M3 Journal- ring trip April 2011

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  • M3 Journal- ring trip April 2011

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:17 am

    Thought i would just rip the best bits of my journal out and pop them on here, some of the comments may seem a bit random as its only a portion of the original thread.

    Hope this is of some interest to you guys.

    Rather than just covering my current car I will briefly cover my previous BMW's too. Sadly I don't have pics of the early ones as I didn't have a digital camera. I appreciate that this looks like a bit of a picture less epic.

    1st BMW was when I was 18, it was a red four door 316i E30 with the m40 engine. At the time I thought it was the nuts. In reality it was sh*t, I owned it for about a year, during which time various things went wrong with it and were fixed until I found the bulkhead had a huge rust hole (the glove box rotted off) so it was quickly sold.

    Second up was a e30 320 on a D plate. I was immaculate and had been very well looked after. I owned it for two years and over that time fitted a full beige leather interior, 15” BBS allows the front splitter from an early 323 and a convertible two piece spoiler. It was however slow and thirsty so was sold after covering 200k and touring France without any major issues.

    Next up was a crashed (into a tree) 325i in dolphin Grey. I drove up to to London with a mate armed with a selection of parts and tools (mostly hammers) hammered the panels flat fitted a new rad/slam panel etc and drove it back home. Happy days. The car had 75k on it and was in generally decent condition. All however was not well with the engine, having tried to trace a ticking noise from the rocker cover for a few weeks it revealed its self at 6k+rpm there a rocker snapped breaking off the valve head and wedging into one of the pistons which was a bit of a F**K.
    At the time I had just (read the day before) scrapped another (D reg) 325 because the body was like swiss cheese. So I had to go back to the scrap yard and but my own engine back for £30 he embarrassment was tangible. Having fitted my new (200k LOL) engine all was well again and it was dropped by 60 mil, fitted with 16” Azev type A's and had a straight through exhaust, when I look back it was pretty antisocial but I enjoyed it.
    After about 2 years rust was setting it, the final straw was the battery falling out of the boot on the motorway. It was never going to pass another Mot so was sold to a friend for Ă‚ÂŁ50 for spares. At this point I believe the engine had covered about 300K.

    After a brief break from BMW's where I owned one of the last Saab 900 Talladega Turbo's (bit of a let down TBH) I bought a e36 e325 which ended up looking like this:

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    I owned it for about a year and it was superb, one of the best cars I have owned by a long shot. I did pop up once on here, sadly I have since heard nothing more.

    It was however still too slow, so having spotted an exceptionally roapy M3 3.0 on Ebay a deal was done and I had bought an M3 for Ă‚ÂŁ2.5k at a time when 3.0 were selling for 6/7k and evo's were 10k+

    fe*king happy days thought I! The car came complete with stick on wood trim, 19 inch Chinese flaky chrome alloys, hideous rear tints and a wide selection of rattles and leaks.

    A thing of beauty:
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    pretty pimp yea?

    What followed next was an abject lesson in why cheap m3's are a false economy, I spent over the course of one year hundreds of hours and many many pounds replacing everthing from drive shafts to door motors, finally it was in decent condition drove well (seemed nipper than most tbh) and I was happy with it:
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    Then one evening I went out to start it and was greeted by a loud knocking sound, initial faffing by me diagnosed the cyl5 was knocking badly but only under compression. Having started to take the engine apart I pussied out and delivered it to a garage to resolve the issue.

    From here things went form bad to worse and dissolved into a saga of epic proportions, Twelve months later (yes a fe*king year) I was at the end of my tether and amongst legal wranglings with the garage/s concerned decided to get shot of what had been my pride and joy.

    At this point Mark called me and told me to break it or I would regret it. I had considered it but personal issues had made me think F**K it. Either way a friend agreed to store it and I then broke it. Many parts of this car live on in other cars on this forum.

    From this
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    To this
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    At this point I need to thank Mark for taking the time to call me a convince me to break it as I made back three times what I had paid for the car, it was very sound advice indeed.

    At this point I had had enough of cheap cars, as you may have noticed I had previously gone out and bought the cheapest version of what was after so I bought the Z4 3.0i and moved to the Isle on Man for a new job

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    I had this for about 18 months, however I never really fell in love with it. Now don't get me wrong the 3.0i is a superb car, its considerably quicker than the 330i as its some 300kg's lighter and handles superbly, but it wasn't an ///M, the lack of LSD grated on me as did the sever lack of practicality. It was however a welcome break from constantly fixing something and over the time I had it I only had to replace the rear springs and wash it.

    This was sold about a month ago and replaced with this:

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    Currently some changes have been made (alloys, track tyres, bulbs etc) but an update will follow once I have some decent pics

    I will try to keep this up to date as I already have an extensive list of tasks planned including re shimming the engine and a complete suspension change. The brakes are also woeful.

    I have to say that I am back in the “love” with the new M, long may it continue.
    Last edited by steeldonkey on Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
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    steeldonkey
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:18 am

    Right a few very small jobs done and some new wheels and tyres.

    First off, turret re-enforcements, I am not aware of any turret failures on the E46 but as I had these knocking about doing nothing I thought I would pop them on.

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    Also if you have ever wondered where all the extra weight comes from in the e46, just peel back the N/S boot carpet :shock: its like a rack mount server.

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    Also the fried egg look of the front indicators was getting on my wick, so a quick Ebay later, some chrome ones were delivered, the difference in overall appearance was greater than I had expected.

    Before:
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    After:
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    Now onto something a bit more substantial, although the 19 inch alloys looked pretty good, there were some marks and milking was beginning to start on some of the wheels. The rear tyres were also down to about 2/2.5mm so grip levels were starting to fall off. In addition the ride was not as compliant as i would like leading it to be somewhat crashy over uneven roads.
    Having done some research the general consensus was that 19's do nothing for the handling or ride, probably because the standard tyres are a stretch fit and unsprung weight is greater.

    I didn’t want the standard 18's as they look dire, neither did I want some aftermarket reps that weighed a ton.

    Having poked about a bit some nice BBS RSII's were found in decent nick and a deal was done.

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    They are a significantly lower offset than standard as they are running with BBS 12mm hub centric spacers at present, on the front this is giving me significant tyre protrusion from the arch, once i have cambered the front in this will be fine, but as a temporary measure i will be removing the front spacers and replacing them with spigot rings to remove the protrusion.

    The wheels normally run with full bolt centre caps, but i prefer them without so have fitted 73.6mm genuine BBS caps to cover the hub nuts.

    Thy tyres are also an unusual item, 265 at the rear and 245 at the front, they are a road legal track tyre wish a 140 tread ware rating. Lateral grip levels are insane, so much so that it has exposed the short comings in the stock suspension, under very hard cornering the car will start to "hop" rather than giving way in terms of traction.

    50p to anyone who can guess the tyres :lol:
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:19 am

    Small update:

    Well this kind of all started with wanting to fit the Rogue gearbox mounts, although when doing my underbody inspection I had spotted that many of the exhaust bolts were in very poor condition, also the secondry midsection to backbox flanges looked pretty poor. Other than that the underbody is imaculate, so im not sure why these parts suffer so badly.

    Anyway, i can confirm that you have no chance of fitting the new gearbox mounts with the exhaust in place as it totaly obstructs access on many levels, as such the exhaust needed to go.

    Now with the bolts in such poor condition (see below) I had no option to drop the entire system from the downpipes all the way back.

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    All but the downpipe bolts had to be either cut off by hand or ground off with an angle grinder, before the system would drop :evil: one of the back box bolts had weilded itself to the flange, this had to be drilled out (I literally melted 3 drill bits getting the bolt out)

    Eventually the entire system was down, including all of the underbody sheilding and diff brace.
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    I was then finaly able to fit the new mounts! :lol:

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    At this pont I also completely broke the exhaust system down and cleaned every flange and replaced every nut, bolt and gasket in the system. \Many looked pretty shot tbh.

    Cleaned and filed flange (this was done to all connections).
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    Old gasket on left, replacement (amongst others) on the right.
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    I still need the re-fit the diffuser and backbox but most of the job is complete.

    On side note if anyine can tell me what this (below) for please let me know, i presume its some sort of vibration damper, it must way about 2kgs!

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    You can see it in situ obove the mounts in the upper pictures.

    Once its all up and running I will let you know if I can tell any difference.
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    steeldonkey
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:20 am

    After bing a bit of a ghay and polishing the crap out of my backbox:
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    All has been re-fitted.

    All in all I can say that I have noticed a definite improvement in positivity of shift since fitting the poly gear box mounts, so although it was a ball ache to bo it was worth the effort.

    A I have also replaced my duff offside wheel bearing, s no longer have to listen to the incessant drone that it provided me with. Should any one be interested I have completed a write up on the procedure that can be found here: Click Here

    From this point i have mostly been twatting about with some smaller stuff. Since fitting the new wheels I can conclusively say how much poke it too much :lol:
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    No chance of getting through the manx test with this much protrusion, slight issues however was that the BBS wheels have a ver different centre bore to the standard items, so i required some spigot rings before the spacers could be removed. Que lots of messing about and talking to dickheads who couldn't help. I then contacted PW motorsport, all i can say is that if there is something that this chap doesn't know about BBS wheels it's not worth knowing. So for a very reasonable price he supplied me with two proper BBS alloy spacers, next day delivery for a tenner, just can't say fairer than that!

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    This has given me a far more sensible amount of poke.
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    My work on brakes also continues, Various plans have come and gone, then some have come back again, namely these:
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    These are Alcon Mono-block 6 pots from a racing Jaguar XKR from 2007.
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    Plans are starting to come together but will keep updating as parts arrive.
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:21 am

    Been a little while since i have updated this :lol:

    Anyway, coilovers :D and some broken bits :evil:

    Coilovers first, I decided for a variety of reasons to got for HSD Monotube dampers, one of main reason was that i Met phil from driftworks some time back where i was able to have a look at the products up close ans speak to Phil about his plans and development of a system for the E46 m3, with his car being used as the test bed for the system, these allow the damper to retain full movement regardless of ride height, allow spring preload to remain constant, are a mono-tube damper rather than cheaper twin tube., and come with a full set of pillow ball mounts for both front and rear. If anyones interested they are also available for the e36.

    I forgot to take any pictures of the units because im a bit useless so nicked a stock picture.
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    Anyway, picked these up on Sat, so canned other plans and decided to F**K about getting them set up and fitted.

    I have covered the spec and set up a little, it may not be of much use to others though due to the way these coilovers work.

    Front Topmounts
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    These are camber only, but unlike most topmopmounts available for the M3 have correct amount of caster dialed into the mount, I really didn't want to loose and of the wheel centering so its a real positive for me.

    Upper pearch.

    This a needle bearing perch so the spring can rotate hopefully without any of the normall annoying pinging whn you steer.
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    Piston.
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    Seriously heavy duty item, which accoding my caliper is 44mm dimeter

    Seting these up is a bit more of a ballache as your adjusting to platforms father than one, Driftworks advise that you set the spring preload at pretty much zero, in otherwords just secure rather than loaded (spring rates are about 350 lb in front and about 310 rear)

    Essentially load spring onto pearch then fit the runnber insulator to the bottom
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    Then the lockrings
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    The key was to get these absolutely even in terms of the overall shock length, I managed to get them to match to 1/100th of a mil so I would say thats pretty bloody close :o

    I then set the front platforms to be in the exact center of their adjustment, instructions advise that you should test full high and full low, but thats a lot of winding and im lazy so took a punt :lol: :roll:

    The rears are different as the springs are inboard, a fact that deserted me when asking questions much my embarrassment :oops:

    The rear spring perches are a nice item, being that they are a properly bolted fitment, with the lage washer and bolt sandwiching the rear upper arm ensuring the mount doesn't move, all hardware was 10.8 grade, which is reassuring.

    Again set to the middle of their adjustment.
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    The rear shocks were adjusted to correlate with the perch position.

    FITTING

    Everything came apart without any significant issue, the relative ride hight was measured with the stock suspension, and noted to give me a real indication or raise or drop.

    Both rear springs were broken, i knew one was screwed, but hadn't clocked they were both shot :roll:

    Out with the old
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    In with the new
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    Fitting the rears took about 1.5 hours, partly due to the bolts to secure the pearched being tricky to get any real access to with the halfshafts and swaybar etc getting the way.

    Onto the front

    I adopted the mid setting on the camber plate, for a few reasons
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    Firstly i want to see how the car drives before i dial more in, secondly because:
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    The oem mounting allows for additional camber angle ( you could adjust the stock mounts for more camber by removing the locator lug :wink: ) as such i mounted the plate in inwards to ensure equal position and give a little more camber to start with.

    Out with the old
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    In with the new
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    Droplinks are a nicely uprated item included with the kit, rosejointed with dust boots, infact i would say they are more likt track rod ends than bar links
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    These were set to be more or less at rest with the suspension level, as pr the oem items.

    Front time was about 2 hours taking it easy and lubricating everything.

    Now onto the annoying/ surprising bits

    My fe*king upper bace had sheered!

    I have heard of it happening but wasn't expecting it on my car FFS!
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    Off to the dealers for a new inner mount then!! :evil:

    I also managed to break the plastic arn for the headlamp adjusted by not noticing it :oops: so droped the entire strut weight on to it, i will see if i can make up a replacement arm, as it looks like a simple part. Still if your going to replace suspension or hubs on an e46 with xenon's remember the lamp angle unit of the drivers side!

    It was now getting dark so no pics of the finished product, but i think my gamble has paid off, i am down 20mm front and rear, not a huge drop, but in after performance rather than pose and need to get over speed bumps, plus i would think it will settle a bit over time.

    So for me a solid thumbs up for these in terms of fitting, i will write more about them once they have been tested properly.
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:23 am

    OK well I used the bank holiday to haul ass a bit and get some of the jobs ticked off the list.

    First off, the old vanos filter makes a comeback :lol: yep these little F**K are on the s54 too, just better hidden.

    They clip onto the end of the pressure limiting valve (big bolt sticking out of the vanos with the star fangled nut on the end)

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    So, hook that F**K out and you have this:

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    you will need one of these to replace with it (part no on bag

    Pull it off and clip the new one on.

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    Have to say i didn't find a damn thing in the old one, so thats reassuring.


    Next up Valve clearances :| i don't much like doing these, they give me back ache.

    Start off like this

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    Hoof all the air cleaner and housing off

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    Make a start on the wiring looms, you will need to remove the primary o2 sensor loom, the cam sensor connections, and the coil pack harnesses and earthing straps and the engine live lead leaving you with this:

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    You will then need to remove the coil packs and the bolted in vapour return, this is a tricky F**K, as there are two 0 rings as per most banjo fittings, I used a small hook to catch the inner one. Then remove the plugs

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    You should have a pile of bits that looks a bit like this:

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    You can now remove the cover and have a look at the innards

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    You will probably now need all of the below kit, shim installer, 90 degree feeler gauge, micrometer (digital if poss) and if possible a complete shim kit (they are about Ă‚ÂŁ230 buy, or you can bend your dealers arm and borrow theirs, as I did) I did also have the crank rotation tool, but didn't bother using it.

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    Essentially you use the appropriate feeler to gauge the gap between the rocker finger and the opposite edge of the cam lobes. from looking at the lobes i could see than none had been dragging so at least knew they were not too tight.

    For reference the clearances on these engines are:
    Inlet 0.18 - 0.23
    Exhaust 0.28 - 0.33

    These MUST be measured with the engine cold, as an asside, i didn't bother using the crank tool as with the plugs out i would just spin the engine over with a wrench on the fan nut, which was easier as i didn't need to remove the fan clutch.

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    Visual inspection the engine showed no discernible wear, so although being serviced in line with BMW schedules has left some varnish (showing that the oil is being used to the end of its useful life) it has not lead to any wear. Needless to say i will be changing the oil more frequently to help to remove the vanish as im not amused by its presence :lol:

    As such the rocker cover did a few rounds in the parts washer (dishwasher on "Pan" setting :lol: )

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    I would recommend drawing a sketch of the head so you can record the measurements of the shims for future reference, annoyingly all mine were well withing spec, many at the tighter end of the spectrum, so it would seem that a certain amount of "tick" is just the way it is on these engines.

    once you have checked and adjusted as required, re-fitting is the revers of removal. tada! The key with pretty much the entire job is, don't blood drop anything, at any stage!

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    Next up was to replace my old smashinated strut brace bracket, old out, new in.

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    Being that the brace was looking a bit tatty, I had taken a bit of time and painted it up in high gloss black.

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    And finally, i saw no point in keeping the phone charging cradle, I never used it and it looked a bit shat in my eyes. In addition i was getting mighty p***ed off with trying to hold scalding hot coffee between my legs while it singed my nuts, so cup holders and a coin holder and a cubby were fitted in its place.

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    steeldonkey
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:23 am

    Right, well i have finished off the BBK, so will give it a shot at getting it all fitted over weekend, fingers crossed it all goes to plan.

    Here is the spec listing

    Alcon Advantage/Jaguar 6 pot
    AP 356x32 mm disc
    Ap Fixings
    Earls steel braided hoses 5 cm longer than standard, with a standard m10x1 fitting on one end and a 20 degree banjo on the other
    BG developments custom hat
    Aerospace high tensile alloy bracket
    12.9 grade fixings all drilled for wire locking
    Ferodo d2500 pads

    Hoses
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    Caliper
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    Disc
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    Hat
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    Drilled 12.9's (if your going to drill your own bolts, don't bother its a pain in the arse, but if you insist i found lithium grease works well to stop the crappy little drill bit overheating.
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    Bracket, really lovely bit of work this, huge too, scalloped ad relieved at the back and scalloped on the risers so the caliper actually fits into it.

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    Ive drilled the calipers too so i can secure the banjo bolts

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    all together now!

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    Really pleased with it so far, will be even happier if it clears the front wheels without spacers.

    On a side not if anyone is really serious about one of these kits, i could probably put one together, but its not going to be hyper cheap.
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:28 am

    Shattered after another weekend of painting walls :roll: and working on the car so forgive me if some of this ramble more than usual

    Will start off with some of the trivial bits..

    Bit of fannying about and i have fitted my old Storm knob and a nice little M stitched alcantara gaitor, its made a nice difference to the shift and shortened it a fair bit too.

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    Then this little bastard, its a genuine BMW part, looks small and rubbish, infact your probably wondering what the F**K it is, either way it took me housrs to fit as the sat nav unit really didn't want to vacate its slot.

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    It allows me to do this:

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    So i have MP3 in my car, by selecting aux and plugging whatever into the jack port :) happy days! its about 30 odd quid from the dealer after discount.

    Some of you have probably been wondering what the ride height was looking like so i snapped this on my brake testing trip (car is filthy and covered in volcano ash)

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    Now the eagle eyed among you will have spotted a sniff of yellow behind the front rim :wink:

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    There ya go :P you may also notice that i have already managed to blue the disc :twisted: :lol:

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    At the same time I fitted the PF Z rated rears, which were smoking most considerably after a mountain dash (smoke just viable wafting off the caliper) :roll:

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    So how well do they work?

    fe*king well, in fact horribly well, the pedal travel is a bit longer as your clearly moving more fluid, initially this gives you a bit of a "oh sh*t, ive got no brakes!" feeling then the pedal travels another cm and your head has bounced off the windscreen and your stopped :lol:

    To be fair their a bit nuts, but in a good way, weirdly they don't seem to trouble the ABS at all, which is a bit odd, now although stopping really is a property of the tyres you certainly feel like the car is stopping far far quicker, so im a bit lost, Alcon magic I guess. Also no fade, what so ever and great feel too (once you have a pedal :lol: )

    Quick update on the suspension, upped the damping to 5 clicks on the front (was going to do the rear but i just couldn't be arsed to remove the carpet :roll: ) much better, no crash over rough surfaces at all, and trust me the roads on the IOM are proper sh*t, still a little bit more body roll that you would want on the track (but i have lots of clicks left!) but great traction and a really confidence inspiring feel, although it feels a little skittish at about 120 ~ 130mph

    All in all a long weekend, but it feels like a productive and fruitful one too.

    On a final note, I fe*king hate brake pipes.
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    steeldonkey
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby steeldonkey » Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:29 am

    Well its back on my drive and although Banana colour, its not banana shape :wink:

    I won't do much justice to the trip by doing some pony write up, so all hopes rest with Liquid to articulate experience with some degree of alacrity, so will just stick to some of the car waffle.

    It was fe*king ace :lol: the suspension, tyres, brakes and clown spec geometry (approx 5 degrees neg :lol: ) really all worked together in harmony and produced (at least in my head) a very capable machine, certainly one that had abilities far outstripping mine.

    The car performed more or less faultlessly with the only issue being the springs either settling or the adjusters backing off a little and producing a rattle, easily cured with some c-spanners. it consumed zero oil over 2000 miles of which approx 100 were on track. The brakes and suspension inspired real confidence in the car where speed could be wiped out in seconds and without issue and control through the corners was exceptionally accessible.

    I have only managed to find one pic of the car on track ( i can only guess they dont like yellow :? ) additionally for whatever reason the car is riding really high i the shot so looks like a tractor :lol: but sod it, I enjoyed it and got the t-shirt, needless to say this isn't the end, it will be going back there :wink:

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    steeldonkey
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    Re: M3 Journal

    Postby VR6 » Mon Jun 07, 2010 12:54 pm

    Lovely looking car (I think! Still not entirely convinced on the colour!), great skills and an excellent write up :salute:
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