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  • Fair!
    started a topic McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Jason is very busy so I figured I'd start a build thread for his car and let him do the updates from here on out. We got a lot done on Saturday morning so the project is in full swing!


    As purchased the car had some great parts (and some messes to fix) but no motor


    This car was a former autocross/drag car with a turbo BMW 6. It was for sale with all sorts of go fast goodies but no motor, and Jason grabbed it up for a V8 swap. Giant CCW 3-piece wheels (18x10.5" front, 18x11" rear) and a lot of rear frame reinforcement for an E36 style "dual ear mount" diff, with a Rogue finned diff cover. A built diff with a Quaife LSD.

    Jason, Paul M and I went to Florida and back on a 36 hour non-stop round trip to get the car in Feb 2008. Since then the car has been essentially stripped down to the tub, being readied for the LS1 install, and now the drivetrain is going in.

    Suspension needs major help (the old shocks are all blown and/or locked up, so they need to be rebuilt and replaced with ASTs). The brakes are a mess - some Wilwood lightweight stuff, but its all jacked up with some home-brew hard lines, a line lock, and more - that all needs to go. Jason has already relocated the ABS pump (its in the way of the LS1) and moved it under the dash, like in our Alpha car, and ditched the line lock. We're going to try to get him into a full RacingBrake Big Brake Kit (we'll be selling their wares soon) and then he can re-plumb all of the brakes correctly.




    The interior has been pulled out and the sheet metal repainted. 2-tone steering wheel is FOR SALE.

    The fuel tank is full of old fuel (which is now varnish) so it needs to be cleaned out thoroughly, a higher flow fuel pump installed (WalBro 255 lph should do it) and then all new fuel lines run.


    LS1 Camaro engine going in

    Jason found a complete, running Camaro LS1/T-56 last year - which was curiously enough installed in a 1996 Mustang Cobra - and he bought it for a good price. The transmission went through a quick rebuild and then he added a LS7 clutch and lightweight aluminum flywheel. He went a little crazy and bought an electric water pump and Katech idler (the anodized blue bits on front - its looks pretty baller). A new TurnOne "race" power steering pump (like the one we're using) is going on soon, as well as a new alternator, and then its ready to crank.


    Yours truly, lining up the motor mounts

    Last weekend I went over and helped him install the drivetrain using the Vorshlag/DP motor mounts and transmission crossmember kits. These went in with little effort (we had to dimple the trans tunnel slightly in 2 small places, no biggie - these parts were made for an E36 chassis after all) and everything line up perfectly. On Sunday I brought our Alpha car's headers by for a test fit and they went in perfectly as well.


    L: VoMo/DP Trans crossmember fit great. R: So do the full length headers

    So all he needs next is a custom driveshaft (VERY short), and the normal wiring and plumbing to get the car on the road. We're going to be pushing him to finish it this summer, so he doesn't missing another season of track and autocross events. The final weight should be under 2300 pounds (yikes!) so this will be a thrill ride, even with stock (340 whp) power levels. After its had some shake down runs it will get a full cage and some other upgrades, as needed.


    Ready to be re-assembled and DRIVEN!
    Last edited by Fair!; 05-04-2009, 02:23 PM.

  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for July 9, 2015: Just found some video of this car and figured it was worth a quick project update. McCall sold the LS1 Z3M shortly after my last project update, right after he got the car finished and did a single autocross event in it. I always tell him he has "Automotive ADD" and never keeps his cars long after they are finally put together.



    McCall has since purchased an LT4 swapped '89 C4 Corvette (above left) that is pretty gnarly, which was a former BSP National Championship winning car in SCCA Solo. 315/335mm Hoosiers, Penskes, VBP custom springs, headers - its a big, fast gokart! He has autocrossed it a few times and modded it a bit further. He also has a 99 Firebird V6 race car build for WRL and ChumpCar that is finally almost track ready (above right).


    This Vorshlag LS1 Swap Kit Equipped Z3M Roadster has been spotted!

    For the last two years we heard the Z3M had changed hands more than once, but hadn't seen any evidence of this car... until now. He sent me a link to this video last night.



    This video above, shot in June 2014, is of the current owner, who has a YouTube channel called "Chopper Farm", flogging the car around Putnam Park Road Course.



    It seems from other videos on his channel that the owner races a Spec Miata and after his first times out in the Z3M he got some driver coaching - and the coach was a little more brisk (driver coach is sideways a bit in the video above) but still pretty calm.


    You can tell its the same car from the in-car video - compare the dash and switch panel

    Good to see this Z3M - which Vorshlag, Costas, and McCall himself all had a hand in building - is being used the way it was meant to be! It is further inspiration for me to restart our E46 Alpha beast project, which I brought to Vorshlag earlier this week. Accumulating parts now for this build.


    Aside form the motor mounts, trans crossmember, driveshaft, headers and steering shaft - the rest was hand built

    If anyone wants something like this we do make a Z3 LS1 swap kit for the drivetrain and steering but much of the wiring, plumbing, ABS and gauges are all custom - as the Z3M is a "terminated CANBUS" wiring car, and many of the E36 specific "sub kits" we make are also different. We could do a race car Z3 build very easily but a "fully functional street car" is another matter entirely.



    And in the same spirit of this Z3, we have a caged Z4 chassis that is also coming to the shop for Beast Mode LS1 prep soon. This is a former Grand Am race car that we bought, had much of the chassis bead blasted, our body shop guru replaced the RF frame horn, and then he primed it for us. Can't wait to get this thing on monster wheels, tires, and aero, then inject some V8 power.

    Thanks,

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for February 11, 2013: Long time without an update! It has been over a year and I have a lot to catch up on. McCall, Costas, Shiloh and Vorshlag have all been busy finishing up this car, and it was even raced last September at an SCCA autocross. The front has been flared and almost the entire car has been repainted, and it looks VERY nice. Sadly, McCall has already purchased another autocross car and the Z3M is going up for sale. Read below for more...



    Before he could autocross the car, we did a race alignment and corner balance on the new AST coilovers. The wiring was cleaned up a bit, the '99 Corvette ECM was mounted under the dash, a custom tune was added, and the car was made "race ready".



    The TC Kline Carbon Fiber Hood was fitted for the first time, bolted to the hinges, and two hood pins were added at the front. Some additional wiring work was done here at Vorshlag, then more wiring was done by McCall and a lot more by Paul Costas. He spent many, many hours trying to put this car back together again, after McCall wanted to chase "ones of pounds" in the removal of unnecessary wiring. Not the best use of our shop time, so it was done by Costas at his home garage over the course of about 8 weeks, then McCall did additional looming & bundling. They did manage to get 30 more pounds of wire out of the car and yet the alternator charges, the lights and horns and signals all work, and even the wipers and factory gauges all perform perfectly. They didn't bother wiring in the ABS, but the rest of it is there and done right.



    We ordered McCall a Motion Motorsports aluminum under tray kit (above right) and added that to the car, to clean up the airflow on the open section underneath. This kit fits very well and replaces a lot of fragile and expensive factory plastics. We use these kits on all of our E36 and Z3 builds.



    The last few items we tackled at Vorshlag were the center console and shifter cover. Ryan fabricated brackets to remount the center console properly, which fit funny with the thick carpet + insulation missing. After the console was re-fitted snugly, the cover for the section where the shifter is located was fabricated in aluminum, then cut to hold the factory shift boot. The shifter was far enough forward to not allow the Z3M cover plate to fit, but the new cover looks good. The lap belts and shoulder harnesses were mounted properly and the car was ready to race!



    The Z3M was autocrossed in September at a Texas Region SCCA autocross, driven by McCall (I covered that event in our S197 Mustang project thread in this entry). He ran it in X Prepared and had a blast. The car was damn quick right off the bat and even the brakes worked well, without the ABS. Nothing ran hot and not a drop of fluid leaked, which was a success. This was his first and possibly last autocross while he still owns it. By then McCall had already bought a well sorted BSP Corvette for autocross use, which he will start to campaign right after the Z3 sells...

    Classified Ad for the 2000 BMW Z3M Roadster LS1 - http://www.vorshlag.com/cars-z3m-ls1.php

    After that autocross it went to our preferred paint shop, Heritage Collision, where Shiloh worked the same magic on this Z3M that he did on my 2001 BMW E46 330Ci Coupe (which is also for sale here). Shiloh went above and beyond any of our wildest expectations and made this Z3M look amazing. He created 3" wider steel front flares that he bonded to the CF hood and lower fender extensions. Looks like a factory fender contour. Then he made a pair of lower splitter sections that merged into front flare sections. Rear fender massaging and a whole lot of Estoril Blue paint finished out the exterior to an excellent shine. With the hood painted the matching color and the fenders cleaned up, the car simply looks incredible.



    Just last week Brandon here at Vorshlag and his photo buddy Dale took the amazing pictures shown below, in a dedicated night photo shoot at the Vorshlag shop. Last Sunday I made the web page for the classified ad that is linked above. McCall has this unique, light and fast BMW for sale at a fair price and he is looking to move it, so if you like the car e-mail him at the address in the ad or call his mobile number, also listed. He can answer any and all questions about the car, of course. Please don't PM me, as I am not the seller or his agent, just a friend and web host for the ad.

    Here's some of the recent pictures of the car for your enjoyment. In the ad are linked higher resolution versions of these pictures and more from this photo shoot. Amazing stuff...











    The amount of time, money, and work that went into this car was enormous. I hate to see McCall sell it with only one autocross under his belt in it, but he does have way too many cars right now and already replaced this Z3M monster with another autocross car, to fit into the "new and improved" BSP class. Again, the link for the classified ad is here. I will post up at least one more time in this build thread, when the car sells.

    Thanks,
    Last edited by Faerus; 02-11-2013, 06:59 PM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for Jan 3, 2012: Finally getting back up to speed after last weekend's holiday and last Saturday's triumphant first drive in McCall's Z3M Roadster LS1. Let's back up a bit and cover the work performed since the last update, which wasn't much.



    First, Ed built a gaggle of brake hard lines and flexible braided stainless lines for the ABS relocation. He and McCall mounted the E36 M3 ABS unit under the dash (why not? it's a race car) and afterwards McCall built two small bulkheads (that covered bog holes in the firewall) and drilled them, then they installed about 6 bulkhead fittings there. They routed the hard and soft lines from the brake Master Cylinder to the ABS, and back out to the 4 corners of the car. Again, this is a 4 channel ABS from a 1996-1999 M3, which is close in function to the original Z3M 4 channel ABS - but worked on its own ABS computer, and not through the BMW DME. Saves on DME integration headaches. The ABS isn't wired yet, of course, but it was at least plumbed and that's what we needed for the test drive. We spent abut an hour tightening all of the bulkhead fittings, then moved onto the reservoir lines.



    We then added the two low pressure, gravity feed, flexible lines that normally route from the brake MC reservoir to the ABS unit (on the M3). The routing was going to be tortuous with the new ABS hydraulic unit under the dash, with the route going uphill at some point, so two additional fluid reservoirs were procured and mounted just inside the cowl area (closer to and above the new ABS solenoid unit). This was the largest part of the delay from the Dec 9th update until Dec 31st, when he made the first test drive - finding the right reservoirs and hoses. We had sourced a couple that he didn't like, so McCall picked up these two units from Pegasus.



    By Dec 31st, they had arrived and we were ready to mount them up - I joined McCall at Vorshlag on that Saturday (hours before my annual NYE party) and we got to work. These two reservoirs are pretty large and are normally used as an exclusive reservoir for the brake master cylinder(s). It was just easier to mount and plumb two of them in the cowl area while still being pretty cost effective. These units also had bulkhead style fittings on the bottoms, which doubled for both mounting (on a horizontal sheet metal surface - the cowl) and as a connection for the AN-to-Barb fitting. Then flexible, low pressure, brake fluid reservoir rated lines were plumbed from the barb fitting down to the ABS unit in two places and clamped in place. Again, these are gravity fed, low pressure lines that are normally just shoved on and held by barbs in the OEM application.



    Once that was on we hooked up the clutch reservoir hose back to the OEM brake master reservoir, bled the clutch (took 30 seconds), then started on bleeding the brakes. That took about 15 minutes, and went surprisingly well. By then Ed had arrived, and McCall and I were noting how none of the lines had leaked, until Ed saw one of the reservoir lines leaking. It was the only fitting he didn't supply to this project, and it was the wrong size, so he went back to his shop, built a proper fitting and grabbed some larger diameter reservoir hose for the one channel on the ABS unit that was larger than the other hose. While he was gone we re-routed one of the water pump to coolant reservoir lines, fired up the electric water pump and filled then purged the coolant system with water. Once Ed got back and installed that fitting and properly sized hose, we were leak free on all hydraulics. Re-bled the brakes quickly to check, had a rock solid pedal, and then it was time to tidy up some wiring.



    I used about 50 small zip ties and bundled the mess of wiring that had not been trimmed or re-routed yet, keeping every wire well away from hot exhaust parts or moving pulleys. It is by no means complete, but it was good enough for a short test drive - and we were quickly running out of time (it was 5 pm on NYE, just 2 hours before our party). Then I took a big bundle of wires that are still being used (the front headlight harness) but not connected yet, stuffed them in a big plastic bag, and zipped it out of the way under the radiator support. Next I bundled the GM ECU and tied it down in the passenger foot well. We torqued and checked everything, aired up the tires, then fired it up... the clutch worked (still need to adjust pedal height - probably just needs to be bled some more). We pulled it out into the area behind our shop, then we checked everything as it warmed up. Once it was warmed up, McCall began his first test drive, which is shown in the video below.


    Click for video of first fire-up and test drive


    Three years and lots of very custom work later, this Z3 was finally driving with the new LS1 power! He was just driving around our building cautiously, stopping on almost every lap so we could check temps (IR gun) and look for leaks, then he started to pick up the pace - as you can see in the video. He made maybe 15 laps of the building, all in all. The front brakes were touchy and locked up with any real pedal effort - just like E36 brakes are when the ABS computer is not functioning. Everything eventually came up to temp and he made a solid 15 minutes of driving (and hooning) before we had to call it a day. We brought it in, looked over everything, and it was all good.



    So it ran in 2011, after some much needed custom exhaust work, new AST/Vorshlag suspension, and some other bits we installed at Vorshlag + the massive hydraulic re-work performed by Ed and McCall. Very exciting to see and hear this car drive after all this time. It sounded nice and healthy but was far from obnoxious - honestly, it sounded much like my 2011 Mustang, which has a nearly identical exhaust system (long tubes, into a dual 3" catted X-pipe, into the same 3" Flowmaster Series 44 mufflers into the exact same tips). Streetable as can be.

    Next up it needs some more wiring clean-up, including splicing in the front headlight harness (which was all cut-up and non-functional when he bought it), some interior clean-up, the passenger seat can be reinstalled and the GM computer permanently mounted. Throw an alignment and corner balance on it here at Vorshlag, then its ready to autocross. Maybe 8-10 hours of work before its ready for that, then add the hood, a horn and some street tires and go get an inspection sticker.

    More soon!
    Last edited by Faerus; 01-03-2012, 06:15 PM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for Dec 9, 2011: Our fabricator here at Vorshlag, Ryan, built a custom dual 3", mandrel bent, 304L stainless dual exhaust for McCall's Z3M a week ago and I'm going to show off the work here. Our lead technician AJ lent a hand during fabrication as well. The finished system looks... incredible. Insane ground clearance everywhere, top notch TIG welding, beautiful brackets, and a smooth flow path.



    First step was getting the mufflers mounted correctly. This was tricky, because there wasn't an over-abundance of room back there. The "tip" placement is also tricky, and Ryan ended up trying several placements before I and McCall were happy, and cutting the tips a bit shorter at the back to make it all fit.



    The mufflers were mounted with custom brackets bolted to stock mounting locations, with these two-piece poly mounts for isolators. Ryan made some pretty slick mounts by hand, so we're going to make some additional generic mounts to keep on hand like this from laser cut 304SS plate.



    After the muffler locations were locked down, he made a custom X pipe from two 90s and four 45s. This was a royal PITA and next time we make a dual exhaust, we will use a pre-made 304SS X pipe to cut down on fab time, then modify it to fit the car.



    After the X pipe was in place, it was a matter of connecting the front to rear sections within the tunnel. The placement of tubing near fuel tank was always maximized for clearance, of course.

    As I detailed in my Nov post, we're using the 409SS Flowmaster Series 44 mufflers in 3", two high flow metal matrix 3" catalytic converters, plus we have our new local source for 3" 304L stainless bends, some nice stainless "tips", and V-bands from our E36 LS1 kit. It took a good number of hours to build this custom set-up, and we saw several places where we could save time in the future (buying the pre-made "X", for one).




    That's the finished look above. Not too shabby. We've already had one Z3 LSx customer see the exhaust and say "make me one!", so we'll be making copies of this set-up for Z3M LSx customers soon. We'll do the same thing when we hit the next E36 LSx exhaust (we've got 2 underway in the shop now), so look for that to show up in our online catalog soon.



    As his schedule frees up here at Vorshlag (buried in E36 LSx swap kit production + E46 LSx prototype header fab), Ryan will attack the remaining wiring on McCall's Z3M and we'll get it ready to drive, fire it up, and do a quick sound clip of the exhaust. I'm pretty sure its going to sound nice. The wiring still looks like a mess, but remember - the P.O. had done some wiring hacks, and McCall wanted to rid the car of all unnecessary wires.



    Here's a little walk-around and start-up video, first time the motor was fired after the new exhaust was turned on. Sounds good for a bone stock 5.7L LS1.


    Left: click here for the walk-around video Right: Vorshlag camber plates are on

    McCall has been up here at Vorshlag making two bulkhead plates for the firewall and installing about a dozen bulkhead connectors for the brake lines. The ABS module is now mounted under the dash, so it will be out of sight and plumbed accordingly.



    On Dec 10th while I was at ECR driving our Mustang and E46 BMW, Ed built the new brake hard lines (see above left) and McCall installed the AST coilovers (see above right) and Vorshlag camber plates, so its really getting close to being "Ready to drive". We've got a new clutch remote reservoir coming that will feed to the clutch master cylinder, then we can hook up the clutch hydraulics.

    More soon,
    Last edited by Fair!; 12-12-2011, 03:26 PM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for Nov 11, 2011: Some folks on the various forums we're posting this build thread are anxious for updates, and I'll share what we've done lately. We abducted McCall's Z3 and brought it to the new shop in October. The last 2 weeks we've been planning the exhaust layout and accumulating parts to start making custom exhausts here at Vorshlag's new shop, with McCall's Z3M LSx exhaust being one of our first ones tackled (followed by a custom "axle back" system on my 2011 GT). First up, Ryan and AJ got the Z3 in the air and planned out the dual 3" exhaust routing.



    The Z3 is one of the few BMW chassis that has room for a true dual exhaust, and even though it doesn't "need" a dual 3" system (even at 450+ whp levels), it just sounds better and that's what McCall wanted. Can't blame him - I'd do that in all of my BMW V8s if it didn't require hacking out the trunk floors and custom fuel tanks to pull it off in the other 3 series chassis. This system will start at the V-bands on our production full length headers, go through two high flow catalysts, then merge into a custom-built "X" in the middle, then split back two dual 3" paths traversing under the diff, and head to two mufflers located near the rear bumper, with two polished tips at the back. We will TIG weld the entire system, built with the various 45 and 90 degree mandrel bent sections and straights.



    We have also been doing a week+ of research and finally found good sources for stainless exhaust tubing. We tried to find a good supplier for 18 gauge (.049" wall) 304SS tubing, but try as we might the costs and selections just suck. We ordered several sample bends last week from a few sources that we got from internet research and from asking in these threads, and the results were less than ideal. One bend showed up and was actually 16 gauge (.065" wall) and was a bust. Another was some Chinese polished nonsense that had ends crimped on for inlet tubing. Questionable bling. One wasn't even stainless. Lots of flops on anything remotely cost competitive to 16 ga.



    All of the other legitimate, US-sourced, 18 ga 304SS tubing was 2-3 times as expensive as 16 gauge, even from the same sources (you pay more for less steel?), so we're going to punt and gear up to use 16 gauge for systems - like everyone else does. The demand for 18 is so small that the smaller number of sources just charge more for it. 16 gauge exhaust tubing is just SO much more plentiful and affordable. I weighed the pros and cons, and talked over the costs with McCall and he agreed - and its not worth the extra hundreds of dollars in material costs to save "ones of pounds" on an entire exhaust system. My overwhelming desire to drop weight from a race car has a cost, and its just "too much for too little" in this regard. Yes, we'll make custom 18 gauge exhaust systems for people that must have the lightest system possible, but they're going to have to pay 2-3 times as much in materials and we will just have to pre-order the bends for their jobs.



    So long story short, we're finally getting the materials needed for McCall's dual 3" exhaust rounded up. We've found several stainless 3" band clamps we're going to try, sourced some nice tips for the back, and have the mufflers on hand. The 45° and 90° mandrel bends are being made to order and should be ready to pick-up today.



    Oh yea, the mufflers - The ones we're using on his car are the same style I've used many times before, from Flowmaster, and I bought another pair for the Mustang as well (that car is freakishly quiet with the stock mufflers, even with ARH long tubes installed). Their new Series 44 409SS offerings look nice and are fairly lightweight for a 3" full sized, mufti-chambered muffler. I like them because unlike the "fiberglass matting" packed mufflers, these don't seem to "wear out" the insides and get louder over time (like all of the glass-pack style mufflers I've used over the years; yes, even the FM Hushpowers). I know these will sound good and knock down decibels, and at 9.6 pounds they aren't going to add much weight. Now that they have a stainless option, and at only $85 each, this was a no-brainer. You won't get much lighter in an effective 3" In/Out muffler, honestly. The ultra-light stuff, like the 3 pound Burns stainless mufflers are over $300 each and they just don't cut down much on noise, and will get louder over time.

    More soon,
    Last edited by Fair!; 11-11-2011, 11:42 AM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for July 22, 2011: Costas and I met McCall last night for some more work on his Z3, with Paul M joining us later for support. It was damned hot all night, as it has been for 2 months, and this makes for slow going. When we left at 10:11 pm it was down to 103°F. This heat sucks. I'll skip the wiring quagmire Costas was stuck in and go over the little crap McCall and I worked on first.



    McCall had swung by Vorshlag at 4 pm and made this little adapter plate from a template he and Ed marked up a few weeks ago. They want to take one of Vorshlag's ABS relocation bracket assemblies and mount it onto these two mounts on the trans tunnel, and this flat adapter plate McCall made today will allow it to bolt on. Moves the mass of the ABS pump to the middle of the car, which is always better placement for weight on any race car. Not practical on a street car, of course, which has all sorts of dash innards mounted there.



    The next two are simple. First, the ground strap ($10) will go from the engine block to the frame, for better electrical grounding. The installation of a new oil pressure sending for an aftermarket gauge unit was less simple. First, to get the stock oil pressure sending switch (for a dummy light on a Camaro; we'd all rather see a real gauge) out of the LS1 block took a Oil Pressure Switch socket tool from Nook & Tranny. Trust me, I've tried to use a regular deep socket (doesn't work!) and this $10 tool is worth the cost and hassle of getting one. Then this LS1 block adapter (also from Nook & Tranny) goes into the block, which adapts the big stock hole to 1/8" Female NPT. The Autometer electric sending unit uses 1/8" NPT male, but it won't clear the intake manifold, so an 1/8" NPT 45° M/F adapter from Earl's went in between. Its tight in there, but it all just barely fit, and I didn't have to remove the intake manifold (whew).



    McCall installed the stock LS1 dipstick (that's Costas pointing it out in the picture), and bent it to clear the hood and headers. It bends easily. He also installed an Autometer "short" sending unit and adapter to fit the LS1 head on the passenger side, for a 1/4 sweep elec Autometer gauge (there's no other off-the-shelf solution). While he hacked away at those I worked on the throttle cable installation, using this too long 48" Lokar LS1 universal throttle cable. The quality is great, but the hardware is all SAE, so leave your Metric tools in the box if you use this brand cable. It doesn't fit the hole in the firewall well at all (I used big washers on both sides), unlike the BMW part number throttle cable I normally use on E36 LS1s, but it does fit the intake manifold bracket better. Very adjustable, too. I bolted one P-clamp around the cable to the fuel rail to secure it and left the ample excess length behind the block. Shorter cable would have been a cleaner installation, but it works.

    So that's really the last of the "other little stuff" that needs to be done before the engine fires up. We've got it plumbed and bolted in and ready to run (still some brake line work needed to drive it, but we've been waiting on some custom bulkhead adapters for the brake lines for 5 weeks).

    Let's move to the last of the engine wiring...



    Costas had already final wired up the starter switch on the Longacre switch/light panel, and tested the fuel pump last time. Tonight he was wanting to finish wiring the electric fan, electric water pump, fuel pump and ECM into the new Longacre switch panel we gave McCall so much grief for adding to the mix. Once these basic systems were wired in then we could finally fire the damn motor. Once it fires and runs (briefly, due to the security restraints from VATS) it could be loaded up and taken to my shop, where we could build the exhaust. The last of the brake line bits could also be taken care of, so it would have 100% all new E36 M3/Z3M brake system and E36 M3 4-channel ABS (this car started with craptastic Wilwood drag racing brakes and a line lock). Then it could be taken to a local tuner shop to have the VATS removed and a dyno tune performed, and actually test driven.

    After the dyno tune and test drive there is still some tedious wiring to tackle (due to the hacked up chassis/light harnesses from prev owner + the massive wiring removal McCall and Costas due into + some other little things), which Costas could tackle at his shop (an hour away), and work on at his own (frantic) pace, without us slowing him down. The switch panel wiring here should only take another 1-2 hours, doing it right. Well...

    That Longacre switch/light panel has several problems. First, its pre-wired for crap. See, they have indicator lights that glow when a switch is turned on and a circuit is made. Nice feature to remind you which circuits are on. Once the electric water pump and fuel pump were wired up and switched on, the panel the indicator lights would switch on and off, and the circuit would get 13 volts, but the pumps wouldn't turn. WTF?

    Lots of head scratching, volt meter probes, and jumper testing from the battery ensued. If we ran a wire straight to the battery each pump would turn on fine, but not through the switch panel. So out comes the cheesy $80 switch panel for a closer look. Let's see... so the pre-wired panels have the entire circuit feed wire run though the little damn light (instead of in parallel), which we found out limits the current dramatically to whatever you are trying to power. Also, this means if the bulb fails the circuit is dead! Useless point of failure and a moronic way to wire a panel. We will instead wire these indicator lights in parallel with the switches and jumper the output from lights together to a common ground, as it should have been done from Longacre's Chinese sweat shop.



    So Costas starts pulling the entire panel apart to rewire each switches output to a separate wire (in parallel with the lights) to go to each circuit, the right way... and then wiggles the posts on the switches, and each one is VERY LOOSE. WTF? Upon closer look the included on-off switches are cheap Chinese junk. No way is he going to spend hours and hours wiring up this car with twenty five cent switches. So he told McCall to buck up and buy all new Mil-Spec switches from Aircraft Spruce (if its good enough for an airplane...). This morning McCall has already ordered 6 new switches (see picture, above right) + nylon switch covers (weatherproofing) from Aircraft Spruce and they should be here shortly. Then this car will finally leave his hot ass garage, get an exhaust, and then a dyno tune!



    One hilarious distraction all night was not the buzzing of a giant locust and a huge dragonfly trying to kamikaze into the lights, but McCall swinging a broom like a crazy woman trying to kill them. He was knocking over everything in the shop. Big Paul (observing and conversing with us after his 2 week Alaska trip) was a real man and just grabbed the damn things and threw them out the door.

    Yes, we know you are ALL ready to see this car run, and probably tired of seeing little updates on small odds and ends, and endless wiring work. Trust us - we are ALL sick of doing these little updates and NOT seeing it running and driving now, and SICK of the endless wiring work, too! The unusually complicated nature of the later Z3M (similar to E46 LS1 we're about to start wiring - so its not wasted knowledge) is what's kicking our asses - everything runs through the factory DME, which has long since been removed. So we're having to re-wire many sub-systems we normally wouldn't. That magic "20 pounds of wire" removal was some work, and this $80 Longacre switch panel (don't buy it) has added a LOT of extra tail chasing, too - lesson learned.

    More soon,
    Last edited by Fair!; 07-22-2011, 12:15 PM.

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  • McCall
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Originally posted by Fair! View Post
    Not to mention McCall keeps buying new stuff to add to the wiring workload, like this new switch/starter panel, shown above left. It is mounted in the dash and beginning to be wired in. What are all of the switches for, you ask? Nobody knows... McCall wants to move sub-systems to these switches "because it looks cool", I guess. (facepalm) Starter, fuel pump, fan, electric water pump, etc.
    Dork. You are right, who in their right mind would want a seperate switch in a RACECAR for their ignition, fans, water pump, data logger, or lap transponder???

    Anyways, things are progressing and I can't wait to get it over to the new place! BTW, Costas is da wiring king!

    Leave a comment:


  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for July 11, 2011: Costas and I have pitched in on McCall's Z3 project a few times since the last update, mostly in June. It has almost all been wiring work, which has grown continuously as we have delved deeper into the Z3M wiring harness. There's more work here than necessary, as Costas and McCall are trying to remove every unnecessary wire on the car, pairing the harness back whenever a system is being removed. It's a LOT of work to save another 20 pounds in wiring - which could have been left alone, unused, and in the car. Just know that if you wanted to integrate the LS1 harness into any BMW, and make the main systems work, it would be a TON less work than this.



    Not to mention McCall keeps buying new stuff to add to the wiring workload, like this new switch/starter panel, shown above left. It is mounted in the dash and beginning to be wired in. What are all of the switches for, you ask? Nobody knows... McCall wants to move sub-systems to these switches "because it looks cool", I guess. (facepalm) Starter, fuel pump, fan, electric water pump, etc. Oh well, all this custom and over-the-top wiring rework is making us all more familiar with the BMW wiring schemes, we know wiring colors in German shorthand, and Costas has improved blood flow to his brain by being inverted for hours at a time (under the dash).



    At least the engine is wired and ready to start, and the last Friday night we worked on it Costas wired up the starter circuit enough to crank it over. That was a nice sound! Then he wired in the fuel pump and made it spin for a moment, also progress. Still need to connect the PCM, as the engine won't start and actually run just yet. Once the PCM is installed it needs to be reprogrammed to remove the "VATS" (security crap), as that system shuts the car off after 3 seconds if it doesn't see some signal from the original (GM) key. Its simple programming done via LS1 Edit, HP Tuners or any of the many software systems made for the LS series engines. Once we get it to start and run (and an exhaust built) we'll tow the car to a tuner shop for a VATS fix and an initial dyno tune.



    We were able to fire the fuel pump and turn the starter because we finally got the battery wired in. This took a couple of nights of effort, first by McCall - who mounted the Rennline battery mount hold-down - then by me, who reconfigured the box, mounted the remote kill switch, and wired it all up. The Rennline box/mount is pretty slick, and bolted into the existing "battery well" box bolted to the trunk floor. There's a remote cable operated main battery kill switch the comes with it and bolts onto the mount, too.



    The main positive battery cable on the Z3M has an explosive charge disconnect end (like the E46) that I carefully cut off. Then I stripped back the outer cable jacket and used the tooling above to crimp the new "lug" end on, which goes to the main battery disconnect switch. Then from the other side of that switch we used an 18" Autozone battery cable with an end already installed to go to the Odyssey PC680 AGM style battery's positive post. The negative post goes to the OEM ground cable, mounted to the rear of the chassis.



    The factory positive cable was plenty big, and used a #1 crimp on lug that I bought at a welding supply store. I got the "crimp-o-matic" tool (fake name) there, too. This $17 tool is used to crimp the end over the stripped battery cable, and it worked like a charm. You can solder the ends on, with the right "solder pellet" and a torch, but this crimp method worked so well - it was quick and easy and we were able to crimp it with the tool in the trunk, with the cable mounted in the chassis. That lug is not coming off anytime soon.

    So while we've been plodding through the work on this Z3 for the past 2 years in McCall's home garage, in the very near future we'll have more room to work on it. This car is coming to the new (and 4 times bigger!) Vorshlag World Headquarters and Brewery next month. There we can use the lift to finish the exhaust and wrap up the last little bits of work before it makes its first autocross run. I'll post up a thread showing the progress of the new shop space, and when the Z3 moves in I'll make another update here.

    More soon,
    Last edited by Faerus; 07-11-2011, 11:06 AM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Originally posted by s52_bmw View Post
    Terry,

    Is it possible to still keep the car obd2 compliant so that it could pass TX inspection?
    Not very likely, no. This car has lots and lots of sub-systems going into the BMW DME, which would need considerable "black box" programming and wiring to make it work. Nightmare.

    Leave a comment:


  • s52_bmw
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Originally posted by Fair! View Post
    We already do: different length driveshaft, custom steering shaft. The headers and other mounts are the same.
    Terry,

    Great to know that this option is available.

    Is it possible to still keep the car obd2 compliant so that it could pass TX inspection?


    bump for a great project

    Leave a comment:


  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Project Update for May 18, 2011: There have been two more work sessions on the Z3 in the past two weeks. On the first day we just continued to hack away at more wiring. Again this is WAY over the top, crazy, insane, more-than-necessary wiring clean-up. And this car he started with was a non-running, hacked-up mess that needed some wiring repairs anyway. On Sunday May 8th we started in the morning...



    I brought some "reclaimed wiring" from some previous BMWs, in case we needed a connector or some weirdly colored BMW wire. Costas brought his wiring gear, of course. I made a quick run to Autozone to pick up a pre-made 2 gauge wire for the junction block tot he starter, then loomed it and everything bare on that side of the motor. While I was at AutoZone McCall called asking for some metric nuts and bolts, and I found this awesome Dorman bolt and nut kit selection for $25:



    500+ pieces, with hex head bolts/nuts/washers in various M4, M5, M6, and M8 sizes. If you have a German car, and have an AutoZone near you, go get this kit. Look at the bottom shelf of the nut and bolt area and pick up one of these metric assortment kits. Good quality hardware in SO many sizes, for a great price.



    Costas pretty much spent the day under the dash tracing, marking, and removing wire. By day's end he had a box with TWENTY POUNDS of wire that had already been removed! (see below, left)



    I was still in a lot of pain from my fractured rib, so laying under the car or contorting to get up under the dash was out of the question for me. I became the gopher and wiring schematic guy for the day while Costas and McCall did the heavy lifting.



    Once he had the cabin wiring to be kept all marked and bundled, Costas moved on to the underhood fuse box. He spent the rest of the day paring out circuits we won't be needing. McCall, meanwhile, mounted a bunch of brackets with the big assortment of metric bolts I found, then re-routed a bunch of hoses and wires underhood, like the steam tube vent hoses. It will look clean and tidy once everything is buttoned up. He also picked up an Odyssey PC680 battery that went into the trunk.



    At some point the guys helped me mock up the hood and we noticed from looking underneath that the hood hit the cold air tubing. So I took it all apart....



    And re-routed the bends and filter so that the MAF and hoses cleared the hood and the K-tech manual belt tensioner. By then we were out of time and called it a day. Yesterday afternoon Costas went by and helped MCCall some more, and I stopped by on my way back from looking at a totally beat-to-sh!t E36 M Technic (such a waste of a rare car, oh well). I brought my scales with me and we weighed the nearly complete car while I was there. Before we scaled it the three of us guessed at the weight - this was with drivetrain, fluids, seats, door panels, all glass, center console, dash, and the CCW wheels/Hoosier race tires.



    As you can see, my guess was closest - within 8 pounds. Suck it! So the car is at 2410. Not bad considering the heavy wheels, glass, etc. It will gain a little weight with exhaust, but this is pretty close. And the minimum weight for X Prepared is 2390 [1200 lbs + (200 lbs/liter * 5.7L) + 50 lbs for ABS], so it won't need much to make race weight. Sure, its still WAY heavier than the 1770 lb boosted CF Lotus that wins XP, but that's a letter writing campaign of its own.



    The cross weights were pretty funky, but it got better by 2 points when McCall sat in the driver's seat. We can get it to 50/50 crosses with proper set-up/balancing of ride heights after the new suspension goes on (the GC ADs and plates on the car are going to be sold; just on there from previous owner). The front/rear bias kind of sucks, too... When you gut most BMWs they get front heavy and this Z3 is no exception. The E36 Alpha car was around 55%F:45%R, too. "It is what it is." We'll play around with the mounting of some things not nailed down yet to improve F:R balance as much as we can.

    Since I was still pretty pissed about the CraigsList "find" that was a dud (he claimed it was an 8/10 and it was really a rusted out 2/10 car), after wasting 3 hours driving to go look at it for 90 seconds, I didn't stick around past 9:30 pm - but they worked later. The Z3 still needs some more wiring rework, but the wiring removal looks to be completed. Again, most of this work for the past 3 sessions was optional, just to find that 20 pounds of useless wiring that most people just leave in the car. For a race car, 20 pounds matters. They also decided on a revised ignition/starter wiring schematic last night. Should work well and look pretty slick. It is coming along nicely....

    More soon,
    Last edited by Fair!; 05-18-2011, 03:12 PM.

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  • Fair!
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Originally posted by s52_bmw View Post
    Terry,

    So will you guys offer a Z3 specific, LS swap kit????
    We already do: different length driveshaft, custom steering shaft. The headers and other mounts are the same.

    Leave a comment:


  • s52_bmw
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Terry,

    So will you guys offer a Z3 specific, LS swap kit????

    Leave a comment:


  • McCall
    replied
    Re: McCall's Z3 M Roadtser LS1 Project

    Originally posted by Fair!
    i complained about MCCall's supplies (alum angle and bolts), lack of every power tool known to man, and lack of a ban saw. I was belly aching all night but they are pretty much used to that.
    Yes, he was in raw form. The only tool I didn't have was a band saw but not all of us with a small two-car garage can have one of those laying around waiting for him to use it.

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