Thanks to Rick Neuenschwander for the pic!

Another weekend, another event…  I was the only E Stock class car entered in the event, so there wasn’t anything to directly compare times against.  I ran out of time to tweak the tire pressures exactly as I wanted, but the balance felt pretty good after the first 2 runs so I decided to just stick with the settings for the rest of the day:  32psi in the fronts, and 34psi in the rears.

DNF’d the first run because I missed a cone (should have walked the course one more time!).  Best run of the day was a 57.7, though I did make mistakes.  With a few more runs I think I could have broken into the low 56s, unfortunately with over 100 cars entered in the event we were limited to only 5 runs each.

This was also the first opportunity to test out the CG-Lock seat belt locks that I had installed last week.  Basically it locks the lap portion of the seat belt, preventing the torso from moving around as much in the seat during cornering.  Overall I’d say the product works as advertised and definitely helps keep me in place so I don’t have to hold on in the corners.  Nowhere near as good as a proper racing harness, but much better than stock.

Next event is in Indianapolis on the 16th, and I’ll see if I can get summer tires on the car before then.  With the tire availability severely limited for the 14″ rim sizes I’ll probably go with the Falken Azenis RT-615 195/60R14, though ideally (if the budget wasn’t a concern) I’d like to get some 15×7 rims and run a Bridgestone RE-11 on 205/50R15.

Forgot to bring a camera so I’ll edit the post with pictures when I find them…

Event times have been posted.

Edit:  Here’s a video posted from a E46 M3 driver on his run:  http://vimeo.com/5912368

In order to run a trackday event and pass tech inspection the car needs a rollbar that passes the broomstick test.  I went ahead and ordered a Hard Dog M1 Hard Core roll bar to install, and in this post and the two following installments I’ll go over the installation process.

Overall its a bit of a lengthy process and a bit tricky at times during the install, but definitely not something too difficult to do for someone who is willing to get a bit dirty working on a car.

Part 1:  Preparation

First the style bar that was already on the car needs to be removed.  Uncap the plastic snap on seat belt tower covers:

Style bar needs to go as it serves no functional purpose

Cap removed, exposing 16mm bolt

Then unscrew the 16mm bolt that holds the seat belt to the tower, and remove the style bar + misc spacer hardware on the bolt.  Reassemble without style bar.

The next step to remove the carpet behind the driver and passenger seats.  This consists of both the carpeting on top of the fuel tank and the carpet behind the seats.  They are held in place with plastic tacks that can be gently removed using a clawhammer.  Two additional screws with plastic inserts on the rear carpet are removed with a #2 phillips screwdriver.

Carpet tacks gently removed with a clawhammer

Next up is to remove the ‘quarter trim’ plastic covers on the seatbelt towers.  A couple of M40 torx screws for the top cap and hardtop latch, and some regular screws plus a plastic tack that removes when the center button is lifted need to be removed for this.  Then pull back the plastic trim on the doorsill and the plastic cover comes off.

Top cap on quarter trim

Hardtop latch removed (M40 torx)

Unbolt the seat belt from the tower

Off comes the quarter trim

Below the carpet and quarter trim is the aluminum cover that is held in with several 10mm bolts.  This needs to be removed too.

Unbolting the aluminum cover w/ 10mm socket

With the aluminum cover bolts and the cover removed, remove the fuel hose cover in the trunk and then the car is ready to start work on cutting for the rollbar installation

Remove the black fuel hose cover using 10mm wrench

Interior removed and ready for work.

In part 2 I’ll go over cutting the bodywork for the rollbar, and installation of the rollbar itself.  Happy motoring!