[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by ubersteuer

That's a lot lighter than I would have guessed, you're down to e36 and e82 territory.

Compared to stock you've reduced weight with seats, rear bumper bar, wheels/tires, possibly exhaust, right?

Good eye!

Real, measured weight reductions:

- Replace stock front seats with Recaro Profi @ 60 lbs
- Delete rear seat bottom, seat backs, and privacy screen @ 85 lbs
- Replace rear bumper bar with Euro-spec @ 12 lbs
- Wheels / tires @ 40 lbs
- Exhaust - forgot to measure. The stock exhaust is heavy and requires some effort and balance to move. The Dundon exhaust is opposite, feeling very lightweight. Charles used lightweight, 20 gauge 321 stainless and Inconel tubing for the exhaust, a Coast Fabrication muffler (fabricator for Burns) and Vibrant resonator. 40 lbs estimated weight reduction is reasonable in my mind.

The rear seat delete was done a couple of days ago. 80 lbs off the car is easily felt from the driver's seat. The car simply feels lighter, more agile, and happier.

There are some excess pounds still remaining on the table (or in the car...). At this point though, any further dieting requires more serious commitment. I feel that the weight reduction program I've outlined doesn't detract from the car's practicality or comfort, and I'm satisfied with a wagon form-factor at E82/E36 weights.

So let's see... Total from above is around 240#. The manufacturer's specification is around 3514 lbs stock. So the numbers do seem in the ballpark, at least to me. Note: the tank was exactly 1/2 full.

[cbouchez]

Can't wait to see it in person.

track day with the club?

[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by cbouchez

Can't wait to see it in person.

track day with the club?

Still have lot's to finish before she's track ready. I'm working hard to make it happen.

I think that the only event I registered for is the coach's clinic. I need to start filling the calendar!

See you out there!

[tetsuo111]

There's a relatively new car-enthusiasts place in Seattle, The Shop, located in SoDo on 6th near the stadiums. I go there to wrench, socialize, and thirst-quench:

http://theshopclubs.com/

The place is part garage, part detail bay, a cars and coffee venue, and is co-located with an Ethan Stowell restaurant, Derby. The club also offers indoor storage. There's a number of interesting cars. A Porsche Carrera GT graces the front door entrance and there's a 904 in the storage garage. Both are hyper-rare.

Today, this restored Speedster caught my eye:

[tetsuo111]

New MOMO Prototipo 6C in the house!

For me, this steering wheel evokes the rich history of BMW's racing heritage and recaptures the glamour of the marque's classic models like the 3.0 CSL and 2002. The Prototipo was also common on racing Porsches of the same era. Singer and Magnus Walker use the Prototipo for their 911 "re-imagined" and "urban outlaw" projects.

The 6C version is updated with carbon fiber-wrapped spokes and premium leather and stitching. At 350mm, the Prototipo is objectively slightly smaller than a 370mm M3 wheel, but to my eye the two wheels are nearly identical in size.

[tetsuo111]

Date: 28 Feb 2018

Mileage: 44,107

What: R&R all four front control arms with Syncro Design Works M3 tension arms and wishbones upgraded with sealed monoball sets. Follow-up with a full suspension alignment, to stock M3 spec.

Why: Less compliant bushings are a "best practice", beneficial to the handling of all vehicles, all else equal. Until they become too unforgiving, at which time the ride becomes too harsh, noisy and uncomfortable.

Syncro Design Works is the sole supplier (to my knowledge) of upgraded monoball control arms for xDrive. I used them on my last project, and found them to be an excellent upgrade to the car's handling, without being too raucous. These monoball bushings are larger than the ones I used for xDrive. Based on past performance, I have high expectations for these.

Results: To be updated after driving the car. I swapped the control arms this morning. The car's on the alignment rack now. Will post impressions when available.

Picture 1: Tension arms

Picture 2: Wishbones

Picture 3: Driver-side arms installed

Picture 4: Close-up

[tetsuo111]

Considering replacing your BMW steering wheel with an aftermarket?

Be advised the swap isn't plug and play. Some things to consider before deciding to move forward:

1) No more driver-side airbag - this isn't trivial for me (nor should it be for anyone). If one chooses to move forward regardless, there are procedures to modify the SRS monitoring circuit so that the airbag fault indicator won't light.

2) No collapsible steering wheel hub adapter. Many / most hub adapters have a collapsible design to protect the driver in case of impact with the steering wheel. The E90 does not.

3) No more steering wheel buttons for radio, etc. I don't care about this at all.

4) No more heated steering wheel. This isn't a concern for me either.

5) BMW horn buttons are exotic and either a: difficult to obtain satisfactory product, or b: silly expensive. For instance, MOMO used to, but no longer sells a BMW horn button. Now, one can search for vintage examples on Ebay, buy from E Europe or Thailand for $150, or go deluxe with a stamped leather version with metal bezel. Beautiful, but also priced ~ $280. There are some "cheap" eBay specials, but they look cheap or the colors don't match with accuracy.

I found a BMW Motorcycles roundel that is OEM, and most importantly, fits.

Issues #1 and #2 are significant safety issues for me. I chose to move forward with full awareness that I'm taking a hit to driver safety. I definitely feel conflicted about this.

So after all of the reservations, why move forward with a Prototipo wheel?

Here you go:

[tetsuo111]

My inspiration for swapping steering wheels are cars from Munich's heritage past, like the 3.0 CSL, 2002tii, E30, and early M5s. The Prototipo was also found on Porsche 911s and Alfas of that era. Having a Prototipo wheel in this car is my hommage / tip of the hat to those exciting and memorable BMWs.

I chose the 6C carbon fiber finish because I felt the material updated the retro Prototipo style into a period correct wheel for the E90.

The most time-consuming challenge on this project was locating a satisfactory BMW roundel for the MOMO horn button. BMW quashed the MOMO-sourced roundels. The DIYs I found online mostly used silly expensive ($150+) plastic imitations from Ebay, or sad-looking foil roundels similar to the ones on our airbag modules. Neither option is satisfactory in appearance.

I dug through the BMW motorcycles product catalog for a solution and found a 41 mm OEM roundel with perfect fitment on the MOMO horn module, a 3D design, and very aesthetic appearance. This part is noticeably superior to even the NOS MOMO horn buttons, and miles ahead of the alternatives. Price is < $20.

BMW motorcycles part # 46542300045

The correct MOMO hub adapter is # 2013

A Prototipo steering wheel in a 2002:



...and another in an Alfa Romeo:

[m3less]

beautiful!

[mattpete13]

that is friggin sick looking - well done!!!!

[bkwld]

Yes. Well done! Very tasteful. Love your cluster, GTS center, custom exhaust! Even the M3 center shift console. Nice!

[The Nightman]

Love reading your updates. Keep up the great work!

The Shop looks cool as hell. I'll check it out next time I'm in Seattle

[cbouchez]

Looking good! - Can't wait to see it at the track

[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by m3less

beautiful!

Originally Posted by mattpete13

that is friggin sick looking - well done!!!!

Originally Posted by bkwld

Yes. Well done! Very tasteful. Love your cluster, GTS center, custom exhaust! Even the M3 center shift console. Nice!

Originally Posted by freedomfries

Love reading your updates. Keep up the great work!

The Shop looks cool as hell. I'll check it out next time I'm in Seattle

Originally Posted by cbouchez

Looking good! - Can't wait to see it at the track

Thanks guys - appreciate your feedback.

[tetsuo111]

This morning I visited Charles' shop, Dundon Motorsports. Visiting Charles is a real treat for any gear-head.

I met Charles when he worked at Gerber Motorsports, where he was the lead tech, servicing Porsche and vintage F1 race cars. He impressed me with his intellect and deep knowledge of ICE and exhaust physics and thermodynamics. He founded his shop a couple of years ago and seems to be doing well. The shop looks like it's turning the corner form "new" to "established".

Charles focuses solely on specialty Porsches. Mine was the only non P-car to be seen. I think he works on my car as a favor, since we met some time ago.
Most of the cars in the shop are GT3s or GT4s, with a couple of Turbos here and there. His clean room for engine builds is bustling, and his DynaPack is set-up for development work. His custom Titanium / 321 / Inconel alloy exhausts have a reputation around the world as one of the best GT3 exhausts available.

I took the wagon in to have SuperSprint headers installed and for a general maintenance inspection, trim the tips, re-pack the mufflers, and a dyno. Pick-up later this week or next. Can't wait...

A visit to Dundon Motorsports is a treat.

[hassmaschine]

Not bad. I think our E91 xi/6mt weighed something like 3600lbs. I don't think the E91 is really that much heavier - it's the auto and AWD that kills you (and your happiness).

[tetsuo111]

Mission creep... the scope of work is expanding beyond installing headers, to include installing MILVs, too, and full documentation on the DynaPack: baseline, headers, and MILVs. Working with BimmerLabs on the software side for the headers and MILVs. I used AA and BPC in the past.

[drunkenup]

What seat hardware are you using to keep the three point buckle?

[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by drunkenup

What seat hardware are you using to keep the three point buckle?

Planted - brand floor mounts together with new pyro-tensioners for the 3-point.

[BlueM3Wagon]

Originally Posted by tetsuo111

Some bits and pieces arrived last week:

Pic 1 - M3 front control arms with Syncro Designworks Mono-ball bearings, M Performance Aerodynamics CF splitter, GTS-style center console delete V2, Depo smoked side marker LEDs

Pic 2 - Syncro Design mono-ball bearings pressed into M3 arms. A standard 750ml bottle of whiskey included for scale

Pic 3 - Depo side marker LEDs installed

Pic 4 - M Performance Aero CF splitters installed

Pics 5 and 6 - GTS center console delete V2 fitting

First off, love following this thread, very cool stuff happening here! Im doing the E91 M3 conversion as you are aware, I'm trying to figure out if the opening for the manual shift boot on the M3 console trim is the same size as the f3x DCT plate i have for the steptronic opening? I'd like to drop the M3 manual Cic trim in if so and use my F3x DCT shifter plate until I swap drivetrain but can't confirm this info. If it's not too much trouble. Could you grab simple measurements for me next time your out and I can compare that with my opening?

[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by Michaellcoates

First off, love following this thread, very cool stuff happening here! Im doing the E91 M3 conversion as you are aware, I'm trying to figure out if the opening for the manual shift boot on the M3 console trim is the same size as the f3x DCT plate i have for the steptronic opening? I'd like to drop the M3 manual Cic trim in if so and use my F3x DCT shifter plate until I swap drivetrain but can't confirm this info. If it's not too much trouble. Could you grab simple measurements for me next time your out and I can compare that with my opening?

Hi, I wasn't clear about exactly which dimensions on the shift boot ring would be most constructive, nor do I have any experience with details on the F3X center console, so I just took a bunch of pics, with a ruler for scale. If you need a specific dimension, ping me and I'll measure.

You probably know that the shifter boot ring for the E9X M3 and non-M are very different. I had to source a E9X M3 shifter and boot, and repurpose for my use.

Hope this helps your project, Michael.

[tetsuo111]

This car's interior has received more love compared with the last car, in the spirit of improving the "high-touch" areas. The walnut burl trim was replaced with M3 carbon fiber leather trim, sport seats made way for Recaro Profi buckets, the cluster was replaced with a M3 cluster, the E-brake handle was upgraded, an AutoSolutions SSK was installed, a GTS-style arm rest replaced the pillowy stock version, plus other small jobs that in toto are surprisingly effective at making me look forward to spending time in the cockpit. I enjoy the interior mods more than I could have imagined when I began.

The interior color-tone is black, but the number of different materials and textures was beginning to multiply and look too busy. On the center console, the trim plate is wrapped in smooth Napa leather, the shift boot was too shiny, the e-brake boot was Dakota leather, the CF leather trim was yet another different material / texture. I decided to simplify, so ordered a bundle of Alcantara shift and E-brake boots from LeatherZ. I also ordered some extra matching Alcantara to upholster the GTS V.2 armrest I'm working on.

LeatherZ makes the boots to order, and offers a few material options. I chose to have mine finished in light gray BMW Performance thread, which matches the stitching on the Prototipo. The quality of the product is great, and the matching material reduces the visual clutter and adds to the purposeful, sporty atmosphere.