cam1602

CAW901 and others help put that together for the Texas lemons race. As CAW901 said, it ran great for around 9 hours straight then the rotor exploded. And yes, there are odd mods to it. No budget but the strong desire to win can make for strange combinations. I had a lot of Mazda and Ford parts laying around and used the "creatively". IE the air filter is a modified Miata air filter. It worked! The real treat was what I did to the suspension. I made 400 inch/lbs front springs and fully adjustable rear springs. I’m still a have poor welding skills but that did not stop me. For the important safety welding (cage) one of the other drivers who knows how to weld did most of that work. All in all, it was a lot of fun. Thanks for letting me share

Found this post http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,314950/highlight,starter+solenoid/ as well as other but not really answering my question. Recenly had the starter motor out (along with a bunch of other stuff) in my 1602 and did not lable the wires well. Which spade connection goes were on the starter solenoid? There is a single connection point on one side of the solenoid and at least two connections points on the other side. I'm using a standard rebuild starter. A pic or digriam would be great. TIA

Hey Tom, that is really cool. Thanks for the reply. Anyone have a scan or link to the Bimmer Mag, I was #14 rust brown/red and we won IOE ($1K in nickels). The car handles great and fast enough for a Lemons race but ran into reliability issues, partly due to me not knowing BMW's very well. Everyone on my team is a Spec Miata racer in SCCA. We could do consistent fast times but then something would simple would break/fall off. All in all, a great time and going back in two weeks. Not too worried about a heavy flywheel in the Lemons race, just stating an observation. I was more worried about the larger flywheel fitting (think it will) and making the car reliable.

Need to get the car ready for a race over this weekend, (24 hours of Lemons) so going the cheepest/EZest route. I have a 8 bolt flywheel so the late 228 mm should bolt right in. And just orders a 228 mm clutch kit. So I should have the car up and running agian w/o the sliping clutch by the end of this weekend. From a race/performance perspective, I would think a 200 mm clutch with good grip would be more disirable due to less mass towards the outside. And I assume the 200 mm set-up weighs less which is a big plus in road racing. I will weigh them this weekend to see if my assumptions are true. Again, thanks for the input.

My 1600-02 with 6 point cage and guted interior, battery in the trunk is just over 1900 LBS. Front to rear is around 52/48 IIRC. The car is very balanced with spring rates in the front. It is almost a shame it is a dedicated track car with its great handling.

Need to replace my clutch in the 1600-02. It appears to be a 200 mm size which is not widely available. Any issues with upgrading to a 228 mm flywheel/clutch/Pressure Plate with the mechanical linkage? I can get a flywheel cheep and will buy the disk/PP. Do I need a special throughout bearing? TIA for your insight

Try http://www.wheelsamerica.com/ or there mobile division http://fixrim.com/ I know and race with the owner. Great guy and all of my racing wheels that have needed repaires turned out great. He (the owner) will be near Sac in a couple of weeks for the 25 Hours of Thuderhill http://www.nasa25hour.com/. Hope this helps

Not sure of your track/racing background as far as time behind the wheel, but the more seat time you can get, the better. Start signing up for DE’s (open track days) if you’re not an experienced racer. Do you have your SCCA Comp Licenses yet? And IMHO, spend your resources (time and money) on safety and reliability. Go ahead and get the best 3 layer firesuit you can afford and best SA helmet with a 2005 date. SCCA will mandate all 2000 helmets will be out of date shortly after 2010. (every 10 years) So your 2005 will be good until 2015. My personal experience is that after 10 years, you will want an new helmet anyway due to the foul smell! Go ahead and get a HANS now and get use to it. They are required in NASA and just a good idea. And know the rules. (http://www.scca.com/documents/Club%20Rules/ImprovedTouring.pdf) But most important is to remember that this is suppose to be for fun Best of luck, I run both SM and ITA mainly in Texas.

I can not comment on these specific cams because I do not have experience with them yet. New to BMWs but not new to cars. Generally speaking, more duration moves the power band further up the RPM range. This helps the motor make more HP. But keep in mind that HP is just a mathematical function of torque in relationship with RPM. So if you move the torque curve to peak at a higher RPM, then you will make more HP. It looks nice on a dyno chart but in real life, most of us never use the upper RPM range for an extended period of time, even in some forms of racing like auto-x. Also more duration will typically take away some lower RPM torque. Therefore, for a street driven car, it is easier and more fun to drive if the torque comes in low. Also, torque is a direct function of cylinder pressure, it is very difficult to create cylinder pressure if the valves are always open. That is why American muscle cars in the 60’s with high compression ratios had big cams, the dynamic compression ration really was not that high and did not require special race gas. A motor works as a complete system, each part should complement the others. Back to the original question, a mild increase in duration with an automatic trans and no other changes would likely not see much of a difference. If you pump the compression ratio up a little, you should be able to “feel” the difference but it will not knock your socks off. And most of the bolt on upgrades commonly available will help in the high RPM range only.

I recently pulled my rear hubs off. The castle nut was very difficlt to remove but once the nut was off, the hub came off easly. Would recomend going ahead and repacking the bearing grease which really requires new seals to do it right. Good luck.

I’ve search and found some interesting answers but not complete yet. I understand that the 320I style LSD diff will fit with some modification due to the Short neck Vs Long neck style diffs. Will the newer style diffs fit? Which LSDs have more than 25% locking? What are the other options? I can cut and weld if necessary, just need something close with with high locking (50% or more range) and low gears (4:11 range). Oh and need to be able to find it at a salavage yard to save $. TIA (edit to correct type-o)

The cars suspension works as a whole unit, changing one item often has a net change on other items. An objective reply can not be had without considering rear shock, front springs and shocks, wheel/tire package as well as overall weight. Also, what is the intended use? Dedicated track car generally can tolerate much stiffer suspension settings than a daily driver. With all of that said, I do not have those springs and would not consider them without match front springs in the 400 range and shocks/struts to control the springs. If you have the total package, should be great (generally speaking) if not a little stiff for the street. Hope this helps

Team Never Give Up is entering at '71 1600-02 in the Texas event. The car is rolling proof that rust never sleeps. All of the team members are experienced SCCA and NASA racers. And all of have done more serious amateur endurance races before, including winning the 25 hours of Thunderhill. Anyone else on the form going to the Texas race?

Real racing seats to not recline. I'm very happy with my Ultra Shield Road Race (http://www.ultrashieldrace.com/). An AL seat typically requires a seat back support for full protection. The FIA rated CF do not but cost a lot more. If you use a real harness, make sure you are also using a proper support for the shoulder straps. (AKA roll bar or cage) Serious injury can happen if shoulder harnesses are not mounted correctly. Also, I'm an instructor for several clubs in my area, one of the rules that all of the clubs I know of is that the passenger and drivers side must be equal. Lastly, a proper seat with harness can make a huge difference at the track but the tight fit will make the car almost unusable as a daily driver.

The S14 has the cool factor and it fits but can cost a lot. If money is not an issue, then the S14 is the way to go IMHO. If you just want more "umph" as you stated, then why not keep is simple. High performance rebuild with more compression and cam, header, ITB induction, 5 s/p trans upgrade, LSD with a 4:30 gear should realy wake it up. To round out the package, true adjustable coil overs all 4 corners and upgrade the brakes. Not as fancy as the S14 but should be able to do at a fraction of the price and have a good package.

It would help if you clarified your goals. Will you have race class restrictions? Need to pass Smog tests? Will it be a daily driver or towed to the track (or some where between)? What about all the stuff you need to do when you increase the power such as more cooling, better brakes, better suspension, rest of drive train? A health M10 is not bad and good value for the money without going crazy. An S14 is really cool and can be very reliable but can also be expensive especially when consider all of the other stuff (trans, diff, cooling, upgraded suspension and brakes to handle the increase in power). With enough time and money, almost anything can fit. Depending on the ultimate use of the car, you can dramatically increase the power to weight ratio by making the car lighter. My Lemons racer weighs in at 1900 lbs with full 6 point roll cage and other reinforcements. At 1500 lbs, the car could really scoot with a stock motor. Good luck

To fill in on the story a little, I was at the track (Texas World Speedway) trying our my new/old Lemons BMW when the condenser failed. I ended up sodering in a lawn mower conderser just to get it running. And it ran great! In the instructors run group, I was able to keep up with a Z4 and Boxter. My lap times were not too far off my Spec Miata race times.

Are Distributor Condenser’s the same across the models and years? My car is a mix mash of parts and years. The distributor does not have a vacuum advance and was told that it is a TII style. Need to install a new condenser and not sure if it matters which style distributor I have but the local auto parts store can only look up per year and model. Also, as a debugging tip, my car was running fine for a few minutes and then it just died. I let is sit for a while and it started right up and as soon as it got warm again, it would die. Chased lots of options over the weekend and finally changed out the condenser with a generic part. Car runs great now. Now I'm just trying to get the correct parts installed. TIA

Can you be more specific as to what your goals are? How much power are you looking for? How much budget do you have? How will the car be used? Do you have rules in a racing class to worry about? How about smog laws? I’m assuming that you have a healthy motor with good bearings and seals. You leak down and compression tests are good, right? What other aftermarket parts do you already have? As far as budget goes, adding power is only part of the equation. Also need to add more robust cooling. Is the rest of the drive train up for the elevated power? Are the brakes up to the task? How about the rest of the suspension? High compression with a big cam and open exhaust can be fun for a while as long as you do not have to rely on it for daily transportation. Highly recommend making a plan that will help you prioritize what you want VS what you need. As far as a quick hit goes for a little more power with tuning, try adjustable cam gear and add wide band O2 sensor. Then spend a day at the dyno dialing it in. If you do it correctly, you can achieve better MPG and more power. Good luck

Fixed it, thanks for your feedback

(nt) 71 1600-02 with round tail light. It is the 6 fuse type like the attacehd pic of the fuse box. So I can re-wire the ignition-on power supply to the back side the fuse box using connection points 5 or 6 out of a total of 10 points? Correct. Thanks for your feedback

In the final steps in the process of preparing for the 24 hours of lemons. Almost had the car ready for a test drive over labor day weekend. One of my buddies took it upon himself to clean up the steering column of unnecessary wiring and got a bit too ambitious with cleaning up the old wiring that we are not using and killed the power supply to the fuel pump! The car stared and ran long enough to get out of the driveway and on to the street, then died in front of the house. What I’ve determined is that the ignition-on power to the fuse box was cut. I’ve found an ignition-on power source but not sure which led to connect to in the fuse box. So can anyone supply instructions or diagram on how or where the ignition-on power supply is connected to the fuse box? TIA

I had my rear subframe apart the past weekend. First I dropped the whole subframe out of the car. This required disconnecting the parking brake, rear brake flex lines, drive shaft. Then two nuts on the center section, two larger nuts to the housing bushings, and the two small bolts that hold the stapes to the bushing part. Since I was replacing flex lines, brake shoes, wheel bearings and springs anyway, it was just easer for me to drop it out of the car. While I was at it, noticed that both subframe bushings were torn up and I had an extra set ready to go, so I replace them also. Each bushing has two long bolts running through the subframe. I guess the bolt head is difficult to reach if still in the car, but the nut side was very easy to reach, at lease with the whole subframe laying on the driveway. IIRC, I used a 19 mm box end on the nut side and a 17mm open end on the head side, or something close to that. Hope this helps.

If you don't mind me asking, which part of Texas? I know there are several members on here around both Houston and Dallas/Ft. Worth. NE Houston, Chris Ward (member and Auto-x'er) lives around five miles from me and was nice enough to come over and help with the prep for the upcoming race. Hope to be able to get to car ready for TWS (Texas World Speedway for the non-locals) by mid-Sept. and shake it down during a DE.

Sold, my e-mail is cmathes@ix.netcom.com e-mail me your address and I'll mail you a check and my mailing address. I'm in Texas. Thanks