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Cockroach Individual M3 4/13 Tiptoe into MSS54HP Tooning
Had another DE. Car did well, blew my expectations out the water in terms of the pace it could do. The high bite front pads were fantastic, huge confidence boost. The 08s work on my E28 but they were terrible for me on this car. I am a big PFC fan, but they just didn't work for me on this car. When these 83s run out, hopefully the 11s will fill the void. I believe DTC-70s would work as well but not a fan of Hawk Pads.
A bunch of 47s with passenger and was able to squeeze out a 1:46.67.
I also didn't realize that this color was so rare. So I should probably look into making it shiny for 2025.
Current Projects for 2025:
- 6 Speed Swap
- Passenger Recaro Profi
- Roll Bar and Harness
- 4 Matching SSRs
- Look into getting Hood Painted
- CSL Front Bumper
- Drive that bitch
Very big update, not in terms of building the car but moreso in sharing the adventures the car has been on.
So the last update was me at MSRH, and that's where this will post will start off but it is the following weekend. It was miserable out, but a good low stress way to test the car out before heading to Road Atlanta.
MSRH is horrific in the wet, there is a 10-15 mph difference between the wet line and the dry line for corner speed. It is an ice skating ring. So there were many sideways moments, but I have done many laps here so I am comfortable in the wet.
It was just cold and wet but I got a lot of laps in. Car looked like it was ready for the big trip. I put some Direzzas on it since they were on closeout and for peace of mind of new tires for the whole trip. Rear pads were paper so bought some new PFC 08s for that. Also aligned it again. This time I did stock toe for the front, I don't really like the feeling of zero toe, but the main reason was to give the tires best fighting chance for all the highway miles.
Went to the Aquarium and explored downtown Georgia for a bit. jayjaya29 was nice enough to let me stay at his home and use his workshop to do a bit of trackprep. These 265 Direzzas are significantly wider than the RS4s so we needed to do some fender hammering, as the damage from previous owner wasn't giving it enough clearance.
I knew the car would blow sound at AMP, but I was able to get a couple laps. It was miserable and raining. 107db, is what I got blackflagged for.
Then it was time for Road Atlanta. It did dry up after Lunch, but the morning sessions weren't wet. Morning sessions were trouble free. Fall ‘24 Update by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Didn't bother recording with Go Pro. My wife was able to get some external videos.
This event was sold out, so there was a lot of traffic. When it did dry out, I came over turn 3 pretty hard. My instrument cluster did not like this and started acting up all day. Would come in and out, and during one session the tach started touching the oil temp needle so I had to start short shifting. Despite this, I was able to set a new PB, however I was not able to meet my goal of a 1:39.99 here. I had multiple instances where it was showing up on predictable but ran into traffic or cluster would spazz out and distract me.
By the end of the day the cluster was struggling. Braking would make it cut out and only work with dimmer at lowest setting. We still had to go to Charleston to see my wifes family I needed to fix it, but I delayed this by a day to give myself time to sort out the cluster. I put out a WTB for a cluster just in case but took it apart at Jay's that night.
I really didn't think it was fixable but luckily was something simple. Please click the Flickr link to see what it was but basically one of the Capacitors had come off the board with the pad.
Following day, Faustino and I did an impomptu run to Tail of the Dragon. My plan was to head to Charleston that night so we would just go to the Tail do one run and come back.
Ended up working out perfectly. We had no traffic. Cars didn't really give any trouble, besides mine the power steering had basically no assist at idle after second run.
We ended up heading to Charleston at 3am since I was beat. Needed some sleep. We did Atlanta to Charleston, in one shot. I was on fumes when we got there, and first time ever filling up with 91 in my life. I've always had access to 93.
I was able to get permission to swap the pump out in a Autozone parking lot. They said I had a hour, I was able to do it in 40 minutes. Fall ‘24 Update by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
I was having a brake shudder that was pretty bad felt like a rear rotor. I felt it on way back from Charleston. Not sure what caused it but sure enough. I believe just the Metallurgy of these cheap drilled and slotted rotors. Unfortunately I put another used set on because my friends parts car had them. We traded them some stuff for it. Fall ‘24 Update by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
So got the strut towers finally welded, they have been cracked since I got the car as well as the Strut brace. My friend was able to tig it in the car with everything still assembled.
I signed up for an impromptu event at MSRH, my local track. Very familiar with this place, and aren't many consequences here for most places when you push so it's great to feel a car and test it out. I was really low on rear pads, so just wanted to get one test session in. They had some portable curb things to move the apex's which in a couple spots was terrible like into Gut Check and coming out of Keyhole were the most irritating ones.
Car is super easy to drive though, the new Hotchkis bar was a nice addition. It is at the softest setting right now, might want to stiffen it but the balance of the car is very good. Overall it is too soft so on the 265 Rs4s now it is okay but if I start running fresher Hoosier takeoffs or even RE71RS I am a bit concerned itll be a bit soft. But anyways car was boogie'ing. Annihlated my PB here I did in the E28 on Hoosiers.
Unfortunately after that PB car bit me and the thermostat went into the water pump. So the car has been running extremely cold, which has been tough to daily drive with since it's finally getting moderately chilly here in Texas. I had a used thermostat on standby, but was debating on going the Anri 70C or motorsports thermostat. Red light of death luckily never came on caught it quick and was able to coast/ limp car into pits.
I had a friend drive me back home to grab the thermostat, as I suspected that was bad since the top hose was hot and bottom room temp. I thought the thermostat froze shut. I brought my spare used water pump as well just in case. Glad I did.
Complete set of Hi-Temp Silicone and Viton O-rings for the Entire S54 Cooling System. Also comes with the Power Steering, SMG Reservoir and Expansion Tank Cap O-ring's!
Replace the factory Buna orings with higher quality Hi-temp Silicone and Viton O-rings. These O-rings have higher temperature rating and more resistant to
Was able to get the car all patched up with the brand used parts and new orings and it left under its own power.
So if you notice all the parts that were removed are absolutely covered in RTV (I hate RTV). Well one connection was not and I think this thermostat has been out for a long time. So when we were assembling everything, the water pump pipe stayed with the thermostat housing. We found out it cannot be assembled like this. So we got the pipe out which took quite a bit of time as it had never been seperated.
Now it's hard to say since my thermostat came out in many pieces. However my hypothesis is the monkey who was in here before and replaced the water pump (2010 date code) as well as the thermostat did not know that pipe needed to be be in the block/head first. He jammed it all together somehow, and this bunged up the thermostat. Since I got the car it had a coolant temp implausible code and then I deleted that DTC. My guess is, it has been like this for a long time but anyways all correct now.
There will be a HPDE next weekend I'll be instructing at will test car more. Then it will go on a long roadtrip and get a day of beating on at Road Atlanta the following weekend.
Preface
I have noticed that many cars I see are set up in a way that's at least far from optimal, and often worse than stock. Issues include, but are not limited to...
-wonky front/rear stagger
-insufficient bump or droop travel
-ride height in ranges that compromise suspension geometry
-alignments that compromise handling
It is somewhere in this window but I am limited in what I can do since my fronts are at max height with this GC setup until I get taller springs but I like the height so probably won't change.
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Took Friday off work, after a friend offered he could help weld in the Subframe plates. I had to rent the shop space, but that's okay. Was able to align it there and everything. I also paid my friend for the labor of welding, cutting and grinding basically hot glueing the plates in and repairing any damage. Glad I did came out better than I would've. Picture of on my way there.
It was time to replace the subframe bushing with AKG 75D as well as replace the cracked right rear spring arm, I had been fully relying on the stainless steel reinforcement to hold it together. Even though I was at a BMW specialist they did not have a tool that was fairly easy to remove the subframe bushings. However I brought my RTAB tool because I thought I read that would work. It didn't, but I fiddlefucked with it and made it work.
Worked like an absolute treat with the torch. No impact just a regular 3/8th ratchet. Hammered the new AKGs into their new home. Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Came back Saturday morning and my friend was feeling a lot better and cranked it out. Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Welded up the cracks, and note the gas tank is still in there. Those got covered with wet towels when welded. The Reddish plates were huge so we trimmed them a bit, as I did not want to mess with dropping the tank. I did show up with it with less than a gallon, but we worked around it.
I also found a Hotchkis swaybar laying around the shop, so put that on. Was very pleased about that. Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
I haven't been able to do my alignment myself on a machine in a long time, so that was a fucking treat. Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Forgot to take a pic but -3.5 camber in front, zero toe, didn't hit my camber number I wanted on RR for some reason. So it was -2.0 and -1.6, rear toe is just factory specs.
Car drives great, absolutely transformed can feel what the rear end is doing now and the front bar really helped with the softer spring rate I have up there.
Ordered the Reddish subframe reinforcement and AKG 75D subframe bushings, so that is next. My suspicions of the car having a tune have been confirmed, cat deficiency always showed as not ready. No CEL yet after the headers. When we did the CSL shift setting and 105 DTC error disabled. We used Martyn's tool and Cat deficiency was greyed out. I saw this before on a friends car but it was for the burble setting, so someone has tampered with it and software won't let you touch that setting. So no idea what's on it but someone has cooked here before.
CPV valve is starting to leak but didn't have the tool or the part so that is ordered as well.
Has a really interesting exhaust note, definitely doesn't sound like the BW exhaust I have mostly heard.
Megans, stock section 1 and their street track section to the back.
The spring cap fitment was already pretty horrendous but didn't want to oversand it, not to mention the fact I smashed the Vanos unit on the spring. Don't ask how. So idk what exactly caused the pistons in the disc to seize up. But anyways I had to do it again.
First go around I did the Beisan upper guide, Lang Bolts and the Oil Pump disk. I put about 300 miles on it, and then was greeted to a cam'd idle at a stoplight. Vanos codes for both intake and exhaust. Not knowing what the hell happened, I sourced a new core unit to rebuild. same day upon failure. Got SUPER lucky with that, the shop I used to work had a S54 in pieces.
This time I learned my lesson. Don't rush it at my dads and just do everything.
I actually have access to a shop behind my house, but I feel bad leaving a car there overnight in case my landlord needs the lift. In this case though, there was no point in rushing. So I took my time and worked on the car on and off in the evenings for a week. Rebuilt the new unit with Beisan Seals, got a new solenoid pack, Vanos filter, and cleaned the solenoid block. Also did the Vanos line.
Doing the seals restored a lot of driveability with the old girl, so glad I did the seals on the second go around. Learned a lot from this ordeal. I have put about a 1000 miles on it since then, one of the break in drives was to pick up the wheels.
So like I mentioned in my first post, I used to tag along with my dad to HPDEs at Texas World Speedway. The CDI there for PDS had a E46 M3 full racecar. He was paraplegic, so he had a SMG, slicktop E46 M3 it had Grand Am Motons, Stoptech 355mm brakes front and rear, badass cage, Fulcrum Aero which had a really good front splitter, huge rear wing that tied into the floor. He was a very good driver and the car was very sorted. It was built pre 2006, so a very OG build. On the car he had SSRs, I remember the car being stored at the track and the garage had a fuck ton of wheels in there with Hoosiers.
Long story short, when these came up on Marketplace I knew exactly where they were from. I was able to get all 10 for the same price as a set of New apex's. Biggest downside is only 4 were a matching set. One of which was cracked. The others were sets of 3s. All these are the same size. 18x9.5 ET35, yes they are old tired wheels used on a racecar with Aero and hoosiers and mismatched, but finding a nice pair of quality wheels these days for that little is hard. I also need spares since I drive the car around Houston, want to juggle sets of tires. I would like to get a set refinished to match but there are bigger fish to dry right now, the cracked one is cracked on the inner barrel so that should be no issue getting that welded. More projects for another day.
I was able to fit all 10 wheels in my M3 as well as Recaro Profi he gave me just to get it out of his shop. Missing cushions so another side quest of finding those has begun.
Here is a video of 12 year old me riding in that car on those wheels, 12 years ago.
Sharing it forward, and turning money into noise with the little bro! Driver - Joseph Lammers Co Driver - Sammy Leisey Car - E46 M3 SMG Performance Driving…
So after the seat I ordered almost all the Vanos parts needed to stop it from having a failure that would turn it into a paperweight. It took like 2 weeks for the parts to come in, from FCPEuro, Lang Racing and Beisan. I drove the 90 minutes to my dads shop and went to put the TDC tool in and was greeted with:
Why the bracket is gone, who knows. My guess it that this is another used engine has been swapped into this car, there were a lot of signs pointing to this. But regardless this left me SOL, and with 2 weeks remaining to RA. I just focused on resealing the valve cover, tabs weren't broken. So I was gonna have to chance it. If it was the original motor it has like 106k on it at this point so fuck it, I have to run it.
At this point car was going brr, did the BW Trackcabs. Got it realigned again went for -3.5 front camber, was able to get -2 with stock rear arms which is perfect. Did 0 toe for the front and stock toe in the rear.
I also scored the BW Street/track exhaust used. The BW sound is very nostalgic to me from childhood, a bit much to deal with everyday but its tolerable. My E28 is very loud too. I do miss the torque lol, maybe an epic tune or hte or something will get it back. The AA exhaust I had on the car was turning itself into a pressure vessel, rattling and coming apart everywhere.
Then it was time to hit the road to Road Atlanta. Everytime I do these trips, I cannonball from Houston to Georgia and meet up with my friend Jay in Atlanta. I believe he is lurking around on here but yeah drove there and brought some ear plugs. Seats had to be down since I was bringing Jay a section 2 exhaust. My vorsteiner CF lid, does absolutely nothing for sound deadening, it was LOUD.
Pretty uneventful, just a lot of driving did it in about 13 hours.
Got to his house and went to button up a lot of little stuff, just did another brake bleed, swapped in some thicker takeoffs pads for the rear and fixed the CEL. He had an extra purge valve on a S54 he is using to swap his E36 M3. So we threw that in, and that made my CEL go away. September Update by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Satuday was raining a lot. Gave some ride along and it was dicey learning the car there in the wet. Lot of oh shit moments coming down the esses lol but we lived. Gave some ridealongs as well. Only issue was the power steering was intermittently going out.
Left the car at the track and came back Sunday to enjoy the dryer weather. Did a quick flush for the P/S, just sucked olkd fluid out of reservoir and put in new fluid to see what would happen and that fixed the P/S.
I was able to squeeze out a 1:40.98 which I am super happy with considering how basic the car is currently and I am still getting used to it. Should be an easy sub 39 car, especially on something saucier than the RS4s. Tires pressures were what I rolled up on as well, 30 cold. I think they were getting to 36 got.
As far as modifying the car for further, the big thing is the brakes. I want to do the CSL/ZCP brakes just not happy with these especially going into 10A and T1. Just not very confidence inspiring. I remember my dads car stopped a lot better.
But yeah car did great, other than the power steering issue nothing really happened. The pace for the first time out in the car was fantastic.
I then drove home, only issue was the sunroof. It got angry trying to close from tilt position but got it shut at a gas station.
Following the trip took it to work for a week, and I finally have gotten to the point where I couldnt stand the fucking tint. So I spent like 5 hours removing it. I can actually see out of the car now!
Ordered the TDC bracket from the dealer, so I will resume the vanos stuff here shortly. As well as more maintenance items. The rear floorpan reinfocement is gonna be coming soon as well, think Im going the CMP route for reinforcing all that. All the welds and metal.
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