Just starting out with an E46 330ci budget track car build
Discussion
Oulton Park preparation has continued this morning and I think I can pretty much call the car ready for weekend now!! I also reckon I’ve dodged a couple of bullets by doing some preventative maintenance on the car before weekend.
A couple of things which I’ve wanted to get done as an absolute bare minimum have been the water pump, thermostat and aux belt (you’ve got to remove it to do the water pump anyway) so this morning I set about completing the tasks and found a few curious things!!
Started off with aux belt in place,
Only took about an hour to get both the water pump and the thermostat off,
First bullet dodged is the water pump, on removal of the water pump I found that it still had a plastic impeller water pump fitted and was a gen BMW part so I would imagine this has never been changed (first bullet dodged)
Old,
New (with metal impeller)
Now I didn’t get any pictures of the second dodged bullet but on removal of the thermostat it was clear that the stat had been stuck shut for quite some time, the outlet to the bottom radiator hose was bone dry and dusty so there’s clearly not been any coolant flow into there for a while, phew!!
New stat,
Third bullet dodge of the morning was a good one, I knew the aux belt needed changing as it had cracked but on removal saw this,
Yikes,
All done!!
My advice to anyone wanting to track one of these as a first priority and one of your first purchases I would definitely as a minimum do water pump, thermostat and aux belt as you just never know!! Three potential ruinous things caught there by doing some preventative maintenance!!
I had to knock up a couple more brackets for the harness eyelets as a solution to locating the lower lap belt on the harnesses!! Also while I had a few minutes I cleaned up the team dynamics and rebalanced them, although looking at the forecast this weekend semi slicks aren’t going to be required!!
A couple of things which I’ve wanted to get done as an absolute bare minimum have been the water pump, thermostat and aux belt (you’ve got to remove it to do the water pump anyway) so this morning I set about completing the tasks and found a few curious things!!
Started off with aux belt in place,
Only took about an hour to get both the water pump and the thermostat off,
First bullet dodged is the water pump, on removal of the water pump I found that it still had a plastic impeller water pump fitted and was a gen BMW part so I would imagine this has never been changed (first bullet dodged)
Old,
New (with metal impeller)
Now I didn’t get any pictures of the second dodged bullet but on removal of the thermostat it was clear that the stat had been stuck shut for quite some time, the outlet to the bottom radiator hose was bone dry and dusty so there’s clearly not been any coolant flow into there for a while, phew!!
New stat,
Third bullet dodge of the morning was a good one, I knew the aux belt needed changing as it had cracked but on removal saw this,
Yikes,
All done!!
My advice to anyone wanting to track one of these as a first priority and one of your first purchases I would definitely as a minimum do water pump, thermostat and aux belt as you just never know!! Three potential ruinous things caught there by doing some preventative maintenance!!
I had to knock up a couple more brackets for the harness eyelets as a solution to locating the lower lap belt on the harnesses!! Also while I had a few minutes I cleaned up the team dynamics and rebalanced them, although looking at the forecast this weekend semi slicks aren’t going to be required!!
gchristofi said:
Excellent, looks like you're ready to go. I think my car also had the original water pump, thermostat and aux belt before the recent work... testament to how well they can last but certainly not something to take to circuit and risk losing out on track time! Look forward to your updates on the first track outing... really keen to hear how you fare with the GAZ coilovers... may need some more info on those.
I’ll let you know how I get on with the GAZ pal!Only a little thing to note initially but I’ve reversed off my ramp in a lot of cars with a lot of coilover’s on and one thing I’ve noticed with the GAZ over anything else is that when I reverse off the pad there is literally no bounce at all, the struts just seem to soak everything up!!
I came in to work this morning to get the last few bits and pieces sorted out and fixed up on the car ready for tomorrow!! Was greeted to a flat tyre so I sorted that, also realized on the last minute that I had a sticking brake caliper so I’ve swapped out both front calipers on a last minute thing but that’s all now done too!!
Gave her a bath and we’re ready to go, roll on Oulton now!!
Really excited to get out there tomorrow and see what the cars like, a little apprehensive to as it’s a totally new car and setup but I’ll build into the day slowly and see how it goes!
Gave her a bath and we’re ready to go, roll on Oulton now!!
Really excited to get out there tomorrow and see what the cars like, a little apprehensive to as it’s a totally new car and setup but I’ll build into the day slowly and see how it goes!
Oulton Park update: 9/11/19
The day started off at 5:30 AM when my alarm went off, looked out of the window and it was dry so I’m already thinking result as the weather forecast showed that it was going to snow at one point. Met up with a friend in his supercharged mini and my brother in his 335D and after the compulsory maccies breakfast we arrived at Oulton at about 7:30.
It was cold, very very cold but crucially it was still dry. We set up the gazebo and got the cars sorted out and ready to go and had the safety briefing and we were all ready to go.
The car felt absolutely spot on on the sighting laps, very planted and stable even at the higher speeds of the sighting lap it was feeling good already.
Managed to get in a lot of laps throughout the day with no hiccups at all really, the car got a misfire coming up to druids in the middle of the day but cycled the ignition in the paddock and it restarted without the misfire (cyl 3) so deleted the faults and carried on.
Thoughts on the car are that it’s absolutely brilliant, I’m so happy with how it’s turned out and that all the hard work I’ve put in has paid off. It feels to turn in to corners really really nicely and overall just feels very very stable during cornering at high speed. I can’t decide whether I could feeling it pushing out slightly on cascades but this could just be a characteristic of the corner itself and not the car. I was no where to finding the limits of what the car can do as my ability isn’t anywhere near good enough yet! I know it can go a lot quicker but confidence/cojones need to increase for this!! (first track day in this car and only second time at Oulton) but it’s going to be a great car to learn in and develop myself in. More seat time is definitely the focus now for me.
Things that I want to improve on in the car are lose more weight, it’s heavy and I think it feels heavy, especially under braking, I was also getting a brake judder after about 6 laps so I think I might have a sticking caliper. I still have a lot more things to remove from the car to lighten it up so that’s ok. Another thing I want to improve on is noise, with my helmet on you can hardly even hear it, even the noise tester was taking the p*** asking me if it was running during the noise test. Overall though absolutely chuffed with it, had a great day, as a final not too it’s definitely worth investing money in the right places were track cars are concerned, my GAZ monks were a stretch for me to afford but on track they’re something else, minimal body roll and the car handles unbelievably well (I’ve not even had a chance to take it out on semi slicks because the weather was so bad so it can only get better)
Also I think I counted 4 or 5 330’s on this track day so their popularity as a track car I would say seems to be increasing.
The day started off at 5:30 AM when my alarm went off, looked out of the window and it was dry so I’m already thinking result as the weather forecast showed that it was going to snow at one point. Met up with a friend in his supercharged mini and my brother in his 335D and after the compulsory maccies breakfast we arrived at Oulton at about 7:30.
It was cold, very very cold but crucially it was still dry. We set up the gazebo and got the cars sorted out and ready to go and had the safety briefing and we were all ready to go.
The car felt absolutely spot on on the sighting laps, very planted and stable even at the higher speeds of the sighting lap it was feeling good already.
Managed to get in a lot of laps throughout the day with no hiccups at all really, the car got a misfire coming up to druids in the middle of the day but cycled the ignition in the paddock and it restarted without the misfire (cyl 3) so deleted the faults and carried on.
Thoughts on the car are that it’s absolutely brilliant, I’m so happy with how it’s turned out and that all the hard work I’ve put in has paid off. It feels to turn in to corners really really nicely and overall just feels very very stable during cornering at high speed. I can’t decide whether I could feeling it pushing out slightly on cascades but this could just be a characteristic of the corner itself and not the car. I was no where to finding the limits of what the car can do as my ability isn’t anywhere near good enough yet! I know it can go a lot quicker but confidence/cojones need to increase for this!! (first track day in this car and only second time at Oulton) but it’s going to be a great car to learn in and develop myself in. More seat time is definitely the focus now for me.
Things that I want to improve on in the car are lose more weight, it’s heavy and I think it feels heavy, especially under braking, I was also getting a brake judder after about 6 laps so I think I might have a sticking caliper. I still have a lot more things to remove from the car to lighten it up so that’s ok. Another thing I want to improve on is noise, with my helmet on you can hardly even hear it, even the noise tester was taking the p*** asking me if it was running during the noise test. Overall though absolutely chuffed with it, had a great day, as a final not too it’s definitely worth investing money in the right places were track cars are concerned, my GAZ monks were a stretch for me to afford but on track they’re something else, minimal body roll and the car handles unbelievably well (I’ve not even had a chance to take it out on semi slicks because the weather was so bad so it can only get better)
Also I think I counted 4 or 5 330’s on this track day so their popularity as a track car I would say seems to be increasing.
duds100 said:
Cool build. With the MV1's, what rim width & tyre aspect ratio are you running front/rear. Are those pics above with the 12mm spacers installed?
Sorry I’ve only just replied to this mate!The spec is as follows:
Front 8J MV1 Michelin Pilot Super Sport 225/40/18 12MM Spacer
Rear 8.5J MV1 Michelin Pilot Super Sport
245/35/18 12MM Spacer
The car sits really nice with these specs, I think the correct tyre size for the rear is 255/35/18 but I’ve not noticed any difference running the slightly thinner tyre.
helix402 said:
You can fit an E46 Conv 20mm rear arb if you want a cheap rear upgrade. M3 Conv 27mm one fits the front. It has a slightly different angle for fixing the arb links but still fits and works.
Thanks Helix!Am I also right in assuming that an e46 M3 front anti roll bar will fit a non M car?
gchristofi said:
Sounds like a great first outing for this car... did you ever figure out the misfire? Strange that it reset itself on restarting, Did you ever pull a code?
I found the change to anti roll bars had a massive effect on tuning under steer out of the chassis, more so than adding coil overs. Mine are adjustable and with 27mm front and 21mm rears. I found the best setting to be softest at front and hardest at rear. Shedding weight also helped alot. Latest tally is 110kg stripped out, and expecting another 10-15kg saving when pulling the seats for Corbeau club sports.
Exhaust note has been transformed with a stainless system. To date, my car has always been a point of amusement at noise testing.... think the most I ever managed was a heady 83 db!!!
Hopefully the new system, which is a little loud for long road trips, will still pass testing at my local circuits.... Was a bargain and also helped shed best part of 20kg by removing the v heavy oem system; let me know if you want more details.
When is your next outing?
I never did figure out the misfire! My guess would be that it’s an ignition coil that’s overheated and been switched off by the DME as this can really be the only explanation for the fault going when I cycled the ignition. I had a basic scanner with me so I scanned the car and misfire cyl 3 was stored but to be honest I didn’t look into it any deeper than that! I need to change all the spark plugs as a matter of course anyway as I don’t think they’ve ever been changed and I’m going to carry an ignition coil in my track day spares box.I found the change to anti roll bars had a massive effect on tuning under steer out of the chassis, more so than adding coil overs. Mine are adjustable and with 27mm front and 21mm rears. I found the best setting to be softest at front and hardest at rear. Shedding weight also helped alot. Latest tally is 110kg stripped out, and expecting another 10-15kg saving when pulling the seats for Corbeau club sports.
Exhaust note has been transformed with a stainless system. To date, my car has always been a point of amusement at noise testing.... think the most I ever managed was a heady 83 db!!!
Hopefully the new system, which is a little loud for long road trips, will still pass testing at my local circuits.... Was a bargain and also helped shed best part of 20kg by removing the v heavy oem system; let me know if you want more details.When is your next outing?
You’ll be really happy with the weight of the club sports, my seats were electric memory and must have been nearly 30kg each at least and the club sports weigh literally nothing!
Som more info about the exhaust you’ve gone for would be good please? I’m a bit gutted because I wanted to run a 330 challenge exhaust so I spoke to Tegiwa and directly to Klarius themselves and unfortunately the systems are no longer in production so unless I can find a used one I’m going to have to look at other alternatives!!
Next outing now is going to be Cadwell in March I think, I’ve got plenty to do before then already, I’ve found some play in an upper rear ball joint, the car has developed a loud knock from the NSR and on investigation it’s the solid top mount bearing that has about 1mm play in it. I’ve spoke to GAZ and they were extremely helpful and are sending me a new bearing out to press into the housing. Then that leaves exhaust, induction, anti roll bar and rebuild front brake calipers!! Busy busy!!
I haven’t updated this for a while as she’s been tucked away in the garage out of this awful weather that we seem to be having at the minute!
Onwards though and I’ve got Cadwell booked with a few friends for the 14th March so I’ve got a few little jobs done and still have some more to do to have the car track ready.
First little job was to remove the cd changer etc and save a bit more weight, my exhaust has also arrived which I’m hoping to get fitted in time before Cadwell.
Second job I’ve got on with is when the brakes are warm I keep getting a sticking caliper and brake wobble after a few heavy laps so I’ve rebuilt the brake calipers with new seals etc to hopefully remedy this,
So that little lot should keep me busy plus I’ve got some more weight saving to do, a rear ball joint to change and a solid top mount bearing to replace!!
Onwards though and I’ve got Cadwell booked with a few friends for the 14th March so I’ve got a few little jobs done and still have some more to do to have the car track ready.
First little job was to remove the cd changer etc and save a bit more weight, my exhaust has also arrived which I’m hoping to get fitted in time before Cadwell.
Second job I’ve got on with is when the brakes are warm I keep getting a sticking caliper and brake wobble after a few heavy laps so I’ve rebuilt the brake calipers with new seals etc to hopefully remedy this,
So that little lot should keep me busy plus I’ve got some more weight saving to do, a rear ball joint to change and a solid top mount bearing to replace!!
Ok so I got a few little bits and pieces done today, not as much as I would have hoped but enough to have the car ready to go for Cadwell next weekend.
Fitted the stripped and rebuilt calipers,
I replaced the worn top mount bearing from Gaz, didn’t get any images of this though and then lastly made a homemade puller out of some threaded bar and some old and new sockets,
It doesn’t look pretty but it got the job done no problem, new ball joint waiting to go in!!
And that pretty much brings the thread up to date, gutted I didn’t get chance to fit this but that’s do for another day now!!
Cadwell updates to follow! Here’s hoping for good weather!!
Fitted the stripped and rebuilt calipers,
I replaced the worn top mount bearing from Gaz, didn’t get any images of this though and then lastly made a homemade puller out of some threaded bar and some old and new sockets,
It doesn’t look pretty but it got the job done no problem, new ball joint waiting to go in!!
And that pretty much brings the thread up to date, gutted I didn’t get chance to fit this but that’s do for another day now!!
Cadwell updates to follow! Here’s hoping for good weather!!
Cadwell Park 14/3/19:
I was looking forward to this one but with a little bit of apprehension at the same time, I’ve never been to Cadwell before and this is only my second track day in what is quite a new car to me. The only experience I had of Cadwell was watching videos of other people’s laps to try and get an idea of gears and speeds.
I finished work at half 3 on Friday afternoon and set straight off upto the Royal Oak in Louth to stay over the night before the track day, had a decent early night and was up and arrived at the circuit for 7:30AM.
The first time I saw the circuit initial impressions were that gradients were a lot greater when you see them in person than the perception you get on videos and also the track was very narrow.
The weather wasn’t great in the morning so got out and did the sighting laps on the Michelin PSS and then it was time to get out on my own. I have it half an hour after the start of the day just to let people go out and go a bit wild and get it out of there system and then I headed out.
The things that I noticed from the day were that Hall Bends and Hairpin is really difficult to get right as a sequence of corners, I was finding that at Hall Bends after the first corner I was having to brake as I was carrying too much speed in. At Hall Bends I was struggling to get the car slowed down and get turned in (after instruction though this could have been because I was going from 3rd to 2nd and the instructor told me to keep in 3rd) so on reflection I was probably doing too much at once.
Another thing that I improved on through the day was my progress through Coppice and Charlies. Initial thoughts about Coppice were that it was very intimidating and I was approaching it in 4th gear, braking and then taking the corner, braking again at the top of the hill going into Charlie’s and gearing down. By the end of the day I had the technique of letting off in 4th just before Coppice, no brake applied and then powering through and up the hill (this took serious amounts of courage), changing down a gear before Charlie’s (again next braking) and powering through to the braking come for the second part of Charlie’s. Doing this must have taken a load of time off my laps and also felt better as a ‘set of corners’ rather than individual ones!
Park, Chris curve and Gooseneck were all really enjoyable and a short shift into 4th over the top seemed to help the car keep really stable through these sections. A small dab of brake in gooseneck also really seemed to help me take Gooseneck at some decent speeds.
All in all a great day really, enjoyed the circuit and the scenery and can’t wait to go back again.
Some photos of the day,
The car itself performed faultlessly again! Main things to note are, weight, I think this is going to be a common theme with this car but now that I’m getting to know it, it just feels very heavy. Getting it slowed down after hall bends and at Mansfield you can really feel the weight pushing the car forward. I still have a fair bit of weight to come out of it so it’s something I can keep working on. Other than that it was great.
Thanks for reading!
I was looking forward to this one but with a little bit of apprehension at the same time, I’ve never been to Cadwell before and this is only my second track day in what is quite a new car to me. The only experience I had of Cadwell was watching videos of other people’s laps to try and get an idea of gears and speeds.
I finished work at half 3 on Friday afternoon and set straight off upto the Royal Oak in Louth to stay over the night before the track day, had a decent early night and was up and arrived at the circuit for 7:30AM.
The first time I saw the circuit initial impressions were that gradients were a lot greater when you see them in person than the perception you get on videos and also the track was very narrow.
The weather wasn’t great in the morning so got out and did the sighting laps on the Michelin PSS and then it was time to get out on my own. I have it half an hour after the start of the day just to let people go out and go a bit wild and get it out of there system and then I headed out.
The things that I noticed from the day were that Hall Bends and Hairpin is really difficult to get right as a sequence of corners, I was finding that at Hall Bends after the first corner I was having to brake as I was carrying too much speed in. At Hall Bends I was struggling to get the car slowed down and get turned in (after instruction though this could have been because I was going from 3rd to 2nd and the instructor told me to keep in 3rd) so on reflection I was probably doing too much at once.
Another thing that I improved on through the day was my progress through Coppice and Charlies. Initial thoughts about Coppice were that it was very intimidating and I was approaching it in 4th gear, braking and then taking the corner, braking again at the top of the hill going into Charlie’s and gearing down. By the end of the day I had the technique of letting off in 4th just before Coppice, no brake applied and then powering through and up the hill (this took serious amounts of courage), changing down a gear before Charlie’s (again next braking) and powering through to the braking come for the second part of Charlie’s. Doing this must have taken a load of time off my laps and also felt better as a ‘set of corners’ rather than individual ones!
Park, Chris curve and Gooseneck were all really enjoyable and a short shift into 4th over the top seemed to help the car keep really stable through these sections. A small dab of brake in gooseneck also really seemed to help me take Gooseneck at some decent speeds.
All in all a great day really, enjoyed the circuit and the scenery and can’t wait to go back again.
Some photos of the day,
The car itself performed faultlessly again! Main things to note are, weight, I think this is going to be a common theme with this car but now that I’m getting to know it, it just feels very heavy. Getting it slowed down after hall bends and at Mansfield you can really feel the weight pushing the car forward. I still have a fair bit of weight to come out of it so it’s something I can keep working on. Other than that it was great.
Thanks for reading!
Firstly I hope everyone’s as well as can be and looking after themselves and their families in these strange times!
I’ve not updated this for ages with all the current goings on but I’ve been fortunate enough to be called back into work now so I’ve made the most of the workshop time and managed to get a few little jobs sorted out on the car.
The first thing I wanted to sort was the sagging door seal that I’ve got on the drivers side. I enquired parts about replacing for new but I the cost was ludicrous so I settle with some gorilla glue from Tesco and has a go.
Somebody had already tried to fix the seal up with some double sided adhesive tape so I removed as much as this as I could and left the car like this for over the weekend to hopefully come into a none sagging door seal Monday!
Another job on the list was I’ve noticed that the oil filter housing cap has sprung a bit of a leak...
I’m ashamed to say but when I serviced the car I didn’t change the seal for the oil filter housing cap, I changed it today with the one that I had from the service kit but it’s still leaking! The seal that cage off was flat but the one that went on was circular so I may have to go OEM to sort this out!!
I tidied up a couple of little OCD bits today too which made me feel better. The fries egg look of the side repeaters has always bugged me, so has the flaking bonnet badge!
I had a little clean up under the badge while it was off just for piece of mind!
The badge is only a cheap eBay jobbie as the oem badges were dear, it might not last so we’ll see!
Indicators before, milky lenses and orange bulbs,
Only little jobs I know but they’ve improved the look of the car a fair bit and just tidy things up nicely!!
Last job of the day was one I’ve been looking forward to for a while now,
The fitting of the exhaust took around 3 hours, it’s still not finished fully yet either as it needs some adjustment but work got in the way and so I had to call it a day. The old exhaust came off relatively easy, only one stud in the flange snapped so I just cut a groove with a grinder and tapped the snap stud out and replaced it with nut and bolt.
Very very very heavy exhaust came off!!
And fitted,
The actual fit itself is ok, I need to adjust it and tweak it here and there when I have time but it’ll do for now. It sounds perfect though, not too loud and just a bit of a deeper not than standard but has a nice sound to it as it gets going!
Keep safe everyone and thanks for reading!
I’ve not updated this for ages with all the current goings on but I’ve been fortunate enough to be called back into work now so I’ve made the most of the workshop time and managed to get a few little jobs sorted out on the car.
The first thing I wanted to sort was the sagging door seal that I’ve got on the drivers side. I enquired parts about replacing for new but I the cost was ludicrous so I settle with some gorilla glue from Tesco and has a go.
Somebody had already tried to fix the seal up with some double sided adhesive tape so I removed as much as this as I could and left the car like this for over the weekend to hopefully come into a none sagging door seal Monday!
Another job on the list was I’ve noticed that the oil filter housing cap has sprung a bit of a leak...
I’m ashamed to say but when I serviced the car I didn’t change the seal for the oil filter housing cap, I changed it today with the one that I had from the service kit but it’s still leaking! The seal that cage off was flat but the one that went on was circular so I may have to go OEM to sort this out!!
I tidied up a couple of little OCD bits today too which made me feel better. The fries egg look of the side repeaters has always bugged me, so has the flaking bonnet badge!
I had a little clean up under the badge while it was off just for piece of mind!
The badge is only a cheap eBay jobbie as the oem badges were dear, it might not last so we’ll see!
Indicators before, milky lenses and orange bulbs,
Only little jobs I know but they’ve improved the look of the car a fair bit and just tidy things up nicely!!
Last job of the day was one I’ve been looking forward to for a while now,
The fitting of the exhaust took around 3 hours, it’s still not finished fully yet either as it needs some adjustment but work got in the way and so I had to call it a day. The old exhaust came off relatively easy, only one stud in the flange snapped so I just cut a groove with a grinder and tapped the snap stud out and replaced it with nut and bolt.
Very very very heavy exhaust came off!!
And fitted,
The actual fit itself is ok, I need to adjust it and tweak it here and there when I have time but it’ll do for now. It sounds perfect though, not too loud and just a bit of a deeper not than standard but has a nice sound to it as it gets going!
Keep safe everyone and thanks for reading!
I hope everyone’s keeping safe out there and looking after themselves.
I’ve managed to get a few bits done on the car over the last few weeks and I’m pleased to say it’s getting there now with were I want it to be, especially in the looks department, one of the latest mods I have done to it could be a bit marmite but I’ve always like them and how they look so I went for it.
The first little job I got done is something that I’ve wanted to sort for ages and that’s the mat situation in the car. Just before I bought this car I sold another e46 and the mats were absolutely mint and I forgot to take them out and swap them. I enquired at work and oem mats are no longer available today so I perused a certain internet auction site and cane across a Bavarian company selling oem quality mats with all the correct fixings and M colour stitching. A few messages backwards and forwards later and I had a set.
The fit of the mats is brilliant and the quality is definitely oem! They even supplied me with a new fixing kit for no extra charge which was nice.
The old mats had somehow work through to the carpet and stuck to it!
Much better and they really finish off the interior quite nicely. I know it’s a track car but I drove it to and from circuits and so I still want it to be a nice place to be and these really help, absolutely chuffed!!
I’ve managed to get a few bits done on the car over the last few weeks and I’m pleased to say it’s getting there now with were I want it to be, especially in the looks department, one of the latest mods I have done to it could be a bit marmite but I’ve always like them and how they look so I went for it.
The first little job I got done is something that I’ve wanted to sort for ages and that’s the mat situation in the car. Just before I bought this car I sold another e46 and the mats were absolutely mint and I forgot to take them out and swap them. I enquired at work and oem mats are no longer available today so I perused a certain internet auction site and cane across a Bavarian company selling oem quality mats with all the correct fixings and M colour stitching. A few messages backwards and forwards later and I had a set.
The fit of the mats is brilliant and the quality is definitely oem! They even supplied me with a new fixing kit for no extra charge which was nice.
The old mats had somehow work through to the carpet and stuck to it!
Much better and they really finish off the interior quite nicely. I know it’s a track car but I drove it to and from circuits and so I still want it to be a nice place to be and these really help, absolutely chuffed!!
Another thing that I’ve got done is to fit a front set of clubsport splitters. I’ve always liked the way clubsports look and the car seems to be going down a bit of a ‘clubsport’ route so I thought these fitted in really well.
I didn’t take any pictures of the fitting process for these as it was really simple. I just pushed the up into position as tight as possible and used three self tapping screws per side and they’re plenty secure.
Now onto the marmite mod, I personally love these and it’s my car so I just went for it.
It’s a genuine clubsport spoiler. It came Estoril blue and so I asked the smart repairer at work to paint it for me and he’s done a brilliant job! The fitting process was quite simple too, I just took my time and was extremely careful with everything and I think it looks great.
First job was to remove the tool kit!
Removed the boot carpet also and good old BMW even though clubsports were a limited run, every coupe bootlid has the fittings for a clubby spoiler making drilling and marking extremely easy!!
It was then a case of removing the old lip spoiler, giving the boot lid a good tar and glue, masking the boot lid up and drilling the holes. The spoiler cane with some 19mm spacers which are fitted into the above holes. You have to be careful not to fit them too tightly though as they push the skin out on the boot lid.
Pre lip spoiler removal,
Fitted.
It really finishes off the look that I’m after for the car and I’m well pleased with it!
Another little job was cleaning the steering wheel, I bought it used and it was always a bit filthy, I read on the interwebs that fabric conditioner and hot water bring it up a treat so I had a go and it came up really well.
I also took the semi slicks off after Cadwell, stripped the wheel weights off, rebalanced the wheels with some black weights and gave them a tar and glue and a wax.
I didn’t take any pictures of the fitting process for these as it was really simple. I just pushed the up into position as tight as possible and used three self tapping screws per side and they’re plenty secure.
Now onto the marmite mod, I personally love these and it’s my car so I just went for it.
It’s a genuine clubsport spoiler. It came Estoril blue and so I asked the smart repairer at work to paint it for me and he’s done a brilliant job! The fitting process was quite simple too, I just took my time and was extremely careful with everything and I think it looks great.
First job was to remove the tool kit!
Removed the boot carpet also and good old BMW even though clubsports were a limited run, every coupe bootlid has the fittings for a clubby spoiler making drilling and marking extremely easy!!
It was then a case of removing the old lip spoiler, giving the boot lid a good tar and glue, masking the boot lid up and drilling the holes. The spoiler cane with some 19mm spacers which are fitted into the above holes. You have to be careful not to fit them too tightly though as they push the skin out on the boot lid.
Pre lip spoiler removal,
Fitted.
It really finishes off the look that I’m after for the car and I’m well pleased with it!
Another little job was cleaning the steering wheel, I bought it used and it was always a bit filthy, I read on the interwebs that fabric conditioner and hot water bring it up a treat so I had a go and it came up really well.
I also took the semi slicks off after Cadwell, stripped the wheel weights off, rebalanced the wheels with some black weights and gave them a tar and glue and a wax.
Lastly I took some pictures of the car with the latest round of modifications done, I’m hoping to do an evening at Donnington this month and hopefully Croft in September so I’ve fitted the team dynamics and the NS2R’s ready.
The car still needs a good clay, wash and wax but I’ll save that for when I have some time to spend on it.
A few pictures of it all together,
I’m really happy with how the car looks now. Future jobs I’ve got planned are I’ve bought a non armrest centre console with cup holder and oddments tray to keep tidying up the inside. I’ve also bought an aux kit and a post 04 business cd headunit to fit the aux too so they’re future jobs.
I really really want some 18” pro race 1.2 for it but they never seem to come up for sale so I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a set of those and other than that that’s it for now.
Thanks for having a look and keep safe everybody.
The car still needs a good clay, wash and wax but I’ll save that for when I have some time to spend on it.
A few pictures of it all together,
I’m really happy with how the car looks now. Future jobs I’ve got planned are I’ve bought a non armrest centre console with cup holder and oddments tray to keep tidying up the inside. I’ve also bought an aux kit and a post 04 business cd headunit to fit the aux too so they’re future jobs.
I really really want some 18” pro race 1.2 for it but they never seem to come up for sale so I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a set of those and other than that that’s it for now.
Thanks for having a look and keep safe everybody.
Thanks Helix, that’s sums it up well and is exactly my thoughts about the parts I’ve put on it.
Thanks for the kind words rere123! Even though I’ve gone outside the budget scope with the suspension I still don’t think I’ve gone as high end/expensive as is out there if that makes sense. I basically looked at the lap times the 330 challenge cars were putting in on the same suspension and thought that it has to be a good setup. Also anything that you read about a track car says that you should not scrimp on the suspension as you’ll only end up buying twice.
Thanks for the kind words rere123! Even though I’ve gone outside the budget scope with the suspension I still don’t think I’ve gone as high end/expensive as is out there if that makes sense. I basically looked at the lap times the 330 challenge cars were putting in on the same suspension and thought that it has to be a good setup. Also anything that you read about a track car says that you should not scrimp on the suspension as you’ll only end up buying twice.
This is only really a small update but it’s a job that I’ve been wanting to get done for a while to make journeys to and from track days a little more bearable.
I ordered an aux adapter from a lad called Rory who has fruity car cables, really helpful guy and helped me out an awful lot.
My car has a pre 02 headunit with a cd changer in the boot so I spoke with Rory and ordered an aux cable to work with the cd changer. Only issue with this is I don’t have a cd changer anymore as I’ve stripped the back of the car out and didn’t want to refit the changer and all the rubbish that goes with it. Doh!
So I got onto Rory and he told me to get an 04 headunit and he supplied me a cable (free of charge) to adapt the already supplied cable to my new headunit (complicated I know but it was all my fault). I managed to get an 04 headunit off eBay for £25 and had all the necessary cables now to do the job!
I’d already removed the trims at this point. They came off without breaking any of the clips too.
This is a great set and doesn’t scratch any of the trims when you’re removing them as they’re made of plastic with loads of different sizes and styles.
I left the headunit halfway out just so that I could test the aux mode and everything worked as it should. Aux mode was now enabled.
I removed the cubby so that I could route the cable down the back of the headunit and into the cubby itself. I am going to route the aux port further but I need to decide where to put it as I use my phone for nav etc and don’t want wires trailing across the gearknob.
So for now I’ve just tucked it into the cubby and will just run the wire out of here as a temporary measure.
All buttoned back up nicely. Driving to and from track days will be a little more bearable now I hope.
Croft on the 22nd September so will update after that.
Thanks for reading.
I ordered an aux adapter from a lad called Rory who has fruity car cables, really helpful guy and helped me out an awful lot.
My car has a pre 02 headunit with a cd changer in the boot so I spoke with Rory and ordered an aux cable to work with the cd changer. Only issue with this is I don’t have a cd changer anymore as I’ve stripped the back of the car out and didn’t want to refit the changer and all the rubbish that goes with it. Doh!
So I got onto Rory and he told me to get an 04 headunit and he supplied me a cable (free of charge) to adapt the already supplied cable to my new headunit (complicated I know but it was all my fault). I managed to get an 04 headunit off eBay for £25 and had all the necessary cables now to do the job!
I’d already removed the trims at this point. They came off without breaking any of the clips too.
This is a great set and doesn’t scratch any of the trims when you’re removing them as they’re made of plastic with loads of different sizes and styles.
I left the headunit halfway out just so that I could test the aux mode and everything worked as it should. Aux mode was now enabled.
I removed the cubby so that I could route the cable down the back of the headunit and into the cubby itself. I am going to route the aux port further but I need to decide where to put it as I use my phone for nav etc and don’t want wires trailing across the gearknob.
So for now I’ve just tucked it into the cubby and will just run the wire out of here as a temporary measure.
All buttoned back up nicely. Driving to and from track days will be a little more bearable now I hope.
Croft on the 22nd September so will update after that.
Thanks for reading.
Croft 22/09/2020:
Only a small update this one. Croft was a circuit that I hadn’t done before and so I was excited to get out there, experience something new and see how I got on.
Me and a friend travelled up in our cars on the Monday afternoon as we’d booked into a hotel the night before that had a pool and jacuzzi so we got up there, made the most of the facilities and got an early-ish night ready for the day the next day.
Up bright and early and the weather was perfect, the track was completely dry and I must say that track obsession did a good job of sticking to Covid rules etc.
Got out for the sighting laps and all was well. Car was running perfectly and felt good, the suspension definitely needed setting stiffer (if softened it for the journey up) and the tyre pressures needed sorting as they’d already rose to 40psi on sighting laps.
Sorted those few things and got out for my first few laps on track and this is where the problem started. Went for a gear change from 3rd to 4th, missed 4th and grabbed second and without realising dropped the clutch. Cue massive over rev and very quick slowing down of vehicle without the brakes being applied. Oops I thought, put the car into the intended 4th gear and went to accelerate and the revs were rising and the car wasn’t accelerating, I’d cooked the pressure plate and that was the end of my day.
I thought it may have cooled down enough to get some more laps in but as I drive the car to and from I didn’t want to risk rendering the car unuseable so I headed off home at dinner with my tail between my legs, oh well.
Couple of pics from my 6 laps of track time.
Only a small update this one. Croft was a circuit that I hadn’t done before and so I was excited to get out there, experience something new and see how I got on.
Me and a friend travelled up in our cars on the Monday afternoon as we’d booked into a hotel the night before that had a pool and jacuzzi so we got up there, made the most of the facilities and got an early-ish night ready for the day the next day.
Up bright and early and the weather was perfect, the track was completely dry and I must say that track obsession did a good job of sticking to Covid rules etc.
Got out for the sighting laps and all was well. Car was running perfectly and felt good, the suspension definitely needed setting stiffer (if softened it for the journey up) and the tyre pressures needed sorting as they’d already rose to 40psi on sighting laps.
Sorted those few things and got out for my first few laps on track and this is where the problem started. Went for a gear change from 3rd to 4th, missed 4th and grabbed second and without realising dropped the clutch. Cue massive over rev and very quick slowing down of vehicle without the brakes being applied. Oops I thought, put the car into the intended 4th gear and went to accelerate and the revs were rising and the car wasn’t accelerating, I’d cooked the pressure plate and that was the end of my day.
I thought it may have cooled down enough to get some more laps in but as I drive the car to and from I didn’t want to risk rendering the car unuseable so I headed off home at dinner with my tail between my legs, oh well.
Couple of pics from my 6 laps of track time.
Sf_Manta said:
Welp, thats a blow, and given you've mis-shifted, I can bet the duel mass flywheel is not at all happy either.
When i costed it out, to swap out the clutch pack and flywheel, it's easily £600 for parts. I'd honestly look at single mass flywheel conversions ,but avoid the Valeo ones. Sam (Carpetsoiler) has fitted 3-4 of these and all have failed in short order due to poor quality friction material if i recall.
if the clutch is toast, and given you'll be giving it some death on the track. I'd recommend looking at this https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-parts/performance-...
I got the same kit on my car, and besides the clutch being a little heavy, it's been an aboslute gem of a product. Combine it with a shifter kit from Turner and it's like a bolt action rifle and much more precise in the shifting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDCnHOVHud8 My setup in action
Thanks for the advice on the clutch and the flywheel and I’m definitely going to be looking into options regarding this, I’m hoping the flywheel will be ok but we’ll see!When i costed it out, to swap out the clutch pack and flywheel, it's easily £600 for parts. I'd honestly look at single mass flywheel conversions ,but avoid the Valeo ones. Sam (Carpetsoiler) has fitted 3-4 of these and all have failed in short order due to poor quality friction material if i recall.
if the clutch is toast, and given you'll be giving it some death on the track. I'd recommend looking at this https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-parts/performance-...
I got the same kit on my car, and besides the clutch being a little heavy, it's been an aboslute gem of a product. Combine it with a shifter kit from Turner and it's like a bolt action rifle and much more precise in the shifting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDCnHOVHud8 My setup in action
The plans at the minute are to carry out a bit of a gearbox refresh as the box has to come out so I’ve got a bit of a wish list going.
RTD shifter
New poly gearbox mounts
Clutch and possibly flywheel
Fresh gearbox oil
Fresh diff oil
I also have another little exciting update to come soon but for now here’s a little sneak peak!!
Mines a 5 speed sf_Manta and exploding gearboxes sound no fun! Another reason for choosing the rtd shifter is that my car now has the sloppy gear lever fault so when it’s in 5th and you come out of 5th the gear stick just falls over. I could try and blame this for my mid-shift! I priced all the detent springs and bushes and the parts were over £100. Man maths obviously means the rtd is the more viable option and the centring springs are all fitted in the shifter itself!
The mats were from a German company on eBay, here’s the link!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112898739039
The clubsport spoilers seem to divide opinion massively but I like them!!
The mats were from a German company on eBay, here’s the link!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112898739039
The clubsport spoilers seem to divide opinion massively but I like them!!
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