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

[Gibbo]

Nice, wish I could have got away with that. Horrible horrible horrible job!

He drills and welds any cracks in place, then rubs down and cleans up.
But when he puts reinforcement plates back in he believes bonding them in place.

Which is better I've no idea all I am glad about is the small cracks it had have being caught in time and the floor is re-inforced and has the resin injection, so nice and strong now.

 

[Gibbo]

Do the earlier M3s suffer from boot floor cracks and HG problems more so than the later ones?

Boot floor effects all years, it's covered by BMW for upto 10yr so 54/05/55/06 cars would be repaired by BMW free of charge.

HG issues are very rare to my knowledge whereas the boot floor can and will crack on all E46 cars.

 

[Gibbo]

Now that's a crack! Was that a fatal failure or still repairable?

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Had a good drive of the car today, ride is at an all time best as is road noise levels. When people say when they polybush their cars they are transformed I can believe it as simply ditching all the old bushes in the car for new oem bushes has transformed it.

Car has most grip it has ever had and the gear box is just a solid thud with little to no jerkiness and just so tight. In short better than what a brand new M3 would be with the improvements.

Took a mate out in it today and he could not believe it's split personality. On one hand very comfy, sedate, quiet and a dream to drive daily. Then on the flip an absolute monster once you go to manual, DSC off, S6 and sport, the induction sound from the carbon Airbox at full chat to the typical rasp of the M3 exhaust and the M diff making roundabouts plenty of fun and the brakes which can re-arrange your internal organs.

Yep very happy with I've created.

Can't wait to get on track again, can't even wait to drive it to work in the morning.


P.S. Since changing air oil separator the car also now seems to be using no oil.

 

[Gibbo]

Getting rear cage / harness bar sorted next, getting a custom made solution that bolts-ins using factory seatbelt iso mounting points.

Here is what I posted on m3cutters as organising a group buy to get cost down to a minimum.


I've being speaking to Nick at Track-tec and showed him some harness bars and roll over bars as they are very experienced in building roll cages for road, track and race cars.

He had a look at a few of the harness bars I sent him and he said he would rather not put his name to a harness bar as he believes that with two fully grown adults in a crash the harness bar could prove not strong enough and fail in a crash.

As such I showed him a harness/roll-over bar I'd seen in the USA for $650 which he gave his approval on even though he was not 100% happy with and as such offered that it was something he'd be happy to build, except his would be superior in quality and safety. I gave him a shortlist of what I think people want:-

1. Easy bolt-in solution which requires no drilling and/or welding.
2. Bolts into the seatbelt locations, iso fix etc. so it is bolted to strong parts of chassis.
3. Can be installed with glass, rear seats, roof still in place, just removal of front seats required. Can also be easily removed at any time too.
4. To look like a rear cage with cross section for ultimate street cred/coolness
5. Harness mounting points behind front seats.
6. Low cost option.
7. Higher cost option using T45 lighter material (weight saving)
8. Option to paint powder coat any colour you want.
9. Possible installation option at his workshop.

This is ideal for those who want to be safe, have harnesses at the right angle to prevent submarining and some added roll over protection should the worse happen and of course it looks great. Very much like a rear cage as found in a GT3 / Club Sport etc.

Couple of images of the design I'd like which of course can be painted any colour:-

Nick hopes to come back to me in 7-10 days as they got some race cars to prepare this week, but he has a few E46 shells and is going to start working on it next week and will then come back to me with pricing etc.

Of course the more he can mass produce the better the price shall be, but this will not be cheap guys, this is being built to a very high standard and with safety number one priority as Nick has a fantastic reputation and thanks for Ripper for putting me in touch with him.

The cost will no doubt be in the £400 - £600 region, with T45 material and painted option being closer to £600.

So please reply with following:-
Yes: T45 painted, powder coated or not painted and which colour.
Maybe: T45 painted, powder coated or not painted and which colour.
Yes: Lower cost heavier material painted, powder coated or not painted and which colour.
Maybe: Lower cost heavier material painted, powder coated or not painted and which colour.


So if I was replying it would be:

Yes: T45 painted in glossy yellow paint.



I won't be handling any money if this goes ahead, I shall simply email Nick with all your details and he will contact you one by one for payment etc. so your dealing directly with the company, no add-on by me.

I've simply done this as I wanted a harness bar or rear cage but simply could not find a suitable option that was simple bolt-in, available in the UK and under £750.00 which was a proven simple DIY installation that was perfectly safe and suitable.

Mine shall be done irrelevant of group buy or not and I shall show you photos.

The advantage is if I can say to Nick yes I have 10 people wanting this I save money and so do you as his cost reduces with the more he makes and he can pass these savings on to us.

So please reply and only reply yes if you can pay in full this year, were in October now so that is just two months.

Be safe and get those harnesses at the correct angle, have roll over protection and the coolness of what looks just like a rear cage in your car.

 

[Gibbo]

Any particular reason you aren't going for a weld in cage? Much safer and generally cheaper too.

I'm going to hopefully going for a weld in Custom Cages half-cage in my ST next year so really curious if there's a reason for not welding

Of course anything which bolts in could be welded too, but I prefer bolt-in and it will be perfectly safe enough, Nick would not put his name on this if he was not happy with it himself. It will give me all the protection I need in a road/track car which is used on track days and the road.

Welded can not be reversed easily and normally means being without the car for sometime, Nick will advice me of any options or concerns he has once he has done some trial and test fit / mock ups in the next week or so.

He is an expert, so I shall leave it in his capable hands.

 

[Gibbo]

You earn way too much gibbo


Lovely car though. I think you could improve the downforce a bit, speak to TurboToaster, he knows all about these things

Haha, no need and I use it more or less daily on the road, it needs to be MOT worthy and safe to the public, plus a nice thing to drive both road and track.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Not updated in a while, but Nick at Track Tec is trial fitting a rear cage design for me in one of his E46 shells, once ready I've decided to have this welded in to get the benefits of chassis stiffening and strengthening from welding in.

Any other updates?

Nothing major just being driving car and discovering how rubbish the Michelin cups are in this colder wet/dry weather, the car lets go without warning in the wet and is a real violent snap, not so bad in the dry.

I then realised I had my BMW OEM 18 wheels I purchased to put slicks on and these came with normal tyres, continental M3's on the rear from 2010 and on the front Michelin PS2's, one of which is 8 years old and perished, so needs to be binned as not safe.

So fitted rears on, no issues, but the fronts were conflicting with calipers slightly even with 12mm spacers, 15mm spacers would cure it but I'd rather not run any bigger spacer. So I inspected the wheels, there was some minor corrosion so sanded them down and cleaned up. Also took down the calipers with some gentle sanding to get them smooth as they are in need of a re-paint at some point, though what I've sanded cannot be seen, so aesthetically to the eye are fine.

Fronts fitted fine then, but one wheel still seemed to be catching when torqued up which made me think the wheel must be bent. Took both wheels to get balanced today and yep one was slightly bent, could also feel it whilst driving. So hopefully found two more BMW oem fronts for £50 so fingers crossed for them to both be straight or at least one. Once I've got a perfect pair I shall get them refurbed in shadow chrome so they matching rears and look brand new again. Gotta look good whilst on track.

So glad I trial fitted them and tested though for being straight before just chucking slicks on them and hitting the track. Otherwise could have being a short session or even worse a mechanically failure.

Also as I drove on these today my god the difference, so much more grip and the ride quality is a vast improvement. So gonna do one more Trackday (dry) on the cups to finish them and then I'll slap some decent normal tyres on my nice wheels so I've got a nice car for the road with great manners.

Question is 265/35/18 which means F1AS2 or Advan V105 or try 255/40/18 as I can get MPSS in that size?

 

[Gibbo]

So it only bolts in at two points on either side?

Seems a bit pointless, not going to do much for stiffness or protection, what stops it moving forwards/backwards?

Well as Nick has not finished designing it yet and as I've made no mention of where it bolts in I am confused by your comment.

Nick is designing something that will do the job, he builds race cars so anything he puts his name too will be upto the job, he made that very clear. If he thinks it's unsafe or won't offer protection then he won't put his name too it.

P.S. The bay Krause harness bar which is FIA approved by the way bolts in at only two locations either side and that has zero movement in any direction. Puzzled by your question really as the FIA approved stuff is bolted in at two points either side and suffers no movement like you suggest.

 

[Gibbo]

Those pics make it look like it's only bolted down at the bottom, one point either side. If so the cage could tilt back and forward. If it's bolted at either end of the harness bar only then it could twist back and forwards around that bar as a rotation point. I expect Berger is thinking the same as me, that a cage like that needs 4 mounting points to be rigid, which I expect it probably will.

If you look at the pics closely you can see it is bolted down where the seatbelts bolt into the floor and then it is also bolts into the rear seatbelt positions under where the back seat would be as well, just by looking at those pictures, there will be zero movement in that. It maybe attaches elsewhere but that is all I can see from the images, if it was wrong, would it be FIA approved guys?

As my shall be custom design it shall be done right, once Nick has done some testing he will come to with me options, I may yet still just go down the route of going full rear cage, I am just waiting to see what the options are.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

A little update, finally got 4 genuine M3 18" wheels which are not bent, all straight, now refurbed in shadow chrome and fitted with Conti M3 tyres all round for the winter. The Apex wheels with cups can stay in the garage for winter and do some track days next year.

The M3 wheels only just clear the front brakes with a 12mm spacer!
Even on coilovers the ride quality is supreme on the stock wheels and wheel size as is traction in the wet, ride quality is better than my 911, impressive!

Once Summer arrives shall be throwing slicks on these M3 wheels, 250 size on rear and 240 size on the front, not square but hopefully as they are slicks understeer won't be an issue.

As the only way I can get M3 rears to fit on the front will be to remove Z4M bushes and go back to stock ones.


A picture of a dirty wet M3, but wheels look OK now, gotta look good on track.

Jobs for new year!

• Fit rear cage with harness bar incorporated.
• Refurb differential and change final drive ratio
• Maybe remove AC to save more weight from front, with cage it would be 50/50 and around 1350kg with fuel

That's it of course if funds permit then a CSL carbon roof is something I'd love just for the aesthetics but of course losing 7-15kg would help too.

Got a genuine rear Milltek back box too which I may or may not fit, un-decided yet as I don't want to loose rasp but should save a further 10kg too.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Done a bit of shopping.

Got myself a genuine phase 1 Milltek rear box, about 10kg lighter than stock, not the lightest but it was low cost and if I dislike the sound I can easily sell for what I paid.
going to pick it up though I went to floor the car in 4th going uphill and the engined was misfiring badly, not occurred again since but clearly a coil pack going down, problem is on the M3 if one fails it drops two, hence why it felt so bad as was only firing on 4.

Panic over as euro car parts are selling Bosch ones in sale for just £21 each, so grabbed six and will replace myself as very easy.

Also got myself a working E46 M3 diff for £150, bargain. Going to get it full rebuilt with 3.91 final ratio I think, but still might go 4.10 and full refurb. Not decided who I'll have do it yet but no rush as it will probably cost 1k all in and I want to get the cage sorted first, plus my diff in the car is working fine.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Both you and Housey are right, I'd love to rid the front-end of another 30kg, less 10kg from rear exhaust and some strategic trimming on the interior carpet/foam would be a further 10kg. That's 50kg more off the weight, then add back in 20-25kg for the cage. The result would be bang on 50/50 distribution and in the 1300-1350kg range with fuel.

So yes it is tempting to get the ultimate handling balance and further improved acceleration and Housey knows how quick my M3 feels, it is far quicker than a stock M3, very noticeable so even from a 2nd gear roll, to the point now it can easily match my Carrera or a 996 GT3 in a straight line which is some accomplishment because the 911's normally destroy the M3 in a straight line.

But at the same time Housey makes good point, the AC does come in handy on a summers day when I go for a weekend blast or for hot track days or even wet ones to keep visibility good.

I think for now I leave as is as changing the final ratio could be more than enough, as the thing I dislike about the M3 is the long gearing, 3rd and 4th gear pulls go on for so long, not because the car is slow but because the top of 4th is around 135mph, so bringing this down to around 120mph would be nice and make for much more zippy acceleration. So I shall wait until the new diff is in place before I contemplate removing AC.

 

[Gibbo]

I wouldn't be too keen on ditching the AC, i'd rather save the weight by changing the rear glass to plastic.

True, why I've got this Milltek, its over 10kg ligher and if I trim the deadening out the carpet that's another 10kg, which should more than compensate for the weight of the cage.

 

[Gibbo]

Think I will go with 4.10 gears for sure acceleration looks vastly improved.

That car is doing 0-100mph in circa 10s and 60-100mph in sub 5.5s which is impressive as with the 4.10 gears 4th is needed to hit 100mph whereas before 100 was possible in 3rd, so makes it more impressive.

My car does 60-100 in 5.5s now due to reduced weight and more power so looking forward to this modification as will accelerate through the gears much quicker and with SMG the shift time is 80ms so no worries about additional gear change.

80mph stock is about 3000rpm with the 4.10 gears it becomes 3500rpm so still fine for everyday use, top speed is reduced to around 175mph.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

Not really updated in a while but I recently added silenced de-cats, a noticeable improvement at the top-end and no apparent torque loss. Maybe another 3-5BHP, feels good anyway and more weight savings of about 5kg.

Also got these items:

For those wondering what on earth, what you are seeing is a M3 CSL ECU, new differential and new BMW motorsport polished 3.91 gear set. They shall be installed into the new differential which shall get a full bearing/seal refresh so be like brand new. I went with 3.91 as I got a good deal (£450) and 4.10's are not in stock at BMW and would have cost over £1000 after polishing procedure. These will give a nice improvement in acceleration and are perfect ratio for both road and track. Hope to have installed by March.

The CSL ECU, Map sensor and tune to match will improve drivability, power/torque improvements unknown but the car will be less likely to rob itself of power, so a worthwhile mod and I got the ECU for £300 which was an absolute bargain for a genuine CSL ECU.

I will also be sending my wheel off to get it finished as per example below:

Can't wait, car will be an absolute monster and fingers crossed my rear cage/harness bar will be finished by March/April time by Nick at Track-Tec.

 

[Gibbo]

So this is what you've been up to

As the car will be used a lot on the track, do you not think the Alcantara re-trim will go off after a bit of use from the heavy use and sweaty palms etc? I was under the impression the finish isn't as long lasting as a leather one!

Never had an issue with my CSL or 911, but I generally don't have damp sweaty hands, so not an issue for me.

 

[Gibbo]

So is the CSL ECU Hardware different, rather than just having a different map on it?

Compared to my ECU yes. But newer cars got the MSS54HP ECU as standard and they can be converted to CSL spec.

 

[Gibbo]

Who is doing your wheel and how much??

Getting mined wrapped in alcantara with m stiching but without the 12 o'clock marker and then I've got a load of interior trim bits delivered I'm going to wrap for a lovely leather / alcantara interior/

Some guy on cutters.

 

[Gibbo]

Nice, good mods there.

Take that means you'll be running Alpha N?

Its running Alpha-N at the moment which is excellent but not perfect.

So I shall be running OEM CSL software with a map sensor, better drivability and the CSL ECU will not retard timing as much as the stock maps. So good gains in mid-range power too, especially in warmer weather.

Am most excited about the diff though, I know it will be a huge seat of the pants transformation in acceleration, 8% more torque everywhere for a start.