E92 M3 track build

[dsme94]

Hello fellow members,

Let's kick off another track build thread... This is my second attempt at an E92 track car, the first I had to sell to recoup some cash. I purchased this E92 just before the new year for a very, very good price especially given its condition. When it's driven it feels a little tired, but this is exactly what I was looking for as the majority of parts are going to be replaced. This car is currently daily driven and will be for the remainder of the year, and all going well I can get myself into a nice Range Rover to tow the M3 back and forth to the track for next year.

Hoping for some seat time this year as I've spent a fortune on it this month, although given today's announcement I'm not expecting that to be any time soon. The goal of the build is to have fun with reasonably price consumables.



So the above is the first picture of the car in its complete standard form and will be the last, lol.

I ordered a set of Recaro Pole Positions and PCI frames and rails to go in which arrived yesterday, I went ahead and fitted this last night which wasn't as straight forward as I thought it would be, the seatbelt receptacle wasn't fitting correctly, pushing against the transmission tunnel not allowing the frames to line up with the bolt holes in the floor. I did have plans to keep the original belts given it was a daily driver (for now) but chances are I'm gonna ditch the original belts.

It was like Christmas all over again when these arrived.



and finally fitted..


I have a lot of parts on order and I've found a lot of parts have substantial lead times. My latest purchase has been a harness bar from Pinnacle Motorsport which should arrive early next week which will allow me to safely fit the Schroth Clubman 6 point harnesses I've ordered from MS Motorsport. The harness bar should do the trick until I get a full bolt-in cage, I just feel like I've spent enough just now. Having now fitted these seats, I now need to get coding out the airbag and occupancy warnings, I recently purchased a Surface Pro 4 which should be ideal for taking to track and plugging into the car given any issues. Also purchased the OBD cable from Ecuworx as they have the latest version of EdiabasLib which will allow me to update the ECU myself, including applying the Aaron Reeve remap.

The car doesn't have the rod bearings changed so that's high on the to-do list, I have ARP bolts and ACL rod bearings sitting here waiting to be fitted along with 12 litres of Castrol 10w60 oil. 9 litres is enough for an oil change but more is required when dropping and cleaning out the sump, should have around 1-2 litres spare. I managed to get a set of Vibratechnics competition engine mounts off someone on Facebook for a good price, they had purchased and never fitted them. Had these on my last car and were OK so bought them again. Hoping to make a timelapse of this but not sure how it'll turn out.

Suspension wise I've opted for KW Clubsport V2 supplied by MS Motorsport, I ordered these just before the new year so I'm hoping for delivery anytime now. These will be fitted at the same time as doing the rod bearings.

I have a set of brake ducts from Pinnacle Motorsport for the GT4 splitter I've bought from Mod Nations. These will be paired up nicely with an AP PRO 5000R BBK supplied by Malc Buck. A set of pads and discs with this kit is only £200. Chances are I'll need to do brake lines at the same time which is not a nice job at all.

I have ordered a set of Protrack One wheels in black 18x10j square ET20 from BC Motorparts. Chances are I will need to run a 5mm spacer up front to clear the spring perch which I really didn't want but I don't think there's any alternative when running KW Clubsports. These have the longest lead time out of all the parts I've ordered, lead time is around 6 weeks which is slightly frustrating. Tegiwa did have Apex wheels in stock but I wasn't paying the £1700 price tag they're asking for them. I have opted for some NS2R tyres to be fitted on these, and I have ordered a set of Zestino tyres having wanted to try these for a while, they'll sit in the garage until I need to change the NS2Rs.

I have a set of Tegiwa test pipes to fit, which is where the Surface Pro will come in handy to switch the CEL off as well as disable cold start as these are really noisy on cold start even without test pipes.

That's it, will update the thread when the parts arrive

If you have instagram you can follow me there too

@clubsport_m3

[slcook54]

Off to a great start! Where are you located?

[dsme94]

Originally Posted by slcook54

Off to a great start! Where are you located?

Thank you - I am over the water, far far away from San Fran. I'm in Scotland

[dsme94]

Some LCI rears turned up in the post today so I got them fitted, trivial I know, but I hate the pre-lci lights, looks much modern with the new ones.

[slcook54]

Not trivial at all! They make such a big difference. Nice

[MisterClutch888]

what are oem lci? or aftermarket?

looks really good. Thats going to be my next mod too.

Originally Posted by dsme94

Some LCI rears turned up in the post today so I got them fitted, trivial I know, but I hate the pre-lci lights, looks much modern with the new ones.

[SYT_Shadow]

Congratulations, enjoy the build! I thought I was alone in my inherent dislike of the pre-LCI tail lights, but now I see I'm not alone!! Even for a full race car I'd still change the tails!

By the way, good job using the Ecuworx software. Here in the US everyone relies on canned tunes made by non-tuners which are full of garbage in them.

[MisterClutch888]

Those lci looks way better. I hate my 2008 pre-lci. Im curious if anyone uses the Depo lci ones?

[JBird..]

Originally Posted by MisterClutch888

Those lci looks way better. I hate my 2008 pre-lci. Im curious if anyone uses the Depo lci ones?

I have been running the LCI Depo lights for over 2 years now. The fitment was great, although I do adjust it a mm or two every 6 months to make sure it's spot on. The only thing that really sucks about them is the relay boxes. As berns called out-

"Not only was this a mess, but the noise was intense when using turn signals, especially without a rear seat in. Turns out you can just use the BMW factory LCI harness which weighs nothing, and just requires a quick coding afterwards. Shaved another 2 pounds!"

He's spot on, and I would highly recommend getting the adapter if you go this route.

[dsme94]

Kw Clubsports arrived so got them fitted









The protrack wheels also turned up, much much earlier than I thought, got the tyres fitted and stuck them on. These are 18x10 square. 5mm spacer required up front and likely will run a 10. Had to run a 10mm on the rear as my nuts were too long, I have a Millway stud kit coming but chances are I’ll still run the 10mm on the rear until I get 11s for the rear

Still need to get some spacers as I’ve borrowed some just now, unsure which brand to buy




without the spacer

[DerEisbaer]

Making progress, very nice!

Really looking forward to seeing more of this!

[dsme94]

My GT4 splitter arrived so I got that fitted last night after work. Was a pain in the ass and it's highlighted an issue I have with the felt undertray so I've ordered a new one from Pinnacle Motorsport.
The splitter I purchased was threaded so I was able to bolt the splitter to the bumper using M6 bolts. There are no templates provided with these splitters so drilling the holes in the bumper to get the splitter on is a guessing game.

I also fitted the harnesses but I'm not happy with how they are fitted. In order to fit them properly, it appears you have to weld plates to the car and bolt in the eyelets which I will likely get around to at some point.
However, the PCI frames I bought have holes in the frame to mount the crotch belts to which I have done in the meantime. The frame also has a hole where you can put a nut an eyelet onto, which I tried, but there isn't enough room for the eyelet, it touches the transmission tunnel and doesn't allow for the frame to align with the holes in the floor, so I've had to strap the harness straight onto the frame with no eyelet.
Lastly, on the side where the door is, I had intentions of bolting the eyelet into the hole where the standard belt bar would bolt onto but the eyelet threads are too big for this. Not really sure what to do at the moment with this, will have to do some research.











I'm really pleased with how the car is coming along, I've wanted to be at this stage with an E92 for years.
I took it a run yesterday, and with the weight removed combined with the car being lowered it felt pretty quick.

Cheers

[dsme94]

Got the car on my mate's ramp so he could tackle the rod shells. The didn't look too good but nothing catastrophic. Replaced these with ACL and ARP parts. Additionally fitted new competition Vibratechnics engine mounts and to be honest, you would never know they were changed, there is no increase to NVH. I got the Tegiwa decats fitted and honestly wow the noise of the car has been transformed. The BBK is also on!

I've ordered some new rears discs as the ones I have are pretty fucked. I managed to get a set of ATE rears for £269, bargain! Unsure when I'll get these on, I drive with TC fully off so my understanding is the rear brakes won't be used very much.

Need to book the car in for an alignment.



Within a couple of hours, we had the subframe off and sump down. There was a lot of carbon build up so we got the sump all cleaned up using a parts washer.





Got the old engine mounts out, they were pretty fucked.



Next up was getting the bottom of the rod off to get the shells out and back up.




Old shells



Tegiwa decats fitted



The rack and subframe was covered in oil from an old oil leak, so we got this in the parts cleaner and cleaned this up too. The subframe is really sharp around the edges and didn't quite fit in the parts cleaner so this pretty unpleasant lol.



All back together now with the BBK from Malc Buck fitted.



I can't stand the pad rattle so as soon as the parts are in stock from TrackFormula I'll be ordering a set.

We almost ready for some track time, just need to get a couple of GoPro's and find a good mount. Recommendations are welcome!

[b4hand]

Any plans to add a harness bar or a 4 point rolll bar? I know Pinnacle offers one

[dsme94]

Originally Posted by b4hand

Any plans to add a harness bar or a 4 point rolll bar? I know Pinnacle offers one

I have a harness bar from Pinnacle already which is what the harnesses are tied to at the rear, will get a picture soon.

[Rochen_00]

Originally Posted by dsme94

Very good job with your build, I love it!

Which tire is on if it's not too much to ask?

[dsme94]

Originally Posted by Rochen_00

Very good job with your build, I love it!

Which tire is on if it's not too much to ask?

Hi,

it's an NS2R from Nankang

[dsme94]

Another update on the progress of this M3, not quite as significant as the last but still good progress.

I couldn't stand the pad rattle so bought some antirattle clips from TrackFormula. Unfortunately, they have stopped working so the pad rattle is back again.



I got some ceramic coating for the wheels as would like them to clean up OK with the brake dust from track



I got the Pinnacle Motorsport harness bar fitted as a medium term solution until I buy a cage, likely a dash dodger Safety Devices cage from Martin



I also got an extended brake pedal from Pinnacle Motorsport



The rear arches on the car had a slight but of rust on them as well as paint flake. This has happened since the standard alloys were fitted with I think 20-25mm spacers. This made the rear tyres scrub the arches quite frequently. I got the car back tonight with the rust rubbed back and the arches painted. Extremely happy with the paint match.














And the weather got good so I took the car a run



Now that I have a track car, I decided to get myself a decent toolbox for the garage, picked this SnapOn box up second hand, guy even delivered it to me which was ideal, just need to get some decent tools now to replace some of the Halfords kit namely ratchets and ratchet spanners.



Scissor ramp is on the wish list next.

The rear caliper has started to stick on the passenger side so I'm ordering a caliper for that now, still got the diff oil to change in favour for the Millers stuff sitting on top of the toolbox. Apart from that, we are Good to go for Knockhill on 1st of May.

[dsme94]

Had the first track day on Saturday so a small update should follow of course.

I started having issues with one of the rear callipers, one had already been replaced prior to me purchasing the car, normally these kind of items fail in pairs so slightly frustrating that it wasn't replaced at the same time. Anyway, I got a new calliper and set about fitting it.




Can see the old piston was all rusty...



Next up was to fix the camber. The garage which done the alignment couldn't get more than 2.5 degrees of camber as the top mount nuts couldn't be tightened if pushed right over. In order to solve this i jacked both sides of the car up and pushed the strut in towards the car, this allowed for -3.5 degrees each side.







As a result of running the 18x10 Protracks with 12mm spacers, the wheel is rubbing of the arch liner. Not particularly sure how I'm going to proceed with this yet



The discs were destroyed on the rear, I had a set sitting for a while until I decided which pads to purchase for the rear. I managed to get a set of RSL19s so paired them up with some new discs.







My mate had a track day in his E92 M3 that he bought at the tail end of last year, we pretty much have identical cars, although his is fully polybushed with Powerflex Black series bushes.



In preparation of my first track day, I dropped the oil out of the diff for some fresh oil. Absolutely hate the smell of gearbox/diff oil. Looking forward to undertaking the rear end refresh to get this diff housing cleaned right up.





I also decided to change the spark plugs as from the service history they were due. However it seems these, going by the condition, haven't been in for too long...



I also changed the idler pulley along with the belt. I couldn't get the tensioner on the alternator side to move so there's still one belt to change which i'll likely tackle when it's time to do the cooling overhaul for next season.



I got an AliExpress wing, car doesn't look bare at the rear now. The wing arrived with an open box and missing parts to mount it onto the car which was really disappointing. I managed to get some money back and used that to purchase some new mounts from Pinnacle Motorsport.



As I don't have a cage, yet, there were few places to mount a GoPro. I opted to attach it to the plastic trim that sits between the front and rear seats. I tried multiple different kinds of sticky pads, none worked, which is the reason for the screw.







I came to realise that the USB port inside the car doesn't supply enough power to power the GoPro. The GoPro Hero 7 Black requires 1 amp of power. The USB only supplies 0.5 amps. As a result i've had to use the cigarette lighter to power the GoPro. I've chosen to use no battery and have the GoPro hard wired.

[dsme94]

First track day, lunch time break performing really well



Session finished



After track wash



Got the rear inside lights polished up a bit as they were very hazy.





Ready for Wednesday track day



Lastly some footage from track, the air fresheners are gone already, I had no idea they were blocking the view so much lol.

My mates Youtube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAf...ud-q9GPMniQYgw he is really fast in his managed a 56 second on his first outing in the car.

[Redd]

Great idea on the Gopro mount! I will have to explore that.

[dsme94]

Originally Posted by Redd

Great idea on the Gopro mount! I will have to explore that.

Cheers - it works well

Some more footage as was on track yesterday 1-8pm