A Good Chassis, and a Divisive Engine. The American M3.
Discussion
Right, we're getting achingly close now. Exhaust is all run and the entire oil system is primed. Wiring done. Gearbox linkage for the CAE setup done. Just waiting on a couple of sensors and gauges to arrive. You'll notice the CAE is mounted backwards compared to everyone else with a 46M. This is because of the Tremec box and it seems to integrate better this way! 
Decided to send my dampers off for a rebuild while everything was up in the air. If anyone is interested in taking these KW V3s, Turner top mounts and Tom Schirmer's Nurburgring setup off me in about 6 months do let me know via PM. Happy to take a deposit now to guarantee.
So literally all that is left OE is the dashboard and shell, and even that's been modified haha.
Looking a bit sorry for itself, but more like a car than it has in 3 months!!
Excitement levels; Critical.
Decided to send my dampers off for a rebuild while everything was up in the air. If anyone is interested in taking these KW V3s, Turner top mounts and Tom Schirmer's Nurburgring setup off me in about 6 months do let me know via PM. Happy to take a deposit now to guarantee.
So literally all that is left OE is the dashboard and shell, and even that's been modified haha.
Looking a bit sorry for itself, but more like a car than it has in 3 months!!
Excitement levels; Critical.
leglessAlex said:
Awesome
It sounds great on tickover, but not as filthy as I had imagined when revved? Is it quite a quiet exhaust or is the mic maybe just not picking it up properly? Either way, first startup is always a great moment!
It's pretty quiet as I need to be able to get on circuits. That's doing maybe a thousand revs. It should sound adequately angry at 7! Also just a phone I'll try and do some better videos when it's not stuck damperless on a ramp!It sounds great on tickover, but not as filthy as I had imagined when revved? Is it quite a quiet exhaust or is the mic maybe just not picking it up properly? Either way, first startup is always a great moment!
SebringMan said:
A great milestone to hit! The force is strong regarding trying not to go for those coilovers...
Hehe, they are very good! I just decided to go intrax with custom stuff now the balance of the car is so different. wst said:
hat'd be V1 TEN wouldn't it? That looked like a right PITA to get to work.
That's the one! I can't justify adding expense, complexity and weight for very little gain other than internet kudos. I also toyed with the idea of a 2JZ, but for me, the LS3 is the absolute best value/weight/performance motor on the market.I have tried to keep a bit of the BMW feel. It's a very revvy package for an LS and it is of course still NA. I thought about this for years, I didn't just one day wake up and order a crate engine on a whim haha.
I'd have bought a Viper ACR if I had the money. This will be that, on a "shoestring"...
MOT TODAY.
Main man Chris detailing it up for collection tomorrow !
I got to drive it last week too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNT2VSvTUok
Please excuse my language and general childish excitement
Main man Chris detailing it up for collection tomorrow
!I got to drive it last week too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNT2VSvTUok
Please excuse my language and general childish excitement
So it was good over the weekend while dry.
Popped down to Brill. Which was... erm... brill!
Mapping next week will hopefully eliminate a lot of the bucking and deadspot on the throttle. Fingers crossed!
Some guys in the petrol station asked if they could have a look round it and take some pics which was a nice feeling. They couldn't believe it had a Chevy engine haha.
Popped down to Brill. Which was... erm... brill!
Mapping next week will hopefully eliminate a lot of the bucking and deadspot on the throttle. Fingers crossed!
Some guys in the petrol station asked if they could have a look round it and take some pics which was a nice feeling. They couldn't believe it had a Chevy engine haha.
Right then time for a little update.
Last time I posted I was driving around bedding in the engine on a lumpy as hell base map. Also I was pretty overwhelmed by the car.
Since then I've had it mapped by the mega talented Emerald crew.
It made just shy of 500hp on 95RON. We decided to map it this way because I'm going to be taking it on trips and it's better to be tuned for this and able to run on 95 in Scotland/France than blow it up just for the sake of a slight performance edge. We think in reality now it's run in and being run on 99 it's getting on for 530ish HP. Which is probably enough to be honest. So much torque it's unbelievable. The only slight issue is some shunting at around 1500rpm. This is because I've used such a ridiculously aggressive cam. But that slight irritation is made better by the scream at about 7k.
Emerald also managed to implement some of my pretty tricky requests as well as TCS and SM. Even got the CSL shift lights for my gears! I absolutely cannot recommend the guys enough.
This also happens in my track map haha:
Short video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRqyT1ADSdc/?taken-by=...
Sport button switchable maps here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSoztq3jUmi/?taken-by=...
Dave Walker wrote a little bit about my car in last month's PPC mag too. Which was nice.
Another magazine all the way from sunny JAPAN spotted my little M3 in the corner of a mate's workshop while she was parked up waiting for me to collect and decided that they needed to feature her. A quick wash and polish and then all ready to make me an international sensation (of probably 10 people who like good wheels and ruined cars!) I'm absolutely buzzing the see the pictures. I think they're due in July! Quite an honour that they were struck by it when it's parked among GT3s and stanced out Lambos tbh!
So since this has all been done, I'm just getting to grips with it. Lots of pointless drives and fuel wasted made me realise I needed to pickup a daily. I seem to get around 10mpg if I'm not on a big run haha!
I decided to grab a R27 Clio with a view of it being a perfect, but fun, runaround. Unfortunately for me, the bottom end went just 2 hours into ownership! There seems to be a theme in this thread! So we pulled that engine out and grabbed another which went back in without too much hassle. I also realised it was worth doing the clutch at the same time. Imagine my surprise when the little Clio's clutch cost more than the huge LS7 setup I run in the M!
This dampened my love of cars for a couple of weeks but as the weather started improving, so did my mood. Couple of little blasts out and clean's with friends had me feeling like Dominic Toretto.
It was during one of these sunny, beered days we decided we should do a proper roadtrip, and just like that, hotels in the North of Scotland were booked for a NC500 trip. 3 M3s, a 911, a megane cup and a S2000. Next week we embark on this trip to see some of the absolute best scenery in the UK. Very excited!
The sun also inspired me to get my TE37s refurbished and sold. While doing this I realised it would be incredibly rude not to try on the BBS wheels!
Perfect! Probably even room for another 15mm of dish
Also had a run down to Stuttgart Classica's Porsche open day in the Cotswolds. Beautiful day out and got to catch up with some people I've really missed.
Essentially, I'm over the moon. NC500 next week and then a plethora of track days to follow! A friend with a certain Nurburgring famous Golf is also very interested to get out in it. Hopefully this leads to us building 2x very, very silly cars and getting round the ring faster than most!
Only gremlin I'm currently encountering is a fuse in my ignition system. Will hopefully have resolved pretty soon! Other than that, never skipped a beat. Lent it to a pal with the blue S54 circuit car above and he was absolutely blown away.
Suppose I should think about fitting this cage, some intrax and the aero once I've booked some track days!
Last time I posted I was driving around bedding in the engine on a lumpy as hell base map. Also I was pretty overwhelmed by the car.
Since then I've had it mapped by the mega talented Emerald crew.
It made just shy of 500hp on 95RON. We decided to map it this way because I'm going to be taking it on trips and it's better to be tuned for this and able to run on 95 in Scotland/France than blow it up just for the sake of a slight performance edge. We think in reality now it's run in and being run on 99 it's getting on for 530ish HP. Which is probably enough to be honest. So much torque it's unbelievable. The only slight issue is some shunting at around 1500rpm. This is because I've used such a ridiculously aggressive cam. But that slight irritation is made better by the scream at about 7k.
Emerald also managed to implement some of my pretty tricky requests as well as TCS and SM. Even got the CSL shift lights for my gears! I absolutely cannot recommend the guys enough.
This also happens in my track map haha:
Short video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRqyT1ADSdc/?taken-by=...
Sport button switchable maps here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSoztq3jUmi/?taken-by=...
Dave Walker wrote a little bit about my car in last month's PPC mag too. Which was nice.
Another magazine all the way from sunny JAPAN spotted my little M3 in the corner of a mate's workshop while she was parked up waiting for me to collect and decided that they needed to feature her. A quick wash and polish and then all ready to make me an international sensation (of probably 10 people who like good wheels and ruined cars!) I'm absolutely buzzing the see the pictures. I think they're due in July! Quite an honour that they were struck by it when it's parked among GT3s and stanced out Lambos tbh!
So since this has all been done, I'm just getting to grips with it. Lots of pointless drives and fuel wasted made me realise I needed to pickup a daily. I seem to get around 10mpg if I'm not on a big run haha!
I decided to grab a R27 Clio with a view of it being a perfect, but fun, runaround. Unfortunately for me, the bottom end went just 2 hours into ownership! There seems to be a theme in this thread! So we pulled that engine out and grabbed another which went back in without too much hassle. I also realised it was worth doing the clutch at the same time. Imagine my surprise when the little Clio's clutch cost more than the huge LS7 setup I run in the M!
This dampened my love of cars for a couple of weeks but as the weather started improving, so did my mood. Couple of little blasts out and clean's with friends had me feeling like Dominic Toretto.
It was during one of these sunny, beered days we decided we should do a proper roadtrip, and just like that, hotels in the North of Scotland were booked for a NC500 trip. 3 M3s, a 911, a megane cup and a S2000. Next week we embark on this trip to see some of the absolute best scenery in the UK. Very excited!
The sun also inspired me to get my TE37s refurbished and sold. While doing this I realised it would be incredibly rude not to try on the BBS wheels!
Perfect! Probably even room for another 15mm of dish
Also had a run down to Stuttgart Classica's Porsche open day in the Cotswolds. Beautiful day out and got to catch up with some people I've really missed.
Essentially, I'm over the moon. NC500 next week and then a plethora of track days to follow! A friend with a certain Nurburgring famous Golf is also very interested to get out in it. Hopefully this leads to us building 2x very, very silly cars and getting round the ring faster than most!
Only gremlin I'm currently encountering is a fuse in my ignition system. Will hopefully have resolved pretty soon! Other than that, never skipped a beat. Lent it to a pal with the blue S54 circuit car above and he was absolutely blown away.
Suppose I should think about fitting this cage, some intrax and the aero once I've booked some track days!
Rogue86 said:
Awesome bud and also good/bad timing. My ecu turned up today and Im not likely to have it mapped to meet you guys en route for the NC500 (reckon it'll be the week after). You still planning on making the detour?
We'll be in Haltwhistle near Carlisle Wednesday Pal and then setting off up to Scotland Thursday morning. Gutted man! I'd have loved one nice pic of my car haha! And to see your beautiful face of course 
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