Not a GT3, M4 Clubsport build with a little 570s
Discussion
So… back in 2011 after years of hot hatches, cavalier Sri, Saxo vtr, S3, Golf gti, s2000 ( not quite a hot hatch I know ) and a whole host of others in between I finally found myself in a position to buy what I thought was my first big boy car
A 2002 e46 M3 convertible
A few months after I bought it it was due a service and they spotted the subframe was showing signs of cracking, as the car was under 10 years old and had a full BMW history, they replaced the floor FOC, kept the car for just short of 2 years and genuinely loved it.
Moved it on to fund this
A 2008 e92 manual, bought it completely standard, added all the usual bits, carbon front/rear spoilers , M359 wheels, was such a good car did everything I could have ever wished from a car at the time. Again after 2 years I moved it on, it had 30k miles and I sold it to a guy who took it to Ireland.
Again it was new car time , common theme here
2015 f80 M3 non comp pack
I seemed to have a trend of buying the cleanest m3 I could, adding the OEM+ bits, keeping it for a couple of years and upgrading to the latest model. The F80 truly is to me the perfect all rounder, I actual regret selling this one , 3.5 years ago I sold it for £31k with only 20k ish miles.
The problem I had was there was no new model to move onto, so I decided to take a big jump into an R8 !
So there I am on the hunt for an R8, looking for red, decent spec, carbon, low miles, I was off work one day sitting on the couch browsing the auto trader and mclaren glasgow had a 540c for what was just slightly over my budget, well it was massively over.
So…. I went for a look, that car was sold, but I did get a test drive in a 570s and it blew me away, it was being like on a total different planet to the f80 and I absolutely wanted one. 6 months and a tonne of extra hours at work, budget right out the window I bought this
A 2017 570s track pack in volcano yellow with carbon buckets.
A few months back me and a few friends went to the Nurburgring for a few days, having never been before I was blown away by the amount of gt3 and gt3rs and I have always wanted one and still do but I hate the whole overs thing ! ( hence the name of the thread ), that and the amount of modified bmw M’s of all generations.
1 very slow lap in the mclaren , an an obligatory carousel pic
So there I was, back home on the hunt for a gt3, I went through it over and over in my head then I had a brainstorm…. Why have all my money in 1 car which I will cherish too much to drive on a track when I can have two.
I had always loved m3’s and the schirmer/custom racetec type cars were always something I had watched on YouTube ! Who doesn’t !
I decided I would build my own, the hunt for an M3 was on, rather disappointingly prices from when I sold mine 3.5 years ago hadn’t changed, my old f80 is actually worth more now than it was then, I also noticed M4s were slightly cheaper. As much as I prefer the f80 shape, and f82 would leave some spare cash for mods !
I did some serious man maths and I ended up with this
2014 m4
48k miles
Heads up
Harmon Kardon
Reverse camera
Carbon interior
Full bmw history
Auc warranty
New discs and pads all round
New Michelin PS4s
Serviced 1 month ago
Almost seems too good to modify !
Initial impressions, considering it runs the same tyres as the Mac , traction is way worse and it feels like an absolute boat !, but it’s a lovely place to be and reminds me why I loved them.
A 2002 e46 M3 convertible
A few months after I bought it it was due a service and they spotted the subframe was showing signs of cracking, as the car was under 10 years old and had a full BMW history, they replaced the floor FOC, kept the car for just short of 2 years and genuinely loved it.
Moved it on to fund this
A 2008 e92 manual, bought it completely standard, added all the usual bits, carbon front/rear spoilers , M359 wheels, was such a good car did everything I could have ever wished from a car at the time. Again after 2 years I moved it on, it had 30k miles and I sold it to a guy who took it to Ireland.
Again it was new car time , common theme here
2015 f80 M3 non comp pack
I seemed to have a trend of buying the cleanest m3 I could, adding the OEM+ bits, keeping it for a couple of years and upgrading to the latest model. The F80 truly is to me the perfect all rounder, I actual regret selling this one , 3.5 years ago I sold it for £31k with only 20k ish miles.
The problem I had was there was no new model to move onto, so I decided to take a big jump into an R8 !
So there I am on the hunt for an R8, looking for red, decent spec, carbon, low miles, I was off work one day sitting on the couch browsing the auto trader and mclaren glasgow had a 540c for what was just slightly over my budget, well it was massively over.
So…. I went for a look, that car was sold, but I did get a test drive in a 570s and it blew me away, it was being like on a total different planet to the f80 and I absolutely wanted one. 6 months and a tonne of extra hours at work, budget right out the window I bought this
A 2017 570s track pack in volcano yellow with carbon buckets.
A few months back me and a few friends went to the Nurburgring for a few days, having never been before I was blown away by the amount of gt3 and gt3rs and I have always wanted one and still do but I hate the whole overs thing ! ( hence the name of the thread ), that and the amount of modified bmw M’s of all generations.
1 very slow lap in the mclaren , an an obligatory carousel pic
So there I was, back home on the hunt for a gt3, I went through it over and over in my head then I had a brainstorm…. Why have all my money in 1 car which I will cherish too much to drive on a track when I can have two.
I had always loved m3’s and the schirmer/custom racetec type cars were always something I had watched on YouTube ! Who doesn’t !
I decided I would build my own, the hunt for an M3 was on, rather disappointingly prices from when I sold mine 3.5 years ago hadn’t changed, my old f80 is actually worth more now than it was then, I also noticed M4s were slightly cheaper. As much as I prefer the f80 shape, and f82 would leave some spare cash for mods !
I did some serious man maths and I ended up with this
2014 m4
48k miles
Heads up
Harmon Kardon
Reverse camera
Carbon interior
Full bmw history
Auc warranty
New discs and pads all round
New Michelin PS4s
Serviced 1 month ago
Almost seems too good to modify !
Initial impressions, considering it runs the same tyres as the Mac , traction is way worse and it feels like an absolute boat !, but it’s a lovely place to be and reminds me why I loved them.
Edited by Am43 on Friday 14th October 17:50
So now I have had the car 10 days the plan is, suspension mods , brakes , wheels, lots of carbon bits and buckets chuck in a few track days the odd ring trip and a few drives out, what could possibly go wrong.
Now I am not a regular track day driver, In fact , never ! But let’s not worry about that, half the fun is building it and I want to build it properly.
The first delivery arrived 2 days ago,
Protrack wheels
18x10 fronts with 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
18x11 rears with 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
I have also ordered big carbon front splitter, wing, millway bushes front and rear, toelinks, droplinks, coilovers ….
Feel free to chime in, any advice would be well received …
More to follow
Now I am not a regular track day driver, In fact , never ! But let’s not worry about that, half the fun is building it and I want to build it properly.
The first delivery arrived 2 days ago,
Protrack wheels
18x10 fronts with 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
18x11 rears with 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
I have also ordered big carbon front splitter, wing, millway bushes front and rear, toelinks, droplinks, coilovers ….
Feel free to chime in, any advice would be well received …
More to follow
Edited by Am43 on Friday 14th October 17:48
I’m pretty rubbish with the progress updates , but ive certainly been busy. I still have a few things on my list but so far it has went pretty well
Martin at MS motorsport has been a huge help during this build, I’m sure he was sick of hearing from me at one point but his knowledge and advice has had a huge input, he also overnighted me some stuff when I was stuck which helped massively.
the spec so far……
Engine
Standard, gearbox software updated to M4 GTS
Bodywork
Mk motorsport carbon front lip
Mk motorsport carbon rear wing
Carbon front corners, modified to suit larger splitter
Rear bumper vents cut, schirmer style
Suspension/ Chassis
Intrax 1k2 coilovers with true coilovers at the rear
SPL / Bimmerworld droplinks front and rear
SPL toe links
Millway front control arm bushes
Millway rear control arm bush inner
Millway eccentric rear control arm bush outer
Corner weighting carried out
Wheels/Brakes
Protrack ones
Front 18x10 et20 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
Rear 18x11 et44 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
Stud and nut conversion
AP 5000R calipers
Ex BTCC J hook discs / pads
Braided lines front and rear
RBF 660 fluid
Interior
Leather and suede recaro pole position Abe
Vac Floor mounts
Recaro side mounts
Recaro sliders
New sear belt receptacles
Software
coding carried out by Zed coding remotely
GTS Gearbox, Diff, traction control
Seat occupancy coded out
Edc coded out
[url
|https://thumbsnap.com/vRyshemh[/url]
Martin at MS motorsport has been a huge help during this build, I’m sure he was sick of hearing from me at one point but his knowledge and advice has had a huge input, he also overnighted me some stuff when I was stuck which helped massively.
the spec so far……
Engine
Standard, gearbox software updated to M4 GTS
Bodywork
Mk motorsport carbon front lip
Mk motorsport carbon rear wing
Carbon front corners, modified to suit larger splitter
Rear bumper vents cut, schirmer style
Suspension/ Chassis
Intrax 1k2 coilovers with true coilovers at the rear
SPL / Bimmerworld droplinks front and rear
SPL toe links
Millway front control arm bushes
Millway rear control arm bush inner
Millway eccentric rear control arm bush outer
Corner weighting carried out
Wheels/Brakes
Protrack ones
Front 18x10 et20 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
Rear 18x11 et44 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
Stud and nut conversion
AP 5000R calipers
Ex BTCC J hook discs / pads
Braided lines front and rear
RBF 660 fluid
Interior
Leather and suede recaro pole position Abe
Vac Floor mounts
Recaro side mounts
Recaro sliders
New sear belt receptacles
Software
coding carried out by Zed coding remotely
GTS Gearbox, Diff, traction control
Seat occupancy coded out
Edc coded out
[url
|https://thumbsnap.com/vRyshemh[/url]Edited by Am43 on Friday 16th December 17:44
Edited by Am43 on Monday 26th December 22:27
Well that’s the plan ! How it looks is secondary really, however it’s not a proper track car, so I do want to keep it ‘ good ‘.
Nurburgring trip booked for April, hoping to get a few U.K. trackdays in before hand.
Initially the suspension was very stiff !, I have set the dampers to 6 clicks from full soft and it now rides like it did with EDC in sport.
Nurburgring trip booked for April, hoping to get a few U.K. trackdays in before hand.
Initially the suspension was very stiff !, I have set the dampers to 6 clicks from full soft and it now rides like it did with EDC in sport.
Edited by Am43 on Monday 26th December 11:00
FTW said:
Looks a lovely spec so far. Why did you go for Millway instead of the Team Schirmer kinematic kits?
The decision was based purely on cost, by shopping around a little I managed to save around £1k between all bushes, toe arms, front and rear droplinks etc. The Millway/SPL parts are still high quality items so I didn’t feel schirmer kit was worth the extra.
So, the last few weeks I noticed the oil usage was up, after endless googling it sounded like the turbo seals were the likely culprit, annoying as the car is a low owner car, low ish miles, full history and literally only out of warranty in November.
Got the car up on the ramps, removed the splash guards and under trays and found this
The oil cooler return pipe had developed a leak at the joint between the hose and the rigid pipe, new pipe required, at least it’s not turbos. I’m hoping BMW have the pipe in stock but won’t know until tomorrow when I ring. Looking at where it runs to and from access looks like it’s going to be rubbish but the car is off the road now as it’s not worth the risk of it dumping its oil.
I also managed to fit the larger brake pedal from the F30 auto while I was there, not sure why the M3/M4 has such a small brake pedal !, but this one’s loads better. Well for the 10 feet I drove the car with it fitted.
Excuse the messy footwell !
I have a few more bits to do over the coming couple of months, I seem to be spending loads and hardly driving.
Then there’s the Mclaren, during the winter months I bring it out the garage, warm it up, do a few miles to keep things moving then back in it goes. Looking forward to the better weather now as I do use it loads.
Got the car up on the ramps, removed the splash guards and under trays and found this
The oil cooler return pipe had developed a leak at the joint between the hose and the rigid pipe, new pipe required, at least it’s not turbos. I’m hoping BMW have the pipe in stock but won’t know until tomorrow when I ring. Looking at where it runs to and from access looks like it’s going to be rubbish but the car is off the road now as it’s not worth the risk of it dumping its oil.
I also managed to fit the larger brake pedal from the F30 auto while I was there, not sure why the M3/M4 has such a small brake pedal !, but this one’s loads better. Well for the 10 feet I drove the car with it fitted.
Excuse the messy footwell !
I have a few more bits to do over the coming couple of months, I seem to be spending loads and hardly driving.
Then there’s the Mclaren, during the winter months I bring it out the garage, warm it up, do a few miles to keep things moving then back in it goes. Looking forward to the better weather now as I do use it loads.
Edited by Am43 on Monday 26th December 22:19
Early start this morning, an hour round trip to pick up this oil cooler pipe, some O rings, a new nut and a cheese sandwich !
I have the use of a mates unit/ramp when ever required which is quite handy as the weathers been awful today.
After some rather intensive googling of replacing an oil cooler I had a rough idea of what was to be removed for access, scuttle panels, carbon strut brace and one of the air intake pipes and airboxes
Now that’s out the way, removing the hose was pretty straight forward , down behind the rad there was a clamp with a 10mm bolt holding both pipes stood off from the engine block and a torx bolt holding the rigid End of the pipe to the oil filter housing.
On the cooler end it was a 10mm nut and the pipe slides out.
Disconnected both ends not much oil poured out, I did expect quite a bit. Obligatory microfibre jammed the the outlet of the cooler !
O rings lubed fitted to the new pipe and all back together, oil topped up and I let the car idle until it was up to temp to check for any leaks, no leaks evident, looked good, well as good as a non leaking pipe could look.
Scuttle panels and undertrays back on and I’m back on the road, I drove around 10 miles and topped the oil back up to max on the idrive, will monitor this regularly now over the next couple of weeks, just incase !
Here it is parked next to the trusty Jetta Tdi, park it anywhere , 60s mpg on a run, best car I own !
So the M4 is now back home ( and the Jetta Fyi ), I did drive back doing some left foot braking with my larger brake pedal and it feels loads better, I tend to left foot brake in the mclaren these days and after initially headbutting the windscreen on occasion you do get used too it.
Need to look at brake cooling next, the splitter has functional ducts so makes sense to use them, the route from them to the brake discs seems non existent though, it’s already quite low at the front ( only lowered 25mm too ) and I don’t really want hoses hanging down under the undertrays, will have to do some more googling …
Anyway, that’s me for now, will put some miles on it, slow miles at that, the AR1’s aren’t the best winter tyres and I have now sold the original 19s with the PS4’s fitted !
I have the use of a mates unit/ramp when ever required which is quite handy as the weathers been awful today.
After some rather intensive googling of replacing an oil cooler I had a rough idea of what was to be removed for access, scuttle panels, carbon strut brace and one of the air intake pipes and airboxes
Now that’s out the way, removing the hose was pretty straight forward , down behind the rad there was a clamp with a 10mm bolt holding both pipes stood off from the engine block and a torx bolt holding the rigid End of the pipe to the oil filter housing.
On the cooler end it was a 10mm nut and the pipe slides out.
Disconnected both ends not much oil poured out, I did expect quite a bit. Obligatory microfibre jammed the the outlet of the cooler !
O rings lubed fitted to the new pipe and all back together, oil topped up and I let the car idle until it was up to temp to check for any leaks, no leaks evident, looked good, well as good as a non leaking pipe could look.
Scuttle panels and undertrays back on and I’m back on the road, I drove around 10 miles and topped the oil back up to max on the idrive, will monitor this regularly now over the next couple of weeks, just incase !
Here it is parked next to the trusty Jetta Tdi, park it anywhere , 60s mpg on a run, best car I own !
So the M4 is now back home ( and the Jetta Fyi ), I did drive back doing some left foot braking with my larger brake pedal and it feels loads better, I tend to left foot brake in the mclaren these days and after initially headbutting the windscreen on occasion you do get used too it.
Need to look at brake cooling next, the splitter has functional ducts so makes sense to use them, the route from them to the brake discs seems non existent though, it’s already quite low at the front ( only lowered 25mm too ) and I don’t really want hoses hanging down under the undertrays, will have to do some more googling …
Anyway, that’s me for now, will put some miles on it, slow miles at that, the AR1’s aren’t the best winter tyres and I have now sold the original 19s with the PS4’s fitted !
Edited by Am43 on Thursday 29th December 18:31
It’s been a while since I updated this, I’m pretty rubbish at it to be quite honest, the McLarens now gone ! Which I regret ! but currently in the lookout for isomething to replace it with
The M4 has grown arms and legs and is now venturing more to a GT4 build rather than a clubsport car !
It has been great though, I did a few Nurburgring trips in ‘23 and a few days at Knockhill, and it’s been faultless. The plan for ‘24 is much the same,I have a couple of ring trips already planned, doing Spa in august and hopefully a few UK dates in between
So this winter I decided to step it up a little more and added/ upgraded some parts
the spec so far……
Engine
Stock 420bhp
Single midpipe exhaust
Bodywork
Chassis mounted GT4 style front splitter
M4 GT4 canards
M4 GT4 Brake cooling ducts
M4 GT4 rear wing
Flossman carbon fenders
Carbon front corners, modified to suit larger splitter
Aluminium Gts/Cs bonnet with Aero catches
Rear bumper vents cut
Front and rear arch liners modified and to suit new vents
Full repaint in Mineral White
Suspension/ Chassis
Intrax 1k2
SPL / Bimmerworld droplinks front and rear
SPL toe links
Millway front control arm bushes
Millway rear control arm bush inner
Millway eccentric rear control arm bush outer
KMP Diff lift kit ( solid bushed )
Corner weighting carried out
Wheels/Brakes
Protrack ones
Front 18x10 et20 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
Rear 18x11 et44 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
Stud and nut conversion
AP 5000R calipers
Ex BTCC J hook discs / ST45 pads
Braided lines front and rear
RBF 660 fluid
Interior
Recaro SPG XL’s
Schroth harnesses
Vac Floor mounts
Recaro side mounts
Recaro sliders
Half cage
Magnetic shiftrts
Alcantara wheel
Software
coding carried out by Zed coding remotely
GTS Gearbox, Diff, traction control
Seat occupancy coded out
Edc coded out
I’m now looking at a drexler diff and possibly full cage !
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The M4 has grown arms and legs and is now venturing more to a GT4 build rather than a clubsport car !
It has been great though, I did a few Nurburgring trips in ‘23 and a few days at Knockhill, and it’s been faultless. The plan for ‘24 is much the same,I have a couple of ring trips already planned, doing Spa in august and hopefully a few UK dates in between
So this winter I decided to step it up a little more and added/ upgraded some parts
the spec so far……
Engine
Stock 420bhp
Single midpipe exhaust
Bodywork
Chassis mounted GT4 style front splitter
M4 GT4 canards
M4 GT4 Brake cooling ducts
M4 GT4 rear wing
Flossman carbon fenders
Carbon front corners, modified to suit larger splitter
Aluminium Gts/Cs bonnet with Aero catches
Rear bumper vents cut
Front and rear arch liners modified and to suit new vents
Full repaint in Mineral White
Suspension/ Chassis
Intrax 1k2
SPL / Bimmerworld droplinks front and rear
SPL toe links
Millway front control arm bushes
Millway rear control arm bush inner
Millway eccentric rear control arm bush outer
KMP Diff lift kit ( solid bushed )
Corner weighting carried out
Wheels/Brakes
Protrack ones
Front 18x10 et20 265/35/18 Nankang AR1
Rear 18x11 et44 295/30/18 Nankang AR1
Stud and nut conversion
AP 5000R calipers
Ex BTCC J hook discs / ST45 pads
Braided lines front and rear
RBF 660 fluid
Interior
Recaro SPG XL’s
Schroth harnesses
Vac Floor mounts
Recaro side mounts
Recaro sliders
Half cage
Magnetic shiftrts
Alcantara wheel
Software
coding carried out by Zed coding remotely
GTS Gearbox, Diff, traction control
Seat occupancy coded out
Edc coded out
I’m now looking at a drexler diff and possibly full cage !
Edited by Am43 on Thursday 8th February 16:31
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