My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by leo95se

Data overlay is important for me, and I haven’t found a program (or the time) to putz around with migrating non native video and data. Same with Harry’s! Torture!

For sure, nothing beats the convenience and instantaneousness of the SmartCam. But----I just don't like the look of the videos and the data overlay. Everyone's videos/gauges look pretty much the same to me. I want my vids to have a unique look. That's why I took photos of my dash and used those as gauge backgrounds and made gauges on top of them. Look how insane M3Number86 makes his vids look. He has a bunch of unique templates and they're all awesome. That's a big no-can-do in SmartyCam.

Yes, it was time consuming to build a template from scratch because I had to learn RaceRender and figure out what I wanted the vids to look like----many hours and many versions as I adapted the template. But now that that's done, I can make a video pretty quickly---total process 10-15 minutes right at the track.

-Import AIM data into laptop
-Go into AIM software and export the desired laps as .csv
-copy video onto laptop
-Launch RaceRender and load template.
-Attach AIM data and video to RaceRender project
-Synchronize RPM data with the sound of the exhaust----this step can be daunting to someone who has never done video/audio sync. I can do it in a minute or two now.
-Choose In/Out point for video.
-Render. My laptop is a Mac laptop from 2017. It's the fastest laptop Apple made at the time. The computer takes about 6-7 minutes to render a 2 minute video that is 1080@60fps.

I understand if people don't want to go through the trouble. But for me, the results are worth it.

If AIM came out with a SmartyCam that had better Contrast Ratio response, and they allowed custom setup of your template, I would do it. Until then, I'll keep doing my thing.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Battery Eliminator!!? Wuuuut! What rock have I been hiding under?

Your Amazon link was for a GoPro3, but I found the one for GoPro4: https://www.amazon.com/Switronix-DVG...minator+hero+4

So, what do you plug the USB into? Does the USB port underneath the elbow rest in the center console provide power?

Man, if I can get this all working, the only thing I would have to charge before a track day would be the AIM Solo........no GoPro4, no spare batteries. I already stopped using my bumper cam, so no GoPro2 or spare batteries for that......that would be awesome! I used to be a charging fool the night before a track event.

My AIM is also hardwired so I don't have to deal with the battery. I just can't deal with charging a bunch of crap between sessions!

There are two options for the USB plug:
1: plug it into the USB A in the glovebox. It provides power
2: get a really short cigarette adaptor: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
3: use the side exit on this adapter: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Your next step is to get a wifi hotspot and a teradek and upload to youtube in real time! But don't ask me about that nightmare...

[redpriest]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Battery Eliminator!!? Wuuuut! What rock have I been hiding under?

Your Amazon link was for a GoPro3, but I found the one for GoPro4: https://www.amazon.com/Switronix-DVG...minator+hero+4

So, what do you plug the USB into? Does the USB port underneath the elbow rest in the center console provide power?

Man, if I can get this all working, the only thing I would have to charge before a track day would be the AIM Solo........no GoPro4, no spare batteries. I already stopped using my bumper cam, so no GoPro2 or spare batteries for that......that would be awesome! I used to be a charging fool the night before a track event.

It doesn't work if you crash though.... it'll corrupt the video if your power gets cut. Ask me how I know (lol).

[slicer]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Battery Eliminator!!? Wuuuut! What rock have I been hiding under?

Your Amazon link was for a GoPro3, but I found the one for GoPro4: https://www.amazon.com/Switronix-DVG...minator+hero+4

So, what do you plug the USB into? Does the USB port underneath the elbow rest in the center console provide power?

Man, if I can get this all working, the only thing I would have to charge before a track day would be the AIM Solo........no GoPro4, no spare batteries. I already stopped using my bumper cam, so no GoPro2 or spare batteries for that......that would be awesome! I used to be a charging fool the night before a track event.

You don't have your AIM hard wired to power?? If not you should do that too. There's simply a power and ground on the wire harness. 'Add-a-fuse', find a ground and done

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by slicer

You don't have your AIM hard wired to power?? If not you should do that too. There's simply a power and ground on the wire harness. 'Add-a-fuse', find a ground and done

I do have the AIM hardwired to power. But I still charge the device the night before. That way, I can still turn it on and make sure it's setup properly in the AM before it goes in the car.

Also, if the AIM Solo 2 DL is totally dead, sometimes it doesn't power up right away when the car is started. Kind of makes you a bit nervous because it takes a minute or two to come on. The darn thing turns on by itself in the pits when the car is off so much that, even with hardwired power and being fully charged in the AM, the battery is still dead 2/3 of the way through a busy track day. I have asked them to put an option in the device where it only turns on manually and doesn't turn on when it sniffs CAN data. They also said they may be able to change the CAN channels it sniffs to wake up to be CAN channels that are only active when the car is ACTUALLY running. I don't know....we'll see what they come up with.

I was laughing yesterday at the list of stuff I used to charge before every track day:
-GoPro2 for bumper
-GoPro2 spare batteries
-GoPro4 for in-car vid
-GoPro4 spare batteries
-AIM Solo DL
-NetBook laptop for if I need to clear codes/run BavTech cable
-Mac laptop for importing AIM data and making vids
-EasyAcc battery pack USB charger
-Craftsman C3 tool batteries

The mess of wires was ridiculous.....

Once I get the GoPro4 wiring thing sorted out, all I'll have to do is charge the AIM, netbook and Mac Laptop. Oh, and these days, I have to charge a set of wireless ear buds for the flight to LA.....

[slicer]

Good lord!

I see what you mean. That issue with it turning on automatically is very annoying to me as well. I would love to be able to turn it off completely so that I could leave it plugged into the car permanently

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by slicer

Good lord!

I see what you mean. That issue with it turning on automatically is very annoying to me as well. I would love to be able to turn it off completely so that I could leave it plugged into the car permanently

I have always left the AIM in. I have the first gen DL. Have not had any issues with it taking long to start. When I don't want it to turn on, I just disconnect the cable.

[slicer]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I have always left the AIM in. I have the first gen DL. Have not had any issues with it taking long to start. When I don't want it to turn on, I just disconnect the cable.

I can do that but I would prefer to leave the cable plugged in. I mounted it in a way that the cable is concealed so it would be nice to not have to mess with it. Looking at pics reminds me that it would be nice if AIM figured out how to make the DCT temperature functional...

Solo2 DL by slicerM, on Flickr

Solo2 DL by slicerM, on Flickr

[ThunderMoose]

Originally Posted by slicer

I can do that but I would prefer to leave the cable plugged in. I mounted it in a way that the cable is concealed so it would be nice to not have to mess with it. Looking at pics reminds me that it would be nice if AIM figured out how to make the DCT temperature functional...

Solo2 DL by slicerM, on Flickr

Solo2 DL by slicerM, on Flickr

I see. Very clean look. My car is way more chopped up.

[slicer]

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

I see. Very clean look. My car is way more chopped up.

Thx! Yes, this is a clean streetable build. I still have my interior. GTS parts, various weight loss but overall the car is still a car that can be driven on the street. I'm at just over 3300 lbs.

[rhyary]

You can add on/off switch
And external rear mic port

[slicer]

Originally Posted by rhyary

You can add on/off switch
And external rear mic port

The on-off switch would just prevent it from drawing on the car's battery but I don't see how it would stop the unit from turning on when it senses a CAN signal. That is unless the switch is wired to the actual CAN signal cable, which doesn't sound like a good solution. Any idea how it was done?

[dogbone]

Oil Diverter - Initial Write Up

I’ve had an opportunity to drive the Bimmerworld/Epic Motorsports Oil Diverter at two tracks this past weekend—Buttonwillow on Saturday and Willow Springs on Sunday. People who have installed this on older M3’s claim it helps with oil temps. I had not run across anyone who had installed an oil diverter in an E9x M3.

I have a lot of old AIM data at these tracks, so I was curious to see if I could find anything in the data that empirically shows whether or not the oil diverter is doing anything. A big question for me was: are peak oil temps throughout the day more important? Or is the change in oil temp from one hot lap to the next more important? Peak temps didn’t feel as important as the change from lap to lap. For me, keeping the temps under control from one lap to the next seemed more important. That’s what keeps you out there longer, right? I’m no scientist here, but I’m trying to think in a way that ends up being the most useful on track—instead of just some random flashy number of temp reduction.

If I thought looking at temp changes between laps was important, I needed to find at least two consecutive laps from an old AIM session that generally matched two laps I drove on Saturday. So I set out to look for something like that. But I had to be realistic that I am not running a science experiment with all the conditions controlled.

I found an Oct 2018 session that lined up several conditions that I thought were important:

-The air temps were similar: 66ºF on Sat, and 68ºF in Oct 2018
-two consecutive lap times from Saturday were: 1:50.78, 1:50.25. Two consecutive laps from Oct 2018 were: 1:50.70, 1:50.41.
-Both Sat and Oct 2018 were run on Pirelli DH
-Both sessions, the laps were the 2nd and 3rd laps into the session.

However, there was a catch——when I started the car for these two sessions, the oils started at two very different temps (170 vs 206ºF), so that affects things. There are so many variables, it’s just hard to find two sessions that are identical. But regardless, I believe you can still make general conclusions.

What I found in the data was that before the diverter was installed, the change in temps from lap to lap was consistently larger than after it was installed.

Check out these pics: The lines represent engine oil temps. The black lines are from Saturday with the oil diverter installed. The red lines are older AIM sessions from before the oil diverter. I don’t want to analyze the charts to death because I don’t think they deserve massive scrutiny. But what I DO want to show is how the Black lines are vertically closer to each other than the red lines. This means that the temps are not rising as quickly from lap to lap since the oil diverter has been installed. Since the red lines are always further apart, the oil temps were rising more dramatically from lap to lap.

This first chart is the comparison that I listed above: The Red lines start well below the Black lines, but the jump in temp between each lap is quite large and by the third lap, they are the same. The increases in temps from lap to lap on the Black lines is much smaller.


Here's the same Saturday session compared to a different Oct 2018 session: Again the Red lines jump large gaps---big temp differences per lap compared to the Black lines.


Here's a different Saturday session compared to the first Red session from Oct 2018. And the Black session has a BUNCH of laps. Look how the temps REALLY compress as the temps go higher. It seems as if the car is really fighting off the higher temps pretty well. And the last 3 laps are all 1:51's. I feel like the car used to just keep getting hotter and hotter linearly prior to the oil diverter.


I’m new to this particular data, but I’m taking this new behavior as a good sign. If I'm not reading it correctly, please jump in and educate me.

My initial conclusion: Yes, the data is indicating that, when you look at the change in temps from one lap to the next, the oil is not heating up as much during each lap, and the longer you run, the narrower the temp gap from lap to lap is. Temps seemed to “plateau” at around 260ºF during this first weekend of driving with it. Previously, the oil felt like it would increase in temperature at a more linear rate. After staring at this for some time, I would approximate that I am getting a consistent additional cooling of somewhere around 5-10ºF more cooling per lap of the engine oil with the oil diverter versus the OEM piece (depending on when in the session you look). I think it’s difficult to just look at it and say, “the oil is now XXºF cooler.” There are just so many variables.

If I were to tell you how it felt before looking at any data (oh no——butt-dyno!!), I would say that the oil temp gauge was staying very near the 3/4 “dot” and it was hard to make it go much above that. The car simply felt quite good lap after lap. It felt “ready-to-go” for another lap more than I’m used to.

(There’s a new thread in this sub-forum dedicated to the same oil diverter. Someone posted that they are seeing a 17ºF difference with the diverter installed. My question is, 17ºF compared to what? The max of some other day? Were the air temps the same? How many laps were run? All these things play a big role in oil temps.)

Anyway, I need to drive it more. But I was pleased with what I was feeling in the driver's seat, and the data seems to confirm what I was sensing. I'm eager to put in some more laps!!

[roastbeef]

nice. how long did you have to let the car warm up? significantly longer than usual?

here's another curveball- you just dropped a brand new radiator in... how bent up and clogged were the old fins? i think the oil and water temps sort of have a sympathetic relationship. did you happen to look at water temps as well?

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

nice. how long did you have to let the car warm up? significantly longer than usual?

here's another curveball- you just dropped a brand new radiator in... how bent up and clogged were the old fins? i think the oil and water temps sort of have a sympathetic relationship. did you happen to look at water temps as well?

No difference on warm up. Run one lap and the car's ready to go.

You know, I didn't over analyze the outgoing radiator. It was just in sorry shape from the leaking. I don't think it was overly damaged from a fin standpoint.

I did look at water temps and the story is similar after the oil diverter went in. But the radiator is new and the misting system was working again, and I didn't want to put too many confusing lines on the same chart. But here are a few charts that show water temps.

Again, Black lines are with the new oil diverter and new coolant radiator and misting system working. It's actually quite interesting to see the water temps from Saturday holding down much better than in Oct 2018.

This first chart looks at the same sessions as the first chart in the previous post, but now we're look at Coolant temps.


A couple more looks. The Red lines were jumping up pretty high each lap, and the Black lines really hold much more steady.




Again, I see these as positive signs that my engine is holding temps down better than before.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by slicer

You don't have your AIM hard wired to power?? If not you should do that too. There's simply a power and ground on the wire harness. 'Add-a-fuse', find a ground and done

Oh yes. I have the M World harness

[SYT_Shadow]

dogbone that is interesting...

But still you can only get 3 hot laps before limp? I understand your 'hot laps' are much hotter than most people's, but just trying to gauge if a supercharger could work for the type of use I do

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

dogbone that is interesting...

But still you can only get 3 hot laps before limp? I understand your 'hot laps' are much hotter than most people's, but just trying to gauge if a supercharger could work for the type of use I do

You know, I have no idea. The truth is that at a regular HPDE, the opportunity to go 4,5,6 super fast clean hot laps is very rare.

But I’m hopeful that I can get more laps in!

Honestly I wasn’t having any troubles at Big Willow on Sunday as far as the engine goes. It was the tires that couldn’t keep going at maximum pace because Big Willow is so viscous on tires. (And I kept hitting traffic.)

In heavy cars like ours, I believe that most tires available to the general public struggle to do more than 3 laps at MAX pace before they start to slow. Lighter cars seem to be able to do whatever they want.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by dogbone

You know, I have no idea. The truth is that at a regular HPDE, the opportunity to go 4,5,6 super fast clean hot laps is very rare.

But I’m hopeful that I can get more laps in!

Honestly I wasn’t having any troubles at Big Willow on Sunday as far as the engine goes. It was the tires that couldn’t keep going at maximum pace because Big Willow is so viscous on tires. (And I kept hitting traffic.)

In a heavy cars like ours, I believe that most tires available to the general public struggle to do more than 3 laps at MAX pace before they start to slow. Lighter cars seem to be able to do whatever they want.

thanks!

[Makaveli7]

Originally Posted by dogbone

Oil Diverter - Initial Write Up

I’ve had an opportunity to drive the Bimmerworld/Epic Motorsports Oil Diverter at two tracks this past weekend—Buttonwillow on Saturday and Willow Springs on Sunday. People who have installed this on older M3’s claim it helps with oil temps. I had not run across anyone who had installed an oil diverter in an E9x M3.

Thanks for sharing! looks like I am installing this next week, already been sitting on it in for a year.

I swear this thread needs to be printed and handed over to people when moding their cars for track. Keep it up

[dogbone]

Originally Posted by Makaveli7

Thanks for sharing! looks like I am installing this next week, already been sitting on it in for a year.

I swear this thread needs to be printed and handed over to people when moding their cars for track. Keep it up

Hehe yup, I sat on mine for a year too! Waited until I was doing something else so that the labor could be shared.

Thanks for the feedback!

Good luck with your diverter install!

[rhyary]

Originally Posted by slicer

The on-off switch would just prevent it from drawing on the car's battery but I don't see how it would stop the unit from turning on when it senses a CAN signal. That is unless the switch is wired to the actual CAN signal cable, which doesn't sound like a good solution. Any idea how it was done?

You control the recording in the parameter field.
The default is just start at 800rpm.

you want to use custom and put more than one condition for recording to start.

[from Dogbone]
They also said they may be able to change the CAN channels it sniffs to wake up to be CAN channels that are only active when the car is ACTUALLY running. I don't know....we'll see what they come up with.


[They Did]
This explains it: