My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by admranger

Did the car go clubbing? Glitter is a byproduct.

If I see any white powder, I'm going to be pissed that the car is out having more fun than me......

[dogbone]

Quick update: I've decided to swap the engines between the two cars again. The engine currently in the E92 is super fresh from the rebuild a few months ago. Don't see the point in waiting some undetermined period of time for something to happen. So, I'm driving the E92 to CA this coming week. Minicorsa has agreed to do the double swap. And then hopefully, in a few weeks, the E90 will be ready to rock-n-roll with a freshly rebuilt engine.

My plans after that are unknown. Obviously, I need to test the car on track in CA to make sure it's good to go. Normally, I'd be in full COTA prep mode for Super Lap Battle. But for the moment, everything is up in the air.

I've been hearing nice things about Grid Life time attack events. I've never done any of their events, but someone sent me their 2023 calendar and there are quite a few interesting tracks on their schedule that I've never been to. Could be fun to try to attend some of those. Their season finale is at Laguna Seca.

Anyway, it's going to be an interesting couple of months.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Quick update: I've decided to swap the engines between the two cars again. The engine currently in the E92 is super fresh from the rebuild a few months ago. Don't see the point in waiting some undetermined period of time for something to happen. So, I'm driving the E92 to CA this coming week. Minicorsa has agreed to do the double swap. And then hopefully, in a few weeks, the E90 will be ready to rock-n-roll with a freshly rebuilt engine.

My plans after that are unknown. Obviously, I need to test the car on track in CA to make sure it's good to go. Normally, I'd be in full COTA prep mode for Super Lap Battle. But for the moment, everything is up in the air.

I've been hearing nice things about Grid Life time attack events. I've never done any of their events, but someone sent me their 2023 calendar and there are quite a few interesting tracks on their schedule that I've never been to. Could be fun to try to attend some of those. Their season finale is at Laguna Seca.

Anyway, it's going to be an interesting couple of months.

Isn’t SLB at COTA GridLife?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by DRLane

Isn’t SLB at COTA GridLife?

No, they share the weekend. GTA does time attack and Grid Life only does w-2-w racing that weekend. At least that’s how it’s been done in the past.

[CPWINCH]

I always appreciate seeing this car at the track. I know you are running stock arms up front, but do you have adjustable tie rod ends?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by CPWINCH

I always appreciate seeing this car at the track. I know you are running stock arms up front, but do you have adjustable tie rod ends?

Everything stock up front when it comes to that stuff----control arms, tie rod ends, steering rack, uprights......it's been so long since I've looked, but the sway bar ends link may even be stock.

I just haven't been adventurous with that kind of stuff. Heard a bunch of weird stories of aftermarket failures with those kinds of pieces, and I just was not interested in those kinds of failures. About a year ago, as a safety item, I replaced all the control arms under the car since the stock ones were from 2009. Replaced them with......more of the same......I know borrrriinnnnnnngg, but I never had a failure in that department!

[CPWINCH]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Everything stock up front when it comes to that stuff----control arms, tie rod ends, steering rack, uprights......it's been so long since I've looked, but the sway bar ends link may even be stock.

I just haven't been adventurous with that kind of stuff. Heard a bunch of weird stories of aftermarket failures with those kinds of pieces, and I just was not interested in those kinds of failures. About a year ago, as a safety item, I replaced all the control arms under the car since the stock ones were from 2009. Replaced them with......more of the same......I know borrrriinnnnnnngg, but I never had a failure in that department!

Makes perfect sense to me, thanks for the response. I plan on keeping all arms stock as well. Been debating the tie end rods just so I can account for bumpsteer, which I have noticed a bit since lowering. Safety and consistency is all that matters when you are as fast as you.

[dogbone]

It's been awhile since I posted anything about the car. Basically, I was waiting to see the outcome of a situation with the car. But it's taking so long to get any answers, I guess I might as well give an update.

So, let's file this one under: Screw you Los Angeles mobile welders.....

First, I'd like to start by saying I've really been enjoying seeing the cool E9x M3 build projects going on. okusa, redpriest, turbo_joe----these guys are doing some unique stuff that is resulting in interesting builds. I've been particularly close with following okusa's build since I used to live across the street from him in LA. There are some really interesting features in his on-going build. Can't wait to see what that car can do when it's done. It's gonna be light!

Anyway, back to my stupid situation. In January, I drove the E92 to LA to deliver it to Minicorsa so they could swap the freshly rebuilt engine that was in the E92 into the E90. The rebuilt engine had been purring like a kitten in the E92. As a recap, this engine was the original E90 engine that was pulled in 2021 and rebuilt. I put $10k into the engine and installed it in the E92 as a place to hold it. Now I wanted to put that rebuilt engine back into the E90 for track use. So, I delivered both cars to Minicorsa, and they did the swap.

After the swap was done, I returned to Los Angeles in mid-February to test the race car. Went to Buttonwillow. Go out on track, and the engine is running nice and smooth, but the car is down on power. There was definitely some kind of supercharger boost leak. But it was very difficult to figure out where it was coming from while at the track. Minicorsa was at the track, and tore the manifold off, looked all over, but it just wasn't obvious where the boost leak was. We needed a dyno so we could see the car under load.

Took the car to EAS, dropped it off and flew home. EAS calls a few days later and reported the boost leak was coming from the supercharger blowoff valve. They had another blowoff valve there. As soon as they swapped it on, the car was making full power. yay.

Then, EAS texts me that the car has a coolant leak. Ok....I'm thinking that maybe some line wasn't reconnected correctly, or maybe the radiator had an issue......nope.....the next day, as they kept digging, EAS reports back that the engine block is cracked and leaking coolant into the V area under the manifold. I was like, wait a minute, we had the manifold off in the afternoon at the track and there was no coolant pooled up in the V. The coolant is bright blue.....we would have seen it. But there was dried coolant blown by major wind underneath the car. So, the crack must have developed on my last drive of the day on the track.......ugh.....so now what?

Steve at EAS felt that there's a good chance it was a surface crack and that it could be welded. They knew of a fabricator nearby that could come to EAS and weld it. I was happy to explore this route because it's not expensive and if it didn't work, I wasn't in any worse position than I am now. The fabricator came and looked at it and thought it could be welded with the block in place, but all the coolant had to be drained. EAS drained it, and then.......the fabricator never came back. Many excuses. So we waited......and waited.

Then, I got the name of another person who specializes in mobile welding. He claimed his mobile rig was broken, and wanted us to tow the car to him.....sigh....if I have to fly out to LA and drag my car all over town and stay for several days, this is not a convenient and cheap attempt at a solution anymore. I just wanted to try tossing on some welding and see it that could get me going again, but it just wasn't happening.

In April, I reached out to Cory at Honest Assembly Garage. Asked him if he could handle the welding job. He said yes, but that he would prefer to first see if the crack had extended to the cylinder wall, because obviously if that happened, the engine is done. He talked about the various methods he would employ to investigate if the cylinder wall was compromised. There's scoping it with a camera. If the cylinder in question is noticeably cleaner than a neighboring cylinder, that could indicate that coolant has entered the chamber and is cleaning the cylinder. There are dye and smoke tests, pressure testing, etc. That all sounded fine to me. It seemed that it wasn't much cost difference to investigate it first. And then, if it seemed ok in the cylinder, then you could have more confidence that the weld would solve it. But I was still hoping someone would just show up and weld it in LA.

By early May (!!!), even after reaching out to a 3rd welder, we still could not get a mobile welder to show up to EAS. I was embarrassed to find out my car had been occupying a lift at EAS this whole time since February......I had to do something.

So, in early May, I flew out to LA, grabbed the whole rig and drove it back to Colorado and delivered the car to Honest Assembly. I haven't heard anything yet.

I haven't had much luck with motorsport in 2023, but I finally caught a break while I was in LA. During my LA visit, I dropped in on Racewerkz Engineering because I hadn't seen those guys in a while. (They're the shop who built my cage.) As I walk in, there's an S65 motor sitting on a stand. I ask what's going on there. And they said it was a functioning motor that they bought awhile back. They told me I could take it if I wanted, in case I needed it. Wow. Thanks guys! So we plopped it in the bed of my pickup truck and I brought it to Colorado as well. So, I now have a spare engine in case the cracked block is done. Phew. What a lucky break there......

You know, I was musing that my transformation into a redneck is now complete.......driving an American Chevy diesel pickup truck with an engine strapped down in the pickup bed, dragging a broken race car in a trailer across the country to Colorado.......

These last few months have led me to reflect on phases in motorsport. There's guys who are just getting into motorsport with mostly stock cars, and getting hooked on it. They dream all day and night about mods to do to the car. There are people like okusa and redpriest in the exciting fabrication phase. These guys are ALL IN. It's so exciting to build these cars up, and these guys are bringing big boy budgets to the table, and they're getting big boy results. Super exciting. Then there's guys like me, who are a bit further down the road, crashing cars, and dealing with constant engine problems. I yearn for the days of a reliable car. I thought I was playing my A-game when I was putting a freshly rebuilt engine into my race car. Whoops. So, now I've been scratching for a solution that doesn't cost $15k+.

Anyway, that's the latest. Sorry I didn't report sooner, but it sucks to report all bad news. (Plus, I had a death in the family to deal with which was time consuming.) I was hoping to be able to end with good news. But not yet.....Some people have been contacting me, asking if I'm on a break---that I've been silent. Yes, I'm on a break....but not because I want to be. If the cylinder wall is compromised, I may be out until next year.....

[slcook54]

Gabe, you’re the OG. You paved the way for many of us.

[Bartledoo]

I feel a small amount of your pain. I sold my reliable M3 and got a C8 corvette. 1st track day equalled one transmission replacement. Then I realized the clutches have been slipping all along and will kill the second transmission too, in a matter of time, and the engineers are stumped as to why mine is doing this. I miss the reliable track cars days as well.

[Ximian]

Good luck, hopefully just a weld solves it.

I'm in year 3 of working through braking system issues so they function normally through a whole day. I specifically avoided performance modifications to avoid engine issues so of course I get brake reliability issues.

Makes you consider ditching the E9x and moving to a newer platform.

[redpriest]

Sorry to hear all the bad news Gabe. You're the one we're all following the footsteps of and your advice and time has been invaluable in helping solve my setup issues.

A cracked engine block sounds nuts. Your car is probably beyond the life and endurance of anything BMW engineering ever planned. The amount of track days alone is incredible.

I hope you can quickly resolve this and get back to the track!

[dogbone]

Hey guys. Thanks for the kind words.

Motorsport, when done properly in my opinion, is a community of people sharing knowledge, technical advice, experiences, and then everyone goes out, puts down their best lap times and everyone is having a great time shooting the breeze. I've enjoyed that aspect of it quite a lot. When I was having throttle actuator issues, slcook54 offered me his new set to get me going quicker. And yeah, I've given redpriest some setup suggestions. okusa and I have gone over every inch of his car discussing potential projects during his build. (I gotta tell ya, RS Motorsports has been awesome on okusa's build. Riley is an amazing fabricator. His work is so creative. Heck, the dude just whipped out a titanium exhaust in no time. He's 3D printing one-off custom parts. So cool. When okusa's build is done, you guys gotta check it out at the track----so many cool little features on that build.)

That community aspect also extends to the shops you use. Over the years, I have said many times that the shops in Los Angeles that I worked with were Minicorsa for daily maintenance work, EAS for parts and installs and rod bearings and dynos, and Racewerkz for original fabrication work. I don't live in LA anymore, and this winter, I was heavily relying on all three shops! And all of them still take care of me like I'm family. I appreciate that so much.

Anyway, I'm disappointed that my part of the motorsport journey sounds like a pity party at the moment, but I'm trying to get through it. Honestly, the car aside from the motor is in GREAT shape. It's SO much fun to drive. I've just been struggling to get past engine issues.....for a long time.....

[SYT_Shadow]

It's tough to run into car issues repeatedly.

When you look at the M4 GT4 maintenance calendar for example, you see the real cost of tracking at a high level: endless replacement of every single part in the car.
Of course none of us have those budgets, so we start tracking with stockish cars and excellent reliability and get faster and faster, to the point where a homegrown car is putting down M4 GT4 laptimes! And at that point, the maintenance has become M4 GT4 maintenance!

We aren't pros and don't have teams to assist, so we all do what we can. Once you're really fast, the rate of failure is high and it's so challenging to take days off and get ready for a weekend and have the car not work properly.

I hope you swap the new engine in and can have a go at 2023 season!

[rhyary]

I should have nudged you earlier.
we all have been missing your posts, Gabe.

[san40k]

Originally Posted by Bartledoo

I feel a small amount of your pain. I sold my reliable M3 and got a C8 corvette. 1st track day equalled one transmission replacement. Then I realized the clutches have been slipping all along and will kill the second transmission too, in a matter of time, and the engineers are stumped as to why mine is doing this. I miss the reliable track cars days as well.

Found this after reading about your extremely fast E90 and now realize that I must have seen your corvette between 3a and 3b. Say hello to a black E90 335i sedan next time on PSR, I'm in beginning stages of turning it into a track car and will study your mod list

[omgzirra_exe]

i understand your pain Gabe...

i too just experience a death in the family (2), so my condolences...

then i got laid off... a very comfortable job that allows me to do what i enjoy on the weekdays/weekends.

then just small gremlins that plagued my M3 till this day... lol but end of the day I wouldn't trade this feeling of stress and happiness for anything else, especially when i've yet to meet you all on track.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by omgzirra_exe

i understand your pain Gabe...

i too just experience a death in the family (2), so my condolences...

then i got laid off... a very comfortable job that allows me to do what i enjoy on the weekdays/weekends.

then just small gremlins that plagued my M3 till this day... lol but end of the day I wouldn't trade this feeling of stress and happiness for anything else, especially when i've yet to meet you all on track.

I'm sorry for your loss. Tracking is a lot of fun but definitely not the most important thing in the world

[Gmark958]

Have you considered looking into a Quick change rear end? Might help you drop some lap times around some of the tracks that you race at.

[tsk94]

Originally Posted by Gmark958

Have you considered looking into a Quick change rear end? Might help you drop some lap times around some of the tracks that you race at.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't they only available in a spool or torsen? Torsen would be ok, but still a downgrade from a good LSD like Gabe is running now. The spool would require a full rework of the suspension setup to make the car work half decent.

The ability to change gear ratios quickly and easily is appealing, but not sure if as a whole the package would be worth the hassle.

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Gmark958

Have you considered looking into a Quick change rear end? Might help you drop some lap times around some of the tracks that you race at.

No, I've never considered that. As an amateur driver, swapping out gears is not really a top priority for me. I'm quite happy with how the car feels.

At the end of the day, with the supercharger, the car has plenty of get-up-and-go. So, putting shorter gears doesn't really feel necessary to me. And I definitely do not see a need for longer gears.

And as tsk94 questioned, if you can't do a true LSD diff, then for me it's not super attractive. A spool would definitely be a no-no. A torsen diff is what the car came with, and the LSD was definitely an upgrade. The OS Giken LSD is so nice and consistent.

In the end, I think there are PLENTY of other things you could address before ever getting to this topic---the biggest being weight.

[Gmark958]

Originally Posted by dogbone

No, I've never considered that. As an amateur driver, swapping out gears is not really a top priority for me. I'm quite happy with how the car feels.

At the end of the day, with the supercharger, the car has plenty of get-up-and-go. So, putting shorter gears doesn't really feel necessary to me. And I definitely do not see a need for longer gears.

And as tsk94 questioned, if you can't do a true LSD diff, then for me it's not super attractive. A spool would definitely be a no-no. A torsen diff is what the car came with, and the LSD was definitely an upgrade. The OS Giken LSD is so nice and consistent.

In the end, I think there are PLENTY of other things you could address before ever getting to this topic---the biggest being weight.

To each their own. I got one for my car, though I haven't gotten around to actually installing it yet. Life keeps punching my while I'm down so I'll get around to it one day.