[justpete]

Originally Posted by InControl

Georgeous. Jealous. The visionary in you see any semi pro manual kits that could enhance gear engagement and speed on the track and be street legal within budget for us mortals

Oh, I dunno if it's gorgeous but thanks.

Without the rear and trunk lining/covers/seats it's downright ugly. But lots of the wiring and modules can go eventually. Will still be pretty ugly but at least it'll be minimalist eventually. I'm betting it'll be loud enough to make the radio worthless and one shakedown run will put it back in the shop to gut the radio system.

Do you mean just the shifting speed?

[justpete]

Originally Posted by BudVlad

Let us know what you did with the brake calipers. I was wandering why Brembo added unsprung weight and if I can cut it off.

At the shop today they handed me one of the weights and I swear it weighs a solid friggin pound. They just unbolt so figure it's a free two pound per front corner reduction in unsprung weight. And then the calipers look like Brembo calipers outghta.

[InControl]

Originally Posted by justpete

Oh, I dunno if it's gorgeous but thanks.

Without the rear and trunk lining/covers/seats it's downright ugly. But lots of the wiring can modules can go eventually. Will still be pretty ugly but at least it'll be minimalist eventually. I'm betting it'll be loud enough to make the radio worthless and one shakedown run will put it back in the shop to gut the radio system.

Do you mean just the shifting speed?

A manual tranny to increase shifting speed and precision. Should make a significant difference on the track and in a dd.

[Taskmaster]

I live vicariously theough Pete.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by InControl

A manual tranny to increase shifting speed and precision. Should make a significant difference on the track and in a dd.

Some automatics are really fast these days but I think they're heavier (?), like DCT. Getting a manual to shift quickly seems to require a combination of changes based on going to a very short throw shifter. Keeping the trans and the body lined up when under side load, and torque loading, really matters when using a shifter without a shift carrier and that means as rigid a trans mount as possible but this also means the engine and diff mounts need to be equally rigid so the trans doesn't become a pivot point for shock loading that can adversely affect the engine mounts. And a rigid driveline gets torque to the road faster which can be seen in datalogger analysis of acceleration. The more time spent winding up the mounts in the driveline the more time wasted before real acceleration can be effected.

So if you want very fast shift times you really need solid engine, trans, and diff mounts, a very short shifter like an AKG Motorsports or CAE Shifting Technology part, and an AKG DSSR or the like. But all this won't make as much difference as it could if the clutch can slip during engagement. So technically you'd want a solid clutch and flywheel which makes rev matching critical and street driveability nearly nonexistent.

The combination of the above will minimize shift times, cutting them about in half from what I can tell looking at datalogger output. But does it matter? Maybe a second or a bit more off lap time from all this, maybe. That's not much and an LSD will drop several seconds, or can anyway. What all this does however is make it possible to shift in a turn or pretty much anytime. The CAE shifter's self-centering springs make it easier though and moneyshifting's still a potential problem but shifting is a lot easier with this setup. No missed shifts, no partial engagements, etc. It isn't cheap and it does significantly increase NVH so the issues it addresses have to be weighed against this and I'd guess the sane would choose otherwise, or at least I'd hope so.

Not even sure if that answered your original question, sorry for rambling incoherently if it didn't.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by TheAxiom

I live vicariously theough Pete.

This doesn't sound like a really great idea for some reason... :/

[Taskmaster]

Originally Posted by justpete

This doesn't sound like a really great idea for some reason... :/

If you knew how boring and uneventful my life was, you'd disagree lol!

[justpete]

More pictures from the shop.

Rear deck seat belt openings closed off with CF sheet:



Not gutted but everything that isn't needed, gone.





Seat installation, second one due soon.







Ram air intake fabricated from thinwall aluminum tubing sourced from Burns Stainless, note the missing weights from the 135i calipers:





Opening in the driver side Aero bumper scoop yet to be sealed and covered with screen:

[InControl]

You make sense Pete. What you doing is very cool and some of us can only imagine. Maybe in a different

[justpete]

Originally Posted by TheAxiom

If you knew how boring and uneventful my life was, you'd disagree lol!

Oh, I don't know, I spend most of my days saying, you can't do that... Long story...

[justpete]

Originally Posted by InControl

You make sense Pete. What you doing is very cool and some of us can only imagine. Maybe in a different

It's been a shitload of work researching all this but mistakes have been made and rework has been done leaving me with some stuff I didn't need to buy to begin with but at least it doesn't break the bank. It's really three years of work wasting away my profit sharing checks.

And if I weren't such a danger with power tools I might've been able to do a lot of it myself but I've never been able to get a flatbed in the toolbox, it only fits in the phone.

Honestly, a lot of this wouldn't have gotten done right without the experience of the race shop, they've corrected a lot of stuff I planned thinking it was right but it usually was close but not quite, ya know? Need a lot of experience to do this stuff, well worth the expense to have it done right.

[BudVlad]

Originally Posted by justpete

At the shop today they handed me one of the weights and I swear it weighs a solid friggin pound. They just unbolt so figure it's a free two pound per front corner reduction in unsprung weight. And then the calipers look like Brembo calipers outghta.

Thanks for the tip. You are my inspiration (CAE shifter ….)
BTW: Performance discs have aluminum centers and are 1.1 lb lighter than 135i discs.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by BudVlad

Thanks for the tip. You are my inspiration (CAE shifter ….)
BTW: Performance discs have aluminum centers and are 1.1 lb lighter than 135i discs.

I remember, you installed the CAE correctly, managed to get the gaiter on, and used the AT trim to make it look good without having to cut much up -

Which discs are those?

[BudVlad]

Originally Posted by justpete

Which discs are those?

They are BMW performance part No. 34116786392.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by BudVlad

They are BMW performance part No. 34116786392.

Thanks, big help there.

[justpete]

FWIW, ordered the OEM M3 rear lower camber arm kit from HPAutosports today, finally. That makes all the links M3 parts with the exception of the toe arms and cuts the weight a bit as well.

[Mike.]

Originally Posted by TheAxiom

If you knew how boring and uneventful my life was, you'd disagree lol!

snapchat begs to differ

[justpete]

Stopped by today to drop off the H3R fire extinguisher roll bar mount and Joe's Racing roll bar hooks. The second seat had come in along with the harnesses, steering wheel, and hub. The steering wheel is a true flat bottom type sized for a race car instead of sorta kinda made out of a sport steering wheel. Anyway, car was up on the lift so got some pictures of the installed braces.

[tetsuo111]

Great pics - your car is coming together very nicely. Inspiration for many.

It would be great to get feedback for some of the work you did, in isolation. For instance, how the chassis bracing and M3 lower camber arm affects handling and balance. Probably not at all convenient to go for a drive after each mod though.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by tetsuo111

Great pics - your car is coming together very nicely. Inspiration for many.

It would be great to get feedback for some of the work you did, in isolation. For instance, how the chassis bracing and M3 lower camber arm affects handling and balance. Probably not at all convenient to go for a drive after each mod though.

Thanks. The problem is since I'm having so much being done at once to keep the labor costs down it's never in a driveable state. There's no diff in it now and both front wheels are off for some reason. The hood's up with the crossbar sitting in there with a bunch of other stuff, didn't look closely from what I could see earlier when it was lower on the lift. No belts of any kind so can't be driven even if it was driveable and won't have any belts until the roll bar is built. Makes it impossible to test anything except the collection of changes. The dyno helps but the track datalogging is what tells me if it helped, within the limits of my driving ability anyway. Still, there're some ways to test different aspects of it all but only subjectively. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

[justpete]

Looks like the Krontec hub key welded onto the steering shaft today...

[justpete]

Dropped off RB front 135i 2-piece rotors and a Wink 5 panel mirror this afternoon. The RB rotors and removal of the weights from the 135i front calipers takes out eight pounds from each front corner. The e46 M3 CSL rear rotors and 135i rear calipers are a wash with the stock rotors and calipers. Pagid RS29 pads are on order for both axles.

They have the headliner, rearview miror, and sunroof out. The second seat is in and the steering wheel installed. A Sparco two button horn switch assembly that attaches on the hub bolt circle is on order as is a coiled cord for connection. They left the ohshit handles in but will be removing the sun visors again to install the Wink mirror. An 8" tint band will go in at the top of the windshield to make up for the lost visors. Automatic headlight and rain sensing wipers are lost as is the Bluetooth phone mic but then Bluetooth is gone with the removal of the Telematics unit. The wiring to the sharkfin antenna is gone but the cover and antenna aren't removed yet. New RT GPS antenna with a 5m coax pigtail arrived today.

The removed seats are sold to someone who wants the door cards and console cover so they're getting swapped with his black leather parts except the rear door cards will not be replaced as they're not needed anymore. Cage shop starts on the roll bar build next week. And the UltraRace strut tower cross bar installation is coming up as well. Shop is estimating the weight to be less than 3000 pounds with the roll bar installed but it won't be up on scales for a while yet.

Hard to believe the headliner is a thousand dollar part while looking at it on the floor...

The side curtain airbags and the side impact sensors are removed as are the A, B, and C pillar covers. Only the modified rear deck, center console, and dash remain. And we're still waiting on the diff, no ETA yet either. And no answer from ATI on the Super Damper.

Really gonna suck driving it in the summer around here without the headliner to insulate against the heat off the interior of the roof...but, hey, racecar, ya know?