ITT: Jeff_Ciesielski comes out of the closet
 

I've been thinking about it for a while now, but a deal dropped into my lap that I just cant pass up.

A guy at work who has been restoring cars for a long time decided to sell off one of his projects to make room for his vintage truck. He knows about my car habit and told me he would cut me a hell of a deal if I was interested. I sat down and thought about it and decided that it would be a good move to get out now.

The Miata runs great, and I'm standing on the edge of a big drop that I don't necessarily want to leap off of at this point. I mean, with the new mani/exhaust I was planning/have, I would have pushed up to the point where a built motor was a necessity. So I bought the rods/pistons and a spare block and realized that a 6 speed was also going to be in my future. And some sort of LSD. And wider wheels/tires. And injectors. AND AND AND aaaand I just don't really know when it will ever end.

Having JayL living near me makes me realize the awesome potential these cars have, but at the same time how much cash it takes to make that kind of awesomeness a reality and make it drivable. He is constantly pushing me to go farther with my car (which I do appreciate), but I figured that if I didn't have something that we could compare so apples to apples with, I might stand a chance of keeping my self control intact and be happier in the end with what I've got.

So, if all goes well and I'm able to offload the miata and all of the spares and upgrades I have accumulated, some time next week I'll be taking ownership of this:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tMYIeupe-9Q/TF...0/IMG_1554.JPG
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tMYIeupe-9Q/TF...0/IMG_1555.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tMYIeupe-9Q/TF...0/IMG_1556.JPG
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tMYIeupe-9Q/TF...0/IMG_1557.JPG
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tMYIeupe-9Q/TF...0/IMG_1558.JPG

Its a damn near mint condition 1978 BMW 320i.

It has the 2.0l M10 in it and has been upgraded to an e30 5 speed.

I'm already talking with Nameless Performance down in oregon about some fun go-fast parts. Namely a trigger wheel/sensor setup to convert it to MS2 (k-jet...ewww) and <drumroll> a t3 flanged exhaust manifold.

I guess we'll see how it goes, everything is dependant on how much I end up getting for the miata at this point. It will make me sad to see the miata go, but I'm excited to move onto something new.

You'll be a BMW driver...enough said.

so he likes McPherson struts?

:laugh:

You're the second person that's said that to me.

I'm not doing this to get into the whole "euro" thing. Because honestly, the things I hate most about the current state of most car communities (hellaflush, rusted parts, etc) seem to be more prevalent in euro car communities than anywhere else. It just so happens that this particular specimen is too clean to pass up.

That bimmer would make a cool little project for sure, but don't for a minute think that it will be CHEAPER. To mod one of those and get it to the level of quickness of a turbo miata and handle as well, you'll need to drop at least the same ammount into it as the miata. Probably more.

If you're tired of miata's and want "something different" then that's understandable.

But if you're doing this cause you think it will be cheaper than its a bad idea.

Oh I fully get that. I've been looking into parts and the platform is definitely a more expensive one.

The biggest part of the switch is wanting something different. There are so many stupid fast miatas around here that I always measure mine against, and at the end of the day it leaves me unhappy with what I have. Ultimately, I'm unwilling to push it as far as I would need to to get what I want out of THIS PLATFORM. I have much lower aspirations for the BMW.

EDIT: I should also point out though, it could very well be the same with this car. Perhaps it will come down to it and I'll be unhappy when this is done as well and want to go bigger. Maybe I just need to start making more money :giggle:

Yeah, we're a competitive bunch, probably comes from a high test count.

Nothing like an easy crowd of pansy BMW owners to feel fast against. You'll probably beat most of them on the simple fact they won't put their $5 coffee down to race you. :loser:

If you think there are not many fast old bimmers you should think again.

Have you SEEN the numerous threads with ritch fucks out in europe (and here in US) swapping in v10 m5 motors, twin turbo m3 motors, and all kinds of crazy shit? I mean theres tens of thousands put into some of those cars.


We have maybe a handful or two of real FAST miatas around here. Everyone else is under 300whp. Or don't have money for a proper suspension / chassis stiffening upgrades.


They definitely have more fast cars than us.

Unless you're talking stricktly "local to you" bmw's.

Bingo.

There are some fast supercharged bimmers around here that I know of, but nobody I know very well.

With the miata...

I hang out with JayL and 90GTK450 all the time.

I know there are fast Bimmers, I'm kidding around and doing what any good friend would do when their buddy wants to leave the group...throw dirty blows to guilt the fucker into sticking around.

I'm also vocal here because he's doing exactly what I did earlier this year. He's completely ready to make a big jump, has the parts in hand, has done the research, knows he wants it and will enjoy it, but is still afraid.

I started selling off parts, but knew I wanted to keep the car, even if bone stock. Bye bye forged rods...bye big turbo plan, engine hoist, rebuild kit, upgrade manis, nice exhaust...the works. I got a motorcycle out of it, and helped out our family budget as well, but I knew I was allowing a piece of me to die.


Here I am 5 or so months later, and secretly planning another build. I was gonna keep it quiet, but just for Jeff...here ya go.

I couldn't stand it, I hated giving up on the awesome build I'd planned out. So I'm doing it again...and I'm doing it right this time. Knowing as much as I do from the first build, I couldn't let the knowledge rot away.


NEW BUILD PLANS

Focus: I'm not fucking around this time. Best engine management options, real turbo platform. No little IHI hair dryer, no junkyard injectors.

Progress: MS2 built, LC-1 again, crank trigger, RC550s, 3" exhaust, TorSen (no more praying on 6"), T25 footprint setup, FM intercooler (big), COPS, progressive WI (no more switched setup)...and anything else I can do easily.

Kicker: Said and done, all parts in hand, this build has cost me 1/3 of what I had in my inferior setup. The stars aligned a little, and I caught a few awesome deals, but I also knew what I was doing this time.

Downside: I did give up on the idea of a built motor, expensive, painful, lots of tools and equipment, drive train upgrades etc. But I like the idea of throwing $300 engines and $75 transmissions in anytime I get my car back from my little brother.



If you still must go, then have FUN buddy!

No joke, I actually thought about your situation when I started thinking of going this route. There is always that sting of uncertainty in switching things up, but the uncertainty of bleeding a ton of extra money on this only to still be unhappy (which I think I would be unless I was pushing ~320+hp and able to put it down) is enough of a deterrent.

Hehe, I figured this might happen eventually. Good luck with the build, its always funny how shit is cheaper the second time around when you really know what you want. Although I must admit, the premise of starting over from scratch and just doing everything right is appealing to me...

I'll try my hardest. Shit, for all I know this might blow right the fuck up in my face. Maybe nobody will buy the miata for a decent price (I'm only expecting 1500 more than I paid for it...about a 90% loss on my investment)

Or maybe after testing out the car this weekend I'm going to decide that I hate this car with a passion, and I'll just keep the miata.

Or perhaps since I'm only paying 1800 bucks for the car, I'll decide that I should just flip it and make a FUCKING KILLING and get another miata and do the damn thing BIG from the start. Time will tell.

Dude, eat ramen for a couple months and keep both cars.

DONT DO IT!!!!!!!111!!! We can easily have a reliable 150-200hp vehicle, and four our light cars that's an amazing feat. Look at the kind of turbo tech we had a few years ago, everyone was running bandaids and the Greddy kit. Keep the miata, enjoy the driving passion, and don't loose so much money. Maybe just get a good daily driver and track the miata? That's what I've done and couldn't be happier. Uber-reliable DD with 30+mpg for the week, fun track/street toy miata for the weekend. If I ever get the itch to dump money, I go karting to release some energy, or a full on track day if I have the money.

I don't have the space nor the awesome magical powers over my wife it would take to do that.

Believe me though, I would if I could. And in reality, I could buy the car outright, but I don't need 3 cars. The miata is a toy, I daily drive an '06 corolla.

It is neat how fast the sophistication of miata turbo setups has ramped up over the last couple of years. I still feel like we're a little behind though (mostly due to the small customer base) when compared to DSMs and hondas.

Something that I've realized over the last couple of months that is really starting to define what I want in a car is that more than driving, I really enjoy the build. In fact, I could be happy just building my cars endlessly and never racing them. I enjoy the challenge of completing an objective and the rush I get from seeing the outcome. I thought for a while that I wanted to get into doing track days, but I just can't get *THAT* enthused about it.

This is not to say that I don't enjoy driving what I've built, but it isn't what I base my love of cars around.

my uncle has one of those. it's a cool little car, mostly stock tho (kamei front lip, remus exhaust, pretty much thats it lol). Seems like he spends a lot for maintenance though.

:sadwavey:

BMWs and Miatas live together happily...

http://i41.tinypic.com/258qbfc.jpg

Loser.
Attachment 195416
FYI, I'm going to be driving that truck fucker.