My E90 M3 Dedicated Track build (with pix!)

Gmark958 wrote

To each their own. I got one for my car, though I haven't gotten around to actually installing it yet. Life keeps punching my while I'm down so I'll get around to it one day.

Once you get it installed, please update us on how it goes.

Does this require replacing the axles?

They come with either 28 or 31 spline hubs and there is an option for CV hubs instead. The diff itself is fairly narrow (about 3.75" from face to face, not including the flange, 4.84" with the flange) so you might need to get some that are slightly longer, but nothing super custom. They range in length from 23" down to about 17" depending on which version you get. HGKshop has a rear sub frame that's built specifically to mount the winters rear end and keep the stock suspension component locations, but they're based out of Europe and I don't really want to spend $800 plus shipping for a subframe when I have an angle grinder, welder and a winters rear end.

Gmark958 wrote

They come with either 28 or 31 spline hubs and there is an option for CV hubs instead. The diff itself is fairly narrow (about 3.75" from face to face, not including the flange, 4.84" with the flange) so you might need to get some that are slightly longer, but nothing super custom. They range in length from 23" down to about 17" depending on which version you get. HGKshop has a rear sub frame that's built specifically to mount the winters rear end and keep the stock suspension component locations, but they're based out of Europe and I don't really want to spend $800 plus shipping for a subframe when I have an angle grinder, welder and a winters rear end.

hehe ya lost me at angle grinder and welder......

What’s the local competition in nasa or scca look like in Colorado?

There’s a possible chance of moving to CO from TX where we have a huge tt/st3 field to compete with.

sc_tr0jan_m3 wrote

What’s the local competition in nasa or scca look like in Colorado?

There’s a possible chance of moving to CO from TX where we have a huge tt/st3 field to compete with.

I only know about TT. I don't have any experience or knowledge of w-2-w. (But w-2-w looks well attended from what I can tell.)

NASA and SCCA TT have both been well run in my experience. The people that run it have always been friendly. They usually get 25-35 competitors total amongst all the classes. In the past, the NASA TT boss was really good about pushing for two TT run groups if there were more than 25 competitors so we could split the fast cars and slower cars. He's not running it anymore, so I don't know what they're doing these days since my car has been out of action this year. I don't know the TT3 scene since I run TT1/TTU, but there's many interesting cars out there. Most competition events in CO are run in the Spring/Summer/Fall. No competitions in the Winter, although High Plains Raceway continues to put on track-hosted weekly HPDE track events weather-allowing in the Winter as well. Weather-wise, there's actually quite a number of days that are possible to run in the winter.

Most of the NASA Rocky Mountains competitions are at High Plains Raceway and Pueblo Motorsport Park, but they do also go farther out to places like Utah Motorsport Campus (8 hour drive), and Hastings in Nebraska (6 hours away). NASA Rocky Mountain 2023 schedule

High Plains Raceway is quite a challenging track with hills, off-camber moments, hairpins, blind tops and big berms to attack. Plus, 5000ft elevation can challenge cars in terms of cooling.

Pueblo Motorsport Park is an older school track, but it's still fun to drive---tight and twisty. It has a few funky quirks. 1) They don't sell fuel on-site at Pueblo unless a fuel truck comes to an event, which I have never seen. 2) The final turn onto the front straight dumps you onto prepped rubber of the drag strip which is definitely not my favorite. (I've heard they may build an extension to avoid that.) 3) To exit the paddock requires you cross the race track surface. So, you can only leave or return between run sessions.....annoying.

Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) is also there. But I don't like running it because there's a dip on the oval that I don't think my race car with low front splitter would survive. There's a tunnel under the oval that brings you into the paddock, and unfortunately the tunnel causes problems on the oval's surface. Anyway, PPIR is a mini-Roval. I drove it with my street E92. Fun to do once or twice, but the main action is at High Plains.

I just learned recently that there is a brand new private race track Motorsports Club being developed just a couple miles away from Denver International Airport. It's called Ascent Drive Resort. Recently, I spoke to the guy who has spent the last 9 years of his life trying to get this massive project off the ground. It's going to be a luxury motorsport club. Memberships start at $65k and go up from there with the option to build garages, etc.

Ascent Drive Resort

Also worth noting----the interesting thing about being in Colorado is that you're sort of in the middle of the United States, so visiting tracks around the country is totally doable if you have a trailer. I can literally trailer to any track in the USA in 2 days. Utah Motorsport Campus is an 8 hour drive. I have yet to visit there, but it's high on my list. COTA is 900 miles from Denver, all the California tracks are around 1000 miles away. Road America is 1100 miles. Watkins Glen, VIR and Road Atlanta are around 1500-1700 miles. So, if you're interested in visiting various tracks around the country, Colorado is about a good as you can get as far as a centralized launching point.

Next year, Road America!

Thanks for the write up above dogbone. If thing moves towards a move in the next fees years, will def reach out.

Who’re the top shops for bmw maintenance and fabrication around Denver?

Figured I'd take a moment to let y'all know that I finally got word back about my cracked block. Several attempts were made to heat the block up and then weld the crack. Every time the block cooled, the welding would crack.

So......I called it. The block is done. Such a shame....a rebuilt engine that cracked on the first day on track.

I have another engine in my possession that I got from Racewerkz. This new-to-me engine was in a street car that was in a rear-end wreck. At some point in the next month, Honest Assembly will assess the engine to check its viability. And then we'll have to order a number of parts for this new engine. And then do another swap.

I suspect this will cause me to miss most if not all of this coming winter season in CA. Ah well. That's how it goes sometimes.

dogbone wrote

Figured I'd take a moment to let y'all know that I finally got word back about my cracked block. Several attempts were made to heat the block up and then weld the crack. Every time the block cooled, the welding would crack.

So......I called it. The block is done. Such a shame....a rebuilt engine that cracked on the first day on track.

I have another engine in my possession that I got from Racewerkz. This new-to-me engine was in a street car that was in a rear-end wreck. At some point in the next month, Honest Assembly will assess the engine to check its viability. And then we'll have to order a number of parts for this new engine. And then do another swap.

I suspect this will cause me to miss most if not all of this coming winter season in CA. Ah well. That's how it goes sometimes.

chin up, it'll work out with the new engine! Looking forward to seeing you out on track again!

what a pity the rebuilt engine cracked! you've taken the ///Motorsports journey further than most of us!

Sounds like it's time for a fully built engine.

Alright, let's file this one under----Pressing the Go button.

It's been almost a year now that my car has been down with a cracked engine block. Nothing we tried could remedy it, so it was time to search for another motor.

Today, I bought a motor that I hope will bring this episode to a close. Compression numbers are good, it can be cranked by hand, it came from a running car that was wrecked, the vendor will stand behind it if it blows up upon install. So, here we go. First, it needs to ship from CA to CO. Then we'll do the swap at Honest Assembly Garage here in CO. No idea on timeline for the install yet, but I hope it doesn't take too long.

So, here's to hoping that a certain Interlagos E90 M3 will back turning laps soon.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it would be really interesting to see how your car compares to owen's and alex's cars. three of the same cars, but built slightly different, but three heavy hitters nonetheless.

roastbeef wrote

it would be really interesting to see how your car compares to owen's and alex's cars. three of the same cars, but built slightly different, but three heavy hitters nonetheless.

hmmm...well, my build is old news, and my Buttonwillow lap time of 1:47.2 has been around since 2018, so it's really up to those guys to drop the hammer, put their best down out there and see what they come up with.

Okusa’s car should be faster than mine once it’s fully dialed in just due to being 235lbs lighter with the same power level, same brakes, same aero, a good 3-way suspension, DH slicks. He's only had 1 day on track with the new build where the mechanical stuff was working as it should, so there's still plenty of room for tweaks and growth. He'll be at Buttonwillow this weekend for Bimmer Challenge testing some new tweaks to the car. I'm eager to see how he does. Who knows, maybe he'll drop a crazy lap time this weekend!

redpriest’s car (no fuel no driver) I believe is about 80-ish lbs lighter than my car. But I have around 60 more whp (and he usually has a passenger on board). We have similar/same aero, same brakes (don't know about pads), DH slicks, same suspension. I think he's still developing the car, but I don't know his plans. Did I hear something about a flat bottom? Anyway, his fastest I believe is a 1:48.9, so there's still time to chase there. Curious to see where he ends up.

fwiw, I've chatted at length with both guys offering my thoughts on how to make their cars as fast as possible. I'm fine if someone on the E9x platform can beat my times. Will give me something to shoot for once I'm back up and running.

On my end, I will have gone over a year without being on track in my car. It's going to take some time for me to ramp back up to full pace. I drove okusa's car in December. I was feeling rusty out there.

Elbows out Gabe has subtally entered the chat…

lets go Gabe!!!

i remember when i was asked if i had any used blocks or know of anyone, and i spent hours finding some...

but im so glad you got this sorted!

Hell yeah, the thread is back

Owning an E92 M3 without Gabe’s updates is half the fun

Welcome back!

Glad you are back. Looking forward to meeting you in person at Buttonwillow or CVR one of these days. I have seen your car at the track but was not on this board at the time so didn't say hello. Hope the new engine works out and you can come lay a fast time down before it gets hot!

sbo76 wrote

Glad you are back. Looking forward to meeting you in person at Buttonwillow or CVR one of these days. I have seen your car at the track but was not on this board at the time so didn't say hello. Hope the new engine works out and you can come lay a fast time down before it gets hot!

Thanks! I always enjoy chatting with new people at the track. Definitely come on over the next you see my car out there. Unfortunately, the car might not be back in CA until October/November unless maybe I drag my sorry butt to Laguna Seca in the summer. We'll see. If I can get my act together, NASA TT Nationals is at Utah Motorsport Complex this September. That's only 8 hours from me. If I can get enough NASA days in (and get some practice in at UMC), it would be a fun new challenge to try NASA Nationals. I'm sure I would have oh so much fun against those pesky 2600lbs Corvettes.....

Honest Assembly has been verifying the new engine as much as possible before sticking it in the car. I hear it's passing all the tests. Next, there's a number of accessories that need to be moved over like throttle actuators, vanos covers, oil diverters, power steering pump, new rod bearings being installed, etc.

The last I heard last week, there's a chance the engine could be in by end of this week. Anyway, at least it's moving forward.

dogbone wrote

The last I heard last week, there's a chance the engine could be in by end of this week. Anyway, at least it's moving forward.

Bumping this thread up (and making sure my account on M3P doesn't go inactive) so we can get some updates!