My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[///Mobbin]

Engine swap, oh my! Go dogbone go, community is behind you, wishing you luck on the swap and event!! Will be watching live stream for sure now!

[b4hand]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

how does a head gasket introduce air into the system? i thought it was oil that would get mixed in...

Compression pushes air into the oil and coolant system.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Let’s file this one under: I always knew this day was coming......

I went to High Plains Raceway today. Had PERFECT conditions—-cool air, no wind, sunny. Had new Pirellis with me in the trailer.

All good——until on my warm up laps, coolant spewed on the windshield again. But this time I wasn’t pushing the car hard. Then the oil temp needle started getting really high......so I stopped the car on track since I was the only one there, and the track manager towed me in.

The consensus is that the head gasket is probably on its way out. I’ve been having weird limp modes in the paddock when the car is cold. The crazy temp rises. The spewing coolant is most likely a side effect of hot air/fuel being introduced into the coolant.....all pointing to head gasket. I used my fancy new winch to pull the car in the trailer. And then I tried decide what to do. I’m supposed to be on track at COTA this weekend.

No one could manage a head gasket job this week.

Then I was talking to Chris/fsmtnbiker. And he said, you know—-you have the E92 M3. The easiest thing to get you on track this weekend would be an engine swap.

Honest Assembly Garage agreed to take on the project, and so now we’re gonna do an engine swap and I’m gonna still try to get to Texas by the end of the week. I’ve delivered both cars, so now it’s a nail biter to see what issues come up that add more complexity to the job.

So, stay tuned! I haven’t given up at all on my hopes to still get to Super Lap Battle!

Chris with the can-do optimism suggestion! lets GOOOOOO

[Bartledoo]

Wow good luck my man! Fingers crossed for you!

[dogbone]

Thanks everyone.

While I am sad that this is the moment in time when the engine started letting go, I'm not frustrated or angry about it. It's a plain and simple fact that track engines need rebuilds. This one went 9 years/200 track days--far longer than anyone thought it would on original stock internals (aside from rod bearings). And even after all the supercharged track punishment, it didn't pop or grenade. It's been hinting for the last month or two that something is not right. Today it became clear that the engine is not drivable in a track setting. I hope I recognized that in time. I don't know what my future plans are for these engines, but at the very least, it would be nice to be able to put the E90 engine into the E92.

I'm laughing at myself for not considering the E92 engine swap on my own right away. I've said many times that the E92 could potentially be an engine donor. I think the main reason I didn't think of it is because the E90 engine didn't pop. So my attention was on how to get it fixed. If it had grenaded, I would have run to the E92 right away.

[roastbeef]

have you considered going n/a now that this is on you plate? i wonder how much you would have to build up a n/a engine to add power and effectively lighten up the front end to compensate for less power... you could do one of those trick m24 race plenums, tilt the radiator, and have some serious hood exits for more efficient cooling and downforce.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

have you considered going n/a now that this is on you plate? i wonder how much you would have to build up a n/a engine to add power and effectively lighten up the front end to compensate for less power... you could do one of those trick m24 race plenums, tilt the radiator, and have some serious hood exits for more efficient cooling and downforce.

Can't go back to NA running unlimited.

Rebuild the motor and drop it back in the e92.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by DRLane

Can't go back to NA running unlimited.

Rebuild the motor and drop it back in the e92.

i'm sure there is a performance overlap, i'm just not sure where it is.

[DRLane]

Possibly. But I doubt the weight reduction required is even possible with the chassis. A lot of the competing cars in the class are very high HP, low weight, and all the inherent benefits of lower roofline, aero, etc.

I vote for LT5 swap.

[Bartledoo]

Supercharged S85 is the logical next step Gabe...

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Let’s file this one under: I always knew this day was coming......

I went to High Plains Raceway today. Had PERFECT conditions—-cool air, no wind, sunny. Had new Pirellis with me in the trailer.

All good——until on my warm up laps, coolant spewed on the windshield again. But this time I wasn’t pushing the car hard. Then the oil temp needle started getting really high......so I stopped the car on track since I was the only one there, and the track manager towed me in.

The consensus is that the head gasket is probably on its way out. I’ve been having weird limp modes in the paddock when the car is cold. The crazy temp rises. The spewing coolant is most likely a side effect of hot air/fuel being introduced into the coolant.....all pointing to head gasket. I used my fancy new winch to pull the car in the trailer. And then I tried decide what to do. I’m supposed to be on track at COTA this weekend.

No one could manage a head gasket job this week.

Then I was talking to Chris/fsmtnbiker. And he said, you know—-you have the E92 M3. The easiest thing to get you on track this weekend would be an engine swap.

Honest Assembly Garage agreed to take on the project, and so now we’re gonna do an engine swap and I’m gonna still try to get to Texas by the end of the week. I’ve delivered both cars, so now it’s a nail biter to see what issues come up that add more complexity to the job.

So, stay tuned! I haven’t given up at all on my hopes to still get to Super Lap Battle!

This is awesome! It just shows what we go through to get on track. I reminds me of a big race weekend in 2019. I had a throttle actuator go out after qualifying as I came off track. AR Motorsports called every dealership in the area. Nothing. There was actually two in the entire United States and they could not get here in time. They found an entire M5 for sale on Craigslist in which I was about to pull the trigger on 🤣. Just then they found a local "friend" that had a mint M5 with supercharger on it that allowed me to borrow his throttle actuator for the weekend. I went home and rested while the guy went over to his house that evening to remove the part. Then arrived early at the track to install it on my car. I didn't miss a beat and had a very successful weekend that wouldn't have happened without AR Motorsports!

[OG Shark]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

have you considered going n/a now that this is on you plate? i wonder how much you would have to build up a n/a engine to add power and effectively lighten up the front end to compensate for less power... you could do one of those trick m24 race plenums, tilt the radiator, and have some serious hood exits for more efficient cooling and downforce.

I think it would still take a very serious stroker build to bridge that gap. He likely doesn't have much weight left in the front that could be eliminated. Still might not get you back to that same performance level for Gabe's application either. Definitely a big bump to the budget as well.

What you are talking about with the radiator & plenums - really if you are going to do that you should lower and move the engine back to get the full benefit. Better weight balance & gives you more room to tilt the radiator and then run chimneys out to the vents. Very, very tight with the engine in the oem location. A dry sump system would come into play here too. Bunch of custom fab work. Ideally would want to do a complete tear down and start the build with a bare chassis.

dogbone - that engine belongs in the Welt!

[PrimeBMW]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

have you considered going n/a now that this is on you plate? i wonder how much you would have to build up a n/a engine to add power and effectively lighten up the front end to compensate for less power... you could do one of those trick m24 race plenums, tilt the radiator, and have some serious hood exits for more efficient cooling and downforce.

I know of a few built stroker engines making ~500 wheel horsepower on the factory ecu. I can't remember what Gabe is at but it's more horsepower at less cost and complexity. Plus I personally don't know how much horsepower can be gained by a stand alone ecu and sequential transmission. I'll know fairly soon but cost will be quite high.
I'll share my situation to give you an idea of cost. I already had a stand alone Motec ecu. I already had a dry sump & pump plus the oil tank in the trunk. At the time I didn't pay for labor. The sequential transmission and tuning was around $40,000. Then add a $10,000 for a standalone ecu, tuning and the labor. Your talking 60K+ and you still need a built stroker engine. Fun times 😃

[Kelse92]

Originally Posted by PrimeBMW

I know of a few built stroker engines making ~500 wheel horsepower on the factory ecu. I can't remember what Gabe is at but it's more horsepower at less cost and complexity. Plus I personally don't know how much horsepower can be gained by a stand alone ecu and sequential transmission. I'll know fairly soon but cost will be quite high.
I'll share my situation to give you an idea of cost. I already had a stand alone Motec ecu. I already had a dry sump & pump plus the oil tank in the trunk. At the time I didn't pay for labor. The sequential transmission and tuning was around $40,000. Then add a $10,000 for a standalone ecu, tuning and the labor. Your talking 60K+ and you still need a built stroker engine. Fun times ��

I am aware of a car G Speed built or helped build that is basically this, full Motec and iirc has a stroker or some sort of built motor... full racecar. They had an asking price recently of 120k on it and might have a potential buyer for it too last I heard. I'm sure that asking price or more had been put into the car for sure.

Gabe, I am glad you got a Plan B sorted and hopefully you can pull it all off and get on track this weekend!

[SYT_Shadow]

So sorry to hear that!! So engine+supercharger swap? That sounds like a lot of work!

Best of luck getting it done before your trip!

[redpriest]

Crazy the things that happen at the last minute! Hopefully you get the motor swap done and there aren't any other issues.

[JScheier]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Then I was talking to Chris/fsmtnbiker. And he said, you know—-you have the E92 M3. The easiest thing to get you on track this weekend would be an engine swap.

Yup... that sounds about right coming from Chris. Wish I had that young man's energy that he has

[slcook54]

The obvious solution is stroker + supercharger 😂

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by slcook54

The obvious solution is stroker + supercharger 😂

Here's your donor car! Stroker twin turbo. Put the rebuild in the e93 and sell it.

2011 M3 Gintani Stage 3 TWIN TURBO DCT convertible - 603 WHP https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1764457

[roastbeef]

There's no way to manage the heat in that thing though...

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

There's no way to manage the heat in that thing though...

Is it any worse than existing SC application? It's TT so just a couple hot laps then a cool down.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by DRLane

Is it any worse than existing SC application? It's TT so just a couple hot laps then a cool down.

I've been led to believe it's worse with turbo cars.