Father-son E36 M3 track car

**hoki06** · 02-21-2018, 09:58 PM

I worked on the ducting last night and wrapped it up tonight after another Lowe's trip. I decided to go all the way up and block off the kidneys like the old BTCC cars. I'll watch temps when we first get on track and if things run a little high I can remove the upper section in about 10 minutes. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

**DocWyte** · 02-22-2018, 09:04 AM

Did you use a rivet gun to put it all together? Seems like you'd want to keep the kidney area open, more direct air to the top of the radiator...

Wish someone made a ducting kit, would save me a lot of time!

**hoki06** · 02-22-2018, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by DocWyte

Did you use a rivet gun to put it all together? Seems like you'd want to keep the kidney area open, more direct air to the top of the radiator...

Wish someone made a ducting kit, would save me a lot of time!

It's a combo of rivets, rivnuts, and self tapping sheet metal screws.

The piece blocking the kidneys goes from just behind the bumper beam up to the core support (about where the hood pins are). The theory is a tightly sealed intake duct combined with exhaust venting (hood vent placed above and starting at the back of the radiator) will create flow that pulls air efficiently through the radiator and out the hood. In a perfect world I'd angle the radiator forward and make exhaust ducting up to the hood vent but obviously that would require a ton of fabrication. Temps should be fine between the ducting, vent, and extra thick 3 core radiator.

I saved the templates I used for the pieces and had thoughts of trying to make a kit later down the road. If I could refine the mounting method and have a sheet metal break at my disposal it wouldn't be hard to make. Maybe one day.

**hoki06** · 02-25-2018, 08:28 PM

Spent Saturday in the garage with Dad doing some organizing and making more space to work. Then we got the Ground Control rear sway bar in place. I forgot to take some pictures but man was that a tight fit. I had to "clearance" the spare tire area so it would fit between the diff and the body.

Then we spent a couple hours working on the windshield defroster kit. We got the grid on the windshield and then I did some continuity testing to make sure I placed the bus bars correctly. I screwed up so I get to order another set of grids and do it all over again. Oh well, couple hours lost there.

Today I worked on the splitter and mounts. I cut a splitter with some leftover plywood I had but it's not big enough. I need to get a full piece and cut a new one that will go back towards the subframe. I made two outer mounts and need to work on some inner supports tomorrow. It'll be a tight fit but I have an idea.

**hoki06** · 02-26-2018, 10:44 PM

Finished up the front splitter mounts tonight. I was able to fit the inner mounts between the brake duct inlet and radiator ducting. It all fits but it’s really tight so I’ll need to make some minor adjustments in order to have the bumper go on and off a little easier.

I bought a sheet of 1/2” birch plywood that I’ll made the full length splitter out of tomorrow. Then I need to come up with a rear support off the subframe and get everything painted.

**hoki06** · 02-27-2018, 09:08 PM

Finished up the splitter tonight. The final product is cut out of 1/2" birch plywood and uses the 4 front mounts in my previous post as well as bolting to the front subframe in two spots. Now to paint the mounts and paint/seal the plywood before the final install.

**hoki06** · 03-08-2018, 09:41 PM

I was traveling last weekend so I got back in the garage late Sunday. While I had daylight I sanded the edged of the splitter so it had a more rounded leading edge now. Then I started the painting process which will take a solid week to complete. A coat of sealing primer, two coats of black, then 2 coats of polyurethane. After a coat of primer I spent some time getting the seat adjusted and in it's final position.

Monday evening I put primer on the other side of the splitter then got the belts back in the car and adjusted for the seat position. A long process with a lot of repetitive work but it's done finally. I finished the night by putting the first coat of black paint on one side of the splitter.

Tuesday night I spent another long night in the garage starting with painting a second coat of black on the first side of the splitter. Then I started fixing my screw up on the windshield defroster. The bus bars are placed correctly this time and all thats left is some minor wiring.

Wednesday night I started painting the other side of the splitter. Then I working on my gas tank venting and got that halfway done. I finished the night by fixing a minor oil leak caused by me not tightening the hose barb fitting in the oil pan next to the dip stick. This is where the PCV drain hose connects. I went ahead and changed the oil while I was in there and put in some Red Line 40WT.

Tonight I put the last coat of black on the splitter so it's ready for polyurethane this weekend. I cut holes for the switches in the carbon center dash plate, got the switches mounted, and installed the plate in the dash. The Life Line FIA rain light arrived from Bimmerworld today so I mounted that on the trunk and it's ready for wiring. I finished the night by pulling power and ground wires for the switches. More on the switch panel later once I get more wires pulled.

Picture time:

Primed

Painted

Switches installed

Current status of the cabin. Looks good with the switches finally in place.

Life Line rain light

**hoki06** · 03-14-2018, 12:15 PM

Lots of long nights in the garage lately but it’s paying off. Switch panel is done except for real labels, splitter is painted and mounted, rear tow strap is on, center net and window next are in, and probably a bunch of other small stuff I’m forgetting.

I dropped the car off at Delta V Motorsports last night for suspension set up (ride height, corner balance / check weight, alignment) and a general pre-track inspection to have another set of eyes look over my work. I’ll get it back Friday so I can do some final prep this weekend before packing for VIR next week.

**darbyfam** · 03-14-2018, 03:37 PM

Congrats!!

**BacDoc** · 03-14-2018, 04:14 PM

Beautiful.

**hoki06** · 03-14-2018, 07:03 PM

Originally Posted by darbyfam

Congrats!!

Originally Posted by BacDoc

Beautiful.

Thanks!

**darbyfam** · 03-14-2018, 08:37 PM

Also took this picture the same day

**hoki06** · 03-14-2018, 09:04 PM

The race to see who finishes first! When’s your first day on track?

**Ateyourv8** · 03-14-2018, 09:09 PM

Quality time well spent! Car should be sweet! Great Job! Cant wait for the track season to start here. Its March and we've just had 3 Nor/easters in a matter of 2 weeks.... and spring is next week.

Edit: I really like the floor panels with the ant slip. Did you guys make those yourself?

**hoki06** · 03-15-2018, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by Ateyourv8

Quality time well spent! Car should be sweet! Great Job! Cant wait for the track season to start here. Its March and we've just had 3 Nor/easters in a matter of 2 weeks.... and spring is next week.

Edit: I really like the floor panels with the ant slip. Did you guys make those yourself?

The pans were made by the guy who did our cage. They wouldn't be hard to make though using some poster board for templates and cutting some 3/16" aluminum sheet.

**hoki06** · 03-15-2018, 01:00 PM

I finally get to see the weight! This is with 1/2 tank of fuel, no driver, and mostly everything on the car except kill switch and radios.

Ignore the corner weights, we just quickly hooked things up so they’re not correct.

**BacDoc** · 03-15-2018, 04:14 PM

Nice! I was going to ask. Update my E36 weight thread.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

**hoki06** · 03-15-2018, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by BacDoc

Nice! I was going to ask. Update my E36 weight thread.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

Will do!

Here's the weight with about 180 lbs in the driver seat and corner balance set

**darbyfam** · 03-15-2018, 06:49 PM

Originally Posted by hoki06

The race to see who finishes first! When’s your first day on track?

Supposed to be this Sunday for a track-day shakedown. Next weekend for NASA NOLA event.

Mine came in at 2803 with me (225lbs) in it and light gas. I am going to have to add about 200# of ballast to make TT3/ST3.

**hoki06** · 03-15-2018, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by darbyfam

Supposed to be this Sunday for a track-day shakedown. Next weekend for NASA NOLA event.

Mine came in at 2803 with me (225lbs) in it and light gas. I am going to have to add about 200# of ballast to make TT3/ST3.

That's impressively light! I know my splitter is heavy but man... take out the gas and that puts the car in the 2725 range which is still over 100 lbs heavier than your car. Maybe the big wheels/tires play a part? Not sure what else there could be.

**darbyfam** · 03-15-2018, 09:01 PM

Looking at your cage compared to mine, I think a good bit of the difference is there. Mine is pretty minimal.

**hoki06** · 03-15-2018, 09:11 PM

Makes sense. Oh well, not a big deal for me. I’m right where I need to be for GTS2.

**DocWyte** · 03-16-2018, 10:09 AM

With very light fuel my car weighs 3000lbs, that's with radio, AC, carpets and everything there up front. Back seat/trunk area has been partially gutted and I have a rollbar/fixed back seats etc

**hoki06** · 03-30-2018, 10:00 AM

We had a great shakedown at VIR last weekend. The week before was filled with more last minute prep such as installing the kill switch, SmartyCam, modifying the muffler brackets to drop it down an inch or two so I could fit the stock diffuser in place, installing the kidneys and taping them off along with the brake ducts for this event, numbers, and a lot of other small things I had on my list.

I stopped taking pictures at one point because I was pushing to get things done and packed up for VIR. Everything went well and we made it to VIR right when the gates opened Thursday night. We got the car unloaded and got our annual race car tech inspection for 2018 so we're good to go for the year. We finally have a logbooked, inspected, and ready to race race car!

Friday was a great day to shake down the car. I was pretty nervous to get back on track after almost 2 years away. The car felt great but it is very different from the old car. The Z3 steering rack is amazingly quick and light, the aero makes it feel much more capable in the uphill esses and T10, the DiffsOnline 3.64 combined with the lightweight flywheel lets the car rev insanely quick and pull hard out of corners. Most importantly... the car felt rock solid with no weird noises, vibrations, etc. all weekend. I got back into the 2:13.xx lap time range in my second session which I'm pretty happy about. I've got some work to do to get into the 2:07-2:08 range with the GTS2 front runners.

Here's a shot with the 17x9 wheels and 245 Hoosiers

I tried to run the 18x10s and 285s Saturday morning and was not a fan at all. They were very difficult to warm up and felt like I was driving on ice (30-35 degree ambient temps didn't help). Once I got a little heat into them I started to hear some rubbing in the rear so I pulled in and we went back to the 245s. My experiment with the massive tires is over and we'll be running something in the 245-265 range with a lower ride height.

It started to rain Saturday afternoon and I called it quits for the day. I enjoy seat time in the rain but I'll wait until we have at least one event under our belts before doing that. I just wanted to put some hours on the car in the dry to make sure everything works and I can knock off the rust from my driving skills. Sunday morning we woke up to this:

We took the tow vehicles on track to try and clear the slush. Cars didn't get on track until after 10 am and our next session wouldn't have been until almost 3 pm. With a 5 hours travel time for Dad to get back home, we called it quits for the weekend and packed up after taking the truck for some parade laps.

And here's some video from Saturday morning's second session.