Scott, Whatever the first CVC event is should be the event you want to volunteer then, because you might see some accidental sideways action from not being used to all that power! Thanks for the comments; I thank Pete Theodorakopoulos for all of his hard work on this project, so when you guys say "good job", it should be directed towards him. All I did was occasionally do *something* easy and stand by handing him tools... lol
I never said anything about those laps being nose end first! Seriously, can't wait to see the finished product.
HOLY SNAPPLE THAT SOUNDS FIERCE! Why oh WHY must cars be street legal?! Haha, but totally awesome job, this car is quite the machine. And you'll always have it as a trophy and token of your efforts--take pride in that. And from my OCD side, clean up that engine compartment. Before I spaz out. And in response to MGarrison, it's part 6 in the latter link...glad I could pique your curiosity
The first CVC Driver's School will be April 9th @ Lime Rock (of course) You seriously need to write some words to go along with the pictures so we can publish an article in the DZ and Half Moon (?)
Botond very cool! Congrats on getting this project going and almost complete! Sounds great, I am sure you still have that smile on your face! It will be there for some time. Nothing like an open BMW six! I hope the exhaust shop doesn't tone it down too much!
Hmm.. is that turbo kit going to be in the form of a birthday present in February? Those pictures are pre-finalizing. The last pic of the coolant being poured in - that was just temporary to get it to the exhaust shop before they closed. Ironically, we ran out of time and it has to sit there until Monday when they can finish it. Once they finish it, there will still be some time for me to pick it up, so finishing touches will be made on it before I go pick it up, like getting the tach and hopefully the coolant gauge to work, and miscellaneous wiring to cleanup in the engine bay. Don't you worry, if it's not done, the OCD side of me will get it taken care of... You betcha. I can't friggin' wait... When is the CVC going to do some at Watkins Glen? Were there any pictures in particular that you had in mind? For now it's a stock E36 M3 exhaust, from the cats to the muffler. The goal of the swap at this point was to create a good baseline for potential future mods. I kept it stock so that I could get used to it the way it came out of the factory (drivetrain-wise) and then I'll probably start modding it little by little so I know what each mod does to the car. I don't want to slap everything on at the same time and not know how it affects the car, because then I'll have this whole mess of performance and I won't know what did it! Besides, the engine swap itself is one huge mod to begin with, so that it be enough for now...
Sweet Project, great to see it come to fruition - very nice! Something else to think about when you get to it - with the additional power, you'll need to think about your braking. Stainless steel brake lines all around (if you don't already have those), and although ATE Super Blue/Gold brake fluid is widely used, I found I had temperatures higher than Super Blue's 536º boiling point at the pad backing plate, with 2.5" ducting running air directly into the center of the rotors, so I switched to Motul 600 which has a 585º boiling point, and holds up, with the help of the ducting. http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/category/Brake_Fluid2 The Ferodo and Stainless Steel Brakes co. fluids have a slightly lower boiling point, but are also a few bucks less than the Motul. Stock pads (or similar) won't hold up for long in track use - I recommend Performance Friction race pads, from Bimmerworld. Race pads are less rotor-friendly, but I find that an acceptable trade off vs. burning through a set of front pads in 3 sessions, and the PF's don't need some complicated bedding procedure. Air ducting is certainly helpful - I think there's several vendors offering backing plate replacements or other setups; it's ideal to get the air into the middle of the rotors where it can blow through the rotor vanes. I found two options for big brake kits for non-M E30's that fit 15" wheels - expensive, but effective. http://store.nexternal.com/shared/S...oreType=BtoC&Count1=155101954&Count2=72242379 http://www.kormanfastbmw.com/e30brake.htm In the meantime, beware of brake fade with all the new oomph!
Brakes are the next step. I was looking at a kit from massivebrakes.com. They sell kits for BMWs. This is the page for E30's (non-M3): http://massivebrakes.com/kits/e30/front/300/21/318-325 I was thinking of getting the 280mm rotors up front and putting my current front rotors on the rear. Would this be sufficient for track usage? I wouldn't mind spending a little more for the 300mm kit though, but it would take longer for me to get them due to the extra cost. I should have a kit in a couple of months though. At this time, I would consider getting stainless lines as well so I wouldn't have to bleed the brakes separately.
Sufficient - I would say yes, probably so - it would be nice if we could get commentary from someone using that setup. A good place to start, and if you still suffer some brake fade, then perhaps brake ducts, but address that if it arises. I do not believe the front brakes can be swapped directly on to the rear axles - the rear rotors have different dimensions due to the design & parking brake, and if you even could mount up the front rotors, they would be horizontally unaligned with the caliper. The front calipers, being larger than the rear, they're mounting holes wouldn't line up, afaik. If someone's actually done it, ok, but I think it would take caliper adapters, and you'd have to lose the parking brake, if the rotors could mount at all. I haven't heard of anyone ever doing it, fwiw. I'd start with the fronts, put ss-lines on the rear, and see how it goes. I use metal-master pads on the rear just to stick to something rotor friendly, simply because I never seem to be able to get a parking brake adjusted without a bunch of rigamarole after changing out rear rotors.
well that was really fast as far as getting the engine in and running I hope you're leaving the "325e" badge on the back
Great news; my headgasket is blown and I can't afford to buy a new set and have the head sent out. And, I won't get paid for another two weeks because I was forced to take last week off. That means no car this week. Isn't life great?
All hope is not lost. He is still driving around in a E28 . BTW B, extra charge$ are being racked up as we speak for E28 rental
Definitely a bummer. But you knew this wasn't going to be easy, right? Nothing really worthwhile comes easily, don't ask me why.
