Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Senor_Taylor]

Woohoo! Great job. I'm ready to help put the car on a diet soon!

[Kaan]

weight loss might be easier... might... youd know better than myself.... but HP is king, especially since we see VIR as often as we do.

[*insertusernamehere*]

I love how that mustang turns with its ass first and nose second lol

[Jake]

Taking the racekorrr to FlimFlam next Saturday. So far, the plan is for a general inspection and repair of whatever is necessary and a dyno test to see engine health. My dyno chart from the start of 2019 showed a dip in power. I sent Kevin the dyno chart (from his shop) and he said "It kinda does appear as if you may have a weak/lazy VANOS in the bottom end causing you to be down approx 20wtq." so we'll see how that goes. I replaced the VANOS with a Dr. Vanos rebuilt unit a few years ago (early 2017) but I'm not sure how long they tend to hold up in this kind of use.

My local friend Kyle tuned the car and based on Facebook messages, "VANOS is set to “shut off” at 5k and rev limiter is at 7k."

Other than the power check/fix/etc, I'm hoping we don't need to do much. It's time for a set of honest-to-jeebus rain tires, as well as a new set of BFG R1S dry tires. I got a Bimmerworld race shifter for Christmas so that'll get installed. Taylor, Tyler and Zach helped me pull more weight out of the car - we gutted the doors and removed a few smaller bits and pulled 25 lbs out. The new P:W ratio for 2020 is 13.5:1 (was 14:1 for 2019) so I can gain 10 HP or lose 100 lbs, or do a mix of both.

Also fixed up the front end after ruining my plywood splitter. I put a Bimmerworld splitter on the front (not the fancy carbon one, just the still-expensive plastic unit) and now need to figure out a new radiator ducting solution. My flimsy-ass aluminum that was all bolted to the plywood was a disaster so something more substantial should go in its place.

[ScottyB]

what kind of aluminum was it? the stuff i built my camper out of (.040 thick) is quite stiff for its thin appearance and you'd be hard pressed to actually crease it by hand. even the thinner .032 or .025 stuff should be very strong. might be worth calling up a local sign company or tractor trailer repair facility and see if they have a 4x8 sheet of scratch 'n dent in those thinner guages laying around that you could take home for probably $50.

[Jake]

what kind of aluminum was it?  the stuff i built my camper out of (.040 thick) is quite stiff for its thin appearance and you'd be hard pressed to actually crease it by hand.  even the thinner .032 or .025 stuff should be very strong.  might be worth calling up a local sign company or tractor trailer repair facility and see if they have a 4x8 sheet of scratch 'n dent in those thinner guages laying around that you could take home for probably $50.

Whatever the cheapest easily-bendable stuff was is what I used at the time. I'm going to see if Kevin has any ideas, otherwise I'll DIY it as you suggest once I get the car back from him.

[Senor_Taylor]

That stuff you had was the equivalent of 2 ply aluminum foil.

[ScottyB]

Whatever the cheapest easily-bendable stuff was is what I used at the time. I'm going to see if Kevin has any ideas, otherwise I'll DIY it as you suggest once I get the car back from him.

i think that usually equates to something like gutter flashing. definitely not up to the task.

if you do manage to get a sheet of the thicker aluminum, it cuts great with a cheap jigsaw with a blade meant for metal (lots of small teeth per inch) and you're going to want to clean the sharp, fresh cut edges with a mill bastard file, not a dremel sanding bit (it'll melt the aluminum and turn the bit into a ball of slag within 10 seconds). i'd recommend that over a cutting disc both for safety and effectiveness. you can probably assemble whatever you want with rivets and jb weld, or bolts and locknuts in place of rivets.

[Jake]

Updates from FlimFlam:

- Engine mounts are in.
- Trans mounts are in.
- BW Shifter is in.
- new guibo is in
- front grill piece is in (found stupid cheap OEM
- Charcoal canister has been 86'd.
- Weighed car - w/o driver 2807lbs - w/ 185lbs driver weight = 2,992 w/ gas almost at empty (assuming gauge works)

He also figured out the power issues. Seems my CPS was dying and giving some funny readings to the ECU, which pulled power and torque down. He installed a new sensor, rerouted the wiring away from hot stuff, and got me back to a VERY healthy 239 whp and 238 wtq. The car has about 15k track miles on it and an untouched bottom end. Very very pleased with that result. He also dynoed the car with some various restrictor plates so I have options weight-wise. GTS2 is 13.5:1 P:W for 2020 so I gotta run this all through the calculator and see where I want to be.

I hated my exhaust, it came from a parts car after my big Hyperfest hypercrash with some Spec E30s. Turns out Jack C wanted a quieter exhaust for his purple E36 M3 street car, so we're doing a little swap. Well, Kevin is doing a little swap. I'll have Jack's ear-splitting exhaust and finally be one of the cool kids.

Red is bad. Blue and green are good.

[Tyler.M]

That man with the beard does some good work. Now buy his E30 M3 shell.

[Jake]

That man with the beard does some good work. Now buy his E30 M3 shell.

I'm fresh out of money, you got any to share?

[Deceus]

I really wanna dyno my shitbox but waiting until I can swap out my ignition system and adjust timing along with fuel maps.

[Tyler.M]

That man with the beard does some good work. Now buy his E30 M3 shell.

I'm fresh out of money, you got any to share?

absolutley. completely unrelated but leave your keys in your unlocked truck tonight for good luck. it's like the Tooth Fairy, I swear. I saw it on Reddit, you'll have good luck for years.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[ScottyB]

holy crap that dynograph.  amazing.  not just peaks but power under the curve, should feel awesome out there.

[Senor_Taylor]

holy crap that dynograph.  amazing.  not just peaks but power under the curve, should feel awesome out there.

Yeah, I wonder how long it's been like that?

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[Jake]

For like... all of 2019?

If nothing else, I started running 2:09/2:10's at VIR with it all fucky. Maybe I'll go faster now.