Catching up with Fall Track Days & Progress on the BMW Stealth Project

I haven’t been keeping up with blogging so I’ll try to catch up with a few things in this post. With the economy in a tailspin here in the US, I’ve put my BMW project on hold for a while. There are a couple of advantages to this strategy: It preserves cash should we have …

Ah, There’s Your Problem

Well, there’s your problem. Your engine isn’t attached to your car. I was going to start working on the drive-line today. I know the flex-disk is shot so I got a new one along with the center bearing for the drive-shaft. As long as the drive-shaft is out, I was going to replace the bushings …

Stealth: Out with the Old

I’m at the end of the second week of this project and have made some significant progress with only a few (unpleasant) surprises. I secured the battery in the trunk (no brick required) and patched the hole in the fender well from the inside — I still have to finish it off on the outside. …

F-22 Stealth E30 325is

[Click photo for link to full set of photos on Flickr.] After months of a low level search of various message boards and Craigslist, I finally found the car I’ve been looking for: a 1989 E30 325is. I finally got to the point where I’m running in the fastest run group on the track and …

Ooh That Smell

What is that goo that comes out of an electric motor that has seized? We took a brief trip to CA to escape winter and while we were gone, we had some friends watching our house. Because we had some snow and sub-freezing days, we had them run the BMW every couple of days. They …

NCC HPDE 10.20.07

The National Capital Chapter held their last Driver’s School this past weekend at the Jefferson Circuit at Summit Point. The Jefferson is one of my favorite courses — very MINI friendly. The weather was beautiful, and unlike last November, sunny and warm. The GeorgeCo MINI ran like a top. (Watch me chase the M5 in …

Bottlecap Wheel Refresh

One thing that drives me nuts about the “bottle cap” rims is that they’re impossible to clean. If you leave the brake dust on the wheels it eats into the surface and you cannot really get your fingers in the slots to keep them clean when you wash the car. Since I had a little …