E46 M3 weight reduction - how much can I loose?

[Gibbo205]

Hi there

Track prepping an E46 M3 SMG, so far removed following:-
Everything from boot including carpets, amp, sub, spare, toolkit etc.
Everything from rear, seats, carpets, panels etc.
Front both seats removed, carpets under seats, airbags. All seat belts. Cobra buckets and harnessing in place.

How much weight you think that has saved?

Next step is:-
Remove all speakers.
Door trims/panels
Radio/satnav
Carpets maybe?

How much weight there?


Anything else I can further remove, car is on lightweight 18's and is NOT a sunroof model.

[rassi]

Remove air con?
Install light weight battery?
Diet for the driver?

[andyiley]

rassi said:

Remove air con?
Install light weight battery?
Diet for the driver?

Having done 2 e36s before like this, my recommendation would be leave the A/C in.

The ventilation in these is not brilliant & on a sticky track day, or even a wet one, you will regret it if you remove it.

[Blair357ci]

I'd leave the front carpet as the floor isn't flat and you'll end up spending loads of time trying to make it flat so you can drive it.

[rassi]

andyiley said:

Having done 2 e36s before like this, my recommendation would be leave the A/C in.

The ventilation in these is not brilliant & on a sticky track day, or even a wet one, you will regret it if you remove it.

Yes, I was actually thinking that too, and the OP has already removed pretty much everything that can "easily" be removed.

It doesn't leave very much without spending ££££ - perspex for the side and rear windows, perhaps?

[Gibbo205]

rassi said:

Yes, I was actually thinking that too, and the OP has already removed pretty much everything that can "easily" be removed.

It doesn't leave very much without spending ££££ - perspex for the side and rear windows, perhaps?

Don't want Perspex as they are frameless doors so would not seal properly causing horrible noise.

So ideally get rid of door trims/panels, radio and speakers and might be close to 1300kg area? What about weight I might not know about, like stuff under the car and within the engine bay?

[FamilyDub]

Gibbo205 said:

Don't want Perspex as they are frameless doors so would not seal properly causing horrible noise.

So ideally get rid of door trims/panels, radio and speakers and might be close to 1300kg area? What about weight I might not know about, like stuff under the car and within the engine bay

Have a read through this thread

[161BMW]

Stick a set of Pilot Sport Cups on and will be quicker than a M3 CSL :-)

[TallPaul]

It depends on how hardcore you want it- you could strip out the dash, cut back the wiring loom, strip off all the underseal & seam sealer, remove any sound-deadening insulation, start fitting carbonfibre body panels...

[m30dus]

To give you an idea, I've:

Carbon doors
Perspex all round
Lightweight heated front screen
Carbon boot
Carbon roof
Carbon front bumper
Carbon bonnet
One Recaro SPG kevlar seat
Lightweight Red Top battery
All carpets removed
T45 lightweight cage
TD Pro Race 1.2 alloys
Stripped wiring loom to bare essentials
Not a single useless nut/bolt/wire in sight
ABS removed
Master cylinder removed
OPB pedal box
A/C removed
Fan and heater removed
And so on...

Mines supercharged which probably adds 25kg or so, but I'm weighing in at around 1275kg with some fuel

All the talk of 1100kg E46s must quite frankly be a lot of bollux.

I'd say 1350kg is a sensible target.

The heaviest bits are:

Doors - weigh an absolute ton
Exhaust - the backbox is scary heavy!
Front seats - so heavy you'll think their still bolted in when you go to lift them out!

[Gibbo205]

m30dus said:

To give you an idea, I've:

Carbon doors
Perspex all round
Lightweight heated front screen
Carbon boot
Carbon roof
Carbon front bumper
Carbon bonnet
One Recaro SPG kevlar seat
Lightweight Red Top battery
All carpets removed
T45 lightweight cage
TD Pro Race 1.2 alloys
Stripped wiring loom to bare essentials
Not a single useless nut/bolt/wire in sight
ABS removed
Master cylinder removed
OPB pedal box
A/C removed
Fan and heater removed
And so on...

Mines supercharged which probably adds 25kg or so, but I'm weighing in at around 1275kg with some fuel

All the talk of 1100kg E46s must quite frankly be a lot of bollux.

I'd say 1350kg is a sensible target.

The heaviest bits are:

Doors - weigh an absolute ton
Exhaust - the backbox is scary heavy!
Front seats - so heavy you'll think their still bolted in when you go to lift them out!

Doors stock, gonna remove trim and airbags from them.
Exhaust, there is some performance one on there, not stock, hope it's lighter.
Got buckets and harnesses up front?

Is anyone around the midlands who's done some serious E46 stripping, be good to get mine looked over to get pointers of what else I can remove easily.

[NickXX]

http://www.clubcsl.com/index.php/m3csl/6-m3-csl-di...

That should give you some ideas. Main ones being:

- NO INTERIOR SOUND DEADENING
- No bonnet heat shield (same aluminium bonnet as M3)
- Lighter battery (same as the Mini Cooper S battery) 61218377139
- 4 rather than 6(or 8 if equiped) airbags
- Lighter rear glass 51317895441

[Gibbo205]

NickXX said:

http://www.clubcsl.com/index.php/m3csl/6-m3-csl-di...

That should give you some ideas. Main ones being:

- NO INTERIOR SOUND DEADENING
- No bonnet heat shield (same aluminium bonnet as M3)
- Lighter battery (same as the Mini Cooper S battery) 61218377139
- 4 rather than 6(or 8 if equiped) airbags
- Lighter rear glass 51317895441

Cheers m8.

Bonnet heat shield is gone.
Battery shall weigh, some Bosch unit in there now, not BMW original.
Gonna remove door airbags later, rear/curtain airbags if they exist are removed. So at a guess steering wheel and glovebox only remaining airbags.
Shall look into glass.

Most important upgrade for the car right now shall be coilovers because more weight has come from rear than front, so need to get it corner weighted once got some coilovers in place.

Though saying that it handles great, loads of grip, looking forward to Donny next weekend.

[Welshbeef]

Honestly how much weight can removing door airbags save?

Surely better would be reduce the amount of coolant reduce the screen wash only 1/4 fill lose 4 stone in weight big boy


But honestly pulling out the seats and low fuel running and a personal diet will have barely any noticeable time saving - if your a racing driver maybe a fraction of a second maybe 1 maybe 2 seconds but honestly as your not racing it what relevance is it apart from making it about as desirable as poo to most buyers ie your market to sell to is uber niche.

Try best tyres and best suspension you can afford and best brakes you can afford - this will make a tabgiable difference to lap times and also make it desirable.


If its a keeper till it does go for bare shell no roof lining even though you might save a load of bread in weight.

[Gibbo205]

Welshbeef said:

Honestly how much weight can removing door airbags save?

Surely better would be reduce the amount of coolant reduce the screen wash only 1/4 fill lose 4 stone in weight big boy


But honestly pulling out the seats and low fuel running and a personal diet will have barely any noticeable time saving - if your a racing driver maybe a fraction of a second maybe 1 maybe 2 seconds but honestly as your not racing it what relevance is it apart from making it about as desirable as poo to most buyers ie your market to sell to is uber niche.

Try best tyres and best suspension you can afford and best brakes you can afford - this will make a tabgiable difference to lap times and also make it desirable.


If its a keeper till it does go for bare shell no roof lining even though you might save a load of bread in weight.

It's a track car, on track weight is everything. So far I've removed a further 35kg or so from the car with stereo, speakers, airbags etc. Plus the fact it's completely stripped out, race seats, harnesses, over 150kg is out the car.

That's the same difference as 2/3 passengers.

My target is 1300-1350kg, which is a good 200-250kg lighter than it was, which is hugely noticeable on track and acceleration and lighter than a CSL.

[Welshbeef]

But unless you in a race series the lap time is irrelevant. Infact tracking any car is fun and getting the fastest lap time out of it is great challenge.

[Gibbo205]

Welshbeef said:

But unless you in a race series the lap time is irrelevant. Infact tracking any car is fun and getting the fastest lap time out of it is great challenge.

Yes any car is fun, I do a lot of track days and have driven many cars on track and I want something very quick and fun which also does great lap times too. A stripped well setup M3 does this and is more fun, precise and raw than the regular road going version. Hence BMW made the CSL.

[e46m3c]

where to draw the line?

Im about to take on this journey and id like to here your outcom.

It will be a trackday and drift car. Part of me wants to remove everything inc dash. Part of me wants to keep it kinda club spec. I.e. keep carpet, and headlining but remove all the big ticket items. Seats, boot lining,air bags, stereo?

loosing 150kg will also reduce ware on components and allow you to use cheaper ones in the first place. i.e. on my e36 1300kg blue stuff pads were fine, but on my full weight e46 blue stuff couldnt cope so went for rc6 at twice the price.

I like the idea of a GT3 Spec car, or basically CSL replica. Just not sure where to draw the line, as i have another full weight e46 m3 as a daily.

[helix402]

How about CSL bumper carriers?

[shim]

If you loose 150kg, you are just about whe a CSL is but you have part of a car!

Just buy the CSL in the first place, and then if you fancy making it light remove

1. Rear seats, bolsters
2. Boot trim, spare and tools,
3. Change battery to race
4. Change suspensions aluminium race
5. Lightweight Wheels and track tyres
6. Replace seats with CF buckets
7. Strip carpets
8. Review polen filter and case
9. Strip a/c (if you really must)
10. sS cat back exhaust

You will be around 1300kg