E36 M3, from dual purpose to track only

[aeronaut]

I have a dozen projects to finish on this car. If I needed, could finish in a day. But, then what? So, on it goes....

Pedal is finally (mostly) done. Just a little touch up welding left. It's not light, but it's positioned better, is kind of adjustable, and is hinged with real hinges rather than plastic creases.
I may see if I can build an aluminum version, if this one works well after a day at the track.

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Moved the master switch over, and rewired.

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[aeronaut]

Oh, and door handle. zyptyed. lol.

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[BlackHawkRacing]

Oh, and door handle. zyptyed. lol.

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Stealing this lol. Good work otherwise!

[aeronaut]

Wonderful!

[aeronaut]

Finally got around to cutting up the passenger side door. I'm leaving the stock door release in, cause I give folks rides and don't want anything unusual over there.

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Finalized and cleaned up some under dash wiring.

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And added this for any passengers that might be a bit litigious. lol.

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[aeronaut]

Poor mans toe approximator. Just need to get it close for a shake down track day. Some day soon I hope.

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[aeronaut]

In the constant struggle to decrease weight in the front, chopped off the shock-absorbing-section of one the bumper mounts. Turns out, there's a plastic sleeve in there, making it difficult to weld into a solid mount. So I only did one side.

Any other ideas on how to reduce the weight of the bumper and mounts?

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[Matt330LS]

Aside from drilling lightening holes where possible you may have to look into alternative materials. Aluminum, titanium, and carbon fiber. But at that point you have to ask if the cost is worth the weight savings.

[aeronaut]

Holes of Speed always an option .

[mslevin]

In the constant struggle to decrease weight in the front, chopped off the shock-absorbing-section of one the bumper mounts. Turns out, there's a plastic sleeve in there, making it difficult to weld into a solid mount. So I only did one side.

Any other ideas on how to reduce the weight of the bumper and mounts?

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There are a few people making aluminum versions of these mounts that are super light. This is an example but AFAIK they are NLA: https://elianmotorsport.com/collecti...ooks-pre-order

[aeronaut]

Thanks, I guess I could fab up something in Al also.

[fbirch]

Over the years I've read debates on various forums about the advisability of removing shock absorption systems and bumper beams. I realize if you plow into a wall at high speed they won't have any value. But I could also envision a scenario where a lighter impact could lead to more damage without them. How much weight do you reckon you can save?

[aeronaut]

I've considered this. I think 1995 cars have 2.5mph bumpers, which I expect is what these shocks are designed for?
Anyway, even with the bumper shocks functional ,with an underpanel bolted directly to the bumper and the frame, anything that will move the bumper will explode that....so....I've made other decisions that effectively negate any slow speed protection of plastic parts.

[Bm6w]

Do you still have glass? How much weight did this save?

Finally got around to cutting up the passenger side door. I'm leaving the stock door release in, cause I give folks rides and don't want anything unusual over there.

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Finalized and cleaned up some under dash wiring.

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And added this for any passengers that might be a bit litigious. lol.

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[aeronaut]

The front-door glass windows are on hangers, and pop in/out pretty easily (5 seconds to remove, 30 seconds to install assuming I'm holding a beer or 3 in one hand).
I weighed all this stuff, but can't find the numbers. Motors, wire, connectors, glass, metal, etc, probably 15-20lbs per side. Just the metal in the door, probably ~3-5lbs, depending on how aggressive one gets.

[aeronaut]

Things are slow on the forum these days, so.
Just some random pics of a little project. Adding a seat back brace to the Kirkey, in case of hard rear end impact.
I noticed that when using the BimmerWorld floor plates, and there's enough distance between where the plate mounts to the OEM hole and my seat mount, that the seat mount has quite a bit of leverage. The plate actually wiggles a bit, which allows the top of the seat to move back and for an inch or so fairly easily. Everything it tight. I can't say it's really a design fault of the BW plates. If you must use the OEM holes, and a race seat pushed far right, I think that's what will happen. Imagine a 3' lever arm, a fulcrum point, and a 4" lever arm.

Anyway, random fab pics. I'll get a finished pic soon.

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Also, considering a little bling, Mopar style (this is just tape).

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[aeronaut]

Finished the seat back brace. Wow, seat is ROCK solid now. Like.
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Love my pressurized brake bleeder. Attach to reservoir, attach to compressor, set pressure to 10psi. Walk around car bleeding. I don't bother putting fluid in the Motive canister anymore. The only thing I'm using that for is for the pressure gauge attached. I should move the gauge to the regulator, and toss the canister.

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Measured water content in 6 month old brake fluid. One sample from reservoir, one sample from a caliper. Both, no measurable water.

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[aeronaut]

1st day at track since lots of major work. Some comments:

- As many have said, schrick 264/256 cams aren't much for a track car. They definitely added some mid-range on my S50, but little to no top-end. (As expected). I bought them because my OEM cams needed replaced, and I didn't care to do the necessary work to move to the next size Schricks. But, the 264/256 are a good option for replacement cams. I'm very happy with the choice under the circumstances, but wouldn't be happy if I'd paid to replace good OEM cams looking for a power boost.

- S54 oil pump/pan, and VAC pump modification. I only have an oil pressure gauge (with a warning light), and don't log pressures. But, no lifter tic,, no warning light, and running pressure always between 45-62 psi whenever I glanced at the gauge. Big picture, I'm very happy with the S54 pump/pan conversion, but if I ever do this again, I'll probably NOT do the $800 VAC pump mod. I'm really thinking that $800 only "fixes" one issue; low oil pressure when oil temps are at operating temps and at 750 rpm. Need more data to make a final judgement.
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- I love the steering ratio provided by the MRT roll center/bump steer kit. I did not notice a huge difference in car balance as some have stated for rollcenter/bumpsteer kits. Maybe a touch more understeer at low-speed turn-in, but my tires are near cord, so. Maybe a little tweaking will be needed, but nothing major. I give this kit a thumbs up. I do need to add even more steering limit to prevent rubbing.

- RKTunes vs 22RPD, I have both. For now, RKTunes for the win. Ran it yesterday, and all seemed good. The 22RPD tune didn't have the idle where I requested and seemed choked up at lower rpm at no load, so I'm challenged to believe I have what I requested for the 22RPD tune. I may pop the 22RPD tune in mid-day at the next even and see what happens. More details here https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...tuners-for-S50

- Hood vents. Ambient yesterday was 80 deg. Water temps never above 201. That's really good. The real test will be on Summit Point Shenandoah (slower track with higher average rpm) where I had seen 225+ with ambient in the 90's. But so far, I think the hood vents will fix any concern about coolant temps. FYI, I have NO fan, but don't have to sit on grid for 10 min at idle.

- Chase Bays power steering lines and reservoir. **UPDATE at end of this paragraph**. Pre track, I filled to about 1.5" from top. On track, immediately got significant leakage from around the cap, as in, I smell oil pull into to the pits kind of leakage. UG. Tightened cap, still leakage, but less. I let it self-level, and by the end of the day, it had stopped leaking. I haven't checked the level in the reservoir yet. I'll report back. Bottom line, I may have just started the day overfilled, or, maybe not. I'll update after I check level, and double check all the lines. This will take a few months to know for sure if this fixes ALL the known issues with the stock P/S setup.
UPDATE: I didn't know this, but (of course) the chase bays cap has a very small vent hole, so as far as the 'leaking' around the cap, most likely just overfilled. No additional fluid was on top of the reservoir from the last session of the day.

[bimmerboy318]

Aero, question on lifter tick. How much oil are you running? My 95 M3 needs exactly 8 quarts to get to the fill line when doing oil/filter change. It will tick like crazy if I only put 7 quarts in and shows as a quart low on dipstick. I’ve settle on 8.25 quarts at the beginning of the weekend and don’t have to add anything.

[aeronaut]

With the stock S50 oil pump and pan, I tried as much as fill-line plus one quart. I still got liter tic. (Tire type makes a huge difference here. I run Toyo RR's, so see 1.4 lateral G's for several sustained seconds)
With current S54 pump, I'm right at fill line, no tic.

I don't know the exact total quantity of oil.

But bottom line, if 1/4 qt overfill works for you, then AWESOME!

[bimmerboy318]

I'm running RE71Rs for reasons of oil starvation and also fuel starvation. Both items are on my wish list before moving on to something like the Toyo RR. I see 1.1G on most corners and even 1.2G on corners with a little compression. Fuel gets to 1/2 tank and then it starves on some right handers.

[aeronaut]

We've all been there!

[GG///M3]

Good to hear about about these details. Also awesome to see the s50 still doing work


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[aeronaut]

Thanks! Love the S50.

Updated my comment on the Chase Bays PS reservoir.

[aeronaut]

Drivers side door trim fell off last event.
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Don't have the proper clips, so, replaced (temporarily?) with........go rilla tape. Hmmmm.

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