'94 S52 6-Speed Track/Race Car

[Hofmeister]

1) Handling impressions
As predicted, the steering feel does change - it's a little less I-wanna-go-straight than before, and heavier on-center (how does that make sense, I don't know). That's neither good or bad IMO but it kinda feels halfway between an E34 and an E46 now. The thing that really strikes me is how eager to turn in it is. Normally I drive the E34 with aggressive steering movements because the initial steering response is soft. These pucks make that initial steering tip-in response more immediate, like I said, halfway between E34/E46 lol. For my car (very lowered) the corrected lower arm angle makes the chassis turn-in feel more immediate as well. Less time spent rolling first and taking a set, more time loading the outside front and just pushing the nose in. I actually bought softer front springs to try now because the reduction in roll is so apparent. The dynamic camber benefits of the better arm angle won't be proven until I have some track time to show tire wear, but it's definitely going to change things.

This is pretty much how i feel about the 1 piece plates I have on mine. I dont have camber plates so front is just 2.5, rear at 2.

[circuit.heart]

Continuing to dial things in.

PXL_20221112_044248223 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Swapped out the 9kg/mm front springs for 8kg/mm and turned the damping down a bit, makes the front end nice and compliant again. Didn't lose any steering response, but dropped ride height, so all of a sudden I have to re-pull the fenders and make everything fit again

Delicious camber.

PXL_20221111_030159015 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

In the rear, I ran out of time so it's just lowered a few turns to level out the ride height. Shame because I've got these nifty helper springs I wanted to put in:

PXL_20221112_081059183 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

It drives pretty good right now, almost ready for the next big road trip minus the new discovery of a cracked radiator. You can never win with these cars lol.

PXL_20221107_001509742 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[BleedsBlue]

That stance - big oof

[circuit.heart]

Well, it's been a quiet few months trying to figure out small issue after small issue, the car seems to be healthy and more or less ready to race again.

1) New radiator leaks too, just a bit

Replaced the old Koyo with a brand-new one, it's nice not having a crushed spot where the crank bolt almost went through the core haha:

PXL_20221210_224231163~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

But, the new Koyo's inlet I guess just doesn't like the Bimmerworld hose very much, so I'm still getting this tiniest of trickles and man it bothers me so much:

PXL_20230110_045553409 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

I've cranked the hose clamp tighter for now, going to JB Waterweld the tube interface if it doesn't resolve itself.

2) The exhaust sucks, big time

My eBay muffler has shit the bed for good this time, so I've really not been motivated to drive this car on the street. It literally rings at idle, my head hurts, it needs to go away. Obviously, that's an opportunity to try more fun stuff:

PXL_20230109_060101668 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

I learned a little bit about the stopband/passband behavior of mufflers, and figured it should be possible to fit a muffler long enough to attenuate my car's horrid 2000-3000rpm exhaust drone at ~125Hz. The extra Y-pipe and X-pipe are proposed helpers on that journey - I've noticed a few Ferraris floating around that use what looks like a shitty-on-purpose crossover to create a bunch of pulse wave interference and raise the pitch of the exhaust:



First of all, that wail is sexy, secondly, messy pulses in the muffler should be good for reducing drone (a clean resonance). Who knows if it'll actually work, but it's not too expensive so let's try it! The total stack length of Y + X + muffler will be around 40", which is basically a diagonal line drawn from the rear subframe to halfway down the rear bumper. Gotta fudge some exhaust tips to make it look reasonable but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

3) Sometime this year: fancy front brakes

I really, really wanted to spring for Angry Ass's AP Racing brake upgrade, but budgets just did not work out for it. Alternatively, I noticed that the FK8/FL5 Civic Type R have fairly wide-set mounting ears on their brake calipers, so lightbulbs went off and I'm thinking they might be able to be adapted (custom cut plate, no lucky shim adapter this time) to the E34 along with the factory 2020+ 2-piece floating rotors.



PXL_20221231_061623994~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

So yeah I bought the calipers, time allowing we'll figure out how it can go on. The alu hat on the rotors will have to be opened up for the BMW 75mm hat bore, but that's thankfully a one-time thing since you can replace the friction rings independently (yes!). Very much looking forward to this, it won't save as much weight as the AP Racing caliper, but the CTR Brembos are decently light in their own right and the 350x32 floater means I can actually use lightweight rings for my uses (my car having less weight in front than a CTR).

4) More wheel troubles

Man, the powdercoater really did me dirty on the RS05RR's. Powder on the hub mounting surface (or so I'm told) is the reason why these things never feel like they are balanced. So much wheel swapping the last few weeks trying to figure out what the cause was. I ended up getting another set of safe and proven Titan7's, to buy time to figure out the Enkeis.

PXL_20221113_064559091 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230104_212204426 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

I'm super happy with the T7's though, I had only the face/lip painted so no material softening like powdercoat, and Alpineweiss is a nicer "90s" color than bright gloss white.

5) Brake bias adjustment

This is something I've been trying to figure out recently. I've had multiple events now where the bias was either too far forward or too far back, and I either lock the rears first (spectacularly) or the fronts (harrowing) and have to iterate a lot in the pits (intake box and elbow out, 2 jam nuts loosened, slowly turn the bar with pliers) to get the balance right. That's annoying as hell to do more than twice in a day, so to make better use of my time I'm going to try to fit an in-cabin adjuster dial, time attack class rules be damned. I'll have better pictures as things come in and I can physically mock up.



The basic idea is that there's a little space between the throttle cable and clutch reservoir feed line to run the adjuster cable right between the pedal box and the shock tower. The cable then makes a loop down between the frame and steering box, and back up through the steering column to a convenient little spot on the dashboard:

PXL_20230110_051235606~3 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230110_050858063~3 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230110_051208760~3 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Already identified some potentially bad pitfalls like the balance bar being able to twist, but it'll be so nice to be able to dial in bias in real-time. And having the knob visible in-cabin is just another one of those "wait, this car isn't normal..." details that make me giggle. Fun is the most important thing after all, after safety

[moroza]

A Honda Civic weighs more in the front than your E34? What has this world come to?

Where do you have in mind for the bias adjuster on the dashboard? As with many of your subprojects, I have an analogous one with a totally different purpose but remarkably similar methods and decisive factors. Disinclined to hunt down an OE Behördenversion console, nor to mess with facevents and wood trim, I've ended up repurposing existing switches, especially the wiper stalk, taking advantage of switches for functions that my car never had or I deleted. The result is some half-dozen additions but only one extra piece of switchgear.

[BleedsBlue]

Race car things. Love it, and good updates!

[circuit.heart]

A Honda Civic weighs more in the front than your E34? What has this world come to?

Where do you have in mind for the bias adjuster on the dashboard? As with many of your subprojects, I have an analogous one with a totally different purpose but remarkably similar methods and decisive factors. Disinclined to hunt down an OE Behördenversion console, nor to mess with facevents and wood trim, I've ended up repurposing existing switches, especially the wiper stalk, taking advantage of switches for functions that my car never had or I deleted. The result is some half-dozen additions but only one extra piece of switchgear.

An FK8 is 60/40, about 3170lbs without driver; my car is 52/48 and <3200lbs, so yeah, it winds up being comparable. I am low-key entertaining removing the handbrake shoes and using 2-piece FK8 rear rotors as well (305x11) since it'd be another healthy weight reduction and modernization. The caliper can be off a heavier JDM car (Mazda, maybe?) so that the original handbrake cable can be reused.

For me, I currently don't use the fog light switch, and it happens to present an almost square 2"x2" flat surface within easy reach of the driver. From that location, the cable can take a very gentle arc aimed straight out the steering column grommet, and then loop back around to the pedal box.

Spoke to Lee @ MassiveBrakes (made the pedal box) and it looks like our best idea for now is to put a large, thick shim between the lever and the clevis here to act as a rail slider (conveniently, the frame has as slot in it).

Screenshot_20230111-154212~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Only good for one side, since the bellcrank/lever moves on an arc and the slot is straight, this runs the risk of binding if it's on both sides of the balance bar. This piece is going to be a wear item it looks like, but as long as the pushrod angle into the MC is minimal, it won't exert too much side force on the slider, so it shouldn't wear tooooo fast. Certainly less wear than an aluminum DSSR.

[T-Rex]

3) Sometime this year: fancy front brakes

I really, really wanted to spring for Angry Ass's AP Racing brake upgrade, but budgets just did not work out for it. Alternatively, I noticed that the FK8/FL5 Civic Type R have fairly wide-set mounting ears on their brake calipers, so lightbulbs went off and I'm thinking they might be able to be adapted (custom cut plate, no lucky shim adapter this time) to the E34 along with the factory 2020+ 2-piece floating rotors.


So yeah I bought the calipers, time allowing we'll figure out how it can go on. The alu hat on the rotors will have to be opened up for the BMW 75mm hat bore, but that's thankfully a one-time thing since you can replace the friction rings independently (yes!). Very much looking forward to this, it won't save as much weight as the AP Racing caliper, but the CTR Brembos are decently light in their own right and the 350x32 floater means I can actually use lightweight rings for my uses (my car having less weight in front than a CTR).

Very much looking forward to seeing the outcome of this. Once you get used to brakes on a modern car, you realize how much E34 stock brakes leave to be desired

[circuit.heart]

Very much looking forward to seeing the outcome of this. Once you get used to brakes on a modern car, you realize how much E34 stock brakes leave to be desired

Stock brakes in an E34 feel poor now because nobody maintained the system in 30 years lol. Modern fluids and pads and general maintenance of the wear items (seals, soft lines) have made all of our local E34's brake more or less like any modern sports sedan, just a softer pedal due to the booster. If what you want is a hard pedal, you can run non-assisted brakes like me and use high-mu pads to keep pedal effort reasonable at max braking. I know a couple guys daily Hawk DTC-70's, I think they're insane but it's not like the wear is that expensive at $30 a rotor.

I'm honestly more excited for this, just came in:

PXL_20230113_071940785 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

There's just enough cable length AFAICT to route the cable the way I initially imagined. Nothing's stopping me from installing it so I'll slot my fog light switch trim and lezzgoooo.

[circuit.heart]

Excuse my language please - fuck yeah, it worked!

This is entirely my first time doing something like this so I first disassembled the cable to verify that my imagined setup is doable.

IMG_20230115_214635 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Next, start cutting into the fog light switch trim! Very slowly, as I only have one of these.

PXL_20230115_004454085 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230115_004506041 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

The slot and the flattened section allowed me to mate the plate to the trim like so! Forgot to take the next pic, but I then took a 1.75" hole saw to the trim to make room for the adjuster knob.

PXL_20230115_025459318 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

With that work complete, time to start finagling the knob in place:

PXL_20230115_035004610 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Routing the cable through the clutter inside the dash was a nightmare. I ended up being able to follow the insulation for the most part, before aiming the cable along the edge of the pedal box and then out the top of the steering column grommet. Once it was through, I just pulled the cable firmly from the engine bay side until the adjuster assembly could click in, and the cable wasn't binding.

PXL_20230115_035418864 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Now for the next big pain! I've got a long flexible cable that needs to take a large-radius, obstruction-free path to the Tilton balance bar (under the heater valve, the way my brakes are set up). To give myself the best chance of success I stuck the cable between the frame and the steering box and looped it back up.

PXL_20230115_041512762 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Next step is hard to imagine, and impossible to take pictures, so good luck following: due to clearance issues between the intake manifold and the balance bar, the cable has to attach between the balance bar and the shock tower. I've got a fun piece from Tilton that makes that possible, but still, it's a contortionist's job to get my left arm underneath the master cylinders and around the side to screw this on.

PXL_20230115_041427784 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

There's even a jam nut just out of view to secure this thing lol. You can see I've ziptied the throttle cable out of the way just in case too.

PXL_20230115_042813141 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Up till now it's been about 3 hours. The next 4 hours were literally spent on routing, re-routing, and securing the adjuster cable to minimize flex, as I only found the hard way that any ability for the sheath to move means that twisting the knob only bends the sheath, instead of turning the balance bar. I also found out that my oh-so-clever move of preloading the master cylinders with the brake pedal (reduces the "free travel" when you put your foot down) was, of course, adding friction to the bar so it would resist being adjusted. So with these two major items fixed, the adjuster knob finally works! It's not perfect like it could be with an in-cabin pedal box, but nonetheless I can reliably get my brake bias to move forward and rearward, which is all that matters in this install.

As a side effect, my brake pedal now sinks lower before the brakes start clamping, coincidentally being the perfect height to do heel-toe. I'll take it.

Annnd that's it! Haven't had a chance to really drive it (waiting on one more part to make the pedal box more solid) but the knob works, looks clean, and for the people who know, indicates this car's serious driving intent. For that same reason I went back to my old Delrin shift knob - not only does it just work better, it also subtly hints at the shifter and transmission under the boot. I absolutely love it.

PXL_20230115_190720108~3 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[ibob4tacoz]

Awesome work, as always. I don't know if I could spend 4hrs routing a single cable before I'd shoot myself.
Also, the solution to better heel-toe is just to have spongy brakes like me.

[circuit.heart]

Awesome work, as always. I don't know if I could spend 4hrs routing a single cable before I'd shoot myself.

I'm almost there, my back is bruised all the way across from lying on the door sill edge for that long lol.

Alright, winning continues today, I got my "balance bar flop limiter" solution. Misumi sells semi-custom washers and happened to have a 35mm OD x 10mm ID x 3mm THK stainless washer in stock. I bought a 12mm ID version and a bronze sleeve as well, as an alternative to explore.

PXL_20230116_193823935 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

The diameters and "how tight it fits" is critical, as I'm taking advantage of the slot in the pedal box adapter. Between the two options, the 10mm ID washer fit better.

PXL_20230116_215820150~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

There's still about 1mm of horizontal play, which is a good thing, zero would cause linkage binding. More importantly the vertical flop of the bar is down from >10mm down to <2mm, which makes the pushrod angle into the master cylinders close enough to straight, that I'm not afraid to lean hard on the brake pedal anymore. Mission accomplished! Brake hydraulics officially done.

PXL_20230116_224029636 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[circuit.heart]

The ricer in me couldn't resist setting up tight fitment again in the rear, so I upped my rear spacer from 23mm to 29mm when I was switching wheels again.

PXL_20230122_022657872 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Back to another set of Titan7's, this time in white. Compromise between function and form.

PXL_20230123_005335176~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

The front spacer got upped from 29mm to 32mm to keep the wheel barrel off the tierod in case the wheel bends. All this because I fit a 2" roll center puck, sigh...

The other thing that the 2" puck did is push the LCA ball joint "into view" of the brake rotor, which is a huge problem when brake heat decides to melt the boot. I really should get a welder so I can make more proper heat shields than this, but I managed to kluge something together using some alu/FRP insulating conduit and stainless zipties.

PXL_20230126_043721855 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Headed to Buttonwillow for a shakedown this Saturday, if you're bored in California and like wasting time in the desert, come hang out!

[dannyzabolotny]

Headed to Buttonwillow for a shakedown this Saturday, if you're bored in California and like wasting time in the desert, come hang out!

You better not leave without running sub-2's, sir!

[circuit.heart]

You better not leave without running sub-2's, sir!

I actually have zero intention to 59 this weekend. We need to test brakes, scrub in tires, check clearances, dial in camber and A052 pressures again, I imagine I'll be busy wrenching in the paddock between half-sessions. So, will be taking passengers again unless the 1st session data says 2:02 lol.

[circuit.heart]

As expected, all traffic all the time with SpeedVentures, so I got some good practice in, identified/confirmed what I need to improve, and basically have myself in a good position to do very well next event.

Got quite fed up with rubbing the tub under compression so out came the sledgehammer to knock this inner skin towards the outer quarter panel skin. Worked pretty well, going to do a little more of it.

PXL_20230128_015120286 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Alright, time for track failures!

PXL_20230128_171406736 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

In the middle of Session 1, I dipped two tires very gently off the track. No loss of control, no bent wheels, didn't even lose pace really, but my rearview mirror decided to call it quits right into my groin - man, that's a distraction! We went to the racetrack shop after pitting, got some 3M Dual-Lock and basically velcro'd the mirror back on. It's not great, but it got us through the rest of the day.

The good news is that the new Nankang CR-S I'm trying are awesome, awesome tires. I ran ~30psi hot with my current -4.3 front camber and the wear pattern looks perfect.



Grip was waaaaaay up compared to the old A052 I'm used to now. I took a passenger out and casually ran 2:06.xx parade laps waiting for trains of traffic. With open track it felt like I could have run 2:00 flat, which would have been damn satisfying.

Only for one session though - my task for Saturday was to give the CR-S one heat cycle, not burn them up. So as soon as Session 1 was finished, I swapped back to my white wheels and old A052's. The new lower ride height is obvious with those white wheels - they are tucked in ​there haha.

Jan-28-2023-Speed Ventures (Sat) [[18970b827c]] - Orange - Session 3 (Grapevine) - BW3_2259_Jan2823_355PM_CaliPhoto by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Jan-28-2023-Speed Ventures (Sat) [[18970b827c]] - Orange - Session 3 (Grapevine) - BW3_2176_Jan2823_353PM_CaliPhoto by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Jan-28-2023-Speed Ventures (Sat) [[18970b827c]] - Orange - Session 2 (Sunset) - BW3_9474_Jan2823_1201PM_CaliPhoto by Brian Ma, on Flickr

The new front suspension geometry is good. No rubbing, no scrubbing, the front end turns in a little more eagerly than it used to and hangs on a lot longer - around the big sweeper I can almost WOT all the way through, the front end only washes out a little before the rear gives up. Using the CR-S instead of A052 I think full WOT, 98-100mph min speed, should be possible.

I even got to use my brake bias knob! Braking into the tightest hairpin I noticed the CR-S could hold traction, but the front A052's were locking up. So I gave the knob a full whirl to the rear and found that I could apply a lot more brakes the next lap without locking the fronts up. Perfect, that's what it's supposed to do.

The only real mistake I made was not renting a transponder - apparently, had I actually run one, my "I don't care" 2:05-2:06 would have been good enough for a 3rd place in Bimmer Challenge B5 class. Oh well! I'm not here for awards, I have my own goals in mind lol.

DSC07176 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

I will also say it again, fuck the official media company CaliPhoto (the first three on-track pictures here). One of the event organizers was out during Session 1 and casually shot better than CP using a telephoto from the stands​. I love how these pics came out

DSC06771 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

DSC06805 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

DSC06774 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[BleedsBlue]

Great updates, Brian! The car looks very pro at those ride heights. Funny, scrolling thru at first, I thought the Nankangs were AO52s - similar tread pattern. Nankang (AR-1) seem to have dominated the N'ring for a few years now, so not surprised their new offering is also on point. Where do you get 'em?

[circuit.heart]

Great updates, Brian! The car looks very pro at those ride heights. Funny, scrolling thru at first, I thought the Nankangs were AO52s - similar tread pattern. Nankang (AR-1) seem to have dominated the N'ring for a few years now, so not surprised their new offering is also on point. Where do you get 'em?

Thanks! I hope one day I can stop explaining to others why running low rear is a good thing and just let the car be appreciated for looking good on track.

The CR-S come from my friend and dealer PhD Racing in Illinois. R Compound USA is a reputable California-based dealer, I'm just picking sides because I'm much closer with Jackie than with Duane.

Alllllllllllllllrighty... time to fix my shit. Again!

1) Rear diff is roached! I've been driving around on a barely-locking LSD for a while, you can hear it in my videos whenever I'm accelerating out of a tight hairpin or cresting over a hill mid-corner (unloading the inside rear). Logan @ The Studio is rebuilding my previous S4.10 now with 3 Porsche clutches and dropping the final drive from 4.10 to 3.64 So instead of using 3-4-5 on track I'll be using 2-3-4 and the effective gearing will be shortened a few percent, should make the car faster almost everywhere.

IMG_20230209_104859 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

IMG_20230209_104907 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

2) New seats! The CR-S were so sticky that I found myself outside the BRZ seats for the first time and couldn't drive precisely. My previous work is finally starting to pay off (royalties!), so I had the cash to buy some Sparcos on sale.

PXL_20230209_184709978~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Evo (Medium) QRT, in "Sky" vinyl (I didn't name it). These things are sick. Of course we have the usual race-bucket perks (snug fit, good posture, grip-mat on the butt and shoulders) but check out the material itself in detail:

PXL_20230208_041109305 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

It bloody matches the E34 leather color! The grain is a little coarse but I don't think anyone will care, it's obviously not a factory seat with a huge SPARCO logo on every surface. I've also ordered branded Sparco sliders and side mounts for once, praying it'll be stiffer than some of the crap I've used before.

3) I already had an argument on Instagram about this, and I'm so not looking forward to another one.

PXL_20230205_063414871 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

golgo13's old S52 has been very good to me for the last ~20 months, no signs of bearing wear, no signs of oil supply issues, no headgasket spookiness, and consistent power. I'm excited to help this relic of an engine breathe a little easier (and 20-30 whp!), perhaps supplemented with a CSL airbox and cams.

[circuit.heart]

Seat update: they're in, they're great!

I spent far longer than I'd like to admit figuring how how to nicely route belts. Lap belts (whether OEM 3pt or 4/5/6/7pt harness) are supposed to sit on the crest of your pelvis so you don't submarine in a crash, but the factory belt wasn't flexible enough to be comfortable getting in/out of the seat. I also wanted the attachment point of wherever-the-belt-receiver-lands to be extendable later, letting me add a strap between the receiver and the floor mount to reduce crash loads on the seat. The E34's rear middle belt receiver fit the bill pretty well after some bracket bending.

PXL_20230213_031519650 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

At least the B-pillar side of the job is easy. The heavy-duty Sparco alu brackets are super light for how beefy they are (almost 8mm aluminum) but they didn't have enough angle adjustment for me and my wife, so I have spaced up the front of the sliders (also Sparco, also beefy) to set the preferred angle. Safety paranoia hit again and I waited a few days for McMaster to deliver a large steel chunk that provides plenty of bearing area for the screw torque to clamp on. Not too worried about shear forces between big 'ol steel and Class 12.9 bolts.

PXL_20230213_034331360 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Didn't have selfie-appropriate clothing on, so here's a fit check on the lap and shoulder belts. The lap belt sits where it needs to be, and the shoulder belt surprisingly fits like stock (right over the sternum).

PXL_20230212_233119400 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

And yeah, the material matches the E34 interior well. Very satisfied with this, just gonna play with lumbar support a little bit and we're good to go here.

PXL_20230213_034511266 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[BleedsBlue]

IG/FB (same thing now) can go stuff it! I'm looking forward to seeing the ITBs. That was my dream back in my E36M3 days, when importing and installing a Euro M3 motor was way out of my league.

Those Sparcos are by far the nicest seats from that brand that I've seen.

[dannyzabolotny]

Man, the fact that you can fit in the seat with the seat belt buckle on the inside is wild. I felt tight in some fairly large Corbeaus with the seat belt buckle on the outside, haha. It really does feel like racecar stuff is aimed largely at smaller dudes lol.

[circuit.heart]

Both car and owner have been down for a bit - working in software during a massive tech-industry layoff has been fun.

Anyone who has heard my car in person knows that the muffler rattles... and I finally pinpointed where it's coming from. Apparently this thing doesn't like being heat cycled for 5 years and the tips almost 100% cracked around the weld. Also of note, I've melted all sides of the exhaust tip opening from thrashing the car around lol. Poor thing.

PXL_20230220_004118263 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Replacing the muffler with another eBay special would be a "very Brian" thing to do, but since the bucket seats saved a bunch of weight, adding back some weight over the rear tires felt OK (plus I'll finally not get banned from Laguna Seca). But just a muffler is boring, so, triple crossover this time!

PXL_20230220_015729661 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

The triple comes from 1) Bimmerworld Y-pipe then 2) the "Totalflow" X-pipe above then 3) there's one last merge inside the Magnaflow muffler can. I'm excited to see how messy and dirty this setup can make the S52 sound. If I can get some Porsche howl from all the sound waves bouncing around, I'm a happy camper.

Mocked it up under the car before sending things off to get welded. It's going to be a tight fit since the entire long assembly has to be straight (so it'll mount at an angle under the car), but there will be ample clearance to the wheel/tire and axle.

PXL_20230220_012855183 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Replaced the rear left wheel bearing with a genuine BMW NOS unit:

PXL_20230304_190541510 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Part number matches the rear right now (SKF 309946AC) so it had better survive the next event like the rear right has been doing so far.

PXL_20230305_014727660 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Now for something dumb! Turner Motorsport suddenly showed an extra discount on their CSL airbox one day. It'll go well with the S54 ITB's.

PXL_20230306_002950883~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

Build quality issues mean I'm gonna have to do some manual fitting, but it looks like it'll do the job. Many other folks have dyno'd this airbox before and reported great results, so I'm optimistic about touching the 280whp, maybe 290 mark when everything is tuned. There's a lot of S54 stuff left to piece together (I found a fuel pressure regulator housing, will have to source injectors to run on 3.5Bar instead of 5Bar) and Link ECU stuff to buy and learn (wideband/CAN controller, MAP sensor) but I think it'll result in a safer running engine in the long run. Before I manage to get a Honda engine swap working, having a safer S52 is probably the best I can ask for.

PXL_20230306_065944096~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230306_065953823~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230306_070005198~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

PXL_20230306_070022851~2 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[BleedsBlue]

Casual Honda swap mention

[circuit.heart]

Extracted a spare rear subframe to take down to Los Angeles for some fab work won't bore you guys with a pic of a stock junker part but you'll see it when it comes back!

To get to that subframe I had to clean out my whole garage, so the car was moved outside for a bit. Sunset hit weird and cool (blue AND yellow) yesterday so I took a few pics before it went away.

2023_0315_19282900 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

2023_0315_19293400 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

2023_0315_19304400 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

2023_0315_19313200 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

[a777fan]

As always


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