Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

I've been getting more done over the past week or so. Starting to feel the time crunch to get this all done before VIR, but I know I have time - just can't afford to slack off.

Last week, I pulled the old control arms and tie rods. Joey bought our racer friend Jim's entire front steering assembly and only needed the steering rack, so I got Jim's newly-replaced-and-then-crashed lower control arms, tie rods, and front hubs with wheel studs already installed. My buddy Ken and I got the old bits out of my car and then wondered aloud how we'd separate the control arm/tie rod from each of Jim's hubs since nothing was attached to the car. Joey goes "why don't you just swap the whole hub since you want the studs, too?"

Durr, that's the easy button. Okay. Turns out once you have the LCA/tie rod removed, all you have to do up front is unbolt the brake caliper and strut assembly and the hub comes right off. :thumbup: So, I have the "new" hubs, tie rods, control arms, and wheel studs all installed up front. I am waiting on new lower control arm "lollipop" bushings that hold the rear-most point of the LCA to the car. Should be here by Friday. Should.

In the meantime, Joey replaced the head unit in his M3 and I figured I'd install his old one in this car. Nice upgrade from the stock unit, and has USB so I can keep my phone charged while I stream music/navigation on drives to/from the track. I had been using a cassette adapter and cigarette-lighter charger so this eliminates some wires.

Also bought Mike D's old passenger seat, since he sold his M3 to another friend of mine who was too big to fit the seats. Got a good deal on the seat + side mounts (thanks Mike!) and bought the passenger side VAC floor mount from another local friend (thanks Kyle!) for far less than the $Millions that VAC tries to charge for them brand new. I got the seat and my old harnesses installed last night, so I can finally take some passengers in this thing. Also, my dad is going to use it for a Hyperdrive in April, so I needed to have a second seat for an instructor.

Any current students want to Hyperdrive the car at the March VIR event?