E46 M3 - Kumho Championship Race Car Build

[alexk]

Jason, what pump are you using ?

Also, what are you doing to control it ? Any thermostat or it will just run all the time ?

PS: I want to fit diff cooling too.

[jibber_monkey]

Hey Alexk, we're using a Mocal diff pump and cooler. For control we're using the Motec PDM to turn the pump on and off based on a set temperature range. Amazing bit of kit the PDM, can't recommend it enough. However, complete over kill and utterly impractical in a road car.

Once we've got this set up sorted we were planning on putting it together as a kit including mountings for the pump and cooler. It should be pretty straight forward to add in a simple thermostatic control and wiring for a road car. Will happily look into control options and keep you posted on how we're getting on :-)

[Brandtner]

Thanks for the update. Also bad luck about the engine - I hope they have sorted you out well and proper.

[cslsuperfan]

E46 build

Fantastic thread jibber_monkey. I have only dabbled with modifying and your car is superb. The attention to detail on the chassis is epic. I hope your engine supplier compensates you.:thumbs:

[shane@mbtech]

Orangey stuff looks like k seal or similar to me?

[jibber_monkey]

Well it really has been a busy few months! Sadly the M3 has been sat in the corner of the workshop, looking on whilst customer cars get built.



However, we have settled the engine fiasco, part of which included a Motec CDL3. Good news on one hand, bit of a pain on the other as our rather expensive chassis loom was designed around the Aim MXL Pista and not the Motec CDL3. On balance though the CDL3 is the better option given it can send and receive signals from the other Motec boxes in the car.



So with that behind us we are now working flat out getting the car ready for the Autosport show on 8th and 9th Jan. So no pressure then...

As with pretty much every e46 race car, we swapped the 6 box for the lighter, stronger 5 speed box from the e36 M3. The 5 speed box is c100mm shorter than the 6 speed, making it a little difficult hooking up the propshaft



After measuring up we sent the prop off to be lengthened and balanced.


Prop back from the machine shop



Freshly installed!


More updates to follow including: prototype blade anti-roll bars, diff oil cooling system, fuel system, light weight body panels, more posh suspension and lots more :-)

[jibber_monkey]

One of the original rear lower wishbones had excess wear in a bush housing so we sourced a second hand part. I was all for cracking on and getting it fitted but Nick insisted on rubbing it down, priming and painting it. Got to love the anal attention to detail on a part no one will see until I stuff the car into the gravel and put it on its roof!




I'm not sure if I mentioned it in earlier posts but we are converting the car from right to left hand drive. This was after discussions with our friends at AC Schnitzer in Germany who advised that the e46 M3 is much easier to corner weight in left hand drive due to the orientation of the engine (canted over to the offside of the car). So seeing as they've won more WTCC and DTM titles than we have, we thought it best to listen to them!


LHD and RHD wiper motors


Drilling out left hand drive blanking plugs for said wiper motor


All fitted


New left hand drive rack all the way from the USofA (much cheaper than buying in the UK)

And that's all you need to swap from right to left hand drive. So much easier when you don't have an interior and you're running a pedal box and standalone engine management

[jibber_monkey]

Mocal diff cooler and pump all fitted. Just waiting on diff fittings to turn up so we can get them plumbed in.

[jibber_monkey]

The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted the rear dampers have changed from purple to gold. We still plan on running the Quantum X Series dampers but Quantum have been flat out fulfilling orders for a number of one make series which means they haven't had time to programme our new front dampers into their machines. So when a complete set of 4 way adjustable Öhlins TTX came up for sale, it was rude not to buy them (Thanks Alexk!)...



We also test fitted the prototype blade anti-roll bars. Seem to fit OK but need to get the rest of the suspension up and together before we can be 100% sure no further adjustments are necessary

[jibber_monkey]

Onto the brakes. We first fitted wheel studs in place of the standard bolts.





And then moved onto the brakes.


We've had a lot of experience with various caliper types and manufacturers over the years and have come to the conclusion that for racing purposes only a monoblock caliper will do on a relatively heavy saloon car. We've also found Alcon to be the best for the money but unfortunately they do not sell a racing kit for the e46 M3. Whilst their road kit is a monoblock construction it has dust shields (which invariably melt on front calipers) and doesn't have a removable bridge, making pad swaps that little bit more painful on a car straight off the track. So we've used a set of racing calipers from an Evo kit and machined up the mounting brackets to fit.

[jibber_monkey]

On the subject of brakes, we're using an AP Racing pedal box with throttle potentiometer as we are retaining drive by wire. The drive by wire debate went on for about 3 months. Nathan from Race Data Systems made incredibly well informed and persuasive arguments for running DBW and my wilting bank account made equally compelling arguments not to. The main financial issue results from having to run a Motec M600 (or M800) in place of the M84 we had already bought. The reason being that the M84 doesn't support DBW and the Mx00 series do but at a significant increase in cost. Happily a second hand M600 with DBW and Data Logging already installed came up for sale. After carefully feeding the calculation into my Manputer, the answer came back that offsetting the cost of a second hand M600 against the money raised from selling the M84 makes it practically free. So that was that. Anyone want to buy a brand new, never used M84?



Pedal box made up with AP master cylinders .7 for clutch, .625 front brakes, .75 rear brakes. This is our baseline set up but may need to change cylinder sizes depending on how it performs on track. Anyone running a pedal box in their car and care to share cylinder sizes?


Fitted to the car with the throttle plate thing removed (couldn't get on with that thing!)

[jibber_monkey]

Some pictures of an obsessive compulsive fuel system install close to completion:

[shimmy]

After all this, I hope you win

[jibber_monkey]

Can you tell what it is yet?


One flocked single skin fibreglass left hand drive dash with funky carbon fibre support for fancypants Motec switch panel


Please excuse the two bins used to support the dash. It's not normally how we roll but we're on a deadline and the workshop is full!

Panels starting to go on. We're getting it wrapped tomorrow, so it's about time!



That's just a temporary bumper for the show, we're getting a custom carbon kevlar integrated bumper and splitter made up which may (or may not) be ready in time for Autosport...

Some more piccies of the front brakes


Just changed settings on photobucket upload to get bigger picture sizes :-)

Mmmmmm box fresh


In other good news I managed to find the brake bias adjuster cable that came with the AP pedal box. The next big question is, will the parts from Germany and the US turn up in time for the show?

[jibber_monkey]

Real detail thing this but we decided to remove a big squishy bit of rubber from the M3's steering...



and replace it with a lovely new machined piece of steel. Could have used aluminium for weight purposes but it's not a part I want to even consider failing on a race track, so steel it is.

Heat shrink sleeve to get perfect fit - no slop in the this steering system!





Will fit 5mm longer bolts but this will do for the show