finally got the car down to the 51s, it is just a 1:51.9 but still a 51. I got some Toyo RR takeoffs and a rabbit to follow this is what I needed to push just a bit more. Didn't get go pro footage of a full 52 before go pro died or the 51, but here is some of the 52 behind my friend Chris in his Z3M.

Here is footage tho:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOYxH2NZAvw


My goal is still a 1:49.9. I have talked to some drivers I really respect. There is still another second in driving and getting the perfect lap. No one knows where the other second will come from without adding lightness, grip or power. Maybe a set of sticker tires and a cold day?

I will keep pushing, the cracks in the chassis don't look like they are spreading yet. Once I can consistently get in the 51s, or 50s. I might consider another modification.

Engine seems to have survived the weekend?

I did make some tuning changes and seem to be keeping up with my friends e36 m3 a lot better. Also have a lot more low end torque for around town. So very happy with that. On the straights we were about even, I was also maybe in his draft. So could be illusion of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3humPs_YU5Y


Other things that have happened:

car got rear ended, euro bumper got a bit mangled so cleaned up my spare set super happy with how it came out

brand new nissen radiator

Genuine 1982 E24 Recaros, I found a set getting one reupholstered right now for passenger. O bought them for instructor training school with PCA, wanted a set of matching seats that were easy to get in and out of. These seats are also somewhat sentimental, update to follow.

I post updates pretty frequently here:
https://www.instagram.com/sam.the.jam/

[1st 5er]

Enjoying the ride.

[LeiseyJr]

This is the relevant pictures from January showing the cracking in the strut housing and the repair.

January by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

January by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

January by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

January by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

January by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

February Adventures:

It got cold:
IMG_2740 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Made it impossible to install centercaps:
IMG_2897 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Did some junkyarding
IMG_2772 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

M30 is consuming a lot of oil as normal:
IMG_2745 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2920 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Also found another set of recaros, this time from the junkyard (now sold to LJ)

IMG_3554 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3555 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3599 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Also got red screwdrivers and other goodies during the Bimmer Garten closeout sale
IMG_3016 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3353 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3018 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3059 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

This'll be a long one... March --> June.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

It is really hard to update this build thread after so many months. I should do it bi weekly.
Still in school struggling ass of and stressed as usual.

March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Learned how to align car with strings, already done a couple friends car now.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car got bump drafted by a friends Jetta in the parking garage
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

We got it straighter but time to pull out the spare from behind my house.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Had to make it presentable
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Old bracket setup
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

New bracket setup
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Very happy with how it came out
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Then it was time to do something about the front bumper. So made the best set of two and cleaned/polished everything.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I was happy with how it came out
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car repaid be back
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The TLDR of all that is my oil cooler setup is really janky. Leading to it pushing ac condensor into radiator. It's all deleted and good now, but that's why that happened. One day I will redo the oil cooler not like a fucking monkey.


Got these because I needed matching seats
March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on FlickrUntitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I actually made it to Instructor with PCA, which is a big thing. There were some who didnt make it that weekend we did the school. The driver recaro is at an upholstery shop. I was redoing it so Id have a brown cloth passenger seat. So far they have made ZERO progress on that but as you'll see reading haven't had time to worry about that. However in July I will need to just cut losses and pick it back up.

At some point went to Radwood
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car did another event, this time on the RRs. Made a new PB of 1:51.9. Still two seconds away from my goal of 1:49.9. Glad to finally break the 53s. A lot of people are doubtful of it getting there, they think I'm wheeling it pretty good. Hopefully weather, setup or a line change can deliver that extra 2 seconds. Here is some footage I have following buddies Z3M that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOYxH2NZAvw

The oiling issue is REALLY bad on these tires. So my dad fixed that, we copied something that I found online. He did a fantastic job. Basically the oil will hit the baffle and drain out the holes instead of being ingested. If you don't know what I am talking about, here is a link.
https://youtu.be/2JoR2c5PLuM?t=177

This baffle gets JB welded to the plate in the VC.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Then junkyarding happened got some great parts off this 1982 eta.
-Lowish mile steering box
- good used original draglink
- piece of trunk carpet never seen before (crazy how many weird '82 things there are)
-spare heater valve that says made in germany
-VERY healthy fan clutch
-good used hoodpad

Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The hoodpad was a whole debacle. My friend needed the hood, and we came in my e46 so we made it happen.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Wanted to verify clearance for the 535i throttle cables and all that since this is 528e hood pad. Looks good!
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


I am going to Atlanta in less than two days as of writing this to drive with Jayjaya29 at Road Atlanta. I got a chance to do a test day on the third. It did another 1:51.9 on my first hot lap!!!!!

It then however decided to have a super sick intermittent electrically issue. Car was killing spark mostly at idle when hot randomly. Could not replicate the issue by wiggling anything, hoping curbs etc. That day I swapped, reference sensors, coil, main relay and ecu.
Later I swapped the entire engine harness and it still didn't do shit. It ended up being the fucking AFM. I didn't want to admit that one was bad becuase that afm spring setting were really good. Luckily I have a spare so what is in car right now and all is well. Also deleted the OBC relay and burned Miller tune to 24 pin chip so I can go back to using my reman ecu. Rule out those failure points as well.

My friend has been working hard to make the AC right on his volvo. The legend bought a 30lb tank of R12 for his Volvo. I was a bad influence on that one. Luckily after we did a parallel flow condensor, aux fan, and he sourced a parallel flow evap for in the car. It is cooling VERY well with R12.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

With my upcoming 13 hour drive to Road Atlanta, I figured it was time to stop being a bitch and fix my AC. So in 5 hours had the box in and out, and that was with driving around doing errands and all that. Sherman gave me a known good airbox from his wifes old car that was scrapped due to rust. I knew that car had good airflow out the vents, mine did not. Blower is worn out and evap is clogged. My plan was to rebuild this one, but sometimes don't get it right. Just get it working. Car had airduster in it right now as freon performance is okay, but with lack of airflow pretty miserable. We had all the gauges, R12 and tools there.

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So swapped it out (the duct tape is nice right). It really wasn't as bad as I remembered on my dads car. Car is cooling very well even with no tint, even my girlfriend says its comfortable. With 98 ambient I am comfortable in the car. System is mostly original, so quite pleased with that.I don't even have to run blower at 3! Not sure how long it will last but when this breaks. I am just going to replace everything with stock components and using R12 again.

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Picture of testing, before console reassembly. This known good box of course had a bad resistor. Speed two was broken. So swapped it out for my old one and we were in business.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


So yeah that is the update. Hope you enjoyed if anyone is even still reading this. Need to pack the car and head to Atlanta.

[1st 5er]

This'll be a long one... March --> June.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

It is really hard to update this build thread after so many months. I should do it bi weekly.
Still in school struggling ass of and stressed as usual.

March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Learned how to align car with strings, already done a couple friends car now.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car got bump drafted by a friends Jetta in the parking garage
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

We got it straighter but time to pull out the spare from behind my house.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Had to make it presentable
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Old bracket setup
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

New bracket setup
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Very happy with how it came out
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Then it was time to do something about the front bumper. So made the best set of two and cleaned/polished everything.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I was happy with how it came out
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car repaid be back
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The TLDR of all that is my oil cooler setup is really janky. Leading to it pushing ac condensor into radiator. It's all deleted and good now, but that's why that happened. One day I will redo the oil cooler not like a fucking monkey.


Got these because I needed matching seats
March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
March by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on FlickrUntitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I actually made it to Instructor with PCA, which is a big thing. There were some who didnt make it that weekend we did the school. The driver recaro is at an upholstery shop. I was redoing it so Id have a brown cloth passenger seat. So far they have made ZERO progress on that but as you'll see reading haven't had time to worry about that. However in July I will need to just cut losses and pick it back up.

At some point went to Radwood
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Car did another event, this time on the RRs. Made a new PB of 1:51.9. Still two seconds away from my goal of 1:49.9. Glad to finally break the 53s. A lot of people are doubtful of it getting there, they think I'm wheeling it pretty good. Hopefully weather, setup or a line change can deliver that extra 2 seconds. Here is some footage I have following buddies Z3M that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOYxH2NZAvw

The oiling issue is REALLY bad on these tires. So my dad fixed that, we copied something that I found online. He did a fantastic job. Basically the oil will hit the baffle and drain out the holes instead of being ingested. If you don't know what I am talking about, here is a link.
https://youtu.be/2JoR2c5PLuM?t=177

This baffle gets JB welded to the plate in the VC.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Then junkyarding happened got some great parts off this 1982 eta.
-Lowish mile steering box
- good used original draglink
- piece of trunk carpet never seen before (crazy how many weird '82 things there are)
-spare heater valve that says made in germany
-VERY healthy fan clutch
-good used hoodpad

Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Bumper by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The hoodpad was a whole debacle. My friend needed the hood, and we came in my e46 so we made it happen.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Wanted to verify clearance for the 535i throttle cables and all that since this is 528e hood pad. Looks good!
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


I am going to Atlanta in less than two days as of writing this to drive with Jayjaya29 at Road Atlanta. I got a chance to do a test day on the third. It did another 1:51.9 on my first hot lap!!!!!

It then however decided to have a super sick intermittent electrically issue. Car was killing spark mostly at idle when hot randomly. Could not replicate the issue by wiggling anything, hoping curbs etc. That day I swapped, reference sensors, coil, main relay and ecu.
Later I swapped the entire engine harness and it still didn't do shit. It ended up being the fucking AFM. I didn't want to admit that one was bad becuase that afm spring setting were really good. Luckily I have a spare so what is in car right now and all is well. Also deleted the OBC relay and burned Miller tune to 24 pin chip so I can go back to using my reman ecu. Rule out those failure points as well.

My friend has been working hard to make the AC right on his volvo. The legend bought a 30lb tank of R12 for his Volvo. I was a bad influence on that one. Luckily after we did a parallel flow condensor, aux fan, and he sourced a parallel flow evap for in the car. It is cooling VERY well with R12.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

With my upcoming 13 hour drive to Road Atlanta, I figured it was time to stop being a bitch and fix my AC. So in 5 hours had the box in and out, and that was with driving around doing errands and all that. Sherman gave me a known good airbox from his wifes old car that was scrapped due to rust. I knew that car had good airflow out the vents, mine did not. Blower is worn out and evap is clogged. My plan was to rebuild this one, but sometimes don't get it right. Just get it working. Car had airduster in it right now as freon performance is okay, but with lack of airflow pretty miserable. We had all the gauges, R12 and tools there.

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So swapped it out (the duct tape is nice right). It really wasn't as bad as I remembered on my dads car. Car is cooling very well even with no tint, even my girlfriend says its comfortable. With 98 ambient I am comfortable in the car. System is mostly original, so quite pleased with that.I don't even have to run blower at 3! Not sure how long it will last but when this breaks. I am just going to replace everything with stock components and using R12 again.

Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Picture of testing, before console reassembly. This known good box of course had a bad resistor. Speed two was broken. So swapped it out for my old one and we were in business.
Yeah by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


So yeah that is the update. Hope you enjoyed if anyone is even still reading this. Need to pack the car and head to Atlanta.

VLDR (VeryLongDidRead)

Enjoy Atlanta and Jay.
Hope he doesn't spank you too badly.

[Tiit]

Good read. Thanks for sharing.

[LeiseyJr]

Another long overdue update.

Car survived the Road Atlanta Trip, was a blast to get to hang out with friends and drive an amazing track. I can't thank Jayjaya29 enough for making this happen!

Fav footage from the weekend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD0iofy0xf8&t=51s

Fastest Lap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuXyH_cJJJA&t=29s

Footage of me Holding Jay Up can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iol9ZlgH0Z4&t=383s

Got a lot of compliments from people who loved seeing the car being slide around.

Speaking of slides, here is the slideshow of the trip.

Road Atlanta Prep by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta Prep by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta Phone pics by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Road Atlanta by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

I have also been cleaning up the interior. I found a mostly crack free dash and used the E12 parts car for its carpet. Also got the E24 Recaro reupholsterd in the wrong shade of brown.

Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Now that the dash is nice, I gotta do something about the poorly dyed original pearl beige carpet. I always love the loop style carpet and the E12 had it! Didn't realize how similar the late floor pans were on those so gave it a go.


Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The new parts car came with a black center console and manual seat ebrake cover in the trunk. Don't mind if I do.

Interior by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

I am still daily driving car as long as there is no rain (bald tires). I put 15,000 miles on it last year. Still need to go back and fix some more rust, hopefully the new parts car can donate the metal though. I have a lot of sentiment still towards this metal fatigued shell and the right euro slicktop one hasn't come up yet. So I will keep driving this bitch.

[1st 5er]

I am still daily... driving this bitch.

[Tiit]

Good story.

[LeiseyJr]

Alright so I did a shit job keeping up with the updates of this car. Did an okay job documenting it on the Instagram, follow me on there if you want better updates. @sam.the.jam

Anyway, the Vintage 2023 happened. What a roadtrip, 5 days and 2689 miles. Two cannonball trips to and fro, Tennessee to Houston and North Carolina to Houston. The rest of the 3 days were busy too. Had the pleasure of doing the trip with my friend Ryan. Absolute treat.

We cannonballed it in one day from Houston the most Southern city in Tennessee, so we could deliver some rare Mercedes stuff. Then headed back down to see Jay, our gracious host and a good friend.

IMG_3716 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

We had some extra time before Vintage so we went to see a large stance VW meet in Helen, Georgia.

1797CE24-3B42-42A8-BFC7-3327BCA1DDD4 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3685 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

The following day we headed from Atlanta to Hot Springs for the Vintage. We did incredible roads all day, just having a good time.

IMG_3719 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3726 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr



Here is some video of the final stretch of roads (cant find the original as of now):
https://youtube.com/shorts/R4c7OEA8rhs?feature=share


IMG_3735 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3760 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3748 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_3766 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Got to meet a lot of internet friends for the first time, truly was an incredible trip. So much not pictured.

[LeiseyJr]

Shortly following that trip in May, I headed for another annual Road Atlanta Trek. I had a different co-pilot this time.

351509170_2553767498133487_7616481213338710203_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

This trip once again featured my friend Jay,
347122636_2553767288133508_345559148356205626_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

We cannonballed Thursday. We had a Friday to go hiking, see the Coca Cola Factory and hang out with the Lanes.

347025898_2553767424800161_837927028923134002_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
350523381_2553766918133545_3209792583179221612_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
352342561_2553767318133505_6020578382741002444_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Next morning, was time to have some fun at a great track.
352351302_2553767441466826_945610939189064745_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I didn't pay for any track pictures as money was pretty tight. Learned that modern 200tw tires are really good. Retiring from using Toyo RA1s as my street tires (RE71RS) I drove up on were 2 seconds faster. Which was still slower than the car was on the Toyo RR takeoffs from last year. Alas it was a damn good time, no mechanical issues at all besides for the A/C acting up on the way back home. There were some casualties, fog light delete, turn signal lens and a centercap went missing.

Had the most fun I've had in a car chasing this ZHP:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28--BAKZmYU&t=69s

347130157_2553766864800217_1356079391257365719_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
348615760_2553767014800202_5663817595644034465_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[1st 5er]

Glad you made The Vintage trip.
It'd be nice to figure out a caravan next year w/ Ryan in Casper.

[LeiseyJr]

I am not big on maintenance however, before doing a big trip or track event. I like to do what I call a "nut and bolt check", this is jack the car up ,check all fluids and put my hands on all the fasteners. Just get my hands on everything and make sure no glaring issues or thing beginning to fail.

In the next post I will share, you'll see the trip I was preparing for. However, I noticed something odd.

IMG_8431 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

That looks a lot like a crack....

After some brake cleaner...
IMG_8432 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So I headed to my parents house to use my dads welder and lift. Sure enough...
IMG_8450 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Since the genuine BMW M5 mounts go hard to get, I finally made the plunge into aftermarket motor mounts. So instead of my fuse being the mount, it was now my subframe. This subframe was already reinforced for the steering box so I wanted to repair it if possible or die trying. I had a spare front subframe just in case as well, and a junk one I think I got from when Sherman was clearing house.

I only had a day to do this repair, but I knew it needed to be stout. So I sacrificed the junk subframe to fix this one:

IMG_7495 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8459 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

So I welded in the broken piece, and grinded it down. For a less spiritedly driven car, I think this would've been good enough. However I am a monkey, so I wanted to reinforce it.

IMG_8464 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_8458 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8476 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8482 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8485 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I hope that doesn't go anywhere.

IMG_8486 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


My dad was moving after I got back from this trip to Huntsville. Which if you aren't familiar with Texas. That is about 82 miles from my house one way, so I wanted to take care of my cracked rear floor pan that I have been ignoring for a couple years or so. Reinforce that before he moved. One of the skills I don't have is knowing how to use a Mill or Lathe, well I can it just won't be precise or pretty.

IMG_8705 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

He made a reinforcement plate for me, using an old Diff mount I had a template. I don't change the diff mount often, probably once every 3 years. When I went to replace it last time, I noticed some cracking around the bolt holes. Since then I have pretended I didn't see that. I am not that happy with this reinforcement but at least it is a reinforcement not a repair.

IMG_8701 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8704 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8705 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

IMG_8707 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8713 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8721 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

As I'm sure some of you can clearly see, I did not grind away enough undercoating. Which I found out the hardway.
IMG_8726 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_8727 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
EBADF056-99CD-4628-B5EB-96901D5DA2BE by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

There would be many things I'd do differently if I were to do this again. However I think it's reinforced.

IMG_8734 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[tig]

I love how hard you are on your cars, Sam.

[LeiseyJr]

I love how hard you are on your cars, Sam.

[LeiseyJr]

Still catching up on updates but Road Atlanta Trip has 3 parts, so here is part one.


Absolute beautiful drive up to Georgia. Typical one shot strategy, this time I was solo left at 3am. Was able to arrive there with daylight left. I did not bring the right tires to set any records but a blast of a weekend, did every session I could.

380816294_2674086049434964_1376366513722799211_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

384098743_2674083282768574_5657351240307390849_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
384103907_2674083279435241_189725709552572392_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

380891580_2674085859434983_5720647474413416125_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
380796359_2674086119434957_3305860818204760920_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
382236441_2674085969434972_3752035176532954767_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
382232129_2674085936101642_5005250841408311439_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

I did all my red group sessions and car was doing great, tires were spanked but I wanted to squeeze out one more session.

380828192_2674085882768314_7008537115175548846_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Engine went boom. I am very far from home, engine isn't repairable. I need the car for my capstone so it can't be left in Georgia.

[LeiseyJr]

Second Road Atlanta Trip for 2023 (2/3) So I have never really towed before. So naturally a rented box truck and trailer is a good idea. Uhaul giving me a trailer with a bad tire and no lights hooked up, and then dicking with me for 2 hours was not paticulaly fun. Thankfully Strictly German was 5 min away from Road Atlanta, so I went shopping for a new engine and just to see the empire. It was quite an incredible place. Hopefully I can go and meet Bobby and his team again soon. Long story short, I ended up spending another hour finding out I had to go to Gainesville to get it sorted. After losing 4-5 hours, I decided just to stay the night again at the Lane’s. Helped @jayjaya29 do his gas tank which was a good time. Woke up at 3AM in Georgia, and cannonballed home. Basically just used the 75mph speed limiter as cruise control, got a dead flat from some road debris. That was only a 2 hour delay luckily. Eventually I ended up at @thachileandude to drop the car and it’s new engine off. After all was said and done ended up home around 10pm.


380279079_18386121670051303_915272461032521281_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
380279966_18386121679051303_4841217282962152408_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
380933137_18386121736051303_3679697395966978626_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
381019709_18386121700051303_3413911331160337545_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr382583630_18386121691051303_4253796925913899668_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
381003621_18386121718051303_4196450955627757609_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
381365381_18386121709051303_3851221611901041409_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
380289391_18386121745051303_469738044364867441_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[LeiseyJr]

Second Road Atlanta Trip of 2023 (3/3) Just want to preface, I can’t thank @thachileandude enough for letting me total his shop and being there to help swap in the new heart. Without that I couldn’t have gotten the car running a week after it blew up across the country. Which I needed to do since my senior project uses this car. It was my first time dropping an engine from the bottom, can’t say I enjoyed it too much but good to try new things. I had pretty good faith in this M30, looked like it was taken out of the car it was last in and someone cared. They went through the hassle of painting the block and all the letters, new timing chain parts and in general was super clean inside. There was some fiddlefuckery with marvel mystery oil and compressed air for some corrosion on the valves from sitting. It started cranking evenly and the compression numbers came up to non abysmal levels. Still wasn’t 100% sure if it’d be good but didn’t have a choice but to carry on. The old motor was completely sacked out, besides the timing failure. Burning all the oil and discovered the thrust bearing play on removal. Took the entirety of the weekend to swap it out, but made the 50 mile drive home right after being swapped. Hopefully the new mill will be good placeholder until after I graduate.


383823846_18386274214051303_3645520466122220047_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
383372660_18386274259051303_8579692343328788460_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
384552960_18386274241051303_2482982185870713169_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
383383600_18386274232051303_3939976490698343220_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
383375038_18386274268051303_3007254994448400929_n by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Good noises after a long weekend
https://www.facebook.com/10000500784209 ... 5626556025

[LeiseyJr]

If you wanna read more about the engine failure and see where I will update it when I found out what blew up

viewtopic.php?t=150964

[LeiseyJr]

Went to a local BMW shop that has been in business for over 40 years.

IMG_2139 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Unfortunately I have a problem and noticed this engine sitting under a carport. The port welded on for EGR(?) for federalization was my giveaway, to dig deeper.


IMG_2143 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Sure enough it is a 1981 Motronic M30, so I bought it and took it home


IMG_2174 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

[tschultz]

Guessing you got it for a steal! Bonus you have the oil cooler filter housing already there. Looks like the '81 M90 to me (without the raised water jacket).

Are you going to try to run it on M1.3?

[LeiseyJr]

Guessing you got it for a steal! Bonus you have the oil cooler filter housing already there. Looks like the '81 M90 to me (without the raised water jacket).

Are you going to try to run it on M1.3?

Yes that's exactly right on the non raised water jacket. Still really weird to me it has a E28 based pan on it, but it looks like it has never been off.

It has a new head on it, looks brand new in there. It compression test at 180 except for cyl 1-5 @ 160 they have very minor surface corrosion in the bores. Guides might be original. I paid $1000 for it, which I think is fair as I only knew it turned over when I bought it. Didn't realize it had a new head and good compression until I took it home.

It also came with a lightweight flywheel core. I have a E28 M5 Oil Cooler setup that I need to install in the car, I went back to no oil cooler. Wasn't happy with the lines on the 745i one.

I will not be running it on M1.3, I am very comfortable with M1.0 so I want to stick with that. I probably need to sell the M1.3 stuff that is collecting dust in my attic.

[LeiseyJr]

IMG_2141 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2142 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Took the VC off and was praying it would look decent. Was greeted with this pleasant view.

Everything is incredibly clean in the top end.

IMG_2177 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
94F57709-3E98-4050-80C5-390F9334EFA7 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

After some more digging it definitely had a head put on it, as there are signs someone has been in here. Gasket sealer, painted rear cover, missing bolts, and new exhaust manifold gaskets.

IMG_2208 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2181 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2180 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
IMG_2206 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Plugs looked great as well on all cylinders.
IMG_2195 by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr


Drained the oil and checked the filter, no glitter. Compression test was good as said in the previous post it was 180-160. I have access to a leakdown tester but with the numbers like that not too worried about it.

Looking at the engine and things replaced on with date codes, ignition parts I believe it has been sitting since around early 2000s. Newest date code part on it is from 1999.

Ideally I'd do the headgasket as preventative, but they are very hard to get. Just gonna throw this in and see how it does.

Before I throw it in, I did need to track down some obscure parts. I will go over that in the next post.