• From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Topic: new norcal team

Hey, everyone!  We've got a new team here in northern california.  I ran in the arse-race with some friends with a borrowed E30 and we decided that we would do our own car build and put together a new team.  We just found a car and will be building it out during the rest of this year, hoping that Lemons returns to Thunderhill some time in the spring.

When the car was listed, it was listed as "V6 2.7 that gets great gas mileage!!!" After having seen so many ads with cars that were improperly listed, I asked him for the last 7 digits of the VIN, looked it up and it came up as an iX.  I didn't believe him, so I went out to look at it, looked on the door frame and it was actually listed as an iX.  (For those who don't know the iX was a pretty rare AWD 325.)

However, when I got there I looked underneath to see if the boots on the front shafts were broken and they weren't there.  Like, the shafts were just missing.  I said "Well, it used to be an all wheel drive car" to which he said, "This is an all wheel drive car?!?!" - he had no idea.

I looked under the hood and you could see the front axle underneath the engine, clear as day.  Connected to nothing.

I fired up the engine, which ran pretty well and took out for a hilariously bouncy joyride around Oakland.  The engine was strong (even for 220k on it!), the transmission worked and the clutch seemed fine.  The interior of the car was pretty much destroyed, very little of the dash works and the driver's seat doesn't stay up on its own anymore.

I handed the guy $300 in cash and he gave me the keys.

When I got it home I dug underneath and it turns out that someone had completely removed the transfer case and swapped in a new rear to the transmission.  Then they put in a new front half on the driveshaft and basically turned it into a real wheel drive car.

This means that the front axle of this car is acting like a 70lb engine mount.

Anyway, it's basically a perfect Lemons car - cheap, beat up but has enough of a body, engine and transmission to let us run and stay underneath the magical $500 limit.  Going to be fun to get it ready to race.

Looking forward to seeing everybody again next year!

My wife took some pics of the car here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12452321@N … 969620156/

I made some snarky notes about all the stuff that was busted on it.

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Re: new norcal team

Oh, wait, there was a question, which is why this was in the tech group.

So the big problem with this car is parts.  They are expensive and basically impossible to find.  The front frame is pretty different than any of the other E30s - struts, subframe, rotors, calipers, control arms, etc.

Has anyone successfully converted an iX over to i parts?  I imagine if we blow the engine we'll need to just find an i as a parts car and move over most of the front of the car.  Just wondering if anyone here has ever done that.

The bolts on the subframe and where the control arms connect to the main frame of the car look about the same, but it's hard to tell.

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Mountain View, CA
  • Registered: 2010-06-13
  • Posts: 257

Re: new norcal team

I, for one, welcome our new broken AWD overlords.

Hella Shitty Racing Goin' for Broken '10, Arse-Sweat '10, Arse-Freeze '10, Sears Pointless '11, Skankaway '11, Arse-Freeze '11, Arse-Sweat '12, Sears Pointless '13, Arse-Sweat '13, Northworst '13, Vodden '13, Pointless '14, Button Turrible '14, Arse-Freeze 2014,  Sears Pointless 2015, Arse Sweat 2015
  • From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Re: new norcal team

I think you just used the word "broken" and "overlord" in the same sentence.

Working on the todo list now (oh god, it's huge - and it's just the basic race prep!)

You should come and see if if you're getting back at a reasonable hour on Sunday.  If you do, I'll try to convince you to help us.

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Mountain View, CA
  • Registered: 2010-06-13
  • Posts: 257

Re: new norcal team

Don't worry, I'm helping! Should be fun to tear out everything and find other broken things!

Hella Shitty Racing Goin' for Broken '10, Arse-Sweat '10, Arse-Freeze '10, Sears Pointless '11, Skankaway '11, Arse-Freeze '11, Arse-Sweat '12, Sears Pointless '13, Arse-Sweat '13, Northworst '13, Vodden '13, Pointless '14, Button Turrible '14, Arse-Freeze 2014,  Sears Pointless 2015, Arse Sweat 2015
  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 1,993

Re: new norcal team

I would try really hard to find a team member with excellent fabrication-welding skills....I'm sure a good fabricator can make a new "engine" mount to replace the non working fwd assembly and save some weight on the front end...plus the judges like to see custom work..stuff like "$15 worth of metal made this" type stuff....

Does the front diff turn like it should?  If it does, then it might be cheaper to install the fwd axles and race it with 4wd....I dunno....might be fun?

Richard Doty
1984 Porsche 928 "Estate"
Porsche- "there is A substitute" Racing
Dirt Poorsche Racing #2
  • fabtoys
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,845

Re: new norcal team

A awd e 30 you better have all Your ducks in the row and super aerodynamicalterimg good theme
Where on Norcal are You?

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
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  • From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Re: new norcal team

icemang17 wrote:

I would try really hard to find a team member with excellent fabrication-welding skills....I'm sure a good fabricator can make a new "engine" mount to replace the non working fwd assembly and save some weight on the front end...plus the judges like to see custom work..stuff like "$15 worth of metal made this" type stuff....

I know a guy who has some skills.  He also has a milling machine and he knows where to get metal "by the pound."  We might try and make something.

icemang17 wrote:

Does the front diff turn like it should?  If it does, then it might be cheaper to install the fwd axles and race it with 4wd....I dunno....might be fun?

I have no idea if the front diff turns or not.  I do know that it's jammed right through the oil pan of the engine making it basically unserviceable.

So one thing goes wrong and we're out of the race. smile

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Re: new norcal team

fabtoys wrote:

A awd e 30 you better have all Your ducks in the row and super aerodynamicalterimg good theme
Where on Norcal are You?

We're down on the peninsula.  (I suspect that people who are actually from northern california would laugh at saying "we're from north cal" since it's in the middle of the state.)

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Sacramento
  • Registered: 2010-08-09
  • Posts: 1,665

Re: new norcal team

There's an Audi 4000S in the Rancho Cordova Pick n Pull... Perhaps a creative AWD system graft/swap is in order!

  • From: Santa Clara, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-02
  • Posts: 195

Re: new norcal team

We spent a lot of the weekend ripping the insides out of the car.  I can't imagine what it was like for anyone to ever have to replace the blower motor in one of these things.

Slow Dino Racing
  • From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 2,145

Re: new norcal team

According to the engineer they never fail.