My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[StripclubDJ]

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[dogbone]

Let’s file this one under: tough couple of days, but I think we have a path to a solution.

I want to start by thanking everyone that helped me in the last couple of days.

-the EAS guys - Steve and TJ have taken this seriously and have been all over it.
-Will W from WR Teknica. He lent me his laptop for remote coding.
-SaNGRia - he was available on short notice for coding.

Friday was a tough day at Buttonwillow. From the first moment on track, something felt odd in the new transmission, and then two hot laps in, the trans overheated and flashed a yellow trans icon with a thermometer-in-liquid inside it.

Couldn’t shake the overheating. So, we wondered if it was the GTS coding to the trans. I asked SaNGRia if he could flash the trans back to stock while I was at the track. He said yes as long as I had a laptop and programming cable. I have a K+DCAN cable in my gear bag. But I didn’t have a native Windows pc. I had a Mac running VMWare Windows. After trying quite hard, we could not get the Mac to work. It just would not communicate with the car……I was about to give up, but my last-ditch effort was to ask Will at WR Teknica if I could use his Windows laptop for coding. He said yes. So the race was on to reprogram the trans back to stock before it got dark because I don’t have headlights. The laptop worked and he was done reflashing it by 4:35PM, and I ran out on track in my street clothes. Car overheated again. Darn.

The EAS guys were gonna be driving at the track Saturday, so they were showing up with a bunch of DCT fluid and a scanner.

Saturday at Bimmer Challenge, I wanted Steve and TJ to drive the first session before looking at my car. I just skipped the first session. After their session, they dug in and first looked at the trans fluid. They couldn’t really add any more fluid to the trans…..ok….so it wasn’t low. They confirmed all the adaptations with the scanner and said it was passing all the checks. I went back out on track and still overheating and still acting weird.

The car was exhibiting two weird behaviors—-the overheating, and the revs between 7000-8300 were weird. The revs from 2000-7000 were fine. But after 7000, the rpms would accelerate strangely in some gears and they would sort of lag in other gears.

After describing this to TJ, he started to think this sounded like the clutch slipping, which would lead to overheating. I told TJ to drive the car on track. He goes out drives one lap and comes in and says—-yup, it’s the clutches slipping.

So I guess it’s a bummer that the used trans I bought is a bit of a dud in the clutch department. But I think we have a plan. Gonna buy new clutches and see if that solves it. If that doesn’t work, I have a more extreme Plan B to explore being able to still get to COTA in mid-Feb for SuperLap. The main issue is that I am running out of days—-meaning a shop in CA works on it, and then I fly out to test it. If it doesn’t work, we have to repeat……I’m running out of days.

As the day wore on, I was learning how to drive the car in its hobbled state—-just trying to stay within the bounds of what the trans could do. I had three sessions. While I did sign up for Bimmer Challenge, I never did run my transponder. Ultimately, if I was able to put a decent lap together, I didn’t want to affect the competition since this was the last event of the season.

The first two sessions, I gridded in the back. I knew I had a problem car and didn’t want to screw up anyone’s laps if I had issues. For me, the day was just about being in the car and seeing what it was like. In my first session, I finally corded the DH tires that I started using at Watkins Glen in August. I ran good times on them at WGI, VIR, set a PB at Chuckwalla, ran them all day on Friday at Buttonwillow…..and then finally today they gave up. And the grip was just gone. So swapped on a new set of scrubs for session 2. Ooh, more grip! I was impeded the whole second session, but I could tell the car was capable of putting a decent lap down if I drove it a certain way.

Last session of the day doesn’t count towards Bimmer Challenge. In the AM, someone in a FULLY prepped M2 had run a 1:48.9 on fresh A7s. But he had packed up and no one else had gone sub-1:50. So I said screw it….I’m done running in the back. I can get at least one lap out of the car if I have open track—-I have to short shift and be patient with the car, but the scrubs are decent so I just needed one lap.

Show up to grid and they let me run in the front. I go out and I have an open lap. Ran 1:48.7….fastest lap of the day with an injured duck of a car. But not officially recognized on the transponder system which is what I wanted. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s day.

I am QUITE happy with that result given the short shifting, funky revs and crappy trans performance, muddy track and scrubs, plus all the frustration. I’m tellin’ ya—the car, aside from the trans, feels good. With a good trans and fresh DH, I think something good is possible. I. JUST. NEED. TO. GET. PAST. THE. PROBLEMS.

Anyway, it was a VERY social day today. Really enjoyed seeing my CA friends.

(EDIT: I corrected the lap time from 1:48.8 to 1:48.7. I went frame by frame in my video editing program and discovered the lap was 1:48.7. I was having AIM issues all weekend. So, I had to rely on video for the lap time.)

[Redd]

Saw on an Evolve video that Deka makes upgraded clutches for the DCT.

[DrFerry]

I installed the SSP Spec-R DCT clutch pack about 60K miles ago. It's good for 900 ft-lbs of torque. See it at the link below:

https://www.sspperformance.com/bmw-d...h-package.html

From their website:
>

BMW 900+ Ft/lbs.Torque Clutch Package (16 plate) All NEW 16 Plate High Performance Clutch Our new BMW 900+ ft/lbs. clutch disc package is our newest line up for the GS7D36SG transmission. Specifically engineered using the latest materials, and 16 plate clutch technology. SSP's new friction discs have been dyno proven time and time again to be the best clutch on the market. Our new friction plate design requires a minimal break in period, thus minimizing down time. SSP has engineered these clutch discs for smooth, street like engagement. You will not have to sacrifice reliability for drive ability. 16 Plate High Performance Clutch - Designed to fit OEM Clutch Basket Contents: 8 x Large Heavy Duty Friction Plates 8 x Small Heavy Duty Friction Plates 7 x Large Heavy Duty Steel Plates Precision Ground 7 x Small Heavy Duty Steel Plates Precision Ground After installation of this product, the transmission will need to go thru a relearning procedure. *Also compatible with the 2008-15 M3,135i, 335iS, E90/E92, M4-F80/F82, M5-F10, and M6-F12/F13 with the DCT transmission*

SSP also makes a "Sepc-S" which is a bit cheaper and rated at 750 ft-lbs.

https://www.sspperformance.com/bmw-d...h-package.html

FB link:

https://m.facebook.com/SouthSidePerformance/
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[roastbeef]

While you're in there, get a set of their lightweight clutch baskets.

[StripclubDJ]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

While you're in there, get a set of their lightweight clutch baskets.

No

[dogbone]

Thanks for the heads up guys.

My understanding is that we are going the SSP route.

Years ago, I called SSP and explored the topic of clutches. The person I talked to was very nice, and when I described the setup of my car with the supercharger, he actually said they would spec out a different setup than the off-the-shelf setup. It was something to do with the heat build up and they had plates that would be more appropriate than the normal offering. I don't remember the specifics of what he said because it was so long ago. But I thought it was interesting that they would do something a bit different for the supercharger.

Anyway, we'll see if it still is true today.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Thanks for the heads up guys.

My understanding is that we are going the SSP route.

Years ago, I called SSP and explored the topic of clutches. The person I talked to was very nice, and when I described the setup of my car with the supercharger, he actually said they would spec out a different setup than the off-the-shelf setup. It was something to do with the heat build up and they had plates that would be more appropriate than the normal offering. I don't remember the specifics of what he said because it was so long ago. But I thought it was interesting that they would do something a bit different for the supercharger.

Anyway, we'll see if it still is true today.

Because I have the Harrop Supercharger, SSP recommended the Spec-R clutches for me rather than the Spec-S due to the higher torque application capability. I don't recall the name of the Engineer at SSP, but yes, very nice guy.

[fsmtnbiker]

Originally Posted by StripclubDJ

No

^this

Lightening components that are already holding ~2x their design power is not a good idea.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by fsmtnbiker

^this

Lightening components that are already holding ~2x their design power is not a good idea.

(I’m not considering anything like that.)

[Kelse92]

I would talk to all the guys who were/are drag racing these cars the last several years. Seems like they all went through all of these things at these power levels with the car and know the answer. The SSP Clutches definitely seem like a good start on a fix.

[rhyary]

I am on the SSP clutches for few years already

[Redd]

Originally Posted by rhyary

I am on the SSP clutches for few years already

Any issues/noise on DCT? Are they daily-able?

[dogbone]

If you have to wait 20 minutes for the track employees to show up and open the gates, you might as well get a bad meme out of it. And yes, that is a McLaren Senna in front of my truck(!!!).

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by dogbone

If you have to wait 20 minutes for the track employees to show up and open the gates, you might as well get a bad meme out of it. And yes, that is a McLaren Senna in front of my truck(!!!).

[IMG]http://www.epicscore.com/online/dogbone-meme-01.jpg[/IMG]

New trailer?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DRLane

New trailer?

Nope---same 'ole trusty dusty trailer.

[Exclusivs]

Now see...if ya guys would make it EASY on yourselves and just get a 6spd, non auto rev matching car, you'd be golden! (jokes, jokes) Sry to see the struggles Gabe, but the upped clutch packs sound promising. I hope for your sake they are successful. Still commendable time on a "battered" car.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

Now see...if ya guys would make it EASY on yourselves and just get a 6spd, non auto rev matching car, you'd be golden! (jokes, jokes) Sry to see the struggles Gabe, but the upped clutch packs sound promising. I hope for your sake they are successful. Still commendable time on a "battered" car.

hehe you are not the first to person to joke about that. Everyone laughs at me because I can't [properly] drive a manual on track. And this experience is still not making me want a manual!!

[StripclubDJ]

Originally Posted by Exclusivs

Now see...if ya guys would make it EASY on yourselves and just get a 6spd, non auto rev matching car, you'd be golden! (jokes, jokes) Sry to see the struggles Gabe, but the upped clutch packs sound promising. I hope for your sake they are successful. Still commendable time on a "battered" car.

Delete my number

And for everyone else, delete your forum account

[dogbone]

Wanna thank @connie.m3 (Instagram) for taking some cool photos this weekend at Buttonwillow. Check her Instagram out. She's got a super clean E46.

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by dogbone

hehe you are not the first to person to joke about that. Everyone laughs at me because I can't [properly] drive a manual on track. And this experience is still not making me want a manual!!

A manual is enjoyable for about three minutes until the old cranky knees start to get angry...

[okusa]

Originally Posted by dogbone

hehe you are not the first to person to joke about that. Everyone laughs at me because I can't [properly] drive a manual on track. And this experience is still not making me want a manual!!

Oh please. You can barely drive one on the street.