Dave B is a local racer who has pitched in many times to help on our E36 LS1. He bought a low buck 1992 BMW 325i 4 door about a year ago and has jumped in with both feet turning it into a club level road race machine! He and son Sean were busy over the winter and have turned this boring gold Bimmer into a lightweight terror in a matter of months! This car is a perfect example of what you can do with some good planning, a bit of elbow grease, and modest budget.
Dave posted a quick blurb this week about his BMW's first outing (at a BMWCCA autocross): http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6879 The alignment was "eyeballed", the front swaybar wasn't hooked up, and it had no cooling fan whatsoever, but they still did VERY, came in 2nd in the F class and raised some eyebrows.
The car is being built for BMWCCA Production (or Prepared?) class road racing and will also run with NASA (GTS) and do some autocrosses as well. The car is very gutted - trunk, doors, hood are cut down to just shells and most glass is now Lexan - and should tip the scales well under 2500 pounds. He's running Vorshlag/AST 4200 suspension and has some R888 tires, for now. Lightweight aluminum UltraShield seats with his custom built floor brackets and Sparco sliders look tip top. Dave and son Sean have fabbed everything themselves on this project.
We hosted some pics and videos of the car here: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...59760913_HJ69F
The paint is still the factory metallic gold (hence the nick name of "Goldmember") with some tasteful flat black accents. A low cost M3 replica front end improves not only the looks but allows for the use of a Motion Motorsports aluminum underpanel. Dave and Sean made the front end quickly removeable with 4 Dzues fasteners - in 20 seconds, off comes the front nose for easy loading onto a trailer.
Brakes are currently nothing more than new OEM pieces. Suspension is AST 4200 with Vorshlag camber plates, of course. AST 4200s are the best shocks you can run in BMWCCA Prepared, as remote reservoir shocks are banned - this is the class we developed these shocks for.
Here you can see some of Dave's fab work - custom seat brackets. Pretty slick little setup that uses a Sparco dual locking slider, allowing drivers of all heights to drive.
The eBay headers he used - at first I was hating on these, but after seeing this $180 set in person and weighing them, they aren't complete junk... but yes, these are Asian import knock-offs. They do fit within this budget build very well, though. Dave built the after-header exhaust from there back. A simple side exit 2.5" setup with minimal fuss. He also added hotter cams to the motor and the setup sounds downright mean.
link to video
Check out the video above to hear the motor... sounds pretty good! It looks like it has quite a bit of torque and just leaps forward when you breathe on the gas. Rotates well, too.
Dave posted a quick blurb this week about his BMW's first outing (at a BMWCCA autocross): http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6879 The alignment was "eyeballed", the front swaybar wasn't hooked up, and it had no cooling fan whatsoever, but they still did VERY, came in 2nd in the F class and raised some eyebrows.
The car is being built for BMWCCA Production (or Prepared?) class road racing and will also run with NASA (GTS) and do some autocrosses as well. The car is very gutted - trunk, doors, hood are cut down to just shells and most glass is now Lexan - and should tip the scales well under 2500 pounds. He's running Vorshlag/AST 4200 suspension and has some R888 tires, for now. Lightweight aluminum UltraShield seats with his custom built floor brackets and Sparco sliders look tip top. Dave and son Sean have fabbed everything themselves on this project.
We hosted some pics and videos of the car here: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/...59760913_HJ69F
The paint is still the factory metallic gold (hence the nick name of "Goldmember") with some tasteful flat black accents. A low cost M3 replica front end improves not only the looks but allows for the use of a Motion Motorsports aluminum underpanel. Dave and Sean made the front end quickly removeable with 4 Dzues fasteners - in 20 seconds, off comes the front nose for easy loading onto a trailer.
Brakes are currently nothing more than new OEM pieces. Suspension is AST 4200 with Vorshlag camber plates, of course. AST 4200s are the best shocks you can run in BMWCCA Prepared, as remote reservoir shocks are banned - this is the class we developed these shocks for.
Here you can see some of Dave's fab work - custom seat brackets. Pretty slick little setup that uses a Sparco dual locking slider, allowing drivers of all heights to drive.
The eBay headers he used - at first I was hating on these, but after seeing this $180 set in person and weighing them, they aren't complete junk... but yes, these are Asian import knock-offs. They do fit within this budget build very well, though. Dave built the after-header exhaust from there back. A simple side exit 2.5" setup with minimal fuss. He also added hotter cams to the motor and the setup sounds downright mean.
link to video
Check out the video above to hear the motor... sounds pretty good! It looks like it has quite a bit of torque and just leaps forward when you breathe on the gas. Rotates well, too.
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