DIY 1995 M3 with an S54/Mk60, California Smog Legal!

[gpeterson]

I agree entirely. My plan with the CSL airbox is to swap the OE US stuff back on if the shops around here care, knowing that it'll pass that way without any issues.

Definitely PM gpeterson on the DME stuff. My BAR ref didn't raise a fuss about the DME flashing and CVNs (and to be honest I haven't looked at them at all), so I can't help there. The only DME thing that I did was code out EWS, and I have the EWS modules to use if that becomes/had been an issue in my case, so probably wouldn't have been an issue. My ref did check that the VINs were flashed to all the right modules and were in agreement with each other and with what vehicle I was certifying as, but he didn't go further than that.

Smog legality, DME/CVN stuff aside, is pretty easy nowadays. Gpeterson's CAN controller gets you the CEL, Andrew's harness gets you the plugin checks, so all you need to do is run factory US headers, install a E46 M3 secondary air pump, Z3M airbox and filter tube, and the DMTL/charcoal canister. Boom, done, emissions legal once you wire it up and code/align the modules appropriately. Functional DSC was waaaaaay more difficult and involved than emissions legality was.

Funny how much the experience differs from ref to ref. I went to 2 different locations and neither cared about the VIN on any module other than the DME but they both cared about CalIDs/CVNs and told me all refs will be doing the same. It really sucks because the ref has no way to validate the CVN, mine wanted documentation from a dealer stating the DME was flashed to stock and listing the CalIDs/CVNs.

[OptionlessM]

Thanks both of you for the info.

Now that you run the CSL Airbox and presumably an air temp sensor instead of a MAF, do you go through the entire re-tune and reinstall of the MAF sensor for smog check?

My other issue is that I will definitely not be willing to do an s54 swap using the OEM US spec headers. Would I be able to get certified if my cats were located in the midpipe?

I don't have an issue with the biannual "funny" smog, my main value for being BAR certified would be in the case of selling the car within the state of CA. I really don't think the cost/headache benefit is there unless there is some sort of large criminal liability in unaware of.

[gpeterson]

My other issue is that I will definitely not be willing to do an s54 swap using the OEM US spec headers. Would I be able to get certified if my cats were located in the midpipe?

Probably not. *Maybe* if you get euro headers & section 1, but depends on the ref. I'm probably going to do euro headers & section 1 and guess that my next smog in 2yrs will be fine. I think things looking clean & stock go a long ways.

[OptionlessM]

I think I'm zeroing in on wanting my setup to be plug-in passable, but visually failable and not BAR certified.

Would you be willing to take me for a ride in your S54 E36 some time? I am in your area I believe.

As it sits now, Evolve Automotive has a pretty nice deal going on Airbox + DME "cracking" + Alpha N tune. I will just purchase an eBay E46 M3 DME to use.

I would do some sort of aftermarket header, catted midpipe, and the usual modified wiring harness.

[Bimmerman535i]

Thanks both of you for the info.

Now that you run the CSL Airbox and presumably an air temp sensor instead of a MAF, do you go through the entire re-tune and reinstall of the MAF sensor for smog check?

My other issue is that I will definitely not be willing to do an s54 swap using the OEM US spec headers. Would I be able to get certified if my cats were located in the midpipe?

I don't have an issue with the biannual "funny" smog, my main value for being BAR certified would be in the case of selling the car within the state of CA. I really don't think the cost/headache benefit is there unless there is some sort of large criminal liability in unaware of.

You might, but 95% likely not. I know a few people who have been able to get euro headers/cats and/or supersprint parts past a visual inspection, but that would not fly with the referee. I know there are a few smog stations that don't know E46s while some are very clued in, so...it's a crapshoot whether you'd get aftermarket parts past the visual inspection post-referee.

It takes a day to swap the headers out. I'd go for the smog legal US headers, get through smog and the ref, and then toss on the fun parts.

For the CSL airbox, I'm running the MAP sensor and full CSL conversion (no alpha/n nonsense). I didn't cut and splice any of the wires-- instead I just labeled and depinned the DME plug for the IAT portion of the MAF. My plan, should it be needed, is to simply swap the MAF IAT pins back in and run the CSL DME and MAP sensor with the regular manifold and Z3 airbox, negating the need for a retune entirely (OE IAT is in the MAF). I'm hoping to not need to do that but it'll take maybe 30 minutes to do.

[TostitoBandito]

I read these threads and am reminded of the many reasons why I don't live in CA.

In WA there's emissions every other year which consists of someone sticking a probe in the exhaust and checking some things via OBD2 and that's it. As long as you don't do anything like remove the cats or generate a bunch of nasty CEL codes, you're good.

[OptionlessM]

Having a very hard time getting a shop to perform the swap for some reason. Any recs near the Bay Area

or perhaps gpeterson would allow me to pay him to do it... heh.

[gpeterson]

or perhaps gpeterson would allow me to pay him to do it... heh.

Haha, I'd consider it if I didn't have so much real work right now.

I wonder what a shop would charge. I didn't track hours on mine but know it was significant. Quite a bit of that was wiring as I didn't use the z3m harness and ran everything through the factory connectors & firewall grommet. I guess developing the CAN board, fabbing A/C lines, learning to tig stainless exhaust, etc really added up for me. Would be much quicker if I were to do it again.

[th3turk]

^performance technique and/or edge motorworks should have no trouble doing such swap, though they will both charge a pretty penny


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[TH3 Shifty]

Probably like a $25k swap right there, that's not worth it

[gpeterson]

Probably like a $25k swap right there, that's not worth it

You think that much? Say 10k in parts and 15k labor?

[th3turk]

My friend had his swap done at Ptech, after his s50 decided to blow a hole in the block. Cost him a little under $25k and they had the car there for months.


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[TostitoBandito]

Yeah I can't imagine paying labor for an engine swap. That's the sort of thing that you only really do if you can do it yourself. If you enough disposable money to pay the outrageous amount of labor for a swap, you buy a faster car instead.

[gpeterson]

My friend had his swap done at Ptech, after his s50 decided to blow a hole in the block. Cost him a little under $25k and they had the car there for months.


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That is nuts. I don't want to be in the business of S54 swaps but value my time and would do it for much less than that. Motor + parts isn't cheap, the mechanical stuff doesn't require much skill & knowledge beyond the basics, maybe a few $k in labor to get things all wired up proper & clean, DME flash, smog legal.

[Bimmerman535i]

Before I get into the update, I should mention it's been two years so I had to get a smog renewal. That was a massive pain in the ass. Most smog shops don't know the engine swap rules, even STAR certified ones. Most shops turned me away under the excuse of "I don't understand or want to understand please leave" while some asked for a "donation". I ended up finding one legit STAR shop that didn't know the rules, but called the BAR to ask how to test the car. They actually called the exact referee who had certified the car, and from there it was smooth sailing. After being turned away for modded car by the first shop, I pulled off the airbox and headers and reverted back to stock.

So, moral of the story-- just because it's certified as legal doesn't mean the smog shops care or want your business. It would have been easier and less of a pain to go back to the referee for a smog check!

Anyway. That grumble out of the way....

Update time, because apparently I'm terrible at updating this more regularly!

Over the last year I've been trying to drive the car as much as possible rather than mod it. I've been.....mildly successful at that. I ended up joining a Lemons team and have been spending most of my track time on that.
Anyway, in semi-chronological order:

Karbonius airbox + CSL DME conversion + TTFS tune
Again, with the wiring....


Airbox with snorkel,
snorkel doesn't quite fit.


The flap position sensor contacts the strut tower, so for now I've left the snorkel off. Eventual plan is to space the snorkel out.


Friend from Lemons was at the shop.....


One last glamor shot:


And, the big question, how does it sound? Pretty darn good, IMO. Camera is a gopro suction cupped to the driver's headlight.
https://youtu.be/OFQNAxqqOfo

Blower motor....this sucked.



Cracked subframe, woo.
Replaced the AKG Poly motor mounts with a set of Bimmerworld Rubber ones while I was in there.


Suspension clunking....
No, was not because of this. Don't forget to use the RSM washers though, or this happens within about 300 yards.


I haven't figured out what the issue was/is, still. My main suspects are either the Bimmerworld RTABs, the AKG subframe bushings, or the spherical bearings at the bottom of the MCS shocks. Everything else I've replaced, so....has to be one of those. My plan for the winter is to literally replace all the things in the rear before I kill it with fire.

Gauges!
Stack Oil Temp and Water Temp


Differential!
I got bored of the 3.15 long ago. However, it somewhat worked for a long time, and other things needed attention. That said, it became super clear that the clutches were worn out and the car would just spin tire when unloading the inside tire. Fun, but not very effective.
So, m3forum to the rescue! Found a rebuilt 3.91 40% lockup unit locally, and with another friend hooking me up with a 4 bolt driveshaft (vs my 6 bolt), I had it installed and ready for the weekend's event.


I also said screw it to the $17(ea) OEM diff bolts and bought a bunch of higher grade ones from McMaster....for $20 for 20.


M3 output flanges are different from non-Ms. Confirmed.


And, installed!


Easy way to empty diff fluid? Grab allen socket, grab wrench, apply leverage.


Exhaust!
Installed Supersprint V1s and catted section 1.


Look at all the space there's not!






Now, what good are the headers and cats if there's nothing to attach to?
Hmm... well I forgot to take enough photos. Jeff on the lemons team helped me merge a stock E36 M3 muffler to the front half of a hacked up E46 M3 Section 2. It looks ugly but man, it works really well. Quiet, no rasp, just....quiet. I'm using this as my Laguna exhaust and probably will use it as my daily driving one going forward.






But, the inner child in me wanted a freer flowing exhaust for track duty. As luck has it, I found a damaged resonated Supersprint Section 2 on craigslist.


Turns out the single pipe diameter is 3", which matches the AA Race exhaust I had before. I decided to match the rear muffler of the AA Race with the SS Sec2, but to not modify the AA Race. Here's how that went down.




AA Muffler, 3" inlet, Burns Stainless Vbands are what I found to fit.


The wizard at work


All fabbed up!


alternate view


How does it sound? Nicely! Granted, airbox overpowers the dyno. I don't know if I have a good exhaust specific vid.
https://youtu.be/vnKql6Pnwuo

This might be the best exhaust video I've got right now. Thunderhill bypass with NASA HPDE3, setting a new PR although I've got quite a bit of time to drop before being TT competitive.
https://youtu.be/dtMyrKpkO2E

Shifter!
You may notice I don't shift in the above video, I left it in 4th. That's because the pressure plate bolts had backed out about a mm and the car was grinding gears. I didn't take pictures of that repair, but it was a simple R&R and loctite.
I did install this while I was in there, because racecar or something. Also because flying shift knob surprise gets old after a while.


Oil Cooling
The other thing the last few track days have identified was that my oil cooling setup is having issues. I'm seeing crazy high oil temps per the Stack gauge. I'm chasing this down still, but here's what I've done so far.
First, there was no ducting. 2016 Thunderhill had very high oil temps, so I added little wings to the side of the cooler so that air couldn't spill around it.



Then, after the winglets made no difference, before an early-2017 Thunderhill I added a scoop to force air into the cooler more directly. My theory was the air was being blocked by the AC condenser and aux fan.




Well, that still wasn't that effective. Oil temps were skyrocketing as before, within 3-4 laps the stock CANbus temp sensor was reading 290F. So, I tried a bunch of things, including pulling the AC and using speed tape to seal the OE shrouds to the coolers.
Look how much of the oil cooler was blocked by the AC!



FREEDOM



That brings me to this last track day in September at Thunderhill. None of the changes made any difference in oil temps, so there's more work to be done. Water temp has been 190-200F on track this whole time, so I'm not concerned about it at all. Just oil temp.

Next Steps?
Well....once the oil temperature issue is solved, there are a few things I have planned and have been acquiring parts for.
--Euro E36 M3 AC conversion, which won't block the oil cooler.
--Remove ALL poly from the car. I'm over the NVH.
--Figure out whether the BW RTABs are the source of my clunking after removing the poly.
--Drive the car a lot
--convert the SMG in my garage to a 6 spd and install, so that I can do One Lap without driving myself insane.
--Drive the car some more
--Remote TTFS tune once the oil issue is solved, to finish dialing in the tune. Some weirdness was identified at the August dyno that I'm addressing before a) posting the dyno and b) retuning
--Maybe a 3.5" exhaust?
--fab up a splitter to go with the Brooks wing
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I'll try to update more regularly going forward! As always, a huge thank you to Jeff, Dmitriy, and the Lemons group, Chris M, Kalim M, Chris P, and Ant N, Tony and Joe C at TC Design, and Tony Z at EDGE.

It's also high time for an update for the mod list, so here's what I can remember.
Engine
~76k mile S54
CSL DME, CSL MAP, CSL IAT
Karbonius CSL Rep Airbox
Stock Cams
Stock pullies (for now, am lazy)
TTFS CSL tune (working on fine tuning before showing dyno plot)
Bimmerworld Street/Track rubber motor mounts
Bimmerworld dual fuel pump conversion, with E46 M3 fuel pump to feed engine

Cooling
C&R E36 fat radiator
C&R E36 oil cooler
Spal Fan
no AC, for now, Euro M3 AC in progress
Motion Motorsport underpanel.....with worn out hardware.

Exhaust
Supersprint V1 Stepped Headers
Supersprint V1 Stepped Catted Section 1
Customized Supersprint Resonated Section 2
3" Active Autowerke Race muffler
--also, customized OE Section 2 + US E36 M3 muffler--

Transmission and Drivetrain
ZF 310 5 speed transmission, original to car, have done 5th gear lean detents/pins
Bimmerworld/Clutchmasters JB Racing lightweight flywheel/clutch package
AKG DTM Shifter
OE Rubber transmission mounts (the HD-ish version from I think a 750iL)
3.91 LSD 40% lockup, hilarious fun except when going places

Suspension and Brakes
MCS 2WNR shocks/struts
650/800 lb/in springs
GC camber plates, (bushing) RSMs, sways, articulating rear perches
Bimmerworld front camber shims
Turner LCAs
OE FCAB and fresh new control arms
Bimmerworld Spherical RTABs
AKG black poly subframe bushings
AKG orange poly diff bushings
Stoptech 332x32 x4 BBK
Hawk DTC60 pads
ATE Typ200 fluid
DSC Mk60 conversion
Z3 non-M steering rack
Z3 steering column (for steering angle sensor)
X-brace

Interior
Stack Pro-control Oil and Water temperature gauges
Sparco Evo2+ driver seat
Corbeau Seat-shaped-object for passenger
VAC seat and harness mounting kits
Schroth 6pt harnesses
TCKline Roll bar
Z3M S54 Cluster
Speaker-shaped objects

Wheels
Wheels: round and shiny
Tires: black, sometimes grippy

Misc
Working cruise control
Working AC, until I pulled it for oil cooling testing
Working E46 ABS and DSC, coded with M-track mode
OBD2 and CANBUS converted for full diagnostic, coding, and emissions checking
Certified as fully California Smog legal by the California BAR. Recently went through the first post-certification smog check, and was straightforward once I found a shop who knew the engine swap rules.
Really really damn fun to drive. Not much of a looker, but damn if it isn't a blast to drive. It's been a great 8 years with this monster and I'm looking forward to many more!

Photo credit: Dito Milian @ gotbluemilk.com

[aeronaut]

Awesome!

[fbmbirds]

what a beauty also you taught me how to use a 14mm allen socket and a wrench to take my diff fill plug off.

I bought the dang 14mm Allen socket and it was too big so I just used a vicegrip to take my plug off, marred it all to heck.

[joenationwide]

Wow, this is my new dream car. Bravo sir!

[DocWyte]

The clunking is the shocks. Really common for multi adjustables to make noise....

[bigpuppy]

Awesome build. I have an S54 and 6 speed for my E36 that I'm currently acquiring parts for to do this swap with the same goal, to be Cali legal. This is really helpful.

[Bimmerman535i]

Thanks all! It's been a fun car to build over the years, still a ways to go to be ready for OLOA. Also a lot of driver mod is still needed, but that's the fun part.

The clunking is the shocks. Really common for multi adjustables to make noise....

Yes and no. They did make noise similar to the TCK DA rattle, but they got rebuilt, and the clunking was still there when I had stock shocks installed (that picture was from the first attempt at installing stock stuff). Post shock rebuild the only clunking left is from something else. My GC swaybar endlinks have also just now started to clunk, so that's nice.

[Bimmerman535i]

I just realized it's been nearly two freaking years. Update pending-- went through post-BAR smog again, flying colors. Recently redid the rear suspension, added aero, redid the coolers and ducting......aiming for a big update after a shakedown at Buttonwillow this weekend.


For now, have some CSL rawr.

In-car at Laguna, setting a new fast lap for myself last year. Pre-aero, with audible CSL and rattles.



[


This is with the kludged together E36 M3 stock muffler exhaust. 300whp in this config, down ~25ish or whatever it was from the 3" setup.


and, for shits and giggles, me autocrossing my SS (poorly)



Also, pictures of pending update items:

[golgo13]

Damn! You're car is so freaking bad ass!

These are goals for me for sure, Dave. One day I will have that same heart.

Interested in Thill 6/1 and 6/2? I'm already signed up with NCRC!

[Bimmerman535i]

Damn! You're car is so freaking bad ass!

These are goals for me for sure, Dave. One day I will have that same heart.

Interested in Thill 6/1 and 6/2? I'm already signed up with NCRC!

Thanks! I'm super excited and hesitant for Buttonwillow. I've only ever driven the lemons car there, so this'll be interesting.

Lemme see how well the car survives BW before Thill. I also need to get the diff swapped in, rotors swapped, and ideally a non-eyeballed alignment! I've got a week, that should be fine...........

[golgo13]

Dude, that track is so good. It's my favorite. I bet you'll do a 1:58 at least with your set-up.