My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[davidwarren]

I might have missed it, is your wing mounted with just the three studs and nuts on the trunk lid, or did you shop add additional bracing?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by davidwarren

I might have missed it, is your wing mounted with just the three studs and nuts on the trunk lid, or did you shop add additional bracing?

Racewerkz simply mounted the wing to the trunk with three bolts. No additional bracing. It turns out the M3 trunk, hinges and latches are pretty darn strong.

hehe I remember the night I went to pick up the car after the wing was installed. I was standing there so impressed and happy with how cool it looked. Then Casey from Racewerkz wanted to show me how strong it was. He started yanking and pushing and pulling on it. (He's a big strong guy who played hockey.) I was like, "STOP THAT!!!" hahahaha I turned away and said, "I am not looking!!! You are not impressing me!!!" hahaha He said, "what do you think is going to happen to this wing when you drive 150mph?" I'm like, "I don't care!! Just stop that!" hahaha Even after four years on the car and a lot of track days that include going 160mph on the Auto Club Speedway Oval, the trunk is not even dimpled or anything. Looks the same as the day it was installed.

We discussed doing a chassis mount instead of a trunk mount. But back in 2015, when I bought the wing, I was not prepared to fully commit to a chassis mount.

I can happily report that there is plenty of downforce from a 67" APR trunk-mounted wing. The downforce is not lost on trunk flex. There are tracks where I actually reduce the angle of attack because I get too much understeer in high speed rounders. I can feel the balance of the car change with just a 1º change.

Someday I'll probably mount the wing "properly" directly to the chassis, but I have other things I want to do to the car before that.

[roastbeef]

Plus, you can adjust the "bumpers" that the trunk closes on to make it an extra snug fit. My trunk doesn't move much, and when I tug on my uprights with my lesser mounted wing, the whole car moves more than the trunk. I was impressed with how solid trunk mounts are on these cars.

[davidwarren]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Racewerkz simply mounted the wing to the trunk with three bolts. No additional bracing. It turns out the M3 trunk, hinges and latches are pretty darn strong.

hehe I remember the night I went to pick up the car after the wing was installed. I was standing there so impressed and happy with how cool it looked. Then Casey from Racewerkz wanted to show me how strong it was. He started yanking and pushing and pulling on it. (He's a big strong guy who played hockey.) I was like, "STOP THAT!!!" hahahaha I turned away and said, "I am not looking!!! You are not impressing me!!!" hahaha He said, "what do you think is going to happen to this wing when you drive 150mph?" I'm like, "I don't care!! Just stop that!" hahaha Even after four years on the car and a lot of track days that include going 160mph on the Auto Club Speedway Oval, the trunk is not even dimpled or anything. Looks the same as the day it was installed.

We discussed doing a chassis mount instead of a trunk mount. But back in 2015, when I bought the wing, I was not prepared to fully commit to a chassis mount.

I can happily report that there is plenty of downforce from a 67" APR trunk-mounted wing. The downforce is not lost on trunk flex. There are tracks where I actually reduce the angle of attack because I get too much understeer in high speed rounders. I can feel the balance of the car change with just a 1º change.

Someday I'll probably mount the wing "properly" directly to the chassis, but I have other things I want to do to the car before that.

Good to hear. I just mounted the Gt-250 on my e90 as supplied. Good feedback that it is sufficient. Thanks!

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by davidwarren

Good to hear. I just mounted the Gt-250 on my e90 as supplied. Good feedback that it is sufficient. Thanks!

Enjoy! It's a good product.

[72dan]

I got that aluminum reservoir maybe a year ago from Bimmerworld. Well made, nice welds, it made a huge difference. I first saw it on some E92's at big Willow. On a really hot day and a long session maybe a tiny bit of fluid but nothing like what I had with the stock reservoir.

Sorry to hear about your dog.

Dan

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by 72dan

I got that aluminum reservoir maybe a year ago from Bimmerworld. Well made, nice welds, it made a huge difference. I first saw it on some E92's at big Willow. On a really hot day and a long session maybe a tiny bit of fluid but nothing like what I had with the stock reservoir.

Sorry to hear about your dog.

Dan

Yeah I’m hopeful that it will help. Seeing all these fluids spewing in the engine bay for years and years has been annoying and not ideal.

Sadly there is no track day on the calendar for awhile to be able to test it. And my E92 in CO is still having issues that haven’t been sorted out yet. Ah, first world problems.

[Bimmer22]

Originally Posted by dogbone

So-----hehe-----I'm a bad guy to ask. I don't mess around with street tires on track anymore. After all these years going to the track, I just cannot get myself to work so hard at setting up a car and then put street tires on and slide around. So, I use Pirelli DH scrubs even on my E92. It's simply my tire of choice now.

I have a set of 9.5" ARC-8 rims for the E92 and I put 265/645/18 DH scrubs on them. An M3 that still has a back seat (meaning no half cage) can fit a whole set of wheels in the back seat. Just bring a floor jack and switch the wheels at the track. I highly recommend that to anyone that tracks several times per year. Trashing street tires on track and then having to daily drive trashed street tires stinks. And I really love the peace of mind I get having a set of wheels for street and a set for track. If I have a tire issue, or I cord a set of tires, I don't have any problems getting home. I don't have to "monitor" my tire situation so that I can make it home.

The RE71R is very good. People really like them a lot and put down good laps on them. I don't think you would regret giving them a try.

Hi dogbone. Awesome build. Sorry about your dog.

Similar question but for brake pads. Any good recommendations (including driving to the track with)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Bimmer22

Hi dogbone. Awesome build. Sorry about your dog.

Similar question but for brake pads. Any good recommendations (including driving to the track with)

Thanks! Thanks.

I have had very good luck with Cobalt Friction pads. I have spoken about them many times. (On my E90 dedicated track car, I use XR1 front/XR2 rear. On my E92 street car that sees occasional track use, I use XR2 front/XR3 rear.)

Man, I just installed brand new AP rotors and new Cobalt Friction pads on my E92 over the weekend and took the setup to the track here in CO. Holy cow. Pressing the brake pedal resulted in incredible braking. Fresh rotors and pads and good fluid. Amazing.

You can drive any race pad to the track. You may just need to listen to some squealing on low speed slow downs like if you sit in traffic.

[dogbone]

Alright----let's file this one under: You want $811 in labor fees to install engine mounts??....hmmmm maybe I'll try that on my own too.....

So, today's post is about my E92. I was mentioning that something was up with it---it wasn't revving up normally. An odd vibration appeared past 1500 RPMs. You could feel it and hear it. I took it to a race shop. They didn't find any smoking gun. But they did find some overly worn spark plugs and replaced them.

I was quite convinced that it was engine mounts. I even told them I thought it was that. But they didn't think so (and didn't look at them). The car has 87k miles.....and I doubt they've ever been replaced by any previous owner.

So I bought some engine mounts and then called around to see how much to install them. First----some shops said they would not use my parts due to liability.....then, I was just being given book rate---5.6 hours.....$811 in labor.....argh.....

So, thank you to the people who gave me book rate quotes. You inspired me to try to do the job myself. I'm happy to say that I was able to do it!

And once again, I want to thank the DIY section of this forum for demystifying the job. And some friends also helped talk me through it.

Here's how I did the engine mount install:

-remove felt transmission cover
-remove skid plate covering the oil pan
-remove rearmost bottom fender pieces on both sides.
-remove nuts from top and bottom of engine mounts
-remove airbox
-put a 2x4 piece of wood on a floor jack and place that under the oil pan and jack the engine up until the intake manifold is basically touching the braces in the engine bay.
-remove the 4 rearmost bolts in the K-frame
-unscrew the 4 remaining K-frame bolts until they are clinging on with their last threads. This should allow you to reach the mounts and remove them.
-On the driver side, there's a bracket blocking the entrance to where you want to place you hand to access the engine mount. I removed it with a Philips head screwdriver.
-remove the old engine mounts and replace with new mounts.
-Reverse your steps to re-assemble everything. (One of the K-frame bolts goes back in at an angle. It doesn't take much to ruin the threads. Don't ask me how I know. But I at least I am the proud owner of a thread tap kit!)

My engine mounts were in TERRIBLE shape. One of them was in three pieces and the other one was in two pieces. I mean----where is the fluid that's supposed to be inside? It's long gone.....they were both bone dry on the inside. Please see the artwork for yourself.





Once the mounts were installed, I fired up the car and-------the vibration/resonance problem was totally fixed. The car runs great. I was so happy that three days later, on Sunday, I ran to High Plains Raceway and participated in my first NASA event. How did my first NASA event ever go? Next post!

This E92 M3 is becoming my experimental test mule. I never thought I'd dig into a car like this. I am really enjoying it......but......I need some kind of lift. Doing this job on my knees and hips and back while the car was on jack stands was far more painful than it needed to be. Someone recommended MaxJax-----very interesting.

And a new issue has been creeping up slowly----After I run the car and then park it in a garage, the smell of raw gasoline is QUITE pungent. When I stick my nose in the engine bay and the exhaust tips, I smell nothing. The smell is coming from the middle of the car---like where you would stand to open the car door. Not sure what's going on there yet.

[roastbeef]

Drop the middle felt and check the fuel lines. If you have a pinhole or occasional leak it might be soaking into the felt. I believe they line the driveshaft tunnel.

[dogbone]

After my E92 engine mounts were replaced and the car seemed fine, I was eager to run it at High Plains Raceway. And last weekend, NASA had a weekend full of races, HPDE and TT. I was curious to do time trial, but I had never done a NASA event, and I knew they had a bunch of rules regarding time trial like needing a TT license, you need dynos of your car, you need to know the weight of your car......lots of rules.

So, I decided to just sign up for HPDE4 (advanced) and then figured I would go ask a bunch of questions to figure out how the NASA TT system works.

I am pleased to report that the Rocky Mountain chapter of NASA is full of very nice people. First of all, the amount of staff was impressive. There were people all over the place with NASA staff shirts. I registered and then starting asking about TT. Someone took me directly to the guys running TT. I mentioned that I had a fair amount of experience, so they slotted me in for a TT check ride in the TT#2 session. Cool.

They had scales at the event and weighed my car (3677 lbs with me in it and 1/4 tank gas). But they didn't have a dyno on-site, so I couldn't get that. They said that if I passed the check ride, I could still enter the TT----they would just put me in the Unlimited class. That was fine with me. I just wanted to get into the NASA TT system if possible.

So, I ran my first regular HPDE session. Went fine. Sunday apparently had less cars than Saturday. I had several open/clean laps. Pleasant courteous drivers. This group was point-by only in 4 sections of the track. The driver download meeting was interesting. They handed out cards at the end and you can't go out on track for the next session if you don't have one----meaning you skipped the download. They held the download in a classroom and after we talked about the session, they pulled up a presentation on a television and gave everyone an introduction to competition school. They were quite clear that NASA views HPDE as a gateway drug---I mean stepping stone---into wheel-to-wheel racing. I don't have any plans to race w2w, but I thought it was well done.

At 10:35AM, it was time for the TT check ride. A very nice instructor who was racigin in one of the w2w series hopped in my car and had a talking system so we could easily communicate. It was a simple piece that you tuck under the helmet---speaker on one end that sits against your ear and a microphone on the other end. That was a first for me. Worked great.

He warned me that most people fail their first TT check ride for various reasons----they don't drive the car at the limit, they're not consistent, they're not aware of the flag stations, they're not aware enough of their surroundings, etc. So, off we went and......I passed. The instructor was actually surprised at the AP Racing/Cobalt Friction brakes. I----uh----well, let's just say, I demonstrated I could drive the car at the limit and maintain full control. I didn't do anything dumb----just.....at the limit.

So, they allowed me into the TT group. Put me in Unlimited. Asked me to start at the back of the grid. I rented a transponder. And I was able to turn a few laps in the TT group and get my name officially on the board. I wasn't able to run anything very good because I was stuck in traffic and then there was a yellow on the first three turns due to emergency vehicles helping a guy who was sitting in the grass. (Ran 2:03 vs my personal best of 1:58) But the times didn't matter. I just wanted to get into the system. Mission accomplished! To get a TT license, you need to attend two TT events and have no issues. Halfway there on my first day!

My day was cut short due to one of my tires developing a crack on the inner sidewall. I was swapping the tires around the car for the last session of the day and I found the problem. Ah well.

Anyway, my friends in CA never attended NASA events, so I just never went. But I am happy to say that the Rocky Mountain chapter could not have been nicer. I'm looking forward to going to another event soon.

Ultimately, with my E92, I'm just trying to get up to speed with NASA. It's easier to do it here in CO. My longer term goal is to run some NASA TT with my E90 in CA---probably in 2020. As I've said before, I would want to run in TT1 with the E90. If I can't, and they slam the E90 into Unlimited, then I may not do it. There are LMP cars that run in California's NASA TT Unlimited......I don't need to necessarily win, but I would like to be competitive. And when an LMP car is 12 seconds faster than me......that's not a competition.....that's just dumb.

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by dogbone

After my E92 engine mounts were replaced and the car seemed fine, I was eager to run it at High Plains Raceway. And last weekend, NASA had a weekend full of races, HPDE and TT. I was curious to do time trial, but I had never done a NASA event, and I knew they had a bunch of rules regarding time trial like needing a TT license, you need dynos of your car, you need to know the weight of your car......lots of rules.

So, I decided to just sign up for HPDE4 (advanced) and then figured I would go ask a bunch of questions to figure out how the NASA TT system works.

I am pleased to report that the Rocky Mountain chapter of NASA is full of very nice people. First of all, the amount of staff was impressive. There were people all over the place with NASA staff shirts. I registered and then starting asking about TT. Someone took me directly to the guys running TT. I mentioned that I had a fair amount of experience, so they slotted me in for a TT check ride in the TT#2 session. Cool.

They had scales at the event and weighed my car (3677 lbs with me in it and 1/4 tank gas). But they didn't have a dyno on-site, so I couldn't get that. They said that if I passed the check ride, I could still enter the TT----they would just put me in the Unlimited class. That was fine with me. I just wanted to get into the NASA TT system if possible.

So, I ran my first regular HPDE session. Went fine. Sunday apparently had less cars than Saturday. I had several open/clean laps. Pleasant courteous drivers. This group was point-by only in 4 sections of the track. The driver download meeting was interesting. They handed out cards at the end and you can't go out on track for the next session if you don't have one----meaning you skipped the download. They held the download in a classroom and after we talked about the session, they pulled up a presentation on a television and gave everyone an introduction to competition school. They were quite clear that NASA views HPDE as a gateway drug---I mean stepping stone---into wheel-to-wheel racing. I don't have any plans to race w2w, but I thought it was well done.

At 10:35AM, it was time for the TT check ride. A very nice instructor who was racigin in one of the w2w series hopped in my car and had a talking system so we could easily communicate. It was a simple piece that you tuck under the helmet---speaker on one end that sits against your ear and a microphone on the other end. That was a first for me. Worked great.

He warned me that most people fail their first TT check ride for various reasons----they don't drive the car at the limit, they're not consistent, they're not aware of the flag stations, they're not aware enough of their surroundings, etc. So, off we went and......I passed. The instructor was actually surprised at the AP Racing/Cobalt Friction brakes. I----uh----well, let's just say, I demonstrated I could drive the car at the limit and maintain full control. I didn't do anything dumb----just.....at the limit.

So, they allowed me into the TT group. Put me in Unlimited. Asked me to start at the back of the grid. I rented a transponder. And I was able to turn a few laps in the TT group and get my name officially on the board. I wasn't able to run anything very good because I was stuck in traffic and then there was a yellow on the first three turns due to emergency vehicles helping a guy who was sitting in the grass. (Ran 2:03 vs my personal best of 1:58) But the times didn't matter. I just wanted to get into the system. Mission accomplished! To get a TT license, you need to attend two TT events and have no issues. Halfway there on my first day!

My day was cut short due to one of my tires developing a crack on the inner sidewall. I was swapping the tires around the car for the last session of the day and I found the problem. Ah well.

Anyway, my friends in CA never attended NASA events, so I just never went. But I am happy to say that the Rocky Mountain chapter could not have been nicer. I'm looking forward to going to another event soon.

Ultimately, with my E92, I'm just trying to get up to speed with NASA. It's easier to do it here in CO. My longer term goal is to run some NASA TT with my E90 in CA---probably in 2020. As I've said before, I would want to run in TT1 with the E90. If I can't, and they slam the E90 into Unlimited, then I may not do it. There are LMP cars that run in California's NASA TT Unlimited......I don't need to necessarily win, but I would like to be competitive. And when an LMP car is 12 seconds faster than me......that's not a competition.....that's just dumb.

So great you took the plunge into NASA.

I used to do track weekends every month in typical DE's and met a guy named Allan Page (PoBoyR6) who was a NASA hot shoe. He convinced me to join NASA. I was a little weary for a couple of reasons - I wasn't very fast and you didn't really get a lot of track time. At that time I was used to running about 3 hours a day with the DE organization I was with. Allan would do 2 hot laps per session and only usually run 2 sessions a day.

But once I started, I got hooked! I love the vibe. I love the competition.

The other great thing about NASA is that I can go to any region and am instantly accepted. I have run with Texas, NOLA, Great Lakes, North East, Central, and Mid Atlantic. Will do South East later this year and Mid South next year.

You should be able to get into TT3 with your E92, which is same class I run.

You should be able to get into TT1 with the E90. Competition varies from region to region. TT1 in Mid Atlantic, North East and Texas is the playground of highly modified Vettes. You'll have a blast competing with those guys.

I've been competing with them since 2013 and have made some really great friends across the US.

My main competition, Ken Orgeron, moved to Arizona and has broken every track record there and one in Cali. That's another cool thing is that you can measure yourself not only against the folks that weekend but also against official track records.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

So great you took the plunge into NASA.

I used to do track weekends every month in typical DE's and met a guy named Allan Page (PoBoyR6) who was a NASA hot shoe. He convinced me to join NASA. I was a little weary for a couple of reasons - I wasn't very fast and you didn't really get a lot of track time. At that time I was used to running about 3 hours a day with the DE organization I was with. Allan would do 2 hot laps per session and only usually run 2 sessions a day.

But once I started, I got hooked! I love the vibe. I love the competition.

The other great thing about NASA is that I can go to any region and am instantly accepted. I have run with Texas, NOLA, Great Lakes, North East, Central, and Mid Atlantic. Will do South East later this year and Mid South next year.

You should be able to get into TT3 with your E92, which is same class I run.

You should be able to get into TT1 with the E90. Competition varies from region to region. TT1 in Mid Atlantic, North East and Texas is the playground of highly modified Vettes. You'll have a blast competing with those guys.

I've been competing with them since 2013 and have made some really great friends across the US.

My main competition, Ken Orgeron, moved to Arizona and has broken every track record there and one in Cali. That's another cool thing is that you can measure yourself not only against the folks that weekend but also against official track records.

I've listened to your stories and encouragement. These are the main reasons I gave it a try!

Whatever I do in Colorado with the E92 will be strictly for fun. I will not be modding the E92 to be a serious TT3 competitor. I like driving it with a leather interior on the streets, and I have the E90. Anyway, we'll see where it goes.

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Thanks! Thanks.

I have had very good luck with Cobalt Friction pads. I have spoken about them many times. (On my E90 dedicated track car, I use XR1 front/XR2 rear. On my E92 street car that sees occasional track use, I use XR2 front/XR3 rear.)

You're not the first person that I've heard say great things about Cobalt Friction pads
I actually looked at getting some last month, talked on the phone with Andie (hes awesome), and was going to do XR2/XR3 on my e92 as well but wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger yet on a $600 set of pads (gotta be a responsible adult sometimes lol)
Unfortunately, I'm now regretting not ordering back then cause when I reached out to Andie earlier this week it turns out he's dialing things back and doesn't have a "definite date when we’ll be ordering and mixing more friction materials. Thus, I’m not currently accepting new orders."

Needless to say I'm super bummed! But also just a heads up to you whenever your next set of pads comes up! I'm now looking for an alternative... Any suggestions?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Kelse92

You're not the first person that I've heard say great things about Cobalt Friction pads
I actually looked at getting some last month, talked on the phone with Andie (hes awesome), and was going to do XR2/XR3 on my e92 as well but wasn't quite ready to pull the trigger yet on a $600 set of pads (gotta be a responsible adult sometimes lol)
Unfortunately, I'm now regretting not ordering back then cause when I reached out to Andie earlier this week it turns out he's dialing things back and doesn't have a "definite date when we’ll be ordering and mixing more friction materials. Thus, I’m not currently accepting new orders."

Needless to say I'm super bummed! But also just a heads up to you whenever your next set of pads comes up! I'm now looking for an alternative... Any suggestions?

Ah......bummer....(I just received an order recently so I'm set for quite awhile.)

Many people seem to have good luck with Endless pads. They are a bit expensive, but people seem to like the feel. I have never tried them. Their ME20 has been quite popular, and they have one step up in torque which is the N05U.

Endless has been sponsoring Bimmer Challenge participants in CA with a 40% discount. Incredible. If you were in CA, I would tell you to run a Bimmer Challenge and then order some.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Drop the middle felt and check the fuel lines. If you have a pinhole or occasional leak it might be soaking into the felt. I believe they line the driveshaft tunnel.

Thanks. Gonna start looking into it next week.

[rcracin]

The two rear smaller bolts at an angle on the subframe - check them again. They do sometimes loosen up. If I recall correctly, the torque specs call for an angle torque. They've gone loose on me before after swapping engines, but I usually double check all of my bolts after some driving.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by rcracin

The two rear smaller bolts at an angle on the subframe - check them again. They do sometimes loosen up. If I recall correctly, the torque specs call for an angle torque. They've gone loose on me before after swapping engines, but I usually double check all of my bolts after some driving.

I don't understand.....are you talking about the gas smell?

[rcracin]

Originally Posted by dogbone

I don't understand.....are you talking about the gas smell?

The subframe bolts on your non-racecar.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by rcracin

The subframe bolts on your non-racecar.

Ok, I'll check them. I was careful to put them back to spec on reassembly.

[Montaver]

I have only run HPDE with NASA North East but they are awesome. Faster and more 'aggressive' than BMWCCA in a good way. At events I have attended the driver downloads are great, everyone is courteous, quick on point by's etc. I met another guy who went on the same journey, HPDE, TT and now he's racing an E36. Its a slippery slope! I'll be at Palmer with NASA in a few weeks and WGI in October if anyone wants to say hello.