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+--- Thread: Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5 (/showthread.php?tid=10430)
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-20-2014
Got some hot laps from Sunday morning at NJMP up on the YouTubes. I finally got "sort of fast" and started using the curbing in places. Definitely felt good to have that lightbulb moment, even if my line in places is more of a squiggle.
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Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Kaan - 05-20-2014
sound quality sucked on my end
dub in some oontz oontz.but it looked like fun!
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-20-2014
Kaan Wrote:sound quality sucked on my end
but it looked like fun!
Yeah, something went wrong with the microphone - I had it clipped next to the intake like before, but it's either out of battery or the cable got pinched somewhere. Gotta figure that out.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - *insertusernamehere* - 05-20-2014
What's the advantage of the curbing? They always seem rough and uneven, wouldn't that slow you down?
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-20-2014
*insertusernamehere* Wrote:What's the advantage of the curbing? They always seem rough and uneven, wouldn't that slow you down?
Some of it is uneven, some is smooth. The basics of the curbing is that it lets you take a slightly wider and/or straighter, and thus faster, line through whatever corner. There are spots where you'll see drivers drop two wheels off and straddle the curb because that's a bit faster.
I was cautioned about curbs at Thunderbolt. Some of them are off-camber and can actually pitch the car a bit. But, the ones I was hitting (if you can tell in the video) actually helped me find or maintain speed without upsetting the car.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-23-2014
Took the M3 to the weekly BMW meet last night. Noticed some coolant on the garage floor when I left the house... and sonufa... it left a big ol' puddle in the parking lot when I got there, too. We looked underneath while it was running and it's dropping a pretty steady stream of coolant from the water pump.
I checked my maintenance records - this is why you get them from previous owners and put 'em in Google Drive so you can read them anywhere - and the P.O. had the whole cooling system overhauled in January 2008 at ~100k miles. So, it's been a while now (I'm at 149k I think) and who knows what caliber of components they installed back in '08, anyway.
Just placed an order with Turner Motorsports for new goodies. Wasn't really looking to spend $550 today, but them's the breaks sometimes. I'm upgrading to an all-aluminum radiator, a Stewart high-flow water pump, and aluminum water pump pulley (stock is plastic, naturally, and can fail in spectacular fashion) and also doing a new expansion tank and hoses. The thermostat was recently replaced under my care and that housing was upgraded to aluminum at that point.
Gotta pay to play.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Maengelito - 05-23-2014
Jake Wrote:Quote:there's a spot at T3 where you crest a little hill and can't see the other side but stay in it goddammitQuote: You end up cresting the hill at 100 mph with your foot in the carpetQuote: kept the pedal down and got back on track with no issue.Quote: once you're out of 10, you can put the hammer down and be flat from T11a all the way to the end of the front straight.
![[Image: success_baby.jpg]](http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/011/296/success_baby.jpg)
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-23-2014
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Sully - 05-24-2014
Hmm thinking back on it, I left that plastic pulley on mine even though I replaced every other plastic part with metal.
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Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - *insertusernamehere* - 05-24-2014
Yeah..Jake...your car gave mine smart ideas...found a puddle underneath on the driveway Friday. I doubt its as bad as yours though. Prob just another hose clamp.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-25-2014
*insertusernamehere* Wrote:Yeah..Jake...your car gave mine smart ideas...found a puddle underneath on the driveway Friday. I doubt its as bad as yours though. Prob just another hose clamp.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
She's such a terrible influence.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - *insertusernamehere* - 05-27-2014
It's my radiator drain plug. Its cracked I think. I really hope it doesn't choose to fly off mid drive. I can only order drain plug online and the stealership doesn't have any in stock...so yeah... Wish me luck on the drive back to hburg tonight with no cellphone either :thumbup:
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 05-27-2014
*insertusernamehere* Wrote:It's my radiator drain plug. Its cracked I think. I really hope it doesn't choose to fly off mid drive. I can only order drain plug online and the stealership doesn't have any in stock...so yeah... Wish me luck on the drive back to hburg tonight with no cellphone either :thumbup:
RTV it!
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 06-01-2014
Mileage: 148,850
A lot's happened over the past week. I ordered the new cooling system bits and they arrived on Tuesday. Also decided to put my shiny new fender on the car before Hyperfest (because blingblingracecar, yo).
Fender was a really easy install - just look for where the bolts are, take them off, drill through the one that you zing the head off of, and remove. Had to sweep the garage twice after doing this - it's amazing how much silt and dirt and leaves and crap accumulate inside a fender well over 17 years. The new fender lined up pretty well. There's a bit more hood gap on that side than before, but... whatever.
Nekkid:
![[Image: I7qjW1P.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/I7qjW1P.jpg)
Dent-free!
![[Image: 7ZoAFLr.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/7ZoAFLr.jpg)
My friend Jay came over and we tackled the cooling system. Very easy job, ordered everything from Turner Motorsports and got a decent deal on it all. Installed an all-aluminum radiator, Stewart high-flow water pump (this thing is HUGE compared to the stock WP), new expansion tank and tank cap, and lower/upper radiator hoses.
![[Image: uX0LEVH.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/uX0LEVH.jpg)
I promptly ignored the car until today, and spent oh, 8 hours or so outside spinning wrenches and busting knuckles. A few hours were spent on Joey's M3 but the rest was all mine. Bled the cooling system with a 75/25 mix of water:coolant, did an oil change, rotated tires, installed fresh shifter bushings and gave the ol' girl a bath.
The shifter bushings are not really that hard in theory. Problem is, the exhaust and driveshaft are competing for space with your hands... so unless you want to drop all that down (which I didn't) then you curse a lot and get some scrapes on your hands.
Only took ~15 minutes to get the famed "bitch clip" out - it holds the shifter carrier to the transmission and is a total pain to remove with the trans still in the car. You have to get a flathead screwdriver under the clip's release point and twist it juuust so to make it pop loose.
![[Image: 8EZEzFz.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/8EZEzFz.jpg)
Anyway, after the aforementioned cursing and knuckle-skinning, I did manage to remove, refresh and reinstall everything. Went for a drive and it does feel quite a bit tighter where it counts (heyyooo).
And finally, #BecauseHyperfest, I had to give 'er a bath. The paint is pretty crappy up close, but from a distance (the distance that drunken Hyperfest crowds will see her parked near the stage on Saturday) she looks pretty good:
![[Image: ocQC5HP.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/ocQC5HP.jpg)
Man, I'm tired.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 06-16-2014
Quick shot from Chris Schutze of a TT hot lap on the Sunday of Hyperfest. Alllmost lifting a wheel. Almost. Maybe with a fatter sway bar and a better driver?
![[Image: fu1CB8B.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/fu1CB8B.jpg)
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 07-21-2014
Post-VIR Update - Mileage: 149,980
Had a great, great time at VIR over the weekend. The weather was perfect - every other July event has been 100+° temperatures with nasty humidity. Everything was about 85° and mild for the three day event. This was my first time with the M3 at VIR after installing my ballersauce new front brake pads so I was excited to see how they'd perform. The answer is "very well, especially once they're hot."
Some notes, turn-by-turn:
• I'm able to exit T1 and carry enough speed that I need 4th gear between T1 and T2. That's a good thing.
• Still trying to nail my line through T3. It's a corner that demands 3rd gear and you can either drop time or waste it based on gear choice and courage.
• Lower esses need a bit of work re: apexes but not all bad.
• Able to enter the uphill esses with my foot buried in the carpet in 4th. I had a few laps where I took the entire hill with my foot buried, and a few laps where I lifted ever so slightly. Both worked okay but legitimate full throttle is the way to go. And don't lift until you crest the hill.
• I understand Oak Tree in theory and usually in practice. Two part turn.
• Braking at the end of the back straightaway is currently a downfall, I'm doing it too early. I tried braking later a few times and it worked until it didn't (video below) and then I mowed the lawn between T14 and T15.
• Could use a liiiiittle bit more throttle and/or less brakes for the T16/T17 chunk onto the front straight. But not much.
Some anecdotes!
As mentioned before, I had a #fail moment when trying to compress my braking zone at T14. Braked a hair too late, decided I was going too fast to make the turn, and elected to run down the hill in the grass. Oops. Prior to that, though, I saw Trevor Parmer approaching in his TTB E46 M3 (when we were at the downhill esses) and gave the uphills my best shot as I wanted to hold him off until South Bend. I managed that, and we took South Bend side-by-side. Was a bit of a pucker moment because we were moving at a pretty good clip, but we made it and I was kinda giddy after the fact.
[youtube]Tx9WsuXjZQI[/youtube]
DJ came to play (also in TTB) during a different session. I saw him coming as we both came through the uphill esses and knew that he'd be passing me down the chute between South Bend and Oak Tree, so I stayed track right to give him room. The pass was flawless, but he apparently had a bit of a brain fart mid-turn... dropped a wheel off in the dirt and *whee* around he went. Kinda fun to have that on video:
[youtube]k9Xd9vB4Nto[/youtube]
My friend Tyler (who I did the NJMP event with) came down from Jersey to see how Mid-Atlantic runs their events, and to see VIR. He was incredibly impressed with both the facility and all the people, and commented numerous times on how well-run everything was, and how welcoming of a newcomer all my friends were. Given that my friends are also largely staff, thank you for being friendly and being good ambassadors for M-A. Northeast was not like that at all when I went up.
The brakes on the M3 are doing something goofy and I need to figure it out ASAP. Under braking I get a *thump thump thump* that appears to be coming from the rear wheel(s). I can kind of feel the thump in the pedal. Thinking it may be a severely warped rotor. Might take the brakes apart tonight - I want to drive this car to Bimmerfest East in two weeks so time is of the essence.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Beej - 07-21-2014
Great vids!
Is the tablet thingie distracting at all? What kind of stuff does it display/log?
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 07-21-2014
Beej Wrote:Great vids!
Is the tablet thingie distracting at all? What kind of stuff does it display/log?
Thanks!
Oh, and I forgot to mention how the tablet worked - very well. It's a Nexus 7 running Torque. The app receives data from a Bluetooth OBD II reader under the dash. I have it set to display coolant temp and air intake temp. I wanted oil temp or pressure, but the ECU doesn't receive those parameters so, no dice.
The gauges are huge with large white needles. They display current data via needle and number, and a little red tick mark where the highest value was recorded (good to see after the fact). I have it set up to flash the screen and sound an alarm if coolant temp goes above 225°F. The highest I saw all weekend was about 205°.
It's amazing how much the intake will heat-soak. I made a point of leaving the hood open longer after each session, in the hopes of combating that to an extent.
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - Jake - 07-30-2014
Jake Wrote:The brakes on the M3 are doing something goofy and I need to figure it out ASAP. Under braking I get a *thump thump thump* that appears to be coming from the rear wheel(s). I can kind of feel the thump in the pedal. Thinking it may be a severely warped rotor. Might take the brakes apart tonight - I want to drive this car to Bimmerfest East in two weeks so time is of the essence.
It wasn't a rear rotor... turns out I cracked the front right at VIR, as tribute to Mr. Maeng:
![[Image: ixSzMC1.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/ixSzMC1.jpg)
Local parts stores wanted $50 for one rotor, I got two from Rock Auto for $70 shipped. Put both of them on last night (I figured, why not do both and keep the good "old" one as a spare) and cleaned the windows in preparation for Bimmerfest. The car is going to stay dirty and bug-splattered, because I don't really care about cleaning up a track car for a car show. :thumbup:
Re: Das Pace: My '97 M3/4/5 - .RJ - 07-30-2014
From the video its a bit hard to tell what you're trying to do, but this is how I approached braking into T14 - I would always try to straighten up the entry more coming into 14, which means you are going to have a pretty early apex and you are going to give up a lot of entry/mid corner speed there but dont worry about that. Carrying more speed coming off the back straight is money in the bank and its a slow corner so you're not giving up much and you'll be back up to speed before you have to lift for 16. Start turning left early, straighten up, then draw a straight line from the little kink in the road straight to the apex, doesnt matter if you're hard on the brakes all the way to, or past the apex of 14.