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Thread: Hinrichs Hillclimb/street/no idea what I am building....build thread

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    97 M3 Coupe

    Hinrichs Hillclimb/street/no idea what I am building....build thread

    Well figure maybe this is a better section to post this in.

    Well been lurking way to long, so decided its time to start a thread to document my progress on my 3rd M3.

    My first M3 was the following;

    05 M3, Alpine White, Cinnamon, 6MT, Rogue sect 3, SS non res sect 2, blackout kit, KVW2, Rogue RSM, Turner Camber plates, 18x10 18x11 Kinesis Supercups






    Ended up selling this one to buy a house. Planned to track it, so I eventually put in a raven cage, and pole position but sold it all.

    Then the next one came one. It was a 94 318I with a full S52 swap. Came half complete, missing a lot of little things which I eventually fixed.

    Threw in a kirkey cage, host of Hard Motorsport goodies, new coilovers, new sparco seats, and rep wheels. Abrahms wing, cf sunroof delete, stripped interior. Planned to hill climb it....yeah chickened out and sold it. Honestly it was the perfect car to race, but yeah I dont think logically at times when I get a little bored with a project.



    - - - Updated - - -

    Now onto the current car.

    The day I picked it up.....


    How today went


    Oh hey new friend. This was waiting at the painfully slow notary since it was an older style place. I didn't take any pics but they had some rad plates





    Not sure how I feel about this wheel, my italvolanti like earl has will prolly go in after I decide if I want another rouge quick release which would bring it a little closer





    Then my face hitting the highway. I have to say even with just cats and a straight pipe, it sounds good. Cruising isn't bad which I expected. Took an on ramp and missed the electronic tool, yeah got to the exit and had a nice $35 toll to pay to get home.




    So onto the new one, passed it over a few times on Craigslist and then finally just bit the bullet and went to see it.


    97 5 speed, lux package with manual vaders added, black interior. 162k on it, stack of receipts from owner before mine of course, said vanos was just changed. It has no muffler and it's loud, also riding on Megan coilovers. Came with a momo wheel and bad installed hub adapter.








    Pulled the radio out, and found the nav cds it came with. Someday I'll be putting it back in to test it out. Have the receipt when it was purchase new in 2000.


    Some pics today of the car







    - - - Updated - - -

    This will be more or less a recap till today. Snowball of fun.

    So the car had a cel when I bought it, honestly didnt really think anything of it at the time of purchase. Drove home decently was just stupid loud, and had an ebay special short throw.

    I decided that had to go...well one thing led into another and I was the new owner of a 3" Bimmerworld race catback with front pipe. I ended up cutting the stock exhaust since it was destroyed anyway. Back end welded on and half rusted through

    exhaust 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    exhaust rust by minthinrich, on Flickr
    bw race 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    catback by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Had to drill out all but one stud, it was wonderful to install. I was swearing the whole time. Also threw in all new shift linkage bushings and a new lever. Figured I may have to work on it again which is why I went with the v-band setup. Exhaust sounds wonderful and really isnt too loud which I like. I did recently try the straight section...yeah hated that one. It will get a cat eventually for when I need to get an inspection done.

    Next up was the M50 manifold swap. Used the bimmerworld kit. Easy install, but ended up having the intake off like 25 times now for all different things. I am getting kinda good at it. Got the mani off ebay for $120 I think shipped. Also deleted ACS and went with the 3" bimmerworld intake 90 at the same time. Car came with the intake on it which I think was from bavauto. I have the original invoice in my records that came with the car.

    engine by minthinrich, on Flickr
    intake 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    intake 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    M50 COMPARISON by minthinrich, on Flickr
    M50 INSTALL by minthinrich, on Flickr
    M50 INSTALL 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    MISSING COVER by minthinrich, on Flickr

    - - - Updated - - -

    Lost all pictures of this, but in my hunt to fix a bad TPS sensor, figuring it was engine wiring...I threw in a new used full engine harness. Glad it was rather easy still never fixed the problem. Ended up giving up and taking it to a shop. The cause was some sensor in the rear that was somehow shorting out the whole system. At least I have new cam sensors, wiring, and tps sensors. Along this way I also added some billet throttle cable bushing things and deleted my working cruise control.

    throttle bushing by minthinrich, on Flickr
    kassel ecu by minthinrich, on Flickr
    dirty 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Didnt plan on buying this, but found a good deal on a used Kirk 4-point semi local to me, so went and picked it up. Seats over the winter. Also threw in one of my old sparco harness that I had laying around for years. I know its out of date, and it will be replaced.

    cage 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    cage 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    cage stock seats by minthinrich, on Flickr
    blue harness by minthinrich, on Flickr

    - - - Updated - - -

    Took a pic with my other money pit. Swapped some wheels around. Sold the stock ones.

    standoff by minthinrich, on Flickr
    red wheels by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Fan blew up checking the coolant, upgraded to the CSF OE plus rad, and electric fan. I am running the stock shroud as well, no pics.

    fan 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    fan install by minthinrich, on Flickr
    fan wiring 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    fan wiring 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    - - - Updated - - -

    Now onto the new wheels. I was going to get reps, and couldnt make up my mind. After selling some jeep parts, I ordered up some Kosei K1 17x8.5 and some Continental Extreme Contact sport 245/40. I had them in 2 days I think which was amazing from tirerack, or maybe it was even one day. It was crazy.

    kosei 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    kosei 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    WHEELS 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    786_28de53b2cd_c.jpg[/img]kosei 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    WHEELS 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    97 M3 Coupe
    After getting the wheels and tires on, I decided it was time for a new suspension that I had a little more adjust ability and also better spring rates. I didnt see spending $500 for upgraded the front mounts to have camber plates so I talked to bimmerworld prolly 4-5 times to decide what I wanted to swap to.

    Isc street won. I wanted the track, but didnt want to wait 4 months for those to arrive. Glad to see a company who still sends swag in their box.

    isc 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    isc-1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    isc 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    isc 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    isc 5 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    isc 4 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    I got it right around 12.5" front and 12" rear from what I can tell. These coils ride great and I am at 10 up front and 8 out back with dampening.

    Spring rates are 8 kg/mm front and 10 kg/mm rear (448 lb/in and 560 lb/in, respectively)
    Last edited by Hinrichs; 09-27-2017 at 12:03 PM.

  3. #3
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    Awesome! I cant wait to see this build progress.

  4. #4
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    Bought a new door, one on the car had paint issues, and rust. It sucks it doesnt match, but whatever. I originally read the thread as the door was from a 94 but ended up being a 97 hence the color change. Whatever I am over caring about it anymore...but it does look stupid. You can see how the old door looked in the picture with my jeep. It was fun swapping solo but I got it done.

    not a jeep 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    not a jeep 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    After that I ended up ordering another Rouge quick release which I had in my last car. Its cheap, and works well. I forgot how nice it was to have the wheel closer so I can get a better seating position.

    ROUGE 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Also added one of my favorite things I installed in my last car, the tall Mkahmotorsport shift knob. This will hold me over untill I can save up for a CAE or similar shifter which I know I dont need, but I had to play with one in a friends car and wow.

    shift knob by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Also to add to the host of MKAH parts, I added the following as well cuz its a race car right.

    First up was the rear diffuser. Easy install by myself...didnt cheap with the one screw he provides, just used a jack and got it lined up as good as I could.

    mkah box by minthinrich, on Flickr
    diffuser 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    diffuser 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    diffuser 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    diffuser 4 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Also got tired of my falling apart door cards, and non working passenger speakers. I tried to fix the door cards a few times, and just gave up finally. Previously had the V1 panels which were nice, but always thought they were lacking style. The V3 are so nice, and a big improvement. I went with the blue door pulls, no holes for anything.

    door panel by minthinrich, on Flickr
    door panel 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

  5. #5
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    The car looks really good. Planning on running full interior or gutting it to save weight?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by gbreeE90 View Post
    The car looks really good. Planning on running full interior or gutting it to save weight?
    I gutted my red car, and while I loved it, I also hated how loud it was.

    I really need to figure out what class I would be in, if I run the hill climb since SCCA rules have me all kinds of confused. I won't be competitive in any of the classes starting out, because I am so new at this, but still need to build it correctly. All that is left of the seats is the back bottom/sides/trim pieces which I kinda hacked up to make fit with the kirk cage. I need to get some more pics one I can get my phone working properly again and upload them.

  7. #7
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    Went out this weekend and checked out a seat I was looking at on craigslist finally. Its out of date, but should be good for a while until I can really decide on what I want to run. Will make a cool office chair as well for what I paid. $180. The guy did upholstery adn you can tell on the custom leather back pad, and also the bottom cusions. I plan to replace the bottom section since he added foam, and go with something minimal I think. I took out one layer already which made me fit a lot better, but now the leather is a little loose. He did say it was OEM porsche leather which he picked up in germany to match his 911 he used to race.

    Now to decide which floor mount I want to go with this time around.

    recaro 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    recaro 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

  8. #8
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    Decided monday after going back and forth on what I wanted, I ordered some VAC floor mounts and side mounts. Showed up in one day since I am only about an hour from them....wanted to go pick it up but didnt want to leave work.

    vac box by minthinrich, on Flickr

    You will see here I am not running standard side hardware, since after going out for the correct M8x1.25 bolts, only one hole had threads left and the rest were stripped out. I was kinda pissed but I didnt pay much for the seat so I broke out my tap and die set and ended up going up to 3/8-16 I think. A little bit of a pain due to the lazer cut side mounts, but a little file work and all is good. I will be pulling the seat again tho since I first had it damn near perfectly centered, and then had to move it up a little for better pedal reach. Also need to add in washers for the bolts that I will grab today at work.

    vac mount by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Finally the installed seat. I am getting new correct pads today for the bottom and will prolly try and sell the red leather.

    recaro 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    I just love this picture. Like I said before the MKAHmotorsport shift knob is great in a normal seating position, but when you get yourself lower in a race seat, wow its even better.

    recaro 4 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    Last edited by Hinrichs; 10-04-2017 at 09:01 AM.

  9. #9
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    Seat is all black now, new bottom covers showed up in 2 days from the shop I had a suspicion would send them. Ordered direct from recaro but forgot about the master rep for the east coast that I was at before.


    RECARO 5 by minthinrich, on Flickr


    Splitter shows up tomorrow.

  10. #10
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    mKahmotorsport Splitter installed, need to mess with the brackets more and add the extra bolts to tie it into the bumper. Ran out of time sunday for that, and it rained all day yesterday which ruined those plans.


    SPLITTER 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    SPLITTER 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr


    Hit 2 different junk yards over the weekend. Ended up finding one coupe but sadly didnt have good door seals so still on a hunt for them. Did however find a good shift surround in black, but it didnt have the locking button (dont really care). I also grabbed a non-armrest center console in tan, and also a glove box trim piece in tan. Sprayed them with some duplicolor vinyl die and they look oem. Forgot to get pics of them but I will once I get the interior cleaned up more. Still need to go back for a e-brake handle yet as I didnt have the right wrenches needed to pull the e-brake cables out.


    BLACK CONSOLE 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr

  11. #11
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    Nothing new to report, power steering is fighting me and not sure whats going on with it.

  12. #12
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    mmmm dogfish, did you make your own connections for the m50 swap or buy a kit


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by e30 394 View Post
    mmmm dogfish, did you make your own connections for the m50 swap or buy a kit
    I went with bimmerworlds kit which was very easy to install. The only thing I didnt get was the IAT sensor that was threaded. I just put that into the new intake elbow and have no issues there other than its a pain to install sometimes.

    Slightly worked on the car over the weekend. I deleted the PS with a delete block. I have yet to drive it so I am not sure what itll be like. I plan to tear into the pump once again, and see if it needs another rebuild, or if something else is wrong.

    ps delete by minthinrich, on Flickr

  14. #14
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    just found this thread.....


    good work......kudos

  15. #15
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    Only update is joined the SCCA finally which will allow me to be able to race on the hill and I should get first access to getting a spot which sells out extremely fast.

    Also got a garage heater so I will be happier about working out there. Plan to redo some mounts this weekend for the splitter (nothing wrong with the MKAH parts)

  16. #16
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    Made a decision over the weekend


    Ignore the surface rust, carpet was wet which is prolly from my junk door seals which are half gone


    INTERRIOR GUTTING by minthinrich, on Flickr

  17. #17
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    Still chipping away at the sound deadening and whatnot inside the car, I will have to get some pics since its turning out really well and looking good. Hit the surface rust with some converter paint.

    Also got this installed last night, the pic is before it was wired so ignore the 2 wires hanging down. Works perfectly and shuts off all the electronics in the car. Last install it didnt work properly on the red car.

    kill switch by minthinrich, on Flickr

  18. #18
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    Check your kill switch with the below instructions in mind. I had that same panel and kill switch and the switch failed on me in grid. I purchase a new one with the brass terminals and have had no issues since.

    From Pegasus Racing:

    "Question: How do I know if I'm looking at the genuine article and not a lower quality clone?

    Answer: The terminals of the genuine highest-quality switches are plated with a tin-alloy and are therefore silver colored. Lower quality clones have unplated brass terminals. In addition, genuine switches are shipped with half-height nuts while clones are usually furnished with full height nuts."


  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by darbyfam View Post
    Check your kill switch with the below instructions in mind. I had that same panel and kill switch and the switch failed on me in grid. I purchase a new one with the brass terminals and have had no issues since.

    From Pegasus Racing:

    "Question: How do I know if I'm looking at the genuine article and not a lower quality clone?

    Answer: The terminals of the genuine highest-quality switches are plated with a tin-alloy and are therefore silver colored. Lower quality clones have unplated brass terminals. In addition, genuine switches are shipped with half-height nuts while clones are usually furnished with full height nuts."
    Thanks for the tip, next time I get a chance to pull the panel out I will look and see what its like.



    So I am basically done stripping the sound deadening from the inside finally. Need to work on cleaning off the goo and hopefully I can get some of the stain out of the paint from the adhesive. Almost filled up a 5 gal bucket with it all. I might paint the inside someday if I fully strip everything out. Should have the rest of my gauges this week so I can keep going with getting the senders mounted up and figure out where to run the wires inside. I went with the MKAH 4 gauge center panel and also the center console delete.

    interior stripped 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    As you can kinda see, there is some surface rust as well on the drivers side from wet carpet which I will also be cleaning up. Then I can make some floor panels like I did for my last car once I hit the scrap yard for some alum.

    interior stripped by minthinrich, on Flickr

  20. #20
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    Well more updates since no one reads this thread.

    Pulled the dash on friday, was really surprised how easy that was compared to some other cars. Went ahead and installed the Mkah gauge panel which fits really well. I will get some real pics once the dash is back in. I am having a hell of a time getting the gauges wires into the engine bay since they are not very long. I tried to go from the typical spot with the battery cables and no dice, then tried from the ecu bin and well yeah its still too short. Ideally I would pull the heater core...which might still happen but I plan to keep that for now and the hvac control will be in the glove box. I am a little too worried about the windows fogging up.

    dash out by minthinrich, on Flickr
    mkah gauge panel by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Took me a little while to figure out the bimmerworld gauge block which made me feel really dumb, also had to move over the coolant adapter piece. My car had the tb hose one hole over, so the adapter didnt work on the blank plugged space that was already there, so I ended up just plugging the tb coolant hose return. Need to order a new oil separator hose as well as mine finally split and I dont see how the silicone one that comes in the kit can work since it doesnt fit over the stock fittings.

    gauge adapters by minthinrich, on Flickr

    I did however take a trip to Stable Energies in Nj to pick out a new seat. I took along my recaro to verify if it was real since its missing the FIA tag, but it is a real seat just sort of a blemish. I know all the older pole positions are not FIA anyway after the major recall. Ended up sitting in all the seats which I really wanted a halo, but seeing as I will drive the car on the street often I pushed that style back and went with the OMP First-R which is the "budget" of the WRC-R. It has a different cushion, fully upholstered which is kinda weird but whatever, and non finished fiberglass. $550 out the door with a FIA seat that fits me great.....yeah I am happy. I can basically get 2 if I want a passenger to match for the price of most of what I was looking at. I will need new side mounts I think however since the VAC are kinda low and I have no real adjustment whatsoever with them other than the top holes and its as high as I can get it with no real room to get the bolts into the bottom mounts.

    omp seat by minthinrich, on Flickr

  21. #21
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    Gauges are wired up, soon I can actually test them once I get the intake mani back on and a few parts show up.
    Last edited by Hinrichs; 02-14-2018 at 10:30 AM.

  22. #22
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    Ended up getting new OMP side mounts since I couldnt stand trying to deal with the VAC anymore, which is good since I am up slightly higher, and I have room to go down. The VAC mounts I honestly had no adjustability whatsoever which was annoying. I am using them for the passenger seat however.

    Got the seat mounted up last night....which I need to try and tweak a little since its kinda angled (Dont think I can fix this). Also got my new Schroth harness fitted up. Havent decided what I will run on the passenger side yet.

    seat 1 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    seat 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

    Also threw this on, which I really didnt need but whatever I have wanted one for years so I figured why not.

    battle 2 by minthinrich, on Flickr

  23. #23
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    Kick ass man, In regards to the oil separator, I just went through the process of deleting mine when I did my m50 mani swap, freed up room under the intake, and I get no blow by from my valve cover vent. Id recommend it and its super easy. I routed the valve cover vent under the intake manifold and I'm waiting for my catch can to come in, but honestly it might be a waste of time because I don't even have any oil residue inside the house.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by e30 394 View Post
    Kick ass man, In regards to the oil separator, I just went through the process of deleting mine when I did my m50 mani swap, freed up room under the intake, and I get no blow by from my valve cover vent. Id recommend it and its super easy. I routed the valve cover vent under the intake manifold and I'm waiting for my catch can to come in, but honestly it might be a waste of time because I don't even have any oil residue inside the house.
    Thanks. I am getting real happy with what I have done so far...sure helps basically doing the same build 2 times in a row. I thought about going to a catch can when I had the manifold off last time to pull the heater core. I hate all that crap under there.

    Forgot about the delete, made up this panel and used some kinda foam a friend left at my house to seal it up. Also used some cheap cf vinyl I had laying around lol. I did cover up the bolt heads, but I welded them on as to make a stud for an easier install. Still deciding on deleting wiring, but I really dont even know where to start on that one so I am nervous. All the extra space is kinda weird to me so far but its nice having that thing gone. I do plan on some kinda heat setup in the long term.

    heater delete by minthinrich, on Flickr

  25. #25
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    Side note, I am an idiot. I installed the spoiler backwards. Fixed it last night and it seems to be a good height now.

    spoiler 3 by minthinrich, on Flickr
    spoiler 4 by minthinrich, on Flickr

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