Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

[PianoProdigy]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

How bout that diff swap? I'm predicting breakage on my setup soon and want this 8.8!

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Any progress or status of the headers? Found a buyer for my e36 and hoping to start a new project soon?

We have been hacking away at the E46 Alpha car behind the scenes for the past couple of months. The latest progress to report is the pre-production header set was built and tested...



We sent our prototype set to the header manufacturer, they made fixtures from the prototypes, and then made a single pre-production set from the new fixture. They sent the pre-production set back to us (shown above) and we test fit them in our E46 330Ci chassis. Well... we found a few things to tweak, which is normal, so we marked them up and sent them back for tweaks to the fixture. This is an iterative procedure that always takes more time than you want.



And now Hurricane Sandy has flooded their shop and almost all of their crew is at SEMA this week. Hopefully next week they will have power, the flood damage will be repaired, and we can get the next revision of the headers back and test fitted.

As soon as the headers are finalized, then we can begin production of the fixtures for the motor mounts and transmission crossmember. A run of headers will also be produced at the same time. Our low-profile E46 steering shaft assembly is already in production and the driveshaft won't take long. That's the Stage 0 kit and it could be available in a very short time... as soon as the headers are finalized.



We finally have the wheels and tires lined up for initial the Alpha build and an LSx motor will be built soon. I will update this thread when the headers are fully production ready and we will release pricing for the E46 LS1 Stage 0 parts (should be nearly the same as our E36 LS1 parts).

Cheers,

[critchie]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

still very excited for these parts to get finished up!

[wolrah]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

As usual, nice to see progress and good to hear that these kinds of jobs are getting priority.

Beyond the physical aspects of this job, what is the current state of the electronic side of things? I see a few possible options, some more feasible than others.

• Remove BMW ECU entirely, use GM unit. This would require aftermarket gauges or installing a GM cluster and may have unexpected effects on other important computers in the car such as LCM and the general module.
• Piggyback BMW ECU on GM unit, feeding along the appropriate signals to keep the German side of things happy.
• Third-party ECU (MoTeC, Megasquirt, etc.), either alone and directly interfaced with any necessary data buses or piggybacked with the OEM unit
• Reprogram stock ECU and adapt harness to drive the V8. (I doubt this is possible)
• Reprogram ECU from another BMW model which did support V8s such as one from an E39. (Slightly more likely sounding than the last, but not by much).

I ask of course because for many of us, myself included, any street usability regardless of the state of particular accessories and comfort items depends on being able to pass an OBD2 plug test.

I'm not a lawyer but I have been led to believe that as long as the ECU that responds on the OBD port is from the same model year or newer in the same class of vehicle everything should be kosher. This would mean unfortunately that the third-party ECU option is out unless it can be piggybacked in such a way that the BMW ECU can be happy, but the others remain conceivably possible depending on details I don't have a clue about.

Obviously this same issue applies to 1996+ E36s, so I assume you've dealt with it at least once. Any comment or is this something that hasn't really been looked at yet?

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Project Update for August 23, 2012: This project has dragged on much longer than I like, but we have a new focus in the shop to complete this build and get the Stage 0 kit parts in production now. One major change that happened recently was we stopped doing routine "automotive repair work" and are now only doing the race fabrication, turn-key jobs, and racing related service work in our shop that makes sense. We were slowing down to do little $200 repair jobs and turning away big dollar turn-key LS1 installations, large race car fabrication jobs, and delaying long term prototype projects like this. Not any more. From now on, our fabricator and technician are unburdened with senseless wrenching and instead knocking out some development work on our new Miata LS1 Alpha, the Z3M LS1 turn-key (which is nearing completion), building three other turn key E36 LS1s, and attacking our E46 Alpha LS1 here.



The Miata LS1 prototype kicked off last week and we needed the mock-up LS1/T56 drivetrain from the E46 Alpha, so the E46 got some much needed attention. You can see in the above right picture from earlier this week that the mock-up drivetrain is out.



While it was in the air, the prototype headers were finally massaged for the last time, removed, and finish welded. These will be sent to our US supplier to have fixtures made for a batch production. The production units will be tainless steel, feature 1-3/4" primaries and a 3" merge collector.


Prototype Vorshlag E46 LS1 swap headers are finally finished and ready for low-volume production in stainless steel

The trunk floor damage is the worst I've ever seen on an E46 - this is what happens when you let the cracked floor pan go for a year. Or two. There will be substantial trunk floor replacement work going on here soon - we've re-mapped out how the roll cage structure will go, based on what we learned from fielding a car at the 2012 Pikes Peak event (and the many crashes there), and the trunk floor subframe mounts in this car will tie into the rear of the cage.



After assessing the rear trunk floor damage, the 188mm ring gear "medium case" E46 differential carrier was removed. This was so we could mock-up the 8.8" ring gear aluminum 31-spline 2003-04 Cobra IRS carrier in its place. The front mounting flanges won't clear the rear subframe opening so there's not much to show. We do have two E46 subframes on hand and one will be modified to fit this front mounting style and then fabrication will be done to fashion proper mounts for the big Ford differential.



We will show more in the next installment... but we will no longer ignore this car.

[MurphysLaww]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

I'm ready !

My new to me $4500.00 328i fresh off an All season, 225/17's run at ECR. It was still fun.



Only 125k on the motor though. I may have to sell it to finance the LSx.

subscribed.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Project Update for June 22, 2012: Two months without much progress on this car? Yea, its been busy here at Vorshlag working on all sorts of other in-house builds. Our $2011 GRM Challenge winning E30 V8 has been getting a lot of updates, as has our 2011 Mustang GT and our blue 2001 330Ci street/track car. We've got a ton of work completed on Matt's 1995 M3 LS1 and McCall's Z3M Roadster LS1 (both of those are almost completed). Now we can finally get crackin' on the white E46 330 LS1 Alpha car!


Left: Matt's 1995 M3 LS1 is very close to completion. Lots of new Stage 1 parts developed! Right: Blue 330 "track car" is street legal again

Remember how back in April I said we'd be making the E46 Alpha car into a pure track car, with zero street capabilities? Well... that's not what you guys asked for. So many people wanted us to go for a more street and track capable build that we have reconsidered and are going to go with the "Option 3" build: a car that is street capable yet still a very track worthy car.

In the 4th and final installment of my event write-up for the Optima Faceoff at HOT ROD Power Tour autocross/track deal I mention this very E46 LSx build as the perfect opportunity to make a car that is ideal for these types of "unlimited street car" competition events. Optima Challenge, OLOA, TX2K, UTCC, and more. Could still be fun in NASA TT also. Taking our Mustang to the Optima event was fun, but that car is built around SCCA's ESP class rules - not even very far down that prep level yet - and is still mostly stock in many areas. This E46 could be a bit more extreme in its competition preparation level yet still have the basics of what many consider to be a true "street car": working lights/signals, windshield wipers, a heater, and even a few "optional" things like ABS brakes and power side windows. Now we won't be adding every factory feature back just yet, but enough to be street driven "on a nice day".



We've got a pretty ambitious build plan mapped out but I'm going to hold back some details... in case things don't go according to plan. I'd rather "under-promise and over-deliver" on the performance goals this time. As you can see in the picture above, that I took out in the shop today, the windshield is out. The stock unit was smashed so it had to go - with it out of the way making a roll cage will be easier. Wait, roll cage in a street car? Yes. And it will have carpet, a dash, door panels, head liner, and all of that. Even with all of that - the car will get much lighter.

Stay tuned for more regular updates the rest of 2012.

[MurphysLaww]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Terry,

Shawn Murphy here. Following this thread with great interest. By the time you have the bugs worked out the 08' WRX will be just about paid off, the 2012 Autocross season will be just about done, and I'll have available whatever the stupid-high resale value for WRX'es are...

I had thought about an Active Autowerkes' supercharged 330i for SM, but I think I'd rather dual with Vitek B. in his Banshee. Everyone in the Spokes club seems to be building something for prepared class, and I'm getting the fevah' too.

The Ford 8.8 is interesting too as this project will be practice for building a Factory Five roadster at somepoint(when my son has the attention span to help) and putting together an 8.8 would be decent choice for that as well likely.

Good luck with it!

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Terry, let me know if you want to spend some time learning VIR on my iRacing rig. I raced the Grand East config last week, and that track is a beast. It took numerous laps to learn it, even without worrying about trashing a car.

That would be sweet!

[bfitz]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Terry, let me know if you want to spend some time learning VIR on my iRacing rig. I raced the Grand East config last week, and that track is a beast. It took numerous laps to learn it, even without worrying about trashing a car.

[PianoProdigy]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Sounds like a plan. Doesn't solve my need for an LSX in my DD E46 M3, but I am pleased to hear that you gave the green light to the 8.8 setup for my other E46. Let me know when I can put a deposit down!

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Project Update for April 19, 2012: Sorry for the delay - we have been busier than ever once we (quietly) started doing service and race prep work back in January. The E46 LS1 Alpha car hasn't been worked on seriously since December, but all of that is going to change now. We have a goal. The E46 was back up on a lift and attacked for the past week.

Let me back up a bit - remember how I said that our first prototype "Alpha" E46 LS1 will become a perfect, nice, fully functional street car? That "Option 2 or 3" car discussed in my opening post in the thread? Well... that was the original goal, but this 330Ci we have is kind of a mess. The former owner pretty much destroyed the dash, wiring harness, all of the lines and hoses, and several other key systems were either taken off or mangled badly in his quest to salvage the wiring and sub-systems for another project he had in mind. Hey, we got the car cheap for a reason. Long story short, after looking at everything closely, this chassis is just too far gone to effectively make into a nice street car. Too many parts are missing to make for a proper HVAC or fully functional gauges. Too many interior parts are trashed or gone. But... it could make a really nice race car.

E46 Alpha Track Rat!

So we've changed directions and that's where we are going with the E46 Alpha chassis - Option 1, which is sort of like how our E36 Alpha ended up back in 2006... a very capable race car that was light, fun to drive, and was a great test bed for pushing the production kit parts to their extreme limits. Hey, I know most of you want the best of both - a perfect street car and all out track terror. So do we, but the extra work it takes to make a true street worthy car adds a lot more time to the prototype project, and we've got people hounding us daily for the Stage 0 bits ... and they want them NOW. Parts we've already built in prototype form that could go into production quickly, if we could just get a running car out there putting miles on them to verify the design. So a short cut "Race car build" will get these Stage 0 parts into production a lot sooner, and get our most antsy customers the parts they need.


Deja vu all over again... hey, it worked the first time!

Like many racers we tend to work best under a deadline, so we have set an unrealistic goal of having a functioning/driving/safe E46 LS1 track car built for July's GRM Ultimate Track Car Challenge event at VIR. It won't be the final iteration of that car by then, but it could still be quick. That's like 12 weeks away, which is tight, but if we can manage to not load up our service and fab shop with too many customer cars we can do it. I have been putting our own cars on the service schedule lately, otherwise I get bumped for customer work. Dang paying customers!

So from now on I'll be posting up progress of the E46 LS1 Alpha Track Rat. A giant LSx motor is being built now. We ordered a radiator already and its here. We have fenders, wheels, tires, plastic window material, and other bits staged. Here's what was accomplished in the past week:

Prototype Headers REALLY Finished



Ryan cut out and reworked one of the passenger side primaries he wasn't completely happy with the first time around, and now it has more clearance at the starter. Next the collectors for both sides were located, tweaked and welded in place. As of this week the prototype headers are effectively done - yay! These will soon be removed, welded up a little more, then sent off for CMM measurement, fixture construction, a single production-test set will be made and then trial fitted to the car.



While the mock-up drivetrain and headers were still in place we mocked up the accessories (forgot to shoot pictures), the front end was bolted back on, and an all-aluminum Mishimoto E46 M3 radiator was installed and checked for fit (above right).



We have repaired and welded-in Turner E46 Subframe Reinforcement kits on two E46 M3s here in our shop during the first quarter of this year, and our guys have gotten damned good the surgery required to install these. So after looking at those two repaired M cars and our mangled 330Ci again, we've come to the realization that our 330's trunk is a total write-off. It was cracked, then the guy drove on it for at least another year and just flat ruined it. The rear subframe is completely torn out of this car on one side and the trunk is badly cracked on the other. Terminal damage at all 4 points of contact and way beyond what the Turner kit is made to repair. Instead of spending serious coin on all new BMW trunk sheet metal, burning dozens of hours reconstructing the OEM trunk, then adding the Turner kit to this car, we're going to cut out the bad bits, fabricate and weld-in some plate steel for the areas that need repair, and then tie them into a proper roll cage. Race car + cage = faster and better fix.



One other point of contention on this build is what to do with the cast steel rear differential housing. As you all know the E46 M3 has a 210mm ring gear Limited Slip Differential from the factory, but our 330Ci and all other non-M cars have a 188mm open differential. It is quite costly to upgrade the E46 open diff 188mm housing with a Limited Slip. The subframe/uprights/halfshafts and diff housing are different between the M3 and the non-M chassis, and unlike the E36 M3 ("where we tell folks just go buy the take-out rear subframe brake-to-brake") the E46 M3 bits demand quite a premium. Upgrading to a aftermarket differential and other gear ratios in either style BMW differential is also quite expensive.

So.... just like with the engine and drivetrain in this swap, we're looking at domestic sources for a lower cost and/or stronger solution. Enter the 1999-04 Ford Mustang Cobra, which had an all aluminum 8.8" (223mm) ring gear IRS differential housing. Dallas Performance put an aluminum 8.8" into Scooter's "Beta" E36 LS1, after it broke the 188 M3 diff with his 540 whp motor and his own brand of "extreme track use". That was a clean swap that looks like it will be the perfect fix for the lack of an easy 188mm LSD diff for the non-M E46 chassis.

The Ford 8.8" IRS is larger, stronger, lighter, and less expensive. Gears ratio choices are abundant and inexpensive ($200/set), aftermarket LSD differentials choices are abundant and inexpensive ($300-1000) and the differential can be made to fit just about any chassis (the Ford IRS diff popular swap in FD RX7 LS1s, Hot Rods, etc). Ford made a variety of rear covers/mounting styles for this 8.8" housing for use in the Cobra, Thunderbird, Mark VIII, Explorer, etc. The stronger 31 spline aluminum housing is from the 2003-04 Cobra, but you can get 28 spline cast iron units (just like BMW makes theirs from) from a decade long production of 1990s Thunderbirds and modern Explorers.

We have spare E46 330Ci subframes and once we tackle this first 8.8" swap we'll start making them to order.



Hopefully we can attack this car every single week and I will post up progress as often as I can. If the July date looks impossible I reserve the right to adjust our "deadline" accordingly.

More soon,

[PianoProdigy]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

Ok, I will try to baby her for now.

Anything exciting to report?

[PianoProdigy]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

We are a little too swamped to attack the 8.8" IRS diff swap in the E46 this month. It might happen in April - but it has to happen. If you can be patient we might be able to supply you with the parts needed - we will post the pictures and details here.

Ok, I will try to baby her for now.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag E46 Alpha - 330Ci LSx Build Thread

We are a little too swamped to attack the 8.8" IRS diff swap in the E46 this month. It might happen in April - but it has to happen. If you can be patient we might be able to supply you with the parts needed - we will post the pictures and details here.