Bernooo's E92 M3 Clubsport Build

[redpriest]

What springs are you running now?

[berns]

Originally Posted by redpriest

What springs are you running now?

600/1000 divorced

[omgzirra_exe]

so i got this stroker motor you can buy...joking

but man I love the update and I've always said it too, as much as forward X is great.. there's somethin about the stock x placement noise at full rpm that just hits different + the top end power is fantastic.

It was always a pleasure to see this car once a month haha.

[berns]

Had a fun weekend out at Bimmer Challenge. Missed the first two rounds, but it was nice to be back with the gang, and really nice not to be back at Buttonwillow.

I didn't do much prep.. I mean, just about none. This was my second day on the 18x11 / 295/30 A052 setup and I have to say, after driving all the way to Chuckwalla, they felt amazing on the much smoother / flowing sweeper track, compared to Buttonwillow. My car setup felt much better, too. Still had some major high-speed understeer, and for some reason, despite zero'ing out the wing a while ago, I never thought to lower it significantly. I probably took 3-4" out of its height, left it around 0*, and in doing so, brought a lot of balance back to the car. Testing at Buttonwillow on my old 275/35 RE71RS setup would have more conclusive findings, but I'm optimistic. Still, I want to design something better for the front, but I'm lazy and don't want to deal with that right now.

Speaking of tires, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. Data says the 295/30 setup is just slower overall compared to the 275/35, as far as Buttonwillow goes for sure. I just run out of gear, and I lose speed the entire run up to Sweeper. So, I either try to run a taller tire, go back down to 275s, or, swap my stock FD back in. Not sure what the move is... Open to opinions.

Anyway -- took home 2nd place in B2, losing out to a properly setup M4 GTS that makes 490whp/500tq, has SPL arms and was running 305f/325r Goodyear 3R's... Yes, it's heavier than mine, but that combo was dominant at Chuckwalla and I couldn't match the pace. I didn't have it easy in the fastest session (session 2), being stuck behind the worst dudes, wasting the prime window of the tires for 4 straight laps, and having sand all over the track at an important corner exit that cost an additional .6-.8 sec. SO, without these things, maybe a 1:53 would have been possible, especially on fresh tires. I need more seat time at Chuck, and I'm committed to running it more often.

Here's an 8 minute video that will make you want to throw your computer out the window. Enjoy.

My buddy Andrew's crazy E46, somewhat twinning.

[rhyary]

Almost threw the iPhone on the floor after the first two laps. Frustrating.

[rhyary]

Shis, what was that?

[1FastSicilian]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Almost threw the iPhone on the floor after the first two laps. Frustrating.

This guy in the porsche really was starting to piss me off watching the first 2 laps!! I couldn't image the level of frustration that berns was going through.

Must've been a rookie..

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by berns

Speaking of tires, I'm at a bit of a crossroads. Data says the 295/30 setup is just slower overall compared to the 275/35, as far as Buttonwillow goes for sure. I just run out of gear, and I lose speed the entire run up to Sweeper. So, I either try to run a taller tire, go back down to 275s, or, swap my stock FD back in. Not sure what the move is... Open to opinions.

That's interesting to hear. I actually experienced the same thing when I had my E92 with Toyo RR's. The fastest time I ever set was on 275 square, rather than 295's.

Are you thinking it's solely related to the gearing causing the 295's to be less optimal in comparison? I didn't do much digging into it myself looking at the data, as I sold the car quite shortly after so it wasn't that relevant to me anymore but I'm curious to hear someone else experience the same thing. At the time I thought it was more track condition related rather than the tire size itself, but who knows!

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by tsk94

That's interesting to hear. I actually experienced the same thing when I had my E92 with Toyo RR's. The fastest time I ever set was on 275 square, rather than 295's.

Are you thinking it's solely related to the gearing causing the 295's to be less optimal in comparison? I didn't do much digging into it myself looking at the data, as I sold the car quite shortly after so it wasn't that relevant to me anymore but I'm curious to hear someone else experience the same thing. At the time I thought it was more track condition related rather than the tire size itself, but who knows!

The taller sidewall of the 275/35 is probably more of a factor than the diameter of the 295/30.

[okusa]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Almost threw the iPhone on the floor after the first two laps. Frustrating.

Supercharger fixes this...

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Shis, what was that?

Someone from an earlier session just dumped dirt all over the racing line. Was so frustrating.

I tried to clear it berns on one lap hahaha, but car went sideways so I just avoided it like everyone else had to.

[omgzirra_exe]

Originally Posted by tsk94

That's interesting to hear. I actually experienced the same thing when I had my E92 with Toyo RR's. The fastest time I ever set was on 275 square, rather than 295's.

Are you thinking it's solely related to the gearing causing the 295's to be less optimal in comparison? I didn't do much digging into it myself looking at the data, as I sold the car quite shortly after so it wasn't that relevant to me anymore but I'm curious to hear someone else experience the same thing. At the time I thought it was more track condition related rather than the tire size itself, but who knows!

Berns - video is the definition of a Porsche driver at a HPDE LOL.

I think it's always been agreed upon that 275/35 was the sweet spot for our cars on a street tire.

even the assist e92 m3 runs a 295/30 square set up and on straight line acceleration looks to be struggling and corner exit acceleration as well in the SUGO track battle.

if it helps the assist M3 runs

4.1FD
OS GIKEN Diff
295/30/18
18x11 square

i wonder if 295/30 would work best on a DCT car must try...

[berns]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

Berns - video is the definition of a Porsche driver at a HPDE LOL.

I think it's always been agreed upon that 275/35 was the sweet spot for our cars on a street tire.

even the assist e92 m3 runs a 295/30 square set up and on straight line acceleration looks to be struggling and corner exit acceleration as well in the SUGO track battle.

if it helps the assist M3 runs

4.1FD
OS GIKEN Diff
295/30/18
18x11 square

i wonder if 295/30 would work best on a DCT car must try...

Yeah, I think 295/30 6MT stock 3.83 FD would be perfect.

[CPWINCH]

Thank you for the updates

[donald]

berns, love the thread! Hate the porsche cup car driving, though, that's nuts. gotta leave the ego at home and let the faster driver past...

Question: what are your thoughts on the "ranking" of track mods you've done so far on this thing? Besides the obvious coilover, track wheels + tires, brakes: what's felt like the biggest impact? The SPL kinematics, the rear diff, various aero? Curious how you think these through and the order you did everything.

[berns]

Originally Posted by donald

berns, love the thread! Hate the porsche cup car driving, though, that's nuts. gotta leave the ego at home and let the faster driver past...

Question: what are your thoughts on the "ranking" of track mods you've done so far on this thing? Besides the obvious coilover, track wheels + tires, brakes: what's felt like the biggest impact? The SPL kinematics, the rear diff, various aero? Curious how you think these through and the order you did everything.

This is a good question!

It's tricky because the car is such a package, sum of its parts kind of thing...
Looking back, I was always blown away at the simplicity and capability of the 1WNR MCS setup paired with the SPL front arms. Together, that turned the E92 into a serious weapon on track. I really enjoyed growing with the car at that phase, trimming weight and just extracting the most I could.

From there, the most substantial changes came with the addition of the Drexler LSD and the mild aero package. The car was incredible at this stage, still with the 1WNR's but just a fucking blast with way more pace and stability. Aero was amazingly balanced with the BW lip/canards & GT4 Mk2 wing from Germany. The car was always on the edge, though, which added to the fun, but made it hard to find consistency...

So, I added more rear downforce and upgraded the 1WNR to 3way remotes; cha ching. The massive rear wing removed a lot of the character I loved about the E92. The car wasn't rotating like it used to, and just didn't feel as lively, but man was it faster. The 3ways had a similar effect at first, kind of calming the car down and again, making it quicker everywhere. I am still very much in the process of finding the perfect setup for my preferences and style, and trying to reach my goals with this car. I have a few things in store that I'm working on for myself and to eventually bring to the community through SUB2 SPEEDHOUSE, and I'm excited to see how it all works out.

TLDR; a proper diff is fucking magic in these cars, and aero is fun but adds complexity to finding balance.... I wouldn't do either of them before doing a proper MCS setup with the SPL arms and a nice brake kit, though.

Hope this was helpful!

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by berns

This is a good question!

It's tricky because the car is such a package, sum of its parts kind of thing...
Looking back, I was always blown away at the simplicity and capability of the 1WNR MCS setup paired with the SPL front arms. Together, that turned the E92 into a serious weapon on track. I really enjoyed growing with the car at that phase, trimming weight and just extracting the most I could.

From there, the most substantial changes came with the addition of the Drexler LSD and the mild aero package. The car was incredible at this stage, still with the 1WNR's but just a fucking blast with way more pace and stability. Aero was amazingly balanced with the BW lip/canards & GT4 Mk2 wing from Germany. The car was always on the edge, though, which added to the fun, but made it hard to find consistency...

So, I added more rear downforce and upgraded the 1WNR to 3way remotes; cha ching. The massive rear wing removed a lot of the character I loved about the E92. The car wasn't rotating like it used to, and just didn't feel as lively, but man was it faster. The 3ways had a similar effect at first, kind of calming the car down and again, making it quicker everywhere. I am still very much in the process of finding the perfect setup for my preferences and style, and trying to reach my goals with this car. I have a few things in store that I'm working on for myself and to eventually bring to the community through SUB2 SPEEDHOUSE, and I'm excited to see how it all works out.

TLDR; a proper diff is fucking magic in these cars, and aero is fun but adds complexity [...]

+1... MCS 1WNR + few SPL arms & upgraded LSD will get you 90% of the cars potential IMO. Obviously weight loss is huge too!

[donald]

Originally Posted by berns

This is a good question!

It's tricky because the car is such a package, sum of its parts kind of thing...
Looking back, I was always blown away at the simplicity and capability of the 1WNR MCS setup paired with the SPL front arms. Together, that turned the E92 into a serious weapon on track. I really enjoyed growing with the car at that phase, trimming weight and just extracting the most I could.

From there, the most substantial changes came with the addition of the Drexler LSD and the mild aero package. The car was incredible at this stage, still with the 1WNR's but just a fucking blast with way more pace and stability. Aero was amazingly balanced with the BW lip/canards & GT4 Mk2 wing from Germany. The car was always on the edge, though, which added to the fun, but made it hard to find consistency...

So, I added more rear downforce and upgraded the 1WNR to 3way remotes; cha ching. The massive rear wing removed a lot of the character I loved about the E92. The car wasn't rotating like it used to, and just didn't feel as lively, but man was it faster. The 3ways had a similar effect at first, kind of calming the car down and again, making it quicker everywhere. I am still very much in the process of finding the perfect setup for my preferences and style, and trying to reach my goals with this car. I have a few things in store that I'm working on for myself and to eventually bring to the community through SUB2 SPEEDHOUSE, and I'm excited to see how it all works out.

TLDR; a proper diff is fucking magic in these cars, and aero is fun but adds complexity to finding balance.... I wouldn't do either of them before doing a proper MCS setup with the SPL arms and a nice brake kit, though.

Hope this was helpful!

Super helpful - thanks for the insightful response! Gotta appreciate that much of the speed + fun of the platform can be had with a few of the more standard modifications with the coilovers and the front arms. The proper LSD is costly but also seems to be a fan favorite.

Will keep following along for what's next with this build, even as you get into the weeds with the bigger performance mods

[jmeenach]

Originally Posted by donald

berns, love the thread! Hate the porsche cup car driving, though, that's nuts. gotta leave the ego at home and let the faster driver past...

I've seen that cup car at Buttonwillow a few times; same story as in this video. Guy has more money than skill, that's for sure!

I start started reading this thread a few weeks ago (been following on IG for a little as well). Not going to lie, I've been taking some serious notes for setting up my car now that I decided to turn the car into a track build. Great stuff here!!!

[berns]

Man... that was a long summer break, and it's not quite over... but, I feel kind of rested (even though my daughter never lets me sleep), and somewhere, I'm finding some motivation to get back to the track.

The off season has been nice -- SUB2 SPEEDHOUSE is cruising, and it's been cool talking to so many new track buds and helping them get the most out of their M cars. Aside from that, and life, and work... I finally got around to turning my 17x18' garage into my dream office/workshop. We bought a tiny 2 bedroom/1 bath house last year, and my wife and I are both working from home quite a bit. That plus our daughter, a 75lb dog and my mother-in-law, and it's impossible to focus in there. I've also never had a nice place to work on the car. Never had nice tools, nothing organized, none of it, so, this is a dream come true.

Here's before... the original garage from 1929 when the house was built.



And here it is now.





Insulated walls & ceiling, hung plywood, sanded and coated in poly. The desk wall previously had nothing on it, but now has a window and an entry door. Added a mini-split AC/heat unit, some NewAge cabinets and finally had a place to put my SIM build from the pandemic, that I literally haven't touched since we had our daughter. I think its days are numbered, but it does look cool.

The E92 hasn't seen much action, since it was stored during the renovation. But goddamn, getting back in the seat, hitting 8600rpm and feeling that vibration of that thing again brought life back into me. I love this car.

I have some unfinished business at Buttonwillow, still, and a sub-50 on street tires is and always will be the goal until it happens. I got real close earlier in the year, running multiple 1:50 laps, even down to a 1:50.09 with a pass that slowed me down, but still, I couldn't get back there. I was eager, maybe a little cocky, and I broke all my own rules, one of which is to NOT MAKE BIG CHANGES all at once. One thing is clear, though... This thing needs a proper front splitter if it's going to work well. The BimmerWorld lip is no match for the BimmerWorld wing. I'm working with a pretty cool brand to bring something special to the E9x M market, but good things take time and it's still not done. I kind of don't even want to go back to the track until I address this, but we'll see.

In the meantime, having some downtime between jobs and the clean work space staring at me all day, I couldn't help myself but try to remove some more weight from the car. To be honest, the front carpet was pretty wrecked anyway (this car used to have a cage in it, it was cut out unbeknownst to me before even the last owner purchased it). So, there were rips, and there's some ugly stuff underneath that I'll eventually clean, paint and take care of when the car gets a full cage, at some point.

So, I ditched the front carpet, some ducting and the airbag module under the center console. I found 15.3lbs, and I actually love how the car is looking. Also added a white CAE knob that I've wanted for a while, and now I just need to ditch the silver trim for OEM carbon leather, or just paint/wrap this trim a darker color so the white knob can live without clashing. Stuff like this kills me.





I found some info that the sound deadening does add up to another 7ish lbs, so when I'm REALLY bored, I'll grab a heat gun and some lacquer thinner and get to work there. Then I'll spray the bits of the floor that need it in Alpine White.

It's tempting to go for the headliner and curtain airbags (about 15lbs total I believe) as well as the center console (about 6.5lbs..) but these are the things that keep the interior looking good and feeling good when I drive, so they're staying for now.

I repurposed the OEM deadpedal and kind of sandwiched it into place for now and it doesn't look too bad, but I am going to try a cool carbon piece from Neicz Motorsport.



If there's interest, I can look into sending a bunch over to California to get for others since these guys are overseas.




While I was trimming weight, I decided to throw in the Hard Motorsport rear trunk floor panel. Honestly wasn't too much work, and I do think it looks way better than the plastic pan that was there, but savings are marginal... 5.5lbs for the stock piece, 2.5lbs for the Hard piece. Weight is weight, though, right? Right.



In total, I've removed about 17lbs from the car which should put it right around 3100lbs even with half a tank.

I have some drivetrain upgrades in the works too, but these will go in towards the end of the year... Going to try a carbon driveshaft from YCFM, as well as a pretty slick twin-disk clutch from TTV. Together, those two should shave 25lbs from the drivetrain alone, bringing the car down to 3075lbs and hopefully aiding in quicker revs, quicker shifts, and some freed up power. Just hoping the durability doesn't get hit, since this car has taken abuse with open arms, as it just hit 109k on the original clutch, driveshaft, and all other major components.

I'm tempted to remove the windshield, rear glass and rear quarter windows to swap to Lexan, but not sure the weight savings are worth it for such an extreme modification that I know won't hold up well to street use and washing, etc... Just trying to get as close to 3k as I can without completely ruining this thing. Or it's possible I did that already, but have done it so slowly that it doesn't hurt as much.

Sold my white TE's that I loved dearly too, because this car will only be wearing 18x11's from now on. I do need a second set of wheels... So I'll figure that out soon. Still loving the Apex, but kind of want to powdercoat them white.



So -- excited to get back behind the wheel and keep pushing. We'll see where we end up before 2024, but I'm trying my best not to put too much pressure on myself and just enjoy the ride. Not sure how many of you are still on here reading this, but I missed writing this journal, so it feels good to be back either way.

Love,
Alex

[racingmonkey]

Originally Posted by berns

If there's interest, I can look into sending a bunch over to California to get for others since these guys are overseas.

Interested for a DCT.

[berns]

Originally Posted by racingmonkey

Interested for a DCT.

They're the same for manual/DCT.

So, after a few beers last night, I decided it was time to take care of something else I've wanted to do (that has zero relation to this car being faster..) The brushed aluminum trim never fit this build for me. I'd always planned to wrap it in alcantera but it seems tedious and I just know I won't do a good job. On my 1M-Clone build, I found a paint that worked really well for interiors:

SEM Color Coat - Satin Black. This stuff is amazing and sprays beautifully. The aluminum might work better with a nice coat of primer first, and you could finish it with a satin clear if you really wanted to go all out, but I just prepped it with some Prep All and a wipe, and went to town. Surprised at how good it looks and feels. Is this the content you care about in the track forum? Probably not. But here it is anyway if anyone's been itching to ditch their trim color quickly and affordably, while having it look really, really nice.