Das Race: My '97 M3/4/5

[Jake]

...wrapping all of the interior trim in leftover CF...

is there a method and materials you can recommend or a writeup somewhere on doing this? I'd like to make our E46 trim silver, but if it's going to be a PITA or start bubbling a year later, I guess I'll either buy the set or forget it.

3m makes a nice CF look vinyl wrap btw...

The 3M stuff is what Joey put on Paul's car (and his E36, and Lauren's E39...). He had a bit left over.

[BLINGMW]

ok maybe I'll give it a shot thanks

[SlimKlim]

I didn't use the 3M, the stuff I use is some cheap stretchy fabric with no adhesive backing, so you have to use a spray glue like Super 77 to tack it down. The basic procedure is trim the fabric to fit, spray the panel with glue far away from where all your fabric is laid out, take it back to your fabric and put on a new pair of gloves, then lay the fabric onto it, smooth out all the bubbles and trim the edges to fit.

The only part I can't get quite right is the window switch area, the switches push the fabric up when your reinstall them, maybe the trick is to slice it right at the edge with a new razor blade. :dunno:

Next time I do it im going to use the 3M stuff, seems much easier to work with.

[Sully]

Super 77 seems to stick fabrics to things.....for a little while.

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[JPolen01]

If you are doing this to plastic trim pieces I would use vinyl over fabric. Easier to work with and will look like CF.

[Sully]

If you are doing this to plastic trim pieces I would use vinyl over fabric. Easier to work with and will look like CF.

If he was doing it to a cat, you would recommend vinyl. But its your job, so I don't blame you, just saying.

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[Jake]

Mileage: 145,500

Changed the oil. Easy.

Changed the brakes. Rage-inducing.

The driver's front rotor set screw was completely rounded-out. No allen key would fit or turn the damn thing. And it was fused to the hub. Since the real story of what happened would involved a paragraph or two, the TL;DR is that Joey, Bralley and I took turns with a drill over the course of an hour or two and finally got it off.

I'm running $Free pads from DJ and Jim (thanks, guys!) with new RockAuto rotors and contraband SuperBlue. I have Hawk HP Plus's in the front and some alleged Carbotech's in the rear. Once I burn those off, I have plenty more pads to work with until I actually have to buy my own.

Decided that I'm just gonna run TT for the VIR October event on the lousy all-seasons, because getting out there and setting some times is more important than busting my budget for tires right this second. I have enough wheels to create a square 8.5" set of lousy all-season rolling on 245s.

[Jake]

Mileage: 145,500 (I haven't driven it since I did the last update)

Car wasn't getting fully warm. Needed thermostat. Got a thermostat from DJ and an aluminum t-stat housing from his roommate, Ryan. Bought gaskets from the dealership since nobody had them in stock.

Naturally, the old O-Ring had fused the old t-stat to the block. It took three screwdrivers and a lot of choice words to get it off. I have four busted knuckles, a (lightly) skinned forearm that looks like I got carpet burn but from metal, and a sore back. Boo-frickin-hoo. Oh well.



Stopped by my friend Alex's place after dinner, too. He has a vinyl printer/cutter/magic box and was able to get numbers and letters cut for me, very very last-minute. I didn't read the TT rules until last Thursday, messaged him with an "OMG I need vinyl done can you halp" and he came through. $20 later and I have stickers. Putting them on tonight.

David L sold me his half-used Star Specs, so I took his BBS wheels and my four rear DSIIs to Mach V in Sterling this morning. They're dis-mounting the Star Specs from his BBS's, dis-mounting the all-seasons from my wheels, and re-mounting/balancing the Star Specs, all for $100. Not bad IMO. Also, it is possible to fit 8 17" wheels in a current-gen Ford Focus.



More updates as I continue to prep. Car and I head to VIR on Thursday at 5!

[Jake]

Post-Oktoberfast Update, 146,000 Miles

Let me tell you a tale of a crunched fender.

Drove down to VIR on Thursday, ready for a weekend of fun and sunshine, because the radar said the rain would all stay north of Charlottesville. Then it didn't. The Star Specs that I got from David are wonderful in the dry but are at the wear bars, so wet traction is basically nonexistent. Sometime on Friday, Felton and I were chatting and he asked what sort of tires I had on my car, as this was my first weekend in Time Trial.

"Some old Star Specs!" I semi-proudly proclaimed. "Ah! Get those up to 38 psi cold and they'll be great out there," said the Feltonator. And I, with a sample size of 1, took his advice to heart and pumped those tires up. Went out in my first TT session and turned a 2:28 on a dry track. Not bad, self, for your first time (seriously) tracking a car in about a year and having to care about brake zones, a "line" and all that stuff.

Then it started to rain. My confidence was not really shaken, as I just knew I had to back it down a bit and be not-dumb about my driving.

I made it through the pace lap and the first green lap was "okay." I had the back wiggle a few times, gently, for no real reason on the straights, and moreso in a few turns. But I controlled it. Then I lost it over at T14 or so and went for a little ride in the grass. Came to a stop, didn't hit anything, went back out and pitted (as is required) for a quick chat/inspection. Went back out.

Made it another lap with some controlled Harlem Shake. Crossed the start/finish line and said to myself, "Okay, that was fine, now let's bring it on in so take this lap easy."

Yeah, nope.

I made it to T5 feeling okay. Got to T6 and my right-side tires just kissed the curbing. Which was wetter than the track. And it threw the car off-balance. And I overcorrected poorly. And then I learned what it feels like to hit the tire wall:



We bent the fender back out (thanks, Maeng, for the jack handle) as well as the nose panel. The fender liner "fit" back in the well but seems to have fallen down again. Parts of the bumper and its support are cracked up a bit. Overall, the car is drivable, I have already sourced new turn signals, and I will be back out there in TT next month.

To Felton's credit, he did say (as this was my provisional weekend in TT) to get back on the horse and while I was DQ'd in TT on Saturday, to go out in HPDE 4. So I did that, and did every Sunday TT session (with times similar to the "dry" Saturday lap). He wants to see one more session in November and then he'll sign off on the "real" license.

Here's the spin, with added Carrie Underwood:

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[V1GiLaNtE]

Glad to see all is well... *That'll buff out*.

Are you going to rock the fender or fix? Song is just too damn funny.

[Jake]

Plan is to take the fender off and massage it with my rubber mallet, grab a silver Sharpie and label the dent with "VIR Oktoberfast 2k13" and rock on.

[BLINGMW]

best application ever of terrible song :lol:
Glad the car's good to go :thumbup:

[Jake]

Ordered new RTABs and the press tool from Bimmerworld. Need to install those and the tow straps before November event at Summit Point.

Also need to break my shuffle-steer habit immediately. Watching all the GoPro footage from this past weekend is painful, even the dry laps.

[JPolen01]

What is shuffle steer? Just quick back and forth from side to side?

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[SlimKlim]

Its how he's shuffling the steering wheel through his hands instead of keeping them at 9 and 3. Its a good method when you're turning sharp enough to cross your hands over one another, but otherwise you want to keep your hands glued to 9 and 3, gives you better awareness to where the front wheels are pointing when shit gets real.

[JPolen01]

Oh I see. Kind of hard to tell where you pointing the car when your hands are flying all over the place. Makes sense.

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[BLINGMW]

I don't know what a pro would say, and you don't need to be shuffle steering as much as you are, but in T4 for example, with a stock BMW rack, you really kind of have to. You don't want your arms crossed over eachother. I still shuffle steer a lot on track. :dunno: Well, ok, not recently. You have to go TO the track to shuffle steer. :oops:
But you don't want to let go of the wheel like you did. That's when you get lost.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Bah, I argue repeatedly with people on shuffle steering. There are huge debates everywhere about shuffle steering.

Nothing wrong with shuffle steering. Many a production car needs to be raced that way. I hate hate hate when people try to "hang on" to 9 and 3 and their arms start crossing up. I always want full 180 degrees of movement as much as possible.

I see what happened is that you got a little sideways, panicked, overcorrected, first time, then second time, then held the wheel hoping the car would come around again. Once the car was gone you should have opened up the wheel and slammed on the brakes. Holding the wheel actually turned you into the wall with your direction.

With an m3, it starts going sideways, stay in the throttle and try to use as little steering input as possible. When you caught traction by jumping off the throttle (hence putting more weight and traction on front wheels) and the wheel was sideways significantly, they front grabbed traction with your wheel sideways.

BTW- This shit happens to all of us, this is constructive criticism. Shit happens quickly when things go wrong :thumbup:

[getfast]

Sometime on Friday, Felton and I were chatting and he asked what sort of tires I had on my car, as this was my first weekend in Time Trial.

"Some old Star Specs!" I semi-proudly proclaimed. "Ah! Get those up to 38 psi cold and they'll be great out there," said the Feltonator. And I, with a sample size of 1, took his advice to heart and pumped those tires up.

Lol I remember it more like...

"hey Felton, what pressures do you run in your old Star Specs on your M3/4?"

"38psi cold."

(I've tracked the thing a few times although mostly I just autocross and Krogercross it these days. But I like a loose car, and I like to jump curbs.)

You didn't have to take my advice. :lol:

[Jake]

Lol I remember it more like...

"hey Felton, what pressures do you run in your old Star Specs on your M3/4?"

"38psi cold."

(I've tracked the thing a few times although mostly I just autocross and Krogercross it these days. But I like a loose car, and I like to jump curbs.)

You didn't have to take my advice. :lol:

I kinda forgot that Krogercross ≠ TT. And that perhaps getting multiple opinions would be a good idea to see if any two people thought the same.

Blame it on me being too over-eager and forgetting how to brain. Or maybe the sun was in my eyes.