Quote Originally Posted by Z3_GoCar View Post
Let me be the first to say "Welcome"Sorry to hear about your issues with the used race car. That's the down side to buying someone elses car and not build it your self. Sound to me you need a blueprint of your current motor. I've seen video of an ITS E30 beating up on an ITR Z3. Josh, would you care to share the link.James
Thanks for the welcome. Going into this hobby, I had a lot of people tell me that buying a used racecar is the way to go...benefit from the thousands of dollars someone else will lose.

After this experience, I'm a believer in building your car yourself. The one exception I can see is buying a car from someone you know well that you know has taken care of the car.

While my rebuilt motor was running (1st year of racing), I won every race that I completed (one mechanical and one 3#s light).

At that point the motor felt pretty strong but the suspension needed a lot of work. I didn't get the suspension sorted until after the engine died, so I've never had both at the same time...I'm thinking it can be competitive but I've never had everything working at the same time to prove this. I have 1 win with the junker motor and a whole bunch of 2nd/3rds.

I know my engine is really tired, but I just don't know if a rebuilt engine will make up the 10+ car length differential (on straights) that I'm seeing against an E36 competitor. I'm faster in the turns, but not that much faster. I'll post some video from my most recent race once I can get it uploaded to Fototime.