Z3 Wide Body

[ZimDoc]

Great progress so far and can't wait to see the finished project. Also you made the hood vent I want on my car. Such great detail on it and fits perfect.

Also ever thought about running brake ducts from NACA ducts from the under side of the splitter? It worked great for our 25hr Of T-Hill E46 M and made removing the bumper very easy also and it allowed us to run the tubes so far inward that the tires never rubbed them in any position.

[Lof8]

Great work! Subscribed for progress.

[DrSasha]

Surprisingly great looking!

[aablown]

damn thats nice. awsome job!

[yokoseiki]

Great job, love the radiator duct.

I actually thought about doing the same but I didn't want to move the radiator forward like you did to make a proper duct.

What you could have done is use a much lower radiator and mounted it at and angle. If you look at some old WC cars or current WTCC cars they have something like that.

Usually high pressure in the engine bay escapes through the bottom of the car on each side of the motor. Long story short the stock exit area is actually really large, in fact, much larger then the duct you made so just a word of caution.

Also are you going to use a radiator support? Does your cage go out to the shock towers? It actually is a structural piece.

[kalib0y]

I am truly amazed. I really cant wait to see the finished product!

[007DT]

Nick

This looks fantastic. Looking forward to the final product...

[Calaway16]

Great progress so far and can't wait to see the finished project. Also you made the hood vent I want on my car. Such great detail on it and fits perfect.

Also ever thought about running brake ducts from NACA ducts from the under side of the splitter? It worked great for our 25hr Of T-Hill E46 M and made removing the bumper very easy also and it allowed us to run the tubes so far inward that the tires never rubbed them in any position.

Thanks! I'm still kicking around brake duct ideas, though at the moment i'm leaning toward still putting them in the front bumper where the stock fog lights normally go. We'll see how it pans out with my dive planes and splitter setup.

Surprisingly great looking!

The best looking car is the one that crosses the finish line first

Great job, love the radiator duct.

I actually thought about doing the same but I didn't want to move the radiator forward like you did to make a proper duct.

What you could have done is use a much lower radiator and mounted it at and angle. If you look at some old WC cars or current WTCC cars they have something like that.

Usually high pressure in the engine bay escapes through the bottom of the car on each side of the motor. Long story short the stock exit area is actually really large, in fact, much larger then the duct you made so just a word of caution.

Also are you going to use a radiator support? Does your cage go out to the shock towers? It actually is a structural piece.

I have the engine bay looking like this at the moment:


The only strut tower bracing I have are those tubes running tight against the outside of the car from the firewall. I assumed that the radiator mount was a trivial piece specifically for mounting the radiator and related accessories. I thought the engine subframe would be the only truly structural element tying the two halves of the car together forward of the firewall. I could definitely be mistaken, however. I suppose the radiator mounts would add some torsional rigidity that the subframe can't provide since it's just a beam.

I would like to add an extra tube from either strut tower pointing more toward the center of the firewall, possibly welded in some way to the tube running under my dash board. I have never felt like the front of the car wobbled, but it certainly can't hurt, right?



Over the last couple of days, I have been block sanding the bodywork. This is the part that is most tedious but the least rewarding. It looks like nothing is getting done, but it takes forever. I'm starting the process with 150 grit paper wrapped around my long sanding block. I use a light touch (allowing the block to do the work), and work in every direction to ensure that the doors are as straight as possible. I ran through the sanding grits until I reached 320.



Last night I sprayed the doors with a single stage urethane in black which will act as the final surface of the plugs. I had some filling and fairing to do to clear up some flaws that became visible once the gloss was applied. I wet sanded with 400 grit sandpaper prior to applying the filler. I then wetsanded again to prepare the doors for another coat of paint. Technically I should prime again, but since these are the plugs and won't be out in the sun/running down the road, I won't lose sleep over just coating again.



Tonight I resprayed the doors and sprayed the front and rear quarter panels. The shapes are looking pretty good, though the passenger door still has a tiny wave in it! THIS JUST WON'T DO

[jakermac]

That looks fantastic. I can't wait to see more. You have infinitely more patience than I do. I HATE bodywork.

[Z3SpdDmn]

Great job, Nick!
It will be scary to be around this car on track for fear of getting dust on it!

[trkshoe]

Awesome work Nick... I'll be following the thread.

Patrick

[LAWLence]

That's lookin' pretty good.

Note that the Mishimoto radiator that you currently have will not sufficiently cool the S54 even with the increased cooling capacity from the larger bumper openings. It is a 2 row design that has less overall row width than the stock single row S54 radiator which itself has problems cooling the engine in the stock configuration. You may need to move to a thicker core and trim your duct a bit to match. This is from personal experience, and I just do DEs. A racing environment would call for even more cooling, though your bumper should provide plenty.

[osborni]

The splitter, undertray and hood extractor should help. I'd vote for a shorter thicker radiator that can be tilted forward a bit to make more room behind the radiator to get closer to the extraction volume of the Corvette photo earlier in this thread.

[Calaway16]

We'll have to see about the radiator. I'm going to run with it to start and upgrade as I see fit. I'm hoping that the ducting and increased airflow through the larger opening will make things work. I am completely prepared to replace it, though.

Unfortunately, with the position of the engine, there really isn't an opportunity to open the duct any more. Some day I may move the engine lower and back, but I have a few other things I'd do before that so that could be a little while down the road.

I'm still painting and sanding, so there's not a lot of stuff to show. But I have listed a few of my wheels in the 'For Sale' section:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1947600

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1947594

Great job, Nick!
It will be scary to be around this car on track for fear of getting dust on it!

Haha I think I'm the one that will be worried about that. But with me doing the fiberglass and painting, replacement parts are cheap so I can be a little less... conservative

[LAWLence]

We'll have to see about the radiator. I'm going to run with it to start and upgrade as I see fit. I'm hoping that the ducting and increased airflow through the larger opening will make things work. I am completely prepared to replace it, though.

I would just start looking for a radiator now. I did 3 laps in 60 degree weather (one of which was a warm-up) before the needle started moving toward the red.

[Calaway16]

I would just start looking for a radiator now. I did 3 laps in 60 degree weather (one of which was a warm-up) before the needle started moving toward the red.

Ok. I'm still (to satisfy my curiosity) going to have to try out this radiator, but I'll have Bimmerworld set aside one of their C&Rs (?). Thanks a bunch for the tip.

[LAWLence]

Are you shaving the exterior mirrors? Or going to mount something aftermarket to where the stabby window would normally reside?

[Calaway16]

Are you shaving the exterior mirrors? Or going to mount something aftermarket to where the stabby window would normally reside?

I've never been a fan of the stock mirrors. They are too far back. I'm probably going to make a pair that mount in the 'V' between the door and the A Pillar. Similar to the older style 997 RSR mirrors.

I've been painting.

[Emre]

We'll have to see about the radiator. I'm going to run with it to start and upgrade as I see fit. I'm hoping that the ducting and increased airflow through the larger opening will make things work. I am completely prepared to replace it, though.

Take a look at what the rally guys do. They typically run huge turbos on tiny engines, so heat soak is a major issue. Also, they spend a lot of time sideways, so flow through the rad and intercooler is compromised.

What they do is run water or peroxide injection. It's a very simple system that sprays a fine mist of H2O, H2O2, or washer fluid on the rad and/or inter cooler. You can rig up a very simple system driven by a washer fluid pump controlled by a thermostat. Seems to make a significant difference in cooling capacity.

Something to think about.

Tonight I resprayed the doors and sprayed the front and rear quarter panels. The shapes are looking pretty good, though the passenger door still has a tiny wave in it! THIS JUST WON'T DO

Please paint the car in a slightly lighter color with lots of metallic flake. It'll help bring out all the curves. Non-metallic black will hide the body contours that you've worked so hard to perfect!

[BenFenner]

Take a look at what the rally guys do. They typically run huge turbos on tiny engines, so heat soak is a major issue.

Rally cars in the last 20 years have run tiny turbos on tiny engines. You're right they have to deal with heat, but it's not because they run large turbos. Larger turbos mean less heat to deal with. This is why Porsche always had to go bigger on their air cooled engines.

/threadjack

[Emre]

The point remains: they know how to deal with heat. And H2O, H2O2, or ETOH sprayed onto the rads(s) and inter cooler is a common trick. Cheap and easy, too. Definitely worth consideration.

[Calaway16]

My goal is to be able to do endurance races, so I would rather not carry water on board and have to worry about refilling that. I'll see if this radiator works. If it doesn't, I'll find one that does.

I'm afraid the car must be black. It's the only 'color' for me. I've attached a picture of a concept livery I sketched. I'm probably going to do the base design in paint but the numbers and sponsor decals will be vinyl.



I've been painting away and have had a chance to hang some of the painted bodywork on the car to get an idea of what the finished product will look like. I started polishing the parts last night, although a few of them like the side skirts, hood, and front and rear bumpers will require another coat or two of paint.





Oh and do please have a look at my wheels for sale in the track parts/wheel and tire classifieds! I need to make some room for some 18x11's

[e30polak]

Sickest looking M-coupe on the planet!!!!!

With such wide rubber, I personally would've put an LSX in it, but that's just me. I will be selling my S54 E30 M3 at the end of this year, and I'll be looking into a Z3 M-Coupe next year for my next project. I will be going with an LS, unless I end up getting my dealer's license as planned and can find a cheap, totalled E92 to grab an S65 from.

It would be awesome if you could pull some molds of your kit for production, I'm sure there would be a good bit of interest. I DEFINITELY would buy the whole kit, and would be willing to invest in molds as well!

Good luck with the finished product. I envy your abilities and effort. You truly have one of the best M-Coupes ever built!

[yokoseiki]

I don't want to speak for the OP but if this was my project I would avoid trying to make these parts available for sale unless the price was absolutely right. And if I was, I would have to spend a lot more time on the integrity of my molds especially the hood. It would need a sick amount of framing to keep it from changing shape after just 1 use.

Project looks like it's coming along, looks great ! Don't forget to get those wheels !!!!!!!! TRUST ME !!!!!!! Buy them now !!!!!!

[vrtymfg]

Looks Fantastic Nick!