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Thread: '94 S52 6-Speed Track/Race Car

  1. #76
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  2. #77
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    Quote Originally Posted by 5mall5nail5 View Post
    Do you still have ABS? I think you removed it, right? I've deactivated the ABS on my car as it was doing very odd things under certain conditions - one thing I will say is that on a lightened E34 w/ big brakes, stick tires, and no ABS... you can find yourself in trouble easy with overly sensitive braking. If my car gets light over a crest with a turn and I am riding the brakes at all it can get squirrelly without the ABS. In a case like mine, a manual brake setup would probably be nicer for predictability, but, from a street car perspective I don't want to give up the convenience... I just try not to drive too silly for the road.
    Never had working ABS on this car - I did a test "pull" 120mph to 0 back when I had the 328mm F30 rear Brembos and almost instantly locked up the rears. So I've been used to it lol. The car spends most of its on-brakes time actually trail braking, rather than straight-line, so the brake bias also reflects your concern for skidding the rears out.

  3. #78
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    So I have a friend who's much more anal about part quality than me and couldn't tolerate that my old GS6-53 adapter was all banged up. Now I have a new one lol.

    109 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    The 32mm hole in the JB Racing flywheel doesn't seem to come from the factory at 32mm anymore, soooo I screwed it up and scored the wall trying to press it in. D'ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

    110 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Lesson learnt, $90 sent to machinist, hole fixed, flywheel goes in the oven at 250F for an hour, adapter goes into freezer, take both out and it drops in. No pressing actually needed.

    111 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Letting it cool overnight. Ready to take the engine off the stand!
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:32 PM.

  4. #79
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    Can see the light at the end of the tunnel now! Picked up an M54/N52 flywheel holding tool because it just makes more sense than the old M50-style pin. Flywheel on, loctite all the bolts:

    112 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    BMW N54 clutch tool slips onto my custom adapter just like factory. Sachs 4-puck clutch goes on.


    113 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    114 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    Before I forgot, took a shot of my motor mounts. These are E46 M3 Bimmerworld mounts (I think they call it "Gruppe N replica"), you grind off the alignment pin to use it with our M50's. I clock my motor mounts backwards to move the engine back about 1". The mounts themselves don't spin in the chassis at all once installed: 1) there's thread torque, 2) the stud in the mount is a square profile, so it kinda digs into the subframe as you pull it down with the nut.


    115 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    Of course, I don't have enough hands to shoot while putting an engine in, so I only have a pic of the aftermath. It's in! Major kudos to my friend here for helping, don't know how the hell I would've lined up the input shaft without him rocking the transmission.

    116 by Brian Ma, on Flickr
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:33 PM.

  5. #80
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    Nice! Oof 4 puck. Never again.

  6. #81
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    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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    Why the motormounts? Are they stiffer, or hydraulic-filled, or what?

  7. #82
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    Quote Originally Posted by 5mall5nail5 View Post
    Nice! Oof 4 puck. Never again.
    I like the 4-puck honestly, very consistent engagement and you can go on-off-on throttle faster without slipping the clutch.

    Quote Originally Posted by moroza View Post
    Why the motormounts? Are they stiffer, or hydraulic-filled, or what?
    The original M50 mounts are pretty much a perfect cylinder, so you can't rotate them IIRC without hitting the steering box. These are a nice stiff rubber, easy to replace, and the pancake shape lets it tuck under the steering box just a bit. The motor mount arm is really close to touching the steering box, so I could move the engine back enough that the mount arm almost touches the steering box.

  8. #83
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    Quote Originally Posted by circuit.heart View Post
    I like the 4-puck honestly, very consistent engagement and you can go on-off-on throttle faster without slipping the clutch.
    Yes just wait to see what it does to your flywheel and pressure plate.

  9. #84
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    Didn't think I'd place a $500 order on Summit Racing at 3AM, but I did... Vibrant -10AN line and fittings for the oil cooler hookup, Vibrant stainless bits to build my midpipe, and 8qts of Driven break-in 10W-40. I'm taking a wild guess on the fittings, because of the angle they come out of the S54 housing (and I want to route the lines up, not down like the normal M3 oil cooler setup) I went for the 60deg hose ends. Fingers crossed I got that right.

    117 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Will get some progress after work today bolting the starter in, torquing all the bellhousing bolts I couldn't get to on Sunday, and install the wiring harness.


    118 by Brian Ma, on Flickr
    I'm just saying this here, but there's sure a lot of room under the intake manifold space to hide a supercharger....

    Anyways, I found Bimmerworld TA16's for 20% off and had to bite. These are 18x10 +33 so I need to make another set of adapters, but 1) cheaper than many flow-formed cast wheels! 2) if they're strong enough for F80's to bounce off curbs, should be enough for my much lighter car. If I can fit it in front, 275/35/18 Nankang CR1 is the plan. Lots 'o meat.

    119 by Brian Ma, on Flickr
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:37 PM.

  10. #85
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    I'm pretty sure most Summit Racing orders are placed after midnight local time

    Haven't you/other track E34 guys in CA fit 10s up front before? I just played with that, and definitely think it's doable with coil overs - because you need more negative camber than stock-sized springs can enable. Most wheels are too high of offset for us of course, but that's fixable via spacer.
    - Brent
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    Quote Originally Posted by danespann View Post
    Every E34 needs the same things in the end.

  11. #86
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    Quote Originally Posted by 5mall5nail5 View Post
    Yes just wait to see what it does to your flywheel and pressure plate.
    After >15k miles my used pressure plate just looks burnished in, so I've got good hopes for this setup. I slip the clutch very little except when I accidentally take the wrong street in San Francisco

    Quote Originally Posted by BleedsBlue View Post
    Haven't you/other track E34 guys in CA fit 10s up front before? I just played with that, and definitely think it's doable with coil overs - because you need more negative camber than stock-sized springs can enable. Most wheels are too high of offset for us of course, but that's fixable via spacer.
    Not about the 10's (I had that years ago), it's the problem of Nankang CR1's running REALLY wide, like a full size larger than RE71's. So I'm effectively trying to stuff a 285 front tire in the fender, which probably means more fender work. It'll grip like a bastard though.

    Anyhow, good news and bad news today. Good news! Low-profile trans crossmember fit perfectly. Trans didn't budge a millimeter when I held it stationary with the jack and quickly swapped the crossmembers.

    120 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Bad news! My hopes and dreams for the SpecE46 Y-pipe are dashed, it's about 2-3 inches too short to clear the crossmember. No choice here, I'm just gonna have to cut an extend it since I am committing to using the M52 headers for max sleeper status

    121 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    The revised plan then is to take this Y-pipe and some parts a local fabricator, and have them extend the Y-pipe as well as weld up a flanged 45deg turn with two O2 sensor bungs in it. That way I can limp the car to my muffler shop to have the rest of the exhaust connected up quickly, and the car will be ready for break-in.

    Next post will be Setrab and AN line fun!
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:39 PM.

  12. #87
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    Quote Originally Posted by circuit.heart View Post
    After >15k miles my used pressure plate just looks burnished in, so I've got good hopes for this setup. I slip the clutch very little except when I accidentally take the wrong street in San Francisco
    Nice - good luck! Street driving was horrid with having to slip a 6 puck and 4 puck, but man, they wrecked my flywheel and pressure plate. I ended up going to a twin disc setup with muuuuuuuuch nicer engagement and durability. Though, much more expensive. I am also trying to hold a lot more power obviously.

    Can you measure the various portions of the E46 Y pipe? I have a 2.5" exhaust on my E30 24v swap but when I made it the car was like 4" higher from the ground. Debating on just buying a Spec Y pipe and M52 headers vs. my stainless tubular guys. Would be nice to see if the E46 pipes would fit under a swapped E30.

  13. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by 5mall5nail5 View Post
    Can you measure the various portions of the E46 Y pipe? I have a 2.5" exhaust on my E30 24v swap but when I made it the car was like 4" higher from the ground. Debating on just buying a Spec Y pipe and M52 headers vs. my stainless tubular guys. Would be nice to see if the E46 pipes would fit under a swapped E30.
    The E36 version of the Bimmerworld Y-pipe is a straight drop-in for E30 chassis - I know because I just pulled an S52 out of an E30 a few weekends ago lol. Go for it!

    Lots of progress yesterday thanks to a few Arizona members (Danny, Dane, Kurtis) who literally drove 11hrs just to hang out and work on a racecar Harness and hoses are all hooked up, radiator, condenser, and we figured out exactly how we're going to do the oil cooler!

    123 by Brian Ma, on Flickr



    125 by Brian Ma, on Flickr



    127 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Haven't finalized the brackets yet, but you can see the Setrab core fits beautifully behind the headlight right next to the radiator. Ducting will be through the passenger fog light, I just need to 4" hole-saw some of the flimsy frame metal up front to pass the duct through and the cooler shall be fed.

    It's not looking very sleeper right now, but I received my roll of Tesa tape... it says it's good to 300F so I'm going to wrap those stainless AN lines up to make it look stock car's really starting to shape up, can't wait!
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:39 PM.

  14. #89
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    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by BleedsBlue View Post
    more negative camber than stock-sized springs can enable
    Has anyone tried simply slotting out the lower control arm bushing mounting points?

  15. #90
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    Quote Originally Posted by moroza View Post
    Has anyone tried simply slotting out the lower control arm bushing mounting points?
    That way of increasing camber doesn't give you more fender clearance, rather it reduces it.

    Oil cooler's in! A little scavenging around my garage netted me some 90deg small brackets, which I bolted to a convenient hole in the hood strut bracket.

    128 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    The original M50 wiring harness/IACV bracket had a 90deg portion which looked handy, I drilled out the spot welds and used it to hang the Setrab off the radiator.

    129 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    The AN lines I wrapped with Tesa tape, they look so nice now!


    130 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    131 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    132 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    It won't pass for stock with the shiny AN fittings and blatant "Setrab" logo, but it also won't catch your eye and that's good enough of a compromise for me. As it sits, undoing one nut and one bolt lets me bring the whole oil cooler out with the engine and that will come in handy if this engine comes out again.
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:41 PM.

  16. #91
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    With the engine mostly done, the intake manifold going back on is blocked by two tasks, 1) need to purge the fuel system of my 1-year-old fuel, 2) need to get the oil pressure and temp sensors installed. I found an old Odyssey battery I can use for 1, and 2 took me a few hours spread out over the course of last week.

    Drilled diagonally through the air vent for the AEM gauge sensor leads, patching the hole smaller with Tesa tape after I finished my business.

    133 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Super relieved I didn't break the 3D printed pods during the install process. Hope it's PETG so it survives at least a few years in UV exposure (I should ceramic tint the windows).

    134 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    I still hadn't installed the steering wheel yet because the E46 wheel doesn't play with a '94 clock spring. Luckily I have a 4-wire '95 clock spring on hand, already disassembled; the airbag leads needed to be hooked up, and the spring-loaded horn pin cut off and spliced to the clock spring (most of you are familiar already, but the 93-94 cars have a spring-loaded pin as the horn-positive and '95 just uses a wire). I didn't take enough pictures of this process unfortunately.

    135 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    That super-long tab on the E36 airbag needed to go, it technically fit in the E46 wheel but that's where I needed to splice a ground on it to connect back to the clock spring's horn-ground.

    136 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Behold, my ghetto cardboard furniture soldering table. I whacked off the long tab with an angle grinder and just poured as much heat as I could into the airbag bracket so the spade terminal would stick.

    137 by Brian Ma, on Flickr
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:42 PM.

  17. #92
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    Airbag leads spliced successfully, hot-glued and wrapped it up for support and insulation afterwards.


    138 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    A little bit of crimping under the dash later, the naked clock spring sits where the original E34 clock spring is, with enough clearance for everything. It makes a little noise if I steer lock-to-lock quickly with the engine off, but I'm not gonna notice it with the loud-af engine running. Also, hooray! First time the interior has seen sun in a year. Desperately needs a vacuum but otherwise holding up.

    139 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    The BRZ Premium seat looks reasonably at home still, and I was able to find an ergonomic seating position. The seatbelt holder strap is a cute bonus haha. My head is NOT pushed forward by the headrest surprisingly, so I'll leave it like this for now and finish the E36 headrest retrofit before the first track shakedown.

    140 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Last thing for now, since the gauges conflict with the built-in phone holder of my headunit, I DIY'd a magnetic holder out of an eBay shifter surround and scavenged neodymium. Honestly seems to be pretty good lol, the phone holds at 1G in any direction. Probably stronger still if I put the metal sticker on the outside of my phone case instead of inside.

    141 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    142 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Next post, figuring how to connect my illuminated shift knob to the factory automatic shifter illumination, heat/sound insulating the shifter area and closing the center console up.
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:43 PM.

  18. #93
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    If you are using a stock illuminated shifter, there is a retrofit harness that connects to the headlight switch for illumination and power. OEM BMW. If you are using some sort of aftermarket shifter, splice away.
    O o
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  19. #94
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    Fun read as usual.

    Yeah that illuminated shitfy knob should be a piece o cake. I think i did what beast is indicating and got the bmw connector to hook it up. If you’re going for perma-stalled however yeah snip snip solder!


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  20. #95
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    Cool guys, I was able to hack it on removably though so I'll take it. Got the knob in quick this evening. Here's a mockup of the plan - Z4M knob, an extra piece of steel tubing (scavenged from Tilton lol) to cover some of the extra height of the AKG shifter.

    143 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Once again, theme is cheap but good lol, so, scavenged some spade terminals from the house and went for it.

    144 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Wanted to reduce heat and noise coming up through the trans tunnel (I don't have a rubber boot like stock), so, in goes some foam.

    145 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Needed all my hands for the steps following, but basically:
    1) Jam shift surround into center console
    2) Screw Z4M knob onto the AKG threads (yes, this works, and it's actually really solid)
    3) Plug in Z4M light connectors
    4) Stuff some extra foam into the Tilton steel collar to center it around the AKG shaft
    5) Shove the Tilton collar up against the Z4M knob
    6) Ziptie the boot underneath, clip the tail, and shove the ziptie up as far as it'll go
    7) Clip big end of boot into shift surround (fitment sucks, but oh well).


    146 by Brian Ma, on Flickr

    I rowed the gears for a few minutes to make sure the boot won't lift, seems good. There ya go then, semi-sleeper race shifter!
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:44 PM.

  21. #96
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    You guys may notice that I've redone all the images, they're finally normal-sized!

    Slim on pics this update, but basically... it's ready! I am waiting for my modified Y-pipe to come back and some 24lbs injectors to come back from cleaning, but beyond that, the rest of my resto-mod is all buttoned up.

    - Every gasket and fitting sourced new from BMW
    - Every hose replaced with new vacuum or fuel line
    - Old O-rings replaced with brand new Viton O-rings

    The only obviously aftermarket stuff is the radiator and oil cooler, otherwise I've held true to the sleeper/OEM+ goal.

    147 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Which means the hood finally went back on too finally. New hood struts installed too, I'd been sleeping on that for way too many years.

    148 by Brian Ma, on Flickr


    Next week, it's just those last few action items, then bolt the wheels on and go! Got the tires mounted and it looks super hot. Certainly not period-correct and definitely not sleeper-like at all, but I have to make some concessions to on-track performance. Excited!


    149 by Brian Ma, on Flickr
    Last edited by circuit.heart; 06-22-2021 at 06:48 PM.

  22. #97
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    moroza is offline MORΩN ΛABIA BMW CCA Member
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    What are those wheels? They look rather hardcore lightweight.

    Funny, when I had a 530iM shifter, I got made fun of for its height, but then look at rally or track cars like yours and the shifter is purposely tall...

  23. #98
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    Welcome to the forums...glad to see you posting on here! This is so cool and highly informative.

  24. #99
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    Quote Originally Posted by circuit.heart View Post

    Now I just gotta fix this thing. I had a pilot bearing adapter machined years ago for the GS6-53BZ gearbox, thought I wasn't going to use it, lent it out, and somehow it has returned with larger dimensions than it left. Gotta turn the big end back down to 31.98mm OD / 8.98mm height before it'll be able to replace the bearing in the JB Racing alu flywheel. Hopefully that don't take too long.


    I'm innocent, I swear! I just used it as my bearing puller tool with copious amounts of Martin's Potato bread!

    I filled down the small hammer marks.

  25. #100
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    Are those oil cooler lines wrapped in standard fabric tessa tape?

    The pics make the finish look more rubber-y than I would expect...

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