Phoenix Yellow Street / Track Build (Protomachine x RS Future)

[Geoff.T]

Summary / Cliff Notes:

- 2002 M3 w/ SMG
- Current mileage: 125k

Major Maintenance:

- Vanos rebuilt with upgraded exhaust hub at 120k miles
- Rear Subframe mounts reinforced at 118k miles
- Rod bearings replaced at 125k miles, previously done under warranty
- Clutch replacement at 125k miles
- SMG pump, accumulator, and sensors replaced at 120k miles
- Trans detent springs done at 122k miles

Mods:

- Bimmerworld 3.5" race exhaust
- Bimmerworld single exit race diffuser
- Moton Clubsport 2 way dampers with true coilover rear. (custom valved)
- Eibach race springs: 650lb front, 350lb rear
- Ground Control front and rear race sway bars, front camber plates, and rear adjustable control arms
- Powerflex rear subframe and trailing arm bushings
- 18x9.5" Volk TE37SL
- 18x10" HRE R43s
- Nitto NT01 275/35r18
- Motorsport Hardware 82mm studs w/ race nuts
- Protomachine rear half cage: 1.75" DOM, TIG welded
- Recaro Pole Position seats (driver and passenger)
- Brey Krause side/floor mounts
- Schroth 6pt harnesses
- ASM Harness reels
- Storm Motorwerks SMG shift knob
- Hamann rear spoiler w/ M Sport Parts E36 style gurney flap
- RS Future LM wing (interchangeable with Hamann spoiler)
- ACS style CF front lip (made by Kitamo)
- Hard Motorsports front splitter
- Buildjournal front splitter mounts
- Trackspec Motorsports hood vents
- S2R sunroof delete (fiberglass version)
- Euro slick top headliner
- Center Console w/out armrest
- Bavarian Sound Works Stage 1 speaker upgrade
- Bavarian Sound Works Bluetooth integration module



Hi all, with M3F down, I figured I'd document my build here.

9 years ago, I had the opportunity to buy this car. It showed up at a my friend worked out (and now owns) needing SMG work. The owner was uninterested in fixing it so he wanted to get rid of it. This is how it looked:



Unfortunately, I was fresh out of college. Having no established credit, I wasn't able to qualify for a loan to purchase it. My friend ended up buying the car to fix and sell so off it went.

A couple years go by and guess who shows back up to the shop with SMG problems? Again, the owner didn't want to fix it and my friend bought the car back for a second time. This time around though, the issue was the clutch. My friend replaced it and starting fixing everything on the car with the intent on keeping it. Here is how it looked when he bought it he second time:





My friend ended up keeping the car for about 5 years. Now being the shop owner and owning 11 cars, it was time to down size his fleet. I just sold my Tiag E46 M3 and was full of seller's remorse. Knowing this, he offered me the car and after little to no convincing, I took him up on his offer. I acquired the car in August, 2019 with 122k miles on it.





In the 5 years my friend had it, he took care of a lot of the common maintenance issues and did a couple mods that would make it more track worthy:

- Vanos rebuild
- Rear subframe mounts reinforcement
- trans detent springs
- Clutch (2nd time)
- AKG subframe and RTAB bushings
- Moton Club Sport 2 way remote coilovers w/ true rears
- Ground Control Race camber plates, rear adjustable control arms, and LCABs
- Bimmerworld race exhaust and diffuser
- 18x9.5 Volk TE37SLs

Initially, I wanted to turn this into a full blown track car but I back pedaled on those plans as I realize I have less and less time to go to the track. So the goal is to build my car into a dual purpose weekend car like a GT3 RS. I'm trying to take the approach of buy right, buy once.

First, I removed the window tint and took it to a Nitto Tires / Driving line track day. I've been very lucky to have the support of Nitto and Drivingline being part of their "pitcrew" program.







Next,

I figured some extra air flow through the engine bay would be beneficial so I installed some Trackspec hood vents:







I've been working with Amir at RS future to develop aero package for my car. With that in mind, I decided I would have a street wing and a race wing (think Jack Olsen's 911 build). For my street wing, I went with another Hamann spoiler with a Msportpart gurney flap:

W/out the flap:







The next step was getting the car ready for a half cage by Protomachine. I decided to do the S2R sunroof delete at this time, install a new euro headliner and dye the rear shelf:





Once that was completed, I dropped off the car at Protomachine. Riley and Mike got the car back to me in a week. I'm super happy with the results. 100% tig welded, fitment so tight you could call it virgin.













To be continued...

[Geoff.T]

And now the fun part...

While having a super tight cage is most ideal, it's not the best when it's time to paint it. I was originally going to paint the cage phoenix yellow but I though I'd be a little more subtle. I decided to color match the factory titanium trim.

It took my two friends an I an entire Saturday to paint the cage. In order to make sure we had good coverage, we removed the rear window and took the quarter glass off the automatic openers.

All masked off:





After Paint:

[Geoff.T]

I had one Recaro Pole Position from my last car and I was able to get a second. Paired with some Schroth 6pt, 2in harnesses, I think they always look right at home in a BMW. Seat mounts are Brey Krause.



I also added some 5mm wheel spaces in the rear so the rear fitment matches the front better:

[Tbonem3]

I love this thing!

[MrClutch55]

love that bimmerworld single with diffuser.

[M3AN ONE]

curious what springs and spring rates are you running

[Geoff.T]

curious what springs and spring rates are you running

I believe they are 650lb or 700lb front, 350lb rear.

[Geoff.T]

My new street wheel setup for now: HRE R43 18x10 w/ 275/35r18 Nitto NT01s

[trudriv3r]

What a beauty!

[Fiolo]

Looks so good!

[Geoff.T]

Thank you for all the kind words guys. I appreciate it!

Update:

I'm trying to wrap up the interior so I can start moving on to other things on the car. I replaced the center console and arm rest for a new short version center console without arm rest. Since the cup holders were original to the car as well and all scratched, I decided to replace it with a new storage tray instead. Lastly, the slider door for the rear ash tray was broken on my original unit so I went ahead and bought a brand new one as well.

Before:



After:




Additionally, I ordered two sets of harness bar reels made by ASR from my friends at Battlecraft Parts: https://www.battlecraft-parts.com/pr...rness-bar-reel. This is definitely one of my favorite mods on the car. It really cleans up the look of the roll bar and harnesses.





All that's left to do in the interior is re-paint the trim, build a rear seat delete panels, make mounts for the remote reservoirs, and re-install the trunk side panels. Hoping to get to all that very soon.

[RoyalFlushness]

That street setup is fire

[Sharocks]

You're literally the only person that can kill the CSL look for me. Your previous Tiag car now this PY jelly machine. I don't even like PY but hot damn the car is looking amazing.

[Geoff.T]

You're literally the only person that can kill the CSL look for me. Your previous Tiag car now this PY jelly machine. I don't even like PY but hot damn the car is looking amazing.

Thank you. I keep toying with the idea of getting a second E46 M3 just because I love the CSL look as well. The way your car sits is damn near perfect. I've always wanted a CB or SG M3 with cinnamon interior.

[Geoff.T]

I finally got around to getting my rod bearings replaced. Overall time only took 3.5 hours. I think that's a new record for my friend and I. Replacement bearings and hardware were sourced through Bimmerworld.I went with WPC coated bearings and ARP hardware. While the subframe was down, it was a good time to replace the engine mounts as well. Mileage is 125k for those wondering.










With a track day coming up, I also got a new set of tires and installed my aero. My friend and I made it so the wing and spoiler are completely interchangeable with exposed holes. This was, I don't need the drive around with this ridiculous wing on all the time. The front splitter in on a quick release as well for quick removal for street use.



The trunk looked weird without the lip spoiler so we carefully notched it to sit over the wing base plate.



Here are the results:







My driving impressions so far:

- The rear wing is very efficient. It's at zero angle and provides plenty of down force. I'm on throttle before the apex now.
- The car is slower. I'm finding that I'm not up-shifting as frequently as I normally would but corner entry speed is higher
- I need a bigger front splitter setup. The car had some manageable understeer but I would like that to neutralize that.
- The car is overall, easier to drive. I like cars that oversteer and take talent to drive. I suppose this setup is cool if you want to impress people with your lap time but it's a lot less fun from me to drive. Not a bad thing at all. It just feels too safe now.