McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

[Fair]

Project Introduction, Feb 2009: This thread covers a Z3M Roadster V8 project that a friend of mine - Jason McCall - bought in Feb 2009. McCall had sold his EVO IX and RX8 autocross cars and wanted to get into another V8 powered RWD race car again, like his 4th gen LT4 powered F-Body. We spent a little time brainstorming and talked him into being our first Z3 LS1 tester.

• Original ad for car: http://www.vorshlag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5842
• Vorshlag Tester Gallery: http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/8082587_zufkM
• McCall's Personal Picture Gallery: http://mccall.smugmug.com/gallery/4325336_rHWvX

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLhKZ53h5jg[/ame]
youtube video of the car making an 11.1@130 1/4 mile pass

The previous owners of this car also posted that video from when they had the car running with a huge turbo (11.1@130 mph drag race pass). This was a former autocross/drag car with a turbo S52 straight 6. It was for sale with all sorts of go fast goodies but no motor, and Jason grabbed it up for a V8 swap. Giant CCW 3-piece wheels (18x10.5" front, 18x11" rear) and a lot of rear frame reinforcement for an E36 style "dual ear mount" diff, with a Rogue finned diff cover. A built diff with a Quaife LSD.

This is what the car looked like when we pick it up...





McCall, Magyar and I bombed over to Florida to pick it up in a 36 hour, non-stop, Waffle House infused round trip from hell in Feb 2008. Since then the car has been essentially stripped down to the tub, being readied for the LS1 install, and that entailed a lot of other upgrades, fixes and repairs along the way. Lots of brackets had been modified or cut out, including for the stock style radiator (the car had some unknown Fluidyne radiator that came with it, but didn't fit the mounts they had hobbled up, and the top mounts were simply gone)

Suspension needed major help (the old shocks are all blown and/or locked up, so they need to be rebuilt, sold and replaced with real shocks at some point). The brakes are kind of a mess - some Wilwood lightweight stuff, but its all jacked up with some home-brew line lock, lots of cut/bent/hacked stock brake hard lines going this way and that, and more - that all needs to go. Might have worked for drag racing and maybe even solo, but it won't cut it as a track car. The ABS pump needs to be relocated (its in the way of the LS1 headers) and we have to ditch the line lock mess. We're going to try to get him to start with regular E36 M3 brakes, then re-plumb all of the brake lines correctly.

Jason was very busy with work so I started his build thread and took over the thread updates from there on out. We got a lot done on the first Saturday morning we worked on the car (May 2009 - see update below) so the project went into full swing quickly after returning with the car form Florida. Then it got... complicated.


As purchased the car had some great parts (and some messes to fix) but no motor

More next...

[MarketMaster]

wow!

[McCall]

Thanks for prodding me enough and finally starting a build thread for me Fair. I just didn't want to start a thread too early as I knew work would be limited quite a bit this last year and didn't want to have one of those project started threads that never gets finished and the poster just disappears. My job also has me traveling a bunch so there may be some time between posts. My schedule is getting a bit lighter plus parts are starting to come together so things should continue to move along in the next few months so now it makes sense to start posting up about the project.

The car - '00 M Roadster, 24k original miles. Now before you BMW purists start, this car has lead a very rough life and was a partially disassembled rolling chassis plus cut up a bit before I got a hold of it. Basically it was no spring chicken! The car came with full complement of chassis upgrades (coil-overs, dual-tab diff mount), the afore mentioned CCWs, TC Kline carbon fiber hood, Fluiddyne radiator, and matching hardtop (no I'm not selling it)

Plans - Dual purpose SCCA X-Prepared autoxer plus a NASA TTU Time Trialer. The car will still be "streetable" but overall it will be a pretty much gutted out dedicated race car. I will retain the dash and some semblance of interior pieces though.

Project Timeline - The goal right now is to have the car running around the autox course by August. Will it be completely finished by then? Heck no but at least it will be moving quickly under its own power and I can start to work out the bugs. After it runs a few local events, I'll start on the full cage and a bunch of other upgrades that will allow the car to compete in time trials.

First off, big thanks to the Vorshlag boys for helping to brainstorming this project idea and then getting/building the right parts for the job. *Big disclaimer* - both Fair and Hanchey are long time friends of mine going back 20 years so this thread, of course, will be biased toward their kit.

As Fair stated, this past weekend saw some great strides as we confirmed that not only the E36 motor mounts worked in the Roadster, but both the tranny crossmember and the headers fit as well with no modifications! So anyone wanting to do a Z3 roadster (or Coupe- please someone do a Coupe!), the Vorshlag LS1 E36 kit is a "bolt-in". The only part I will not be able to use from their off-the-shelf kit is the driveshaft, but I'm going to use their same Vendor. The length is going to be the only the difference. I'll post up pics and dimensions here once that part is ordered/delivered. Vomo will probably take that info and be able to offer it in a Z3 kit I’m sure.

I'll continue to use this tread to post updates and pictures as the car starts to come together. After I get the headers, steering, and front end back on the car, the next step is to work on the all new fuel system (maybe a fuel cell??), then I'll re-do all the brake lines, cooling system, then I'll finally tackle the complete wiring harness.

[brandonmatthew]

That thing looks nice as hell.

[JoeZ]

Oooh nice! Congrats on the initial work, I look forward to following your thread as you make further progress

[AutoRotate]

Do you have any ideas as to how the cage is going to be run?

[MrBlonde]

I'm loving this!

[McCall]

Do you have any ideas as to how the cage is going to be run?

Thanks for the comments guys!


The cage design is still a little up the in the air at this point. It needs to be safe but at the same time be as light as possible (definitely chromoly). In SCCA autox, a lot of cars in my class may not even have a cage because it's not required. They choose lightweight over everything else. In my case, I also want to run time trials so it has to be substantial enough to protect me in a high speed incident as well as pass both SCCA and NASA regulations.

My thinking right now is to design it with the hardtop installed. For track events (and bad weather autoxs) I plan on running the hardtop. Also, I tow an open car trailer so being able to close up the car for transport is important as well. There will of course be a main hoop, halo, and I will pick up both the rear shock mounts as well as the rear diff mounts into the rear bars. For the front, I'm probably going to go through the firewall and tie into the front shock towers. Of course any suggestions and/or pictures are always welcome.

[e39dream]

sweet project- you guys are insane!

[M3Alpine99]

Damn fine work so far. I'd drive it

[JBgotM]

Good luck on the project guys. What you are doing with the car is what the previous owner and myself wanted to build.

Here's a video of one of the last times the car was out running.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLhKZ53h5jg[/ame]

[McCall]

Good luck on the project guys. What you are doing with the car is what the previous owner and myself wanted to build.

Here's a video of one of the last times the car was out running.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLhKZ53h5jg

Holy Sh*t. 11.1 @ 130! That sucker was flying. Kind of weird to see the thing moving under it's own power Thanks for posting up. Any more videos?

[NICEBIMMER]

What's up Jason? I'm glad to see you are making progress on this beast... Let me know if I can swing by and take a look at it when you get further into it.

[tiptronicsoldie]

McCall - I don't know if you are around on Saturday mornings. I live in Plano as well and there is a BMW meet off Park and the Tollway you should swing by if you get a chance. It would be great to see that car sometime.

[understr]

Awesome project, 18x10s in the front

[streetHawk]

thats a Sweet project man...good luck on it

[Koizumi]

Very impressive!

[autophile]

Another great project guys! Thanks for keeping us all in the loop.

[Fair]

Project Update for May 9, 2009: The car sat for a short bit then McCall went on his first parts purchasing spree. First part purchase = LS1 motor!


LS1 Camaro engine going in

Jason found a complete, running 4th gen Camaro LS1/T-56 last year - which was curiously enough installed in a 1996 Mustang Cobra - and he bought it for a good price. We heard it run, live and in person, in the Mustang. The 4th gen T56 transmission went through a quick rebuild and then he added a LS7 clutch and lightweight aluminum flywheel. He went a little crazy and bought an electric water pump and Katech idler (the anodized blue bits on front - its looks pretty baller). A new TurnOne "race" power steering pump (like the one we're using) is going on soon, as well as a new alternator.


me, lining up the motor mounts. As expected, our normal E36 mounts and trans crossmember worked perfectly


The interior has been pulled out and the sheet metal repainted. The ugly 2-tone steering wheel is FOR SALE.

One of the first tasks McCall tackled on his own was to remove the stock interior bits that were still in place and repaint the floorpan. He figured that he might keep the interior out altogether, so why not reshoot it? The stock floorpan has no paint under a few tar paper pieces, and looked pretty odd when stripped of the carpet, so he prepped and painted the whole thing in Estoril Blue. He might do the engine bay later, if we have to cut out any stock brackets. Sure would make it look pretty.



We noticed that the fuel tank is full of old fuel (which is now varnish) so it needs to be cleaned out thoroughly, a higher flow fuel pump installed (WalBro 255 lph should do it) and then all new fuel lines run (the tank has since been cleaned and reinstalled).

That first weekend in May I went over and helped him install the drivetrain using our standard motor mount and transmission crossmember kits. These went in with little effort (we had to dimple the trans tunnel slightly in 2 small places, no biggie - these parts were made for an E36 chassis after all) and everything lined up perfectly. On Sunday I brought our Alpha car's headers by for a test fit and they went in perfectly as well.


L: VoMo/DP Trans crossmember fit great. R: So do the full length headers

So all he needs next is a custom driveshaft (VERY short), and the normal wiring and plumbing (that's no small order) to get the car on the road. We were pushing him to finish it that first summer, so he doesn't missing another season of track and autocross events, but that was a bit optimistic. The final weight was bench raced to under 2300 pounds (nice!) so this will be a thrill ride, even with stock (~340 whp with our headers) power levels. After its had some shake down runs it will get a full cage and some other upgrades, as needed, for track use.


Ready to be re-assembled?

More soon...

[McCall]

Jason - I've got a set of the first run of headers for you... but I think we should try the 2nd version on your car (less $).

Sweetness. My travel schedule is going to be crazy the next 3-4 weeks but I'll try to get the headers installed along with starting to put the front end back on the car. Pics will be posted with progress..

[Fair]

Update for Jan 26, 2010: Long time no update! After buying, modding and racing the old Vorshlag E30 318is several months ago, McCall has actually been working on this Z3 LS1 project and fits and spurts, with the majority of the progress happening late in 2009. Some old friends flew into town and they spent much of a weekend installing some rear suspension bits. The car now has the rear diff and suspension back in the car, after some much needed fab cleanup and new offset camber adjustment bolts (from Ireland, who source them from an E36 BMW 5-series).


Fuel system upgrades underway

He and friend Ed have also tackled much of the fuel system upgrades adding billet fuel rails, a Fuel Pressure Regulator, and started running -8 braided feed and return lines from the stock tank. A gaggle of fittings need to be installed to finish this out. After a brief sidetrack with a potential custom fuel cell, and a slight intervention for sanity, the fuel system looks pretty well laid out. An existing Wlabro 255 lph in-tank pump will round out the fuel system, as well as (I hope?) some upgraded injectors and an LS6 intake.


FAST fuel rails and Aeromotive FP regulator shown installed

I stopped by on the 26th and brought a "standard E36 length" T56/LS1 swap driveshaft we had built for a customer that week, mocking it up onto the transmission and measuring for fit into the Z3 chassis. The Z3 driveshaft is nearly 10" shorter, but as you can see the shifter location is moved several inches forward of the stock location (which "feels" fine when sitting in the car, actually). The steering shaft also needs to be substantially longer, but all our other Vorshlag E36 LS1 swap parts work in the Z3 without modification, including the headers, motor mounts and trans crossmember.


Right: I need to make a longer 2-piece steering shaft to attach to the U-joints he purchased from us

I'm building the driveshaft this week and will take pics of it in the car soon. Also have to get the longer steering shaft built. The driveshaft and the final work on the fuel system are the last things needed before tackling the wiring and other hoses. Then... its time to put the wheels back on, fill up the fluids, and crank it. Sounds so easy, no?

[Faerus]

Dirty bit

[Fair]

Mini update for June 21, 2010: Some pictures of Z3 parts we built for Jason's M Roadster...





McCall has a bunch of new accessories to install next.

[Faerus]

Dirty bit dos

[Fair]

Update for Aug 10, 2010: I'm way behind on many project updates so this is going to be a little fast and loose. I stopped by about a week and a half ago and worked with McCall on his M Roadster LS1 project and we got some stuff knocked out. While he jacked with the diff/subframe/driveshaft I worked on the front accessories.

The Vorshlag LS1 kits for the E36 and E36/7 chassis are designed to work with '98-02 Camaro/Firebird LS1 accessories. The correct brackets can be purchased in kits with hardware for around $80-100 on eBay, last time we looked. The 4th gen Camaro's accessories are the most compact of the various LSx engine styles, and McCall had acquired a new alternator, (electric) water pump, and power steering pump to go with his otherwise stock/used 5.7L LS1 engine. He had already installed the water pump, but the rest was waiting to go on, along with several new brackets (to replace missing/damaged ones from the LS1 motor he bought used) and hardware. I started with the alternator.



The Camaro/Firebird LS1 alternator is different than other LS1 application alternators in that it mounts in the lower driver's side of the front of the block, its fairly "short" (the pulley is closer to the block), and its tucked in tight to the block for a very narrow installed width. The main front mounting bracket is shown above and attaches with 3 long M10-1.5 bolts through the front of the bracket and into the block, two of which go through the alternator. Some LSx series blocks (the iron truck ones, specifically) do not have the matching center mounting hole in the block for this bracket, but all of them at least have a cast boss there and it can be drilled and tapped to work with this Camaro bracket (we had to do that on the 5.3L LM7 truck block we used in the $2010 E30).



Unlike almost all other LSx alternator set-ups, the Camaro alternator has a 2nd smaller bracket that attaches to the back of the alternator and to a drilled and tapped boss on the LS1 block (it's also on all other LSxs), just under the driver's side cylinder head. The best way to get everything to line up is to loosely install the alternator into the front/main bracket and thread the 3 bolts into the block, then loosely attached the rear bracket to the alternator and block, then tighten up all 5 bolts. If you tighten one bracket fully before starting the bolts for the other, the 2nd bracket never lines up. There's a cheap underdrive pulley sold by ASP that McCall wisely added to his alternator; otherwise the stock Camaro alternator likes to "release the magic smoke" when spun above 6500 rpm. It will only release this smoke once, just before death.



OK, so the power steering was a bit trickier. The Camaro power steering pump and brackets are more complicated and difficult to remove. He had the old pump/bolts/pulley/bracket assemble but wanted to use the Turn One racing power steering pump - which has an under-driven pulley and a "race prepped pump". We used one on the Alpha car and it worked great, whereas the stock pump would whine loudly and spit fluid when revved on track or autocross course.



The main power steering bracket is a cast aluminum part that bolts to the front of the driver's side cylinder head in 3 places. Above you can see the idler pulley that went onto the power steering bracket. Its a simple bolt-on affair, just make sure you get the washer and rear spacer in the right locations (one is flat, one is curved). the pulley should spin freely once tightened onto the bracket, of course. If it doesn't you got it on backwards!

Next the power steering pump and smaller half-moon shaped bracket needs be bolted to the head-mounted bracket. Since we were swapping pumps I had to remove the half-moon bracket from behind the pulley, as well as 4 bolts that were held captive. The big (plastic!) pulley has a solid face and unless you have the right puller, those bolts and the 2nd bracket are stock onto the pump. He didn't have the puller we needed so I drilled a giant hole in the plastic pulley and rotated it around until the bolts fell out the hole.



Then the bracket fell out, and everything was transferred to the Turn One pump - which is much easier since it has a billet aluminum pulley with giant voids in the face, all of them big enough to slide the bolts through. As you can see here I got lazy and drilled a big hole in the stock nylon pulley to extract all of the bolts. I didn't bring my power steering pump puller set-up, but if you can rent or borrow the proper puller its easier to do it the right way and pull the pulley off.



Once the bracket is bolted to the pump (via 2 thru-bolts, 2 shorter bolts into the pump housing) the two long thr0bolts then thread into the bracket mounted to the head. Does that make sense? Its easier to see once you look at it all in front of you. But I've seen more than a few F-body LS1 motors with new power steering pumps mounted with only the 2 long thru-bolts, when people forgot (or were too lazy) to "rescue" the half-moon bracket and the 2 short bolts from the old pump. Not good - get all of the bolts and use them.



The longer Z3 steering shaft fit well with the LS1 motor and we've sold several since for use with BMW motors as well. McCall spent the whole night under the car like shown above, and the problems he ran into were traced to some weird pinion angle spacers on the diff housing that came on the car from a previous owner. They point the nose of the pinion down a LOT and it moves the axle flange downward inside the captive opening of the E30/Z3 rear subframe housing - this doesn't work with the giant rear yoke used on the driveshaft we supplied for this car. We'll get the car higher in the air (on the lift!) and re-aim that diff housing before he drives it. This will move the yoke to the center of this oval opening and gain extra clearance, then all will be OK.



More soon.