Sooo uhh... I got an S52! I'm pretty stoked to get it in the car, but that's going to be a while because of school and stuff in the next few months. So hopefully by summertime I'll be banging gears with the new M power. It's a used motor that's been rebuilt. The heads been done and it's got new valves, springs, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head. There was a Turner stage 3 motor that I also could have gotten but didn't quite have the extra cash to drop. That motor would have been absolutely amazing, but the S52 is quite the upgrade itself so I'm happy nonetheless.
Dang those Enkeis are beautiful!
Love your functional aero - hoping to do the same for my build.
Awesome! Can't wait to see the progress. Nice work!!
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/
This past weekend I competed in the Tire Rack SCCA Championship Tour up in College Station, TX. I got the chance to size myself up to the other top FP cars in the texas region and I had an absolute blast. I was 4 seconds behind the next car over the course of the weekend (they take your fastest time from day 1 and 2, combined them and that's your time for the weekend). Which I don't think is terrible considering my lack of experience and disadvantage car wise. Here are the most important things I learned.
- Since you only get 3 runs on the course, you really have no time to get a feel for the track.
- It was my first time on this type of asphalt and I had no idea what kind of grip I'd get or how the car would handle the bumps on the surface. Due to my lack of experience I pretty much had to overdrive the car to see where my limits were and then back down from there.
- Power and powerband is really important at these types of events. I was always at the top of my rev range, and even hitting the limiter at 3-4 spots around the course. My 2.5 in 3rd is an absolute dog so I just had to clench and hope the engine holds up. Usually I can make up my lack of power in the slow sections, but when you have such large areas of flat out, I was falling behind quite a bit.
- My FP competitors were way faster than I thought they'd be. Not just in terms of driver skill, which they excelled at, but their cars were incredible. One of my competitors explained to me his tactics going around corners, "I don't brake. If I find myself going to fast into a corner I nail the throttle to get the car to rotate." I subsequently tried this but lack of power+ tons of rear grip = hella understeer.
- My car weighs 2820 lbs. The next fastest at the event was 2500 lbs. The officials said something like I was actually overweight, but that didn't really matter since I came in last anyway. The next fastest car also runs about 270-300 hp. Where I'm at 150 or so.
- Be careful where you drive on an airfield. The first day at practice I picked up a gnarley screw in my BRAND NEW slick. I was super bummed until one of my competitors offered to plug it up for me. Which brings me to my next point...
- Everyone is super nice! I knew quite a bit of people there just from competing in local events, but even the people I didn't know stopped to talk or offered shelter in the rain.
- I'm still a little perplexed with tire pressures. I'm getting a lot of understeer. But when I bring the pressure in the front down it's unbearable. I'm currently running 36 PSI hot all around and the car seems to like it like that. I'm not running the correct spring rates so that could be the cause too. If anyone wants to help me out diagnosing this issue, I'll put my specs down here:
Tire pressure cold: 34 Front and Rear
Tire pressure hot (after a run): 36 Front and Rear
Spring Rates: 400 Linear in the front 550 Progressive in the Rear
Sway Bar: 30mm front 24 mm back. Both set at softest setting
Front Alignment: -3.2 degrees of camber, 0 toe
Rear alignment: -3 degrees of camber, 0 toe
Coilovers: ST XTA (KW V2) Front damping is 3 clicks away from full stiff and Rear is 2 away from Full stiff
The car is NOT corner balanced (Yes I know I need to get that done) but I have the specs from weighing in at the event.
Weight: 2820 LBS
Front Right: 763 Front Left: 748
Rear Right: 660 Rear Left: 648
That's about a 55/45 F/R ratio if my calculations are correct.
Tires are Hankook Z214 C51 Medium compound DOT slick 275/35/18
Here's a video of my fastest runs from day one and two this weekend!
Spring rates are way too low. I run 700# in the front and 600# in the rear. Also, that front sway bar is HUGE. Put the stock one back with the control arm endlinks (don't use the strut style that came with the M3). Also, decrease camber in the rear. You want at least 1 degree of camber difference from front to back to help with understeer.
Hope this helps!
These cars need a huge front swaybar. Try running NO rear sway bar and stiffer rear springs. No rear bar makes it easier to put down power coming off the corners. Oh, and get some more weight out of the car. FP is a magical land where you have free reign over removing your interior. Have a good read of the rules.
I'll have to try out the no bar thing sometime even though I'm not exactly lacking rear grip. Even if I nail the throttle in the corner the rear tires would grip and the front tires won't keep up. As for springs, I have a set in mind but I just need to put the order in. Regarding weight, my car is pretty much entirely stripped except for most of the dash which I'd like to keep for now, and some of the sound deadening. This week we've replaced the rear glass and rear quarter glass with lexan, gutted the trunk lid, and removed a few unnecessaries in the engine bay. We're hoping to reach at the most 2600 lbs.
Stage 2 of weight reduction has begun!
So I finally beat my competitor at the autocross this weekend. I've been chasing this FP WRX for months.
What's in the works?
Sending my S52 ECU in this week to Kassel Performance to get it unlocked and tuned to be ready for the engine swap. Received the headers the other week, they're ebay brand modeled after I believe the supersprint headers. The plan is to get the engine in later this month and I'm super excited!
The S52 swap is underway and nearly done. Engine is in, OBD1 manifold is on, and the tuned ECU is in. Unfortunately, I just got word today that the car won't run properly. It's apparently backfiring through the manifold with a gnarly light show. I was super excited to run the car this weekend at Autocross but I'm going to have to wait til this issue is ironed out
If anyone has any ideas on what might be happening, let me know! Rummaging through old forum posts I've found guys with similar issues, one having an improperly installed crank pulley and the other a disconnected ICV hose. This is the part of the process where it's super stressful that I'm not there to help out. And since it's at a shop, work can only resume next week. "It'll be an easy swap" the internet said XD
Backfiring through the manifold sounds like some sort of timing issue. Did you do anything with the cams or timing belt on the motor? If not, look at crank position sensor, cam position sensor, etc.
Engine was rebuilt by Boost Logic. Heads were done by someone here in Austin. Got new valves, springs, and some other goodies. Is it possible hat when replacing the valves they could have messed with the timing?
They could have mis-timed the cams, but that's probably not likely for a shop. Check all the connectors for your sensors.
After a long and stressful process, the S52 is finally good to go! It runs beautifully and sounds great. We've been having issues over the past week but it turned out to be just a wiring issue. The maiden voyage will be at an autocross this weekend at the Circuit of Americas!
Edit: forgot to mention the main issue. It was the timing that was out at first. Then we started having issues with idle and on power, that's when I found that connectors were in the wrong places.
Yes I need to clean the engine bay
Last edited by Sterk; 05-17-2017 at 09:52 PM.
Nice build, keep it up! Debating if I should S52 swap my 325 as well.
Today I removed the plate inside the TC throttle body and unplugged it. Didn't have a proper fitting for the main TB so it'll have to do for now!
what do you have the weight down to?
you have ditched the crank driven fan, right? what about the AC condenser? AC from firewall bulkhead connection forward is ~45lbs.
also. have you considered a smidge of toe-out up front to help with understeer? i run about 1/16" toe-out on each front. (1/8" total toe out)
super cool build.
always trying to make it lighter and faster
^^former build: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-neglected-M3/
current build: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...car-build.html
instant grams: doktor_b
AC condenser is out, fan will be out as soon as we can get some better electric fans. I've been told about toe out too, haven't tried it yet though. Will for sure next event!
Autocross at COTA this weekend was super fun! Engine ran great but we had some gnarly lifter noise. We were running 5w30 just because we have a bunch and have been told to run 15w50 rather in the Texas heat.
The car pulls really hard after 3500 rpms but is a little sluggish at the low end. I guess I'd attribute that to the M50 manifold and the long tube headers. But definitely a HUGE difference from the M50. I can finally get the car to dance around a corner rather than nailing the throttle mid corner and having nothing happen.
Here are some runs! The video is backwards, better runs first and then my first runs of the day are later.
Edit: Also in the video you can see I was having trouble with the launches. My tires never retained heat throughout the day because it was relatively cool and windy. There was also a water truck leaking water all over grid. The car revs much more freely than the previous engine so I had trouble getting used to a good RPM to launch at. Hopefully as the weather starts to get warmer I'll actually be able to use these tires to their full potential.
Last edited by Sterk; 05-22-2017 at 02:46 PM.
Long time no see! It hasn't been a very productive summer as I've been traveling for the past 2 months. But now that I'm back I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.
This past weekend was an Autocross hosted by SASCA. I ended up finishing 11th in raw time out of 100 something people. I'd say I'm pretty pleased with that. The new motor is working great although I'm getting some gnarley lifter noise. I've been told this can be fixed with baffles or an accusump. I'm planning on getting stiffer springs. I don't want to go too stiff and over spring my shocks so I'm just bumping them up to 500 in the front and 650 in the rear. Eventually, I'd like to go stiffer but I'd need new shocks at that point. We also acquired a roll cage. It's coming out of another E36. Great looking cage, good welds. The plan is to cut the roof off both the cars and just drop the cage in and weld the roof back on. I'm also looking into brakes. I've acquired E46 328i rears and am still looking for M3 fronts or E46 330i fronts. As of right now, it's just a matter of scouring the junkyards as I'm not too keen on spending TOO much money.
Here's my fastest run from the past Autox.
I'm convinced my understeer is due to my lack of spring. I'm hoping that along with a good corner balance will help improve it. I was reading again through previous comments and will try running with no spoiler for a few runs next time to see what happens. In terms of tire pressure, I've been running pretty even front and rear. I don't believe that I can accurately make effective adjustments until the spring issue is fixed. When the body roll stops I think I can finally dial in the tire pressure via feel. As of right now, I can't feel any change less than 5 psi.
An eventful week. Started the car up on Wednesday, let it idle for a bit, sudden oil pressure drop. Turned the car off, got out, saw oil all over the floor of the nice new trailer. Found out the vanos line busted with a nice split. Ordered a new line, oil pan gasket, and a drilled oil pump nut. Also ordered a new set of springs from Swift. 500# front and 650# rear. I know I should go higher but that's the most I'm comfortable going with these shocks before re-valving.
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