0RAAMaudio

Father and son project, he always loved BMWs, my last German car was when I was in high school, a couple of Bugs, I am 60 now, figured we could build this together.......he is developing some parts to sell for the business he wants to get going.....

95 M3, low miles, nice mods, bought it for a few more updates, run some HPDE, TT,let my daughters autocross it when visiting, etc....

Drove it once, maybe 10 miles, started the mods, as usual, got carried away, now becoming a GTS5/C-Mod level pretty nuts little car.

Expected wet weight, with driver, 2,500 lbs
Power, S54, 3.2L NA, approx 380 at the crank, 410 when we add cams
3.5" race exhaust, center dump, will test for power and noise
24 point cage so everything is tied in, all suspension points, etc.
4:10 ramped, 4 metal disk diff, 5" clutch, solid mounts everywhere
Full monoball suspension, 3-way Ohlins custom built coilovers($$$$$$)
18x10.5, 20.5 lb wheels, 285 slicks on all four corners
Big wing, 16" behind rear bumper, roof top level
Tunable dual plane diffuser and splitter/ducted undertray.
Flush mounted lexan, CF sun roof delete panel, trunk, hood, etc....
Driver moved back as far as possible, Tilton 3-way floor mounted pedals
Woodward steering column, Racetech RT4009HR seat, 6 point harness
FOR SALE, Wilwood SL6R, 6 pistons, wide pad calipers, custom brackets. I have to step up the game on brakes due the level of the ever changing build.

I could not find a place to acid dip the car so we have a ton of time and money into getting it ready to seam weld, etc.....which is done, I could build 3 Vettes by now for all the work this has taken, seriously, should of kept my old race car, I still have the chassis.

I am sure the Wilwoods will do the job but if not I will look into other alternatives but the consumables for the Wilwoods are very tempting so had to give them a try and they did the job very well on one of my ex TT cars. Pads are $220 for all four corners!!!

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I will miss my highly modded C6 vert but just no time to ever drive it, my business is being readied to sell and growing fast. If I get what I want, retire, travel around NA towing the race car to run on all the tracks of my dreams, once settled back down I will probably get a C7

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If I build another race car it will be either a Vette or tube frame can, never a unibody at this level again! (I have seen some exceptionally well done unfinished race car deals, I might snag a completed body/cage, for a spare chassis just to have incase something gets bent to far to fix but I will not build another one, ever!)

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Good day
Rick

ErnieN85

of course your still welcome
have fun with your son

0RAAMaudio

I know I am still welcome, this is the best forum I have ever been on, best people, best cars, my next Vette will either be a C7 or a 63, most likely

I would of stuffed my LS6 into the M3 if not for putting it into a class I did not want to be in and not allowed at any BMW events (which I might not run anyway but wanted the option to do so) And, the car would of ended up just plain faster than I wanted it to be, I learned long ago I am not the fastest driver, decent, not great by any means, the way I am building the M3 has me a bit concerned already so going to start out on pump gas and around 350 HP then see how it goes once the suspension and aero are all dialed in.

And, going to build a pretty high end simulator so I can practice all the new courses before I get there, might save my bacon someday doing so and help me just get out and go faster right off the bat, know where all the tricky sections are, etc...

Thanks
Rick

Short-Throw

Rick,

As far as welcome here...silly question...we're all car nuts despite most of us loving Corvettes.

Good luck with your build. I ran an M3 in SCCA T1 last year at Road America after my C5 lost linkage and a good buddy let me drive his car. I started in the back because I qualified with my C5 but used his car for the race. One of the funnest races I've been in.

I like everything in your build you described however I think you're making a big mistake with respect to one area. Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

Share the build progress with us!


Mike

Bill Dearborn

Are you looking to get into BMWCCA Club racing or just do HPDEs?

I have watched a number of their club races and they do get intense.

If HPDEs I doubt they care what engine is in the car. Have seen plenty of LS engined P Cars, Miatas and Nissans at their events.

The various chapters of the BMWCCA do numerous HPDEs at tracks across the country so you could pretty much spend a year working your way around the country doing track events. A number of the chapters in my area do 3 2 to 3 day track events per season at Watkins Glen. I know one BMW instructor from Canada who comes south at the beginning of the season and instructs at NJMP, moves to Pocono, then WGI, then the Ohio, Indiana and Michigan tracks finally stopping at Autobahn before he heads back the other way catching the second events put on by various Chapters. Keeps his race tires in the car along with his luggage as he travels. Definitely a committed track rat.

Bill

GettReal

Hey Rick, I know you've been working on a project or two over the last couple years so good to see you focused on what sounds like a sweet set up. I actually welcome these build threads as I love seeing fabrication and learning more about that else people are doing. post lots of pics please

Steve

z06801

it just good to settle on a project and get to the track do do some drivnglook forward to seeing this out at Miller BTW we are building my sons 944 turbo into a ls6 track/street car should be fun! here is a pic of our last father son track day.

0RAAMaudio

Thanks guys, so very much appreciated and especially the call from one of the members here

Now I have to spend more money, I was already started to question one aspect of the build as originally a much milder car, now I know I have to order different brakes but if using a $9k plus set of coilovers I better have matching brakes!

I have enjoyed Wilwoods on other cars but none built to this level, the power to weight ratio and high level of downforce, I need to ensure I have very very good brakes.

I might put a simpler car together with my son for his school, solo, maybe a little HPDE stuff, I could put the Wilwoods on it as I have used them with great success in that regard.

PICS, I have always been bad at that, so much time on the computer, hard to do more but need a build thread on the BMW sites so can easily do the same here, I will work on it, that is all I can say

The car is on a really nice rotisserie, seam welding nearly done, very very gutted body, cage just starting to come along but as mentioned, I could build a Vette so much faster, a complete ready to race car in the time invested just gutting this out and seam welding it, not kidding!

Thanks again
Rick

z06801

Rick, have you bought those shocks? if not, you should talk to Pete at RaceCo out at the track, he could build you a set of Ohlins for less, He is a very experience race engineer and driver.

Drew M

Sounds like the car is going to he MEAN! Good luck with it.

0RAAMaudio

I so much appreciate all the support, encouragement, advice, very cool indeed

I decided to run an S54 as it gives me more options for TT and especially if I go W2W or have a driver run my car if I am to slow and I build a second, slower car

S54, if you shop carefully, are quite affordable now, I will pick up a spare when the right one comes along, a few tweaks and they are quite reliable.

As a father and son project, my son was rather hurt when I talked about the LS swap, he just loves BMW's so I am ok with running their engine.

I plan to run HPDE and TT at as many tracks in NA as possible, once I retire or less travel if business is not sold but still all I can do. Once that has been done I may go W2W and want to be able to run whatever Org I can, easier withe BMW power (did not know I could run HPDE, TT, etc with LS power in BMW events, oh well, too late now, sold the LS6 so I would not just stuff it in the car, to tempting!)

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LS 944, sweet! I have never been a big Porsche fan except when the engine is in the right place, front or mid! That will be one hell of a fun car when done

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I had a deal lined up on the coilovers before I knew about the shop at Miller, I got a bit off on the price and they will be 3 hours from me when I move to Carson City NV so that was part of the decision, they are building them now. I should of listened to my helper building the car and at least called the shop out there though, to late now.

I do need to get this car done and test and tune at Miller and run some events were there it a ton of run off room before we move!

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I am hoping I can drive this thing properly, it will be fast for sure, we were comparing some aspects last night, Porsche C car to this one, setup and driven well should be quite a bit faster!

Might not with me behind the wheel though, time will tell

Thanks again!
Rick

z06801

"it will be fast for sure, we were comparing some aspects last night, Porsche C car to this one, setup and driven well should be quite a bit faster!

Might not with me behind the wheel though, time will tell"

Thanks again!
Rick[/QUOTE]

If it is driven well it might be as fast as a 996 Cup, it won't be "quite a bit faster" than any Porsche cup, IMO. Cool car for sure can't wait to see it!

0RAAMaudio

I had to make sure of when I posted that to see if it was the beer talking a bit

Time will tell how fast, some of the things we considered, I was discussing this with a young man that was the head mechanic, shop foreman, at a Porsche race shop....

+ relative differences

1) More power +
2) More tire +++ 280 slicks on all four corners
3) More downforce +++
4) Similar suspension design
5) Better coilovers than most use +

- negatives or pluses for Porsches

1) they are better under breaking due to so much rear weight bias but ours will be well over 50% to the rear as moving things around as much as we can including drive back around 12" --
2) more grip out of the corners but we are running a ramped diff, same tire size --

Affordable to drive is a nice benefit as well.

Then there is cost to build, buy, run etc....around 25-30 cents on the dollar.

We are under a much more liberal set of rules and will be spending some serious effort on the downforce, custom making most of the parts, we can relocate engine, driver, remove more weight, so many things we can that they can't.

I know, they are incredibly fast for the weight, tire size, power, etc, should be with so much factory development and the very high cost to buy and run them.

It will be fun to see what we can do with it, might not be me making the fastest laps though but who knows, I was very fast in my 510 Datsun days and this is the closest thing I have ever driven with that kind of feedback and balance and that was when fairly stock.

My target is not the Porsches, it is his, all in good fun though

Rick

Cobra4B

This thread is completely worthless w/o pics

spazegun2213

Rick,
You'll be banned if you DON'T post pictures and info about this car! What tranny are you using? E46 m3?

also


I used to drive that and a few other bimmah's. They are a ton of fun, so ENJOY!!!

z06801

You forgot to mention their gear box in the 997 which is worth a bit of time itself, All in good fun for sure! George, J.R., James and I need all the help out there we can get with the Porsches, so come out and race!

JerryTX

Should be a sick buildup! I wanted to build a BMW E46 M3 for GTS3 but found a completed C6 for ST2 instead. My street car is an E46 M3, my younger brother races an E36 M3 in GTS2 and my older brother has an LS7 in his track only E36 M3. There are no more loyalties in this family (other than Ford tow vehicles ), only affinity for what works well on track!

Cobra4B

Wait... are you related to Jim and John Khoury? I know them well from NASA-MA racing. Has to be them.... GTS2 E36, TTU E36 M3 with a LS motor, and Ford diesels

JerryTX

ding ding!

flink

What are you doing with the ABS?

As the driver of an e36 with no booster, no ABS and Tilton dual-masters, my enthusiastic advice is: don't run with no ABS. I can expand on the reasons for this at length

I have a driver-adjustable rear proportioning valve as well, but I don't find it useful - just set balance with the balance bar.

For a *****-out build I think the best setup would be no booster, e46 ABS and tilton dual-master, pedals and balance bar.

I really should get off my tail and do the e46 ABS thing, but the thought of doing new hard lines throughout, wheel speed sensors and the futzing with electronics and then all the testing makes me feel even older. Instead I let the other guys kill me under braking