In 2005, on a whim, I went with a friend to Mosport to watch the SWC/ALMS races. One of the teams had really sweet sounding race cars, which attracted me to their pits, where they were really nice to interact with. I bought product from them over the next 9 months, and ended up with in invite to spend the Mosport race in 2006 with them. Wanting to make the most of the experience, my friend and I made plans to camp at the track. It was a pretty immersive experience, which I enjoyed a lot despite it being quite a lot of work.
In the fall of 2006, I was looking at building my 330Ci into a race car, and realized there was no better way to learn all the "tricks", than to be embedded in a pro-level race program. I contacted the team's owner and made him an offer: I will work for free, flying myself to races. All I needed was a place to sleep, and my pit credentials covered. The team looked at what I had done with them at Mosport,(I cleaned up a lot of messes with a smile on my face) and agreed to take me on.
I didn't make it to all the races in 2007 with that team, but I made it to a lot of races, test days, and even spent some time at their shop and at the track for other projects they were involved with. The team got a free pair of hands, and I got the experience I was looking for, but more importantly, I got access to people that I could ask tough questions to privately. The cost of this wasn't insignificant though. I racked up a LOT of frequent flier miles, rental car and hotel points, and combined, spent nearly 3 months of that year on the road.
In 2008, I focused mostly on building my 330Ci race car, but still managed to fit in a couple of trips to work with the team.
To this day, I still get invitations to come to the track, but I have a family now, so my free time is spent else ware....
The drag racing stuff is a story for another time.
1) I've been following your builds for years (back in the day on e46fanatics). You are certifiably nuts. I love it.
2) Tiny note, not like you need to be told how to do anything, but every bit helps. I always put hose clamps in a position where they can be accessible. In the pic of the awesome water cooling piece you made and fitted into the hose that goes into the pump the clamp bolts basically face the engine. If you flipped them around you could access them with a screwdriver from the top while it's all installed, just in case you'd need to.
3) I wish I could fab up an intake like the one you made! That thing is fantastic.
4) [edit] Just found your injector post... woah. Any chance I can get a copy of some of those excel sheets? I'd like to study them up and see what I may be able to do as far as a factory ECU tune with them for my car
The Bosch injectors you chose, I cannot seem to find what lb/hr they are. I'm currently looking for an upgrade from the pretty crappy Siemen Deka 60lb/hr ones I'm using.
Last edited by pMak26; 01-25-2015 at 02:07 AM.
1) That's funny...because I feel like the car stuff keeps me sane.
2) I can't remember why I did that, but I remember there being a reason? I agree that having easy access to fasteners is important.
3) Technically, I just cut and fit all that material.(And there were many mistakes) The welding was done by someone else. (I don't own a TIG yet)
4) I would recommend using Injector Dynamics products instead of what I went through to get the Bosch stuff. The ID stuff comes with all the data you could want, they are much easier to source, and they are cheaper. Paul Yaw is based out of the Bosch Motorsport's booth at trade shows, so I think he knows what he's doing.
Last edited by PEI330Ci; 01-25-2015 at 04:07 AM.
Paul is a nice guy - I was in touch with him before the ID's were as popular as they are and he answered all my questions.
There are 8 distribution nozzles positioned throughout the car:
- Fuel Surge Tank enclosure
- Front Passenger Footwell
- Front Driver's Footwell
- Exhaust Manifold area (pointed down)
- Exhaust manifold area (pointed across)
- Front of engine
- Intake side of engine
- Fuel Rail area
A bulkhead fitting was used to pass through the firewall on the left and right side, and also into the surge tank enclosure. This is the passenger's side one installed:
Where I had to pass through non-critical sheet metal, I used a grommet:
Passenger's side footwell nozzle:
Exhaust Manifold nozzles:
Distribution lines installed, with fireproof sheathing:
Front engine nozzle:
Intake side nozzle:
Together:
Fuel Rail nozzle:
Driver's side engine distribution lines:
Driver's side engine nozzles:
All 5 engine bay nozzles:
Beautifully safe!
What are the distribution nozzles for??? Did I miss something?
"You don't win silver....you lose gold."
Looks like fire suppression.
Adam when I tested my system I used nitrous so I could see it well. I ended up removing a 4-way junction because the one side of the car was getting a lot less vapor than the other. The nozzle holes are pretty darned large (at least on my kit) so 3 of them off of the one distribution seemed to be a less than ideal situation - I ended up doing two 3 ways serially spaced apart and it was much improved. YMMV.
I hope so!
There's a "Fire" button on the dash. When I hit that, it sprays gasoline all over the car.
I think I have average skills?
The secret is that I have a fair amount of free time to make mistakes, then attempt to fix them before anybody notices. :P
That is an excellent idea Jon, I will give this a try shortly.
Thanks!
Good idea on the fire suppression especially with the loss of the last car to the NOS fire. Looks good, hope to see it running soon .
B.
1991 bmw 325I <e30>
First 8 second full body BMW with BMW independent rear suspension in the USA
8.69 @160mph in a 1/4mile on slicks.
drag radial tires record holder9.53@148. Also a world record holder for bmw overall 60-130mph 4.2 seconds.
Bistein sport susp,turner sway bars,3:25lsd,m52 AEM INFINITY stand alone. MORAN 2500cc injectors E85 ,front mount 33x12x4 intercooler, 5lug conversion M3 front,Mcoupe rear Dss axles/driveshaft ATI Proglide.
2003 Ford Expedition
1998 M3
1986 Mercedes Cosworth 190e 2.3 16v 5speed (sold)
Cutting holes for bulkhead connectors:
Trial fitting:
I didn't like the length, so I went shopping for something shorter:
7 of them installed:
The one on the bottom goes to the center console switch-panel:
Once all the wiring is done, they will be sealed with Urethane.
Nice bulkhead connectors! Makes life easier when you don't have to string a harness through a panel!
There's got to be a switch that deploys two rockets out of the front kidney grilles to clear paths in front of you, no?
That's some serious progress on the bulkheads, Adam!
--Peter
Fantastic read! I forgot what it's like to be genuinely glued to reading a thread.
Luke
03 330i
Zip ties holding the fire nozzles in place, but "fireproof sheath" over the piping? Shouldn't they have nice little formed brackets riveted or welded in place?
Get her running already! I'm so dead keen to see how the auto holds up. I've been searching and searching and sending emails to trans shops here and abroad, but no one seems to be able to help me when I say either 5L40E or ZF5HP19. So annoying.
Epic build though, totally love it.
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