E28 528e Oil Change Valvoline VR1 Racing 20w50

Date:12/10/11
Mileage: 301,079

Well back to the daily for an oil change. Looks like a lot of guys like this Valvoline VR1 conventional racing 20w50. I bought it straight from Autozone for about $5 a quart. From what I've read it has a high ZDDP content which is good for 80s style BMW motors with solid rockers. Makes sense to me, let's give it a go!

Click here for  some information on the topic.

After the new oil it's still a loud ass sewing machine with God knows how many miles. I think I might try some Mobil 1 turbo diesel oil I saw the other day.

Streets of Willow Track Day Speed Ventures 12/04/11

So back to Streets. This time with NON-broken motor mounts and a completely refreshed front end. Speed Ventures was hosting this time. I had a good time with Speed Ventures. I liked their approach a little more than Speed Trials, but they are definitely more laid back than NASA. If you want more strict and controlled track day situation I would say NASA has that down. There were some times with Speed Ventures where I thought it could be a little more strict, but luckily nothing happend out on the track.

In a nutshell NASA has a system to verify to run level skill more accountably than Speed Ventures or Speed Trials where they sort of just "trust" you. And since everyone classes themselves up one level of where they actually are, you have to figure out which group makes the most sense for you once you get out there. I like NASA but sometimes I prefer the latter, it just depends on what track I want to go to and who's hosting when my car is running. :)

I arrived at the track around 7:00 in the morning to a nice and crisp 19º. Already quite a difference from the 100º+ track temps I experienced this summer. 

The temp got up around the mid 50s for the rest of the day. The track orientation was CCW which was opposite of last time but everyone I asked said they're times CCW were slightly higher taking into account you're going up hill.

I had originally signed up for intermediate class but I ended up running with the JMP Auto private group after meeting and being introduced by Ryan Castro, the fellow e36 enthusiast shown below with the Avus M3.

And under the hood of this Avus M3 was this.

Hello. LS1 swap originally preformed by Tim Philips of European Concepts in PA. Ryan also runs Motorsport Hardware, a good place to get your race studs at a good price. 

JMP Auto had a lot of BMWs, most of them being swapped e30s, but there was a pretty raced out e46 m3 and a couple e36 m3s. The swapped e30s had some of the fastest times in the group.

So after a brief drivers meeting I hit the track. Everything felt right and tight and then BAM. The rear hanger on my exhaust decides enough is enough.

I was on the track hearing a lot of scraping noises and getting a lot of meatball flags before I pulled in. I looked down and saw the muffler pretty much on the ground. Nothing better to do but remove it and get back out there! With about 50 lbs of weight saving and maybe 2 or 3 more hp the car felt great! Sounded good too.

First couple times around the track got me used to opposite orientation. The Z3 rack felt great and the most noticeable difference on handling came from the delrin control arm bushings. It makes the car very pointy and turn in is extra sensitive. It takes a bit to get used to, but the feel is more direct with the road. 

The solid mounts were also most appreciated on down shifts and heel toe. Upshifting was more responsive as well, but not as awesome of a difference as downshifting. 

The extra front camber was also making things a little more bearable with my, "not exactly the best," Nitto INVOs. The skid pad turn was where I was experiencing the most push and tire chunking. This time around the car felt flat with a tad of oversteer which felt good to me. Front tires were not screaming for traction like before.

So what's all this mean in terms of numbers? My times 6 months ago in the CW direction were around 1:35 - 1:37 with my best time a 1:34. My times in the CCW direction with the changes were constantly around 1:34-1:35 with my fastest time at 1:32. While this is good enough for me, I have to believe CCW has higher times as well so maybe equating to 1:31 in a CW direction. :D

In my run group there were about 18-20 cars. In the 3rd and 4th sessions of the day I was 5th fastest after an e46 M3, a s2k, a swapped S50 e30, and one M30 e30 which was super quick. I don't care what anyone says, nothing wrong with an M30 swap. The times at the top in my group were around 1:22 - 1:30. For Streets of Willow the lighter the car the betters. I'm running full interior with 0 weight reduction.

So here I am at the end of the day with my muffler in the trunk. I was pleased at how everything turned out. Everything replaced worked out and there was no crazy surprises with anything. I might just keep the car as is for a minute to get some more track time in next year before hitting the complete rear end suspension. Once I do that I probably won't have a car for a couple months. ;)

Track Day Prepartion, Bleeding Brakes, Tranny Fluid Change

12/03/11

After the alignement and everything suspension wise was buttoned up, it was time to get ready for the track to see if all these changes would amount to better times. The last track I was at was Streets so I decided to go back, this time with Speed Ventures, for an apples to apples comparison.

My brakes had felt spongey after the last event so I picked up a Motive Power Bleeder from Bimmerzone. I  had not shopped there before, it was just the best price on the internet because of free shipping. I went with the black label, because I had used the original before and the swivel fitting on the head seemed more desirable. Sometimes the hose gets all twisted up with the regular version, either way, they both do the same thing.

Part of the reason for the spongy brake feel was the fluid I used before, which happens to be the same fluid I used again, pictured above. I'll take more about that later. ATE Super Blue or Type 200 (same thing in gold) is good for street and light track. Last time at the track I boiled it. I'm going to be trying something new, most likely Motul RBF600, after the most recent visit to the track where I boiled it again.

Not much to say about bleeding brakes. Pelican has it covered right here if you're unfamiliar. 

Make sure to only use organic and Kosher when bleeding your brakes.

After the bleeding was done the pedal felt rock solid or at least as rock solid as an e36 brake pedal can feel. I also decided to change the tranny fluid while I had the car up in the air flat on four jack stands. 

I used Royal Purple Synchromax because I took the forums suggestion 2 years ago when I first bought my car and read "teh bestz tranny fluid for e36 m3," and have had it on the shelf ever since. Now that I finally got around to it I figured new fluid is better than whatever was in there for the last 17 years.

Yep, it's purple. Capacity is 1.2L. I can't say I felt much of a difference. So with fresh tranny fliud, and more importantly bled brakes, I headed to the track the next morning.

E36 M3 Setting More Front Static Camber With Shims

After getting my alignment done and noticing a difference of about 0.4º - 0.5º camber from side to side I decided I would try and fix that with a shim. From the computer alignment, my left front camber was -2.6º and the right front was -2.2º. This is using the reversed 96-99 strut mounts.

I had read about different ways to dial in front camber without camber kits from this definitive alignment guide on BFc. Generally taking everything I read on the forum with a grain of salt, I was reassured that shimming out the front struts was something that's been done before successfully by the fact that bimmerworld sells a little kit for this very purpose. That kit is about $24 more expensive that just getting washers, so I headed to the hardware store.

I took my caliper and found 2 washers that were 1.19mm. According to that guide that should give me 0.5º more camber. I don't know where those numbers came from, but that's all I had to go off of. I will most likely get one more alignment with this setup and I will post to see what the change in camber is.

Before No Shim

Shimmed

Since I only wanted to correct the one side that was off by about a half degree I only shimmed the right side. It's so tiny that visually it doesn't look like it's going to change 0.5º just from that, but I will have to see what the actual camber is with this shim before trying anything thicker. And since my car mainly sees the track I don't know how this would really work for the street having permanent front camber. Then again I wouldn't really be worried about the most front camber I can get on the street. :P It's purely for the minimizing tire rollover and maximizing front grip at the track.

Mishimoto Radiator E36 M3 Impressions

So my OE Behr radiator was leaking from the plastic caps on the side after a 100º+ track day at Willow Springs this summer. I decided to go with a Mishimoto all aluminum radiator because I'm cheap and didn't want to pay $500+ for a PWR or Fluidyne etc. They have deals for "open box" items on ebay for less than $160. It still comes with the lifetime warranty, I figured why not.

EDIT 01/12/12: I took the original radiator to a shop to see if indeed it was leaking and it turns out after a flush that it wasn't leaking at all. It was most likely just the upper radiator hose not being tight enough.

A few things to note. The area on the top of the radiator which is supposed to house the rubber mounting piece to accommodate the OE BMW plastic clips is too large. I made a little bracket out of aluminum and wedged it in there. The rubber mounting piece then fit snugly.

Also I would probably use teflon tape on the threads of the drain plug and fan switch. The threads are large and I did it for extra leak free precaution.

I took it on the track and everything has worked out so far. The fit is pretty close to stock. For me the right side was kind of higher than the original radiator but you can file down the bottom mounts to make it lower. Don't forget the rubber bushings for the bottom mounts. I forgot those at first and thought it fit like absolute shit, but then saw the rubber bushings on my old radiator.