E36 M3, from dual purpose to track only

[MPWRCPE]

Fuel expansion tank delete done.

Summary:
- removed charcoal canister, and associated hoses/tubes/wires.
- removed expansion tank
- there are 3 hoses connected to the expansion tank; to charcoal canister (removed/cut), from fuel tank (to top of expansion tank; plugged), to fuel tank (from bottom of expansion tank; vented through breather filter).

I routed the vented/filtered hose into truck temporarily. I want to see if it ever fills with fuel. I don't think it will if I never fill the tank. There's zero fuel smell while the car is sitting. I'll eventually move it to the space where the expansion tank was.

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If it does fill with fuel you certainly don't want that in your trunk (or near the battery)! I'd skip the discovery phase and move that guy to the expansion tank location now lol.

Nice work so far!

[aeronaut]

Haha...yea, I thought about that. I'm not tooooo worried.

[aeronaut]

FYI, anything more than about 3/8s tank of fuel, and there's fuel in my vent hose. I thought it'd take more. I may switch the hose/filter to the other hose from the fuel tank, and see if it's better or worse. Then I'll move the filter to the wheel well.

[BlackHawkRacing]

A discriminator is going to be your best bet on stopping fuel from flowing through the line. Fuel Safe has a bunch of good stuff in the way of discriminators and check valves.

https://fuelsafe.com/motorsports/fue...-check-valves/

[aeronaut]

A discriminator is going to be your best bet on stopping fuel from flowing through the line. Fuel Safe has a bunch of good stuff in the way of discriminators and check valves.

https://fuelsafe.com/motorsports/fue...-check-valves/

Thanks. At that point, I'd just put the evap canister back on.

[aeronaut]

A few little projects, nothing major. A few must-do's over the winter are, install new rear diff, and probably new (rebuilt) steering rack, and any "while I'm in theres".
But for now:

Don't need this:
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Deleting and moving some fuses and relays, but need to order some stuff to finish up:
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And, custom fitting my Kirkey (this is why I bought an aluminum seat, so I can get a near perfect fit):
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[olemiss540]

Wait what? Can you explain what you are doing to your seat? New at the aluminum seat game so excited to hear. I do not believe standard fiberglass Halo seats will work with my cage bars.

[aeronaut]

Wait what? Can you explain what you are doing to your seat? New at the aluminum seat game so excited to hear. I do not believe standard fiberglass Halo seats will work with my cage bars.

I bought a Kirkey 45 Series seat. It fit good, but not perfect. I can TIG weld (by some definition of welding) so it's "easy" to make modifications. So far I've changed the layback by about 10 deg, and added 2" of height between the side supports and shoulder supports, effectively raising the shoulder/head restraint stuff (I'm tall). This second mod also forces me to cut and sew the seat cover. Kirkey sold me some material.

FYI, Kirkey also makes custom seats. I didn't know at the time, and have no idea how much one would cost.

Kirkey's don't look sexy, but oddly, they were the most comfortable seat I sat in (trying on a dozen or so). And many of them with HNS are adjustable.

[olemiss540]

I love the look of their containment seat on their website. This is definitely the route I need to go myself once I can pull the trigger on re configuring my door bars for ease of access. I am fairly certain Halo seats will ensure I am not able to get into my car, so probably need to figure out something else in the meantime (nets?) that will suffice for HPDE settings.

[aeronaut]

That's an interesting point. I don't have a cage...but I know many that run a cage and containment seat STRUGGLE to get in/out of the car. Seems an opportunity for some company like kerkey to make the left side of the containment system "fold" out of the way for ingress/egress, then easily lock into place for use.

[olemiss540]

That would be AMAZING.

[aeronaut]

Just playing with the cut wheel.

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[olemiss540]

One thing the PO did on my car was removed the retaining clip on the door hinges so the doors could be lifted on and off. It has been absolutely awesome when loading on my trailer and working on the interior of the car to easily pop the doors in and out.

[aeronaut]

Excellent idea!!! Thanks.

[aeronaut]

Fuse box in the engine bay, GONE. (Although there will likely be 3 relays there).
EVAP canister in the engine bay removed a while back.
A little more access room in that crowded corner of the engine bay now.
Lots of wire wrapping and zip tying to do, but car starts and runs with no funny warning lights.

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[aeronaut]

Got the seat done (extended 'thorax' area 2").

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Started on removing engine/trans.

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[aeronaut]

Discovered this during inspection. Ouch.
Lesson, don't ignore lifter tick. Oil starvation is oil starvation.
I think my cams are ok.
Of course now, the while I'm in there syndrome starts.

Talked to VAC and Achilles. I will say, the advice from Achilles was simply AWESOME.

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- - - Updated - - -

Also, at the end of last season when I rushed my clutch install, and rushed my slave cylinder install, I exploded my slave inside the installed trans. Got all the pieces out, and put in a new slave. Had clutch shudder from the get go. I knew what had happened.

Brake fluid on the clutch PP, disk, and FW.

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[aeronaut]

Follow up on the RTD shifter. I'd still get another one. But....

It corrodes easily. So I guess I'll have to sweat less.

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- - - Updated - - -

I moved my fuel tank vent. Previously, it was to one of those old school PVC filters under the rear wheel well liner. It was dirty under there, and I just didn't like not being able to see some portion of the whole set up.

So I vented to the filler neck area. And put in a much smaller filter.

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- - - Updated - - -

One more thing about the RTD, it binds a bit at each extreme of forward/rear travel. I'm going to get the dremel out and fix this.
I'm not sure if it travels this far when attached to a transmission, but I'm not sure it doesn't. So I'll make sure this is never a problem.

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[bimmerboy318]

The devil is in the details and this build has them all covered!

[aeronaut]

The devil is in the details and this build has them all covered!

Thanks! I think.

- - - Updated - - -

Chase Bays power steering reservoir and lines came in.
Hard to get a picture of the baffling in the reservoir, but it looks to be a small canister shaped cylinder 1.5" tall placed over the inlet.
And no filter like the OEM, so we'll see how this all works out.
On initial inspection, seems like a decent kit. We'll see how it fits.
Waiting for a new steering rack from rackdoctor, arriving Friday.

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Not sure what the two little screws on the back side of the cap are for. Maybe a fluid level sensor that's on some cars?

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[aeronaut]

Saw this happen to anther forum member. Paid for an Elring HG. Received a HG in Elring packaging. Got a Victor Reinz.
WTF?
What are our choices for head gaskets if no more 'real' Elring? BMW OE is like 3x the price.

IMG_20200205_155727.jpg

[GG///M3]

Saw this happen to anther forum member. Paid for an Elring HG. Received a HG in Elring packaging. Got a Victor Reinz.
WTF?
What are our choices for head gaskets if no more 'real' Elring? BMW OE is like 3x the price.

IMG_20200205_155727.jpg

I’ve been hearing about this happening a lot lately.


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[aeronaut]

I purchased from FCPEuro. Oddly, most of their Victor Reinz stuff is a few more bucks than their Elring stuff. So from their viewpoint I got a good deal. I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can get a 'real' Elring.

I've just not read good experiences from the VR headgasket. But maybe something's changed, or it's just internet lore. Dare I consider a MLS gasket? VAC raves about them.

[bimmerboy318]

Saw this happen to anther forum member. Paid for an Elring HG. Received a HG in Elring packaging. Got a Victor Reinz.
WTF?
What are our choices for head gaskets if no more 'real' Elring? BMW OE is like 3x the price.

IMG_20200205_155727.jpg

That happened to me! I’m also the one that left the review at FCP Euro about it. My car hasn’t left the garage so not sure how it will hold up. I used new BMW head bolts with it. First track day is March 9th for me!

[aeronaut]

It will all probably be fine. Only those with failures report on the nets.

I will be trying to get an Elring. I guess I'll install the VR if I can't.