E36M3 Build. Daily to Time Attack to S54 NASA ST Car

[jjwilson89]

Well, I probably should have created this thread a couple of years ago when I first bought the car, but better late than never…

I bought the car from a well-known forum member on here, TheGreat328ic. It had 120,000 miles, was a little rough around the edges but had some tasteful mods on it and had been well taken care of. UUC BBK, Dinan Exhaust, AFE Intake, Volk Racing III Wheels.


z3 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
z1 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


It started small (AFE Intake), then H&R Race Springs, then a tune, then track days, then the inevitable snowball affect.
z4 by John Wilson, on Flickr">



Aside from routine maintenance, the first big job was to reinforce the front and rear subframe. While I was at it, everything was repainted. I used AKG plates front and rear. Luckily, I have a friend in Socal who is an industrial welder and also happens to be a keen BMW Enthusiast. Whilst doing this, we upgraded all the bushings in the car to Condor Poly Bushings. I also bought a VAC oil pan, bought a Z3 pickup tube and secured the oil pump nut.
IMG_20160726_203933 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160801_192221 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160803_194953 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160813_224837 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160815_192030 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160815_192146 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160815_192129 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160815_192303 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_191018 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_191626 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_195515 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_195607 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_214423 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160816_214605 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


At the same time, I gutted the interior (minus the dash) and took off all the sound deadening material. I picked up a bolt in cage from Widebody365 (Sold on this forum) and found a good deal on a brand new set of Sparco Grid seats and used harnesses. I got an LTW wing from Abraham’s Motorsport…because racecar, and no budget for a Brooks.
IMG_20160703_144811 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160911_180227 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160911_180551 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20160911_180606 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


I also bought some TCKline D/A Coilovers. 400/500 spring rates and got out on track again.
IMG_20161027_143221 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170317-183417 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170317-183406 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Intermediate Finish Line (920am) AC2_0570_Nov2016_CaliPhoto by John Wilson, on Flickr">


After playing around in Time-Trial for a bit, the first and most obvious change was the brakes. I installed the front and rear brake kit from Lee @ Massive Brakes in Canada using Wilwood. Reasons for going Massive Brakes instead of Stop-Tech? Better replacement rotor prices, lower purchase price and a proven race heritage. The kits Lee make are top notch and his support is great. I removed the Brake Booster and used a Porsche 17/17mm Master Cylinder, with BW SS lines all round. I use Raybestos ST-45 pads who were recommended by Porterfield in Huntington Beach, CA.


So, after getting back up to speed with tracking the car and feeling comfortable again I wanted to go with a wider tire (especially in the front). I decided to go with Hard Motorsport Fender Flares. Ayed and Kings Auto Body did a great job again of cutting the fenders, folding the inner skin over and around the outer, welding, sealing and painting the cut and installing the fenders. At the same time, I got Apex ARC-8 wheels. 17 x 9.5’s, running NT01’s.
IMG_20161209_063842 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170319_153825 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170108-214626 by John Wilson, on Flickr">

After a couple of events, I wanted more power. I was planning on building my own engine but that’s when I met Shane from SWR Motorsports in Fullerton. Shane had built an S52 for his racecar, but after opening his own shop, wanted to do an S54 conversion. At this point, I decided I wanted to keep the “original” S52 engine platform in the car and so bought the engine from Shane. It had 30,000 miles less than mine, had a stage 2 VAC head, supertech valves, schrick cams, miller war tune, headers, de-cat mid pipe, conforti intake, 540i MAF, Riot Racing TB, 28 lb injectors, OPN secured and VAC baffle and an S54 oil filter housing.

At the same time, I installed an AKG shifter, Stage 4 Clutchmasters Clutch w/ flywheel. We also removed everything unnecessary from the car. AC, Heater Core, Brake Booster, Expansion Tank (relocated to firewall, all dash items, all wiring and re-wired the car from scratch.

So begins a triple swap. Pics below.
IMG_20170218_185411 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170221_215652 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170224_174749 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
(Ayed's S54 swapped E30 M3 in the background at SWR Motorsports)
IMG_20170224_175915 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170225_181249 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170225_181437 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170226_193309 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_20170226_220909 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170813-220038 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170813-220024 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170813-215956 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


The car was a monster. It weighed in at 2600 lbs with a full tank and with me in it and put out just under 275rwhp on a dynojet that read low and had sticking brakes (~20HP swing between runs).

IMG_20170318_090018 by John Wilson, on Flickr">

Alignment and corner balance was done by Andrew at Lang Racing Development in Irvine. Andrew is great with setting up these cars and knows what to change when you give him feedback. Proof of the weight with full tank and driver, perfect 50/50 balance thanks to Andrew:
Screenshot_20170813-220145 by John Wilson, on Flickr">

Some more track pics:
Screenshot_20170603-223652 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170603-223635 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
Screenshot_20170603-223618 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


After competing successfully in Bimmer Challenge and a few more events, I was now feeling really comfortable with the car. My local circuit it Autoclub and I’d been pushing to get a 1.51.XX, which I know the car is capable of. I went out for the first session of the day and in turn 1 and 140mph, on my fifth lap, disaster strikes. The pics tell the story.
June-11-2017-Speed Ventures - Red - Turn 2 (Session 1) - AC4_4308_Jun1117_CaliPhoto by John Wilson, on Flickr">
June-11-2017-Speed Ventures - Red - Turn 2 (Session 1) - AC4_4312_Jun1117_CaliPhoto by John Wilson, on Flickr">

That night I took the car back to Shane at SWR and we went to work. Between the two of us, we had the engine and gearbox out the car, the car back to a rolling shell, engine and transmission separated and a complete teardown of the engine in just under 3 hours.
IMG_20170611_232939 by John Wilson, on Flickr">

A clogged injector for cylinder 1 turnout out to be the culprit. After discussed the options for a rebuild, I decided then and there than I wanted to go to an S54. I knew I wanted to move into NASA ST, and ideally want to compete in ST-2 so needed 330rwhp + at my weight level. I picked up a 2005 S54 with 70,000 miles. I’m going to run ebay headers (again) and use a Y-Pipe to custom build a 3” single exhaust all the way back. I also picked up a GSR CSL Intake Manifold (beautiful piece).
IMG_20170704_155333 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_8286_01 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_8013 by John Wilson, on Flickr">


Preventative maintenance was WPC coated Rod Bearings, ARP hardware and S54 Vanos Seals. I also picked up a 3.91 Diff which I’ll be building with 3 clutches and a Rogue Cover (last diff was overheating every session and leaking out the vent).
IMG_8007 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_8008_01 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_8012 by John Wilson, on Flickr">
IMG_8006 by John Wilson, on Flickr">

The car is currently at Imagine Garage (Huge shoutout to Rome) getting a full cage. I'll post some pics when it's done.


Future plans are moving to 600F/700R springs, Epic Custom Dyno Tune, Halo Seat, window net, painting the whole interior, corner balance, alignment, slicks then testing end of this year and onto NASA ST-2 next year.

I’ll try to keep this updated as much as possible, but I’m pretty unorganized at this sort of thing! Thanks for looking! John