My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[SYT_Shadow]

Glad to hear it's all coming along Mr Bone. And, car people are the best people!

[admranger]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Wow! Sorry to hear about the covid stuff. Are you both fully recovered now?

You know, I don't hear of too many trailer problems from other people. I was starting to think it was just me.

We are both fully recovered though my wife took longer b/c she couldn't get the antiviral meds in Canada. I got one of the antivirals immediately and it kicked covid's ass in 2 days. Strep was just a round of antibiotics.

Escaping Canada to get to the US was a whole adventure involving our uber driver getting detained at the border (not joking) and the random act of kindness a stranger in the border town showed by driving us to the off airport enterprise rental car place in Bellingham, WA (she only asked for $10 in gas, let's just say she got covered for more than that). Uber wouldn't pick up and I was about to call a cab when she stopped and asked if we needed help! Once in the rental, I drove us 1350 miles home in a Nissan Sentra.

Yeah, trailer issues were pretty much my existence. Mostly due to the weight I was hauling on LRD tires. Maxed out at max pressure. Once I went to LRE, I was able to avoid the "trailer flat on every trip". We would joke when we saw a tire carcass on the side of the road: "I didn't know we towed here."

Glad to hear that your car parts are coming together and there are improvement opportunities occurring.

[Adrian g.]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Does anyone have contact information for Leddy? I can't find a way to contact them via the website.....

leddymotorsports@icloud.com

[admranger]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Yes, I remember seeing the video of your E46 incident in Vegas. Always a bummer when these things happen.

Not possible. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

redpriest would never harm a BMW. #fact

BTW: please repost video I've seen some doozies at
Spring Mountain (most memorable being a laguna sec blue e46 going off and breaking some of its windows from the rocks it kicked up) and at the road course outside of the LVMS.

[dogbone]

Some more progress: The E92 is back together and getting pretty close. They started the rebuilt engine for the first time after the assembly. Looks like it's working!



The E90 has been assembled, but they want to tweak the upper frame rail because they're not satisfied with how things are lining up after they bent it back.

Here's the race car: (it looks like the street car because the new body panels are primed gray, but you can see the blue fender on the driver side.)



Anyway, things continue to move forward. Really looking forward to putting the E92 back on the street. The last time the car ran was March 2021.

I went to Pikes Peak yesterday for the race. Was cold--in the low 40s and foggy/misty/yucky. But at least the competitors were able to do the full course. It was fun to see a bunch of cool cars and nice people. I was hanging mostly with the Titan-7 guys who were supporting the Evasive Motorsports Tesla Model 3. The Model 3 was the fastest electric car out there---beat 2 Plaids. And took 2nd in Exhibition class. Very nice result!

[SYT_Shadow]

Glad to see her coming back together!!

[dogbone]

Came across an unexpected issue with the E90 yesterday. Caster was off. It seems the control arms are slightly bent. Hard to just look at it and see. So, we've ordered new ones. And we'll take a solid look at the upright and the mounting points. Damper seems ok for the moment, but we'll look more there too. The hub/studs were always going to be replaced. Interesting that the rim was fine but the control arms saw damage.

Kind of a bummer because I just replaced all the control arms a few months ago.....

Anyway, we're chasing it all down now.

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Came across an unexpected issue with the E90 yesterday. Caster was off. It seems the control arms are slightly bent. Hard to just look at it and see. So, we've ordered new ones. And we'll take a solid look at the upright and the mounting points. Damper seems ok for the moment, but we'll look more there too. The hub/studs were always going to be replaced. Interesting that the rim was fine but the control arms saw damage.

Kind of a bummer because I just replaced all the control arms a few months ago.....

Anyway, we're chasing it all down now.

Back in 2019 I had some wheel to wheel contact. 70 mph on the right and 90 mph on the left. Two separate weekends. Bent knuckles, dampers and control arms. Basically had to replace the entire front suspension. That was a fun bill 🙄

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

Back in 2019 I had some wheel to wheel contact. 70 mph on the right and 90 mph on the left. Two separate weekends. Bent knuckles, dampers and control arms. Basically had to replace the entire front suspension. That was a fun bill 🙄

Ooh, that sounds fun….

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Ooh, that sounds fun….

I'm pretty good at spotting the manics and staying out of trouble now. I think I was one of the only cars without contact in my Trans Am race a few weeks ago.

[dogbone]

We’ve been finding more damage. It’s looking like the front passenger wheel/hub system took more impact than we first thought. The brake rotor and hat will need to be replaced, the damper appears to have sustained some kind of damage. We will send it back to MCS for service/rebuild. And out of caution, I am replacing the upright. So just about everything in that front knuckle, along with the control arms is being replaced. The fact that the wheel didn’t sustain any discernible damage aside from a bit of scratches made us think there wasn’t much to deal with in there. But I guess some forces transferred inward.

This sets us back a bit while we sort these things out, but hopefully that’s the last of it and we can get this baby back together.

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

We’ve been finding more damage. It’s looking like the front passenger wheel/hub system took more impact than we first thought. The brake rotor and hat will need to be replaced, the damper appears to have sustained some kind of damage. We will send it back to MCS for service/rebuild. And out of caution, I am replacing the upright. So just about everything in that front knuckle, along with the control arms is being replaced. The fact that the wheel didn’t sustain any discernible damage aside from a bit of scratches made us think there wasn’t much to deal with in there. But I guess some forces transferred inward.

This sets us back a bit while we sort these things out, but hopefully that’s the last of it and we can get this baby back together.

I'm not surprised at all. I had a few wheel to wheel contacts a few years ago an many things were bent/damaged. This last weekend with Trans Am I was hit three times (twice by the same guy) and a fourth time another car and I tried to miss that same guy/car as he blew through the chicane unfortunately we can together. Sheared my valve stem and I was done. AR will look at it today but it will cost $$$$$

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

I'm not surprised at all. I had a few wheel to wheel contacts a few years ago an many things were bent/damaged. This last weekend with Trans Am I was hit three times (twice by the same guy) and a fourth time another car and I tried to miss that same guy/car as he blew through the chicane unfortunately we can together. Sheared my valve stem and I was done. AR will look at it today but it will cost $$$$$

I understand that to some extent “rubbing is racing”, but that seems like a situation where the race organizers need to have a serious conversation with that racer to see what’s up. Or maybe that’s just normal and I just don’t have any stomach for that…..?

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I understand that to some extent “rubbing is racing”, but that seems like a situation where the race organizers need to have a serious conversation with that racer to see what’s up. Or maybe that’s just normal and I just don’t have any stomach for that…..?

I literally forgot about one rub the race director brought up. And it was fun until I had to retire the car. But yes there will be some penalties or worse.

[Bartledoo]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

I literally forgot about one rub the race director brought up. And it was fun until I had to retire the car. But yes there will be some penalties or worse.

When are you gonna start posting the in car race footage on YouTube. Some of us like to watch 🤓

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by Bartledoo

When are you gonna start posting the in car race footage on YouTube. Some of us like to watch 🤓

Ha ha! I could from the Rose Cup race where I won. However Trans Am only allows you to post one lap. After this last race it would be hard to decide which hit/contact/high speed automobile accident to post 😜. Good thing I wasn't sore. Just my pocket book 😬

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

Ha ha! I could from the Rose Cup race where I won. However Trans Am only allows you to post one lap. After this last race it would be hard to decide which hit/contact/high speed automobile accident to post 😜. Good thing I wasn't sore. Just my pocket book 😬

Wait—-Tran Am restricts what in-car video you can post???

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Wait—-Tran Am restricts what in-car video you can post???

Oh yes. And my car looks like a Nascar with all the required Trans Am sponsor stickers 🤣

[Bartledoo]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Wait—-Tran Am restricts what in-car video you can post???

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

Oh yes. And my car looks like a Nascar with all the required Trans Am sponsor stickers 🤣

Oh wow that’s a bummer. Definitely post the rose cup footy though!

[dogbone]

Some more progress on both cars:

E90
-Splitter is fixed - I'm told it's good and strong, but doesn't look new anymore. That's ok. I didn't buy it for its looks. It will require 100% new mounting hardware and a totally new install since the crash beam had to be replaced. I was happy to see that two of the three air dam pieces survived. So I only have to cut one air dam piece.
-New body panels are painted - Picked up the body panels from the paint shop. Wow they look nice. The color is so......deep and beautiful. The last body panels had an Xpel self healing clear bra on them and the front end held up very well over the years. I will probably do the same to these, but you need to wait like a month to let the paint cure before covering it with clear bra.
-Damper has been removed and sent to MCS. We'll see what they have to say.

E92
-The car is back up and running but I don't have it back yet. While test driving it, the shop felt like it pulled to the left on braking. So, we'll look into that.
-Ever since I've owned the car in 2016, the AC is stinky for a minute or two when you turn it on---some kind of very slow refrigerant leak. Now, the system doesn't hold refrigerant at all according to the shop. I have avoided dealing with this issue because it is stupidly expensive. Argh----they're investigating it now, so we'll see what they come up.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that the street car is close to being done. The race car is probably still 4-6 weeks out---hoping maybe early September I can get out on track.

Shiny bumper! No reflector holes!


Sad, lonely, but mostly put back together race car......

[///Mobbin]

Good progress Gabe, keep it up!

[dogbone]

A bit of good car news today-----the E92 M3 lives to fight another day! I got it back today. It drives great! So, now the E90 motor has been rebuilt and is installed and running in the E92. Took it straight to get smog tested because registration is overdue and smog was required. Passed. Yay!

It's back!


Also heard that MCS finished fixing the E90 damper today. If I understand correctly, both the damper body and the shaft were replaced....so much fun!

I picked up the splitter from Zebulon a few days ago. It has a couple battle scars on it, but otherwise looks great. They say it's totally strong and flat again. Considering that it was the first thing to hit the tire wall at almost 40 mph, I'm happy that repairing it was even possible.

Anyway, once the damper returns, my hope is that the E90 can be finished fairly quickly because I think most tasks have been completed. I would like to get it back on the track here in Colorado by late August/early September so I have some time to deal with any potential bugs before taking it back to California in October for the winter.

Edit: Oh yeah, forgot to mention that within just a few hours of having it back, I already got a thumbs up from someone on the freeway! haha Some dude in a Challenger pulls up next to me on the freeway and it was all love. For some reason, this car just gets the love from people.