My 1999 M3 Progress Thread

[sirhodjibob]

As next project is fortifying the oiling system...decided against doing the S54 dual oil pick up and oil pan upgrade. To do it right to maintain proper oil pressure, it sounds like you need to modify the S54 oil pump with the S52 shaft (which VAC or I'm sure my local indy can do). S54 oil pump flows less than S52, which makes sense given the different head designs. Figure about $1.5k-$2k in parts depending on used vs new. At that point, you might as well go all in and just buy a damn S54.

Since this is primarily a street car- upgraded S52 oil pump with oil pump nut secured and weld in baffles for a rare track day seems more prudent. Open to feedback though, I'm sure I'm not the first person to cross this bridge.

[NeilM]

No, I think your analysis is spot on.

I do have the dual pickup system with VAC modded high capacity pump, and it’s terrific — but very costly. That’s OK for my track car, but overkill for a primarily street driven vehicle.

I would add that in my experience adding welded baffles in the stock pan doesn’t make all that much difference. I used to have a Turner set in my car and still saw some spectacular oil pressure dips in certain turns on track. On the plus side, these engines seem to take that pretty much in their stride.

Neil

[E85STI]

As next project is fortifying the oiling system...decided against doing the S54 dual oil pick up and oil pan upgrade. To do it right to maintain proper oil pressure, it sounds like you need to modify the S54 oil pump with the S52 shaft (which VAC or I'm sure my local indy can do). S54 oil pump flows less than S52, which makes sense given the different head designs. Figure about $1.5k-$2k in parts depending on used vs new. At that point, you might as well go all in and just buy a damn S54.

Since this is primarily a street car- upgraded S52 oil pump with oil pump nut secured and weld in baffles for a rare track day seems more prudent. Open to feedback though, I'm sure I'm not the first person to cross this bridge.

Wow I had no idea what all had to be done to use this setup! I thought about the S54 dual oil pickup but admittedly had not done much research on it yet. This is definitely off the table now since mine will mostly be a street car.

[Veleno]

I love the way the rear wing looks with the flap!

[sirhodjibob]

Installed new Bremi coilpacks. After rebuilding the suspensions it's nice to do a quick and easy job. I will say the quality is a step down compared to the OE coilpacks at least superficially. Car runs perfectly fine but wish I went OE again.

OE left, Bremi right


Got my Rally Road Lightweight replica strut bar in. Can't install it yet until I remove ASC+T but the quality and packaging is top notch.



Lastly finally finished break in on the differential and changed the fluid. I believe this means I can do donuts in the KMart parking lot now.

Took the car out for a nice drive in the Shenandoah Valley.







I turned ASC off to pull out of the gravel parking lot and the light never turned off (and ABS light came on). This is after replacing all 4 ABS sensors. Looks like another project

[crqflier]

Funny, I know people who have none of these things done to their M3 and just throw in an extra quart of oil and go full send WITH NO ISSUES but EHHHHH

That's the OG oil pickup mod.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

[Braymond141]

I really like the way this car looks. I also want some glamor shots of it on my site for the gurney flaps.

Well done!

[sirhodjibob]

I really like the way this car looks. I also want some glamor shots of it on my site for the gurney flaps.

Well done!

Thanks Brett! Yep hope to get some shots soon and you are welcome to use.

[DrftKingIII]

Excellent.

Love the quad yellows on black.

[sirhodjibob]

Not much work on the car lately, just been enjoying the freshly rebuilt differential. The first time I went full throttle in 2nd gear really caught me off guard- big improvement in acceleration!





Got my KBA certification sticker in for the GT2 wing, so now my car is legal to drive on German roads.



While the Supersprint is too quiet to be the best sounding exhaust, I think it looks the best...



I did swap the yellow headlights for OEM H7....NOS from Greece. I installed the OEM Evo Performance bulbs as well. Definitely an upgrade in terms of lighting performance, but a downgrade aesthetically. I had always wanted to try these given these are supposed to be the best light output out of all the original equipment lights offered on the E36, and these do not disappoint in that regard. I also installed Euro amber corner lights which lack the reflectors the US ambers have. Car is super dirty in the picture but you get the idea.

[Veleno]

The more I look at your car the more I want a black M3!

[sirhodjibob]

Thanks! I think black suits 90s German cars in general very well.

[sirhodjibob]

Just ticked over 86,000 miles...about 10,500 miles added since I purchased it



Slowly accumulating parts for the next big project, but wanted to show off a couple recent purchases. I'll tally up the rest of the list in a future post but still have a ways to go.

I was really excited to find a Schrick Manifold courtesy of Achilles Motorsports. I know the M50 manifold outflows it but I love the Schrick for both the aesthetic and its clean installation due to its OBD2 compatibility. No cutting or relocating anything like when trying to mate OBD1 parts to an OBD2 car. I do plan on finding someone local that can vapor hone to restore the finish, but overall it's in great shape.







It also came with a 75mm (!!!) VAC throttle body....I was so focused on getting the manifold, the throttle body was an afterthought. It seems large for a NA application, but if the rest of the intake track is 3.5" I suppose that would make sense. Anyone here run one? Also makes me wonder if I got lucky and found a VAC honed Schrick manifold but I really have no way of telling...highly unlikely



Also picked up a "Stage 2" vanos kit from DrVanos with the REM coated sprockets and plates. These had been out of stock for awhile....



More coming soon!

[jaysonx]

Slowly accumulating parts for the next big project, but wanted to show off a couple recent purchases. I'll tally up the rest of the list in a future post but still have a ways to go.

Woah, I've been eying those Vanos kits myself and didn't even notice they came back in stock (and now already look sold out again - doh!).

Are you planning to do the Vanos work yourself? That's one thing that I think I will send out to get done when I get there.

Also, we are in the same boat, my parts pile keeps building but I don't have the will to go out in the cold garage to install anything. I need to slow down on car projects and instead work on garage overhaul/insulation/heating projects.

[E85STI]

That aluminum intake looks soo cool!!

[JitteryJoe]

Beautiful car! I love the look. Kudos on the work done here.

[Braymond141]

That's an OBD1 throttle body. You'll have to do some conversion work to use it.

Great find on the manifold. I can laser cut gaskets for it if we can get some accurate flange measurements for the CAD file. I also want to offer to vaporhone it for you but don't have the time.

Don't stress buying DrV stuff. You can DIY all of it with a Beisan kit and the REM stuff is just sales mumbo jumbo.

[brianc]

Nice find. You could powdercoat it with cerakote or jet hot and won’t have to worry about oxidation. I had my headers/exhaust, trans mount, thermostat cover, and various other bits coated and came out awesome and don’t have to worry about out oxidation, rust, dirt etc… easy to clean. You can do silver/titanium colors, satin black, textured etc..

7089234F-72F9-4CB4-B13D-BDD32995FE38.jpeg

EDIT - quick unlisted video to show ceramic coated parts on my car to give you an idea

[Braymond141]

Cerakote is extremely easy to scratch from my experience.

[sirhodjibob]

Woah, I've been eying those Vanos kits myself and didn't even notice they came back in stock (and now already look sold out again - doh!).

Are you planning to do the Vanos work yourself? That's one thing that I think I will send out to get done when I get there.

Also, we are in the same boat, my parts pile keeps building but I don't have the will to go out in the cold garage to install anything. I need to slow down on car projects and instead work on garage overhaul/insulation/heating projects.

Yes plan on doing the Vanos myself as well as removing the cylinder head. I was on the fence, but there are so many step by step how to videos on youtube I feel a lot more confident in doing this.

Nice find. You could powdercoat it with cerakote or jet hot and won’t have to worry about oxidation. I had my headers/exhaust, trans mount, thermostat cover, and various other bits coated and came out awesome and don’t have to worry about out oxidation, rust, dirt etc… easy to clean. You can do silver/titanium colors, satin black, textured etc..

7089234F-72F9-4CB4-B13D-BDD32995FE38.jpeg

EDIT - quick unlisted video to show ceramic coated parts on my car to give you an idea

Thanks for the video. I am always amazed by how clean your car looks. I will stick to vapor honing since I like the raw aluminum finish but that might be something to consider for exhaust compenents.

Cerakote is extremely easy to scratch from my experience.

I've heard this as well....

The only thing I have left to powdercoat is the front subframe (will do once I get the reinforcements welded in), and maybe the engine support brackets. Everything else is just clean or replace with new.

[bmwstephen]

Nice find. You could powdercoat it with cerakote or jet hot and won’t have to worry about oxidation. I had my headers/exhaust, trans mount, thermostat cover, and various other bits coated and came out awesome and don’t have to worry about out oxidation, rust, dirt etc… easy to clean. You can do silver/titanium colors, satin black, textured etc..

7089234F-72F9-4CB4-B13D-BDD32995FE38.jpeg

EDIT - quick unlisted video to show ceramic coated parts on my car to give you an idea

Brian did you modify the insulation in the transmission tunnel at the 14 second mark of video? If so what did you do? normally the stock insulation droops over the headers but yours looks a bit different from stock and I just can't seem to pin point what you did differently

[brianc]

Cerakote is extremely easy to scratch from my experience.

I've heard this as well....

I hope not! I’ll be sure to update if any issues. I have a great deal of experience w/ ceramic powder coatings in manufacturing not Cerakote specifically and not for auto use. They’re generally very strong and hard to chip or peel, they usually come as a powder w/ a catalyst. I had my parts done by EMBEE performance - they’re who’s who in coating parts for US-based aftermarket manufacturers. They blast and clean everything so hopefully I’m in good shape.

Brian did you modify the insulation in the transmission tunned

My insulation was not great this time under there but not too bad. It had some edge tears as they do. I fixed them w/ some fabric glue called tear mender I got on Amazon. Also I used Brett’s support brackets which work very well. Lastly I added some oversized rubber washers underneath the plastic mounting nut things that hold it in place in order to give it some more surface area and not damage the insulation. I have a video of this too on my phone that I plan to upload sometime this decade

EDIT… ok here’s the raw video - you’ll get an excellent idea what I was working with.

[sirhodjibob]

What are the repercussions for tossing that insulation in the bin and going without?

[bmwstephen]

What are the repercussions for tossing that insulation in the bin and going without?

heat, NVH from the drive terrain and exhaust all transmitting directly to the tunnel and into the cabin. In addition, underside coating isn't robust or accessible as the rest of the surface areas of the car, so I can only imagine that it will wear down the factory primer and paint without it.

DEI Engineering makes sheets of fiberglass backed transmission tunnel material and tape you can cut to size which you can either affix mechanically or using its adhesive back. a lot of the classic car guys and hot rodders use this stuff because their cars never came with that type of insulation to begin with. It would only make sense to go that route if you have your drive terrain remove though. However, the only point of failure of my tranny tunnel insulation is near the headers, so I am just going to cut away the sagging piece and graft the DEI one into it.

[AndrewIon21]

I removed my insulation from around my transmission as it was completely disintegrating. I just put some thermotec adhesive heat shielding under there to protect from heat, but I've honestly not noticed any differences in NVH without the insulation. Probably because the insulation was crap when I bought the car, but FWIW it is just fine without. Also makes it a bit cleaner and easier should you ever have to work on/remove the transmission/slave/lines/etc.