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Thread: E46 LS swap turned street/track rat

  1. #26
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    I LOVE Pegasus!

  2. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by aeronaut View Post
    I LOVE Pegasus!
    Yeah that place is awesome. Even better they have a newer delivery service that caters to this region so if I have my order in before 3pm (as long as it's an in-stock item) it'll be sitting on my front porch about noon the next day, and it costs less than USPS rates. The hose I butchered had a replacement in less than 24 hours for about $5 in shipping costs.

    - - - Updated - - -

    In other news...IT'S ALIVE!!! (Insert hearty pirate laugh here)

  3. #28
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  4. #29
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    Not the best video but it’s what I’ve got at the moment.

  5. #30
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    It's alive!!! Awesome.

  6. #31
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    Here's the first start. It's shaky as soon as the car fires up. The camera was locked onto a portable table in the shop, but the beast shook everything in there including the camera.


  7. #32
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    I know you don't have any real driving experience with the car just yet, but what's your overall impression of the ChaseBays radiator? Good quality and fit and finish? Worth the $450 it costs? I'm torn between that one and the one from Ry-Wire.

  8. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by jakermac View Post
    I know you don't have any real driving experience with the car just yet, but what's your overall impression of the ChaseBays radiator? Good quality and fit and finish? Worth the $450 it costs? I'm torn between that one and the one from Ry-Wire.
    My impression so far is it was worth the money. Welds are all great. The built in fan bracket is thick, heavy duty aluminum. Customer service is good as well. I had an idea/question for mounting it and wanted to get input from them. I got a pretty quick email reply that answered exactly what I needed.

    I also have their raised radiator filler neck, overflow tank, and T56 to BMW master clutch line they all seem built very well. No complaints so far.

  9. #34
    mslevin's Avatar
    mslevin is offline Have you checked RealOEM? BMW CCA Member
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    Looks like you have a Cartek battery isolator in there, what do you think of it? Thinking of getting one for my new build.

  10. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by mslevin View Post
    Looks like you have a Cartek battery isolator in there, what do you think of it? Thinking of getting one for my new build.
    I do have the Cartek GT isolator. I love it. It's smaller than a deck of cards and the installation is super easy. I like having one button for a master power switch and as many kill switches as I need around the car. Right now I just have the one to the left side of the dash for a corner worker to access. It's on the expensive side, but worth it to me. The solid state electronics have built in over voltage protection as well. Solid state is where it's at!

    EDIT: It also has a 40 amp control circuit that activates an ECU (or whatever you want under 40 amps) when the master power is turned on. I wired that to a toggle switch so that I can run other circuits, or test electrics, without having the ECU and fuel pumps kick on.
    Last edited by Matt330LS; 05-14-2020 at 10:12 AM.

  11. #36
    mslevin's Avatar
    mslevin is offline Have you checked RealOEM? BMW CCA Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt330LS View Post
    I do have the Cartek GT isolator. I love it. It's smaller than a deck of cards and the installation is super easy. I like having one button for a master power switch and as many kill switches as I need around the car. Right now I just have the one to the left side of the dash for a corner worker to access. It's on the expensive side, but worth it to me. The solid state electronics have built in over voltage protection as well. Solid state is where it's at!

    EDIT: It also has a 40 amp control circuit that activates an ECU (or whatever you want under 40 amps) when the master power is turned on. I wired that to a toggle switch so that I can run other circuits, or test electrics, without having the ECU and fuel pumps kick on.

    Appreciate the info. That separate control circuit sounds really useful, I've been thinking of ways to turn on lights/dash separately without the main power coming on.

  12. #37
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    Not much to report since I got the car running. That was a good stopping point me and after it fired I had to turn my attention to other things for a bit. But, I did tinker with the base tune on the car after I got it fired up. AFR was all over the place at idle initially. Long story short the base fuel pressure I put in the software didn't equal actual fuel pressure. I was using a mechanical gauge and it wasn't as accurate as I'd have liked so I swapped out for a Holley pressure sensor and I'm getting fuel PSI readings to the tenth of a pound. Made the software adjustments and the FPR adjustments and now it's good to go.

    Also swapped out the wheels that were on the car. Got a great deal in the classifieds here on some used Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 17x9 with some RS3s that have a little life left in them. They're gloss black, which wouldn't have been my first choice but for the price and how pristine they are for used wheels I'll deal with it.

    I've had only an e-brake functional on this thing since I tore it down so I pulled the trigger yesterday on the M-Performance brake upgrade. Figured now that it starts it needs to stop as well. Got it through Turner but it's an ECS kit that retrofits the 135i 6-piston Brembos to the E46. It'll be a bit before I can get back out to the garage to install them but they were out of stock for awhile so I figured I'd better grab the kit while I could (and while they're on sale) and set them on the shelf.

  13. #38
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    Great looking build! Did you get any further with the ABS? I'm half way through an LS swap in an E46 and wiring is coming up soon. I'd like to keep the ABS working but bin all other BMW wiring but I can't find any solid info on whether it will work or not.

  14. #39
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    For sure the E46 M3 ABS can operate as a stand alone system. Many many people (including me) wire it in as a stand alone in other chassis (E36 in my case). However, that does not include the DSC functionality.

  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by WestozE46 View Post
    Great looking build! Did you get any further with the ABS? I'm half way through an LS swap in an E46 and wiring is coming up soon. I'd like to keep the ABS working but bin all other BMW wiring but I can't find any solid info on whether it will work or not.
    Thank you. For ABS it'll work you just have to go with a stand-alone setup. My car (2001 330Ci) came equipped with the MK60 unit so I just need to get a stand-alone harness. You have to keep the wheel speed sensors, brake pressure sensors, and yaw sensor as inputs, plus power and ground to the ABS unit. There are a few companies that make complete kits or the individual parts necessary (such as the harness).

  16. #41
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    Great build and sounds awesome. Hats off to you.

    Did you make those front floor plates? They look nice and tidy.

  17. #42
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    Thanks, it's been a long road so far with a little bit still to go.

    I did not make those floor plates. I had a shop near me make those along with the rear firewall and package tray, the mounting points to be able to bolt my dash to the roll cage cross bar and some solid jack points under the car.

  18. #43
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    Well its looking good so far.

    Ah ok, thanks very much. I was considering something similar for the my front floor pans and like the way yours fit neatly.

  19. #44
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    Didn’t realize how long it’s been since I posted here. Long and short of it is I got about 370 miles of backroads and cruising, but no track time last summer. I’ve got a couple things to tend to on the car but will finally be good to head to the track this summer. Here’s a quick video shortly after I got the exhaust installed. I recommend you turn up your speakers for this beast…

    Last edited by Matt330LS; 03-20-2022 at 12:55 PM.

  20. #45
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    Wondering how the track day shakedowns have gone this summer???

  21. #46
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    Update Update Update!

  22. #47
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    The people want what they want.

  23. #48
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    Apologies, I’ve been off the net for a bit. However, last summer went great for the car! The thing rips on the track! The engine displacement gives great pull out of the corners all the way up to the rev limiter and the FA510s make it handle very well. M-Performance front brakes are outstanding as well, although I’m going with more aggressive track pads for this summer. To answer a previous question, the Chase Bays radiator has proven to do a great job keeping things cool. Running a 75-25 mix of distilled water and coolant, with some Water Wetter and a 16” spal fan I was always at 195-210 except for sitting on pit lane idling for extended periods then it’d knock on the door of 225.

    I spent some time at Autobahn in Joliet, IL and at Road America, which is my home track. Can’t recall my times at Autobahn, but in time for RA I had bought a Garmin Catalyst and got a lot of great feedback, and footage of my laps. A few pics:

    Loaded up and parked for the night. Ready to roll out in the morning.
    2FC3BA16-05F1-475F-B660-30607D6AF193.jpeg

    Road America
    6371FD00-36A8-4295-8EAE-CD5EF623CA7B.jpeg
    9A07B02B-E91B-4B25-A2EF-8C106690DE62.jpeg

    Good view down the front stretch at RA. Had an issue with my 4-5 synchro where I had to shift into 5th before 4500rpm so I could only make 138mph down the front, which cost some time.
    EF9C4BB7-1075-4949-A148-945AC3A6D2A5.jpeg

  24. #49
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    You still on RS3s? What MK60 harness setup did you end up going with? What's your plans with the shifting issue?

  25. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by olemiss540 View Post
    You still on RS3s? What MK60 harness setup did you end up going with? What's your plans with the shifting issue?
    I ended up swapping to fresh Falken 615k before the first track day. I used up the RS3, or what was left of them, during the break-in on the engine. I would have gone with RS4s but caught a sale on the Falkens and they rate fairly close. They’re holding up great so far.

    I didn’t end up getting around to the ABS harness so I ran without it. No lockup issues at all on track, but we’ll see as I progress in my skills this year if that lasts. Every lap out I wait a moment longer to get into the brakes so eventually I may get there. And because I’m a glutton for punishment I’m running without power steering as well. Only really notice it when I’m in the paddock. Out on track there’s no question what the car is doing with the steering feedback.

    For the shifting I’m going to let it ride. I’d have to pull the trans and replace the 4-5 synchro most likely. I just don’t have that much free time right now so I’ll deal with shifting a bit early in two spots at RA. The rest of the tracks I’ll be running I’ll be in 2nd or 3rd (mostly), or maybe hit 4th on a long straight. For kicks between Turn 3-5 I may just leave it 4th and see how far I can wind it out. My limiter is set at 6750 and it pulls up to that nicely. Front straight between Turn 14 and 1 that’s just not an option, it’s too long to hold 4th at the red line.

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