[HughA44s]

Thanks a bunch Jazz

Modian - Cooling is still on the worry list and may get to the CSF radiator and oil cooler yet. Still looking at vents in the hood before the Radiator. Also, will look at the oil cooler upgrade. For now, I know that the heat exchangers are all up to spec and the engine side of the system is good - cuts down the variables moving forward.

Actually I am now getting codes the the car is not warming up fast enough - go figure. Normally this code means that the thermo is failed open but I am not sure that is true in this case - it does reset itself. I think the issue here is the low temp thermo. Anyway, I have no intentions of digging into this to fix a BMW running to cool - that would be insanity, until due for emissions.

[Dr K]

I wish you'd asked my advice before painting the brake calipers. Almost everyone knows that RED calipers are the bomb, and YELLOW calipers are the $hit$.

I agree with Jazz - this is a great thread. Nicely done.

[HughA44s]

Thanks Dr K.

I spent a lot of time in a state confusion over which color to paint the calipers - options included:

BLACK - would add to the 50 shades of black look
RED - Eliminated due to the whole Porsche "Big Red" thing - not what I was looking for on a BMW
YELLOW - Did not want to get into the faux carbon fiber deal

I saw the blue on a new M2 and decided on that.

[86911TLCAB]

Well done Hugh...it is fun to watch someone else rebuild their car...smile...

[HughA44s]

Tito,

Well doing the labor yourself does improve the ratio of: (parts - supplies)/(total cost + first aid)

In this case, first aid can be defined as beer, aspirin, legal drugs, illegal drugs - whatever floats your boat.

[HughA44s]

Well, I could not resist the temptation to do a bit of validation testing on this M3 during Volunteer Day. In preparation, I cleaned up a slight interference issue between the front dust shields and the calipers, and loaded up the Hawk DTC-60s.

Next, I took the strut tower brace off my 330i and put it on the M3. I also adjusted the rear Koni’s which, as anticipated, was a huge pain in the ass. I adjusted them to 2 turns stiff out of 2.5 total which seemed about right. Finally, I had used 10mm spacers on the front which produced a very small gap between the wheel and the caliper (leaving very little flex room between the caliper and rim) so I changed these to 12.5mm (yes I got new longer bolts).

For this test, I stuck with my road Conti DW tires (340 rated thread wear) because I did not wanted to buy a new set of wheels and tires this late in the season and also, this served as an effective “G” limiter because I have not have the sub-frames welded yet.

Results:

Initial Impressions: I did not think the additional 80 – 90 rear-wheel hp would be so significant (stupid me) – that and the street tires made the gas pedal into a grenade. My test session turned into a great exercise in car control and smooth driving and managing the very limited grip. I got so that I could get the tires to scream consistently on every turn, the best that could be accomplished. I really had to watch the gas in third rear because it would spin the tires on the straight and exiting turns was walking a knife-edge. I also had to get use to the additional 20 – 25 mph into turn one. I never even considered turning off the DSC.

Motor: The engine held together very well after my rod-bolt changed and I was surprised how little, if any oil it used, like maybe a 1/3 quart including the drive up there. This engine seems to be in great shape for 160k. More evidence that this car was not abused.

Cooling: The coolant temp never went above the first tic on the track. Yes I know that it was only 70 – 75 degrees but the results are encouraging. Although it is counter intuitive, I think the Turner Pulleys I added (slowing the WP, alternator, and PS Pump) actually improved cooling at higher rpm levels. Basically the WP was not cavitating and losing efficiency until a much higher rpm. The engine oil temp did go up to 230 – 240 so a bigger oil cooler is on the list of winter projects.

Suspension: Need a bigger front sway-bar. This is an e46 and they like heavier front sway bars (and soft rears bars) – otherwise it felt good. I also had a rather tame alignment on it so it needs a lot more camber, both front and back.

Brakes: They felt horrible the first session (pulsing, etc) – great the second and third – just needed to be broken in. As for the projected increase in rear bias (found out about this doing some research) was not an issue. The car seemed to be very flat, consistent, and controlled under braking.

Conclusion: I would consider this project a great success thus far. Got some winter projects coming up.

[HughA44s]

I forgot to ,mention that my caliper paint job held up well and did not dis-color or catch on fire.

[Jazzbass]

Great update. As someone looking at M3s I like to see this stuff worked out in advance!