New E46 Daily Driver / NASA TT Track Build

BMW’s E46 generation of the 3 series is a crazy bargain right now, and with 4 million built its no surprise that it is a popular choice for racers and daily transportation as well. Once again another E46 has entered our stable here at Vorshlag (we’ve got 3 E46 shop cars at the moment), with this build thread explaining what we have planned for this 325Ci. This Vorshlag shop car will be what so many of our customer’s build: a Dual Purpose Daily daily driver + Track car!

We always caution people that this “double duty” brings compromises, but you guys do it anyway. So we’re going to test this out and see – can keep a car that can be driven to work, has working AC, passes urban Texas emissions, and is still make it competitive on track? Race wins and track records will be our metric. The budget for both time and parts will be shared in every post, so you can keep track of what it all costs.

This time we started with a high mileage 2002 BMW 325Ci coupe 5-speed, and we will document all problems, repairs, upgrades, weights, and races in this car over the next few years. This one started out a little rough, and with several “whiskey dents” along one side we decided to name it Project #JackDaniels. If this build sounds like something you want to follow, check the forum build thread here. Thanks for reading!

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69 Camaro + DangerZone Corvette Updates!

Two new forum updates linked here can help you get caught up on two of our projects. First up was more coverage on the tube framed 69 Camaro Pro Touring / Track build, with work completed from late May to mid June shown in this update.

We also have some updates on our NASA TTC classed 1992 Corvette we call Project #DangerZone – that we hope is at NASA Nationals East in 2 weeks… if the rebuilt motor ever arrives?

Everything we’ve done over the last 3 months is shown in this update. (note: the link was wrong but it has since been updated, TF, 8/27/2015)

Thanks for reading!

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69 Camaro Track Car Build Thread

We finally took the time to write and publish the first installment of the work going into the tube framed 69 Camaro build that Vorshlag is building for a customer.

This first forum entry is showing the work we started in May 2015, mostly tear-down work. Our next installment will show the frame and suspension being built in June. Stay tuned!

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Vorshlag TT3 Mustang Sold! + C5 Corvette Updates

Lots of exciting things unfolding here at Vorshlag, which you can read about in the latest S197 build post. First, we sold our 5 year S197 development chassis “test mule”, our TT3 prepped 2011 Mustang GT. Luckily we did NOT have to deconstruct the car to get it sold, and the new owner will be racing it in and around Michigan very soon.

Never fear, just because we sold our test Mustang doesn’t mean we are abandoning this chassis. Vorshlag is going to continue working on, servicing, and developing parts for the S197 Mustang for many years to come. We show some customer Mustangs and several new parts developed recently in the latest S197 build post.

We have another big forum build thread update in the C5 Track Rat test thread, located here. In this we talk about new spherical shock mounts we designed and built in-house in a 48 hour period. These were made for the MCS TT2 monotube adjustable coilover shocks we custom ordered for our tester Mark’s 2002 Corvette, shown above.

We ditched the factory transverse monoleaf springs to go with Hyperco coilover springs. There is a lot of detail about the new suspension, tires, and quick release steering wheel added to this car in Round 2 of mods. Our first test (an autocross) was rained out, but Mark has tested with it since then and we will test with him again at a Texas Region SCCA event July 12th. Lots more to come on this car – tune in here to see the latest.

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Vorshlag.com Up and Running!

June 3rd, 2015: After 6 days with no shopping cart, and 24 hours without email and a website at all, we finally have www.vorshlag.com up and running again.

Lots of calls to various tech support lines finally got to the root of the issue: a server migration by our web host borked things up, which they finally fixed today. Even our blog was down – but after the update to 4.2.2 for WordPress and fixed also.

So if you have been trying to order something using our online shopping cart, e-mail us, find a blog entry or look up something on our website – it all finally works again. Sorry for any inconvenience!

 

 

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Project #DangerZone Updates (C4 Corvette)

There’s a new pair of posts just added to the Forum Build Thread for the 1992 Corvette we built for NASA’s TTC class, the car we call Project #DangerZone. The smokey motor is out and off to the engine shop!

We also address a 5-part “internet protest” that was thrown our way recently. We show what was called out, document some things in question, and show how we’re going about fixing the other small items in question. We don’t necessarily agree with all of the rulings but we’re not going to fight it. We are making this car squeaky clean legal – and will still monkey stomp the TTC class at Nationals. Oh yes, I just went there!

So if you want to read up on what’s going on, start here. Thanks!

 

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C5 Corvette + S197 Mustang Build Thread Updates

Getting caught up on our “Test Mule” project build threads and we have two big updates to roll out. They both include coverage of the March Optima/USCA event at TMS. The Mustang was temporarily “de-winged” and a shorter, street friendly splitter was fitted just for this Optima series event.

The latest S197 Mustang Forum Thread Update shows how Amy did in her Mustang at Optima as well as almost a dozen other Vorshlag customers and cars we brought to Texas Motor Speedway. We cover the new lower price for the TT3 Mustang (FOR SALE AD!) and tease about some other events that this car has gone to and won at since Optima. Another update is coming soon for this car.

The C5 Corvette Build Thread has a lot of the same event coverage PLUS an in depth look at an all new exhaust system we built for this car. We also had True Street re-tune the engine and fixed many of the many driveability issues we noted at Optima. There are lots of pictures, videos, dyno charts and more that you can read starting here.

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Mega-Sized S197 Mustang Build Thread Update

There have been over 6 weeks worth of events in our red 2011 Mustang that needed to be covered: Optima show + fun laps with PWC @ COTA, NASA @ MSR-Cresson, Goodguys AAS, Optima @ TMS, and lots of prep for these various events. Most of these events’ race coverage and prep are covered in detail, with pictures and videos, in the latest four-part S197 Build Thread update.

At some of these events we also prepped and competed in other cars, including two Corvettes. These are covered briefly in the same Build Thread update.

We have lots of little technical tid bits buried in this update. Thanks for reading!

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New C5 Corvette Project + C4 Updates

We are going a little “Corvette crazy” around here as these very capable track worthy cars come down in price. First up we have a brand new Vorshlag Project Build Thread for tester Mark Council’s 2002 C5 generation Corvette, which we have dubbed the eBay Corvette.

This car had a mish-mash of both good and bad aftermarket parts on it, which we are testing, evaluating, upgrading and even creating for this car. We started off with custom spec’d 18×11″ Forgestar CF5 wheels and big BFGoodrich Rival tires, which was a step in the right direction. With just a few repairs and the new shoes installed, Terry ran this car at the Optima Ultimate Street Car qualifier at Texas Motor Speedway. Stay tuned for many more upgrades on this C5 as we move it towards NASA TT2 class, and of course follow the build thread which is posted on multiple forums.

You’ve probably heard of our 1992 Corvette, Project #DangerZone, and the latest build thread update lists the safety upgrades completed to make this car have less of a “zone of danger”.

Many oil leaks were fixed, a new suspension (springs) was added, the roll cage and nets were completed – which gets this car closer to PTC prep. For now we’re running this very low cost track car in NASA TTC class. Check out the latest work here.

There are also some new “This Week At Vorshlag” videos plus in-car videos from our last NASA event (MSR-Cresson in March) located on our new and improved Vorshlag YouTube channel.

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S197 Mustang Project Thread Updated

We are a bit behind on forum updates, as the shop is insanely busy at the moment. Terry took some time and made this update on the status of our red Mustang, which we are apparently keeping now.

This car will be raced in NASA, Goodguys and USCA events in the month of March, which should be fun to watch.

We also cover the updates to a couple of customer Mustangs that were down in our shop recently. Check it out starting here.

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