More Work in Progress

The last two months have seen very slow progress on the e12. Since the last post, I've pretty much only done the two strut tower braces. I did manage to get the all the lights back in and working and re-install the grill. The strut tower braces took many long hours with the drill, file and hacksaw, but it was a learning experience and beat just buying one!

Rear strut brace mock up

Front Strut Brace Mock up

Grills cleaned and re-fitted

Parts Going Back In


Started getting some of the e12 back together at last. The front paint work is "done". There's still more work to be done, but I've got to stop somewhere or I'd be repainting the entire car! The radiator looks a lot better with some new paint, but the inside was amazingly clean. There was no gunk in there at all! While the radiator was out, I took the chance to remove the fan (there's a thermo fan in there as well) and tidied up some of the hoses.











The headlights were in a shocking condition. One was rusted through to the inside reflective surface and one has cracked glass. I wasn't able to get new ones easily, so the old ones copped a bit of paint and went back in until I can get the new ones. The headlight mounting bracket was very rusty, so this got a good scrub with the wire brush and some new black rust guard paint. Looks much better. Some idiot replaced one lamp with a non standard one and got rid of the nice neat electrical mount, so I'll need to do a search for one of them too.

Still plenty of work to do, but it's finally coming together.

Repair Progress

The going has been slow, but I've made some progress with the repairs to the e12. I finished off putting the battery in the boot. It looks quite neat, just needs the spare wheel well cleaned up. I'll get on to that once I've finished the front end.

I removed all the bad paint and surface rust from the front of the car. Turned out to be a much bigger job then expected. Especially when my Dremel died half way through and I had to remove the little fiddly bits of paint by hand! I got the undercoat done last week and got some orange on over the weekend. There's some little tidy up bits to go, but it's looking much better.

Next up is the radiator, windscreen wipers and strut brace. Lucky I've got until Easter!

Some Repairs for e12 (at last)

Now that the season is over and there might be some rest for the e12, I thought it would be good to get to some of those little jobs we never seem to have time for. I've got the old girl in the garage for the next couple of months, so I'm hoping to get some good time at it. The plan is:

• Relocate the battery to the boot (partially complete now)
• Fabricate a front strut brace
• Paint the area in front of the radiator under the bonnet
• Paint the repaired bonnet hinge (it's only been 14 years!)
• Fix the passenger door lock that was broken by an attempted thief (this one's been 11 years)
• Remove the rust from the passenger side rear door
• Cover the holes left by all the speakers that have now been removed
• Remove the rust under the driver's side tail light
• Install larger diameter brake cooling ducts
• Fix the leak in the power steering system
• Paint the windscreen wipers
  

So far, I've moved the battery to the boot and run the new cable. Very hard to do as it is so thick and didn't want to bend around corners. It all works now and just needs a new earth cable in the boot (mainly because the blue one looks dagy).

I've taken the bonnet hinge off and underneath looks pretty ugly. Not all that rusty, but the paint is shot and needs to come off. The hinge itself should be pretty easy to paint though. It all looks in good nick and just needs a rub back and a new coat.

Beautiful End to a Great Season

It was a wonderful end to the season at Oran Park over the weekend. The driving rain from Saturday disappeared for Sunday and it was clear and sunny.

We skipped the skills section in the morning on the basis that the e12 could do without the wear and tear but ended up running one of the skills tests.

The afternoon saw the track a little more slippery than last time from all the rain. The pace was still good and the e12 dropped 2 tenths off the best time to a 1:32.4. Some fiddling with tyre pressures improved the front end grip but, by that stage, the brakes were past their best and times didn't improve. At the end of the day it was a win in class B for the day which meant an overall championship win in Class B for the year. A great result for such an underrated car.

Many thanks to Dad for his tireless help during the year. We couldn't have done it without him.

BMW Beats Porsche - Finally!

After four years of trying, the BMW Drivers Club NSW finally beat the Porsche Owners Club in the annual BMW-Porsche Challenge at Oran Park. The times were incredibly close all day. The event was invite only and there was some serious machinery on show. The Team Orange e12 ran faultlessly all day. Although it recorded the second slowest time of the day, it was still valuable points for the team in our speed class. It was also an improvement of four seconds over our previous best time.

Day in the Sun

We had both cars out at the BMW Drivers Club NSW Show of Excellence on the 21st. It was a beautiful day and a well attended event. There were over 80 cars ranging from an Isetta to the latest X6.

No prizes for the e12 (it was entered in Track class) but the e21 took home best late 70's. Sadly, it was the only entry! We scored far more points for the e21 this year (82 vs 19!) with a proper wash, polish and under bonnet preparation. Next year I'll tackle the built up grime behind the engine and try and crack into the hundreds.

EFI Trouble Strikes



There was huge anticipation for the Wakefield Park Round of the BMWDCNSW supersprint championship after the upgrade to Microtech EFI and having some new brakes installed. Sadly, there was no time for testing, so the car went straight on to the trailer at Bavaricars and next came off at the track. She sounded sick from the start and was hard to get going. Things didn't improve during the day and power was down enormously.



Much fiddling brought zero result, the program seemed perfect and nothing obvious was broken or worn. Times were down an amazing 10 seconds on expectations! The only good news was that the bigger (3.0CSi) brakes were fantastic!



Fearing the worst, we returned the car to the shop and starting compression testing. It was then that Herbert started getting some shocks from the spark plug leads. Turns out they were no good. Replacement brought instant gratification! We'll have to wait until November for the next round, but we're hopeful that the problems will be solved.

Team Orange gets the Blues!



The e12 stayed in the shed this weekend awaiting it's new brake package, so it was off to Eastern Creek with Bel's e21. We'd spent quite some effort in tidying the e21 up since last time out. It had a new tail-shaft, centre bearing, rear wheel bearings, lower front springs, adjustable camber plates, new steering tie-rod, plus a re-upholstered rear seat top and rear parcel shelf. All up, she was looking pretty good.

The first turn however was a complete shock! With the lower front and 3 degrees of camber, the turn in was amazing. The rear however had gone to the dogs! There was absolutely no grip at the back and it spun up the inside wheel with the slightest application of throttle. It had plenty of straight line speed, but she was so slow out of the corners the terminal velocity was lower than the 4 cylinder e12!

Some fiddling of the tyre pressures helped a bit and familiarity helped work out the best way around the corners. My times improved from 2:18 in the first session (where I think I was in shock!) to 2:10 in the afternoon session. While not all that quick (5 seconds slower than the e12) it was an absolute hoot once I got used to it. The quickest way was to keep as much speed as possible into the corner and let the front end drag it around. Once past the apex, I could get some gently throttle on and start accelerating. The "fast in" method lead to some interesting lift-off oversteer moments when I'd over done it. Going past the turn two apex sideways was probably not my fastest lap.

Some lower springs for the back are definitely on the cards before Wakefield.

Team Orange Road Trip

Team Orange headed to Winton in Victoria for the 4th round of the Supersprint Championship contested with the BMWCCV. It was a cold Winton that greeted Bel on Saturday when she headed out for the driver training sessions. There were some good runs with continuous improvement all day. I got a few rides with other drivers and then a sneaky drive in the last session which gave me a good idea of what I was in for on Sunday.

Sunday was slightly warmer, but still cold. Luckily, the rain held off and the sun came out. The e12 was going wonderfully and the times fell from 1:57 to 1:55 to 1:54. Some tweaking of the tyre pressures got rid of some slight understeer and a quick bleed of the brakes brought them back nicely. Sadly, the pads cried "enough" after the first afternoon session and I tore the rubber rushing to get the new ones in. We missed the last sessions, but it was still a wonderful weekend away. It was unfortunate that there were no other cars in class B, but a win is a win either way!

New Tyres - Different Class

The e12 headed to Eastern Creek to meet up with its new R spec Toyo Poxes R888 race tyres. An amazing difference it was too. Although it had been 2 years since the e12 did a proper time at Eastern Creek, it was 11 seconds faster! The new tyres probably accounted for 4 of these seconds.

Another first in class for the e12 and we ended up ahead of some much faster machinery (an e46 M3 for one!).

The Proper Battle Commences!

A depleted Team Orange headed to Wakefield Park for the 2nd round of the BMW Drivers Club NSW Supersprint Championship on the weekend. There was no e21 as Bel had other things to do that couldn't be put aside, so there was just Dad and myself there to fly the flag.

The track was newly surfaced and promised some very interesting times. It was hot (as expected) which didn't bode well for getting any top times though.

The morning sessions went well with an unofficial 1:20.00 being recorded which would have been a personal best. Bleeding the brakes the previous day had brought them back stronger than ever and I had an enormous amount of confidence into the corners. Unfortunately, there was a very slight vibration under braking in the afternoon timed sessions which ruined my confidence and added 2 seconds to the lap time. Investigation revealed nothing wrong with the brakes and what appeared to be a flat spot on the front left tyre, so I headed back out determined to push on.

It was well worth it as the vibration started to fade away and the lap times dropped. I got down to a 1:20.3 then 1:19.6 then a 1:19.0. A wonderful result and fantastic to be in the "teens" with some of the seriously quick guys.

It was a win in class A cementing the e12 at the top of the table after 2 rounds. It was good to see a 5 person turn-out for class A and the competition was inspiring. With some new tyres on the way for next time, there should be some more speed at Eastern Creek.

Good Run For Team Orange

We've had a good run in the last couple of months. February saw a return to the track for the e12 at Oran Park and also the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual presentation dinner.












Oran Park loomed as wet and nasty as Saturday dawned. Luckily, the rain had stopped before we got anywhere near the track and there was only the smallest of sprinkles all day. It was the first proper hit-out at Oran Park for me and the e12 as last time the extractors were hitting the steering box which brought the day to a premature end. We started conservatively and slowly built up a bit of speed. A best of 1:36 doesn't sound great, but I was very happy. There's probably another second in tweaking the car and at least two more seconds in the driver!

The presentation dinner was a wonderful event put on by the BMWDCNSW. We walked away with 2nd in class for the e12 and 3rd for the e21. Belinda also picked up the club encouragement award. Very happy.

Bring on Wakefield Park and the rest of the Championship!

Hot Day at Wakefield









A hot day greeted the BMWDCNSW drivers at the last round of the Supersprint Championship. The recent rain had made a bit of a mess of the track, so times weren't great. Team Orange had success though with the fastest time in class giving us overall second place in class for the Championship!

Once again, we couldn't have done it without the help of our ever patient pit crew, Dad and Hak. Thanks guys.

More trouble for Team Orange!





The Eastern Creek round of the supersprint series started well for the e12, with the new rear coilovers appearing to provide much improved grip in both tight and long corners. The car was hooking up so well that we (Hak) got best time in our class in morning practice. I maintain that I could have gone as quick, but had to pull in as there was a repeat of the extractors vibrating against the steering box and I had a sticky throttle!

The afternoon session only lasted 1 lap before there was a very strange noise from the exhaust. Expert opinion named it as a collapsed muffler! While I cruised around to record a notional time, all chance of the win was gone and we packed up early. The drive home was excruciating, especially with the development of a large amount of backlash in the drive train.

Bel's e21 ran like a train all day and performed excellently. Hak did discover a missing bolt in the rear subframe mount after arriving home, but it didn't slow her down.

Next outing for the e21 will be Wakefield Park, but it's rest time for the e12. We'll need to save up some budget to get the exhaust fixed and the new 5 speed gearbox in.

Show-n-Shine

It was a lovely day for the BMW Drivers Club NSW annual Show-n-Shine. There was a healthy turn out, although less than last year. The old e12 shined up nicely and came in a respectable 2nd in the pre-1976 category. Sadly, she was the only e12 there, although there was a really nice e28 M5 on show.

Oran Park Trouble

It started off wet at Oran Park and just went down hill from there. A strange vibration turned out to the be the new extractors rubbing on the steering box. The engine mount appears to have collapsed over time, and the new extractors have closed up the tolerances so much that they now rub.

We ended up not being able to turn right and accelerate at the same time, so were 10 seconds off the pace.

Once it dried up, Bel's e21 was getting along nicely and she dropped 12 seconds off her time.

New Extractors!







Picked up the e12 with its new extractors yesterday. Very happy with the look and the resulting power increase. There seems to be an improvement up high in the rev range. Will only really tell once I get it back on the track. There's a little touching up to do with the spark plug leads, but nothing that didn't need doing already.

Success for Team Orange!

A very successful weekend for Team Orange. We had 4 drivers out in three cars with Denis joining us for his first track day. It was a close fought battle in the e12 between myself and Hak for class A honours, but I just got him at the end by 0.09 seconds!






Bel had a fantastic weekend in her e21 shaving an incredible 7 seconds from her personal best. Amazing stuff considering there were absolutely no modifications to the car.









Denis also had a great start to his track day career. Not only did he come in at a very respectable time, but he was also lucky enough to get a ride in a Lancer Evo 9 set up for Targa Tasmania!

Huge thanks to Dad for looking after us all day, swapping number and transponders and generally keeping everyone on track.

Trying Times for Team Orange

What a shocker of a weekend! e12 was missing cylinders on the way down, then started making a horrible grinding noise from the rear. The e12 refused to start in the morning, then the e21 refused to start at the track and had to be pushed started all the time. Luckily, Bel and Hak both took some good seconds off the best times so the weekend turned out OK. Can't wait for the next one and put this weekend behind us.