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Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

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  • #91
    Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: DSP Auto-x Project

    Are the manuals for the e46 printed or only electronic? I've made OBD1 and (pre-CAN) OBD2 talk together and fooled OBD2 with data before.


    Costas
    cars and such...

    Comment


    • #92
      Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: DSP Auto-x Project

      Originally posted by modernbeat View Post
      Meanwhile, there are already commercial kits and home-grown solutions to sticking an LSx into an FD RX7.
      RX-8
      - chassis has twice the torsional rigidity
      - more sophisticated suspension
      - 4 doors
      - not rare
      - updated interior
      Thomas
      AST '04 S2000 (STR)
      '04 R32 with AST 4100s

      Comment


      • #93
        Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: DSP Auto-x Project

        I've owned one RX8 in this lifetime, and it was 1 too many.

        That turd motor was even worse than the turd in the E46!

        It also needs an LS1, yes, but that's not in the cards this time.

        Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
        2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
        EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

        Comment


        • #94
          Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: DSP Auto-x Project

          Terry, is there any particular reason you didn't choose an e46 M3 for the base of your E46 project? Sorry to hear about all the motor issues that you guys have ran into with the M54...

          Comment


          • #95
            Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: DSP Auto-x Project

            Originally posted by dakkon View Post
            Terry, is there any particular reason you didn't choose an e46 M3 for the base of your E46 project? Sorry to hear about all the motor issues that you guys have ran into with the M54...
            Yes, two main ones:

            1. The E46 M3 is classed poorly in most SCCA classes. In Street Touring its killed by EVOs and STis in STU class. In Street Prepared its... killed by EVOs and STis in BSP class.
            2. The E46 330Ci seemed to be better classed, especially in the Street Prepared category. It has won 2 of the last 3 years in DSP.

            In hindsight, I wish we would have built up an E46 M3 instead. They don't cost a huge premium anymore and they are a LOT better car in every way (especially the powerplant). They already have room for huge wheels/tires (no need for flares) and non-sunroof models abound (no need to do the roof swap). And with 333 hp they are far and away faster than the 330 could ever hope to be.

            Well... with LSx power even this lowly 330 might finally be fast.
            Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
            2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
            EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

            Comment


            • #96
              Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

              Project Update for May 23, 2011: So you may have noticed that I've changed the thread title, because we've found a new purpose for this car. After that dismal showing in SCCA autocross class DSP we decided to cut our losses and let the car continue to do what it did best - NASA TTD Time Trial racing. Let's look back...

              After the first oil pump nut failure on my M54 (described above) we had the oil pump nut welded on (should have done this from day one), replaced the rod bearings, new oil pump, etc. So then 3 autocross events later the oil pump driveshaft sheered in half, right after the 2010 SCCA Solo Nationals. My wife (who "didn't know what that noise was") made an entire lap at Texas Motor Speedway's road course in November with zero oil pressure, so you can imagine how fubar the engine is. She crossed the finish line and the motor seized. Lovely.



              After the car sat for months I took the car to STETT again earlier this year and he pulled the bottom end apart for a look and maybe just "more bearings" again - it wasn't good. Rod bearings spun, oil pan full of copper, everything is fried. Please, learn from my stupid mistakes (two dead M54 engines) and never rev your M54 above 6000 RPMs with the stock balancer and unsecured oil pump nut! The interweb experts they were right. We picked up the E46 and let it sit some more.

              So after letting the blue car sit for 6 months, almost ignoring it completely, I thought about putting an LS1 in it. Then we found another 2001 330Ci chassis with no drivetrain to use for an LS1 swap mule. It needs a little work but it should make for a clean, quick, affordable and reliable track car when we're done.



              So then the blue 330 was sitting there and I had to think - do we "fix it to keep" or "sell it?". I thought about this at length, with lots of input from fellow racers, and we've decided to keep the blue 2001 E46 330Ci and run it in NASA TTD (its classed/prepped well for this class and regularly set track records there). My wife can use it to run TT in, instead of running our 2011 Mustang GT in TTB (which we're going to use in autocrossing only, to focus on one set of class rules instead of two).



              We pulled all the decals off the blue car, put the airbags, stock radio/amp, and stock steering wheel (radio controls) back in (makes for a nicer street car), and are prepping it for a replacement motor. After that it will get bodywork and finally a repaint in the original blue. It can still be street legal and be quick enough for TTD, as the car needed a little more weight for the class. We'll probably run it on 255/35/18 Hoosier R6s, or 285s if we want a little more stick (it has 285s now). This time we're adding the VAC oil pump drive kit and a better balancer. The motor is supposed to arrive today.



              After what we have heard from online advice + our lousy experiences with this motor and its very obvious limitations (balancer, oil pump nut/drive, high RPM harmonics) it has taught me some lessons, and the RPM limit will be dropped back down to 6000 rpm when its up and running again. Also the ATI balancer that is made for the M54 looks nice and we're looking into acquiring one of these expensive units.

              We will update this thread further once the motor is going into the car.

              Thanks,
              Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
              2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
              EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

              Comment


              • #97
                Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                Project Update for June 13, 2011: Haven't done much to the blue E46 330 for the past month. We have been looking for a stock, low mileage, running M54 330 motor to replace our busted unit with. Struck out on several engine finds, including a 100K mi longblock we were having delivered for $1900. Ouch! Pricy for a 100K mile longblock, right? That's the BMW tax. Well that deal fell through - the junkyard flaked out on delivery, thankfully.

                Warning - these pictures are not of our Blue 2001 BMW 330!



                Instead of a motor I found an entire donor 330 Coupe... well, part of an entire car, and more of a "speedster" than a "coupe". I found this cream puff above on CraigsList for less than the delivered long block price, and got it back here last weekend (big thanks to Chris L and Paul M for helping with that!). It is a 2005 BMW 330 Coupe automatic, and only has 60K miles, so we'll get a fresher engine than we had expected. Kind of a fiasco getting it here, as it didn't have any wheels/tires and was missing the LF suspension, but its here and is being torn apart by two of Vorshlag's finest.



                It was a rollover car but the engine still started and ran. Previous owner got it an insurance auction and took rear sheetmetal/trunk parts for his 330 Coupe project. It was sitting in a junkyard when we got it from him. We are now mining what's left of this wrecked car for the drivetrain + spare parts (halfshafts, calipers, etc) as well as missing parts from our white E46 Alpha LSx Project (wiring harness, dash, HVAC parts, etc). We should end up with some sell-able parts like a good automatic transmission, exhaust, and some other bits. The hope is if we part out the stuff we don't need at decent prices we might end up with a "good deal" for the motor and other parts we're keeping. I'll post up some links for the parts we will sell when they are ready.



                Right now the front subframe is ready to come out with the drivetrain attached, just trying to round up an E-18 and E-20 "E-Torx" sockets to get the subframe disconnected from the body. When it is completely stripped down to the core chassis we'll cut it up into 2-4 pieces and take it in for scrap value.

                More soon,
                Last edited by Fair!; 06-13-2011, 05:10 PM.
                Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                Comment


                • #98
                  Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                  Project Update for July 6, 2011: In the 3 weeks since my last post we managed to strip the 2005 330Ci "donor car" down to the shell, recovering a lot of good, usable parts from this rollover mess. We scavenged the 60K mile M54/automatic drivetrain, rear suspension/diff/subframe assembly, HVAC blower/evap core/components, the entire wiring harness, the RF suspension and brakes, front subframe K-member - things like that. These parts will be used on our blue 2001 330 (this project), the white 2001 330 LS1 swap (E46 Alpha car), or sold.

                  The video below shows the 2005 carcass stripped clean, down to 880 pounds of metal. That translated into a whopping $70.40 worth of scrap.



                  Click for video of the 2005 shell coming off the trailer

                  AJ and Jason here at Vorshlag have also pulled the broken M54 and the (still good) 5-spd out of the blue 2001. They first removed the front end bits, dropped the K-member down a bit, and slid the complete, old drivetrain out the front.



                  We picked up this 2005 chassis because all of the books show that the 2001-2005 E46/X5/530 motors were completely interchangeable. So yesterday the guys were pulling the stock exhaust manifolds from the 2005 block and noticed some distinct differences between the motors, including: coil packs, valve cover, and the number of drilled/tapped holes around the exhaust ports.



                  Not a big deal on the ignition coils - we'll just keep the 2001 versions along with the 2001 valve cover, wiring harness, etc. But the aftermarket exhaust headers we had been using have spots for all 24 bolt holes (4 per port), and use 6 individual exhaust manifold gaskets (one per port). This means the 2005 head will not seal as well to the header, it since its missing 8 of the 24 exhaust stud holes.



                  I guess BMW saved a few bucks by not drilling and tapping all of the bolt holes on the head on the 2005, even though it has the same casting number as the 2001. The question is - what do racers do when using headers on these later M54 heads? Just use the 16 holes and a 1-piece, OEM style exhaust gasket? Or drill and tap these 8 missing holes? That's probably what we'll do.



                  More soon,
                  Last edited by Fair!; 07-06-2011, 12:59 PM.
                  Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                  2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                  EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                  Comment


                  • #99
                    Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                    One of those two years of coil packs are problematic. I don't known which one, but GRM had a buyer's guide that talked about it.
                    Brian Hanchey
                    AST Suspension - USA

                    Comment


                    • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                      Use the OBD2 M3 style exhaust gaskets (3 ports per gasket, 2 req'd) and just use 16 bolts. The 24 bolt headers are overkill, IMO, and a total pain to install. I am certain that not all 24 of the nuts in my M3 are tight because a couple of the nuts are inaccessible - no exhaust leaks or other problems.

                      I've done a couple E46's with the later style head; never had any leakage issues.

                      I think they switched to the newer style coil packs in 2002 or 2003. I've never had issues with either style. It's sure nice to not have to use tools to pull the later style, though.
                      Chris
                      97 M3/4 - STU
                      06 Evo - SM
                      00 S2000 - STR

                      Comment


                      • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                        Originally posted by Chris View Post
                        Use the OBD2 M3 style exhaust gaskets (3 ports per gasket, 2 req'd) and just use 16 bolts. The 24 bolt headers are overkill, IMO, and a total pain to install. I am certain that not all 24 of the nuts in my M3 are tight because a couple of the nuts are inaccessible - no exhaust leaks or other problems.

                        I've done a couple E46's with the later style head; never had any leakage issues.

                        I think they switched to the newer style coil packs in 2002 or 2003. I've never had issues with either style. It's sure nice to not have to use tools to pull the later style, though.
                        Thanks for the input, Chris. Brian too.

                        I think for now we'll go with the 2001 valve cover and coil packs (but keep the 2005 bits + engine harness if we want to convert later) and use the 16 bolt holes on the header and just run with it.

                        Got the balancers off both M54 motors yesterday and are having prototypes made now.
                        Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                        2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                        EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                        Comment


                        • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                          Project Update for Dec 15, 2011: Wow, long time no update here. Last entry was July!? That was right before we started de/reconstruction on our new shop here in Plano, TX. That gobbled up a few months of time, as did the wait for the new balancer we wanted to produce.



                          Long story there, but a prototype balancer was going to got thousands so the car sat for a bit. Around November we checked some of our new OEM supply sources and found a stock replacement balancer for a very good price - less than half of what BMW wanted.



                          So we got the balancer, it looks great, and we put it on once the E46 was brought to the new shop. Fit great. AJ changed all the fluids in the car and we put in the normal Mobil1 sythetics into the "new" 2005 M54 motor for the first fire fire-up. Mobil1 and most synthetics is super detergent and tend to clean out any built-up junk that may have been in the motor sat at a junkyard the past year or two (car it came from had a great CarFax with regular maintenance at a local BMW dealer so I wasn't worried). Motor turned over by hand nicely, so I figured it would start right up - which it did. So we fired it up and it sounded like sh!t! Listen to this mess...


                          click for video of first start-up of "new" 2005 motor


                          We let it warm up and run for several minutes before I couldn't take it anymore - "Shut it down!". I know BMW motors can have a cam follower tick when they are super hot and/or you don't overfill the oil level at track/autocross events (I usually run +1.5 qts of oil in 20W50 synthetic for hot summer races and it never ticks). So I sent this video to a few other BMW gearheads and one drag racing friend (Ed). He recommended putting a bottle of Lucas Oil Treatment into the motor to clean up the sticky cam follower. He said he had seen race shops put this stuff in $80K race motors and swear by it. I was of course VERY skeptical of this or any other "magic in a bottle" substance, and made lots of "snake oil" jokes. Still, I was not going to rip open this motor I had paid good money for without at least trying this trick.

                          New Motor is Fine

                          I'll be damned. We poured in the bottle and within 30 seconds the noise was COMPLETELY gone. I was laughing so hard I was crying! Never in a million years would I have thought this would work. I drove it around for weeks on the street and it never once has made a peep. Bizarre. So that's my 30 second Lucas testimonial, which you won't hear on a late night infomercial.

                          Yes, we're still working on a better BMW balancer solution that meets SFI standards, and I met a few companies at PRI that we will try to work with - I'll update this thread if it goes anywhere, or if the previous prototype design ever gets built (it looked incredible).

                          Other Repairs

                          We had planned on making the November ECR event but w had too much going on at the shop and didn't get the E46 "de-bugged" in time. I was street driving the car for a few weeks and we found a few things wrong, from the car sitting for over a year and from from me buying a crappy set of lower control arms from eBay 2 years ago. At the time we didn't have a good source for OEM replacement parts so I "cheaped-out" and got these no-name control arms:


                          These eBay LCAs have sh!t the bed after only one season of autocross use!

                          They were half the price of good Meyle or Lemforder LCAs, and just like your grandfather says - I got what I paid for. Lesson learned, Grandpa. The front outer ball joints were both SHOT. Banging around like mad on street drives. We tried to press them out of the old arms but they snapped in two, like the cheap Chinese junk that they were. No name garbage OEM replacement parts, so not much of a surprise here. We now have commercial accounts with the major OEM parts replacement distributors, which we didn't have back then, and 30 minutes later a pair of brand new Meyle HD aluminum LCAs arrive. Oh so pretty - and once installed the suspension clunk is gone.



                          These Meyle arms look much beefier in the ball joint areas (more aluminum there) than the previous pair and feature Meyle's "Heavy Duty", metal-encased, replaceable ball joints. These arms should last more than one season, but if they do ever wear out we can press in new ball joints. The same old Powerflex 2-piece bushings still look great after 2 years; they were re-greased and re-installed onto the new LCAs.

                          Track Test Time



                          So last week we mounted up the new 18x10 wheels and new Hoosier R6s to the car, loaded up the E46 into the trailer and towed out to Eagles Canyon Raceway for their annual "Toy Run" track day. Amy followed in the Mustang. Every December this track hosts a "$50 + unwrapped toy" track event, to raise a boatload of toys for local kids in need and give lots of people the chance to drive/ride at a track day on an otherwise unused track weekend.



                          The ECR folks always put on a good show, the event ran flawlessly, and we had a blast. I drove the E46 in Red Group (once) and Amy drove our 2011 Mustang GT in Red all day as well, making all sorts of noise with the new dual 3" mandrel bent 304 stainless exhaust our fabricator just built for this car. Oh the Mustang sounds NICE, and with 430 whp it goes like stink. This Coyote 5.0L V8 motor will RUIN you to all BMWs, even the BMW V8 powered kind.



                          The E46 was making some nice noises too, and I managed to make one whole session on track in the car before I broke it....


                          click for hi-def in-car video from the BMW E46 at ECR (about 9 minutes worth)


                          Begin Excuse Mode

                          This initial 20 minutes on track was to be a shake-down run for the E46 - it was the first time it had been driven on track since May 2010, and the first time driven in anger since the old motor expired in Oct 2010. I just wanted to get some early laps on this "new" 3.0L M54 motor, come in, check over everything, then go out and push it harder and get some quick laps in it as the day warmed up (it got into the mid 50°F range that afternoon). We had 5 sessions each to drive, so it was a miracle that I even had the video running in that first outing.

                          http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Racing-E...-Toy-Run-2011/ = more pics and video from this track event

                          As you see in the video, I only had one lap without traffic, and that lap had two stupendous driving mistakes and it was a 2:07.9 lap, meh. I'm not happy with these lap times, but I never intended to run my quickest laps in the first session in this car. It was the first session of the day and was VERY cold (34°F), there was moisture on the track from the previous night, the brand new "sticker" Hoosiers were still being scrubbed in, and brakes never really felt great (I found out later we had HP+ pads on there - WTF?). Still, that's 3 seconds faster than its previous best lap at ECR, which was a TTD record. So, its a start.

                          /Excuse Mode



                          Other than the mediocre lap times in that first session, the car felt great. Motor was crisp, turn in was perfect, the AST 4200s soaked up the bumpiest parts of that track with ease, the OS Giken diff made it easy to drive out of corners, but the brakes got a little warm. Unfortunately I didn't make another session in the BMW because it developed a coolant leak, which didn't start until I was already in the pits after this track session. A local racer (thanks, Kwan!) spotted a small trail of steam coming out of the front grill when I pulled into our paddock spot, as I was running up to the hot pits to switch cars and lead some lead-follow green group drivers. I stopped and popped the hood - Hmm, that's odd... just a tiny waft of steam. We looked around, then he saw a tiny stream of water coming out of the bottom of the stock coolant reservoir. CRAP.

                          The reservoir had moved under load, we think, and rubbed against a drive pulley - so it was done for the day after this one session. Oh darn... I had to drive the Mustang! Amy and I both doubled-up on sessions in it, running in Yellow and Red, and I even did lead-follows for Green group several times in it. By days' end we had put two tanks of fuel through the Mustang and had a blast.

                          Repair Track Issues


                          Right: Last time the 330 and M3 are parked side-by-side... the M3 has gone to a new home in California

                          So we get the E46 back to the shop and Monday our tech AJ pulled the whole radiator/bracket/reservoir assembly out and apart and did indeed see some flex in the mounting. The reservoir and its mounting bracket were replaced with new items from BMW, less than $100, so no big deal. Everything was triple-checked and reinstalled and now, no flex. There's only about 1/2" clearance from this reservoir to the pulley, and with Hoosiers + the old bracket + enough cornering power I guess it was enough to let it move around and touch. Now we can yank on it and get no movement - something we'll check E46s for from now on.



                          What's Next?

                          Just picked up a set of 285/30/18 Yokohama AD08s (see below, left), from someone's aborted E46 M3 STU build, that have a whopping 4 autocross runs on them. We'll put these on the 2nd set of D-Force 18x10s, for street use on this car. Its got room for 285s so it might as well use 285s, for track and street. The old 265/35/18 Yokohama A032s on that set of wheels are long since worn smooth, and driving the BMW on the street with these worn out tires in the rain yesterday was "a one way trip to Hoonville". We're also going to re-do the exhaust and add a 3" high-flow catalyst to it, then get it re-inspected and put some street miles on this car. With the stock seats and steering wheel back in it is once again fun bombing around back and forth to work in (on my 6 mile commute) for Amy or me. It needs to be painted one color again, too.



                          The only other casualty at the track were a couple of center caps that melted (see above, right). Lost one on the E46 front and two more on the Mustang, both of which I was pushing the brakes on pretty good.

                          We had worked up a KILLER new build-sheet for TTD that included massive aero (+6 for "real" big front splitter and +4 for huge rear wing), with the switch to the uber-ringer 255/35/18 Hoosier R6 (-9) and swapping the stock airbox back on (-1). This tire was known to be as wide as the 275mm Hoosier, but was marked a 255. Tons of people built entire cars around this very tire, but 2 years later NASA finally made a ruling on this one specific Hoosier size and now its considered a 275mm tire, like it should be. So... damn! No big aero for this car in TTD. Oh well, at least I can keep the home-built cold air filter on there (and yes, I've asked my fab guy to finally make a real heat shield and better mount for it).

                          I had Hanchey drive the E46 when we were diagnosing the suspension clunk (which ended up being the bad LCAs) and he noted that the 2005 motor felt a lot peppier than the 211 whp plot would otherwise indicate, which was a number from the old 100K mile 2001 M54. Amy said the same thing, "This car is making more power than the M3!" (which puts down 224 whp) Maybe they are right... it does feel a bit more spirited than the old motor, but its been so long ago since I drove it with the previous M54, and I'm pretty ruined from driving the Mustang a lot (more than double the M54 power), so maybe I'll get another dyno pull done and see? This motor did have half the miles of the old one.

                          That's all for now... more soon
                          Last edited by Fair!; 11-22-2016, 12:24 PM.
                          Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                          2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                          EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                          Comment


                          • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                            Project Update for Nov 4, 2012: Looks like I have been lax in updating this thread? Weird. We have been street driving the car for the past ten months or so, making small updates along the way. This E46 we purchased in October 2009 has come a long way from a bone stock sunroof equipped 2001 BMW 330Ci coupe. It now has a complete race-worthy suspension, flared fenders, new paint, 18x10" D-Force wheels and 285mm tires, and the roof panel and interior have been updated for a factory-like sunroof delete. We have installed a lot of bolt-on engine performance upgrades along with a newer 2005 model 330 engine. We took the car from stock, to a dedicated race car, and now back to a dual-purpose street car. Let's catch up on the last year of updates here.


                            Our 2001 BMW E46 330 Coupe.... then (2009) and now (2012)

                            A while ago I thought, you know? We don't drive this car very much. We own 7 vehicles and this one is being ignored. Maybe we should sell the 330? So we set about making it perfect. Our fabricator Ryan started out by tweaking the exhaust system I had built initially and that he had worked on once late last year.



                            A high flow metal matrix catalytic convertor was added to the existing custom 316 stainless steel, mandrel bent exhaust system. At this same time a new center mounting system was fabricated with all new rubber isolators. The entire system now fit better, had a cat, but without some reprogramming of the DME it was still not emissions legal.



                            After striking out with the previous shop that had re-tuned the DME for DSP autocross use, we took the car to Classic BMW where they reflashed the DME to the latest factory software version. We welded in new O2 bungs for the two "post cat" oxygen sensors and then extended and re-routed the rear O2 wiring harnesses. With the rear sensors now operational and the latest reflash in the engine computer the car runs better and passes emissions once again.



                            The exhaust is anything but quiet, but it is all stainless steel, 3" in diameter, and flows very well. It has a throaty growl at wide open throttle and a manageable sound level in street driving and highway cruising.



                            After street driving the car earlier this year I noticed some noises from the rear suspension. After some investigation a worn control arm bushing was found at the top of the rear uprights. We replaced these rear upper control arm bushings with new Lemforder parts in April 2012, shown above.




                            To also make this former DSP autocrosser into more of a street car, a set of Yokohama AD08 street tires in 285/30/18 were mounted to another set of D-Force 18x10" lightweight wheels. These tires have full tread and excellent street manners - and perform very well in the wet or dry. We will sell the car with one of the two sets of D-Force wheels - either this set with the Yokohama street tires or the set with the nearly new Hoosier R6 tires (they have less than a dozen laps at ECR on them).



                            Amy and I both made a few laps in the 330Ci at Eagles Canyon Raceway in June of this year. We were also running our 2011 Mustang that day, which was a quicker car overall, so the 330Ci didn't get a lot of track time. We neglected to get a lap timer on it, but with the 285 Hoosier R6 tires mounted it was leaving several cars in the dust that had run 2:06 to 2:08 lap times, so it was pretty quick.



                            Back in July we got the first set of AST 4150 coilovers for the E46 chassis, a pre-production set. They went on this car with our normal "GTS" package spring rates (500F/650R) and they worked very well for several months of street driving. We gave measurements and feedback to AST and they are using that for the production 4150 versions. After this test was completed, we reinstalled the AST 4200 double adjustable monotubes and an earlier set of 600F/750R spring rates (our GTR package). We have run as high as 750F/900 rear, but the 600/750 set is more manageable on the street and still works very well on track.

                            Continued below...
                            Last edited by Fair!; 11-06-2012, 12:26 PM.
                            Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                            2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                            EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                            Comment


                            • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project


                              Gratuitous engine bay picture, showing the low mileage M54 now fitted. The cabin filter box was out for cleaning. It is this clean everywhere

                              We spent months, off and on, sorting out all of the little fiddly bits that were worn, broken or too radical for street use. The car was working, driving, and handling very well on the street or track. But... it looks like a half-finished race car on the outside.



                              We had flared the front fenders back in March 2010 and then swapped the sunroof panel for a factory sunroof delete roof in June 2010, along with installing new headliner, A/B/C pillars, in BMW black.



                              The problem was these new BMW (E46 M3) front fenders and BMW roof panel came in black primer, and we never got around to painting them. The rework done to the rear fenders was also "less than show car" and these needed to be body-worked and all of these panels painted. To make sure everything matched we went ahead and had the entire car body-worked and sprayed in the factory Lapisbleu in PPG 2-stage base/clear.



                              Pre-Paint Prep + Bodywork and Paint

                              In an effort to "save money" we pulled all of the interior door panels, weather stripping, trim panels, headlights/taillights, and bumper covers off the 330 at Vorshlag. This meant the painter didn't have to be bothered with this.



                              We took it to a buddy's paint shop in Sherman, TX, who specializes in not only collision repair, but custom paint and bodywork for both street and race cars. This was to be a top quality street car paint job and he eagerly jumped at the project. It was at his shop for two weeks but they did a fantastic job on this car.



                              The front fender welding I had done quickly for DSP legality was blended in perfectly and the fender trim pieces were customized and trimmed. The rear fender flares I had hammered out to clear the 285mm tires at full bump travel were completely reworked and the flare sections look perfect now. The paint was perfectly sprayed and the clear coat looks extremely glossy and smooth.







                              Brandon here at Vorshlag took some pictures last week and they came out great. These are straight off his camera, with the images taken at dusk. This car looks like a million bucks and now the multi-thousand dollar paint job seems like a bargain!





                              Now I finally feel proud of this car, after three years of work, and it is finally ready for sale to the next owner. It would be a great start for a DSP autocross car, a NASA TTD car, and of course a great street car. The flared fenders look mean, the paint is impressive, and the handling and performance are top notch.





                              A few last little items are inbound from BMW - small trim pieces or emblems. I am leaving the "330Ci" badges off the trunk, but otherwise it has all of the factory bits in like new condition. We have a few more pictures to take this wee then are putting the car on eBay for a 7 day auction very soon. Stay tuned for more details and the link to the auction.

                              Thanks,
                              Last edited by Fair!; 11-06-2012, 11:42 AM.
                              Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                              2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                              EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                              • Re: Vorshlag BMW E46: Track Car Project

                                This is the link to the eBay auction for our 330 which began on Saturday Nov 10th, 2012 at 12 pm noon CST and will end exactly ten days from that time.

                                eBay auction link: cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sport-/321020699183 (or just go to eBay.com and search on item 321020699183)

                                -----------

                                Welcome to the auction for Vorshlag's 2001 BMW E46 330Ci, which is part street car and part race car. It could be the perfect track/street toy for someone, or possibly the basis for a SCCA DSP autocross car, or a NASA TTD time trial lap record killer. Please read on to learn more about this unique vehicle.



                                For the third time in the past 12 months we have another one of our long term project cars going up for sale. Last December we sold our 1997 BMW M3 "STU" prepped autocross/street car test car for over $14,000. In July of 2012, we auctioned off our Grassroots Motorsports $2011 Challenge Winning BMW E30 V8 for $18,000. The car we have for sale here is more rare, cleaner and prettier than either of those.

                                It has come to that point in the life of one of our long term project cars (three year project build thread linked here) to let someone else have a turn at the wheel. Once again we've run out of products to develop with it, and the final upgrades and tweaks have been done to this BMW. Selling this E46 will allow us to focus on some of the half dozen other project cars we own or that are being developed at Vorshlag Motorsports. We already have another 2001 BMW E46 330Ci in our shop, which is getting our first LS1 V8 swap.

                                Drivetrain



                                This blue 330Ci has a factory 2005 model "M54" 3.0L DOHC inline six engine, which is stock internally other than an upgraded VAC oil pump drive and a new harmonic balancer. This M54 is a replacement, low mileage engine taken from a 2005 model 330Ci, which we swapped here at Vorshlag. All of the wear items under hood have been replaced, including: all of the cooling system components, alternator, belts, hoses, radiator, thermostat housing, VANOS seals, and the common sensors. All of the top end gaskets are new, as are the spark plugs. The engine is all OEM specification other than an aftermarket K&N open element air filter and a Stett Performance stainless steel long tube header.


                                Click here for a ridiculously large version of the picture above

                                This set of tubular headers feeds into a Vorshlag custom built 3" stainless steel exhaust system. A high flow 100 cell catalytic convertor has been installed and a Flowmaster Hushpower II muffler resides out back. Dozens of pounds have been shed with this exhaust and it has a a nice, racy exhaust note.



                                Other upgrades to the drivetrain include a Fidanza 12 pound aluminum flywheel, Sachs race clutch and pressure plate, new OEM driveshaft bushing (guibo), Vorshlag 95A polyurethane transmission mounts, Vorshlag nylon motor mounts, Rogue Engineering 1-piece race shifter. A $3000 rear axle assembly built by DiffsOnline includes an OS Giken 1.5 way limited slip differential, lower 3.15:1 final gearing, and new bearings throughout.



                                The engine pulls hard to the 6500 rpm redline and the 5-spd transmission shifts flawlessly. A bit of drivetrain noise is evident at idle with the solid nylon motor mounts and the lightweight 1-piece flywheel, which is to be expected with that combination.

                                Suspension System

                                Much of what we do at Vorshlag revolves around suspension development and this E46 served as a development platform for many of the items we represent and sell or manufacture and sell. Our spherical top mount Vorshlag E46 camber/caster plates reside up front on top of AST 4200 double adjustable monotube coilovers, and allow for more positive camber and more negative camber travel for both mild mannered street and high grip cornering on track.



                                These double adjustable AST shocks are track worthy, but still comfortable enough for daily driving on the street - this car has served double duties for us for two of the last three years. We used this car to test and provide installation pictures for the Eibach adjustable front sway bar and rear sway bar.

                                We also added Powerflex polyurethane bushings in the rear location of the the new Meyle HD aluminum Front Lower Control Arms (their latest designed two-piece bushing) as well as the rear subframe mounting points. New OEM RTA bushings and Vorshlag RTAB limiters have been installed in the trailing arms.



                                We have run a variety of spring rates on several different AST coilover shocks on this car over the years, from as low as 450/550 #/in to (street testing of the AST 4150s) as high as 750/900 #/in (autocross trim on 4200s and Hoosier A6's). Currently a moderately comfortable and very track worthy set of 600 #/in front and 750 #/in rear springs from Hyperco reside on adjustable height platforms front and rear.

                                Wheels, Tires and Brakes



                                The E46 330Ci Coupe comes with 17x7.5" front and 17x8.5" rear wheels from the factory, with little bitty 225mm tires. We have modified the body to accept 18x10" D-Force wheels with 285/30/18 tires ... 2.5" more wheel and 60mm more tire than stock. As you can imagine, this improves mechanical grip tremendously, then throw in the Hoosier R6 race tire compound and you are looking at 1.3g lateral grip numbers.



                                We have two identical silver sets of these 5 spoke, 18 pound D-Force 18x10" wheels to choose from, both in perfect condition. Do you want the street tires set, with nearly new Yokohama AD08 tires? Or do you want the set with nearly new Hoosier R6 competition R compounds? Let us know after you bid and we will mount one or the other. If you want both the street and race tire sets we can arrange that for an additional fee - for the ultimate in dual-use wheel and tire set-up. The street set has new BMW center caps, as shown below.



                                The braking system includes new factory rotors, which are pretty large at 13" up front and 12.5" out back. The calipers are the OEM units with stainless braided flex lines and Hawk HP+ brake pads. We have used everything from HPS, HP+ and DTC pads on this car and this set-up works best for dual use street/track or street/autocross. The car stops very well and is fade free in 20 minute track sessions. In place of the factory wheel bolts are Vorshlag racing wheel studs and lug nuts, and Vorshlag hub-centric wheel spacers up front to allow the same 18x10" wheels to fit both front and rear (for easy tire rotation).

                                Exterior Paint and Body

                                Some significant body changes have been made to this BMW over the past three years, namely the roof swap and the fender flares. Then in the last month we had all the paint and body work performed by professionals, to the tune of several thousand dollars. It was all money well spent - making for a unique stance and perfect paintwork that really turns heads.





                                The roof swap was necessary because there were almost no E46 330Ci coupes imported to North America without a sunroof (we looked for a year before buying this car). The "sunroof delete" roof weighs 33 pounds less (all weight "up high"), makes a more rigid chassis, and has 2" of additional headroom inside. So for racers this is a must-do modification.



                                The metal roof panel, extra roof bow, black interior headliner, and black A, B, and C-pillar covers were factory BMW parts all ordered from and shipped in from BMW Germany ($1700 worth of parts alone) and the roof installation is identical to stock. Swapping in these parts involved removing the glass, drilling hundreds of spot welds, adding hundreds more, and sealing and painting everything along the way. It was an epic amount of work (50+ hours) and we will NEVER do another roof swap like this, for any amount of money. But it was done right and looks factory.



                                The fenders were heavily modified to clear 18x10" wheels and 285/30/18 tires, at full suspension bump travel. This fender work included two new E46 M3 front fenders ($550), plastic M3 fender liners ($200), and lots of bodywork and paint to make it all look like it came from the factory this way. Custom 330-style side molding trim was made to fit the M3 front fenders, and the M3 front fenders were grafted with the side light portions of the 330Ci fenders to make it all SCCA legal for Street Prepared category (long story). Lots of work there as well (30 hours), but the finished results speak for themselves...





                                Interior and Options

                                The interior on this 2001 BMW 330Ci Sport model is mostly stock, with the obvious upgrades of the carbon fiber shift knob on the Rogue Engineering racing shifter. The high bolstered Sport front seats are manually adjustable for fore-aft, height, rake, and more. There is a tiny bit of wear on the outer bolster piping, but otherwise the interior is flawless.





                                The back seat looks brand new and is fitted with a bolt-in Kirk Racing 4-point roll bar. This bar was ordered in bare steel and we had it custom powder coated in black wrinkle finished, and it looks perfect. The 3" wide shoulder harnesses of the 5-point G-Force cam-lock are mounted to the horizontal cross bar of the Kirk 4-point and the lap belts are mounted with clip-in hooks into G-Force floor mounting kits, with load spreading washers. The harnesses can be used to hold you firmly in place on track, then just placed in the back seat floorboard for street use with the factory 3-point belts. All six of the factory airbags are installed.



                                A factory optional Harman Kardon sound system is installed and has an in-dash CD player and eight speakers. Steering wheel controls on the factory steering wheel control the radio, cruise control, and more.





                                One of the many weight saving modifications includes the replacement of the 54 pound factory 12V battery with an AGM style Odyssey PC680 racing battery, which is only 14 pounds. Hundreds of pounds have been shed from this car to make for a lighter, quicker race car - yet it still has the creature comforts of climate controlled air conditioning (blows cold!), power windows/locks, and emissions legality.

                                Final Thoughts + Video Preview

                                I hope you made it all the way through this massive auction ad, clicked the links to dozen or more installation galleries we created while developing this car. There is a lot of work and parts that went into this car, much of it covered here, if you want to read about all of the updates, mini-projects, and modifications done (and some un-done) to this car over the past three years, you can read this project thread.

                                http://youtu.be/l6-wMs_tbAk
                                Please click the link above to see our 14 minute car overview video! Click the "gear" to see the optional HD/1080P version

                                Above is a fourteen minute long video showing many of the unique attributes of this stunning BMW we made here at Vorshlag on Nov 8th. If you are serious about bidding on this car, please read the build thread and watch this video before calling or e-mailing us at Vorshlag. If you have read the ad, the forum thread, and watched the video and still have more questions, please feel free to give us a call at Vorshlag Motorsports @ 972-422-7170 or e-mail us at sales@vorshlag.com. This auction will be up for only ten days, so be mindful of the deadline. There is no buy-it-now price, but there is a reserve price. No, we won't tell you what it is, but it will become obvious at some point in the auction. Whatever price this car sells for will be a fraction of the time and money we have invested in the car. I am positive that this car, like our other high profile builds that have sold at auction, will make the buyer one happy camper.

                                Thanks,
                                Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                                2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                                EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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