2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[0-60motorsports]

Great review on the battery

[bavarian3]

Another update.

After driving my car so little and neglecting the battery it was all but gone even after charging. This was the perfect opportunity to shed some weight. While some of the OE sized lithium solutions were nice, the price not so much.

After finding good feedback on the Antigravity ATX-30RS I found one for a deal($350 on Amazon direct from Antigravity).

Additional parts required:
-Adapter posts: link
-Battery hold down: link
-J hooks(will double check length): link







First test fit the battery to see where to mark the holes for the J hooks.




These trays are common across non-M's. So no need to feel bad drilling and hacking it up. I decided to also remove the hold down bar. These are assembled with, go figure, more spot welds!






I found my spot weld bits from the gusset cup reinforcement and had it off without any fuss.




Test fit again, then trim the J hooks so the battery beauty cover can fit.



Full assembly weighted.



Old weights minus the battery tray.







Very clean installed, and the beauty cover/tray fits no problem.


While I was in the mood I also removed this goop dispenser for some bonus weight.



I'm able to use my Noco Genius 10 to charge on Lithium mode. This was approved by Antigravity. Too soon to tell how long it will last, but this is pretty good weight saving for the $.


Afterwards I got an alignment on New years eve, and took it out to the mountains the next morning to find many others with the same idea. With the new wheels and junk out of the trunk the car really flys. The Ohlins are the real deal.




Stay tuned as there is much more to come!

[bavarian3]

Car looks great. 18x9.5et35 is a more conservative solution for the front. It doesn't look like Titan7 makes that offset. What do you think about the Apex ec7-rs? I know Apex wheels are a dime a dozen on the forums but they offer way more size/offset options.

On another note, I find 19s to be fine comfort wise on the street with my ohlins setup. Dallas, particularly where I live, has atrocious streets. Wheels are OEM ZCP. I imagine I am giving up some ride comfort but they look so good!

Yeah they got back to me unfortunately there's no solution. I'm at least able to offer my feedback for future consideration.

Contrary to me liking TS7's I don't really like the EC7's. Arc 8's are certainly a consideration. I agree either a higher offset or 18x9 would be a better solution.

My car came with the 19in E46 ZCP wheels so I don’t have any 18in ride comparisons unfortunately. I’m not sure where you are in CA but you’re welcome to come by my place and try on my wheels (staggered style 163M) to see if you like them for your car.

Appreciate it! I'm up in Bay Area.

[Avedis]

Thanks for the feedback. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get things right.

I have to say those e90 ZCP's look reeally good! If I can't get a hold of some CSL fronts I will consider these. How do you find the ride with 19's vs 18's?

My car came with the 19in E46 ZCP wheels so I don’t have any 18in ride comparisons unfortunately. I’m not sure where you are in CA but you’re welcome to come by my place and try on my wheels (staggered style 163M) to see if you like them for your car.

[lcrain]

Car looks great. 18x9.5et35 is a more conservative solution for the front. It doesn't look like Titan7 makes that offset. What do you think about the Apex ec7-rs? I know Apex wheels are a dime a dozen on the forums but they offer way more size/offset options.

On another note, I find 19s to be fine comfort wise on the street with my ohlins setup. Dallas, particularly where I live, has atrocious streets. Wheels are OEM ZCP. I imagine I am giving up some ride comfort but they look so good!

[bavarian3]

The design of those Titans is really nice, definitely one of my favorite aftermarket for this platform. I agree with you though, the poke just looks wrong on an otherwise really classy OEM+ car you’re putting together. Unfortunate because I can tell from your build thread that you do a lot of homework and research on stuff before installing.

Option 1, stick with those wheels and double down on some extra wide carbon fenders.

Option 2, have you considered Style 359 wheels from the E92 ZCP? They look similar to your Titans and are slightly wider than an OEM setup, 19x10 rear with 275 and 19x9 255 front. I saw this combo in person not too long ago and it looked awesome, like a slightly updated and more aggressive CSL wheel.

Thanks for the feedback. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get things right.

I have to say those e90 ZCP's look reeally good! If I can't get a hold of some CSL fronts I will consider these. How do you find the ride with 19's vs 18's?

Yeah....That poke on the fronts.....Why not return the fronts and get a better offset pair. it'll look great if it sits flush with a max of -2 front camber.

I would have, but I don't think they're offered. I emailed them to see if there's a solution.

[0-60motorsports]

Yeah....That poke on the fronts.....Why not return the fronts and get a better offset pair. it'll look great if it sits flush with a max of -2 front camber.

[Avedis]

The design of those Titans is really nice, definitely one of my favorite aftermarket for this platform. I agree with you though, the poke just looks wrong on an otherwise really classy OEM+ car you’re putting together. Unfortunate because I can tell from your build thread that you do a lot of homework and research on stuff before installing.

Option 1, stick with those wheels and double down on some extra wide carbon fenders.

Option 2, have you considered Style 359 wheels from the E92 ZCP? They look similar to your Titans and are slightly wider than an OEM setup, 19x10 rear with 275 and 19x9 255 front. I saw this combo in person not too long ago and it looked awesome, like a slightly updated and more aggressive CSL wheel.

[bavarian3]

I've been spending my time tinkering with the suspension setting and wheels fitment.

The wheels are Titan Ts7 in staggered 18x9.5 et22 front 18x10.5 et25 rear fitment. I thought they looked fantastic after seeing other examples and they're light, forged, fair price.

Unboxing.







I went down a rabbit hole of tire selection for sizing as I discovered this wouldn't be so simple. For compliance, weight saving, street performance I ended trying out Continental ECS 02's 265/35 front 275/35 rear. They also look really good.

I was curious if the weight specs matched reality so I brought my scale before mounting.

265/35/18
Manufacturer weight spec: 24lbs
Reality: 25.3lbs




275/35/18
Manufacturer weight spec: 25lbs
Reality: 26.2lbs



All mounted up.
The tires fit really well on the 9.5" tire, but slightly stretched on the 10.5" which I don't like.




Overall weights.

Front: 45.9lbs
Weight savings over style 67's: 3.4lbs





Rear: 47.6lbs
Weight savings: 5.7lbs





Now for fitment. I should've known, but I was surprised how aggressive the front fits. Rear 10.5" fits great, but the offset in the front(+22) is problematic in my opinion for non-track guys.

Here is the look before dialing in a ton of camber.




After laying it down on some camber. Quite nice in the garage at 13.5 front ride height.





Looks geat from a rear angle. but hang on...




Here is where it goes wrong for me. I think the front wheels poke too much. To solve this, tons of camber will have to be dialed in. Since there's no tuck, it also looks goofy without going lower than desired on ride height.
As these cars get older, running these types of fitments will start to look tacky IMO.



Performance wise though, wow. No complaints there. You can definitely feel the lack of boat anchors even if the weight savings wasn't that big.

I have an alignment scheduled so I can enjoy the car, even if I don't think these wheels are here to stay. The question is what to get? Arc 8's can't always be the answer. OE CSL's look just right on this car, but then am I willing to sacrifice driving enjoyment? Decisions..

[bavarian3]

Continuing the suspension install.

The stock strut mount and spring setup was pretty much fantastic. but I wanted the adjustability of camber plates, more steering feel, and while I'm at it add a lighter spring with more clearance.

In come Vorshlag camber plates and swift springs. I went with a 392lb 8" spring. Unlike others on this forum here I actually found the front 400lb spring to be quite reasonable comfort wise.





I was curious so I started weighing things:


OE Strut mount




Vorshlag plate




Reinforcement plate since the vorshlags need them but the OE's do not.





Now springs:

Ohlins spring




Swift spring (Z65-203-070)





So. With the springs there is certainly weight to be saved. For strut mounts, camber plates are lighter but the reinforcement plate offsets that.


On to mounting

The plate itself is very simple for assembly. It comes with a pretty trick top nut that is able to reach into the bearing to catch the top pin threads.






I added the 3dm spacer. Note: if referencing this it is flipped the wrong way. the taper should go into the bottom.





Mounted up with the new plate.






The brown spring doesn't actually look that bad. I still plan to coat them Ohlins yellow.






I preloaded the spring to max again since that was required previously. To my surprise, this yielded a very high ride height.

Obviously I reduced the preload significantly, but this still has me around 14.5". So my next step is to remove the 3dm spacer and go with more preload. If that doesn't work a shorter spring may be required.

This was around 15.5" height. lolz. At least this alleviates any concerns about achieving optimal ride height with Ohlins.





All of this will get dialed soon. If I'm going to fully fit the suspension and get an alignment it'll make more sense to get some other parts mounted that have been sitting in my closet for months.

I've been down a bit of a rabbit hole on tire selection.

Stay tuned!

[bavarian3]

Nice work - car looks great, love LSB on Cinnamon.

Just out of curiosity - did those FCABs have a BMW stamp ground off?

Forgot to respond here but there was no ground off stamp I could find on the FCAB's.

Not being able to buy new pillar fabric anymore is killing me

At this rate we all have to buy parts when we can not when we're ready(to install). Unfortunate !

[bavarian3]

Ok let the fun stuff begin. I've been working on installing the suspension lately. Still not fully sorted but I've had the chance to put some miles on it.

I was lucky to find some like-new Ohlins RT for a great deal.





I got started on the rear using the provided 620lb spring rates.





I used new Rogue rubber RSM's. I highlighted some hardware issues with these parts and using a rear x-brace. Link.

You can install the mounting bracket either on top of bottom of the mount. Installing on the top avoids having to dig into your interior to remove the shock.





I painted and installed these control arm reinforcements since everything on this platform likes to crack.








The front is a little more exciting as I first wanted to install the kit with the provided spring and stock strut mount, before moving to camber plates.

These open sockets allow for a holding the top pin while torquing the nut.









Before preloading the spring much more I was surprised to see how low the car sat. People weren't lying when they said the strut body is quite short.




I ended up having to preload the spring to max to get a roughly 14" hub to fender ride height.

On a positive note, I put some miles on them, and they ride absolutely phenomenal. Night and day difference from the Dinan koni kit that came with the car. They are more firm, yet handle the road bumps comfortably and quickly. I'll have to make some adjustments but already am super impressed.

Ohlins aside, now that I've been able to put some miles on the car in general as it's all coming together, damn the hype is real. Such an amazing platform.


I'll cover the camber plate install in the next post.

[Rokoz]

Not being able to buy new pillar fabric anymore is killing me

[bavarian3]

Nice work - car looks great, love LSB on Cinnamon.

Just out of curiosity - did those FCABs have a BMW stamp ground off?

TY! I will followup on this when the car is back up in the air, shouldn't be long.

sheesh! Looks fantastic! I love LSB.

Appreciate it!

Looks wonderful!

Thanks for following and the kind words always!

BTW if you don't mind could you remove the pics form the quote.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks wonderful!