So I've been working on my new project car for a couple weeks now. I got it running 2 weeks back, took it to it's first autocross last weekend and it posted fastest time of day at it's first event!!! This was at a really fast course with about 150 other cars there on that day.

Why?....

Because I went from here....
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/goldbimmer.jpg
to here...Oops...time to build another car...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/DSC03110.jpg

Couple weeks back:
Picked up the shell
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/2.jpg

Threw out a LOT of junk and gunk

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/6.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/9.jpg

Sound deadening OUT

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/4.jpg

Cutting and dynaglassing fenders

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/3.jpg

Painting engine bay

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-09-07_1523.jpg

All the glass comes out

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-09-07_1525.jpg

LEXAN

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-09-07_1527.jpg

Cut cut cut

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-09-07_1241.jpg

Heat Heat Heat

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-09-07_1011.jpg

Yay for nice parts

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-11-07_1231.jpg

Prepping and painting lexan

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-11-07_1944.jpg

CF Sunroof panel gets transferred over

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-11-07_2041.jpg

Interior gets paint

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-12-07_2147.jpg

Certifit bumpers arrive ... yay for CHEAP bumpers

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-12-07_1707.jpg

Sitting pretty next to each other ready for the motor swap

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-15-07_1304.jpg

More painting
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-14-07_2046.jpg

Initial preview in MS Paint!!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/FinalEdit-1.jpg

Mock up spoiler for designing

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-24-07_0822.jpg

Rear subframe of shell comes out

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-24-07_1656.jpg

Engine bay gets emptied completely for the new engine

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-24-07_1655.jpg

Went to Home Depot and "purchased" some downforce (autocross speeds....it would be serious drag at track speeds)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-26-07_1817.jpg

Right before she got crushed :weep:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-27-07_1110.jpg

Motor going in

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-27-07_1053.jpg

Steering going in

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-27-07_1054.jpg

Figuring out the wiring

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-27-07_1056.jpg

Fuel pump getting changed

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-28-07_1744.jpg

Got 'er running

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/09-28-07_1725.jpg

Go Kart Stage

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/DSC02059.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/DSC02072.jpg

Bumpers and grill and stuff getting mocked up with a donated hood
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-03-07_1239.jpg

Delivery from MA Shaw!!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-05-07_1027.jpg

Tail lights come in (bimmer forums member kubol87)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-05-07_1019.jpg

Cutting the bumpers for clearance

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-05-07_1020.jpg

More cutting and chopping

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-06-07_2311.jpg

Interior went in (got done 7 hours before her debut autocross!)
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/10-06-07_2305.jpg

She makes the event
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/101_1870.jpg

Sets FTD with full metal doors, trunk and hood
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/101_1896.jpg

Damn!!! Sorry to hear that. How bad was the frame bent, that you had to start with new shell? But anyway best of luck and I'm subscribed.

Got the doors on this morning and cut up some vinyl till I can afford paint before the next season.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143114.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143118.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143111.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143108-1.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143104.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143111.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA143110.jpg

All that weight savings and you put diamond plate floors in?

Have you done any testing with that trunk spoiler?

A huge drag wing would be much more effective, as I can't imagine much airflow actually getting to that wing at the speeds you are going.

How light are you allowed to go in your current class?

I'm diggin the all black though.

Damn!!! Sorry to hear that. How bad was the frame bent, that you had to start with new shell? But anyway best of luck and I'm subscribed.

The unibody was totalled. If you look carefully, you can see a dent in the roof where it had bent in...the rockers were bent pretty bad and the entire floor of the car had folded up.....the metal in the corner of the engine bay right before the firewall was broken.

Car could have been stretched back with a frame puller, but it would NEVER have been straight again = useless to be a winning autocross car.

Decided to just junk it and get a new one.

Sold the hood, trunk and doors to a fellow bimmerforums member and started afresh....

CF hood and Trunk are due this upcoming week. I'll post pics as soon as they come in. I'm getting a custom shell only CF trunklid made here in Houston. It's estimated to weight 3.3 Lbs! My new fender flares will also be coming in this week but those wont be going on till later this year because I want to dynaglass them in before the paint job.

Ven

All that weight savings and you put diamond plate floors in?

Have you done any testing with that trunk spoiler?

A huge drag wing would be much more effective, as I can't imagine much airflow actually getting to that wing at the speeds you are going.

How light are you allowed to go in your current class?

I'm diggin the all black though.

They're pretty light floor plates actually. More for the level floor surface than anything else...easier to left foot brake and stuff that way. Plus, the weight is all the way at the bottom, so it's not all bad.

A huge drag wing WOULD be more effective for sure, but it is illegal in my class. I am allowed a trunk spoiler like the one I've got, up to 10" off the trunk lid of the car. I've got mine right at around 8.5" off the trunk, set at around 70 degrees.

I tried it at the first event. I ran in the morning w/o the wing and in the afternoon with it, and there was definitely a difference to be felt in high speed cornering stability and quicker counter-steer correction at speed. It helped in braking too. This kind of spoiler has been tested by many autocrossers, and if you look at pictures of nationals this year, you'll see it on a LOT of cars. Just that mine is ghetto lol. It's temporary anyways.

With my 2.8L, I'm allowed 2100 lbs plus 100 lb weight penalty for running wheels larger than 16" tall. I'm on 18x10s right now. I had the gold car down to 2230 lbs, but that was with fully cut up metal doors. This new one I estimate will be event lighter with the CF doors and lighter and better build in total.

Yea, without a cage and those rules, 2200 should be very very easy. Even in the pictures above I see a lot of stuff that can be removed.

Any reason you did not go with the full 10" on the trunk spoiler? Are you allowed to use any other aero devices?

Yea, without a cage and those rules, 2200 should be very very easy. Even in the pictures above I see a lot of stuff that can be removed.

Any reason you did not go with the full 10" on the trunk spoiler? Are you allowed to use any other aero devices?

What else do you see inside the car thats NOT structural? Is the package tray structural at all? I need to know these things before I cut away and then have to weld more metal in to support everything.

Reason why I didnt go with 10"?? Here's the truth...this entire spoiler I made from home depot is an experiment. If It works, I'll be getting one made more professionally. I bought a 24x48 sheet of lexan, cut the first spoiler to 13" wide so that it would be 3" of support behind the trunk and then the 10" spoiler. But as I was drilling it for the holes, I broke it...umm so I was left with 11"x48" and I was too lazy to go back to home depot to buy more lexan. Yeah...so 2.5" mounting and 8.5" of spoiler.

Now that it's done though, I think any taller would have been more harm than good because of the aggressive angle of attack. Never know till you test it though. If I do get another one made, it will be fully adjustable, angle and height.

I can use all the aero devices I want on the bumpers and stuff like splitters and canards, but I highly doubt they will be of any help at 0-70 mph. Anything else you'd suggest?

I don't think you'll be going fast enough to have "more harm then good" with that type of spoiler, as its not getting a tremendous amount of airflow. You are also not doing 70mph during turns, thats the speed you are hitting before you tap the brakes to settle the car before you toss it in between some orange pointy things. So lets assume your max speed on turns where you need the downforce (or where you can benefit from it anyways) is 50mph. You will need very aggressive wing setups to get anything usuable at that speed. Otherwise, spend the time and money developing your suspension geometry, it'll do 1000x more for you.

Are you allowed to modify susp geometry? With the frequency experienced during autox, damper tuning can play a huge roll as you are not in steady state for any extended time period.

Put a high drag high df wing on the front end, mount it to the chassis, it'll get you front grip at low speeds :) I.e. AM setups lol

Do you have to keep the Ebrake?

Stock steering column?

What suspension/brakes?

I've seen some funky brake rotor setups on some autox cars, not sure if you are up for that though, its a tad sketchy, but it works and saves a decent amount of rotational mass.

Pictures are a little dark, but there are a bunch of areas you can swiss cheese. back of the trunk box, some parts of the dash, some parts of the door sill area, etc.

I don't think you'll be going fast enough to have "more harm then good" with that type of spoiler, as its not getting a tremendous amount of airflow. You are also not doing 70mph during turns, thats the speed you are hitting before you tap the brakes to settle the car before you toss it in between some orange pointy things. So lets assume your max speed on turns where you need the downforce (or where you can benefit from it anyways) is 50mph. You will need very aggressive wing setups to get anything usuable at that speed. Otherwise, spend the time and money developing your suspension geometry, it'll do 1000x more for you.

Are you allowed to modify susp geometry? With the frequency experienced during autox, damper tuning can play a huge roll as you are not in steady state for any extended time period.

Put a high drag high df wing on the front end, mount it to the chassis, it'll get you front grip at low speeds :)

Do you have to keep the Ebrake?

Stock steering column?

What suspension/brakes?

I've seen some funky brake rotor setups on some auto cars, not sure if you are up for that though, its a tad sketchy, but it works and saves a decent amount of rotational mass.

I'm losing the e-brake this week...just been too lazy to unbolt it and take it out. However, I do have the stock steering column and stock brakes. They are adequate, but I'm up for a change if it results in significant loss. Suspension is GC Advanced Designs.

Ok, so from that reply, it sounds like you have a lot left in it :) Just depends on how competitive your class in your region is, or even nationally.

How fast is your competition? If you are already faster than everyone you race, save the cash and just win, otherwise it might be time to move to another class if you want to be in a more competitive class.

You are also removing the actual Ebrake assemblies, cables, cable housings, etc, correct?

I think it was a couple of Honda's and Miata's that had the swiss cheeses brake rotors. Funky, ugly, and sketchy, but they worked :)

Ok, so from that reply, it sounds like you have a lot left in it :) Just depends on how competitive your class in your region is, or even nationally.

How fast is your competition? If you are already faster than everyone you race, save the cash and just win, otherwise it might be time to move to another class if you want to be in a more competitive class.

You are also removing the actual Ebrake assemblies, cables, cable housings, etc, correct?

I think it was a couple of Honda's and Miata's that had the swiss cheeses brake rotors. Funky, ugly, and sketchy, but they worked :)


I'll be taking out the ENTIRE E-brake assembly. Yes.

Competition at divisionals, national tours and nationals are incredibly fast. The only car that I had as any real competition in Houston SCCA in FP was a killer fast E30 but it broke down at nats last year.

I've heard of swiss cheesing the front ends and covering w/ vinyl...but brake rotors? Couldn't that be extremely unsafe? Got any pictures?

Rotors: If done properly, it can be safe. You guys are braking for very short periods of time, with fairly cool conditions, and at low speeds, you can go pretty extreme. Check out Formula SAE brakes. Obviously they are smaller diameter, but scaled up a bit, they should work no problem.

In my opinion, if you are only using the car for autox for its entire lifespan, and considering those chassis are super cheap, not that you have to to get 2200#, but i would cut the crap out of everything, specifically everything above the CG.

Edit: Ok, real quick as I'm heading to sleep, but these were actually from an old BF thread we had. btw you can go even lighter than these with a shark tooth pattern 2 piece design

http://kwenzel.rmsolo.org/epimages/rotors/swiss_cheese.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/olsenautox/image/49122954/large.jpg

What did you hit with the old car? Steve, I don't think you could do anything near as drastic with vented/veined rotors.

Who says they have to be vented/veined? :) Need to think outside the box.

Is the braking system "free," as in you can mount any rotor/combo?

Run a very small diameter disc and small 2 or 4 piston caliper.

Who says they have to be vented/veined? :) Need to think outside the box.

Is the braking system "free," as in you can mount any rotor/combo?

Run a very small diameter disc and small 2 or 4 piston caliper.

They are free, but I don't want to mess with the factory brake bias. I like the way it feels and never locks even on super hard braking. I'm keeping ABS and power steering. They have spoilt me.

I'll be taking out the ENTIRE E-brake assembly. Yes.



Woah, wait a second. I'd leave the E-brake in. Especially if you do, or are planning to do any ProSolos. Many of the starting lines are sloped enough that you'll roll if you don't have an E-brake. And obviously it'd be hard to do a real launch if you're trying to also modulate brake and gas with your right foot.

Nice build. I remember a year or so ago there was some discussion about the weight penalty for wheels larger than 16" being lifted, but I guess that didn't happen. Out of curiosity, why not run slicks?

My region has an FP driver that a couple of people have heard of...

http://msscca.org/pictures/2007/nt/jt_dixie.jpg

you are my hero, that is one gorgeous car, both new and the old

Ven, very nice job. car looks great. i've got your old doors stripped out and preliminarily mounted.

where did you get your CF sunroof panel? I've been looking for something like that.

Nice build. I remember a year or so ago there was some discussion about the weight penalty for wheels larger than 16" being lifted, but I guess that didn't happen. Out of curiosity, why not run slicks?

My region has an FP driver that a couple of people have heard of...

http://msscca.org/pictures/2007/nt/jt_dixie.jpg

Actually, unless he moved back, JT lives in Tampa, Florida. But yeah, John's definitely the benchmark. My favorite quote from a friend to JT as he pulled into the Impound shed after winning the FP National Championship...

"Good work John! Imagine how fast you would be if you did this more than once a year."

nice work, i followed your first build and this one is pretty good , good luck to you.

So lets assume your max speed on turns where you need the downforce (or where you can benefit from it anyways) is 50mph.

Autox is more than just traditional road course corners linked together. There are elements where you do use downforce at 60-70+ mph. e.g. Slaloms and offsets.

jmitro - here's the last thread (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=814885&highlight=sunroof) where the CF sunroof was asked about and answered on this forum.

Autox is more than just traditional road course corners linked together. There are elements where you do use downforce at 60-70+ mph. e.g. Slaloms and offsets.


Yes, well aware of autox characteristics, did a couple years in a FSAE/AM car.

I'd be more worried about good dampers than aero for a 70+mph slalom. I would put quite a bit of money down that a car that has a better chassis setup in that class, same car, will be faster than a car with aero. For that class, mechanical grip wins.

Very nice build, car looks great.

Yes, well aware of autox characteristics, did a couple years in a FSAE/AM car.

I'd be more worried about good dampers than aero for a 70+mph slalom. I would put quite a bit of money down that a car that has a better chassis setup in that class, same car, will be faster than a car with aero. For that class, mechanical grip wins.


I'm sure he already has good shocks on the car. The point is that the spoiler does make it faster. Not a lot, but it does.

For a 70 mph slalom in an FP car, I'd worry about mechanical grip. For a 70 mph slalom in an AM car, I'd worry about aero grip. Joe Cheng, builder of the fastest AM car in North America was talking about a similar subject yesterday on another forum.

Actually, unless he moved back, JT lives in Tampa, Florida.
I know, but we still claim him. He still helps us put on our annual autocross school, and happily beats us in our own cars.

John's pretty good at that, isn't he? :) I was supposed to help him with a school back in the spring, but it got postponed due to weather, and I moved to GA soon thereafter.

RCE ftw :)

Hello

Nice build. I remember a year or so ago there was some discussion about the weight penalty for wheels larger than 16" being lifted, but I guess that didn't happen. Out of curiosity, why not run slicks?


Abolishing wheel size penalties for CP & FP is out for member comment. Dont know if the CP guys will let is "pass" though.

Not running slicks for the following reasons.
1) Nationals & MOST surfaces are asphalt
2) The fastest car at nationals has been running DOT-Rs for atleast 2 years in a row now.
3) DOT-Rs are getting better and better...
4) DSP = fast on DOT-Rs, my car is DSP minus 600 lbs
5) Need to rethink all the suspension setup for Slicks
6) V710s/A6s LAST A LONG TIME and dont fall as fast as slicks do.
I think DOT-Rs are the way to go, atleast for my medium power, medium weight car


My region has an FP driver that a couple of people have heard of...
http://msscca.org/pictures/2007/nt/jt_dixie.jpg
John Thomas = Best Autocrosser of all time
His Z looks like SUPER CLEAN, ready to win a few car shows.

John is the most successful autocrosser of all time, and an awesome guy. There's some other guys I might put my money on given everyone in the same car, same day...

I agree on the slicks, although the new R25B Radials seem to have a shot at pushing slicks back up to their status of ~10 years ago.

For reference purposes, John's Z car is under 2050 lbs, and makes over 300 hp..... more powerful than my XP car.

Just screwed in the headlight covers I fabbed up, and covered them in some vinyl. Also got the e-brake assembly working again. Will take it off if the car is still overweight after the rest of the CF comes in.

what did you make the headlight covers of? I don't really want to spend $200 on plastic headlight covers with a duct just to save a few pounds, but will if i can't find anything else that works

What do you run for a motor? Approximately how many bhp?

My DSP car came in a 2793lbs with 1/3 tank of fuel. With any luck next year the car will be 75lbs lighter. It's hard to beleve another 500 lbs coming out of the car!

Will take it off if the car is still overweight after the rest of the CF comes in.

Do you plan on running Pros? If so, I'd really suggest you not mess with it.

Do you plan on running Pros? If so, I'd really suggest you not mess with it.

If you are planning on running a Pro, and you don't believe ^... ask Teucci. I think it was the last Mineral Wells Pro where the start was uphill. Definitely needed the parking brake (with the button taped in so you could just drop it)!

what did you make the headlight covers of? I don't really want to spend $200 on plastic headlight covers with a duct just to save a few pounds, but will if i can't find anything else that works

I'll mail some pics to you tonight...All you need is a dremel and some self drilling screws.

What do you run for a motor? Approximately how many bhp?

My DSP car came in a 2793lbs with 1/3 tank of fuel. With any luck next year the car will be 75lbs lighter. It's hard to beleve another 500 lbs coming out of the car!

2.8L M52 (Basically DSP motor + M3 cams) = 225 RWHP.

Stuff in the car weighs quite a bit...it all adds up little by little.

I'd be more worried about good dampers than aero for a 70+mph slalom. I would put quite a bit of money down that a car that has a better chassis setup in that class, same car, will be faster than a car with aero. For that class, mechanical grip wins.
We've been working on them to get new shocks... :D

saweet car

"Custom" Headlight covazzzz...lol@ the vinyl

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA183127.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA183119.jpg

Fan switch and AFR gauge mounted

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/PA183128.jpg

nice. switching hoods soon?

Well atleast the garage is nice and tidy ;)

Nice thread. I need to find a car i can just strip and really do some power and weight stuff. All i have now is a daily driver, but hope to be in your shoes after school. Nice build by the way. Give you props on the black...have to love the black. The gold in the bumper is cool too, like a reminder of the predecessor. haha

Update - car currently has 12 pound carbon fiber hood (bought a cheap CF hood from raceonusa and stripped the inner fiberglass support completely, and sanded the inner fiberglass resin), Mashaw CF doors, and a 2 lb carbon fiber trunk (1 layer outer only) pinned on. The trunk was made by Velocity Motorcars in Houston. The hardware (4 sparco pins and 2 narrow fiberglass sticks) almost weight as much as the trunk does lol.

any idea how heavy (or light) the doors are? is this with the full inner frame? door handles and latches?

great to see such a great car in houston texas!

i just moved here from dallas and have been lookign for a good group of people to meet up with!

any idea how heavy (or light) the doors are? is this with the full inner frame? door handles and latches?

I'm using the stock hinges and latch and handle from inside - eliminated all he extra stuff, power lock mechanisms and outer door handles. They are very light and do not have a clear coat on them - will be getting painted soon. I bought them with the full inner frame - I don't want to cut up the inner frame because I dont want the doors to be flimsy and bendy like the hood. It is a full CF door, inner and outer - pretty strong. Looks like the outer is 3 layers of CF and the inner is a single layer. They weigh around 8 lbs each before hinges and handles.

Switching to Hoosier A6s for this weekend. Tires just came in and went on the 2nd spare set of wheels - these are Enkei NT03-M 18x10, 25 offset, 20 lbs each. Flare work and paint job are scheduled for next week.

Ven

I'm doing the same - Hoosier A6s this year.

I'm doing the same - Hoosier A6s this year.

For the weight of the car (~2200 lb) and the size of the tire (285/30/18) it made sense to try out the Hoo Hoos because I was heat cycling the V710s to thrash WAY WAY WAY before I ran out of tread/rubber. This set will be my experiment to see if they make me any faster....people say Hoohoos can be faster if set up right.

I'm on such a slick surface at my site that I have 150 runs on my 710s and they have at least half the tread depth left.

Interestingly they dont seem that heat cycled as they still make about 90% of peak grip when they were new.

I'm on such a slick surface at my site that I have 150 runs on my 710s and they have at least half the tread depth left.

Interestingly they dont seem that heat cycled as they still make about 90% of peak grip when they were new.

Thats crazy - 90% after 150 runs - I get to 150 runs sometimes but most of the time, I trash the tires before that ....whenever I get to 150, the tread is still 30-40% there....but the tires are hard as rocks, slip like CRAZY, there is absolutely no control - under steer like a bitch, and rear keeps fishtailing at high acceleration....Normally I get tired by the time I hit 120-125 runs (like for eg, being slower than SS or AS in an FP car lol), and just junk the tires.

GGP, where we have our events is pretty slick asphalt too....we have some events at HPA, which is a sticky concrete surface, and there, pretty much any tire grips. So the 80-100 run tires get used up there normally.

$1200 on tires every 3-4 months is getting really expensive really quick with this "recession." Might have to think about getting some streets at "recession tires." :rolleyes

Very nice work, keep it up

Broke something in the rear-end in the afternoon session at this past weekend's autocross. Pics below are from the morning session...

Afternoon - Car starts acting funny on the first run, so I take a chill sunday drive through the course....brother/co-driver get's in and takes the car up to start....does a good launch and after that, all he can hear is a LOUD CRUNCHING GRINDS noise coming from the right rear side as he said - I drove it once, and it definitely sounds like something broken in the rear end - could be something as simple as a bad wheel bearing or a broken CV axle or something as complicated as a busted LSD unit or blown differential - we loaded it back up on the trailer right after that...I still haven't had time to go to the garage to evaluate the problem.

Either way, car will be getting diagnosed by the end of this week, and I'm preparing for the worst....if it needs a diff...i'll be getting one from diffsonline - probably up it to a 3.64 from the current 3.23, and probably get a 2 clutch pack unit for min weight, and it's not going to get used much apart from autocross use....

Some pictures from this past weekend before the break down oncourse...oh, please do note the Enkei NT03-Ms 18x10s loaded with the 285/30/18 Hoohoo A6s

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch001.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch030.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch031.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch032.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch033.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch037.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch044.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Autocross%20030308/SCCAMarch045.jpg

Can you really make it work with a 3.64? I bang off the rev limiter once in awhile with a 3.15 and a 7000rpm redline (2nd gear). I just ordered a custom ramped diff from Metrix Motorsport (http://www.metrixmotorsport.com)

Can you really make it work with a 3.64? I bang off the rev limiter once in awhile with a 3.15 and a 7000rpm redline (2nd gear). I just ordered a custom ramped diff from Metrix Motorsport (http://www.metrixmotorsport.com)

At 7150 rpm in 2nd, I'm going 64 mph or so...with a 3.64 I should be down to about 58 or so...and I only hit the rev limiter on every say fourth course I drive....so....if I'm higher up in the rev range (say even 300-400 rpms) through the course, I should technically be faster....and if that doesn't work out, I'll just switch to 275/35/18 tires instead of the current 285/30s....taller tire will compensate for the higher gear ratio.


and lol@ the bumper coming off of the passenger side - I hit a cone pretty hard at a past event, and the mount on that side is torn now...the entire bumper is just held up by like 4 screws.....and its getting swapped as soon as the paint job is done.

Just started the flare work...Got the passenger front done already and it looks pretty damn killer!!! I'm liking it a lot on this car.

It's been raining like crazy, and I haven't had time to diagnose the rear end problem yet because there is barely any space in my garage. I've been researching diffs, and if it ends up that I need a new one, I think I might just get one from Metrix....3 clutch, 3.46 or 3.64, no core charge...$1300...pretty good if you ask me....similar one from diffsonline costs a bunch more, plus a left testicle core charge, close to 2,000+400 core charge. For the kind of use I've been putting it through, I think the metrix will be sufficient.

That was my thinking as well. I really think if you are serious about taking this car to nationals you should pony up and get the ramped differential. Among all the builders and competitors I have talked to, they have almost unanimously agreed it is a much superior option. My diff is $2100 including shipping and all fees with a bunch of upgrades (motorsports gears, polished internals, finned diff cover, 4 clutch setup, ramped type). If you skip the finned diff cover you can easily cut a few hundred off that and shipping should be cheaper in your neighborhood.

Does an AX run get the diff fluid hot enough to need a finned cover?

i just got a 3.91 from Metrix with 4 clutches and 30/60 ramps. haven't used it yet but price is good. communication is a little scanty but I guess for the price i can deal with that.

Just started the flare work...Got the passenger front done already and it looks pretty damn killer!!! I'm liking it a lot on this car.

what kind of flares are you putting on?

Certainly not.

what kind of flares are you putting on?


Same as last time, the one's I pioneered on my gold car and like 40 people have now done to their cars.....including the lowside's DSP car.....240 SX flares from raceonusa.com


i just got a 3.91 from Metrix with 4 clutches and 30/60 ramps. haven't used it yet but price is good. communication is a little scanty but I guess for the price i can deal with that.

PM'd ya on this...I'd appreciate if you can reply.

Does an AX run get the diff fluid hot enough to need a finned cover?

Definitely do not need a finned cover or even a ring and pinion polish because it doesn't get anywhere close to that temperature.

Update: 11:13 pm - Stopped flare work because I ran out of cut off wheels for my dremel to notch them as I wanted....went ahead and got the sparco seats out of the car since they will be replaced with new Kirkey racing seats this upcoming week.

This broken diff/whatever in the rear end is eating into my budget and paint will have to wait till I figure out what is wrong and how much $$ I'll have to spend to fix it.

Ven

Does an AX run get the diff fluid hot enough to need a finned cover?
No, but I am building my car as a dual purpose DSP autox car and a track day car so I elected for the upgrades to keep my diff cool and healthy.

Hey Ven, that sucks to hear about the FP car.

Metrix is a good company, but they can be hard to communicate with. They rebuilt my 3.38 and polished the gears for a good price so its ok.

and lol@ the bumper coming off of the passenger side - I hit a cone pretty hard at a past event, and the mount on that side is torn now...the entire bumper is just held up by like 4 screws.....and its getting swapped as soon as the paint job is done.
Did the bumper catch on the front tire while turning? We are running a 285 tire and 18x10 wheel on the front of our E36 also, and it was touching the rear fender portion of the M3 bumper when I first mounted it up. I used some 3" diameter washers and spaced the whole bumper cover assembly forward 1/4" and now the tires clear at full lock. Its not noticeable and didn't require trimming of the new M3 bumper. :)

If you want a replacement M3 front bumper and don't already have a source you should call these guys (we got ours from another source before I found this one; we paid $400)...

http://www.carpartswholesale.com/

B010315
B010317P
B010320
B010324P
B760110P - rear bumper cover

Those are the various hits I got for "m3 bumper" in their search, with prices ranging from $225 to $312 for the front cover and $346 for the rear cover. Not cheapo eBay fiberglass, real OEM style bumper covers. Some of those front bumper cover part numbers included everything - all 3 pieces of trim and the grill insert, which I highly suggest using. They also have replacement plastic bumper alignment brackets, all the M3 trim and the grill inserts sold separately as well... this place has lots more in their catalog than Certifit.

Beware - if you order online they will tag you with big shipping and handling fees, but if you call them they will knock down those prices fairly easily. I just bought a front fender ($44) and headlight surround ($12) for our E30 yesterday. We'll see how they fit. The rear E36 M3 bumper was a bit pricey at $400 delivered, but I think we're gonna go ahead and do that on our E36 before we repaint it.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/262963503_QUt4x-M-1.jpg

We just got the steel E46 sedan front fenders/flares, eBay M3 side mirrors, and new M3 front bumper put on our E36 XP car and it looks 100 times better than before. The steel flares took a lot of work but didn't cost much ($29/each fender from Certifit), but we have lots of fiberglass work to do to make them look pretty, of course. The flares are clearing our 285 front, 305 rear Hoosiers well enough.

http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/261135345_swg3c-S-1.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/261133655_yQxxe-S-1.jpg

You guys going to all the SCCA Divs and Tours in Texas? We're gonna miss the first Div but we're running this in XP at the rest + the Aggiecross event in April at TWS. Gonna join us in XP or go play with the old Datsuns in FP? :cool

Update: Kirkey seats, black covers, and 3" 5-point G-force harnesses just came in...I'm trying to see if I can just use the Sparco side mounts or if I'll have to get a set from Kirkey. I'll be using the IOPort brace to support the back of the seat to the harness bar that will be going in next week. I got the 17.5" wide seat to fit my beeeehind comfortably....this thing's gonna be hell to install lol.


Terry,

What did yall do with the CCWs that were on the car?

I think I'll stick to my $27 certifit 325i bumpers...these things get beat too much to want to spend 4 bills on a bumper (not just cones, but the trailer ramps and stuff)....I bought one, and mounted it up with the small wheels on....and when I stuck the big wheels on, I realised they were gonna touch because I hadn't used any spacers on the front like the last car to move the assembly forward....I was too lazy to remove it all and then re-do it...so I just took a sawzall to it lol....I have a spare bumper sitting in the garage....when the car heads to paint, that will be the one getting painted, and I will mount it right this time.

What did you do with the stock rear bumper....mine has all its paint flaking, and it's pretty badly beat up (got it free from a friend)...I can use a better rear bumper before the car heads to paint...

Rear view mirrors FTL lol, who needs them? hahahah

If I can get all the little things ironed out before the divs and tours, atleast one of either me or my brother should be attending both days of each event.

Terry,

What did yall do with the CCWs that were on the car?

http://www.vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/241830085_JvknZ-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/211390677_vxVSk-S.jpg http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/211392399_9P2Qk-S.jpg
CCWs at left. The 285 is a 40.6#, 305 is 43.3# on the same 18x10 wheel

We still have the 17x10/17x11 CCWs, and they fit with the new flare set-up with the 315/35/17s. We'll keep using these for track events and the big/fast solo events out at Mineral Wells, with a harder R compound like a Kumho Victoracer. The 18x10 D-Force LTW5s with 305/30/18 Hoosier S05s were exactly 4 pounds lighter per corner, and I like the 18" sizes better for solo use, so we'll use a softer compound DOT radial R compound on those wheels for autocross use.

I think I'll stick to my $27 certifit 325i bumpers...these things get beat too much to want to spend 4 bills on a bumper (not just cones, but the trailer ramps and stuff)....I bought one, and mounted it up with the small wheels on....and when I stuck the big wheels on, I realised they were gonna touch because I hadn't used any spacers on the front like the last car to move the assembly forward....I was too lazy to remove it all and then re-do it...so I just took a sawzall to it lol....I have a spare bumper sitting in the garage....when the car heads to paint, that will be the one getting painted, and I will mount it right this time.
Wow, $27! That's really a deal. We had the extremely tire clearanced 318 front end on it before but I was just tired of the look. I'm a bit of a pimp and we wanted the M3 front bumper, and since you can get it for $225... but its still no twenty seven dollars. :D

What did you do with the stock rear bumper....mine has all its paint flaking, and it's pretty badly beat up (got it free from a friend)...I can use a better rear bumper before the car heads to paint...
Still have the raggedy old 318 rear bumper cover on there, but its hacked up pretty good to clear the 315s and now it doesn't line up very well with the new wider E46 rear fenders. I'm thinking when we repaint it I'm gonna stick with the all white look from the '95 LTW M3, since we have the LTW doors & trim already... and I'd like to get that M3 rear bumper cover at some point so it can match the rest. I've looked under there and I think it'll be pretty easy to slot the forward mounting holes and stretch the front of the bumper cover wider to line up better with the new rear fender contours, too.

http://www.vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/263311866_ZZdye-S-1.jpg http://www.vorshlag.smugmug.com/photos/261135645_6KuMj-S-1.jpg

Rear view mirrors FTL lol, who needs them? hahahah
Hehehe... yea, Teucci took them off but after Hanchey broke the rearview mirror mount it became difficult to back this car up safely, especially once strapped into in a harness. So I spent $60 and got a pair of M3 knock off mirrors. We're doing track events in this car, too, so mirrors are kinda needed. At least we we didn't use the "barn door" non-M mirrors. :cool

If I can get all the little things ironed out before the divs and tours, atleast one of either me or my brother should be attending both days of each event.
Cool! We'll look for you guys... in XP. :cool

Cool! We'll look for you guys... in XP. :cool

Why? You gonna sponsor an LS7 swap for us?? lol.... I still have to beat Holt, remember?

I'll come play in XP in 2 years if stuff goes right....I have another car planned for that.... :ninja:





UPDATE:

Widebaudyyyyyyy lol....stuck with the same kind of flares that my brother and I pioneered into the BMW world - 240SX flaressss....these are FBG though - wanted a more robust flare.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3084801.jpg


Should I be looking at the sunroof panel when I'm driving? I'm sure that's not how the seat goes....hmmmmm......

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3084800.jpg

Update: Driver's side seat and harness set up is done! I love the fit ment of this seat and how well it holds me, and how light and cheap it is! I'm having a harness bar welded in in the next couple days for that harness' shoulder straps to hook on to, and also to tie the seat backs into using the IOport seat back support device.

One hint of advice though....and it worked well for me .... if you're planning on getting a seat like this, make sure you go to a shop that stocks them and try out the different sizes before buying it because the right fit goes a long way in comfort and holding you in place when you're going crazy while driving it. Some people complain about this seat being un-comfortable - that's because they didn't spend their time trying out and choosing the right seat. I wen't to Smiley's Racing in The Woodlands,TX and tried out a couple before purchasing the pair. They didn't have two in stock of this size, so they are drop shipping the other one to my house.

Peekchos!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/HARNESS002.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/HARNESS001.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/HARNESS003.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/HARNESS004.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/HARNESS005.jpg

Ok, why run a cluster if you're just going to zip tie it to the dash bar? Seems like for this car all you'd need is a big shift light... and maybe a water temp gauge for good measure.

Ok, why run a cluster if you're just going to zip tie it to the dash bar? Seems like for this car all you'd need is a big shift light... and maybe a water temp gauge for good measure.

Mostly keeping the cluster for the temperature gauge and too see if it throws any codes or if it is losing ABS and stuff like that. It is legal for us to zip tie it to the dash bar, and the dash is extra weight, so it had to go. I'm looking for a permanent solution for this though - maybe a nice carbon fiber box or something in the center of the car.

Running a small battery and having an alternator go out on you can cause all kinds of havoc - from starting issues, to losing ABS on track (could be disastrous). We've fried a pair of tires once from locking up because the boosted brake system, w/o ABS caused them to lock up as the slightest touch of the pedal (alternator went bad mid day, and caused the battery to run low and ABS to fail).

I am planning on wiring in a digital temperature gauge directly to the inside of the thermostat, so that I know what is really going on in there.

UPDATE - Good news - differential is not broken like I though it was - it was actually a bolt that holds the differential to the subframe that decided to give way because of my solid aluminum diff mounts and the bolt being old. This caused the center drivestaft bearing to come loose, and this was causing the driveshaft to shake badly while accelerating, thus coming in contact with the body and making the loud crunching grinding noise.

So I do not have to spend 1.5K on a new diff....

Instead...I'll be spending about 150 bucks in labor to drop the differential, machine out the old bolt that is broken in there, and put in a new bolt.

Apart from that, I'm getting a new belt tensioner (not the old torx bolt design like the one I stripped out lol), new serpentine belt and toothed pulse wheel or w/e they call it put on the motor, and having a harness bar welded from 1.75" Chrome Moly tubing into gussets in the B-pillars.

I should have my car back in about 7-10 days....stay tuned for more pics!

Pics of the broken bolt in the diff. 1st pic shows the hole were the bolt should have been, 2nd pic shows the other side of the hole, where the bolt is broken in

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/03-11-08_1508.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/03-11-08_1509.jpg

Where the drive shaft was flexing and hitting the body, thus making me think I had broken the diff. - you can see the place where it hit the body.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/03-11-08_1507.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/03-11-08_1510.jpg

Update:

Passenger Kirkey seat (to take rookies out on their instructional run, and also to give spectators joyrides) came in today along with a bunch of other goodies.

Got the IOPort adjustable seat back brace, IOPort seat sidemounts, a Pyrotect Open Face Helmet for passengers, and a Battery cut off switch and terminals.

Got considerable amount of work done today in 3 hours after work - Mounted the passenger side seat and harness, installed the IOPort seat brace for the driver's side, took apart the front end for re-construction with a new bumper and grill support and mounted 2 more flares!

Widebauuuddyyyy!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265329.jpg

Front end dissembled, core support spaced forward for additional wheel clearance, new grill surround test fitted, ready for new bumper

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265333.jpg

New bumper awaits mesh from Home Depot and trim from the old bumper
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265334.jpg

Seats and harnesses are DONE - Notice the new welded-in 1.75" Chromoly harness bar. Plates were welded into the B-pillars and a strong gusseted installation was done. Also, notice the IOPort seat brace for the driver's seat. The drivers' seat belts are bolted into angle brackets welded into the harness bar, for added safety. The passenger side ones is wrapped around the harness bar.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265331.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265330.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/P3265332.jpg

Work for tomorrow/saturday - re-locate battery to behind passenger seat,
mount the last flare and loc-tite all the flare bolts, route wires through wire ducts and zip tie them high so that passengers don't kick them when their legs fly around and complete the re-construction of the front end after cutting and mounting new mesh to the bumper.

Finally got the car back together in 1 piece for tomorrow's event. For those of you who have been following the build thread, here's the results of the work I've been talking about since the last event. The only thing I didn't complete was the battery re-location to the center of the car right behind the passenger seat from where it was in the wheel well area. That, and paint. I need a new rear bumper too - this one is peeling pretty good.

Since last month's event, changes are - widebody flares are completed, new Kirkey seats are in place, harness bar is welded in, new G-Force Pro series 5-pt harnesses, New front grill support area mounted on the spaced out core support to clear wheels, new front bumper, removed the red vinyl off the corners (will be painted black next week), fabbed up some fog-light block off plates with some old bumper plastic, and added some good ol' sticker power (dyno-proven to give 6.843 hp each)!

And it is on it's on-trailer wheels right now - the race wheels are Enkei NT03-M with Hoosier A6 rubber which stand about 1/2" wider!

The ol' gold munster...R.I.P.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/Hot%20Summer%20Nights%204/P8182998.jpg

As the "new" car stands this evening....
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295358.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295359.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295356.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295360.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295366.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295368.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/P3295369.jpg

Looking good man....Whats up with those clear corners?

Looking good man....Whats up with those clear corners?

Got them for 3 bucks on ebay - 10 bucks shipped - thats the only reason I bought them - they aren't ever going to be functional on this car, and are going to be painted over, so quality and looks really dont matter....I had them for the last couple months, except they were covered in red vinyl. Decided to peel it off and paint it black, but just realized that I'm out of black paint - so it'll have to wait till after tomorrow's event.

You coming?? I'll be running morning and afternoon.

Nah, I'm taking a break from SCCA events. Just doing BMWCCA and DE's this year.

:woot:

http://photographictendencies.com/autox/images/TRE_0232.jpg

I let a buddy of mine (some might know him - Jack Mott(jmott)) drive the car on one of my DB entry runs just for fun. He was almost 3 seconds slower than me, but on the other hand, Tre at Photographic Tendancies got this great photo of the car. If only I could photoshop my face in there - I'd have a nice photo of me driving lol.

you did a great job with the car. how much does it weigh? i just bought a coupe with a cage so now I can get all those lightweight body panels like you have :) I did use the 240SX flares on the sedan for right now.......rivets are faster than bolts. :)

how do you open the doors?

you did a great job with the car. how much does it weigh? i just bought a coupe with a cage so now I can get all those lightweight body panels like you have :) I did use the 240SX flares on the sedan for right now.......rivets are faster than bolts. :)

how do you open the doors?

I still need to go get it weighed. I'm guessing right around 2200 or so.

nice build for sure, lets meet up some time, wanna see your beast in action.

Car is stripped of all the vinyl and lexan and ready to head into paint.



how do you open the doors?

General Lee style baby - no doors needed!

j/k I'm using the factory hinges and latch with the inner lever - eliminated the exterior one mostly because I didn't want to cut into the CF.

After the BMW Club autocross this past weekend, the car was completely stripped of all the vinyl and lexan to get ready for paint. F&S Auto Repair, Marc will be doing my paint work. He might be on this forum. If he is, his sn will be MilanoFC. He has a really nice white Dinan M3. Marc stepped up to the plate and has offered to do this paint job for a very reasonable price. He has a lot of cars at his shop, and seems very busy. It will be out of paint by mid next week hopefully. Then we can get new vinyl on it, and it should look killer.

Stripped and Loaded...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/04-20-08_1535.jpg

Ven and Marc at F&S

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/04-21-08_1832.jpg

94EXCoupe from H-I came through with the photo-shop preview of what this puppy is going to look like when finished. The blue is a little more brighter in this preview, but we're going to end up using the Blue from the Audi RS6 Avante that is available in Europe.

http://www.hi-upload.com/upload/uploaded7/bluebmw2.jpg

Audi RS6 Avante

http://www.autospies.com/images/users/Casey54/Carscoop_AudiRS608_0.jpg

Wow. That will look awesome!

Sweet build, thanks for sharing! Any chance of in-car video once it's out of paint?
-Ted

Progress pics - after this pics, the doors and sides got sanded too...rest of the sanding will be done Monday, The black is going to hit it on Tuesday, Blue on Wednesday, and clear coat on Thursday...hopefully, it'll be done by the end of next week.


http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0522.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0520.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0521.jpg

2 words

Flat Black....do it....

2 words

Flat Black....do it....

I actually considered that for a while, but the effort that goes into keeping flat black clean and even painting it right with matte clear coat is just mind boggling to justify it on a race car.

Ven, I think I never told you I was on BF.C. :wave

Marc

BTW cars been painted. Ill let him post the pics.

Ven, I think I never told you I was on BF.C. :wave

Marc

BTW cars been painted. Ill let him post the pics.


Sweet - I was wondering what your screen name here was...

Everyone else - Marc (99 dinan m3)'s shop, Francisco and Sons Auto Repair, is the shop doing my body prep and paint work - they are a great rig, and really do outstanding work. I would recommend them highly to anyone who is looking for paint or body work in the Houston area. They are extremely reasonably priced and do great work. Plus, he provides me updates as he goes along!!!

Here's the update I received this afternoon.

Drawing board image
http://www.hi-upload.com/upload/uploaded7/bluebmw2.jpg

prepin for the black paint..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0523.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0524.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0525.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0526.jpg

prepin for blue paint..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0528.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0529.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0530.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0531.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0533.jpg

blue painted..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0534.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0535.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0536.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0537.jpg

gettin ready for clearcoat..
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0538.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0539.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0540.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0541.jpg

done...
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0542.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0543.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0545.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i180/milanofc/100_0546.jpg

CAN YOU TELL I'M SUPER EXCITED RIGHT NOW!!??!?!?! Can't wait till it's done and cured to throw the vinyl on there and take it to it's first event with the new paintjob.....I can't wait to watch the jaws drop!!! :D

That blue is beautiful! Great looking car man, post some pictures from the first autox after!

Looks great! I cant wait to see it in full race trim :)

That blue is beautiful! Great looking car man, post some pictures from the first autox after!

Yep. Marc @ Francisco & Sons worked super hard to find this blue. I just asked him for any blue, and gave him an idea of what I wanted it like, and he picked a couple different types and let me choose and stuff.

F&S Auto Repair FTMFW! I got a call today that it is complete. I have to go pick it up this evening or tomorrow morning. I will definitely post pics up. I've been getting decals and emblems from a parts people this week and I have a meeting with Apex Vinyl next week to discuss the vinyl job that the car will end up having. More photos to come as we go along.

Ven

CAR'S BACKKKKK! Didn't have much time to take any nice photos - all these are like st00pid myspace angles lol! It's still missing major sticker power, and these photos were taken on the ASA on-trailer wheels, but I think it's looking GEWT. Vinyl is coming next week, and maiden autocross for the new look is first sunday of June.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P5105479.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P5105472.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P5105484.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P5105477.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/roll.jpg

And before you ask me why I have Kumho and Hoosier stickers on there - I alternate between them depending on the event lol.

looks good.

:wow:phatyo::wow

I'm really diggin it!!!!

very nice color choice

Woke up nice and early today and started on the lug stud work.

Got some nice 80 mm studs from Vorshlag couple months back but just didn't get around to putting them in till today. Sometimes I had trouble getting enough threads on the lugs when I ran bigger spacers for the narrower wheels for practice sessions, and so I decided to get the longer studs.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/lugstuds002.jpg

Double nutting and backing out the old studs (Motorforce studs a.k.a. Vorshlag before Terry took over)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/lugstuds001.jpg

Comparison between the 2 studs

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/lugstuds003.jpg

All the old studs removed (front wheel)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/lugstuds004.jpg

New Studs installed! (rear wheel)
These are really nice quality and fit, and if you take your time and follow the instructions on Vorshlag's website - there really is no way to mess up.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/lugstuds005.jpg

Also got started on the vinyl work. Drove to Richard's around noon to plan some stuff out and help him with cutting and prepping the vinyl. Loaded all the stuff up and headed back home.

Spent the afternoon getting as much on as possible. I got really really really tired towards the evening and decided to call it quits. I still have some more to go.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P5255496.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/vinyl001.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/vinyl002.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/vinyl003.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/vinyl004.jpg

Ven, Car looks great. Hope the Enkis worked out. Starting my 95 M3 to IP at Matts. Should be back from paint next week.

Ven, Car looks great. Hope the Enkis worked out. Starting my 95 M3 to IP at Matts. Should be back from paint next week.

Hey thanks!!!

Enkeis are working out great...thanks for the great deal on them!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/TRE_0232.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P3305374.jpg

Some pictures from this past weekend...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized007-1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized001-1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized002-1.jpg

you need some 3M paint protective film. be a shame to ruin that new paintjob with all those rocks. :)

Any close-up pics of the wheels installed after you installed the "new" 80mm studs and are you running any spacers?

why did you not have the body shop make the fender flares incorporated into the fenders with the bolts covered exposed and a smooth transition from the flare to the fender?

Nice build. I like the minimalist thing a lot.

How much weight do you think one can cut and still keep turn signals and be somewhat street friendly? Lexan in the back and slide up and down windows? Real glass up front? Gutted?

I would love to build a 3 series and get to around 2400 with a cage and be able to tow a small trailer with some track goodies in it. Just stock power and great brakes and it should be smoking fast and dead reliable as a DE car.

why did you not have the body shop make the fender flares incorporated into the fenders with the bolts covered exposed and a smooth transition from the flare to the fender?

Because I might break a flare if I hit a cone or walk into it or something, and want to be able to just replace it as a module without having to do body work and stuff.

Nice build. I like the minimalist thing a lot.

How much weight do you think one can cut and still keep turn signals and be somewhat street friendly? Lexan in the back and slide up and down windows? Real glass up front? Gutted?

I would love to build a 3 series and get to around 2400 with a cage and be able to tow a small trailer with some track goodies in it. Just stock power and great brakes and it should be smoking fast and dead reliable as a DE car.


You should be able to get it down to 2400. It's those last 100-200 lbs that make everything not street-legal lol.

Yeah, thats sort of what I was thinking. Your car with lights and signals and a wee bit less lexan should not draw too much attention. Not sure its worth the extra 150lbs or so to be forced to tow it everywhere.

You should be able to get it down to 2400. It's those last 100-200 lbs that make everything not street-legal lol.

Based on my last two E36s, one still barely street legal and one not, I think 2400 lbs for a car with a cage and that you could still drive on the street is pretty optimistic. I'd say you'd be doing pretty good at 2500.

Right but that car isnt caged...

Didn't the gold car come from Jack? I rememebr him running a gold E36 in DSP or STX a few years ago.
The car is really coming along nicely. Hopefully you can make it to a Spokes event soon. There are a couple pretty solid FP drivers here.
Are you going to the Divisional in Pearsal?

Based on my last two E36s, one still barely street legal and one not, I think 2400 lbs for a car with a cage and that you could still drive on the street is pretty optimistic. I'd say you'd be doing pretty good at 2500.

Well mine is ~2200 - Say 100-150 lbs for cage, and another 50-100 lbs for lights, extra wiring etc....now if you want to have metal body panels, a/c and stuff...it would be closer to 2500-2600 lbs lol.

I think I could do without power anything, abs, ac, radio and maybe heater. Gut it all and add some CF panels and lexan.

Would not need a full cage but something to add some roll over protection and stiffen things up some.

Even if the car comes in at 2500 thats still 600lbs less than my Evo which is light for its type. I may be able to get my car down to 2800 or so but I'm not sure it's worth gutting and cutting up a rather rare RS to do it.

I think I could do without power anything, abs, ac, radio and maybe heater. Gut it all and add some CF panels and lexan.

Would not need a full cage but something to add some roll over protection and stiffen things up some.

Even if the car comes in at 2500 thats still 600lbs less than my Evo which is light for its type. I may be able to get my car down to 2800 or so but I'm not sure it's worth gutting and cutting up a rather rare RS to do it.
If you put on any kind of street miles, make 2800 lbs your goal and be done with it. My car, built to SpecE36 specs, is around 2750 (150 lbs overweight for the series) and is barely streetable. I wear hearing protection and it's very tiring to drive any distance. I suppose one could go to lightweight body panels and not give up much more streetability, so you could get to 2700 lbs or so ... but don't plan on ever having a woman in your car, or ever having a conversation with anyone while driving it. It's just deafening when you remove all the weight (that sound deadening is there for a reason, and if you go to a lighter aftermarket exhaust it will rumble around the echo chamber of your interior).

You should keep ABS regardless.

-tammer

Didn't the gold car come from Jack? I rememebr him running a gold E36 in DSP or STX a few years ago.
The car is really coming along nicely. Hopefully you can make it to a Spokes event soon. There are a couple pretty solid FP drivers here.
Are you going to the Divisional in Pearsal?

Yep - the initial gold car did come from Jack, but it came a long ways after I bought it from him before I had to switch cars (well shells atleast)

http://myfastbmw.com/pics/albums/misc/old2new.jpg

I've run some spokes events with the old car and I think one with the new one...Tom and Rick (the 2 FP drivers there) are friends of mine. They drive the 280Zs in FP. I need to bring the new car out there now and see how we stack up...

We probably wont be making the Pearsall divisional because of work on Saturday.

Yup I remember your car. I co-drove with Rick for a year, and drove "The Wave" (red/blue 240Z) a few times before that. Only driven Tom's car once. Rick has a new motor in his car and has really improved on his driving, so it'll be nice to see how they do at Nat's this year against the always fast John Thomas.
I actually have an '88 RX7 that I plan to build for FP. Min. weight for that car is 1900lbs. Hopefully I can get there.

Well, the Evo RS has no sound deadening aside from thin bits. Its rather loud and I would be fine with louder. It also has no ABS and I have not found it to be a problem and was stunned by this. I may not ditch ABS but then again I may well as it means a lot of sensors and crap can go with it.

In short I really really do like the above car. Its simply a means to an end and I respect the focus and purpose built nature of the car. As I would not be driving the car all the time and its job would be nothing more than making me smile, I am not scared.

If not for all the complication and cost I would love to toss in an LS1 to boot but then you start losing some of the bang for the buck that these cars can give you. In short I think a person could end up building a whale of a track toy for under 10k$ and give fits to cars many times its cost.

Oil change kit from www.velocitymotorcars.com (http://%3Cfont%20color=%22DarkRed%22%3Ewww.velocitymotorc ars.com%3C/font%3E) came in today. Chad's a great guy to deal with and his pricing on the kit is AWESOME. You get a discount if you buy the kit - so it basically makes the filter free. I'm switching from BMW Synthetic to Royal Purple.

I bought one extra quart too - just in case.

Had some fun with my camera on the pool table lol...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/royalpurple3.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/royalpurple2.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/royalpurple1.jpg

Update this thread! This is my favorite build on the board.

Update this thread! This is my favorite build on the board.

Here is a long pending update.

I've been working on making a dual element wing and it is coming along at a brisk pace. I should have it installed within a week or two but I won't be running it for at least the next month till I can make my front splitter to balance out the effects of this huge wing. It'll put me out of FP, but I'll only use it for local and bmwcca events.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/wingproto.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Rebuild/P6215608.jpg

TODAY - I did the battery relocation to right behind the passenger seat and put in a cut off switch too. I also got the gurney flap for the wing done, and I'll post up pics of that when I install the wing.

I believe there used to be a battery here - all that's left are little rocks from around Houston and San Antonio.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC1.jpg

Heavy old 1 or 2 gauge battery cable and ground cable

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC8.jpg

Battery in it's new home right behind the passenger seat

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC2.jpg

New 4 gauge ground cable running to an old seatbelt bolt (I'm hoping this is a good ground)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC3.jpg

Rad quick disconnect terminal for ground cable

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC6.jpg

Quick car's Master Disconnect Switch positioned in good access from the passenger side - mounted my way - it doesn't look pretty, but it works hella good. I cut some aluminum with a pair of snips and filed them smooth so that they don't cut.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC4.jpg

High quality 4-terminal Master Disconnect

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC5.jpg

All the new 4 gauge cables I got were black, so I got some nice stickers for them.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC7.jpg

Spent pop-rivets used today....

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BDC9.jpg

OVERALL a productive evening...took some battery cable weight off because of the shorter cable length and thinner gauge cable. I figured I didn't need the heavy gauge anymore since I'm not using any accessories or lights or anything.

Some pictures from this past weekend...

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized007-1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized001-1.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/bimmer/resized002-1.jpg

Great wheels!!!

Those wheels make me wish I had an E36 to sport them.

Great wheels!!!

Those wheels make me wish I had an E36 to sport them.

Word. They're beautiful. I bought them off an E46 M3 track car...

18x10 all round, +25 offset, Under 20 lbs each.


Plus, they have the coolest nonsense feature of them all - dual valve stems.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a120/vdshenoy/BMW%20Block/PA273154-1.jpg