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Thread: BenFenner's 2000 Black M-Coupe

  1. #51
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    I'll have to look into getting some proper height rear dampers for my coupe!

    Very nice coupe BTW! Some times I wish mine wasn't silver...

  2. #52
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    Are you running the ones meant for the regular e36 (Koni 8240 1115 Sport)?

  3. #53
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    Quote Originally Posted by BenFenner
    Are you running the ones meant for the regular e36 (Koni 8240 1115 Sport)?
    No, I'm running some blown JOM's for an e36 compact on the rear.

  4. #54
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    I see. I have no clue if those are too long or not. Sounds like you know they are.
    Don't forget to take pics. =D

  5. #55
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    Quote Originally Posted by BenFenner
    I see. I have no clue if those are too long or not. Sounds like you know they are.
    Don't forget to take pics. =D
    I will have to take some pictures, I have a load of parts coming in next week.

  6. #56
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    Just wondering where you ordered your rear shocks from. I'm going to try get them ordered soon.

    Thanks!

  7. #57
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    I got them from the TCKline web site. http://www.tcklineracing.com/
    These are the specific ones I got: http://www.tcklineracing.com/webdocs...Details723.cfm
    Model number pic: https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...50958169_n.jpg

  8. #58
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    Windshield crack filled

    Facebook album permalink 1 and 2 (in case the pics don't show up some time in the future).

    When I bought the car it had a small crack in the windshield. It started out the size of a nickel and never got any bigger. I got around to fixing it recently. The pics show the rest.







    Last edited by BenFenner; 02-07-2013 at 03:57 PM.

  9. #59
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    Track day - Virginia International Raceway (VIR) South course

    Facebook album permalink.

    While I was in the middle of diagnosing the rear suspension crashing over bumps (turned out to be incorrect length shocks installed by the previous owner) I had to capitalize on the opportunity to hit up VIR. Phil Wicks was running an event for FLU and Fiats/Lancias were everywhere. If you don't know, I've been doing web site work for Phil (owner of Phil Wicks Driving Academy) in return for track time. All Italian makes were invited though and there were some other fun Italian cars that showed up. The Sentra was taking a rest after CMP so the BMW got its first outing.

    My buddies Bryan and Chrys from www.midlandsmotorworks.com were helping Phil run the show as usual by doing tech for the cars and instructing out on the track. I was scheduled for the instructor/expert group with instructor duties (Phil was apparently satisfied with what he saw from me during our first outing) and I helped by putting numbers on cars during tech.

    First thing to do was to get to Phil's house so Bryan could bring Phil's red Mini to the event.



    Phil's vintage racing Mini is the one that wins the races these days for Phil.





    Inside the red Mini. Sucks for Bryan with no A/C, stiff suspension, seats, and loud exhaust. =/



    I guess it still has a radio?





    And we're on our way.















    With a bit of coordinating we managed to meet up on the freeway with Chrys.





    People could tech the night before the event if they wanted, so we setup for that.



    The Fiats are already showing up.





    One of a bazillion Abarths that showed up for the event.



    There is Phil in the red shirt.



    I liked the Team Dynamics wheels he was running. The Fiats have a 4 x 98mm bolt pattern for their wheels so wheel choices are extremely limited.



    Cool shifter location.



    I was told this guy would be fast.









    It was hot as balls out this weekend. I had my umbrella with me so I wouldn't fry to a crisp.









    *continued on the next post*
    Last edited by BenFenner; 03-24-2013 at 10:58 AM.

  10. #60
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    *continued from previous post*

    Facebook album permalink.

    Hmmm. I wonder why I liked this one so much.





    These Alfa's have some wide heads.





    Roll bar, ready to rock. I think he said it was a bass boat paint job.





    Bryan numbered my car.





    I started complaining about the blocky numbers Bryan and Chrys were doing.







    Bryan and Chrys were delighted to let me show them how to tape numbers properly. Or so I thought...



    The owner/driver of the Miata is the father of the owner/driver of the white Mustang GT.



    Look at those legible numbers.





    Oooh, another nice set.





    The view from the hotel hallway after shutting down tech for the evening.






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    Sleepy time...

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    First thing in the morning we got down to the South Paddock area.


    VIR is absolutely huge, and they have five different track configurations ranging from 1.1 miles to 4.1 miles. To see all of the configurations you can check here:
    Configurations | VIRginia International Raceway


    It ended up being great to run the 1.65-mile South course. It is short enough to learn quickly and that made things really nice for the people new to the track. It is also almost completely visible from the hill behind pit lane which made spectating the two races that day really nice.

    Alright, back to the pics.

    I numbered Chrys's car.






    I don't have many pictures, but I numbered a bazillion cars that morning during tech. I finally realized why Chrys and Bryan numbered the cars with such blocky numbers. When you have to do 100+ cars in a short amount of time you have no time to get fancy. I started doing blocky numbers too.

    The night before, Phil said he'd heard a McLaren would be showing up to the event. I had underestimated the size and seriousness of the event, so I'd thought maybe it was a McLaren Mustang or something. Boy was I wrong.


    Chevy powered. Around 600 HP I think?




    He was out there to get a baseline for the car after some work or something. He said it really needed the sway bars hooked back up, and it was pretty sketchy on the track for his sessions that day.


    This Alpha was one of the casualties of the day. I think it was a money shift. =(


    *continued on next post*
    Last edited by BenFenner; 03-24-2013 at 11:06 PM.

  11. #61
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    *continued from previous post*

    Facebook album permalink.

    Some spec e30 and e36 guys were in attendance. The e30 guys were doing testing and tuning, and the e36 guy was there for the second of the two races.



    This kid with the Mini was there for the second race as well. He's apparently this year's national champion of his class.



    The MGB GT was there mainly for the vintage race (which was the 1st race of the two that day). This car was extremely quick and I have no idea why.



    Chrys managed to finagle himself into the vintage race with his MR2 as it is just about old enough to qualify, and is properly outfitted with safety equipment. He was leading the four-lap race with the MGB GT behind him for the beginning of the race. I forget who else was in the race, but there were about 6 cars? Chrys went off track on lap three and only managed to claw himself back to 2nd place. If he'd had one more lap he'd have probably won. It was Chrys's first real race and he had a great time.

    Here is the driver of the MGB GT getting his medal.



    For the second race, it was the white Mini, the e36, and I think the spec e30s too. There were maybe other cars? I forget. The e36 was trailing the guy in the Mini until the Mini went off course toward the end of the race. He kept his foot in it the entire time and did a good bit of off-roading. He got it back on the track without losing his position and won the four-lap race. It was a lot of fun to watch.


    As for me... In the morning we had the quick instructors meeting where we laid out the rules for the instructor/expert sessions. Passing would be with point-by only, point-bys would direct the passer to go off-line, and point-bys were allowed anywhere on the track that your wheels were straight. It was a really nice setup that I liked a lot. People got to make sure there was no rubbing and things were relatively safe, but there were no hold-ups or conga lines because you could let someone pass you basically anywhere at any time except mid-turn.

    This was very good too, because there were a few cars out there that were MUCH faster than others. There was a full-on racing fox-body mustang that just stormed by everyone, but he waited for the point-by and gave a huge wave as he passed and everything went great. He came up on me so fast once I pointed him by off-line mid-corner. :o

    The first session I got a feel for things out there and learned the track. The second session I gained come confidence and hit things harder which caused the tires to get a bit greasy and I was sliding through the end of turn 25 and running wide and dropped two wheels off. It is an off-camber corner and lots of people were doing it. I looked at the corner worked and make a point to not do that again.


    Actually, turns 25, maybe 26, and certainly 28 are off-camber. With the tires getting greasy I decided I'd get all of my breaking done late and stay glued to the side of the track. I'd brake to very slow speeds and go deep into the corner still on the outside. Then I would turn in VERY late and get almost all of the turn finished early on, which made things easy on the tires and the last half of the corner almost turned into part of the straight. This is the same way you're supposed to do the "Oak Tree" (turns 11 and 11a) which I picked up on after doing it so obviously wrong a couple times.
    This turned out to be a very nice way of going around the track and I taught it to the folks I was instructing.
    Bryan took a session with me near the end of the day and said I was taking basically the same lines Phil does, which is encouraging.
    For the last session I took a break and rode with Chrys and he too had the same line.

    The temps and humidity that day again were killer. It was in the mid-to-high 90s. The A/C in the BMW could not keep up while idling in line for the Solo I timed laps (standing start) we did toward the end of the day. The car came back with the valve-train tapping after the first session, which had me topping off the oil and it didn't happen again. The coolant temps were fine and solid all day. The oil temps started to get high as I learned the course more. Eventually I was sitting at 280°F which finally caught my attention. From then on I had to nurse it on the straights and short-shift a little to keep it from hitting anything like 300°F.

    Must install oil cooler.

    Other than that though, the car had no real issues and it was a total blast to drive. Even with the rear basically bottomed out at rest, the car did well. (It should only improve corner exit with the proper shocks.) Finally a car that handles the way it should! I have to say, it is such a nice change from the over-powered and under-gripped FWD car. The track itself is by far my favorite so far. I loved the VIR South course and highly recommend it. This is what driving on the track is supposed to be like!

    The Solo I results were very educational. Most people were in the 1:40s and then people were getting down close to 1:30s when I headed out for my lap and clocked off a 1:30s I believe. Chrys got a 1:29s time which is a HUGE improvement for me as Chrys would have been around 5 seconds faster than the Sentra on that track based on previous track days of ours. The kid in the 5.0 Mustang GT ended up getting fastest time of the day with a 1:24s or so. There was no denying the 400+ HP out there. He was complaining of boiling brake fluid all day even though his father had replaced the stock fluid with ATE Super Blue racing fluid. Even with those issues though he got a killer time.


    I know I can ramble so I'll end it here. Thanks for reading!




  12. #62
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    Here are the media pictures from the Fiat event at VIR.












  13. #63
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    Seat belt height adjuster fixed

    Facebook album permalink (in case the images don't show up in the future).

    The seat belt height was locked at the lowest position on the driver's side so I took some time to take things apart and learn how these things are supposed to work. I thought (because of the arrow on the latch) that the adjustment latch would slide down to unlatch. That is not how they work. They pivot out to unlatch. Who knew?
    In the process of removing things and fixing things, I found the plastic latch cover on the passenger side had been installed upside down, so I fixed that too.
    All is well now.

    Here's a thread I made while performing the task: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ieces-come-off

    Here are the pictures.


















  14. #64
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    Rear tire punctures

    Facebook album permalink (in case the images don't show up in the future).

    When I was messing around with the rear suspension, I noticed one of the rear tires had a couple screws in it. I took it to my favorite tire place and $20 later they patched me up.






  15. #65
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    Driver's seat damage

    Facebook album permalink (in case the images don't show up in the future).

    While I was putting the B-pillars back on I noticed the backing to the driver's seat was split some. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see what I want to do about it.






  16. #66
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    Facebook album permalink (in case the images don't show up in the future).

    Target parking lot fun.







    Must be jealousy?
    Last edited by BenFenner; 05-01-2013 at 09:09 AM.

  17. #67
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    The daily hangs out with the track car

    Facebook album permalink (in case the images don't show up in the future).

    It is rare that the track car gets out anywhere these days, but Katie took the Coupe to the gym which cleared the driveway so I took it out on a well needed lap around town to shake the cobwebs off. I ended up at the gym and of course, I took some pics.











    Last edited by BenFenner; 05-01-2013 at 09:09 AM.

  18. #68
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    I made my first contribution to the hauling thread.

    Facebook album permalink.


  19. #69
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    Chillin'.


  20. #70
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    Just for fun... Did you buy the Coupe in Virginia?? The owner was a federal agent or something like that??

  21. #71
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    I bought it in Atlanta, GA. The owner was starting her own line of nail polish.

  22. #72
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  23. #73
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    Whats going on here ^ ? Star gazing ?.

    Sent from the palm of my hands by scientific means
    "My man did you simply get carried away with your dramatic gesture or were you pointing your water gun at me with lethal intentions ?"

  24. #74
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    You're the first person to get it right yash. Meteor shower back in December. Katie saw her first that night.

  25. #75
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    Can't imagine any other reason to be out there, unless your desire is to be eaten by some ferocious beast or ploughed over by a maniac. Lol

    Sent from the palm of my hands by scientific means
    Last edited by yash; 05-27-2013 at 09:17 PM.
    "My man did you simply get carried away with your dramatic gesture or were you pointing your water gun at me with lethal intentions ?"

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