Just dropped a deposit on some M Power - Trackday Project Car

[Gibbo]

Thread update 5th October 2016, still thoroughly enjoying the car and I've pretty much rebuilt it and as such below are some recent images along with a full specification list:

I thought I would compile into one post everything I have done in short to the car since ownership. For details please read through the thread:

- Interior removed, including tar, sound proofing, air bags, infotainment etc. (Saves huge weight)
- New spark plugs at 98k
- Air conditioning system retained and fully operational
- Vanos oil filter replaced at 98k
- CSL SMG firmware upgrade
- Compression ratio check and all clear at 98k, 185-195psi across all cylinders
- KW Clubsport coilovers with top mounts
- Lightweight door cards with straps & OEM door cards (Saves 18kg)
- CSL Pollen filter housing (Saves 3kg)
- Inspection 2 service @ 98k including new Vanos bolts
- CSL Replica front bumper with genuine carbon fibre splitters (5kg saving)
- CSL custom cold air feed from bumper hole direct to air box
- Secondary air pump removed (2-3kg saving)
- Braile 3121 battery & original battery (10kg saving)
- New CPV valve at 99k (had a slight oil weep)
- New Rocker cover gasket (was not CPV but rocker cover weeping)
- Ride heights 330mm front and 325mm rear
- New SMG Relay
- Apex 18x9" ET31 lightweight CSL style wheels wrapped in 265/35/18 tyres
- Eccentric front bushes for more caster (removed for road use due to rubbing)
- CSL replica lightweight bootlid (5-10kg saving)
- CSL Mid pip and back box (5kg saving)
- CSL carbon rear diffuser
- Rear facelift LED lights
- RBF600 high performance brake fluid
- CSL Cup Alcon full brake kit, 6 piston front, 4 piston rear, J-hook two-piece brake disc
- CSL front and rear anti-roll bars powder coated green with new o.e. bushes and brackets
- Custom lightweight carpeted interior, to make it Clubsport specification, a car thats joy to drive both on track and road.
- Eibach rear 12mm spacers
- Turner motorsport lightweight under-drive pulleys
- Viscous & AC fan removed, replaced with Mishimoto electric fan (5kg weight saving)
- All new idler and tensioner pulleys fitted (had a squeak so replaced them all )
- CSL Geoff Steel Air box (3kg saving)
- Rogue Engineering RTAB Limiter kit
- Rear top mount re-inforcement plates
- New LUK clutch kit, flywheel, knuckle, fork, springs for full gearbox, clutch and SMG refresh including slave cylinder
- New brake master cylinder
- New air oil seperator
- Eibach rear adjustable lightweight camber arms
- Full coolant flush
- All bushes replaced throughout car, every bush is brand new BMW o.e. with powerflex bushing inserts on rear subframe mounting.
- Carbon kidney grills, wing vents and side runners.
- Full boot floor repair (welded), plate kit and resin injection.
- Centre section with cup holds, for some added comfort and refreshment services.
- Silenced de-cat pipes (original cats kept for MOTs)
- TTFS remap, GM map sensor and MSS54HP ECU upgrade converted to CSL specification
- Cobra bucket seats with harnesses
- All new front bushes, wishbones, track rod ends etc. again with BMW o.e.
- Upper and lower steering column replaced along with solid coupler for improved feedback.
- New driveshaft, CV joint, ggasket, bolts, centre bearing support and guilbo
- New oil level sensor and fuel filter
- Sump gasket replaced with new Calico coated rod bearings, ARP bolts September 2015 at 104k miles due to slight knocking.
- New KW front drop links.
- Purple steering rack, quicker response and feedback (original rack kept as backup)
- 3M Carbon roof wrap
- Fully rebuilt differential, every bearing, clutch pack all replaced with brand new BMW o.e. bearing along with BMW motorsport 3.91 ring & pinion.
- New differential plate with new bushes and new differential bush
- I still probably missed something haha!



I've practically refreshed the entire car, not one single bush is old in the car, they are all brand new BMW o.e. including stuff like engine mounts, gear box mounts etc. throughout the car.

Headline figures are weight around 1350kg depending on interior spec, right now I am running stock battery, stock door cards and even have a 15kg weight in the boot for road driving. Of course the custom door cards, Braile battery, removal of weight drops close to 50kg out the car.

Power wise, well dependend on which dyno on which day the lowest it has seen is around 375BHP and the highest 395BHP. Dyno's are just tools to compare modifications but in short it is stupidly strong engine pulling strong from 1500rpm with no sign of power dipping until the limiter at 8000rpm.

I do love it but at the same time am tempted to sell it if the right offer was made which would be around 20k, as such I suspect it will be kept and I hope to get an evening day booked at Donnington before end of the year as the differential is now run in, gonna drop the oil and put BMW spec oil in over the next week or so.








Hi there


OK to be honest, tracking the 911 is big money and throwing 8-10 trackdays a year at it results in huge cost. Tyres at over £400 each for the rear and over £200 for the fronts. Brake disc which cost £1000 for a set every 5-6 trackdays for O.E. or more like £2000 for something more dedicated, pads not too bad as they last but still cost like £600 all round. Plus the fact any kind of engine damage/failure would cost in the region of 10k, plus a 911 thats being heavily tracked is less desirable and as the 911 is so clean and cared for I want to keep it that way. I still might do the odd trackday in it, as afterall it is an amazing thrill to drive on track, but I shall move it on in a years time and either get something else crazy or use the money from it as a house deposit, sensible thing to do. Keep the Jaaaag as my 80% daily and M3 as fun/track car!


So tonight I put a deposit on this, not the cheapest track car to run, but vastly cheaper than a 911 when tyres are £150 each, brakes vastly cheaper and if engine did let go about 2k to get another. Some might question the SMG, but hey I love SMG, hope it does not let me down though.

The current owner purchased it as a track project for him and his father, they've done 8-9 track days in it, being to the Ring, Spa and some other international circuits too and not had any incidents. Most of the suspension is poly bushed such as rear radius arms, trailing arms replaced, power steering replaced with rigid hoses to prevent failure, suspension arms too, main crank oil seal replaced as was weeping, gearbox, diff, brake fluid all changed last year and oil/filter changes every other trackday. Plus as can be seen from pictures interior is partially stripped, bucket seats, harnesses, track wheels with Federal RSR track rubber, 255 front and 265 rear, wheel spacers, allignment done, performance friction disc and pads front along with new rear BMW disc rear. Tein lower suspension, rather damn firm but not crashy, imagine great on track and OK on decent roads, had to be done as when interior was removed the gaps in the arches was huge, particular at rear. Catback exhaust system, K&N intake system along with private plate M3 XSV and a few spare tyres.

Paid £6995 and if its reliable in my mind a bargain considering the bucket seats, brakes and what seems extremely well cared for.

It shall get its first track outing next weekend at Donnington if all goes well, I've manage to insure it for £388 fully comprehensive on a limited 3000 mileage policy, but can pay additional for more miles if I need.

So jobs to do before trackday:-

1. Give it a damn good wash, polish and waxing along with removing wheels and cleaning all the arches down and wheels.
2. Load the CSL SMG firmware to the car - already downloaded it.
3. Get the allignment checked and CSL settings dialled in with more front aggressive camber.
4. Refit stock intake along with panel filter - Don't like K&N intake, sounds horrible at high revs as its not a true cold air enclosure so warm air seaks in plus the induction noise it makes is not pleasent, preferre the stock M3 rasp. Maybe look at carbon intakes, but CSL intake at 3k I wish but 2.9k over-priced.


Long term jobs to do:-
1. Remove door trim completely, remove all speakers, remove SATNAV/Radio. Potentially remove front carpet and anything else not needed. Dash and aircon shall stay!
2. Remove mirrors and replaced with small E36 manual versions.
3. Replace HGF as preventive measure - About £300 for kit.
4. Replace Vanos bolts - If Vanos fails it causes no harm, but if a Vanos bolt shears, engine goodbye, so get the bolts changed for peace of mind and should not be expensive.
5. Fit new Vanos solonoid kit - About £300 and ensure peak performance.
6. Check exhaust and maybe fit lightweight manifolds, mid-section etc. from Supersprint, maybe high-flow cats too.
7. Investigate what further weight can be removed or saved by maybe changing to carbon boot, roof, bonnet if it won't cost stupid money, then upon how much it cost either do it or not bother.


Over the next year or two I don't mind spending 2-3k on it over time in mods to further reduce weight, power and preventive measures. Ideally I'd like to ensure I am getting all of the original 343 horses or as close to 350BHP as possible, but the engine won't give much plus I don't want to spend a fortune on remaps, intakes, cams etc. for 20BHP.

Weight target, well I suspect right now its maybe 1350kg area, I'd like to get it too 1250-1300kg. A few guys have them at 1150kg with cage, I won't be fitting a cage as I shall be keeping the original doors and their impact beams. But 1200kg would be nice and circa 300BHP per tonne.


Looking forward to it, once I've got it and cleaned it up I shall post some pictures along with my modding history and pictures of the interior after I have stripped it more.

 

[Gibbo]

Even better the track tyres are pretty much brand new, one rear is brand new, other about 1mm of wear and fronts about 2mm of wear, new brakes.

So hopefully 2-3 trackdays in the bag before any consumable required, so I can spend that time on doing some of the above.

Main thing refused to throw a wobbler no matter how hard I tried and the engine had zero signs of pinking/detonation which is a sign of HGF failure on these, but with 91k miles the gasket won't have many more miles in it, as I shall change as a preventive measure. Because when it goes engine runs lean, hot and detonates which aint good for them or could result in boom.

On test drive it was noisy though, exhaust is only 90db but damn with no interior thats bloody annoyingly loud. Was very tight and very FIRM. But on track be epic, fingers crossed.

 

[Gibbo]

Highest M3 I ever saw, whats up with the suspension?

It's on Tein springs and smaller wheels. In person it looked ok to me. The owner said when they stripped it the arch gap was huge, particular in the rear so they fitted Tein suspension to make it more reasonable. Along with the smaller wheels is the reason I suspect.

Shall see how it drives but in next few months shall look at KW V3 or billstein PSS coil overs.

Could just be photos, in person it looked no higher than this one:-

18" wheels obviously don't fill the arches as well for sure and it's running skinnier tyres. Main thing is to see how it drives and handles, but like I say a future mod could be coil overs at which point I can adjust ride height.
Also remember all that weight reduction will cause it to sit higher even on lowered springs.

 

[Gibbo]

Look! It's wet under the bonnet! The cooling system has already exploded.

I'm totes jel. I'd love an E46 M3 as a daily drive, let alone be able to own one as a track car. I bet its great fun. How does it compare to your long-gone CSL?

On track maybe as capable or better, shall wait and see, on the road, CSL way better and CSL sounds better.

Are the cooling systems a weakness on the M3?

CSL never stepped a foot wrong but it was a 50k mile car and younger so would not have expected it to do so.

 

[Gibbo]

Just on lowering springs? Definitely need proper full coilovers for hard driving, they need a lot of spring rate, a lot of front camber and obviously good damping. Spires are the experts when it comes to suspension and setup on these cars.

When is this trackday and how much is it anyway? I'm itching to do another trackday even if the car looks like a beat up heap of crap.

It's Porsche day m8 next Sunday. Fully booked though.

Gonna get alignment checked next week, see if anything is seized etc. Then shall see how it drives. If I dislike the suspension shall keep my eye out for a KW or billstein coil over setup going second hand and get fitted.

The owner's neighbour has a CSL and on track stuff they've done together one can't leave the other so it can't be bad if it can match a CSL. Like I say it might take a year to get it where I want it, but it is a toy for track and odd day out, so won't see daily use, plan to use it once every two weeks to keep it happy.

 

[Gibbo]

£400 each for rear tyres on the Porsche but only £150 on an M3?

What tyre sizes are you running on both cars? The M3 size sounds very cheap (My rears are more than that) yet the Porsche sounds bonkers expensive?

305/30/19 and has to be Michelin cups or SuperSports, most preferred is Pirelli Corsa, my favourite on 911 but very hard to source. There are cheaper options but they are crap and still £250-£300 each anyway.

The M3 is 265 on an 18 and federal RSR track tyre is cheap, of course there is more expensive rubber and with time I might go the even cheaper way, spare wheels with slicks which cost even less.

But it's brakes on 911, just silly money for disc.

P.S. Just checked and seems SuperSports have come down quite a bit at around £275 per rear tyre, cups still close to £400 though.

 

[Gibbo]

Excellent. Looks like a lot of fun. Oh, and ESS supercharger

Nah, 6k fitted, no way when the car pretty much cost me 6k.


Performance mods I will do is:-

100 cell cats - £300, better response - 5-10BHP
Re-fit stock intake with element filter - £50

Then if I feeling flush at somepoint and crazy:-
GSL/CSL airbox, Alpha-N mapping, Evolve Remap - £1770 - So probably won't do unless someone sells the airbox second hand at a good price so it works out less than a grand to do.

Above takes them to 360-370BHP as long as engine/vanos is operating as should do.

1300kg is definitely possible, guy on M3 forum is at 1300kg with SMG, stock doors, stock panels, stock exhaust, just interior, seats and wheels.

So my long term aim shall be 1200-1250kg and if I get it to 360BHP, that's a nice 300BHP per tonne.

 

[Gibbo]

I've never seen a car with 18's on with a gap that big, even though I am old I'd still have to drop it.

Will be awesome fun on the track though.

Shall eventually go coilovers so I can corner weight it and set ride height myself.

 

[Gibbo]

Could always sell a few of the Porsche performance bits that you got good deals on and buy the equivalent BMW bits?

Nice car anyway, and I loved the SMG on the M6, brutal gear changes even if they are not as fast as a DCT

Look forward to seeing the updates.

Lap Times as you progress would be good.

Got the parts I don't mind selling on 911 forum - about 8k in parts at fair pricing. Covers cost of the M3 once they sell.

M3 wise I really want to limit long term modding spend to a maximum of 3k, otherwise it is money down the toilette.

Lap times, shall see, a CSL around Donnington with a good driver is 1:18 area, I've done a best of 1:23 in the Porsche.

If I am around 1:25ish on my first outings in it, shall be very happy, but long term goal would be nice to be sub 1:20 as that will be one seriously quick track car.

 

[Gibbo]

Be interested to hear your feedback re. the RSR tyres, meant to be very good but most reviews are from people sponsored by Federal or never having used alternatives.
I do apologise for all the silly bickering that happened in your thread btw

They are cheap and cheerful is the jist I get, one has a split across the tread so he is fitting a new one before I collect. Supposedly a common issue on these tyres and not a major problem, but the guy don't want to sell the car with what he thinks could be a timebomb on a wheel, which is fair enough.

Heard wet/dry they are great. They are circa £150 a corner, if AD08's are similar, come change time I shall move to AD08's or R888s. But ideally I shall pickup a set of cheap M3 road wheels/tyres and move to full racing slicks which are sub £100 a corner and far far stickier.

 

[Gibbo]

My Porsche takes these on the rear

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m61b0s400...nch_R18_inch_-_285_30_18_285_30R18_OE_Porsche

Those are all old tyres which certainly don't offer the performance level of what I am using, plus yours is 18", I am 19" which increases prices quite a bit.

 

[Gibbo]

isnt the idea of a good drivers car 50:50 weight distribution, and the M3 is pretty much bang on stock. It must be terrible now

Coil overs can fix that, but the seat change is a good 60-80kg out the front and I'm hoping to get another 30-50kg out the front area.

Looks like I've just got a CSL alcantera steering wheel for it for £60

 

[Gibbo]

Bring this to the drift day mate, it will be ace.

I shall

 

[Gibbo]

Bit off topic but what made you get rid of the evo gibbo?

Wanted a change and a 911.
EVO X is by far the best and most capable road car I've ever owned, on a crap road full of bumps, holes and cambers the EVO X is by far the most capable car I've driven but also very easy to drive fast and not that challenging. A smooth road/circuit the 911 is more capable, certainly circuit and the 911 is very challenging to drive in comparison.

 

[Gibbo]

Thanks for that, I'm tempted to save a bit longer for an X as I do prefer them aesthetically and would like the built in Nav and Fosgate bits.

The X has the best setup out the box for UK roads for sure. Got a friend who actually is a race driver and has owned pretty much every EVO generation and he said as a car out the box for UK roads, the X is the best of them all. However his favourite EVO is the IX (9) as its raw along with best engine/turbo.

But for sure as an A-B weapon the X is pretty much the best thing I've ever driven, so planted, does not get upset by bumps or crap roads.

 

[Gibbo]

Which is handy as Wiltshire council apparently don't have a budget for repairing roads around here. Sorry to harp on in this thread but did yours have a 'proper' manual gearboxes or the flappy one? Is the SST model the one with those boxes?

Manual.

The SST is not so good on the EVO, at junctions for pulling off it is very slow in reacting to when you actually press the accelerator. Up/down changes are OK but again not so quick. A remap really sorts the auto box out, plus its had a few issues too.

Manual all the way in the EVO.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Picked it up!

 

[Gibbo]

Love it, always wanted an E46 M3

Yeah what is really bad though, within 10 minutes of the journey back I'd selected Sport, DSC off and S6, oooops.

Those upshifts. Shall try to get the CSL firmware on it before next weekend and strip the front interior this weekend and a good cleaning.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

K&N is off, flat spot at 2500rpm gone and sounds much better.
K&N heat shield was quite heavy too, so more weight reduction.

MAF sensor cleaned.

Quick wash and spray on wax done too.

 

[Gibbo]

HI there

Tank of Vpower and a few more grams save, ashtray and cigarette lighter - GONE.