Low and Slow
Hello, I haven't posted in a while and wanted to put together a thread specifically for preparing this car for pro-am and then seeing how it performs. I'm probably going to be a little under powered but the car is set up well and I think I can maybe make up for it with some good consistent driving! I also wanted to post this as a resource for others wanting to supercharge their m5x and drift them. I have learned a reasonable amount since installing mine and I'm just going to go ahead and say it. If I hadn't gotten the supercharger for such a good deal, I would have just gone turbo.
Here's a list of what has been done.
Engine
M54B30 stock.
VF Engineering Supercharger kit w/ Vortech V3si at 7-8psi
Snow Performance Stage 1 meth injection
DNA motoring catless headers
286whp/263wtq (have dyno sheet in glovebox.)
All gaskets, seals, and complete cooling system have been replaced.
New CCV and all hoses
Disa Valve block off
Bimmerworld safety wired oil pump nut
Regular oil changes using only bmw filters and Castrol 5w-40 synthetic
New oem engine mounts
Oem rear exhaust section with large rear muffler delete. Still retains oem small muffler and resonator.
Suspension
BC racing BR coilovers 10k front 8k rear
SLR Ultra Angle kit.
SLR caster/camber reduction plates with spherical top hats
SLR solid adjustable sway bar end links
E36 non-m swaybar
AKG 75d transmission mounts
AKG 75d diff bushings
Revshift 75d subframe bushings
Garagistic Delrin offset rtabs
Driftec one off custom rear toe brackets
330 automatic axle upgrade
PBM rear subframe reinforcement plates welded in
Center support bearing replaced
Welded 3.46
Chase Bays complete power steering kit w/ inline cooler
CA Tuned spherical adjustable rear lower control
Exterior
10x 18x9 et12 carbyne design sprints
12mm front spacers
32mm bolt on 5x114.3 adapters
Motorsport hardware 90mm extended wheels studs
90mm universal fender flares painted to match. (needs replacing)
Mtech 2 front bumper
Oem decklid spoiler color matched
DDM tuning angle eyes
Interior
Sparco pro 2000 driver seat
Sparco aluminum side mount adapters
BimmerWorld billet aluminum seat adapter
Racequip racing harness sfi in date.
Corbeau gt passenger seat
Custom seat brackets on oem e46 seat sliders
eBay boss hub
Grip royal mahogany steering wheel
BMW performance shift knob
ISR Performance hydraulic handbrake
Driftworks hydro plumbing kit
Aluminum valve fire extinguisher (pro-am legal)
Weld in 4 point half cage
Bosch boost gauge
[FONT=Arial]Cliq tuning sunroof delete panel
I still need to add:
The rest of the cage including intrusion bars
Get a not expired seat
Wire in a battery cut off
Third brake light strip? IDK
Suit and shoes
Steering wheel that isn't wood
Nitrous
So details on the chassis and a few things I've made, helped make. First up are these jack point things. I started making them for fun and I've actually had a lot of people buy them. They are not bash bars, they weld on to the factory bumper shocks and still retain about a half inch or more of travel in the shock so it can still take a hit. I hate bash bars. So these are cool! They are also made out of soft thinner steel so that they can deform if a direct impact occurs.
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Second with the help of a friend we had these custom toe brackets made. They are manufactured the same way as oem brackets and allow the maximum amount of travel in the trailing arm pockets. They're actually being produced by my friend and are for sale. If you're interested message me. They made a massive difference! I can run more toe in than is necessary. It's great.
BDDSPmgl.jpg
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These are my current toe settings in the rear. I can run it all the way up to about -.70 maybe higher. I can't remember. I need to swap these crappy garagistic offset bushings out for some bearing style ones but it has made a huge difference. The car is significantly faster.
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Ok so I'll also go in depth with how big of a pain in the butt this supercharger has been. So to start I have MS45 which sucks. Currently my IAT is in the HFM. So it's pre blower and utterly useless. This being a non intercooled supercharger it is making it even worse. The car is heat soaking and losing a lot of power. I'm spraying water/meth to try and bring temps down. But it isn't doing much. I'm sending the supercharger off to be rebuilt because I have no clue how many miles are on it. But I'm having the gearset swapped out with the V3 heritage internals, so straight cut gears. That should be pretty cool. I'm hoping it'll sound like an old RR Merlin. On top of that I'm putting a smaller pulley on it and having the car re-tuned with a bigger meth nozzle and having the IAT table rescaled so it can be moved. I'm hoping for a reliable 320whp @~10psi.
So the supercharger is massive. I want to add an intercooler but I have no idea how. There's just no room and my driver side strut tower being pushed in 5/8" doesn't help. Any ideas are welcome. I've considered a water to air unit. But I'd have to delete the brake booster.
Another issue I'm having is the supercharger being internally lubricated with no oil cooling. It's puking fluid out of the breather. I contacted Vortech and they said to put a spacer on the breather and raise it up so the fluid has more room to expand. It's a little worrying but I'm going to stay on top of oil changes and see what happens.
Another issue I'm having is the supercharger being internally lubricated with no oil cooling. It's puking fluid out of the breather. I contacted Vortech and they said to put a spacer on the breather and raise it up so the fluid has more room to expand. It's a little worrying but I'm going to stay on top of oil changes and see what happens.
As far as the car itself is concerned. It has been bulletproof. I took it to a local grassroots competition (before the supercharger) and won this was my second competition ever and I'm pretty pleased. After adding the supercharger I've noticed a small increase in temp while drifting but it's not enough to have to worry. The car cools down so fast between runs that it's barely noticeable.
After the supercharger install I took the car to VIR for hyperfest. The car did amazing. I'll upload a video later. It was really cool to get into third and actually be able to use it. I'm definitely going to shorten the final drive up just a little bit. I'd like to get a 3.64 zhp diff so I can weld it. But I may just go ahead and swap to an M3 rear end as it's 3.62.
My future plans are having the supercharger rebuilt. Adding nitrous (just a little bit to help with charge air cooling.) I also need to replace a few front end components (top hats, tie rod inners, fcabs, and eventually get new coilovers.)
I'll try pro am next season. If I need more power I'll just sell the supercharger and buy turbo stuff and then eventually do an m52nv 3.0l stroker.
Last edited by Jrcanes55; 06-04-2019 at 06:19 PM.
Stiff Member
Why OEM engine mounts but 75D trans mounts? What's the 330 automatic axle upgrade?
Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?
Low and Slow
Cuts down on vibration however I believe it's causing my tans crossmember to fracture. 330 automatic axles use a traditional CV joint. The 330 manual axles use this weird small stupid joint that breaks really easily.Originally Posted by protomor
https://i.imgur.com/eucPuhn.jpg?2
Stiff Member
Hmm. ok. I recall having issues when I had mixed rubber and poly trans/engine bushings. IIRC either go with all one or the other to reduce stress/vibrations. Or just go straight solid so nothing moves lol.
Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?
Member
What is with all these people talking about vibration in a race car? And no duh that’s what’s breaking your trans mounts. You can’t have the engine flopping around and expect the trans to stay solid. And you’re gonna need a lot more HP than that to run pro am. I have 375 with an LS and I can’t even remotely keep up with the pro am guys out there. 300hp is grassroots hp.
Low and Slow
Lol yeah, that's real pro am out west. East10 is a joke. I'm having the car retuned with a small pulley and nitrous. Hoping for about 350. But that's probably optimistic.
Low and Slow
Here's a video from hyperfest. This was my first event with the supercharger.
also why do my pictures keep disappearing? What are you guys using to post pics?
Lower than your standards
I use flikr and just edit all the stupid text out of the links.
Grimegang_cody on instagram if you want to follow my progress
Stiff Member
Pretty smooth at the wheel!
I use tapatalk a lot lately to put up pictures. Otherwise I use the website's UI and upload to BF.c itself cuz I'm lazy.
Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?
Member
Car seems like an absolute ripper. I'm considering catless headers and a tune for like.... a tiny bit more before I go supercharged. Figure I should be catless when I go for super anyway. If you like superchargers, I'm planning on going with a Hyde Motor Works kit... Worth looking into. By my estimation, all in, it'll be $1000 less than a quality reliable turbo setup. In theory, possible to move enough air for 650hp, that's what it does on the GT500 at least. Have no clue about timing anymore because I'm considering moving across the country.
Also- I was wondering if you put in a fresh head gasket before supercharging? Planning on doing one with you power goals at all?
What size rear tires do you use front and rear?
How much did those DNA motoring headers cost you? Are they just the classic Ebay headers that have fitment issues and are flawing in design?
Video looks rad, that was basically 3rd the whole time, right?
Keep it simple: half gutted '01 330i, welded diff, BC coils, SLR Super kit
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