[blipblip]

In our experience, these are the things that broke/will break on E30 when you track/race it:

1. Motor mounts - yours already broke. We replaced ours with solid aluminum mounts.
2. Fuel pumps - both of them.
3. Front control arm bushing - we replaced them with E30 M3 bushings. Much better.
4. Rear axle boot.
5. Transmission mount.
6. Shifter linkage.

...actually, way too many to list.....lol...

[94is]

Originally Posted by blipblip

In our experience, these are the things that broke/will break on E30 when you track/race it:

1. Motor mounts - yours already broke. We replaced ours with solid aluminum mounts.
2. Fuel pumps - both of them.
3. Front control arm bushing - we replaced them with E30 M3 bushings. Much better.
4. Rear axle boot.
5. Transmission mount.
6. Shifter linkage.

...actually, way too many to list.....lol...

I've been trying to convince him to spend the money on a new radiator, but I doubt he'll listen. Which means that he'll have to find another way home from the track when that fails. Oh well, not my car (and we're not going to talk about my car and it's dislike of oil ).

[200Duece]

The good news is that whatever it is usually only breaks once. And then you over engineer the fix and that will put stress somewhere else and then you have to fix the other part and then you over engineer that piece and then that will stress still a different part and then you over engineer the fix of that part and then...

well you get the idea...

[Dascamel]

Well, with Satakals extreme driving, the whole car is probably stressed to its limits already. I really don't think he wants to dump extra money in the car to make it bullet proof.

[94is]

Originally Posted by Dascamel

Well, with Satakals extreme driving, the whole car is probably stressed to its limits already. I really don't think he wants to dump extra money in the car to make it bullet proof.

Well then he's more than likely going to break something at every event. Maintaining an e30 costs so little, that for a couple hundred dollars he could come very close to making it bullet proof. It's not like an e36, where you can spend 10k and still break something.

[S4to335]

Originally Posted by 94is

Well then he's more than likely going to break something at every event. Maintaining an e30 costs so little, that for a couple hundred dollars he could come very close to making it bullet proof. It's not like an e36, where you can spend 10k and still break something.

I blew two engines at Buttonwillow back in 2001 in an E30. Bulletproof my ass. If its not one thing..its another...entropy wins.

[blipblip]

Originally Posted by 94is

I've been trying to convince him to spend the money on a new radiator, but I doubt he'll listen. Which means that he'll have to find another way home from the track when that fails. Oh well, not my car (and we're not going to talk about my car and it's dislike of oil ).

Oh yeah, the radiator...forgot about that one. We have to replace ours too...

[blipblip]

Originally Posted by S4to335

I blew two engines at Buttonwillow back in 2001 in an E30. Bulletproof my ass. If its not one thing..its another...entropy wins.

I second that. Our E30 will always have a new problem after some hard racing. Currently, it is having either a vacuum leak or a bad air flow meter.

The only cheap bulletproof track car I have experience with is miata (spec or not).

[satakal]

I may be coming to an early conclusion here: The e30 is not as fun as the e90. So many places on track I'm WOT way earlier. Also, lots of places are no-lift. Instead of the the e90 rotating on-power, the e30 spins the inside wheel. E90 brakes are so much better.

I think the e30 grip is greater than the e90. This isn't really a fair comparison. The e90 is stock suspension on 180 treadwear 255s. The e30 has a very awesome set of shocks and springs on 400 treadwear 225s. I suppose I could have been no-lift from bus-stop to magic mountain if I didn't mind a bit of drift catching through Talladega. (regarding my 400 treadwear tires, my instructor said "that must be a misprint")

I'm pretty sure that none of the above is surprising. It's a lighter car. It has suspension. It has less power. It's open diff.

The car was really easy to drive "well". Also, it felt comfortable approaching and staying at its traction limit. Neither of these are true for the e90.

Boiled down, my ultimate conclusion is, the e30 is not as fun because it won't kill me. The e90... it wants to kill me. And I want to give it the opportunity. Its so fun, for the same reason watching NASCAR at WGI or Infineon is fun. Too much weight, too much power, for tires too small.

[mike-y]

As far as the durability goes, the e30 we had at lemons in august lasted all 14 hours without any engine/cooling problems. it did break some plastic piece on the end of the throttle cable, but a zip tie fixed that. I know the car had some issues on the previous 2 races (clutch and fuel pump), but other than that, it seems that they got it running pretty well on a tight budget. Might be a fluke, but there were at least 2 other e30 teams that finished in the top 15, so it's possible to make them reliable in the heat.

as far as not feeling as fun as the e90, I think you can get it there with more suspension tuning, stickier tires, and an LSD rear end from the local junk yard. Of course, it depends on how much $$ you want to throw at it. Might still actually be cheaper than modding and tracking the e90 in the long run.

Tracking any car is going to cost you money though. some more than others, of course, so you have to factor in what your budget is for doing this. But don't listen to me, I'm the guy that put like $3,500 into a 20 year old civic, lol.

[200Duece]

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