I'm actually pretty tall at 6'5", lot of leg I suppose. But if I were any taller or had a longer torso the holes would be too short. I am basically right at the top of the holes as is. That being said for the price the seats are great. Pretty comfortable and FIA approved!
Subscribed as I'm back to my '95 build after about a year off (new edition to the family) and I've got similar progress. I just got done rebuilding the axles and now have to get the subframe back together. I usually run Mid Ohio and VIR, but it sounds like you're not too far from Summit Point.
Finally got the front end project finished up! I ended up having to cancel my garagistic order and had my subframe locally reinforced by RRT. I then had it aligned last friday by RRT and the car feels super solid! No oil pan leaks thus far!
I decided while I was at it just to throw on both of the Eibach front and rear sway bars that came in the parts stash for this car.
All buttoned up. Blue zip ties for the free horse power! The clamps I bought were too big for some reason, I'll fix that soon!
The lift made this project so much more tolerable, especially since the subframe took so much longer to work out.
Back on the road!
Side note, question for my experienced track day friends... i don't have a full cage, just a roll bar thats fully behind the front seats. I have basic 1"+ thick fire retardant kirkey padding installed but its not the high density SFI stuff. I don't think I can even hit my helmet on the bar if I really try. Is this adequate for HPDE tech inspection?
I did not put any padding on my 4-point rollbar and never had any issues with tech or instructors.
I'd go with SFI padding. It's cheap and easy to find.
'03 911 Turbo 6MT fun car
'18 Toyota Land Cruiser Daily driver/Ski Machine/Off Roader
'15 Cayenne Diesel Wife's DD
'17 KTM 690 "Adv" 2 wheeled Adventurer
You're fine for the sake of HPDE inspection, but you should really get the SFI padding. Your head may not hit any of the rollbar in a crash but flailing appendages could. It's pretty reasonably priced at OG Racing. Nothing you have to do urgently, but add it to your "to do" list for the next handful of months.
2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
Out Motorsports
Cool running into your build thread. I subscribed to your youtube channel after I saw a video of yours recently.
Keep at it with the build - looks good so far.
Some clubs have been cracking down on the sfi padding in head area, just depends who you run with I guess.
Car looks good, love how clean the underside is!
I run without any padding at all on my cage. As mentioned above, it's a good idea to have, but not required by any organization that I know of.
Looks great! Also, looks ready for an LS swap
Sell me your bumpers
No pics today, but I've got my pre-track day inspection scheduled this afternoon. Had to commute in the track toy! I'll be in the HPDE Intro group on April 1st at Dominion Raceway. Anyone else going to be there?
Which group is this with?I'll be in the HPDE Intro group on April 1st at Dominion Raceway.
I drove the M3 an hour to Dominion raceway, did the intro track day and drove it back home without issue! The car felt really good and I had really zero noteworthy complaints. I was very excited about how quick they let us drive in the intro class. I assume it was basically the novice group speeds just cut down to a single session. My instructor was awesome and I cannot wait to get back out there! I'll be at Summit Point in just about a month for a full day! I did the intro so I could feel out the car and make sure it was ready, but I should have done the whole day! I was so pumped I couldn't sleep the following night.....
Hey dudes, need some help with my cooling system!
Background info, I did a full track day at Summit Point roughly a month or so ago and the car overall did great. I ran the car pretty hard all day and we were in 95+ degree heat. The last session or two the car had some cooling issues. On laps where I was revving pretty high I was seeing my coolant gauge creep past center, it never made it to the 3/4 tick mark but it was definitely over center. If I chilled for a lap the temp would immediately come down. I finished the day and drove the car home without issue. Below is a pic from the last track day.
The car has within the last 5k miles...
- Mishimoto aluminum radiator
- SPAL electric fan
- new OE style metal impeller waterpump (this was given to me by the previous owner and I used it, should have spent the money for the stewart)
- new rad hoses
- fresh BMW coolant
Fast forward to today... Car hasn't been driven much since the last track day but I tested it out last weekend quickly, everything seemed OK temps looked good etc. Today (day before track day) I did once last sanity check and the temps went crazy. I drove the car fairly gently for less than 15 mins and out of nowhere the coolant temp spiked approaching the red. Since the install of the cooling stuff mentioned above I periodically get the check "coolant level" message and find it always full so I assume the sensor may have some weirdness. Both sides of the radiator/hoses are hot... I don't see any leaks, no white smoke, oil looks good etc.
Any ideas what I am dealing with? I plan to try and bleed the system again once the car cools down to check for any air pockets. I am thinking maybe I killed the water pump? Any other ideas?
Sounds like you might have a air bubble in your system. Did you bleed it per procedure? Heater on, etc?
Sounds like a bad head gasket. Is your coolant overflow tank pressurized even when the engine is cold?
'03 911 Turbo 6MT fun car
'18 Toyota Land Cruiser Daily driver/Ski Machine/Off Roader
'15 Cayenne Diesel Wife's DD
'17 KTM 690 "Adv" 2 wheeled Adventurer
If you did a good bleed, my next suggestion coincides with Doc's above. I had a very small failure in my head gasket, no enough to get water in the oil or vice versa, but it was enough to overheat the car during some situations.
My head gasket went without the engine ever overheating.
These cars are getting old now, stuff is breaking/wearing out....
'03 911 Turbo 6MT fun car
'18 Toyota Land Cruiser Daily driver/Ski Machine/Off Roader
'15 Cayenne Diesel Wife's DD
'17 KTM 690 "Adv" 2 wheeled Adventurer
The best solution is to trade it for an avus blue 95 m3 without said issue.
Bookmarks