Getting the Green M3 ready for summer

[JEllis]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

There are some big road trips around the corner. MFest next weekend and then Bimmerfest the following weekend. From AZ, that will be nearly 1000 miles over the next two weeks (give or take a hundred or so).

My RKP GT4 lip has been surprisingly robust. The first time I drove the car with the lip I figured it would be a matter a months before I destroyed it. However, its been nearly 1.5 yrs now and the lip is still going strong. That being said, the lip is slowly wearing away in a few spots on the bottom. I filled in what I could a few months ago with epoxy and then used Helicopter blade tape on top of that.

Then I went to Willow Springs raceway with a few buddies including Malek from MRF. They were using a MRF made aluminum skid plate on the bottom of their GT4 lips. I thought it was a great idea! It also showed the versatility of blind rivets (pop rivets) which I now had knowledge of after my front clip replacement.

So this weekend I finally got to work and here is the result.

IMG_0488 by JMEllis, on Flickr

Don't mind the permanent marker on the bottom... that will be worn away soon!

From the top I left about 1/4" exposed ahead of the CF.

IMG_0489 by JMEllis, on Flickr

The final product turned out great. That being said, I have OCD and there are some things I will adjust on the next skid plate. I have no idea how long this one will last but when it goes I have some things I will do differently.

Next up is cleaning. I only managed two track days in the last year but they still managed to get tire balls and dirt all over the place. Time to clean up the places that usually don't get much attention.

IMG_0490 by JMEllis, on Flickr

The brakes will coming off soon in favor of a smaller/lighter set. If you are interested in some lightly used 380/380 Brembos shoot me a text.

Just look at those squeaky clean wheel wells. My OCD can rest for the night.

IMG_0491 by JMEllis, on Flickr

IMG_0492 by JMEllis, on Flickr

[Hujan]

I always love your threads, J. Car looks great as usual. What BBK are you going for next? AP Racing? Their Essex kit is on my to do with Malek soon.

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by Hujan

I always love your threads, J. Car looks great as usual. What BBK are you going for next? AP Racing? Their Essex kit is on my to do with Malek soon.

The Essex AP kit is pretty awesome but I will probably stick with Brembo. They have served me well.

Brakes are easy! Just get yourself a brake bleeder tool. Get one that attaches to the brake fluid reservoir and pressurizes the tank vice the kind that suck the fluid out through the brake lines.

[Hujan]

Originally Posted by JEllis

The Essex AP kit is pretty awesome but I will probably stick with Brembo. They have served me well.

Brakes are easy! Just get yourself a brake bleeder tool. Get one that attaches to the brake fluid reservoir and pressurizes the tank vice the kind that suck the fluid out through the brake lines.

I definitely think I could handle the brake install, but I'm heading up to MRF for the subframe/diff bushings, Ohlin install, and alignment anyway. As you know his labor rates are more than reasonable, so I figured I might as well knock it all out at once.

But brake bleeding, pads swaps, rotor swaps, etc. are all things I will definitely take care of myself. Do you have a link to the brake bleeder you're talking about?

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by Hujan

I definitely think I could handle the brake install, but I'm heading up to MRF for the subframe/diff bushings, Ohlin install, and alignment anyway. As you know his labor rates are more than reasonable, so I figured I might as well knock it all out at once.

But brake bleeding, pads swaps, rotor swaps, etc. are all things I will definitely take care of myself. Do you have a link to the brake bleeder you're talking about?

Yeah thats quite a list of goodies you have planned.

I purchased mine from TMS. I have yet to use it myself but Malek uses one and I saw it in action in person. Great piece of kit. I did my last bleed the old fashioned way with someone depressing the brake pedal. That was after I tried a pneumatic bleeder that didn't work....

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-28...pean-cars.aspx

[Powerbeast]

Great idea!

[SneakyDeeky]

Nice pics and thanks for sharing the tip. Looks good.

[e92motorsports]

Looks good, see you at Mfest!

[mkPOTO]

very nice, pleases send me a pm about the brakes. And also what jack stands are you using?

[PerfM5]

I thought I was thorough. Great job with the clean up

[tightie]

wow

[Charles@Gintani.com]

Your attention to detail is fantastic!

Hope to see you at more track events with the MRF guys!

[Malek@MRF]

No more worries about the GT4 being scraped around. You did a great job Jason. See you soon.

[W Cole]

Im diggin the skid plate. I want to add something similar to my new vorsteiner GTS3 lip so this time around it stays umdamaged. Can you give us some details on how you cut the plate, what its made of, where you got the materials, etc? What you would do different?

Did you just pip rivet thru the aluminum (?) into the carbon?

[m3_aaron]

Nice work.. I think I miss the DTM mirrors though

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by W Cole

Im diggin the skid plate. I want to add something similar to my new vorsteiner GTS3 lip so this time around it stays umdamaged. Can you give us some details on how you cut the plate, what its made of, where you got the materials, etc? What you would do different?

Did you just pip rivet thru the aluminum (?) into the carbon?

The skid plate is aluminum. I bought my sheet from a metal supply here in Yuma. I cannot be certain on the thickness but I believe it is around .025. The metal supply I went to was very laid back. The guy that ran the shop basically took me back to his storage area and let me pick. I used aviation snips to cut the aluminum. I also used aluminum rivets that I purchased at Lowes. I used a hand operated rivet gun, also purchased at Lowes, hence the aluminum vice steel rivets.

The aviation snips worked well but they left very small creases/indentations every time I shifted the snips for the next cut. I finished the edge with my dremel with the grinder attachment, which smoothed things out, but the indentations are still slightly visible. In the end it probably doesn't matter since I bang my lip all the time and the tiny indentations are going to give way to bigger ones as the skid plate does its job.

I left a little overlap towards the back of the lip. I should have not done this. Make sure the aluminum is flush towards the back so that it will not impact the under tray. I had to do some trimming post install.

So when it comes to cutting the aluminum, turns out I did not pay enough attention to Malek when I asked him for advice. Apparently one of the best ways to cut sheet aluminum is with an electric jigsaw. He had mentioned it to me and I missed it. I found a bunch of youtube videos on it after I had already completed the project (figures) and then realized that is what Malek had mentioned. That being said, I don't own a jigsaw or a nice work bench so I may have ended up using the snips anyway.

Originally Posted by m3_aaron

Nice work.. I think I miss the DTM mirrors though

They are still on the car.... maybe hard to tell in that pic.

Originally Posted by Malek@MRF

No more worries about the GT4 being scraped around. You did a great job Jason. See you soon.

Dude, couldn't have done it without you bro.

[rAdzM]

clean!

[Exclusivs]

Nice stuff Jason!

[ki__]

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by rAdzM

clean!

Originally Posted by KEYON

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

Nice stuff Jason!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Charles@Gintani.com

Your attention to detail is fantastic!

Hope to see you at more track events with the MRF guys!

Yeah I hope I can make it out more.

[W///]

Looks great!! I'm about to take my M tracking for the first time (I've tracked a few other cars, but nothing serious) this Saturday at CMP. I'm really excited.

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by W///

Looks great!! I'm about to take my M tracking for the first time (I've tracked a few other cars, but nothing serious) this Saturday at CMP. I'm really excited.

Its addictive. Luckily I have a job that lets me handle exciting machinery. Otherwise, I could really see myself going nuts with track events.