Hi, I'm New!

LarE9

LarE9

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As the title says, I am new, but kind of (had some admin difficulties at the beginning but all good now). So I figured it's time to say hello and jump right in...
I bought my friend Scott's (aka "sreams") blue '72 3.0CS last summer. Since then, I have been navigating my way through ownership - both the work/technical and the fun stuff. I have learned a lot from this site, you guys are awesome and seem like super nice people, so I truly appreciate the existence of this forum.
I'm really digging this car, and of course it has become an obsession. Scott did a great job doing the B35/Getrag 265 swap and suspension set up during his ownership. However, I have vision for the car - basically to keep it in the spirit of the E9, but continue to improve the performance. I am taking advantage of the fact that the car is solid, but the body and paint are not pristine (temporary paint job, minor dings and dents, etc.), and therefore I can really drive it and have fun, without the worries of paint/body damage. I feel this is also in the spirit and appeal of most other BMWs too, they are on the stock-to-modified spectrum and everything in between.
Here is a summary so far:
Since taking ownership of the car last summer, I have done a few repairs and upgrades. The highlights of what I have done so far include the very first task of replacing the broken timing chain tensioner rail, and therefore changing the tensioner, chain, cam sprocket, etc. It was daunting but I got it done, with the help of this site. In Nov. I bought the used triple Weber set-up from member "gdub0717" last Nov. Before swapping out Scott's dual Weber 32/36 carbs for the triple DCOE40 Webers, I installed a 123 Ignition distributor. Prior to the triple carb install, I took the car to a track day at Laguna Seca to get kind of a baseline feel with Scott's dual weber set up. It was fun despite having bad tires and pretty much drifting around every other corner. Pushing the car also aggravated a few subtle issues I was already having (I know I probably should have been more conservative about this and changed them first, lessons learn). However, I was able to drive home just fine with a cracked giubo (flex disc) and a bad center support bearing. In the process of changing those out, I went ahead and upgraded the rear trans mount to the SS one from CoupeKing.
Currently, I am in the middle of trying to tune the Webers - I'm getting close. It's running pretty good and my AFR numbers are OK, but can be improved. I have some additional jets from another set of carbs that I am going to experiment with, and also a set of the proper tiny drill bits if it comes down to that. Just want to say that I have gotten a lot of very useful triple Weber and 123ignition info from Stevehose posts, among others.
I have another track day at the end of June at Thunderhill, so I have a deadline. When I feel I am at the point of diminishing returns (if anyone is interested) I can post my Weber set-up specs, timing, etc. and maybe a pic or two. I am not any kind of real mechanic, but I know enough of the fundamentals to learn and figure out some stuff on my own, and with the help of the previously published info on this site.

I am here in Sacramento, so I am looking forward to meeting some of you in person and seeing your cars in the flesh. (Sorry for this long intro).
Thank you! -Larry
 
Hi Larry and welcome, sounds like you are having a lot of fun with your car. Please post pictures so we can enjoy and learn along with you. And props for spelling “giubo” correctly!
 
welcome to the insanity of coupe ownership. this is a great group, we can drink (commiserate) with the best of them and even occasionally help you.
 
Hi Larry. Welcome aboard. Best forum ever. Let me know if I can help you in any way.
Stay Healthy.
 
Thanks guys! So here is what I have going on so far in this engine compartment, have the RamFlow filters yet to be put on, but working towards some sort of trumpet set up eventually. I cleaned and rebuilt these carbs myself, first time with Webers, just happy they work and I didn't catch anything on fire. -cheers
IMG_9328.jpg
 
Welcome Larry....

You have a similar set up to our E9, we have triple 45'Webber's..... sound is awesome...totally different beast to the silky smooth injection M30 engine

You have a electric fan fitted inside the engine bay , blowing air out, into the rad away from the engine bay,

We have the electric fan fitted behind the BMW kidney grill , in front of our rad, blowing cold air into the rad, into the engine bay
 
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I suspect his fan is pulling cool air past the rad into the engine bay. More importantly, I suggest some clamps for those fuel lines.

sandhu said:
You have a electric fan fitted inside the engine bay , blowing air out, into the rad away from the engine bay,

We have the electric fan fitted behind the BMW kidney grill , in front of our rad, blowing cold air into the rad, into the engine bay
Click to expand...
 
Stevehose said:
I suspect his fan is pulling cool air past the rad into the engine bay. More importantly, I suggest some clamps for those fuel lines.
Click to expand...
Indeed, pulling air in. As far as clamps, good observation, I do have them, going to put them on at some point. However, the fuel line hose is so tight on the fittings, I can barely get it off, which is why I have not put the clamps on yet. My initial thought is there is no way it will be a problem, but I am old enough to know (and almost experienced) the term "famous last words". :)
 
Stevehose said:
And maybe address the cheesecloth sloution to the oil breather? :)
Click to expand...
I would like to get a proper solution, any suggestions? That temporary solution actual works OK for catching oil mist (there is steel wool inside the hose) but does not catch fumes, and of course it's not killing it in the the looks dept. Was thinking of mounting a catch can with filter, but not sure where to mount it, perhaps on firewall?
 
You should have 2 fans...
a pusher fan in front and puller fan behind the radiator.
they are completely different configurations.
pusher is an auxiliary fan for high engine temps and AC.
 
You are going to have a hard time getting the ramflo filters to fit on the middle carb with the stock brake booster. Prior owner of my setup cut and modified the middle filter to get it in there; I have changed to the tii booster in order to have more room.
 
sfdon said:
You should have 2 fans...
a pusher fan in front and puller fan behind the radiator.
they are completely different configurations.
pusher is an auxiliary fan for high engine temps and AC.
Click to expand...
You are correct sfdon, except at the moment I am back to this one fan, which is actually a two-speed and is great for both general cooling and high temp cooling . I removed the front fan since I do not have AC at the moment. The car was originally from Italy (then was in SF for years) and did not come with AC. A previous owner (prior to Scott) shoe-horned an aftermarket system in which did not work very well (Scott did put a nice Sanden compressor in). One day if/when I go back to AC I will put a better system in. No AC in Sacramento makes one really choose what part of the day you drive in during summer, the heat is oppressive!
 
Ohmess said:
You are going to have a hard time getting the ramflo filters to fit on the middle carb with the stock brake booster. Prior owner of my setup cut and modified the middle filter to get it in there; I have changed to the tii booster in order to have more room.
Click to expand...
Ohmess, I just experienced this difficulty yesterday. Had to bend the screen in, and still was a royal pain fully install since it slightly deforms the shape just enough to make it difficult to tuck into the mount (you what I mean if you ever deal with them). I have been emailing with Lee at Massive brakes about his new brake delete - it's a dual master cylinder set up with an adjust bias bar between them. The system can be set to a 6:1 or 7:1 leverage ratio. Couple that with a smaller master cylinder bore size, and in theory this should make up for a lack of booster (or close). The upside is having tons of room and more access to the stuff below like the steering gear, etc. He does not have it on his web site yet, but it's on his Facebook page. I am seriously considering it. Will start a new topic if I go for it so I can let you guys know how it is. cheers!
 
It has been a while since I have driven a car without any form of brake assist system. For me, one important consideration in changing to a system without boost would be the need to be mindful of the benefits of brake harder quicker in emergency situations. There is a lot of data out there indicating that accident severity could be substantially diminished by earlier harder brake application. The data shows drivers often brake at the right time, but without enough force.

My wife's E class has a system to increasing braking force that was developed based on this data. The system detects the "suddenness" with which brakes are applied and increases the braking force when it thinks the driver moved abruptly to apply the brakes.

If I were to change to a brake system without any form of boost, I would want to do some track days to learn how to operate the system when the need to slow down quickly arises, both in a straight line and in turns.
 
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