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06-01-2018, 06:44 PM | #1 |
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Daily Driver Track Build - Success!
Back in October of 2017 I got approval from my Chief Spousal Officer to get rid of my extremely practical Mazda 3 and replace it with something I could both drive to work as well as do track days in. I've been down the daily driver turns into a track only car once before, and wasn't allowed to have a track car just sitting in the driveway. At some point I'll build a shop next to the house and I'll be able to have a track only car hang out in there - but that's years away and I was dying to get to the track again. Enter E92 M3 - exit Mazda 3.
After the last track car - which was on the wild side (500whp EVO, stripped down, big aero everywhere) I wanted something more mellow, that wasn't as scary to drive and didn't make me work on it constantly. I'd always thought the E92's out at the track were a pretty killer dual duty car and the S65 sounds so good. The EVO was pretty good at dual duty before I went crazy with stripping it to reduce weight and pushing for lots of power. So those were things I didn't want to do with the BMW. I found a really nice 2012 E92 M3 ZCT locally with about 50K miles on it back in October and got to work prepping it for the coming track season. I drive 90 miles a day on my commute - so the street manners are pretty important here. At the dealership The goal was to make the car reliable, upgrade the important track stuff like brakes, and suspension and add a bit of cosmetic stuff here and there. First wave of parts arrived pretty quick: - BE Rod bearings with ARP bolts - Rouge Underdrive Pulley - Bimmerword brake lines with RBF fluid - Bimmerworld motor mounts - Bimmerworld pedal covers - Hotchkins swaybars - Ebay GT4 front lip - AFE Intake - CSF DCT Cooler - APR GT200 wing Couple notes here. The Rouge underdrive pulley was and is crap. The pulley was too thin, in the mounting area, compared to stock, and required washers under the heads of the mounting bolts to actually tighten down. Then both belts they sent were incorrect. I worked around that stuff during install, but that was super lame. The Bimmerworld motor mounts ended up being too stiff for me. They really made the car shake and vibrate and seriously ruined the refined feel of the car. I had them installed for 4 months and finally pulled them to go back to new OEM mounts. I know some people say they are not that bad - sure they aren't solid metal/plastic but this is a really nice car and they made it feel like a 1980 fully size chevy truck. I still haven't installed the CSF DCT cooler and kinda don't want to as seeing it in person it's basically stock. I might build a DCT pan at some point if needed - that would be a fun CNC project, which I can do at home. Installed the rod bearings at a buddies place. Not the worst ever, but crap in the general sense, boo BMW engineers. During the rod bearing install we discovered a leak in the coolant system, one of the main radiator hoses was leaking at the connection. Knowing that BMW is worthless in their coolant systems having any life I ordered the parts to replace them while I was in there. - CSF radiator - New coolant reservoir, and coolant hoses - Thermostat and water pump - Spark Plugs - Bimmerworld power steering resevior - Raceseng Towhook At this point all the maintenance work was done, it was the holiday season and I was saving up for the big ticket items. Next up were brakes and tires/wheels. - PFC Z54 front big brake kit with PF012 pads - Ferodo DS2500 pads for the rear. - Apex ARC 8 18x10 wheels - Pirelli DH race take offs in 265 - Carbon side markers and side skirts - just because - 10mm rear and 15mm front spacers for street ZCP wheels Car was looking pretty good with the spacers added and the extra carbon bits. There was light at the end of the tunnel at this point, I needed to save some more pennies and finish off the suspension. It was spring at this point! For suspension I ended up with: - MCS 2 Way with Remote reservoirs - GC race plates and rear perches - Bimmerworld solid subframe mounts (left the diff stock as I didn't want the noise). - SPL Parts rear toe arms - Burger cabin filters Couple notes here: Rear subframe bushings are a serious install. You need to pull the whole subframe. I know there are 1 series guys who do it just hanging down. That won't work here. Installing aluminum bushings takes a press - no way around that. You can't really install these reservoirs in the front without getting the Burger cabin filters. So plan for that. In the back the reservoir hose isn't that long once you route them around the suspension and through the trunk breather vents. You need to get a nitrogen charging setup in order to complete the install after breaking the front connection during install. My SPL toe links are on my hate list. You have to massive torque down the cap screw on the collar to keep them from spinning. It's got to be very close to if not over the yield strength of the bolt. Not well designed - as a guy that designs stuff for a job. Swapping the OEM motor mounts back in during the suspension install. All back together, and testing the slicks for fit. Final items included: - Alpine tune with Euro MDM and GTS DCT. - Scroth Quick Fit Pro 4 point harnesses. - Corner weight and alignement - Sign up for track days.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
Last edited by jid2; 06-02-2018 at 12:06 PM.. |
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06-01-2018, 06:44 PM | #2 |
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So here's the summary of where the car is now.
Suspension MCS 2WR dampers, rear non-coilover 600 lb front (6" x 2.25" with helper) 900 lb rear springs (8" x 60mm no helper) Ground Control race camber plates and articulating rear perches Power flex race top mount for rear shock Bimmerworld adjustable front swaybar links, set short Hotchkins swaybars front and rear Bimmerworld solid rear subframe mounts SPL rear toe arms, with eccentric lockout Brakes Bimmerworld stainless lines Motul RBF600 Fluid PF Z54 big brakes in the front, PF012 pads for track, and PF street pads for daily driving Ferodo DS2500 rear No ducting or anything at this point Wheels and Tires Apex ARC 8 18x10 +25 Removed TPMS sensors and coded them out Pirelli 265 65 18 DH slicks Macht Schnell extended wheel studs 10mm spacers front and rear Engine and drivetrain BE Rod bearings and ARP bolts New OEM motor mounts CSF radiator Refreshed OEM cooling parts Rogue underdrive pulley AFE Intake Bimmerworld power steering reservoir Alex Alpine stage 1 tune Euro MDM GTS DCT tune Completely stock exhaust Exterior Ebay GT4 splitter APR GT250 wing 61" Ebay side skirts Raceseng Towhook Interior Bimmerworld billet pedals Scroth Quickfit Pro harnesses I've been driving the car to work pretty much everyday (when I wasn't working on it) for the past eight months. Through the process a few parts have come and gone from the car. Because I'm sitting in stop and go traffic for about 3 hours and 90 miles a day I need the thing to be pretty civil, while still being fun to drive at the track. As I mentioned earlier, the BW motor mounts really killed the refinement of the car. When I went back to OEM mounts the difference was shocking. Really happy I went back to OEM. I've also tried some exhaust that didn't work out. I had the Bimmerworld race exhaust, just the axle back section on the car for a month or so. It was just way to loud in the 1500-2000 RPM range. It was deafening in those zones, although it was nearly silent at freeway speed. So I went back to stock for now. The suspension has been great. As others have said the MCS suspension is pretty civil. The combination of race camber plates and the solid rear sub frame bushings do transmit some clicks and pops every now and then, but it's tolerable. The 600/900 spring rate isn't bad at all, especially given how heavy the car is. I drive to work with the compression settings at 1, or dialed all the way down and it feels pretty similar to stock ZCP setup. The combo of the PF street pads and DS2500 rear is great for daily duty, no noise and seems like better than stock dust. Generally speaking I think the decision to not strip things down like the trunk, and putting solid bushings everywhere has maintained a comfortable street setup. So let's talk about track stuff now! Here's the starting setup: Front swaybar 2nd from softest setting Rear swaybar full soft 175 psi canister pressure Front shocks: 7 comp, 7 rebound Rear Shocks: 6 comp, 7 rebound Front Alignment: -3.2 camber, caster whatever, .10" toe out total Rear Alignment: -2.0 camber, zero toe Ride Height measured from lower lip of ARC 8 wheels to fender lip. Front: 23" Rear: 22.25" Tire pressure: 35-36 psi hot. I haven't done a track day in 6 years - had a third kid, sold my EVO and then I got really into CNC machining. So I had some serious driving rust to shake off along with figuring out the car. I've now done two track days with the car, and am really happy with how it turned out. With my mediocre driving the setup has been pretty perfect at this point. The car is extremely neutral, well balanced and pretty dang easy to drive. Here are some thoughts on things. The suspension is on the softer side of "performance", there is still some body roll and weight transfer - but it works. It provides really good traction over bumpy surfaces, sucks up curbs and doesn't destroy your kidneys. Looking forward to moving into making some tuning adjustments. Brakes are working well, no overheating, steady pedal. I don't think our local tracks are super hard on brakes though. The initial bite on the PF012 pads isn't the strongest ever, but this car is heavy and these are endurance pads. There is good modulation with them as well, overall torque is not the absolute best but again these are endurance pads. This is my first time on take off Pirelli DH slicks. I've run the old Continental slicks before and they were amazing. My first session out on the DH's the car had a massive vibration coming from the right side of the car. I went two laps and came in worried there might be a loose wheel or something. Checked everything and all was tight. I was thinking it was the random rubber on the tires and the fact they hadn't been really up to temperature in a long time. Next session the vibration was even worse - but I decided to put in a few laps and see if things got better. Eventually things did get better and the major vibration went away - but things never got smooth. These tires really pickup rubber. The grip was great but they always felt a bit rough. Maybe I'm running them with too much pressure? I was between 35-36 psi hot. The car wasn't skating around, and with some of the roughness I though I shouldn't lower the pressure. But I've seen some run these more around 30 psi hot? I've got the rear wing trimmed to a pretty flat setting, and the high speed balance feels about right. Based on my last car I know that a 5" splitter can be balanced out with pretty shallow angle of attack from a large wing. So that is working good for now and I'll start tweaking at some point. Oil temperature seems to sit at the hash mark above 210 while on track, is that what everyone else sees? Shifting was good at this point. The car isn't stupid fast under throttle - which was something I wanted after coming from my EVO which ripped your faces off and sent you into corners a full gear higher and faster than most people knew what to do with. I drove with MDM on, I figured with so much "new" it was a good place to start. It was getting pretty involved in a few corners at each track. I plan on switching it off here at some point soon and learning the car without it. Overall - really stoked. Car is good on the commute and a blast to throw around the track. I'll post some other stuff on whats next down below.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
Last edited by jid2; 06-02-2018 at 02:20 PM.. |
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06-02-2018, 01:22 AM | #6 |
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A few of us have installed the do88 DCT cooler and haven't had any issues since. Even in 100+ degree days at Buttonwillow.
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06-02-2018, 05:28 AM | #8 |
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That's the good stuff
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06-02-2018, 06:16 AM | #9 |
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I bought a used Rogue pulley about 6 years ago and installed it. I can’t remember whether I used washers but your comment triggers a faint memory. I have not had any trouble with mine and would not call it crap.
There are 2 versions of belt routing on these motors—early 2008 and after about 5/2008 and you do need the correct belt (single or double sided) and PS pulley or you need to convert. My car was an early 2008 with single sided belt and I made sure I got the right parts for it. Big project — you did a lot of work turning it into a track car. Should be entertaining. |
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06-02-2018, 06:57 AM | #10 |
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Would love to see the pics. Some choice stuff you got there.
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'17 C7 Vette GS (bye) / '15 F31 328 ix (sold) / '08 E92 335i (sold)/ '08 E92 M3 (RIP)/'01 M5 (sold, sniff)/'07 M5 (sold)/ '15 M5
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06-02-2018, 10:02 AM | #11 |
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Sounds great. We want to see the pix dang it!! Seeing this two dozen times is a terrible tease!!
Are trying to torture us?!! It's working!! As someone else mentioned, the do88 DCT cooler is nice. It's almost double the size of the OEM cooler, and it does cool more than the OEM. I wrote about it in my build thread here in post #378: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...158445&page=18 |
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06-02-2018, 12:13 PM | #12 |
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Pics should work now. Put them on photobucket - and my account there still seems to work? Can you see them meow?
The Rogue pulley was for my year, 2012 and converted the two sided setup to single sided. But both belts were the incorrect length. One of them was too long, and wouldn't provide the needed tension on the power steering pulley. The other one was just incorrect. They list the right belt in the instructions, but shipped with something different. And it's lame that you can't get a basic dimension correct so the thing actually tightens down. But sure, after I fixed all that stuff on my own it's working now. I'm going to run the DCT as-is for a season and see how it goes. If it needs help I'll go to the Do88 as you guys have mentioned and likely machine a pan.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
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06-02-2018, 12:52 PM | #13 | |
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Drives: '09 E90 M3 - IB
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Quote:
I will be very curious to hear your DCT experience. With that suspension, those tires and those brakes, some aero and prior track experience, you will find yourself in some high-G situations. I will be interested to hear if you have shifting issues. On my end, the Slon-Workshop DCT pan has worked well on the 3 days I've used it so far. No shifting issues since it went on. Wait....when you say "machine a pan".....can you make this stuff yourself?? I'm glad to see that you have a nitrogen rig for the suspension. I can't see the front-end of it. Do you have a regular ball chuck valve on there? If so, I would recommend getting a few pieces for the nitrogen rig so you can really measure your nitrogen pressures and know EXACTLY what you're putting in there. If you're interested, send me a PM and I can walk you through the pieces I put together. What spring rates did you go with on the MCS? Anyway, congrats on the build. You got some quality parts on there that should treat you very well. |
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06-02-2018, 01:16 PM | #15 |
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Supernice build, congrats.
As for an exhaust that doesn't drone or make a racket at low revs, I would recommend a Gintani exhaust box, which is what I have on my car. Quite subtle at idle and roll-along traffic speeds, but exciting the moment you play with the revs.. |
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06-02-2018, 01:56 PM | #17 |
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Pics!! Awesome build. What's your ride height? I'll be tracking your progress with the PFC calipers as I have a secret hankering for them.
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'17 C7 Vette GS (bye) / '15 F31 328 ix (sold) / '08 E92 335i (sold)/ '08 E92 M3 (RIP)/'01 M5 (sold, sniff)/'07 M5 (sold)/ '15 M5
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06-02-2018, 01:58 PM | #18 | |
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Quote:
I've got a shock charging adapter with a gauge to fill them, I kind of use that along with the pressure regulator to get the pressure correct. During my hiatas from track time, I taught myself to be a machinist and went through a whole transformation of basic machining capability to a legit CNC machine shop in my garage. I'm an engineer, and have really gotten into designing and build my own stuff. So a DCT pan seems like a good project at some point. Along with some billet jack points.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
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06-02-2018, 02:02 PM | #19 |
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I have ducting hose sitting here, just haven't pulled the trigger on the backing plate adapter. Lots of people seem to get by with just the BBK and no ducting - so I'm going to try without ducts. The issue with ducts and hose on a street car is that the hose gets hammered from full lock steering. I know it is super tight in there and would want a real solution to the steering based rubbing on the hose. So it's a low priority to-do list thing to investigate. I sell brake duct adapters for the EVO - and might end up designing and making something - if needed.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
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06-02-2018, 02:05 PM | #20 |
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I'm not sure that is a good idea. 2nd track day the splitter started to crack and break from load. Front straight and turn 1 at Pacific Raceways is around 150 MPH. Might have to get the Bimmerworld splitter at some point.
Boo.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
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06-02-2018, 02:23 PM | #21 |
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I updated the 2nd post to include that. Measured from the lower lips of the ARC 8 wheels to the fender lips I get 23" in the front and 22.25" in the rear. I left the front a bit higher than I could have gone so that the splitter doesn't get destroyed daily driving. Otherwise the front would be lower.
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2012 E92 M3 ZCP MCS 2WR coilovers 600F/900R, Performance Friction ZF54 front BBK, stainless lines, Ferodo DS 2500 rear pads, Hotchkins F/R swaybars, solid subframe mounts, BE Bearings, ARP rod bolts, Bimmerworld motor mounts, AFe intake, underdrive, CSF radiator, GT4 front lip (ebay), APR GT 500, ebay side skirts, RaceEng tug, 15mm/10mm spacers on ZCP wheels, Apex ARC 8 18x10 square track wheels with Pirelli 265 DH slicks
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06-02-2018, 02:29 PM | #22 |
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Wow. Nice build. Love how it looks on the Apex wheels. Question I see you say you have 18x10 +25 as well as a 10mm spacer. Is that all around? Any more pics so I can see how it lines up with the front and rear fender. I'm going to be ordering a set of Apex and I wanted them to be very aggressive.
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