Hello I'm Tony

I was told about this group, I honestly had little interest until I learned that you guys do functions in West St. Paul, which is quite convenient for me as I'm in South St. Paul..

I currently play with a 2003 BMW 325i with suspension focus.. I also have a Saturn with full suspension build and when I get around to it I'll throw some more of my hand me down parts on it.

I used to have a green Saturn coupe that I ran around with for a number of years.. after I did:



I got bored with it and did:



Then I decided I was bored with that and did:


and


I have a few goodies for the Saturn I still do have, but I haven't bothered to put them on yet because the weekend after I pulled the old car apart I ruined my knee and spent a year couch bound for the most part and am just now getting around to finishing it up.

 

I have run Tail of the Dragon a number of times, done some autocross, drag days, and perhaps some of you recognize that car from other goings on or from laughing at it as I maybe limped it home with one of several blown engines over the years. I mostly have a focus now on endurance type events that require more effort than sitting in a parking lot and seeing who has the larger line of credit.

 

Not often you see an entire subframe/drivetrain pulled out of a car

Welcome

 

Well I had another coupe of the newer body style that needed a suspension overhaul badly in order to be road worthy.

After a number of incarnations of the car I realized I didn't really care much for max HP and having to wait on parts to arrive every time some one off part broke..

I ended up trading the turbo kit from the car for a whole car with a guy out in lower New York back in late 2009.. I flew out, had a great time, and drove it back all in a weekend. I then sold the engine to a guy in the southwest in Spring of 2010 and kind of got screwed the deal because the engine he sent me as partial payment toward the price never showed.. it was a full build with forged internals, etc..

I then just did a stockish rebuild with a barely shaved head, some minimal port matching, etc and focused on suspension stuff because I found that I enjoyed it more when it handled like a go kart and I could barely keep it straight with that much torque because FWD FTL.

I bought the BMW because I wanted something that was more practical for business and I have always loved them. I had always joked with a buddy about turning the car into a convertible... so one day my buddies and I decided to just do it.. I had already made the decision to part it out to use the better car (sunroof, leather, 3 door) as a backup car anyways.. and I figured I'd have some fun with it first because it was going to scrap anyways.

I sold the buddy the engine out of it, as kind of a win/win on the condition that part of the selling price was that I could use his garage/lift to do my suspension swap.. plus I had trashed my knee last June so an extra set of hands made life easier as I was like 2 months post surgery when I did the swap. I put the suspension on the 3 door coupe and the transmission with a welded diff (tig welded pin to prevent ejection) and a longer ratio 5th gear for gas mileage (honestly what Saturn is useful in a race above 100mph, which is where 4th gear ends).

The setup consists of:

2001 Saturn SC2

Progress Springs on KYB shocks
Energy Suspension bushings all around
Progress 3 way adjustable rear swaybar
Smaller front swaybar from another car of the same chassis
Rear disc swap (my other coupe was factory rear disc anyways)
Hawk HPS Pads all around
Some Koenig rims that I can't remember the model of

K&N Drop in filter
Fidanza Flywheel
SDA Dogbone Mounts for engine & transmission
VMS Short Shifter which was a one off to use a threaded knob because I was tired of dealing with a shitty set screw setup
Moddiction Anvil weighted shift knob


In a box waiting for motivation

SDA Race Cams
OBX header/downpipe (not many aftermarket options, not a fan of OBX really)
Apexi SAFC
AEM Wideband
SMS Throttle Body

 

That picture was taken last spring.

The BMW since has gotten the H&R touring cup kit, Active Autowerke strut tower bars, DEPO Headlights and clear corners, EBC Brakes, and the UUC Swaybarian front and rear swaybar kits and bushing kit should be here tomorrow afternoon.

EDIT: I don't plan on doing much performance wise with the BMW.. I will likely take the upgrade path of replace stuff with upgrades as they need replacing.. like if the rear end goes, LSD.. stuff along those lines.. otherwise it's a fantastic car in OEM mode.

 

Welcome!

 

That is awesome!

Yes we go to Carbones in WSP during the winter months. Starting this week we'll be heading to Bloomington's Sonic for our weekly meets. Not too far away

 

Sounds like a nice setup I do like that you went with a smaller front sway to help with understeer.

I plan on throwing a giant rear bar on the brokeswagon at some point I already have the smallest front bar I can on it.

 

Or, James, you could finish your correct wheel drive vehicle.

 

I like the progession of pics BTW. you used up that car in every way possible. Like... a buffalo. hahahahaha

 

Yeah, it saw many incarnations, turbo 3 times, nitrous briefly, mild NA build.. I was happiest by far with the build that was mild NA with bolt ons and tuning along with a complete suspension setup because I felt like my dollar to fun ratio was the highest

 

Until it went crash bang boom rattle rattle rattle crrrrrRRRRRrrr thud