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December 2002-January 2003: out with
the old engine in with the new. The new engine is a 2.1
liter, very high compression engine that uses an M3 water
pump at the front. This larger pump forced us to change
our electric fan set-up from a 
pulling type fan to a
pushing type, which we hope will be sufficiently efficient
in the hot months. With this higher revving, more highly
stressed engine, we have also added more driver warning
systems---a shift light system and bright warning lights
for loss of oil pressure and excessive coolant temperature.
February 2003: Carb work time---John
Barhydt, famous National Champion 2002 Modified racer from
Eureka, Missouri, has generously given us his recommendations
for jetting our 45 DCOE Webers, and we have followed his
recommendations to the letter.
February 21-22, 2003: Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing
at Texas World Speedway. First outing of the year and first
time out for our new higher horsepower engine. This is the
Pete McHenry-built engine that Debbie gave me for my birthday
last spring, but we didn't install last year because we
were doing so well in the Prepared class that we didn't
want to switch to the modified class. But now we face the
new season and it's time for the big jump.
We started out Saturday morning with practice and qualifying
laps during which we immediately found that the new low
oil pressure light worked just like it was supposed to.
It blinked at me in right turns! Disgusting. Not only that,
but the brakes that had been working perfectly well the
previous day now had no power assist---the booster had failed
overnight.
So Brandon pulled off the pan and we looked things over.
Everything looked ok, fortunately. Brandon and Duncan drove
back to Austin and returned with a new pan gasket, another
brake booster, and a different oil pressure gauge. Starting
at about 10PM Saturday night, they began installing those
parts. 
Sunday morning at dawn, after we'd had a good night's
sleep, we roused them from their slumber in the trailer
and they quickly finished up the car. Wow! Brakes again.
Nice.
So---since I hadn't finished the Saturday race, I got to
start at the back of the field for the Sunday morning race.
Starting at the back of the field with a fairly fast car
is just about the most fun of anything I ever get to do.
And this was no exception. From the outside of about the
tenth row I passed about half the field in the first two
corners and then joined a six or eight car pack headed into
the next series of the tight s-curves of the short course.
I remember thinking "this is going to be interesting. We
are going to do these corners two abreast." We made it through
the first, right-hand corner fine but then in the next one,
to the left, a Datsun 510 decided that he needed the whole
track and turned left into my lane. I saw him coming and
braked hard to give him room, but he caught my right front
fender as he went by. Too bad---sheet metal contact in Vintage
racing is forbidden. We were both put on the trailer for
the rest of the day. I did get to finish out that session,
and the new engine is very impressive---this is going to
be a fun season.
March 7-9, 2003: Motor Sports Ranch, Ft.Worth, Texas---BMW
CCA Club Race
MSR is a 1.9 mile road course with tight,
off-camber, decreasing radius corners and plenty of passing
room. A fun course, but a lot of work. Steve Olsen, big
boss of CCA Club Racing, sez that this entire course is
defective---there's not a properly designed corner in the
whole place. It's hard on brakes, it's hard on tires, and
it's a lot of fun.
We got up there Friday afternoon in time for
the one hour of practice we were allowed. I drove for a
half hour to re-familiarize myself with the course, and
then Brandon drove for half an hour. The car seemed pretty
good, though we made a sway bar adjustment, played some
with tire pressures, and worked more at controlling oil
vapors.
Saturday morning we had a couple of half hour
practice sessions, followed by a 30 minute sprint race in
the afternoon. Matt Groner, of Houston, blew his Alpina
2002 engine in the practice session, so I let him drive
my car in the driving school sessions. The poor car got
lots of laps.
Sunday brought more practice and a one hour Enduro in
the afternoon. Ever wonder what would happen if they give
a race and only eight racers show up? Well, we would race,
of course!! And, what if every one of the cars was in a
different class? Well, then everybody would be a winner!
And that's the way it was. I had some good racing, especially
with Glen Campbell in his prepared M3, but there just weren't
enough cars for it to be a great time.
Mid-March: Race Aftermath
We're ready to install the close-ratio five-speed
transmission, so out comes the 4-speed. We're checking the
clutch and rear crank seal, too. The seal leaked a little,
so Brandon replaced it. We're going to move the shifter
closer to the driver at the same time, and install a new
shifter from an MZ3---a very short throw shifter.
We've also been having a problem with momentary loss of
oil pressure in left turns, so we need to work on controlling
the oil better in those corners. The modified M3 oil pan
that we've been using is not keeping the oil in the sump,
but is allowing it to flow up the side of the pan and block
on hard corners. We have a highly modified pan with a larger
sump to try, and we'll do that next.
But first, we checked the bearings to make sure no damage
had occurred already. OOPS! Damaged rod bearings. The crank
and mains are ok, but the rod bearings are showing early
signs of doom. These bearings, naturally, are special, made
for these special forged rods and not instantly available.
They're ordered now.
Late March, 2003
The new bearings are in, the new pan is on, the close ratio
5-sp is installed, and we've welded up the spider gears
in another 3.90 differential to try out a locked rear end.
March 21-23, 2003: Texas World Speedway, BMW CCA Club
Race
I love the locked [welded] rear end---the car feels smoother
than it ever has. 
We're still having oil control problems, though. At
high revs the engine pumps oil out of the engine and into
the catch can, at which point the engine starves for oil.
Brandon worked very hard this weekend fabricating a drain
from the catch can back into the oil pan. That seems to
cure the symptom, though the actual problem is almost certainly
still there. The close ratio transmission seems very good;
I'm able to keep the revs at or above 5000 everywhere on
the track.
As the only E-Modified car in the race, I was narrowly
able to squeak out a class win. I did turn the fastest lap
I've ever had so far---a 2.05.
Last week March-First week April, 2003: 2 weeks in bed
with pneumonia-yuck.
No changes to the car---I just got out of bed the day
before the next race weekend.
April 5-6, 2003: Texas World Speedway, CVAR Vintage
Racing
We skipped the Friday of practice because of my health,
and Saturday I was still weak. But there was great racing---five
cars with lap times within 1 second. I barely made it through
the second race of the day. Sunday, we had another great
race, I ran a 2.06, and we went home early. A great race
weekend.
April 2003
We have a ticking noise. The number one exhaust valve
stem has been damaged and will need to be repaired. Off
comes the head, and WHAT'S THIS??? There's no oil restrictor
between the block and head. Hi rev M10 engines will pump
more oil up to the top than the drains can return, so they
need to have a restrictor installed in the oil galley at
the top of the block. It's essentially a 4mm restriction
and it's a stock E30 M3 S14 part; it simply presses into
the block with your fingers. Well, that explains all our
oil control problems.
Summer 2003
The head did eventually come back from McHenry, and we reassembled
it with some new high dollar unbreakable rocker arms made
by Perry Genova and recommended to us by Pete McHenry (MUCH
more about these later). We also reassembled the engine
with an M3S14 oil restrictor in the block at the front oil
feed galley. McHenry thought he put this in, but he must
have forgotten. We have spent a huge amount of time trying
to get excess oil in the head under control at revs over
6500; it's a shame he forgot to put that part in. We finally
got everything back together in September, just before Octoberfest
in Austin.
Octoberfest Club Race, TWS, College Station TX, October
2003
Everything started out great, I was fast in the first practice
(that's unusual, I usually start quite slow). But what's
that noise? We must not have adjusted the valves properly.
We'll adjust them again. Next practice was good, too, but
what's that noise? The valves again? Oh no---those new high
dollar rockers have eaten the cam. They've eaten my $600
Schrick cam!!! Done for the year.
November 2003
I've gotten another Schrick cam and talked to Perry Genova
about the rockers. He had the same problem as we did because
the rocker contact pad had been heat treated incorrectly
or something like that. He contacted everyone that he had
supplied rockers to and left it up to them to contact their
customers. No word from McHenry to us about the problem.
It's a shame he didn't get that info to us in time. I wish
I'd bought them from Jeff Ireland; they contacted all their
purchasers with a warning.
December 2003-January 2004
Brandon reassembled the engine with our old rocker arms
and a new Schrick 316 cam. Everything is ready for our early
season opener----CVAR Feb 4-6, 2004.
Feb 4-6, 2004 CVAR Vintage Racing, Texas World Speedway
Cam and rockers seem fine, practice day Friday was good
for both me and the car. Friday afternoon, while racing
hard, the pressure plate exploded, slightly damaging the
flywheel. We took it apart at the track and got it replaced,
started the next race Saturday morning from the back of
the pack. In the excitement of passing lots of cars on the
first lap----I over-revved the engine and broke 2 rocker
arms!! I limped through the rest of the race just to say
I finished on, then we took the head apart again. We were
almost able to fix it, but then we saw that there were broken
chain tensioner parts, so we headed home early.
February 2004
Head off again----we're thinking of installing it with either
a zipper or Velcro to make it quicker---and this time we're
reassembling with Perry Genova's redesigned Super Rockers.
Also we've installed a long overdue bright shift light and
MSD Soft-Touch Rev Limiter. Hopefully that'll keep me from
hurting myself. We're ready for a 4-day weekend of testing
and racing in Mid-March.
Mid-March 2004. Test Day Thursday and BMWCCA Club Racing
Natl Race of Champions
Thursday morning testing---I got in a great half hour and
Brandon got in a great half hour of driving and then WHAT'S
THAT NOISE!!??
We know that noise. That's the sound of the new Unbreakable
Super High Dollar Perry Genova Rocker Arms EATING my new
Super High Dollar Schrick Camshaft!! ENOUGH ALREADY. We
were home for supper.
{04-26-06 NOTE: Perry Genova has
worked very hard and has since fixed the issue we were having
with his rocker arms, so buy them with confidence, young
racers, these rocker arms are currently state of the art!}
Late March 2004
The head comes off again for another new Schrick 316 cam
[always happy to help Tony Salloum's family retirement fund!]
and a set of modified stock rockers from Jeff Ireland. Back
together in time for the next Vintage race.
April 4-6, 2004 CVAR Vintage Racing, Hallet Motor Speedway,
Oklahoma
Finally a weekend to make up for all those other bad weekends.
The weather was perfect, the racing was the most intense
ever, the car was fast and mostly reliable, and both Brandon
and I had a tremendous time. Brandon is getting licensed
this year, so he and I both drive the 2002 in separate run
groups.
Friday was a practice day for relearning the track and Brandon
and I took turns with 20 minute sessions. No problems other
than a bit of hot running toward the end of each session.
We have cured the high rpm blow-by problem by limiting the
redline to 6800, so we are once again, foolishly optimistic
about our chances for a complete weekend.
Saturday, as an experiment, we tried over-torquing the headbolts
to see if we were having some combustion pressures pushing
coolant out----and hooray! No more pushing out coolant after
running hard. Practice was great for both of us, my afternoon
race was flawless, but Brandon's race had a late surprise---a
loss of power near the end. Oh no, another broken rocker
arm! Fortunately we were able to replace it by race time
next morning.
Sunday, we both raced hard. I finished 2nd in my class and
Brandon, racing in Group 1 with the Thunder cars, pushed
those Mustang V8s hard. They would run away on the straights
but on corners he was pushing hard.
Throughout the weekend, Brandon and I were faster and faster.
Each session we would record lap times faster than the previous.
He would beat my times, then I would go out and beat his.
Only on his last session was he unable to beat my times---or
maybe he was thinking about who signs his paycheck?
April 2004
We noticed last weekend that there was metal in the oil,
we changed the oil at the track, but it became metallic
again. Checking the rod bearings, showed them to be ok but
not perfect. The oil pump was definitely worn---probably
from all the cam and rocker faiures. New bearings, new oil
pump, new oil. Ready for the next club race later this month.
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1974
BMW 2002 Racer