Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2013
- Posts
- 2,589
My god that looks lovely!
Just dropped a deposit on some M Power - Trackday Project Car
- Thread starter Gibbo
- Start date
The peel was quite bad under his lights on the rear quarters and above windows. He has got rid of 80% of it and I’d say it’s no worse than a new BMW for peel maybe slightly better.
He said he would be happy with it and he spent about 16 hours polishing using various compounds and pads to remove the peel and swirls.
Th biggest issue was swirls and holograms from the body shop using a rotary to quickly for go over it, he says he sees it all time on fresh respray cars as body shops will do a great paint job but then fly over it too quick with a rotary causing more damage which was reason for lack of gloss.
He said to completely remove peel and he said all cars have it to an extent and mine is now at good level and not to worry but a wet sanding and about 3-4 days work can remove peel 100% and give you perfect glass look but we both agreed it’s not needed as you can see from the bonnet reflection it is now very clear and mirror like.
Scared to drive it now.
Yeah looks good. I wasn't meaning to pick on it I was just thinking it would be a good reference considering the previous posts.
Collected these from BMW today:
The offside driveshaft has failed, but it simply makes sense to change the pair of them as at nearly 120k miles, I am sure the other side will go soon.
So pair of new rear drive shafts, including all the fixings, bolts etc and a new rear boot badge.
Another £1300 on it, though I get £250 back when I hand in the old drive shafts.
The offside driveshaft has failed, but it simply makes sense to change the pair of them as at nearly 120k miles, I am sure the other side will go soon.
So pair of new rear drive shafts, including all the fixings, bolts etc and a new rear boot badge.
Another £1300 on it, though I get £250 back when I hand in the old drive shafts.
Sensible, get the running gear ready for this seasons track days!
R8 goes in next week for a service and brake fluid and some other checks. It needs neither service or brake fluid, but after 3 hard track days and high speed events it makes sense to get it done (less than 500 quid which I though reasonable for a V10). Also need some MORE noises checking into and considering some a geo at Centre Gravity and then some rectification of the stone chips and a detail
R8 goes in next week for a service and brake fluid and some other checks. It needs neither service or brake fluid, but after 3 hard track days and high speed events it makes sense to get it done (less than 500 quid which I though reasonable for a V10). Also need some MORE noises checking into and considering some a geo at Centre Gravity and then some rectification of the stone chips and a detail
Sensible, get the running gear ready for this seasons track days!
R8 goes in next week for a service and brake fluid and some other checks. It needs neither service or brake fluid, but after 3 hard track days and high speed events it makes sense to get it done (less than 500 quid which I though reasonable for a V10). Also need some MORE noises checking into and considering some a geo at Centre Gravity and then some rectification of the stone chips and a detail
Yep decided to also get the HG replaced and also the Vanos overhauled and refreshed, car drives fine but in my mind with this amount of miles and them never being done previously they are simply just waiting to go wrong. So plan on getting those sorted also, it really does never end.
Hi there
Well this year with very little use the car has cost £5000 in maintenance, consumables and upgrades.
- Alcon Front outer disc and pads: £1000
- Alcon rear disc with bells, shoes and pads: £2000
- BMW original half shafts: £1100
- Detail: £200
- Custom rear seat delete: £300
Pretty much 5k near as dammit, still got to fit rear disc and pads, its on the list to get done one sunny dry warm weekend.
Anyway I collected the car today after having the custom rear seat delete done, as the car is looking so clean and such a good example I've moved my attention over to the interior and the cheap rear seat delete I had done was looking tatty and the plastic they used was no longer flat but had become wavy, no doubt due to heat etc.
This is how it was when first fitted (obviously it was looking worse for wear now):
Here is how it looks now, also have the ability now to fasten down a fire extinguisher too, probably a good idea considering the cars use and it gives that proper race car vibe.
Very happy with the results of that, much tidier, next job on the interior is to grab a pair of new buckets, was going to get the Recaro Pole Position 2018 limited edition seats, but the green side strip would not work in my car, only if it was yellow, so am thinking regular Pole Position or ABE version in cloth/suede or maybe a custom made Pole Position seat in my own finish to really finish the interior off.
Not needed but also to do is the Vanos and head gasket. Just make sense now considering the rest of the car is all new and updated, so might as well perfect it and it be one of the very best E46 M3's left on the road condition and upgrades wise, as very few clean track cars about using quality parts and not cheap tat.
Well this year with very little use the car has cost £5000 in maintenance, consumables and upgrades.
- Alcon Front outer disc and pads: £1000
- Alcon rear disc with bells, shoes and pads: £2000
- BMW original half shafts: £1100
- Detail: £200
- Custom rear seat delete: £300
Pretty much 5k near as dammit, still got to fit rear disc and pads, its on the list to get done one sunny dry warm weekend.
Anyway I collected the car today after having the custom rear seat delete done, as the car is looking so clean and such a good example I've moved my attention over to the interior and the cheap rear seat delete I had done was looking tatty and the plastic they used was no longer flat but had become wavy, no doubt due to heat etc.
This is how it was when first fitted (obviously it was looking worse for wear now):
Here is how it looks now, also have the ability now to fasten down a fire extinguisher too, probably a good idea considering the cars use and it gives that proper race car vibe.
Very happy with the results of that, much tidier, next job on the interior is to grab a pair of new buckets, was going to get the Recaro Pole Position 2018 limited edition seats, but the green side strip would not work in my car, only if it was yellow, so am thinking regular Pole Position or ABE version in cloth/suede or maybe a custom made Pole Position seat in my own finish to really finish the interior off.
Not needed but also to do is the Vanos and head gasket. Just make sense now considering the rest of the car is all new and updated, so might as well perfect it and it be one of the very best E46 M3's left on the road condition and upgrades wise, as very few clean track cars about using quality parts and not cheap tat.
Yeah they are what I want in the cloth/suede, another £1500 but I think that will perfect interior, if they did those 2018 limited editions with yellow strip and not green I'd get those, even though they are £3000 as would look epic. Just need to sit in regular Pole Position and the ABE bigger boy version as I probably am ever slightly too big for normal seat or it will be to tight across my back and slightly bigger version might be a bit too big but very comfy and give me room to get fatter.
Hi there
So a few weeks back I took a trip to Spires tuning to get the car setup properly as he comes highly recommended in BMW and Jaguar suspension tuning.
Upon getting my car on the ramps, first thing we spot is an issue on rear brakes, no inside pad material on rear offside.
Second thing he notices he the height adjusters seem to be set a bit odd, upon removing rear springs he can see why this is, both rear springs have lost a lot of their spring rate and there is over half an inch height difference between the two.
Needless to say the rear springs were knackered. :lol:
So to be on the safe side, a complete set of new clubsport springs front and rear along with helper springs were ordered from KW:
So got these fitted and fast forward to last Friday I return to Spires with new brake pads installed and new springs installed, it looks like the rear disc has cleaned up nicely so looks like we got away with that, so the £1500 expense for rear disc can be delayed until a later date. He is happy with the spring install and he proceeded to set my car up to his club sport settings as I informed him I use my car on both road and track, for track days it shall be on road tyres or a semi slick, but never a slick tyre as such he gave me an aggressive setup, but not stupidly aggressive.
So here is the car on his very fancy ramps, work of art and when he aligns a car he uses his adjustable scale platforms to ensure everything is perfectly flat to ensure as perfect alignment setup and correct weight:
So here is the weight of the car after he has got corner weights spot on:
1382kg with a tank of fuel, original exhaust, door cards, fully carpeted, car mats, rear seat delete and rear cage, so very happy with the weight. As door card, carpet and lighter exhaust setup would yield close to another 50kg weight reduction but this car is setup to be extremely capable on track but also capable of doing weekends away, European road trips, NC500 in comfort.
Here is the final alignment, adjusted ride height, corner weighting all complete:
I then asked him about KW damper settings and asked if I should run the ring dry settings, he informed me every driver is different but he always found from his own experience and his customers with KW's they are always too high on rebound and that he has some customers with KW in time attack who are winning with his own custom settings which technically are way way out from what the manual recommends but in short:
Rebound: Wind all the way out to soft, then go 3-4 clicks from soft to hard depending on spring rate. We are at 3 clicks from max soft all round.
Compression: Again wind out to full soft, then go one full turn (6 clicks) back to stiff from full soft.
Now the last time I ran -3.00 and over -2.00 rear camber on this car it handled quite edgy and not very confident inspiring, however lets also remember the rear springs have no doubt not been at their best for some time.
Lets just say the car is transformed, of course I suspect a lot comes from having springs that are brand new, but even with this amount of camber the car drives beautiful, its direct, very planted but over bumps and rough surfaces it is so compliant, the wheels refuse to leave the ground and the grip in the rear is incredible, before I could kick the rear out without too much issue in the dry to get a little sideways drama, but now it really wants to grip but when it does let go is very progressive and controllable with an immediate return to centre if you lift off with no tank slapper syndrome.
In short it drives incredible, if anything the weakness of the car now is the front-end, though it has got good turn in it does seem to be lacking front-end grip, which was an even bigger issue before, so its improved for sure but the balance is still under steer.
I am putting that down to either old tyres, they are 3-4yr super sports or I need an adjustable or larger rear anti-roll bar, as I am currently running factory CSL anti-roll bars all round which are not adjustable. First thing I shall try is adjusting tyre pressures, but maybe I need an adjustable rear anti-roll bar in the car to try and aid handling balance a bit more.
Hoping to get Donnington this Friday evening to see how it drives as a shakedown test, might be a case on track the understeer is less an issue as on road it does only seem to be tighter corners, long sweepers the balance seems fine on, could maybe also just be the fact I have the uprated CSL LSD in the car maybe giving a touch more push in lower speed corners. We shall see.
So a few weeks back I took a trip to Spires tuning to get the car setup properly as he comes highly recommended in BMW and Jaguar suspension tuning.
Upon getting my car on the ramps, first thing we spot is an issue on rear brakes, no inside pad material on rear offside.
Second thing he notices he the height adjusters seem to be set a bit odd, upon removing rear springs he can see why this is, both rear springs have lost a lot of their spring rate and there is over half an inch height difference between the two.
Needless to say the rear springs were knackered. :lol:
So to be on the safe side, a complete set of new clubsport springs front and rear along with helper springs were ordered from KW:
So got these fitted and fast forward to last Friday I return to Spires with new brake pads installed and new springs installed, it looks like the rear disc has cleaned up nicely so looks like we got away with that, so the £1500 expense for rear disc can be delayed until a later date. He is happy with the spring install and he proceeded to set my car up to his club sport settings as I informed him I use my car on both road and track, for track days it shall be on road tyres or a semi slick, but never a slick tyre as such he gave me an aggressive setup, but not stupidly aggressive.
So here is the car on his very fancy ramps, work of art and when he aligns a car he uses his adjustable scale platforms to ensure everything is perfectly flat to ensure as perfect alignment setup and correct weight:
So here is the weight of the car after he has got corner weights spot on:
1382kg with a tank of fuel, original exhaust, door cards, fully carpeted, car mats, rear seat delete and rear cage, so very happy with the weight. As door card, carpet and lighter exhaust setup would yield close to another 50kg weight reduction but this car is setup to be extremely capable on track but also capable of doing weekends away, European road trips, NC500 in comfort.
Here is the final alignment, adjusted ride height, corner weighting all complete:
I then asked him about KW damper settings and asked if I should run the ring dry settings, he informed me every driver is different but he always found from his own experience and his customers with KW's they are always too high on rebound and that he has some customers with KW in time attack who are winning with his own custom settings which technically are way way out from what the manual recommends but in short:
Rebound: Wind all the way out to soft, then go 3-4 clicks from soft to hard depending on spring rate. We are at 3 clicks from max soft all round.
Compression: Again wind out to full soft, then go one full turn (6 clicks) back to stiff from full soft.
Now the last time I ran -3.00 and over -2.00 rear camber on this car it handled quite edgy and not very confident inspiring, however lets also remember the rear springs have no doubt not been at their best for some time.
Lets just say the car is transformed, of course I suspect a lot comes from having springs that are brand new, but even with this amount of camber the car drives beautiful, its direct, very planted but over bumps and rough surfaces it is so compliant, the wheels refuse to leave the ground and the grip in the rear is incredible, before I could kick the rear out without too much issue in the dry to get a little sideways drama, but now it really wants to grip but when it does let go is very progressive and controllable with an immediate return to centre if you lift off with no tank slapper syndrome.
In short it drives incredible, if anything the weakness of the car now is the front-end, though it has got good turn in it does seem to be lacking front-end grip, which was an even bigger issue before, so its improved for sure but the balance is still under steer.
I am putting that down to either old tyres, they are 3-4yr super sports or I need an adjustable or larger rear anti-roll bar, as I am currently running factory CSL anti-roll bars all round which are not adjustable. First thing I shall try is adjusting tyre pressures, but maybe I need an adjustable rear anti-roll bar in the car to try and aid handling balance a bit more.
Hoping to get Donnington this Friday evening to see how it drives as a shakedown test, might be a case on track the understeer is less an issue as on road it does only seem to be tighter corners, long sweepers the balance seems fine on, could maybe also just be the fact I have the uprated CSL LSD in the car maybe giving a touch more push in lower speed corners. We shall see.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,321
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
That setup is awesome for the alignment. As for someone who has done a driveway alignment with string and jack's I cannot imagine how much quicker that must have been for him to align!
Yeah incredible good and its just enough of the deck for him to be able to get underneath and make live adjustments as he just puts the monitor on the floor, he was quite the perfectionist too trying to get side to side perfectly equally. Though he did like the fact I had the fully adjustable rear arms and KW top mounts, so it made it very easy for him to make adjustments, infact he had the cars ride height set, corner weight done and alignment all boxed off within 3 hours.
He had to raise my car up a bit as he said because the car is quite lightweight and the springs are designed for both CSL and regular E46 KW have them with about 1500kg in mind, but as my car is probably around 1300kg dry means setting it too low would not utilise the spring correctly, hence he had to raise the car a little, of course on his alignment sheet it shows he raised the car only 2-3mm, but with the new springs installed its quite a bit higher than it was on failed springs, particular in the rear.
But saying that combination of working springs, correct ride heights fronts to rear, corner weighted, new damper settings the way it handles on road is incredible the spring/damper completely absorb even the roughest surfaces and the wheel refuses to leave the ground, so I can see why these kind of settings work so well in time attack as on a British road the grip and handling impressive and its got a really fun sporty feel to it, be interesting how it performs on track and if the low speed understeer raises its head, but thats whole reason for doing an evening session and not a full day just in case I get an issue with the car, as this Friday is only £150 for evening session and weather looks good. So looking forward to getting out on a proper fast track again as the car has only done road trips and sprint days in past couple of years.
Are those corner mass settings without a driver?
I'm just thinking that it would be better to have the car set up to be slightly heavier on the nearside rather than the offside so it evens out more when you are sat in the drivers seat.
Either way bet you can't wait to get it on track, such a good feeling when everything is all adjusted and set up.
I'm just thinking that it would be better to have the car set up to be slightly heavier on the nearside rather than the offside so it evens out more when you are sat in the drivers seat.
Either way bet you can't wait to get it on track, such a good feeling when everything is all adjusted and set up.
Without could have done it with for perfection but my weight changes, the amount of fuel in the tank changes and the passenger can change a lot, I am not competing so happy with way its been done and it drives lovely on the road, looking really forward to Donnington, praying forecast is correct though I won't book it until night before just in case rain comes.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,321
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
Without could have done it with for perfection but my weight changes, the amount of fuel in the tank changes and the passenger can change a lot, I am not competing so happy with way its been done and it drives lovely on the road, looking really forward to Donnington, praying forecast is correct though I won't book it until night before just in case rain comes.
Nothing worse than a bit of drizzle. Binned it at Craner curves before but luckily the only thing damaged was my pride as I went into the gravel!