Learning to drift? My build/rebuild - Austin, TX

[MikeE36]

Mike, I may have to take you up on that boost gauge. I know I need a wideband eventually, been looking at the aem and innovate but I guess it's more critical than I thought. I think I'm just itching to get this all back together but I know you are right about the regret when I break something! A big part of me wants to just wait and save for the ZF, if only for the drifting abuse. I just haven't had any bites on my getrag and engine that are for sale so guess I'm getting antsy, maybe it will sell faster with the shifter setup included. My budget is very near tapped out until I can sell some stuff!

First event with a blown transmission.. Yeah I know I don't want to be that guy

Yeah man I hear you. Just seen way too many people do setups that are bound for failure, then when they fail they're extremely depressed and want to sell the car, etc. With a ZF, you won't be able to break it with less than 550 wtq drifting it. It'll be essentially bulletproof. That with some gauges to make sure your tune is sound and AFR and boost are where they need to be and your setup will last a LONG time. Hell, if I had welded my oil pump nut the first time I built my engine 4 years ago, I would still be on the exact same longblock this whole time (without having to change the bearings and rings when my oil pump failed), with over 35k boosted miles at over 500 wheel. These things seriously last forever if you just change the head gasket like every 4 years lol.

PM me for the boost gauge and we can meet up at some point this weekend or something.

Mike

[k,elnazer]

Hi mike sorry to interfere, but since your drifting your car for a while do you think m/s 52 last same as the jz engines ?

[jjjjjjj]

Updates. Build moving in slow-motion due to family matters but things are looking up! Took head to local machine shop to get a basic resurface for MLS hg... ended up feeling guilty and was "talked into" a full valve job/the works. That's ok, best not to cheap out as it was over 200k and about to see boost. I know we've all seen pics but it's just a beautiful sight:









Also figured it was never too late for a little extra spring cleaning:








I really, really want to further strip and paint the engine bay glossy alpine but idk... I'll revisit that urge and maybe get e46 control arms after I pull the front subframe to weld the reinforcements. If $$$ was right I would paint (DIY) engine bay, new twisty skirts and M3 bumpers all at once lol.



My turbo piping is a little ugly (10+ year old chipping chrome) so figured I would clean in all up and paint it with a high-temp black but it's actually polishing pretty decent. Same with the muffler, it was sprayed completely black and had bumper plastic stuck to it so attempting to strip/polish it as well.

Before:



After, still a long way to go:








So I have the bottom end all torqued down on the S52 and will start on sealing the head tomorrow, here's how it sits as of last night:



Going with a used MLS .140 and arp2000 studs, copper spray and lots of wishful thinking Block resurfaced for MLS 50+/- miles ago, head like new with same finish so i'm not too concerned. I'll be checking the torque for a few days, no rush here. That plus poor surface prep seems to be the source of all of the used MLS horror stories i've read about so i'm staying positive... Budget is long since gone so still hoping to sell some of my old parts to buy F1 clutch kit , ZF & ZF swap parts, wideband and other guages, couplers, etc, etc.

Looking more and more like unless I feel like breaking a Getrag I may not see the track this year

[jjjjjjj]

Engine all closed up. Now for the turbo mock-up i've always wanted to do lol. I'll be replacing all couplers and clamps as well as stripping/painting all piping:

[Euroslide]

Is that piping passing under the subframe?

[jjjjjjj]

Is that piping passing under the subframe?

Yeah not too thrilled about the AA kit for that. Hoping to relocate when it's all back together, it's only 2.5"

[Rustyfriend]

Yea mine passes under the subframe as well and it makes me super nervous all of the time :/

Raise up the coils and you'll be okay for a while

[jjjjjjj]

I'll post this here too. 4-day weekend, not as much progress as I hoped for but can't complain. Engine 99% ready to drop in! Tackled the oil pan and drain and mounted a few other things:





In case you were wondering, yes I'll be retrofitting an M50TU beauty cover over an S52 valve cover on an M50TU head with S50 cams on top of an S52 block running OBDI. Frankensteinin' it up on a budget.

So I know I'm going down a less travelled road with my oil drain but I'm decently happy with how it turned out. My goal was to be solid with the best possible angle and I feel I succeeded. For the hole I found a nice thin hole-saw type drill bit that made a very clean cut considering:




The oil pan wall is a hair under 4.5mm, pretty thick but still seems too thin to actually trust threading a fitting so I just left off one of the washers that came with my drain fitting to expose enough threads. Ground off the coating best I could so it would weld better and after test fitting it decided that under the baffle was the best way to go, it would have been a pretty extreme angle had I gone up higher to the only usable spot above the baffle. I gently pried the baffle out of the way (WTF at this, why did BMW rivet the baffle on..?!?) to fit a thin 32mm wrench to tighten the nut as much as possible and then did my best to blindly weld the nut in place which was a major PITA with my POS wire-feeder lol. Really more than anything I'm happy with the angle:











So unfortunately I'm don't think I'll be able to afford ZF transmission + driveshaft + shifter and also buy a suitable clutch so rather than letting it sit for several more months I'll just get the F1 S3 clutch and take it easy for the rest of the year (minimal to no drifting... and absolutely no clutch kicks) and go with the Getrag for now. I know I keep going back and forth on this but I need the car running so I can take the kids to pre-school/day care and drive to work beginning August so the deadline has been set. Original spring/summer plans did not include turbo so the ZF was never really in the budget when I was just doing the M50 > S52 swap. I guess there's always next season and I'll have a better idea of what the car can do before taking it to the track all of a sudden with 2.5X the power....



Must have / need to buy:

-Gripforce F1 S3 clutch. Torn between lightweight aluminum (10.4lbs) and semi-lightweight chromoly (14.4 lbs)

-Wideband. Still don't totally understand it all but I want to know what's really happening to avoid Ka-Boom.

-Boost gauge and all vac and coolant lines. still lots to learn.

-All new silicon couplers and T-clamps. Really want to avoid under-the-subfame if at all possible...



To-do / already purchased:

-Strip/paint hot and cold piping

-install fuel pump

-pull front subframe and weld in AKG reinforcements (hopefully replace control arms with e46 arms if I can come up with the extra cash!)

[RandomHero27]

these last few pages have me jealous. my car is no where near ready for this yet, but im still jealous.

[MikeE36]

Your PM box if full. Clear that out and shoot me a message again. I'll be pulling the motor on the gorilla with a friend this saturday. You can swing by and shoot the ish and grab that boost gauge if you like.

Mike

[jjjjjjj]

Car has been running since last week, and been driving it to work. Mike came over to help sort out some electrical and other issues, awesome guy and I owe him a lot. Still need to do something about an exhaust system as I'm running open downpipe for now. Also need time to break in the clutch and rebuilt engine and get the important gauges - wideband and boost - before I really let it rip.

You can follow details of my turbo build here:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...-s-turbo-build

So I know this is the drifting sub and it may be a while before this car sees drift action due to the end of the season and my inability to get a ZF transmission to complete the build so fun on the streets will have to do for now. I'll keep it updated in the meantime so farewell for now, drifters!!

[Barbic]

How was the fitment with the first exhaust? I'm assuming it's from ebay for $475 right? I'm thinking of getting it for a beater car I may be picking up

[jjjjjjj]

How was the fitment with the first exhaust? I'm assuming it's from ebay for $475 right? I'm thinking of getting it for a beater car I may be picking up

Which exhaust are you talking about? Both have been custom and/or hack jobs.

[Barbic]

oops wrong thread >.< like your build though

[zeyers]

this things going to be a lot of fun when its done! im very jealous

[jjjjjjj]

Just wanted to say hi


Finally blew up my Getrag (and Gripforce S3 clutch) few months back, so ZF and ACT G6 clutch in and doing great!!

It somehow flawlessly lasted 227k miles.... 22k at 400hp lol until second gear was reduced to metal shavings after a that one last hard shift.

Tons of new members around here which is awesome! So tired of FB.... I’m still seriously itching to slide, huge goals this year

[RandomHero27]

come out to a drift event at SAR. i havent seent you since M-fest a few years back.

[jjjjjjj]

In the plans I know dude! lots of stuff has happened since then, but the car finally seems in a workable state lol... was paranoid each and every shift so that was keeping me out of action

Plus I now get all weekends off, kids a bit older and my new position allows for much more flexibility than my old scheduling. Can’t wait to hit the track again (and spin out constantly...)

[jjjjjjj]

Oh and congrats on the awesome video spot Roger!!! Big things for Texas and drifting in general plus your car will now be seen worldwide lol

[RandomHero27]

Oh and congrats on the awesome video spot Roger!!! Big things for Texas and drifting in general plus your car will now be seen worldwide lol

thanks man. currently waiting impatiently as fuck for the 2nd vid to drop. i feel dumb though that i gave Chelsea my car to drive with dead rtabs. on the bright side, my gf said shes gonna buy me the nerptech offsets for valentines, and i have that m3 rear subframe chillin, so its gonna be swapped in soon as well as all the other steering stuff i got laying around and maybe a 3.91 too.

- - - Updated - - -

In the plans I know dude! lots of stuff has happened since then, but the car finally seems in a workable state lol... was paranoid each and every shift so that was keeping me out of action

Plus I now get all weekends off, kids a bit older and my new position allows for much more flexibility than my old scheduling. Can’t wait to hit the track again (and spin out constantly...)

if your car is setup, itll be easy to figure out. ive been fighting a car with a wonky alignhment and fucky rtabs for a year now. ill do some ride alongs and try to help you out with some advice.

[e30 394]

I'm so excited there is a real bmw drift scene so close to me. When i was in Delaware it was. Looking forward to seeing the car at an event!

[RandomHero27]

I'm so excited there is a real bmw drift scene so close to me. When i was in Delaware it was. Looking forward to seeing the car at an event!

we are planning a meet soon with the RETRO group. trying to figure out a central spot just to have everyone meet up. also we tend to do shop days at the shop just down the street from the track (next door to Poetry In Motion). we bbq and booze and work on shit. ill shoot you an invite the next time that happens.

[e30 394]

we are planning a meet soon with the RETRO group. trying to figure out a central spot just to have everyone meet up. also we tend to do shop days at the shop just down the street from the track (next door to Poetry In Motion). we bbq and booze and work on shit. ill shoot you an invite the next time that happens.

hell yea man I'm always down

[jjjjjjj]

Yeah every time I go to a Bimmer meet in Austin it’s like I’m visiting the dealership’s used lot... no offense of course some great peeps

[RandomHero27]

Lololololol. Yea, i remember M-Fest. It was basically BMW of Austin car show aka 335/535 fest.