This is supposed to be that time of year when you watch the 24 Hours of Daytona, day-dream of the upcoming autocross season and start deciding the mods you want to make to your car. You take a close look at the rule changes and decide which of the go-fast bits you can get away with installing. This year has been no exception, only actually getting the parts on the car has turned into somewhat of a challenge.

Back in November I started down one of those “I’ll just touch up a bit of paint…” paths on the convertible. What started out as fixing a scratch and a nickel-sized rust spot, turned into repainting the rear quarter panel. Evidently the “scratch” was a crack in the paint. The paint cracked because the filler under it had separated from the metal due to a poor repair job. Many hours of sanding and a couple of tubes of filler later, I had the panel repaired and primed. Then I ran out of color-coat. The new shipment of paint arrived two days too late — it hasn’t been above 50 degrees since. I can only get the garage about 20 degrees above the ambient temperature outside so I haven’t been able to finish painting. Since I haven’t finished painting, I haven’t been able to get the other BMW in the garage to put the new parts on. Now I have snow drifts of up to 4 feet in front of the garage so I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to get back in there.

You’ll recall at the end of last season, my differential was toast. I have a replacement (which is currently on the front porch under a couple feet of snow) that’s ready to be installed. Since the standard E30 limited slip differential can really heat up under heavy track use, I’m going to modify it with a cover from a Z3. As you can see in the photo above, this cover has fins to help cooling.

Next up is a new header. My old stock exhaust manifold is either cracked or cracking so it’s time to replace it. Though this mod isn’t legal for Spec E30, it is for the autocross class I’m running this year. Since full Spec E30 is still a couple of years (and an engine rebuild) away, might as well get as much power as I can out of the current lump. I like the shorty headers because you get the benefit of equal length primary tubes, plus the convenience of being able to still drop the exhaust ahead of the cat. Once I get all this in, then it’s time to turn to steering changes and the adjustable 19mm rear swaybar to complement the front bar I put in last year. For now, the Stealth has a set of Blizzak winter tires and is my primary means of getting around in the drifting snow.