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Thread: E36 M3 Enthusiast Class Time Attack Build and daily driver.

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2004
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    M3, 911, NSX, DC5, AE86

    E36 M3 Enthusiast Class Time Attack Build and daily driver.

    I bought an e36 M3 a little under a year ago to be my daily driver. It was everything that I wanted in an e36 M3 and fell into my lap. Hellrot, 4 doors, no sunroof, and no options what more could I ask for? Today it's being built for Redline Time Attack's Enthusiast RWD class.

    The interior was a little rough, but it came with a massive service history from here at Avus Autosport and I knew the car was mechanically perfect. The initial plan was to keep it stock and have a comfortable low key daily driver and use my 911 at the track. I decided to take the M3 out to Streets of Willow with Extreme Speed Track Events where I was instructing and not really driving. I decided to take it out for a couple of laps and it was all down hill from there. I was surprised I kept it stock for the first 8 months, but after the first track day I was slowly falling in love with my M3. You may have seen this on Stanceworks, but I figured I'd post it here.


    Current list of modifications:

    Brakes:
    Project Mu Club Racer Pads
    Stock Rotors
    Stainless lines.

    Drivetrain:
    KW Clubsport Double Adjustable Coilovers
    VAC Motorsports rear control arms
    B&M Short shift Kit

    Engine:
    VAC Motorsports fuel starvation kit
    High performance engine built by Avus Autosport
    Ported and polished cylinder head
    Koyorad radiator
    AFE Cold Air Intake
    Porsche AFM
    ASC throttle body delete
    M50 Manifold
    24# injectors
    Stage 2 Cams
    shorty headers
    Y-Pipe
    3" Exhaust

    Wheels & Tires:
    Forgeline RS 17x9.5
    Motorsport Hardware bullet nose race stud kit
    Motorsport Hardware neochrome lug nuts
    Motorsport Hardware 20mm Spacers
    Yokohama AD08R 255/40/17

    Interior & Exterior/Aero:
    Marvelous Tune front splitter
    Marvelous Tune 1600mm 3D GT Wing
    Chrome livery supplied by Dream Room images.
    Bride Brix 2

    This is the only picture I have of when it was stock



    The first thing to go was the stock suspension. After looking at all the options TC Kline doubles made the most sense.



    I cut up the interior panels while I was at it to allow for quick changes at the track.


    This is them a little lower than what I'm running them now


    Then I treated myself to some kbbq,


    - - - Updated - - -

    The coils were installed on Sunday, but I wanted to do a few more things before the end of the week. Monday passed and then Tuesday came and I needed to mount some tires on my wheels.
    Here are both of my girls on the way to the tire shop


    I got some sticky rubber mounted on these.


    The next day I replaced the headlights with some new Hellas.





    After that I was in preparation mode for Round 3 of Redline at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway.


    Next on a list was a little Aero mod for the front which is what I was limited to per the rules.


    Like all fiberglass parts it needed a little work.


    After that I hit it with a couple coats of primer



    Things were a little crazy since I was trying to get the car ready for the Round 3 of Redline Time Attack to give the car a shake down.

    I replaced the tie rods that Friday night and had an alignment done. The alignment had way too much toe (1/4" toe in!) which caused me to end up doing it myself.

    After that I had to head back to my fender guy since the rears were rubbing really bad. After a few hours we had it almost taken care of, but it still rubbed a bit.



    I left his place a little after midnight still rubbing and headed out to Indio in preparation for a weekend at the track. After ten minutes of driving I hit something in the right lane of the freeway that ripped my bumper off. Fortunately I was able to continue sans bumper.



    The rest of the weekend turned around since a friend of mine with a body shop was able to get rid of the rubbing with a slide hammer and a littler force. The 1/4 panel still looked awesome and gave me enough clearance to drive. The car handled really well despite being on Federal RSR's and having a ton of understeer from the bad alignment. I was able to salvage a third place finish in the Redline Enthusiast RWD and some good information for the set up.



    - - - Updated - - -

    I had a pretty bad vibration after the weekend at Chuckwalla. I knew I had a couple of offs that bent wheels and was ready for the worst. I headed down to Performance Wheel Repair in Walnut and found out that all 4 of my wheels were bent. I suspect a couple were bent when I bought them, but figured I might as well repair all of them while I was there.



    With the wheels fixed I went back to focusing on fun stuff. I spent yesterday and today redrilling and getting the Corbeau seat brackets and sliders to work with the Brides.



    With a little work I was able to get them mounted.



    Tomorrow I have to modify the slider handle to work since I widened them about 5"

    While I was working on the seats UPS dropped off some Ferrodo DS2500 Pads and Stop Tech lines. For my next project.



    - - - Updated - - -

    The following week I picked up the bumper, did the final fitting on the seats, and mounted them in.



    Seats are looking good, but I need to modify the driver's bracket a little more since the seat is about an inch too far to the left. Over all I'm very happy with the new mods and it'll be nice to get rid of my thrashed seats and to get a bumper back on my car.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Then UPS brought some go fast goodies from bimmerworld.





    My left fender was dented. So I replaced it and then had it pulled.








    Once that was all done I decided to upgrade the brakes. The pads and rotors were easy enough, but the hard lines were stripped and needed a creative fix. So I ordered a few parts from the dealer, cut the hardlines, and spliced a new line in.

    Here we cut off the tube nut so we could get the soft line off



    Put a new tube nut on and reflared the line


    Added a BMW intermediate piece and a new factory line that we flared


    - - - Updated - - -

    With the new brakes in place I took her out to the track



    After that a pan baffle and stiffer valve springs cam in from VAC Motorsports


    We had a head that already had some work sitting around and threw my springs on there
    Last edited by Amir@AvusAutosport; 07-07-2015 at 05:29 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    My Cars
    bmw e36 328i 4dr saloon
    Very nice! This is a great start to a great car well done sir!
    1996 328i (m52B28US) OBD1 euro ZF 5spd. 3.23LSD conversion / Chem. PnP Head/ DINAN stg.2 CHIP/ VAC race valves/ S52 cams/ A/C delete/ fan delete/ Washer Fluid resv delete/ ARP head studs/ Cometic 140MLS / VAC Solid Engine/trans Mounts/ CAI / 2.5"Borla race exahaust/ NGK R spark plugs, M50 Mani, S50 Oil Res, Riot Racing HFTB, SAMCO Hoses, JBR FW, X-Brace, Mtech Front Bumper, RE RSMs, stoptech SS lines, Bilstein sports, H&R Race Springs, S52 Reinforcement plates, Kosei K1 w/ bridgestone RE960as, Brembo/stoptech slotted rotors, M3 Trailing arms, M3 Calipers, M3 Axles, ACS strut brace, weight reduction.

    http://mbuild.blogspot.com/

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2004
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    M3, 911, NSX, DC5, AE86
    The engine was burning a quart of oil every 300 miles and feels a little tired. I decided to refresh it, and doing a few "while you're in there" mods while it's apart.







    All of the cam and timing parts pulled off






    Then we got the head off



    Dropped the subframe, oil pan, and pulled the pistons.



    The pistons looked like they'd been burning a ton of oil.



    We made great time and were able to pull everything apart that day.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Here's the oil pan cleaned up. Then we installed the baffle.





    - - - Updated - - -

    I decided to go with the Turner Motorsports shorty headers. Very happy with the quality and they're 50 state legal.



    - - - Updated - - -

    This is what 170k and a quart of oil every 300 miles looks like


    New head with the Turner headers bolted on.


    - - - Updated - - -

    Bimmerworld 3" race exhaust and Y-pipe came in today. The exhaust on the right is the factory mid pipe and Dinan cat back, the middle is stock, and the left is the Bimmerworld piece. It should add some power and drop weight.

    I have a high flow race cat to go with it too and keep it "legal". I'm thinking this exhaust is going to be a little on the loud side



    - - - Updated - - -

    Here is the Vanos in and and the cams timed. I also flashed the Epic Motorsports software while I was at it.


    The bimmerworld Y-pipe wasn't fitting too nicely so we heat it up and bent it.




    We eventually got it mounted after bit of coercion and bending.


    We had a bit of down time so I swapped the thermostat with a lower temp one and got the valve cover mounted.





    We finished everything that Friday and I did the final oil change after a few miles for break in Friday at Midnight. I was able to make it to the track Saturday morning and overall I'm very happy with the car. It is much faster than it used to be and the car pulls hard from 4k rpm.

    A few pictures on track




    Then during the last session of the day I entered turn one with smoke billowing out of the back of the car and no power steering. It turns out the brand new genuine BMW power steering hose I installed two days earlier had failed.



    Fortunately I had some awesome friends at the track who helped me with some tools an a hose clamp. This meant the car would still be good for Redline the next morning.



    Sunday started out smooth, but the track was slow and I had no grip. On top of that I gave this engine one hell of a break in with a few revs higher than I had liked and a couple of cooling issues.
    The icing on the cake was when I went off in turn 9 (scariest corner in SoCal) at around 90mph after a brake issue, and lost a turn signal haha. Besides the power steering hose, the car performed very well.



    The weekend was a success overall. I managed to win my class in the BMW competition, and took second by a few tenths in Redline. All of this was on the slowest tire available for that class and no ltw wing since it wasn't ready on time.



    With the first shakedown out of the way it was time to prep for the rest of the season and Super Lap Battle.


    - - - Updated - - -

    I picked up an LTW wing and worked on a bit of weight loss in the rear.

    Here it is mocked up with the gurney flaps taped on.


    Yesterday I mounted it.
    Here it is getting lined up and figuring out where to drill the holes.


    A half hour later it was mounted


    I'm not the biggest fan of the LTW wing, but I actually like it on sedans and like the way it looks from the rear. I'm limited to use this wing for Redline, but I'll have another aero package for Super Lap Battle.
    Last edited by Amir@AvusAutosport; 08-05-2013 at 12:25 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
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    My Cars
    bmw e36 328i 4dr saloon
    Nice!! Great progress for sure! Be sure to get some videos up when you can
    1996 328i (m52B28US) OBD1 euro ZF 5spd. 3.23LSD conversion / Chem. PnP Head/ DINAN stg.2 CHIP/ VAC race valves/ S52 cams/ A/C delete/ fan delete/ Washer Fluid resv delete/ ARP head studs/ Cometic 140MLS / VAC Solid Engine/trans Mounts/ CAI / 2.5"Borla race exahaust/ NGK R spark plugs, M50 Mani, S50 Oil Res, Riot Racing HFTB, SAMCO Hoses, JBR FW, X-Brace, Mtech Front Bumper, RE RSMs, stoptech SS lines, Bilstein sports, H&R Race Springs, S52 Reinforcement plates, Kosei K1 w/ bridgestone RE960as, Brembo/stoptech slotted rotors, M3 Trailing arms, M3 Calipers, M3 Axles, ACS strut brace, weight reduction.

    http://mbuild.blogspot.com/

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    Santa Barbara, CA
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    My Cars
    '14 Tacoma & '88 300e
    Wow great build thread, love the car.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Lawrenceville, Georgia
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    My Cars
    1999 BMW M3 Coupe
    Love what you did with the car. It turned out great! Cant wait to see more pictures

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by stealthbeam View Post
    Nice!! Great progress for sure! Be sure to get some videos up when you can
    Thank you! I don't have any videos with the updates, but I'll have one from a night event from last weekend soon.

    Here are a couple of videos from when the car was stock.

    http://youtu.be/xa74NoYkSOc
    http://youtu.be/7jj-LjKw1HY

    Quote Originally Posted by Swervin36 View Post
    Love what you did with the car. It turned out great! Cant wait to see more pictures
    Quote Originally Posted by Inv3ctiv3 View Post
    Wow great build thread, love the car.
    Thanks guys!

    Since that WSIR event I managed to win Round 5 of Redline Time Attack at Buttonwillow. I managed to beat the class record in qualifying/practice, but the weather was terrible and couldn't do it in competition. It's a good sign, because the car should be about a second faster in ideal conditions.




    I took a bit of a break towards the end of July since I spent the three months prior working on this car most days of the week. There are a few more things that are going to be worked on to get the car ready for the rest of the Redline Time Attack season and Super Lap Battle.

  8. #8
    Join Date
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    new jersey
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    1998 328i sedan
    Very nice progress

    what is that brown pouch on front bumper ? if you don't mind me asking
    Quote Originally Posted by s14Drifterx View Post
    squirt a little oil in da whole ,,, should make it perfect had the same issue..lol
    2001 E39 530I
    2002 Ram 2500 CTD
    1998 Ram 3500 CTD
    1998 Benz E300 3.0TD
    1993 Benz 300D 2.5TD Forsale

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by blk90s13 View Post
    Very nice progress

    what is that brown pouch on front bumper ? if you don't mind me asking
    Thank you!

    That's the transponder for lap timing.

  10. #10
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    You look super familiar, were you involved with Extreme Speed or every go to their events at Big Willow? I feel like we've been to the same track days haha.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Inv3ctiv3 View Post
    You look super familiar, were you involved with Extreme Speed or every go to their events at Big Willow? I feel like we've been to the same track days haha.
    I'm their chief driving instructor haha. So if you've been to their events you've probably seen me. I've been to almost every event for the last three years.

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    I picked up a Mirai battery from Yimi Sport. This is going to be a big source of weight savings since it weighs in at only 2.75lbs vs the 40-50lbs of the factory battery.


    photo by that911, on Flickr

  13. #13
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    BMW E36 S54 Sedan
    This battery is OK for DD, for example?

    i don't use AC and in very rare ocasion use the radio.

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    92 E36 4 DR
    Would that battery be for a e36 with nothing but abs and couple of electric fans?

    Sent using BF.com

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by BeigeE36 View Post
    Would that battery be for a e36 with nothing but abs and couple of electric fans?

    Sent using BF.com
    Quote Originally Posted by B0rJarZz View Post
    This battery is OK for DD, for example?

    i don't use AC and in very rare ocasion use the radio.
    I'm going to find out. A few of my friends have been running them in their Time Attack and DD Sti's and they've had no issues at all for over a year. They're Lithium Ion and supposed to be excellent. The company that makes them said it won't be no problem. I guess I'll just have to wait and find out. I'll probably leave the stock battery in the trunk for the first month just in case.

  16. #16
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    Have no fear. As long as your alternator doesn't put out more than 14.2 volts you'll be fine. I've been dd'ing my E36 for 2 years now on a 3lb LiFePo battery that I built and its never been a problem in the PNW, summer or winter. And I had it in my Civic for a year before that.

    Mount it in the engine bay on the tray just below where the DME door is. Then you'll save the 6 1/2 lbs of battery cable that runs to the trunk too!

    Last edited by jakermac; 08-13-2013 at 11:04 PM.

  17. #17
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    How much, Amir?

  18. #18
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    Can you post videos of how the current exhaust setup sounds with the Turner headers and BW system?

    Rippin' Proper | Youtube | Vimeo |

  19. #19
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    This weekend I installed the Mirai battery, pulled a few more things for some added weight reduction, and corner balanced the car finally. While I was at it I made a couple of aero modifications to clean up the front end.


    Untitled by that911, on Flickr

    Quote Originally Posted by jakermac View Post
    Have no fear. As long as your alternator doesn't put out more than 14.2 volts you'll be fine. I've been dd'ing my E36 for 2 years now on a 3lb LiFePo battery that I built and its never been a problem in the PNW, summer or winter. And I had it in my Civic for a year before that.

    Mount it in the engine bay on the tray just below where the DME door is. Then you'll save the 6 1/2 lbs of battery cable that runs to the trunk too!

    Thanks for the advice! I installed it this weekend and it seems to be working well so far. Mounting it in the front is an excellent idea. I'll have to find some time to relocate it.

    Quote Originally Posted by B0rJarZz View Post
    How much, Amir?
    I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're asking.

    Quote Originally Posted by craz azn View Post
    Can you post videos of how the current exhaust setup sounds with the Turner headers and BW system?
    I'll be at the track this weekend so I'll take some video with an external mic.
    Last edited by Amir@AvusAutosport; 08-20-2013 at 12:28 PM.

  20. #20
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    wow very nice build!

  21. #21
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    I am talking about the battery price, Amir!!

  22. #22
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    1996 Alpine White M3
    I think im following you on Instagram or I probably saw your car on one of Brandon's(Southpaw) pics. Great looking car and looks like you are a beast out at the track. Got any videos?

  23. #23
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    how did you arrive at the ride height decision?
    Spring rates?

    Thanks

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by berny2435 View Post
    how did you arrive at the ride height decision?
    Spring rates?

    Thanks
    I mapped out the camber curve to determine the lowest I can run the car with reasonable camber gain. Additionally I will be doing roll center correction to fix the geometry. Rear ride height is based on the front and on the aero I'm allowed to run.

    I determined spring rates based on what I thought would balance the car and was the softest I could run on street tires while not being too soft.

    Quote Originally Posted by AliGhanizad View Post
    I think im following you on Instagram or I probably saw your car on one of Brandon's(Southpaw) pics. Great looking car and looks like you are a beast out at the track. Got any videos?
    Thank you! I have a couple videos on here http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvlC...R5ZfM8g/videos However I don't have any with the car in its new configuration.

    Thank you. I have a couple videos
    Quote Originally Posted by B0rJarZz View Post
    I am talking about the battery price, Amir!!
    Oh, sorry! haha. The battery was $265 with terminals.

    Quote Originally Posted by breakfast View Post
    wow very nice build!
    Thank you!

  25. #25
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    So, let me know if works for dd car, im interested in known for my car.

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