Derek's E90 slicktop OEM+ Project

[header="Enjoying Christmas Tunes"][/header]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Earlier in the year, I decided that I would keep the car emissions legal. I know this would limit my options of power mods but I felt like this was the least amount of hassle for myself.

# Reasons for staying emissions legal

1. Don't have to swap xpipe every 2 years
2. Don't have to swap xpipe or axleback for 90dB Laguna Seca days
3. No need to deal with cut test pipes etc.

From a legal perspective, there are a few items that could be modified:

• intake - no change - Currently installed AFE CF intake is CARB legal.
• pulley - change - Dinan Pulley pending. no emissions affected
• exhaust - no change - SS F1 Exhaust adds noise.
• throttle bodies - possible change - Dinan throttle bodies do not affect emissions. Expensive option though.
• tune - change - Dinan is the only CARB legal tune for sale out there.

During Black Friday, I ended up buying the Dinan pulley and DIY tune kit. The DIY Tune kit was out of stock at sale but finally arrived last week. It consisted of a USB-A to USB-B cable and Dinan branded iMIPP OBD adapter.


The Dinan software required an online connection to Dinan to get the software. The tune installation took about 30minutes. Based on the vehicle info in the software, my tune was version 1.08. I doubt Dinan will show me a changelog on the tune since 1.00. The instructions pictures showed version 1.03. Curious.



## Dinan Pulley
This is on the backburner until I decide how big of a job I want this to be. Accessing the pulley is one of those items where "while you are in there" quote makes a whole lot of sense.

Davisca455 put together a nice parts list for the pulleys without having to pay for brackets here:
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26791901

So far that is the list of parts to replace but I am decided if I want to do a cooling system refresh as well. I'm signed up for Feb 5th Sonoma Raceway so I hope to address the pulley situation by the end of January.

Anyways Happy Holidays everyone!

One step closer to twinning! A solid pair of upgrades.

[header="Sonoma Raceway 2022-02-05"][/header]

This was my first time at Sonoma Raceway in the M3. The last time I was here was in 2012 in my old E46 ZHP. Things have certainly changed a bit on all fronts!




## Goals

1. Sub 2 minute laps

2. Practice traction management at 100% friction circle and beyond.

## Recap
Session 1: Cold with plenty of traffic. It felt foreign yet familiar. This session was about learning general reference points for braking, turn-in, apex, exit. I was also learning the traction limits of my tires. There was lots of traffic but that's okay its the first session.

Session 2: Traffic was tough. The flaggers kept pacing a blue flag to everyone..I look back and there was NO ONE. I was a bit confused at that point and I couldn’t get a decent full lap in until the session was over.

Session 3: Tons of traffic again. I was either too slow for someone, or someone was in front of me. I couldn’t space myself out where I could have a clean lap. It was a good exercise for learning the limits of tires as I was fighting traction at T2, T6, T7, T11.

Session 4: Traffic was still there but I started to get used to the RS4 limited traction near the end of the session. Unfortunately, still stuck at 1:58.50 from earlier morning session.

Session 5: Last session of the day, there were fewer cars and was able to get some space. My last lap was on a blazing lap but my fuel gauge was touching the white line of the E and I had fuel anxiety and decided to pit. I already was out 1 more lap than I should’ve! I think that would’ve been a PB of the day if I kept going but I rather not temp fate and be that guy on the track out of gas. Aim Solo data shows last session lap 9 was the best but I pitted for gas. It combined best rolling time to achieve a 1:51.9 but I'm having doubts in the data since it's so far off from my existing times. Either way, I’m glad the m3post folks and others I talked to, convinced me to keep the RS4s on and work on traction management. There were a few gnarly slides like the T2 slide linked below and I am pleased that I felt comfortable sliding the car around to a certain degree. This is a skill I never worked on and that is changing now! My spin at Laguna in October 2020 reminded me that my driver skill needs further progression!

https://imgur.com/gEIChNh

## Issues
Media issues still plagued me from last event. From the last event, I thought my GoPro Hero 9 was overheating so I dropped the settings to 1080p60fps instead of 2.7K60fps. However, it would still would fail as soon as we reached pit exit. This time though, my wife was able to catch the error message saying some sort of SD card error. Luckily I borrowed a friend’s SDCard and it was able to This would've been great had I didn't make one change before the event. I was tired of turning on my mic or forgetting to turn it off|on between sessions and not having audio on my videos. So I replaced my battery powered mic with a standard purple panda mic to drop that task. But, I didn't test the mic with the GoPro before the event. Because of this, the GoPro mic settings were set to "Powered Mic" and ended up with great video with no audio. Sigh. haha. At home, I finally figured it all out and I HOPE it is good next time around!

GoPro settings will be:
2.7K@60FPS
PurplePanda Mic + Standard Mic setting
New 128GB UHS3 microSD Card

## Media




Photos by @Slomaigai




Photos by @lowtecrob









Photos by SpeedSF official photographer @tfp_media






He caught my slide too lol




[header="What's next"][/header]



Parts are starting to collect. We will see which ones I decide to tackle.
-Bimmerworld Solid subframe bushings
-SPL rear toe links
-Slon VANOS Covers
-Dinan Pulley


Congrats, you made it to the end. Ha. You will never get your time back.

Still the best chronicling of an M3 and owner on M3Post.

derbo wrote


Congrats, you made it to the end. Ha. You will never get your time back.

Sounds like you had fun. Congrats on getting back to Sonoma! I love it there, even if it does get sketchy, lol

I'm using Rs4's for the same reason!

no mention of whether the Dinan tune made any difference?

BayE30 wrote

no mention of whether the Dinan tune made any difference?

I expected to not feel real bump in power. Cold start sensitivity has improved and it does feel a little smoother but overall nothing out of the ordinary. It probably more efficient and saves gas

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

It was ordered directly from Slon by slcook54. This was awhile ago so I'm not sure if Slon directly is the best method.

derbo wrote

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

It was ordered directly from Slon by slcook54. This was awhile ago so I'm not sure if Slon directly is the best method.

Can get them them from Move Over

derbo wrote

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

It was ordered directly from Slon by slcook54. This was awhile ago so I'm not sure if Slon directly is the best method.

slcook54 wrote

derbo wrote

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

It was ordered directly from Slon by slcook54. This was awhile ago so I'm not sure if Slon directly is the best method.

Can get them them from Move Over

Thanks Steve!

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

slcook54 wrote

derbo wrote

M3_Legend wrote

Where did you order the Slon VANOS Covers from?

It was ordered directly from Slon by slcook54. This was awhile ago so I'm not sure if Slon directly is the best method.

Can get them them from Move Over

I am stocking these for Slon in the US. I currently only have two sets in stock, however a ton more in transit, should be here within a week or so.

I believe you can still order direct from slon but more expensive and could be a lengthy lead time to get them from overseas. PM me if you need a set. Thanks!

[header="Spring 2022 Update"][/header]
I mentioned I collected a few parts in my previous update post and in no particular order: SPL Parts toe links with lockouts, Bimmerworld Solid subframe bushings, SLON VANOS covers, and Dinan under-drive pulley. When I stared at the pile of parts, I realized I may have strayed off the original path I wanted to take with this car.

TL;DR

• Going back to the original plan
• Installed Dinan Pulley
• Laguna Seca 5/29 recap.

[header="Car Philosophy"][/header]
In my introductory post, I wanted to build a street car that can track 1-2 days a year without fuss. During COVID Shutdown, my inner racer steered that direction towards track use. I think perhaps a little too much. I think it was time for a re-evaluation of the direction of the car.



The tuning philosophy is "This is a street car first, track use second." type of ordeal. Even with the M CS models and GT3 Touring as models, that still means there will be compromises to track use.

[header="Slight adjustment of plans"][/header]
So what does that actually correlate to? Well, for starters, my current suspension spring rates will be reduced. I enjoyed the street comfort of the original 400/700 lb/in springs I had but it was soft for some corners at the local tracks. I ended up going to 600/900 to test out what most folks on this forums say is the limit for street comfort tolerance. While the car feels great on track, the street use part is having some odd pitching issues on larger bumps. I was able to dial the pitching this past weekend but if there are certain bumps that still feel odd, I will move towards a middle ground.

As a reference, 3DM Motorsports sells a "Track Day" package that utilizes 450/800 with Ohlin R&T coilovers and I aim to use that as a starting point. Similarly, the Bilstein B16, M3GTS all have rates around 515/800. My gut is telling me to run the softer 450/800 rates and keeping it at this level. It may squat more in steady state in corners but it might be the compromise to keep the car more compliant on the street.

Solid subframes are still on the table but only with refreshed OE diffs instead of poly. I do not want the whine. I also decided against adjustable arms for the sake of simplicity and longevity. I ended up selling my SPL rear toe links with lockouts for this very reason. A 4.10 final drive is up in the air but I might just do it to give that lower end pep the car somewhat suffers from on the street. The local tracks seem to work okay with the 4.10 gearing (at least in sim racing testing) so that shouldn't be an issue.

[header="It’s maintenance when you replace stuff that is old right? "][/header]
On a maintenance note, the car has basically original accessory parts. With my Dinan pulley purchase, this worked out for an upgrade embedded into a maintenance routine. I opt to replace the water pump pulley, idler pulley, and belt tensioner pulley. I went with the cheaper route which involved replacing the pulley instead of the full pulley assembly BMW sells. In hindsight, I should've done the PS Pulley too. Oh well!

Parts Courtesy of Chris!
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26791901&postcount=47

• Idler pulley - BMW OE - 11287841531
• Dust cap - BMW OE - 11287535867
• A/C || PS tensioner pulley - INA - 5320557100
• Alternator || Water pump tensioner pulley - INA - 5320342100
• Dust cap x2 - BMW OE - 11287835996
• Water pump pulley - BMW OE - 11517838676
• Dinan Pulley
• Napa 6PK1421 belt
• Bremmem 6DPK1070 belt

The install was insanely easy with the help of Johal E32 . One of us help the belt tensioner and the other slipped on the belt in seconds. Couldn't have been easier. wyatth was also there with Don for support.

As far as power, I don't feel anything lol. I'm sure its better and smoother but yeah butt dyno has no idea even though Dinan said 11hp lol.


[header="Laguna Seca; We meet again"][/header]

On Sunday May 29th, My wife and I went to a private track day and it was an eventful one. I finally mounted my old RE71R 275/35/18 stock from last year to give it a go at Laguna for a PB.





Long story short, only had first session with the M3 that day and the day was pretty much over. I'll gloss over the details but hopefully next time I can run sessions and gain some time!

I was able to find some betting damper setup with 10R/8C, 9R/8C damper settings and I actually enjoyed this with the 600/900 springs. Maybe that might stop me from moving to 450/800 for a little bit.

## AIM Solo

With only 1 session done for the day, it was already apparent there is a lot more room. Bummer I wasn't able to get more sessions in but it is what it is and I'm happy that is the only thing I'm bummed about.



#Green = 1:46.154 RE71R 1st session on 600/900
#Red = 1:45.681 old time on PS4S on 400/700 before the spin.

Since this was the first session on sticker RE71R, I was taking it easy. G-Sum (the sum of both Lat and Log G forces) was showing 1.76 max vs the older 1.54 from the PS4S/RS4 tires. I didn't even reach the limit of the tire yet! I think there was definitely a 1:43/1:44 for sure in there, maybe more but that was all I was aiming for.

-I shorted shifted a few places since it was the 1st session so I could see some time there.
-Didn't even reach ABS limits so clearly I wasn't braking hard enough yet!


[header="What's next?"][/header]

As a recap, Solid subframe bushings, OE Diff bushings, possibly 4.10 final drive, maybe new 450/800 springs. Slon covers, Valve covers, fuel injectors for maintenance. That's probably all she wrote for this build and just enjoying laps and backroads! Cooling upgrades will follow depending on need but for now, it seems fine for now.

great recap!

derbo wrote

[header="Spring 2022 Update"][/header]
I mentioned I collected a few parts in my previous update post and in no particular order: SPL Parts toe links with lockouts, Bimmerworld Solid subframe bushings, SLON VANOS covers, and Dinan under-drive pulley. When I stared at the pile of parts, I realized I may have strayed off the original path I wanted to take with this car.

TL;DR

• Going back to the original plan
• Installed Dinan Pulley
• Laguna Seca 5/29 recap.

[header="Car Philosophy"][/header]
In my introductory post, I wanted to build a street car that can track 1-2 days a year without fuss. During COVID Shutdown, my inner racer steered that direction towards track use. I think perhaps a little too much. I think it was time for a re-evaluation of the direction of the car.



The tuning philosophy is "This is a street car first, track use second." type of ordeal. Even with the M CS models and GT3 Touring as models, that still means there will be compromises to track use.

[header="Slight adjustment of plans"][/header]
So what does that actually correlate to? Well, for starters, my current suspension spring rates will be reduced. I enjoyed the street comfort of the original 400/700 lb/in springs I had but it was soft for some corners at the local tracks. I ended up going to 600/900 to test out what most folks on this forums say is the limit for street comfort tolerance. While the car feels great on track, the street use part is having some odd pitching issues on larger bumps. I was able to dial the pitching this past weekend but if there are certain bumps that still feel odd, I will move towards a middle ground.

As a reference, 3DM Motorsports sells a "Track Day" package that utilizes 450/800 with Ohlin R&T coilovers and I aim to use that as a starting point. Similarly, the Bilstein B16, M3GTS all have rates around 515/800. My gut is telling me to run the softer 450/800 rates and keeping it at this level. It may squat more in steady state in corners but it might be the compromise to keep the car more compliant on the street.

Solid subframes are still on the table but only with refreshed OE diffs instead of poly. I do not want the whine. I also decided against adjustable arms for the sake of simplicity and longevity. I ended up selling my SPL rear toe links with lockouts for this very reason. A 4.10 final drive is up in the air but I might just do it to give that lower end pep the car somewhat suffers from on the street. The local tracks seem to work okay with the 4.10 gearing (at least in sim racing testing) so that shouldn't be an issue.

[header="It's maintenance when you replace stuff that is old right? "][/header]
On a maintenance note, the car has basically original accessory parts. With my Dinan pulley purchase, this worked out for an upgrade embedded into a maintenance routine. I opt to replace the water pump pulley, idler pulley, and belt tensioner pulley. I went with the cheaper route which involved replacing the pulley instead of the full pulley assembly BMW sells. In hindsight, I should've done the PS Pulley too. Oh well!

Parts Courtesy of Chris!
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26791901&postcount=47

• Idler pulley - BMW OE - 11287841531
• Dust cap - BMW OE - 11287535867
• A/C || PS tensioner pulley - INA - 5320557100
• Alternator || Water pump tensioner pulley - INA - 5320342100
• Dust cap x2 - BMW OE - 11287835996
• Water pump pulley - BMW OE - 11517838676
• Dinan Pulley
• Napa 6PK1421 belt
• Bremmem 6DPK1070 belt

The install was insanely easy with the help of Johal E32 . One of us help the belt tensioner and the other slipped on the belt in seconds. Couldn't have been easier. wyatth was also there with Don for support.

As far as power, I don't feel anything lol. I'm sure its better and smoother but yeah butt dyno has no idea even though Dinan said 11hp lol.


[header="Laguna Seca; We meet again"][/header]

On Sunday May 29th, My wife and I went to a private track day and it was an eventful one. I finally mounted my old RE71R 275/35/18 stock from last year to give it a go at Laguna for a PB.





Long story short, only had first session with the M3 that day and the day was pretty much over. I'll gloss over the details but hopefully next time I can run sessions and gain some time!

I was able to find some betting damper setup with 10R/8C, 9R/8C damper settings and I actually enjoyed this with the 600/900 springs. Maybe that might stop me from moving to 450/800 for a little bit.

## AIM Solo

With only 1 session done for the day, it was already apparent there is a lot more room. Bummer I wasn't able to get more sessions in but it is what it is and I'm happy that is the only thing I'm bummed about.



#Green = 1:46.154 RE71R 1st session on 600/900
#Red = 1:45.681 old time on PS4S on 400/700 before the spin.

Since this was the first session on sticker RE71R, I was taking it easy. G-Sum (the sum of both Lat and Log G forces) was showing 1.76 max vs the older 1.54 from the PS4S/RS4 tires. I didn't even reach the limit of the tire yet! I think there was definitely a 1:43/1:44 for sure in there, maybe more but that was all I was aiming for.

-I shorted shifted a few places since it was the 1st session so I could see some time there.
-Didn't even reach ABS limits so clearly I wasn't braking hard enough yet!


[header="What's next?"][/header]

As a recap, Solid subframe bushings, OE Diff bushings, possibly 4.10 final drive, maybe new 450/800 springs. Slon covers, Valve covers, fuel injectors for maintenance. That's probably all she wrote for this build and just enjoying laps and backroads! Cooling upgrades will follow depending on need but for now, it seems fine for now.

Man. I need to venture up north to have Jordan refresh my E90 soon. I also hear he might have 4.10 gears ready to go for you

911r wrote

Man. I need to venture up north to have Jordan refresh my E90 soon. I also hear he might have 4.10 gears ready to go for you

It's a tough one for the 4.10 gearing.

From a math point of view it seems moot for our flat torque engines but I wonder why the M3 GT4 had it.

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25600273&postcount=14

Last Saturday , I went on a nice drive with Breakfast Club Rally. This is one of the awesome shots.

Still tuning with damper settings and I've found a happy 10R/6C, 9R/6C for the street use. It was still too bumpy for certain sections of the route but the road is a VERY bumpy road.

I'm still undecisive if I want to order 450/800 spring rates and try it out. We will see.

Cheers!

I rate this thread 6/10 and OP 2/10.

slcook54 wrote

I rate this thread 6/10 and OP 2/10.

Feeling generous today, I see.

Hey man, love the build! Do you by any chance have the part number for the euro tail lights?