Member
You are correct sir. It's a fun ride. I just got a text from the exhaust guy and it's done. He says much improved both inside and out. I'll reserve judgement until I can hear it. Hopefully tomorrow or the next day. If I'm happy it'll be dyno time again. I'm getting excited again :-)Originally Posted by George Hill
As far as doing the m3 exhaust it would require cutting up the rear a bunch. Not really interested in going that route.
Jay
Last edited by jayhudson; 08-07-2015 at 11:48 AM.
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
A little slow to report. Exhaust sounds great! Maybe a little too quiet but I'd rather skew towards quiet than loud. Having some more work done while it's at Markert Motor Works. More later.
I'll get pics of exhaust work if I can get under it on a lift. Hard to get pics when on jackstands.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
I crawled under the car to check out the exhaust work from David at Synco Design Works. Everything looks great. He does nice work. Pics will have to wait until I have a chance with the car on a lift.
After the 2 hr drive home on the freeway the droning is much less than before. Only noticeable when the car is under load going uphill with RPMs in cruising range. I can listen to the stereo and/or use my cell phone again.
I lost a little rwhp due to the exhaust changes. I haven't seen the latest dyno files yet. I'll post the results when I receive them. If anyone has interest in the final exhaust configuration and a blow by blow description of how we got there let me know. I'm happy to share.
Next issue to tackle is wheels/tires/suspension. I have a small amount of rubbage with the 255/35-19s. Not too bad on the street but would be ugly on track. I can go for a full coilover setup where I'm free to add more negative camber, alter ride height and stiffen springs.... or I can go back to the 235/35-19s and live with the current alignment settings and Koni SA/Eibach Pro-kit springs. Undecided at this point.
Jay
- - - Updated - - -
Just got a look at the dyno files from re-tune after exhaust changes. Lost about 10whp and ftlbs of torque. Sad but the price for having a streetable sleeper.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Did someone say racetrack
BMW CCA Member
In back on the fender side you can cut and roll the fender flat picks up about 1/2 inch of outside fender lip clearance which is where they tend to rub. I am doing mine in a few weeks.
Gary Gray
If you can take it apart you can make it faster!
Member
Thanks Gary. The back isn't the problem. It's the front. Is your touring back to daily driving duty? Now that I have the exhaust resolved I'd like to come up for a test ride in yours. Want to check out your suspension.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Did someone say racetrack
BMW CCA Member
WELL.. I got hit in the back Friday..So it may be down for a short time getting fixed.
I have issues in back rubbing most of the time.
Gary Gray
If you can take it apart you can make it faster!
Member
Thanks. I'll give you a call before too long.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
Drove up to BW a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Gary for letting me test drive his wagon. Wanted to say Hi to James but he ducked me to go tell racing lies with Justin at lunch ;-) Also, looked for you guys at Road Atlanta the next weekend but didn't see anyone.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Did someone say racetrack
BMW CCA Member
I was there Saturday. Had food poisoning and was arffing up by my truck in a chair until 3ish.. I was suppose to instruct.... Ended up heading home Sunday morning still not feeling 100%
It was a rough weekend but I did pick up the 95 M3 I got to use as a track car next year.
Your touring looks great that blue in person is a great color!
I'll be at VIR instructing in a few weeks
Gary Gray
If you can take it apart you can make it faster!
Member
I recently installed a GC Street/Touring coilover kit. I'll have a build segment with pics before too long. Have an appointment for an alignment this week. I had trouble finding a local shop that could do it because the front bumper blocks the toe beam on the alignment heads. Two shops failed but I found one who says he can do it. More to follow.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
Strings and a bubble level. I have no confidence in shop alignments any more.
'95 M3 S54 Track Toy
'19 X5 40i M-Sport
'16 Cayman GT4
‘23 GR Corolla
Member
Might become necessary. When you say bubble level are you talking about one of the camber gauges that attach to the wheel like Longacre sells? If yes, which one do you use?
Thanks - Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
You can use those, but I just use an ordinary level across 2 points on the wheel, measure the gap and apply a little 9th grade trigonometry. I have also used a steel scale measurement from a plumb bob string, although that can get pretty tedious waiting for it to stop swinging.
'95 M3 S54 Track Toy
'19 X5 40i M-Sport
'16 Cayman GT4
‘23 GR Corolla
Member
Thanks. Similar to what I've already done except the Trig part. Too far back to remember any of that. I could JFGI :-)
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
As I posted a few months back, the upgrade to 255/35-19 tires caused rubbing issues that I couldn’t overcome with just fender rolling. I explored various solutions but instead of doing half measures I decided to do a complete coilover system. This gives me a nice upgrade to dampers, spring rates and expanded adjustability.
After checking out several of the inexpensive systems, including the ISC coilovers from Bimmerworld, I decided to spend a little more and stick with the Ground Control/Koni product. I’ve used 3 different GC kits on my e36m3 race car including their Advance Design race dampers. Each one an upgrade from the previous. I’ve always been happy.
This car is not a race car and will spend most of it’s life on the street. When I do get it on the track I want it to be as close to driving my race car as reasonable. I decided on the GC School/Touring kit. The owner of GC, Jay Morris, is a friend and gave me much helpful advice with kit selection, spring rates, setup and I believe he worked some magic on the dampers themselves. Being a BMW racer and understanding what I wanted he has always been willing to do some custom tweaking as we accomplished on the CC plates. So far I’m very happy with the results. Track time will be the real test. I give big attaboys to the folks at Ground Control.
Now, for the show and tell. Here’s the GC School/Touring kit. It includes the street CC plates, GC rear shock mounts and came fully assembled. I did not opt for the articulating rear spring adjusters although they are really slick (had them on the race car).
I did opt for the GC adjustable front sway bar end links. Nice to keep from having preload on the front suspension.
When I bought the car it had Koni SAs with Eibach ProKit springs (these are for sale by the way). Better than stock but not stiff enough to suit me. Fronts are top adjustable but rears had to be removed from the car to make any rebound adjustments. Front camber adjustment was limited to slots in the shock towers and no height adjustment.
Here are the new struts installed. Last shot shows the adjustable end link.
Left and right shock towers from above.
I forgot to take a pic of the rear before installation of new. These are with new springs, adjusters and dampers.
I was pleased that I could gain access to the rear rebound adjuster with only a small hole in the side panel/carpet. Not too ugly, eh.
At this point I feel like the car is fairly complete. I know the slippery slope never ends but the major stuff is done. I picked up the car from Markert Motor Works in early March after the S54 conversion was completed. Since then I’ve been resolving things to make the car the way I want it. Exhaust was too loud so several trips back and forth to exhaust guy. After 3 iterations the exhaust is great. Could be a little louder but maybe someday if I get bored ;-) Windshield developed a small leak at the top which I was able to get resolved by resealing a small area. During the trips to/from exhaust shop I noticed some increase in heat during very hot weather. Resolved with new water pump and upgraded electric fan. No issues since. And finally, the self-induced rubbage issue with the larger tires. Resolved with new coilovers. From the little I’ve been able to “play” on the street the suspension is bitchin’! I’m lovin’ it. Maybe some trips to the many twisties around this part of the country are in order :-)
I’ve been itching to get on the track but lost the whole spring/summer. Not sure if I can get out before the weather gets really bad. We’ll see. Might have to be patient until next spring. In the mean time I can drive the car without worrying about anything. What a treat! What a journey!
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Senior Member
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Looking good, Jay!
What spring rates did you go with? I think I was running 500 front and 650 rear on my old touring, which seemed like a nice split. Combined with the 3.46 LSD, snow tires, and little power boost, that was one of the cars I really miss owning... Especially in the winter. Best snow car ever.
Member
525/750. Haven't really had a chance to develop an opinion yet. A few days of rain ahead so no fun runs yet.Looking good, Jay!
What spring rates did you go with? I think I was running 500 front and 650 rear on my old touring, which seemed like a nice split. Combined with the 3.46 LSD, snow tires, and little power boost, that was one of the cars I really miss owning... Especially in the winter. Best snow car ever.
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Senior Member
Forum Sponsor
Fixed your quote for you. LOL
Member
Good one! Having done my limited amount of racing on the left coast, I've been able to avoid the rain. A little dewy in the morning at Laguna once. Snow at Reno-Fernley once but just instructing that weekend. I'm a sissy ;-)
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
This Fri will be the maiden track adventure. Road Atlanta. Looks like the weather will cooperate. Will be adding Raybestos ST-43 track pads tomorrow.
Will report results. Carry on......
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Senior Member
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I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not the lightest car around, but my old wagon was a much more enjoyable on track than I expected.
Enjoy, and looking forward to hearing how much of a good time you had.
Member
Ill be there too. Definitely need to track the car down and check it out in person!
Member
I'll be hanging out with the Markert Motor Works gang. They usually have a couple of EZ-ups with their banner displayed.
Definitely stop by and introduce yourself. What's your name? What color is your car? Where are you from?
Jay
From wannabe to has been in a few short years..... the older I get, the faster I was
Member
Im Justin, drive a green E36 M3, I live in the Atlanta area. See you soon.
Did someone say racetrack
BMW CCA Member
You basically forget it's a wagon after the first turn... When you remember you'll get the large big grin. My Wagon is a ton of fun on track even with the 2.5 motor.
Gary Gray
If you can take it apart you can make it faster!
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