[Gabe]

Gabe

October 1, 2018 at 5:20 pm #892

Stop putting ///M badges on my car!

September 2016, took the bus home from University to pick up this E46 330ci.
Got it 1 owner after a lot of it’s build, with these parts as follows

chassis millage 80,000
S54 motor mileage 70,000

what does it have
S54
M3 6 speed trans
full M3 rear end
new diff built by turner 2000 miles since install
bimmerworld street exhaust for m3 (Status Gruppe resonated midsection)
M3 radiator and oil cooler
turner rear subframe reinforcements
vmr wheels 8.5x18F 9.5x18R
M3 gauge cluster
M3 sways
M3 gas tank and pump
vorschlag motor mounts
short shift kit (from zhp)
dme tune/programmed by Kassel
black sport seats from ZHP
Black trim exterior from ZHP
Seibon M3 Carbon Hood
matte black kidneys
ZHP rockers
ECS tuning FCABs
CSL look from bumper
mod 90 steering wheel with NRG disconnect
brass bushing kit for front calipers

Day before the track day, perfect time to install some BC Racing coilovers!

About 1 month later, took it on it’s (and my) first track day. Car drove well, although I did feel like it was pushing a lot.
Later found out it was because of the front flat spot that had happened to the PO because much worse on track. Set of PS91s gone

Car’s first RallyX, it survived 3~ runs before I started hearing loud thuds from the suspension, later found out I had broken the plastic centering spacer for my springs, luckily not a bad fix.

Ever wondered what having parts between an M and a non-m looked like?

Codes, codes for days

New shifter – Get! RTD short throw, basically what the CAE shifter is like, but without the reverse lockout

Reinstalling the AC right before summer started, couldn’t deal with the heat anymore

First autox on slicks, albet extremely old ones, 245 Kumho V710s on TRmotorsport C2s 17×8.5

Did an autox season on those slicks, slowly developed a heavy vibration/thudding coming from the rear. Found out it was my diff bolts had backed out at some point and ruined the bushings. Threw in some new Revshift bushings and it’s been a lot better.

Ended up killing the tires that year, and swapped over to used 225 Hoosier A7s for the last autox, took 2nd in SM. Man those tires gripped like no other

Made the mistake of blowing up my CF bumper bits though

That and another track day later, looking under the hood I found the mounts to my engine had snapped, not sure if overtorqued a long time ago or some other issue, but had to get those replaced ASAP. Was bad enough and long enough it elongated the holes to the metal mounts….really wondered how long I drove without them

Another track day, more problems abound!

Car did not handle nicely at all, installed a hotchkiss 30mm swaybar and got the car aligned the day before so i was looking into it. Corded my set of hoosiers ):

Took the car back to the alignment shop and found out they totally messed up my rear end alignment

New seat! Sparco Circuit Pro II, holds me in so much better than the stock seat. Only real issue is since it’s a containment seat, visibility was a little reduced on my sides, but it’s been a non issue anyways.

When you’re too poor to afford the Bavsound upgrade and your speakers are shot

On my way to PA to visit some friends, I hit something on the highway and blew up the corner of my bumper, and ripped off 1/4 of my wheel well liner.

Bought a one piece CSL lip to replace it but with the bumper not really having the pieces to support it anymore I did the next best thing, DIY’ed a splitter!

$150 and a lot of trips to ACE hardware later, it’s finished. Specced it to gridlife rules if I ever decided to finally go, 5″ from the edge of my bumper and 3″ wider on the sides

Car on the Dyno for TT classing

Now with front downforce, may as well add something to the rear to offset it

65″ NLR “Big Wang” great wing, attached to my trunk using APR GT-250 mounts

Also with my front bumper mostly still broken from that accident, I found out it took almost no force to just pull the thing from the car. Mounted some aero catches on to hold it on, as well as make it easy for me to pull it off if I ever needed to work on the front/splitter

First autox as a shakedown after all the mods, decided to throw on a bunch of stickers to make myself look faster too 🙂

Another set of Hoosiers completely used up, this time 245 R6s

Moving home from university that year, I found out I had way too much stuff to fit in the car, threw on a hitch and made the car just that much more practical!
Lots of stares and people taking photos on the way home too

Installed some new HAWK HPS 5.0 pads and rotors on all four corners

Threw on a set of (Free!) Continental take-offs for the next track day, the tires were super blue so I figured they were pretty heat cycled out but they seemed fine. Was also raining a little so I didn’t push too hard.

November of 2018, my first TT event at RPM
Car handled well and the first practice session I had shaved 5 seconds of my PB since the last time I was there. Immediately after that lap, I hit the brakes and didn’t stop, seemed I had driven my HPS’s too hard (Should have known not to use streetish pads with R-comps and aero)
Luckily no damage to the car, besides looking like a lawnmower

Rest of that weekend didn’t go as well as planned, with higher temps making me fear for my brakes and my tires just completely heat cycled out (was maxing out at 0.9-1.0Gs in turns) I didn’t do as well as I hoped, but ended up 5th out of 7 anyways for my class.

Cooked tires and wheels with excessive brake dust from overheated brakes

• This topic was modified 6 years by Gabe.
• This topic was modified 6 years by Gabe.