The video explains it all.
Took it out for the annual Iowa Challenge:
During the second run of day two, something went wrong.
I got the car jacked up and found this:
My car was done racing for the day, but I got an offer to co-drive and found myself in a familiar cockpit.
Another ’97 M3! But this one was stock. It was a lot of fun to actually thrash a normal M3 since I didn’t really get to drive my car before yanking the old engine. He runs Pro C Street and consistently lays down very competitive times, even compared to the modified cars. The way the power came on was very different from what I was used to! I could put it on the floor coming out of corners and let the power build with the revs. In my car, if I give it everything right away, it will just spin, but as revs build power drops. This was the opposite!
I was able to have my FIL grab a dolly and swing down to pick me up, so I still made it home.
Here’s what happens when the diff is able to move wherever it wants:
But not anymore:
Since the diff was out, I figured I’d go ahead and replace the driver’s side lower control arm and camber bolt, only to find the camber bolt frozen inside the lower bushing just like the passenger size was. I got the old bushing pressed out, but managed to tear the boot of the new bushing trying to press it in, so now I’m just waiting for another bushing to arrive and I’ll try not to ruin this one.