April 2001
04/01/2001
My friend and possible future co-driver came over today and we did a little bit of work on our cars. The BMW got almost all of its interior stripped with SOME difficulty. The weather stripping doesn't want to stay in place on the doors and the already busted sunroof is now further ruined. I just hope it will resist a few more rains before it gets welded. The front bumper assembly was also removed and I did my best to fill in the holes with available items. See the photos under "Checklist". The front passenger brakes were "clicking" whenever I changed directions from forward to reverse, so I looked at them. The problem is pad drift and not a loose caliper so there's not really much I can do at this point. I verified that the wheel bearings needed to be replaced. I have the parts here now, but I'll wait until the control arms and strut inserts come in so I can do it all at once. 14" wheels and 13" rally tires are hard to come by. I can get a custom set of wheels made with the right backspace, but the cost is prohibitive. I don't want to get a generic set and have to shim out the front wheels so I may just stick with the 13's and have my choice of only 2 types of rally tires (really only one type since the other is dual-purpose and will disintegrate under prolonged harsh conditions.)

04/02/2001
Guess what? After looking around, I found a place that makes, of all things, NASCAR style wheels in all kinds of sizes. Semi-lightweight steel in DOT 14" with safety beads and my bolt pattern and appropriate backspacing for probably no more than $60 each. It sure beats the price of a custom aluminum racing set at $225 each. I'll do the 13" rally tires for now on an alternate set of stock wheels, painted of course :). The Euro control arms have arrived and they'll get some finishing work done by me and be painted bright orange, so when I flip the car off the trail and down a hill, the "sweeper" vehicles will see me (also because another rally driver dared me to). I also might paint "OOPS" or "THIS SIDE DOWN" after I finish the car's underside, just because it would be funny in a picture. Oh, and make that 2 official types of REAL rally tires, plus one dual-purpose(rallycross) tire in a 13" diameter.

04/04/2001
High-flow injectors are in place. They came in today along with my steel braided brake lines. Installation was simple but just a little pain with one injector that needed a crowbar to remove. The new injectors are about 1/2" longer so I may get a couple more O-rings to pull them back out of the air passage a little. The next performance mod will be some headers, but I'm totally broke for now. I really want to start saving up for some REAL engine work ($4500) but it's not a priority at this time. Remember - traction is my issue right now, well and learning how to kick it sideways a lot.

04/08/2001
Finally the last bit of the interior has been removed, exposing a rusted floorpan. The only parts left of the interior are the driver's and passenger's seat and the dashboard. I prepped the new lower control arms (minor grinding and painting) and added a grommet to the battery power lead that I had forgotten.

04/10/2001
Painting this pattern is going to be difficult, but I've started. I know I should do other things right now, but it's that "immediate gratification" thing working me over. The rear subframe will be on its way tomorrow, and I have a few leads on used LSD's. I really am wanting some headers :).

04/14/2001
What save weight almost a good as removing the front bumper? How about removing that back one? Well, afte much dirt in my eyes, it came off. UGLY, now the car looks like it was spanked by a low wall. I have an idea to fix it up so it will at least "look" street legal. For now I'll just bolt it in place until I figure something out.

04/18/2001
The next practice event is coming up and I'm trying to get a few things in order (hehe or "on order") by that time. I just ordered some 1.5" headers from Top-End so they should be here next week. The rear 323i subframe is on the way, but I won't put it in until after the race. I have a brake light coming on so I need to see what that's all about. This weekend is for "working" the bumpers, installing the alternator bushings, front control arms and front steel brake lines. Maybe I'll do some painting tonight. I'm also trying to chase down my car ID package with the number, etc. so I can have it in place and it can start looking more official.

04/22/2001
Weekends are for relaxing, so I mostly did that. I have the rear bumper looking somewhat presentable for now, eventhough it's gone, got rid of some more wiring, and replaced the upper alternator bushings. I guess this coming week will be crunch week before the race on Saturday. Oh, and to my surprise, my rear driver's side brakes are leaking. Not good. Oh well. I'll add it to my bag of tricks. Next month I probably won't work on the car much at all, but will be accumulating parts like crazy. I may get the cage done next month, we'll see.

04/23/2001
Tonight I felt the "burn" to do something. I bought a new wheel cylinder ($50!) and replaced the failing one in the rear. I also decided that I should just go ahead and install my steel braided brake lines. It turns out that on the rear driver's side, I need a special adapter that didn't come with my set. Of course, I didn't find that out until the line was off. I decided to do the fronts, and they went in just fine. I also tightened up the front wheel bearings. I couldn't bleed the brakes by myself, but tomorrow I'll get the adapter, do the rear lines, and hopefully be able to bleed them with some help from someone.

04/24/2001
Brakes bled, clutch slave bled (no effect on the grind), and handbrake adjusted pretty tight (2 clicks to make initial contact) cover the evening's events. I'm getting "race anxiety" again.

04/26/2001
My stickers arrived and I just had to put them on right away. By doing so, I basically ruined them and will have to get another set before I get the car officially race-inspected. In the meantime, however, I smile looking at the car with my number on it. I hope the headers get here tomorrow.

04/27/2001
No headers, and even worse, while my friend was driving the car, he broke BOTH handbrake cables. All I can say is that I hope the handbrake functionality isn't checked tomorrow for me to be able to race. We tried to come up with a way to fix it, but it didn't happen.

04/28/2001
The event was a blast! Not quite as many people as last time, but 3 of my friends came and had a good time. I was last place again but I really don't care. My times continuously improved and I feel the car had a great base design to be an adequate rally car. Video and pictures available soon.

04/30/2001
Finally the headers arrive. They look beautiful. I'm going to wait until I get the racing muffler before installing them. Now it's time to do some serious office work to help pay for my hobby, huh?