Dj's 1999 M3 Project

[D_Eclipse9916]

That week turned out to be incredibly busy at work and had no time to work on my car. Still managed to harass Eric Wong (a NASA racer) into helping me build a splitter for the car. All I had time for was to check fluids, brakes and load her back up on the trailer to go to Summit Point Shenandoah course. Didnt have time to put back on the cat-back but I figured no noise restrictions on track; so who cares?




Went to Shenandoah and again will post video once its uploaded.



Anyway last session of Saturday I notice the car becoming NOTICEABLY louder and luckily the session was almost up so I pulled in and put the car up to see what was wrong. Oops, apparently between last weekend and this weekend, the mid-pipe rubber hangers broke (original), and allowed the midpipe to swing and ended up cracking a header at the flange. SHIT!. Oh wait, its after the primary o2s.....soooo...yes I continued on the rest of the weekend, REALLY LOUD. hahah.

When I got home, I didnt have time to address it so the week continued on to Wednesday night when I wanted to address it. I also wanted to install my m50 intake manifold (upgrade for 96-99 m3s) so I recruited the help of Mike D' Amico and we tackled the job of headers and intake manifold. This is the header that destroyed itself...



My classing takes points for headers so I decided to throw another set of stockers in. Although this time I decided while I was in there to wrap them up to keep engine bay temps down even more (even though stock there was no shielding and it was fine), and to keep exhaust velocity up. Remember with heat wrap to take your time and plan in advance so that the wrap stays TIGHT, plenty of overlap and to make sure it stays out of the way of bolt holes.



I also covered the heat wrap with a silicone spray the helps keep out moisture and keep heat in.




Then we finished up the intake manifold, installed the headers, put new exhaust hangers in for the midpipe and buttoned her up. Cat-back still isnt on because im waiting for exhaust hangers for the cat-back. Now shes ready for VIR this weekend!