E30 M52 Power Loss Sorted, Time To Drift. Finally sorted the lack of power from the engine today! Yesterday put the Beemer on the exhaust gas analyser at JTs garage. Yes it was running rich but not excessively. No codes coming up on his scanner either. He gave me the number of BMW specialist at Highyms park. Gave them a ring and explained the symptoms.
He said he couldn’t do anything until Monday and it would be Ā£60 an hour + vat to run a full diagnostics as it was a conversion they hadn’t dealt with before.
Well I didn’t fancy them numbers….was going to drive to Wembley to meet Oz from the E30 zone who had a new camshaft sensor I could try.
It was another really hot hot day and on my way to Enfield there was a lot of slow moving traffic. The engine was losing even more power, now holding back from 2000rpm??
After a while it kept cutting out and starting after a while like fuel starvation. Lifted the back seat and whipped the lid of the fuel pump.
I could feel it pulsing which it shouldn’t be doing, well after breaking down over a dozen times, I pulled over in a car park at Chingford golf range.
Jacked the Beemer up and crawled under to check the fuel lines. I could see they were been pushed against the heater pipes.
So rerouted them and I tell you the sweat was leaking out of me like it sieve. Put some insulation around the pipes to reduce the heat transfer.
After 20 or so minutes, crawled out from under the Beemer and fired her up, floored the accelerator and it revved past 4000rpm all the way up to 7000rpm!
Could that of been the problem? Took her for a drive to get the temperature up to half way and oohhhh yes she was singing & revving all the way to the redline without any power loss.
WooHoo, was I happy š The time was 3pm, still time to get down to Essex Arena for a drift practice session, which IĀ didn’t think would be happening due to the power loss problem!
Cleared all the shit out of the boot and left it at Raders lock up. Went home loaded the Bimmer up with 2 sets of tyres, grabbed a bite to eat and hit road, more like the traffic.
The A13 was crawling along at around 10mph, stop, go, stop, go and the heat was too much, had me sweating like a blind lesbian in a fish market and theĀ temperatureĀ was rising on the Bimmer š
Finally got there after 1hr 20mins. Went upstairs to find Debby for registration. Deb was very helpful, explained what to do, where to go etc.
Filled in a declaration form which was basically your name & address. Gave it to Deb who gave me my Number. No 169! So in future, I just give my number 169 to sign on.
Next I had to go down to the pits for scrutineering, tape up the lights, change the back wheels & get in the Queue.
Looking around I did have some concerns as 90% of the cars had come on the back of transporters or lorries and the cars looked like f’ing banger cars. Most didn’t have headlights or tail lights and near enough every panel on the cars were smashed in.
My 1st thoughts were, Welcome to the world of Pikey Drifting! I thought fuck it, no turning back now & joined the Queue.
I was on the phone to Rilus (Marsh) & the bloke in front was saying it was Sacrileges taking my E30 out there & wanted to buy it of me. Told him sorry mate, I could not sell her! Put too much work in to it.
Next thing the Queue is moving, Race on! Just finishing the call to Rilus & thought the bloke waved me on, give him the thumbs up & accelerated up the hill but the bloke was shouting Stop!
Reversed up & he said to hold on I would be out the next session. š
So, me & my Bimmer would be 1st out on track. I had about a 10 min wait so got out of the car and got chatting to the blokes behind in a graffitied E36 328i.
They were saying the same thing, why was I taking the E30 out? I told em it was my 1st proper drift session & thought every one would be in half decent motors.
They were laughing & said not to worry but just try & stay away from the barriers, which were, in places 2 to 3 foot concrete curbs painted red & white in the middle and metalĀ ArmcoĀ all around the outside.
They said if I did wreck the Bimmer they could put my car on the back of their lorry and get it to Collier Row which would be a lot closer for me then Purfleet! Result…
IĀ didn’tĀ intend on smashing the old girl up but it was good to know I had some help if it did go wrong!
You run of here or you lose it and you are in a world of pain and doing damage to your motor!
Was having a good laugh with them & they said the rules had been changed about taking passengers, now you have to have a roll cage and harness fitted, which pissed them of saying there mates use to go around for rides with them drinking cans of Stella…….
Then one of the women came to scrutineer the Bimmer which was a case of what’s your number & she just drew 169 on my window………that was it?
I had 2 wheelsĀ unsecuredĀ in the back, tools and a jack in the boot held on with bungee cords and a quite obvious petrol leak dripping behind the drivers door from another pipe on the tank that only leaked since I filled the tank earlier!
Listening to some music while waiting and noticed in my rear view mirror the other drifters had there helmets on! I called to the scrutineer lady to ask her how long & she was telling to get going…..damn, quickly pulled my helmet on & started pulling of.
The lady was waving to me, shouting seat belt. Oh yes, slipped my belt on, a quick thumbs up & out onto the track.
Woohoo, floored it in 2ndĀ nearly lost it on 1st bend, the track had been watered to make it slippy & yes it was proper slippery when wet!
Wasn’t long before I had my 1st of many spins. There were 8 of us out on track at the same time. So as well as trying to avoid the barriers you also had to avoid the other cars spinning out in front of you, which all added to the excitement!
To be honest I though I would of been a lot better! And on track those curbs and barriers looked a lot bigger!! After a while I go a few drifts going. The Bimmer wasĀ under steeringĀ a lot and I had to dump the clutch (clutch kick) to get the back out but the back would snap round too quick to catch.
I tried carrying more speed in but I would, 9 out of 10 times spin around š
After that session back to the pits and I seen theĀ temperatureĀ gauge was up to 3 quarters. Bollocks,Ā didn’tĀ like that and the M52 engines do not like too much heat as the block isĀ aluminium! Left the elecy fan running to cool the engine and went to the track to watch the next session.
Some of the other drifters were very good, holding the drifts all around the bends. They were not even going that fast! I think that was part of my problem going into the corners too quick…..
Checked the Bimmer and she had cooled down now, so qued up for another session. Marsh (Rilus) had arrived with his boys Oliver & Harry to give some support, well more like abuse š
This session I had a better feel for the car and held a good few drifts but it was too much speed and a heavy right foot that was causing me to have many more spins… After a bit I was getting the hang of it but towards the end of the session, threw the Bimmer into the 1st corner hit the throttle and the back came around to quick.
At this point I braced myself for the Impact š There was that horrible crashing, crunching noise as I came to a dead stop! Banged it into 1st and straight back on it but just caught a glimpse of theĀ temperatureĀ that was up again, f`ing hell, that was it, pulled over in the middle of the track to wait the rest of the session out.
Got back to the pits, 1st thing I done was pop the bonnet and let her cool down, next check the damage! It wasn’t as bad as it sounded, just the Drivers side back light busted and the quarter panel pushed in, just cosmetic damage, nothing mechanical.
The bloke who wanted to buy my Bimmer pulled up, looking sad and shaking his head. I went over to him and he was saying I should get an old Volvo or Bmw to practice around Essex arena. His name was Allan and I have to say he was good at the drifting, I asked him if he was going to do King of the Ring and if he had any tips?
Allan said I was going in too fast and that I just need to be more gentle and don’t use as much throttle. He said he don’t bother with King of the ring, said he just comes on the practice days to have some fun. We had a laugh for a bit and then it was time to get home.
Left the drift wheels and taped up lights on and got home in under half hour with no traffic. I was happy I had my 1st shakedown run but I was pissed of with the overheating. Need to get that sorted for King Of The Ring on Saturday, whichĀ didn’tĀ leave much time…..