[justpete]

Car's getting reworked with a lot of mods at the moment. Thought some pics of the work might be of interest.

Retrofitted F30 backing plates



And installed M3 control arms and HVT 3-way struts. 135i calipers with Stoptech pistons, boots, and seals are installed as well along with Stoptech Sport slotted rotors.



TMS adjustable sway bar end links visible in these pics but this is before the struts were replaced.





Rogue Engineering toe arms, HVT divorced coilovers, and slotted rotor on the rear axle.



Subframe after rebuild - TMS Delrin differential bushings aren't shown. AKG Motorsport adjustable sway bar end links are visible as are the M3 links, modified by HVT although I couldn't say exactly what was done to them.





Decided after the subframe was reinstalled to use the Bimmerworld spring arm spherical bearings instead of the bushings which TMS had listed as BMW Motorsports Group N parts but instead have the exact same part number molded into them as the OE bushings. Bearing housing got welded in today.

[edit] Correction - I was completely wrong about the bushings not being Group N parts, they are indeed Group N and the listing at TMS is exactly correct. And they even offered to take them back for store credit since they're in the original packaging, talk about a bunch of nice guys. But I'll keep them as spares/replacements in case some of these parts fail. [/edit]



Trailing arm bushings turned out to be OE parts too so they're getting replaced with 135i spherical bearings since they'll press in to the OE trailing arms. This work hasn't been done yet though.

[edit] Trailing arm bushings replaced with E46 spherical bearings but machined down in width by ~10mm, or available from BimmerWorld apparently -- not 135i parts, my mistake [/edit]

All the work's done at Classic BMW Motorsports and I've no connection with them other than I gotta pay the bills.

[andrey_gta]

What brand are the Sub frame Bushings?

How do you like the HVT Coilovers, what spring rates did you use and how affordable are they?

[justpete]

Originally Posted by andrey_gta

What brand are the Sub frame Bushings?

How do you like the HVT Coilovers, what spring rates did you use and how affordable are they?

Subframe and diff bushings are Turner Motorsports.

The HVT coilovers look to be very well built, can't say yet any more about them although the race team uses them on their cars so they couldn't be poor quality I figure. Dunno what the spring rates are, HVT designed the suspension for this car specifically based on corner weights, projected ride height, and center of gravity height. Or something like that. The suspension was quoted at $8100 installed although no telling what retail is, sorry. Lots of parts, lots of labor, bulk discount applies apparently. Not that I'm complaining. Paid the parts bill when I dropped it off and it was as painful as the cost of the parts I'd already bought myself and delivered a week earlier.

[justpete]

FWIW, here's all the major parts set out for their facebook page, that I didn't know they had. Yeah, I don't get out much...

[chris82]

Wow this is legit! How much do you hit the track!?

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Chrisar82

Wow this is legit! How much do you hit the track!?

Until now? Not as much as I would like. But that's gonna change. And it's my daily driver so every turn's a corner. Sorta.

And when I learn to drive the thing again, managing to not stall it all the time since it has rigid friction discs and a billet flywheel, it'll get an OMP HTE-R seat with the pyro tensioner transferred to make it safe on the street.



Uses OMP low aluminum side brackets on an OMP slider mounted on a Planted Technology seat base using Planted hardware. Has brackets welded on both sides, one for the tensioner and the other for the Schroth end.

[justpete]

Forgot to add where the rear shock remote reservoirs got mounted.



Rebound adjustment is at the top of the shock which is why the liner/carpet is cut into a door of sorts.

The Safecraft RS5 fire suppression system bottle (FE-36) is to be mounted between the two reservoirs on the underside of the parcel shelf.

Still working on where to put the remote reservoirs for the front struts though.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by justpete

... And when I learn to drive the thing again, managing to not stall it all the time since it has rigid friction discs and a billet flywheel ....

How is the flywheel? Do you have any videos of driving with that? Seems like a very worth mod to do, you are the first I have seen with a lightweight flywheel.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Chrisar82

How is the flywheel? Do you have any videos of driving with that? Seems like a very worth mod to do, you are the first I have seen with a lightweight flywheel.

It isn't finished so no idea although the custom clutch is what they use in their race cars and it's very easy to stall off the line. Weight saving is 17lbs, btw. It's the first lightweight flywheel made for the N52, I mean the very first by Clutchmasters. It was custom made by Clutchmasters using a stock flywheel. And it has a replaceable friction surface so the flywheel can't get damaged and it isn't that expensive to replace.

The clutch design itself has fixed hub friction discs with six pad organic friction surfaces, iirc. There's a pilot bearing and a throwout. You can see from the picture it's a stand type dual disc clutch design. Not exactly inexpensive but definitely worth it to get the torque to the road as quickly as possible to help acceleration on corner exit.

[cvc 22349a]

What is the purpose of the F30 backing plates ?

[justpete]

Originally Posted by cvc 22349a

What is the purpose of the F30 backing plates ?

Lowers rotor temp and probably caliper temp as well. This is something discussed in detail on the 1addicts site a while back.

[TurboBimmer]

Awesome build! Nice to see someone focusing on handling too and not only on power!

A word of caution about the RE toe links. I've got play in one bushing after only one and a half season/15.000 km. I'm nowswirching to Hardrace toe links, which seem to be identical to Megan Racing.

Interesting find about the 135i spherical bushings for the trailing arm. I've put powerflex bushings into these, but those bushings seem to be too hard and unbalance the rear. I'll look up pn thise 135i bushings.

Finally, you may want to look into bushings for the M3 front control arms. I think I got those from HP autowerks.

Cheers.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

Awesome build! Nice to see someone focusing on handling too and not only on power!

A word of caution about the RE toe links. I've got play in one bushing after only one and a half season/15.000 km. I'm nowswirching to Hardrace toe links, which seem to be identical to Megan Racing.

Interesting find about the 135i spherical bushings for the trailing arm. I've put powerflex bushings into these, but those bushings seem to be too hard and unbalance the rear. I'll look up pn thise 135i bushings.

Finally, you may want to look into bushings for the M3 front control arms. I think I got those from HP autowerks.

Cheers.

Thanks, I was always of the opinion that it's not possible to learn how to drive an overpowered car. Thus starting with a 328i and slowly working up the rolling chassis for best possible handling on the track. Only when it's reached its potential would it then be worth swapping a race engine and dogbox in to continue learning. It'll have to get a widebody conversion at that point as well as the proper ET Forgeline wheels to widen the front and rear tracks though. Best part is it'll still be streetable, mostly, and still look like and be badged as a 328i.

I kinda flipped a coin on the toe arms, didn't know about the Hardrace parts, thanks. I may just build my own since they're so simple to make. The race team doing the work has made some killer ball joints for their E46 and we've discussed how to improve the E9x M3 arms. The end ball joints that connect to the knuckle turn out to be the weak link so there's some work to be done there designing a solution for them. Will look at the bushings on Harold's site, thanks very much for that.

The 135i parts were suggested by the race car chief, haven't seen them yet but did verify they're the same parts as you'd find online, can't remember where I saw them though, sorry.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

Interesting find about the 135i spherical bushings for the trailing arm. I've put powerflex bushings into these, but those bushings seem to be too hard and unbalance the rear. I'll look up pn thise 135i bushings.

Found the trailing link bearings I'd run across:

http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerw...px?Thread=True

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

Finally, you may want to look into bushings for the M3 front control arms. I think I got those from HP autowerks.

Is this what you're talking about here? - [edit] checked with the car chief and yep, this is the missing piece. They designed their own for the E46 cars and they won't fit the E9x M3 arm so overnight shipment from Bimmerworld is now inbound to the shop. Thanks very much for the pointer, we hadn't picked up on this one critical item! [/edit]

http://store.bimmerworld.com/bimmerw...kit-p1860.aspx

[SaviorXi]

Sweet build. It appears you are doing everything right. Not easy on the bank account but the ear to ear smiles you will have on the daily commute will surely compensate. As far as speed goes it is nice for compiling timeslips and enjoying 1/4 mile track nights but overall handling is king in my book. My buddy has a full M3 suspension parts and Koni coilover setup on his 128i and I figgin lve driving his car. In fact as a pure drivers car I prefer his car over mine. I noticed you cut a hole in your trunk liner. You could have used a dremel, screws and some washers and put in an access panel that opens and closes. If you still have the piece you cut out use 2 zip ties to make a hinge and a screw and washer to make the locking plate. Anyway enjoy and best of luck with the build.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by SaviorXi

Sweet build. It appears you are doing everything right. Not easy on the bank account but the ear to ear smiles you will have on the daily commute will surely compensate. As far as speed goes it is nice for compiling timeslips and enjoying 1/4 mile track nights but overall handling is king in my book. My buddy has a full M3 suspension parts and Koni coilover setup on his 128i and I figgin lve driving his car. In fact as a pure drivers car I prefer his car over mine. I noticed you cut a hole in your trunk liner. You could have used a dremel, screws and some washers and put in an access panel that opens and closes. If you still have the piece you cut out use 2 zip ties to make a hinge and a screw and washer to make the locking plate. Anyway enjoy and best of luck with the build.

Looking forward to miles-o-smiles.

Thanks for the idea to make a hinge with a couple of zip ties, purty clever!

[TurboBimmer]

I've put these bushings in the "street" compound in my car:

http://www.hpashop.com/Rogue-Enginee...RE-E9x-TAB.htm

A subtle mod but worth the investment.

[justpete]

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

I've put these bushings in the "street" compound in my car:

http://www.hpashop.com/Rogue-Enginee...RE-E9x-TAB.htm

A subtle mod but worth the investment.

Cool, thanks, will look into that.

[justpete]

Front strut remote reservoirs mounted. Removed top half of cowling and will install Burger Tuning filters when they come in. Lower part still protects engine, firewall, wiring, trans, etc. from rain since it's a daily. Purty kewl I thought...

[CJ421]

Nice build. I guess everyone mounts their reservoirs different. Here's how VAC did mine:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=816793
Rears are invisible unless you lift up the inner trunk compartment.

The Rogue toe arms will fail as noted; mine did after just 2,000 miles. Garbage bushings (failure was likely due to inadequate seals). VAC replaced the bearings with custom ones from Aurora Bearing Co. and did full rod end boots. Been perfect for the last 5000+ miles. I don't necessarily recommend doing what I did because it's expensive and a hassle.
The Megan Racing arms use a sealed ball joint which is the best (same as comes on the M3 stock) but the overall quality of those arms is so-so (plus they're quite heavy).

Originally Posted by Autobahn335i

I've put these bushings in the "street" compound in my car:

http://www.hpashop.com/Rogue-Enginee...RE-E9x-TAB.htm

A subtle mod but worth the investment.

I did a similar mod but went full solid bushings via TC Kline monoball kit: http://www.tcklineracing.com/webdocs...Details880.cfm
These bushings eliminated the car's tendency to shimmy under hard braking on track (which ordinarily causes even the M3 bushings to deflect). Helps the steering feel too at the expense of minor added road noise.

Best of luck with the build - let us know how those dampers feel and what kind of settings work best. I have 2-ways and found it pretty challenging to get it exactly right. I do change them depending on the track and conditions. The rebound is the hardest to get right, I would start at zero and move it up click by click until you feel the tire 'skipping' over bumps, then adjust it back.
If you have high and low speed compression adjustments, I suggest first tuning with the low speed only , leaving the high speed at its minimum. The low speed has a double effect. Only increase the high speed compression if you run out of low speed adjustment. Dampers work best in the 0-2in/s velocity range which is what the low speed adjustment controls, and if you get that right, then the high speed is less important. The same logic would apply to rebound if you had high and low speed rebound adjustments.

[TurboBimmer]

Originally Posted by justpete

Front strut remote reservoirs mounted. Removed top half of cowling and will install Burger Tuning filters when they come in. Lower part still protects engine, firewall, wiring, trans, etc. from rain since it's a daily. Purty kewl I thought...

Attachment 1060429

I suggest to get the M3 microfilter assembly. Looks so much cleaner than stock

[justpete]

Originally Posted by CJ421

Nice build. I guess everyone mounts their reservoirs different. Here's how VAC did mine:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=816793
Rears are invisible unless you lift up the inner trunk compartment.

Very nice! Beautiful car.

Originally Posted by CJ421

The Rogue toe arms will fail as noted; mine did after just 2,000 miles. Garbage bushings (failure was likely due to inadequate seals). VAC replaced the bearings with custom ones from Aurora Bearing Co. and did full rod end boots. Been perfect for the last 5000+ miles. I don't necessarily recommend doing what I did because it's expensive and a hassle.

Yes, the RE ball ends look and feel cheap, I expect them to fail quickly. We'll swap in Auroras with seals or I might just buy the VAC parts and swap them in after a few weeks, or now maybe. I wasn't impressed with the RE arms but they'll do for a start I guess.

Originally Posted by CJ421

The Megan Racing arms use a sealed ball joint which is the best (same as comes on the M3 stock) but the overall quality of those arms is so-so (plus they're quite heavy).

I found the Hardrace arms and the Megan arms and while they've got seriously heavy duty ball ends, like you say, they're pretty heavy. Not impressed with Megan arm quality either from what's said online here and there.

Originally Posted by CJ421

I did a similar mod but went full solid bushings via TC Kline monoball kit: http://www.tcklineracing.com/webdocs...Details880.cfm
These bushings eliminated the car's tendency to shimmy under hard braking on track (which ordinarily causes even the M3 bushings to deflect). Helps the steering feel too at the expense of minor added road noise.

That's an impressive monoball! If the Bimmerworld parts don't take care of the heavy braking shimmy it looks like these'd be the ones to try next, thanks.

Originally Posted by CJ421

Best of luck with the build - let us know how those dampers feel and what kind of settings work best. I have 2-ways and found it pretty challenging to get it exactly right. I do change them depending on the track and conditions. The rebound is the hardest to get right, I would start at zero and move it up click by click until you feel the tire 'skipping' over bumps, then adjust it back.
If you have high and low speed compression adjustments, I suggest first tuning with the low speed only , leaving the high speed at its minimum. The low speed has a double effect. Only increase the high speed compression if you run out of low speed adjustment. Dampers work best in the 0-2in/s velocity range which is what the low speed adjustment controls, and if you get that right, then the high speed is less important. The same logic would apply to rebound if you had high and low speed rebound adjustments.

Much appreciate the advice on how to tune the suspension, wasn't really sure how best to approach it. The race crew will be tuning it after getting it to neutral. It'll be my responsibility to understand how it gets to where it ends up for that particular track and how to adjust it for others and over time so this is very valuable advice. Thanks again.