Boris3

He sent me a pic of his garage. It's going to a good home.

Tends to vary by organization.
 
Typically four wheels off and able to drive the car and in sight of a flag station you wave to show you’re ok and watch traffic and the corner worker to signal you that there’s  clear space to get back on track.
 
Once back in track you’ll likely get black flagged and yes you go around the track, signal for pit entry, enter the pits and check In with the chief steward... who may calmly ask you wtf happened and depending on how stupid you were might allow you back on the track.
 
Four off in a NASA DE and if the car is ok you get back in track and continue the session and debrief afterwards. Freaked me out the first time in my run group when a guy in a Miata went off three times during the same session and it was no big deal. I was expecting to see him get reamed in the group debrief. Bmwcca event and he would have been gone.

Tends to vary by organization.
 
Typically four wheels off and able to drive the car and in sight of a flag station you wave to show you’re ok and watch traffic and the corner worker to signal you that there’s  clear space to get back on track.
 
Once back in track you’ll likely get black flagged and yes you go around the track, signal for pit entry, enter the pits and check In with the chief steward... who may calmly ask you wtf happened and depending on how stupid you were might allow you back on the track.
 
Four off in a NASA DE and if the car is ok you get back in track and continue the session and debrief afterwards. Freaked me out the first time in my run group when a guy in a Miata went off three times during the same session and it was no big deal. I was expecting to see him get reamed in the group debrief. Bmwcca event and he would have been gone.

Plus side BFR has trees.... oops. Plus side hard to go 130 at BFR...for most folks anyway.
Advice to Brian and others:  with the caveat that I wasn't there.
a) if you go off and even if you roll, stay in your car until the safety crew arrives. The NASA advice stated by the interviewer is NOT what NASA teaches at least for the three years I was racing with them. Yes they drill on quick escape door open and door shut. But you stay in the car unless it's on fire. Wait for safety crew if only to provide you with physical cover. Other idiots on track may follow you off and bodies standing outside the car are really soft targets.
b) if you drop a wheel off: do not try to turn back onto the track at speed, keep car straight and slow down, once under control and traffic is clear then gradually merge back onto track. He's doing 130, drops a wheel and from the video it looks like he tries to turn back onto track...not once but twice. NOOOOO!!!. This looks like it starts a tank slap, he tries to straighten it out, gets a reverse slap (is his foot still on gas, brake & clutch not clear ???), finally hits berm goes airborne.
Any way very glad he's OK and walked away from this.

Much better than being at work

I agree that cropping it frames it in a better sense, but it also feels more closed in. Wanted the surrounding area and the car to almost be equal in the focal points of the image. 
Here's another from last night. This is pretty good area for pictures actually.

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Turns out this speed was super accurate. 
45mph she really came alive, this wasn't too surprising as I have determined most ball joints are bad in the current axles. New axles seem to have better ball joints so that should help.

Did my first off-road adventure with it and holy crap driving manual in demanding off-road terrain is a wild time. I should be good at dancing after this!
Slipped a front wheel into a pond, whoops.





 

Snell 2020 helmets will come out later this year or early next. The Snell 2015 helmets are being cleared out so deals can be had. The 2015s will be good until 2025. 
 
Just a suggestion from your friendly neighborhood enabler.

Snell 2020 helmets will come out later this year or early next. The Snell 2015 helmets are being cleared out so deals can be had. The 2015s will be good until 2025. 
 
Just a suggestion from your friendly neighborhood enabler.

Snell 2020 helmets will come out later this year or early next. The Snell 2015 helmets are being cleared out so deals can be had. The 2015s will be good until 2025. 
 
Just a suggestion from your friendly neighborhood enabler.

https://www.facebook.com/BadgerBimmers.org/
"Event updates! The E30 Picnic has been postponed. We'll post the new date once we know what it is. The June 8 Blackhawk Farms DE has been cancelled. Those who have already registered will be contacted soon with refund or credit options."

Thank you!
Drove it to work today. Did a brake bed-in on the way and now those feel pretty good. Will likely do another one on the way home. Some little squeaks and rattles here and there, but I think those are be 30yo car noises and not drivetrain noises. The suspension and everything feels very solid. 
 

I do have the anti-lock light coming on as soon as I start driving. So I gotta figure out which sensor that is. Found a neat tutorial on determining which sensor is the issue which I'm going to put here for my future reference: 
 

Whatever floats your boat, at least there's medication available for that.

New headlight trim painted and installed. No more washer nozzle holes.

It looks BEAUTIFUL. Just waiting to Zinc Coat the hardware. 
Shout out to @Bassboy3313 for the sticker*s. I may or may not have put it on the wrong way originally. :// 

happened to find the moon out last night

This middle german 'style' building seemed appropriate. Fachwerkhäuser! 

Milwaukee buildings are displaying red white and blue colors as a display of hope that we will get through this pandemic. 



city lights

white on white


 

Just to add to the reality. I found out this morning a good friend of mine in Sweden just died from Covid -19. He was very healthy and a fellow martial artist in his 60s. We've trained together over the decades in Japan and the US.  He came down with high fever and difficulty breathing about two weeks ago. His wife rushed him to the hospital where he was placed on oxygen. His condition improved a bit and all signs pointed to recovery.  But then he rapidly declined. His wife was called to the hospital today and she manged to be with him at his side when he died. She just let us know.
There will be varied perspectives on the virus and the response, models and projections, proposed cures and snake oil, opportunism and professionalism, frustration and fear, just to name a few.  I just wanted to take a moment to share my hope that no more friends, family, and other folks I know die. I'm up to three so far--one of each--which yes is small percentage of all the folks I know. I hope that your numbers also stay low.       

Just to add to the reality. I found out this morning a good friend of mine in Sweden just died from Covid -19. He was very healthy and a fellow martial artist in his 60s. We've trained together over the decades in Japan and the US.  He came down with high fever and difficulty breathing about two weeks ago. His wife rushed him to the hospital where he was placed on oxygen. His condition improved a bit and all signs pointed to recovery.  But then he rapidly declined. His wife was called to the hospital today and she manged to be with him at his side when he died. She just let us know.
There will be varied perspectives on the virus and the response, models and projections, proposed cures and snake oil, opportunism and professionalism, frustration and fear, just to name a few.  I just wanted to take a moment to share my hope that no more friends, family, and other folks I know die. I'm up to three so far--one of each--which yes is small percentage of all the folks I know. I hope that your numbers also stay low.       

stopped at a couple spots while running errands and snapped a few more photos since the car was clean. tried to go to places that are now empty due to the situation where normally cars and people might be in the way. 
my photo variety has been boring lately (lots of 3/4 wide shots), but whatever. 


 



 



 

went fishing yesterday. worked on the car today. life is good.
time to tackle my window trim. problems: 1. two pieces of trim are trying to jettison from the car. 2. chrome window trim is so 70s. 
the upper trim where it comes down to the front fenders likes to fly off of e30s at highway speeds. luckily, last year it decided to come loose when I had the roof rack on, so it couldnt fly away. i had it temporarily taped in place:

with the tape removed, you can see how the trim was failing. those little rust spots are where the clips are supposed to be holding the trim to body seam.

here is a set of new clips. you need (4) for one side of the car. I ordered (5) for good measure. 

old clip (rusty and the little sharp tangs are worn down) vs new. 

to fix, simply slide or pull out the old clips and push the new ones in with a screwdriver. if you cant get the old ones out, just leave them and install the new clips next to them. its not worth bending your trim to try and get them out. 

and done. 

the next trim piece that was falling off was the driver's side rear 'wing'.  you can see it here sticking out from the body. 

to remove, just carefully pry it straight away from the car. be sure to slide the little clip out of the way at the top where it meets the upper trim. 

under, you'll find four holes/grommets. if you remove the trim, you'll likely have to replace all four, so have them on hand. there are (3) 51131870459 and (1) 51141902279 which is actually the same grommet used for the hood emblems. new grommets pushed in place:

trim reinstalled


all lined up again.

at the same time, I 'shadowlined' the chrome window trim. most e30s came with some amount of chrome trim. early cars, all the trim was chrome. later cars had a mix. m3s, 318is, and other special cars (Mtech) had full black trim. it may have also been an option? not sure. my car is a late car with a mix (chrome upper/lower trim, black window trim, black front and rear windshield lockstrips) 

the car has the rear pop-up windows, so you have to remove them to properly paint the trim that is under the seals. removal is easy - one phillips screw at the pop-out latch, and two 8mm nuts behind the clothes hanger hook and seat belt on the B-pillar. no interior trim has to be removed. 

i saved all my packing paper from FCPeuro orders (they overdo the paper) to use as masking paper

starting the masking job

masking all complete. note: unplug your battery because you'll need to leave your doors open for extended periods of time.


sand all the trim with light grit (220) to prep the shiny chrome surface to receive the primer. 

i usually use SEM trim paint for this job, but i'm sick of tracking it down so I went with store-bought rustoleum trim paint. in the end, I was happy with the finish. it is slightly more glossy than SEM, but matches the factory trim finish well. my only gripe is the nozzle is a wide spray pattern, which is super wasteful on thin trim. i sprayed most of the trim with the can twisted to get more coverage. 

did two coats of self etching primer

patiently wait at least 12 hours to pull your masking tape (hardest part of the job) 
and boom, done. 

i am just about wrapped up for the 'winter' projects. I took the car out, washed it, and drove it.  much smiles.

 
more to do: 
replace pulley idlers (squeek squeek squeek)
replace coolant level sensor
adjust rear coil heights (after pulling the car out and looking from a distance I can see its not even from side to side) 
alignment

I had to go grocery shopping tonight and made a mandatory stop in an empty parking lot at Generac to take a picture.  I love this car.

I fired up my engine vape to see if there were any opportunities for improvement. The silicone coupling on the new intake was leaking. Silicone couplers always seem to “settle” after engine movement and heat, and require re-adjustment. All good now! No other leaks detected.
Aaand some smoke rings

FullSizeRender.mov

The end of an era....


20200501_141115.mp4

Feel free to keep an eye out for vehicles that you want in WA, I purchased a vehicle in WI and would be willing to do some low cost shipping of a vehicle from WA to WI.
Gas is cheap, work is in short supply, perfect time to drag a trailer around for a few days!