I just wanted to re-introduce myself to the newer guys on here and, more importantly, to send out a very sincere ‘thank you’ to everyone who has helped me for the past 2+ years with my e30 project. As probably some of the regular autox guys on here already know, I crashed my previous e30 at a bmwcca autox in Manassas two summers ago. That day marked the start of one of the greatest headaches and joys of my life and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help and support of a lot of you guys on this board. So from the guys who helped manage and support me in the initial accident to the guys who helped me along the way and at the finish – THANK YOU! Though I sometimes wish none of this ever happened, it’s been a great learning experience [re]building an e30 with many friends made along the way. And so now I’m the proud owner of my completed project and passion.

A few names that really stand out though on this board that I want to make sure I mention:
Eric, Bogdan, Pete, Preppy, & Rafael for keeping the initial situation and myself calm and collected. Sperry for helping me out with his time and thoughts when I was working with the frame shop. Patrick for the usual lighting help and for helping with the final pull of the beat m20. And there's no way I can leave this guy out - Brant. Thanks for putting up with my constant phone calls and this clusterfck of a project. It definitely took some time, a lot of money, and lots of fusteration on both sides, but there's no one else I would have rather worked with. Far more people and shops came together with me on this though and every bit of it was important to me.

Basically what ended up happening was I put the damaged e30 in my garage after finding out there was no hope for its resurrection. From there, I spent 8 months hunting for a clean e30 shell to work with. Once I came across it, the difficult task of swapping all the mechanics over from the wrecked e30 to clean e30 started. Engine, tranny swap, suspension, brakes, interior, etc were all transferred either by myself, or with the help of friends & Brant.

So yeah….never thought I’d get to the point where I could post this up….but here she is:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/magicpenguin7/e30/August%2007/Picture014.jpg

Any comments, questions, or thoughts are more than welcomed
Best Wishes :wave
~Anthony Pinto

Wait...you crashed at an autocross? At the Manassas lot (Osbourn Park)? How?

The car looks amazing

Quite a project, looks like you did well! Hopefully this won't deter you from autocrossing in the future :shifty

Wait...you crashed at an autocross? At the Manassas lot (Osbourn Park)? How?

It was a bad combination of brand-new tires that hadn't been broken in [60miles], confusion, unfamiliarity with the car and its behaviors, panic, and a cone worker who was moving from side to side from the pole I hit. Manassas has a lot of those poles unfortunately enough for me. I remember doing the walk through and someone mentioning to be careful on this one turn because understeer would most definitely lead into a pole. Surely enough, that's what happened. The car never hit the pole, but my wheel did at around 5-10mph, sending the wheel smashing through the wheel well and tweaking the frame.

Should have done a DE :(

sorry to hear about your misfortune..........car sure looks gorgeous now :)



what parking garage is that? i might wanna do an Xtreme photoshootz there

Zurich bank about 4 blocks from my house.
Any time anyone wants to meet up with me to do a photoshoot or whatnot, just message me before I go back to school in sept.

Here's a link to more pics and full mod spec list:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=807574

Wow, very nice Pino! Looks like you did a pretty through job with-not half ass. Very nice! Really makes me miss my old E30 325es! :(

At first I thought you took that pic at the top of the parking lot across from the Meyerhoff.

Glad your back in business, your car looks fantastic.

Hope to see you out at one of our Autocrosses.

Pete

Hey Anthony, car looks great. Welcome back.

what parking garage is that? i might wanna do an Xtreme photoshootz there RICER
.....I mean, at least put a william designworks sticker on your car :stickoutt

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v409/magicpenguin7/e30/August%2007/Picture014.jpg

Sex on wheels....

Your welcome for the help, anytime. Just shout me a holler! It's looking great, if anyone had seen this car in person before all this work they wouldn't belive their eyes!

Thanks Pete, Bill, and Pat :wave And thanks for the kind words Cobra


Dolby, if you see this.....today had to be the 4th or 5th time ive seen you this week. Is that e36 of yours Imola? Looks great. Oh ahhaah i almost forgot...thanks for the rescue at the gunpowder a couple weeks ago lol

RICER
.....I mean, at least put a william designworks sticker on your car :stickoutt
:rofl

i am always down for more stickerzZzzzZ :buttrock

Car is looking great, Pino. Glad you are back!

Lookin good! No. Fantastic!

Hope to see the car in person sometime soon!

looks damn good, pino... get some more pics up :)

Bogdan & Pete.... I'm hoping to make it out to Sykesville on the 18th, if nothing else to say hi and take some pics.

And Brendan - I must have saw you at least 20 times around GW, but never outside of your car. Been meaning to say hi. You coming back for another year?

The car looks amazing!

Thank you :)

Great seeing everyone on saturday again. Feels great to be back :thumbup:

Your car looks even better in person. We all cringed a bit when you spun out though, watching the poles...would have been funny but not to you.

You're welcome!!


I spent many weeks with Mental working on that car!


At least one full week upside down trying to figure out how to swap out the pedals.... :mad

Your car looks even better in person. We all cringed a bit when you spun out though, watching the poles...would have been funny but not to you.

Thanks ahahah....still trying to get oversteer completely controlable. But i'm sure you got that idea from my fun runs. It's been a bit more than 2yrs since i've driven a manual car up until about a month ago so things aren't as fluid as they should be either. Oh well. All in time.


You're welcome!!


I spent many weeks with Mental working on that car!


At least one full week upside down trying to figure out how to swap out the pedals.... :mad

Wait....are you one of Brant's "helpers" he was talking about? I never got to meet any of the other people that helped him out with my car. Anywho, im sure you're as relieved to see it out of his parking pad hahaha. Thanks for the work and time you put into it. Sincerely appreciate it. Come up to me at the next autox if you see me :wave

....still trying to get oversteer completely controlable.

What suspension are you running?

The key for my e30 has been to run softer springs on the rear, a stock bar on the rear with a bigger bar up front, and run about 4 pounds less air in the rear.

Alex

Here's the stuff thats been done: [harder in the rear...maybe i'll check out your theory at the next one]

Complete Engine Rebuild ~20k miles ago by PO of my previous e30 that was swapped into here
Automatic to Manual Swap w/ all new mounting, seals, etc
Ronal LS 15x7.5
Toyo T1-R 225
GC Adjustable spring perches
Eibach race springs 450f/600r
GC front adjustable caster/camber plates
GC solid rear shock mounts
Koni sport single-adjustable [rebound] shocks
K-Mac poly urethane rear trailing arm bushings
Active Autowerke chip
New OE Radiator
All new hoses
All new belts
New Control Arms
New Tie Rod Assembly
Treehouse Racing Control Arm Mounts [w/ Solid Bushings]
New OE Catalytic Converter
Ireland Engineering SS Exhaust
Sparco steel front strut brace
Powdercoated Blue valve cover
Goodridge SS brake lines
Balo front rotors
Brembo rear rotors
Bosch Euro Smileys [destroyed by deer]
APEX 5000k HIDs [destroyed by deer]
Euro Grills [destroyed by deer]
MOMO Competition Wheel
UUC RK5 in “Roundel Blue”
4.10 LSD
Custom Italian leather boots w/ M color stitching
Blaupunkt headunit
Valentine V1 w/ POP radar
Viper Alarm System w/ Remote Start [so stupid haha]
ATE Blue brake fluids
Mobil 1 15-50 engine oil
Redline MTL trans & 75W90 Differential fluid

Eibach race springs 450f/600r

I'm running 600 fronts, 545 rears.

Alex

Next autox you should drive my car and tell me what you think. Pete took it out yesterday and said he was very impressed with the car's neutrality.

Next autox you should drive my car and tell me what you think. Pete took it out yesterday and said he was very impressed with the car's neutrality.

Then why are you having oversteer issues? :dunno

Alex

Hey Anthony,

The car is pretty good as it stands. I would work on tire pressures to get a little more front grip. I didn't think your car oversteered at all (not without a fair amount of throttle application). In fact, I got understeer through the skid pad and the large 180 turns. The car is nice an neutral (note: not tail happy) as you can modulate throttle to manipulate the rear.

I think you got oversteer when you went around because you stayed on the gas too long after the car rotated. For now work on getting the car a bit more front grip and work on recognizing when you went past the edge (skid pad time
will help a lot).

Thanks for letting me drive your car, it's a lot of fun and a great platform to learn on.

Pete

Oh the oversteer is all me. I was doing that purposefully for the fun of things and just because that's something i'd really like to get the feel of.

Thanks again for the input Pete. And yeah....it hit me once I was teching the car that I completely forgot to pump up the tire pressures. Oh well. Always next time :)