One of these days, I might regret all the time and money spent on this project..but for now...

 

Installed my Front Mount Heat Exchanger last night, had a slight clearance issue with the old heat exchanger's Hayden fan so I said the hell with it and took the fan out, never liked the sound of the thing anyway.  Don’t pay attention to the skanky foot. 

 

   
System took just a hair over 2 gallons to fill up, so almost exactly twice the water capacity it had before.

Did some road testing today with both cores installed, ambient of 72-74, IAT (Inlet Air Temperature) never got over 100 even when stuck in traffic or during a lot of WOT runs. And that's without the Hayden fan.

Did the old "go shopping" trick after the first round of runs, spent 15 minutes in the grocery store, came back out, and in about a minute IAT was back to "norm" in 25mph traffic, it used to take about 4-5 minutes in stop and go driving to get the water cooled back down after sitting hot (and even sitting hot, IAT was only about 60 degrees above ambient, not 100 like without the cooler). Keep in mind that before this upgrade, the IAT was about 15-20 degrees higher across the board with the single HE.

The combination of having 2x the water and almost 2x the cooling surface area does a great job. It's right in the 20 degree IAT drop (after warm-up) I was looking for, give or take, it cools down quicker after sitting, is quieter (no fan), and it should have no problem keeping that water cool even after extended high RPM use. I'll try to test that out soon, might go carve a few canyons this weekend, that's a good workout.

As far as performance goes, it "felt" a little stronger than normal once the car was warmed up, just like it would if the outside temp was 20 degrees lower. I couldn't tell any difference when the car was cold, but at that point the water in the system should be right at ambient for a short time anyway.

And I finally got around to getting the old HE blacked out, you can't even tell I have either one unless you look real close, they just vanish behind the grills. If you LIKE the front mount look, just leave it bare aluminum, it'll stand out pretty good.

Porsche 993 Twin Turbo front Big Brake Kit is installed, a set of 5mm spacers and hub extenders from Turner did the trick as far as caliper/wheel clearance goes. I ended up having to grind a good deal off the end of both control arms, otherwise the rotor would rub on them when the wheels were turned. Seems that the kit was designed with 96+ suspension geometry in mind.

The good news is that the BBK works great. I actually have a firmer pedal now than I had with the 90k M3 brakes, SS lines and solid guide pins. No vibration on the highway, though the Hawk HPS pads do squeal a bit, to be expected. And the rotors and calipers look great peeking out of my 17" wheels.

 

 

The pictures were taken in Orange County, at WheelPower, a stop on the convoy route to Santa Barbara and Bimmerfest 2005.  Was a fun day, lots of very cool cars and people, and well worth the four hour drive each way.  Got some nice complements on the car too, which is always a warm fuzzy. 

Carbon fiber hood installed, but its total crap. Besides being wavy in spots, it just doesn't fit well. Unfortunately, I had to cut up my old (equally crappy) OEM hood to get the hood shock mounts, so I can't go back to that either. I'll live with this POS for another month or so until I can get a good (VIS or MAShaw) hood and have it painted. Moral of the story, you get what you pay for, and being in a rush to do something can cost you.

The reason I'm not replacing the hood right away is that I have another expense coming up...

I'm installing Schrick 258/264 cams next week, along with updated retainers, new valve springs, a MLS head gasket and ARP studs. The cams should be good for at LEAST 15 more RWHP, and it just makes sense to update the valve train while I'm in there (my build date has the "weaker" retainers"), and the headgasket/studs are insurance with the boost I'm running. When it's all done I should have a pretty bullet-proof top end, and S50 bottom end is already pretty strong, able to handle more HP/boost than I'm putting out.

The final touch is a set of Jet Hot coated OEM OBD1 exhaust manifolds that I gasket matched on the ports. The Jet Hot coating should drop under-hood temps a good bit, and I should pick up some flow benefits from the internal coating (not as good as a extrude honing, but helpful). The porting I did will help a bit as well. And the coating is nice bling.

I have a set of stainless OBD2 manifolds here, but there is no proven flow advantage using them, about the only reason to change is to save 10 pounds and they don't rust. I can live with the weight of the OBD1's, the cast iron sounds better, and the thermal coating will solve the rust issues. I decided against aftermarket headers, the ones that are worth having require hacking up the cat pipe (or removing the cat). At least with the OEM units I know I won't go "backwards", and frankly I think that with coating and my porting they'll probably help as much as any aftermarket short tubes out there. If I ever decide to "off road use only" the car, I may rethink long tube headers, but for a California street-legal car they're not worth the money in my book.

Sometime in June I'll be making another trip up to RMS. He has a front mount heat exchanger (fills the lower bumper cover opening) waiting for me, that I'll use in concert with my current heat exchanger. The two working together should drop my intake charge temps a few more degrees, which can make more power, and with twice the water capacity, it'll make it nearly impossible to heat-soak the system. I'll also have to come up with a new oil cooler solution, since the front mount VPD cooler I'm running now has to be removed to fit the front mount heat exchanger. I'll probably end up using the cooler core from the Euro M3 setup, with adapters and the VPD oil filter cap.

Oh, and I have CF eyebrows coming, to match the hood better, and thinking REAL hard about getting one of those CF sunroof delete panels (saves 40+ pounds off the top of the car). It looks cool, and I almost never open my sunroof. It'll also allow me to use the non-sunroof headliner, which will give me some extra head room, important when I wear a helmet on the track.

After that, I think I'll be done....



Maybe.

Car is out of the body shop, (TAG Collision Center in San Marcos) and it turned out pretty good.  

 

 

I like the rear window spoiler, eyebrows, painted fog light delete panels, and the trunk spoiler looks MUCH better painted.  Ended up having to replace the rear bumper cover TWICE, they tried to repair my old one, and the paint cracked in the drying booth, so they had to buy me a new one and redo the whole thing.  Screwed up my weekend plans, bigtime, but I'd rather wait and have it done right.

 

I also left the stock hood on, since my CF hood got lost in transit.  That really sucks, since now they’ll have to re-shoot into the fenders to color-match the hood. And finally, the door handles were on backorder from Germany, so I just cancelled them, they wouldn't be here until July.

 

 

Been awhile since I updated, busy as hell at work.
 
VPD oil cooler installed, it works good. Too good, in the cooler weather we've been having for the last few months, my car never gets up to temp on the drive to work, since I opted for the non-thermostat version. Disconnected it until the weather warms up, but it's easy to bypass, just change oil filter caps and filter, unscrew the lines from the VPD cap, and cover the lines.

 

 

 

 

Added a Reiger Cup chin splitter (LTW look-alike), looks good, but it may come back off, the police look at me funny, and it for sure doesn't look like a sleeper from the front now.
 
And last but not least, got it on the dyno today......395.1 RWHP!!!!

 

 

Dyno was ran on a Dynapack hub dyno at Crawford Performance in Oceanside.

 

That's a bit better than I expected, to say the least! More details (and debate) here:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=303413

 

RMS Aftercooler is installed, wasn't that difficult, just time consuming (and if I'd been smart I would have waited before installing the body kit, because I had to remove the whole front bumper assembly again for the RMS install).

 

But now for the good part...I don’t know how many times I can keep saying “holy shit” about an upgrade to this car.  But this one earned it as much if not more so than any other mod I’ve done to date.  Car is BRUTAL now.  Just brutal.  Torque, torque, and more torque.  Smooth power at any RPM. 

 

Boss drove my car and his 2000 Porsche 996 Turbo back-to-back, and conceded that my car is noticeably faster.  That’s pretty high praise.  

 

Along with the aftercooler, I swapped out my old 28.8 lb/hr injectors for 36 lb/hr injectors and switched to new software from RMS.   Did I mention the car is brutal now?  Amazing what decent tuning and good charge cooling can do.

 

Somebody stop me.  Please?

 

I just can't stop.
 
I did a boost bump, swapping the Dinan supplied 3.43" supercharger pulley with a Vortech 3.33" supercharger pulley, bringing boost up from ~7PSI to ~8.5PSI. Nice noticeable increase in power, for only $35.
 
To bring it all together and keep it healthy, I have NickG burning me a baseline chip (on its way now) that he'll use as the foundation for a couple more chip burns to dial it in. 
 
On top of that, I have an RMS 3.5" intake tube coming, and Nick's software is setup for a 3.5" HFM .
 
I'm going to do a base run with the current chip/pulley setup, and then swap chips/HFM to see what the initial gains are and take it from there.

So, after Habib test drove the car, I went home, knowing in about twelve hours my baby would be mine again.

It was like the night before Christmas, I tossed and turned in bed, anxious for morning to come so I could play with my new toys.

Finally, it's time. I throw some clothes on, skip my usual shower and shave, brush my fangs and practically teleport over to Mastercare.

Arrrgh! The car is just going up on the alignment rack, and the clips haven't come in yet. A couple more hours of waiting, but not too unpleasant since the guys at the garage are good company, and I could walk over to the tire shop to peek at the car from time to time.

A couple days earlier, while going through the transmission install, an old 525e was brought in for electrical trouble, the owner reported smelling burnt plastic and was having intermittent failures of electrical components.

Habib wanted to do a complete exam of the car's wiring, but with my car and several others ahead of the 525e, he told the owner he would have to wait until Thursday or Friday (This was Tuesday) before he could get to it and do the job right. The owner left it there, and it was put in one of the rear shop bays and not touched.

Now, while I'm there waiting on the alignment to be finished and the clips to arrive on Thursday, the owner calls and says he is on his way to pick it up, he can't wait and he needs the car. Habib patiently explained the dangers of this to the owner, but the guy wasn't buying it.

He arrives shortly after that, Habib once again tells him what a bad idea this is, but the owner insists, so they roll the car out of the garage.

The guy gets in, starts it up, saying he'll be back sometime next week to get the job done. He pulls out to the street, waiting for traffic to clear before driving off. While he is sitting there, whatever short the car had decided that would be the perfect time to act up again.

Within seconds, white smoke was pouring out of the 525, and the owner had jumped out and ran back to the shop, yelling "Fire! Fire!".

Luckily, the guys are fast on their feet, running to the car to see what they can do. One of the techs jumps in and turns the engine off, slightly burning his hands in the process, as there are actually flames shooting out of the dash area at this point. A co2 fire extinguisher comes right after, and the fire is quickly put out, but not before the dash of the car looks like a bad Dali painting.

The owner looks pretty abashed, saying over and over again how he wished he'd listened to Habib, while Habib tries his best to make the guy feel better. During all of this, not once was there an "I told you so" tone or look from him. Class act, Habib is.

During all this excitement, I almost forget why I'm there, but just as the 525 owner is getting picked up, my car is coming off the rack, and at almost the same time, the parts truck is pulling in.

"Soon, my precious, soon", I telepathically project to my car.

As it comes off the rack, I notice that it's been washed, the grunge from the rain the week before I took the shop in is gone, as is all evidence that it's been worked on. Nice touch, them doing that for me.

We get the car back in Mastercare, and quickly discover that the wrong part has been sent, the clip is of the smaller size that comes on the automatic, no use at all for the manual. I think you could HEAR my face falling at that point.

Habib and Hamed to the rescue. They get on the phone and ETK, and get the correct part ordered, but it'll be the next day before it arrives, its coming out of Los Angeles. No worries, they rig up an E clip as a temporary solution, confident that it'll hold up for a day or so. They KNOW I want the car badly at this point, and they could certainly stand to clear up some shop and parking space.

So, they hand me the keys and tell me to come back about the same time tomorrow, when they'll install the clip.

I'm so excited I don't know whether to shit or go blind. I settle for closing one eye and farting, climb in the car.

Adjust my Vader and mirrors, fasten my seatbelt, and insert the key. The car starts right up, sounding very mellow, less noise than my former 2.5. Keep in mind I'm running the stock M3 exhaust.

I put it in reverse, noting that the Rogue SSK is indeed short throw, but VERY high effort, or rather, very notchy, and getting to R is a bit of a struggle. Try it a couple times, just to make sure it's not just me. Nope, it's notchy.

Clutch has a nice feel to it, with the release point right where I like it, about three quarters to the floor. Back up, crank the wheel, back some more, put it in first, and eaaaaaaaase it out to the street.

Just like the guy in the 525e, I have to wait for traffic to clear before I can get on the road. Light changes at the corner, traffic clears up, and I pull out onto the road for the first time, gently easing it into 2nd as I get onto the street.

 

-to be continued

 

My car started life as a '93 325is automatic, and when I purchased it in September of 2002, it had 163k miles on it. It was in very good condition for the miles, ran very well, and had a nearly immaculate interior.

 

 
I wasn't looking for an auto, but this one was so nice, (most I'd looked at were rode hard and put up wet), I loved the color, it was cheaper by a couple thousand than other 325's in the same year and mileage range I'd looked at, and I was tired of shopping, so I bought it.
 
Within a week, I started spending some money on it, buying new floor mats, a new 02 sensor, and a right wheel bearing. A few weeks after that, I scored a good deal on some OEM M3 "Double Spokes" and a takeoff M3 exhaust. I also dropped a few dollars into a new head unit and wiring to mate up with the stereo system from my old car.

 

Around December I started getting Dinan happy, buying a Cold Air Intake, ECU chip, Trans chip, and a Stage 1 suspension. I set that off with new OEM rotors and Axxis Ultimate brake pads. With all of that installed, the car ran really good, handled good (though the control arms were due for some love) and sounded great, I had my Dinan points and badge, but it was still an automatic.

 

So, I started thinking about a trans conversion, did all the research I could on the subject at Bimmerforums, on DTM Power, and Google. This looked feasible, not too terribly expensive in the long run, and it would totally change the character of my car.

I squirreled some cash away, ready to pounce on a good deal on a transmission if it came up, or opt into a Zionsville kit, and braced my favorite BMW mechanics on the price to have it done.

Then some yahoo on the Bimmerforums Buy/Sell/Trade section says he's selling his rolled silver '95 M3 for $4k, and it had a complete interior, good 72k motor and trans, and he even said the frame wasn't damaged.

Hmm...So, I juggled some finances around, did some math, decided that Ramen noodles really weren't THAT bad, and offered the guy the $4k he was looking for. Seems like a few other people had the same idea, and I ended up paying $5k to get the car. That meant Ramen noodles every other day. And nothing in between, but what the hell, I'm a big guy, I figured I could live on stored fat.

Luckily, getting it transported wasn't that outrageous, $300 from San Jose to North San Diego County, and it was down here a week after I sent the seller his money.

The car rolled off the truck, and with a booster box, I started the car up and drove it into the garage bay at my office.

 

 

Man, this thing was HURT!  Passenger glass, rear quarter windows, back glass, rear bumper cover, and side skirts were salvageable. Everything else was shot on the outside.

 

Interior was beautiful, however, with a few bonus items. Real Napa leather on the lower dash panels, door panels, shifter surround area, and glove box, which I'd never seen before, and power Vaders in excellent shape, which could not possibly have come stock in that car.

 

 
There was also a very nice set of A/D/S speakers and cross-overs, and modded kick panels with angled tweeters installed, very nicely done.
 
The engine worried me a bit. The impact of the rollover had bent the front lifting hook near the VANOS area of the engine, and the valve cover itself had a 2"x2" HOLE in it, where the aluminum had cracked out. Radiator was ruined, as was the AC condenser, and even the strut towers were bent and out of round. It had taken a hell of a whack.
 
The car had brand new Yokohama AVS Intermediate tires (now discontinued) on Double Spokes, and those looked to be in good shape, though there was some scuffing from the roll. The exhaust was OK, though the right tip had some scratches from the accident, and a little ding on the underside.
 
Well, I knew I wasn't ready to do the engine/trans swap right away, but I could start on the interior right off. One long day (actually, about 30 hours), and a lot of Red Bull later, I had the interior swap done.

 

That alone transformed the car, going from black and grey inside to all black, and then of course, the M3 Sport Seats (Vaders) and the very nice leather panels. Started feeling better about my $5300 after that was done.

 

So, I had all the parts that I removed from the car, and all of them were in fine shape. Did a listing here, and on Ebay, of the interior pieces I was selling, and blew the stuff out at pretty good prices. Sold the f/r door panels, rear seats, center surround, Onboard Computer, ///M3 door sills (I wasn't going to use them, I'll get into that later), glove box, M3 steering wheel (already had one), intake, my old Dinan chips, and a few other odds and ends, netting me about $1500 after Ebay and shipping fees. So, my investment was down to $3500. Looking good, and I could supplement my Ramen diet with macaroni and cheese, and occasionally some Spam!

My local shop (Bavarian Mastercare in San Marcos, more about them later), had first given me a $3000+ quote on the engine and trans swap, but later came back with a $2500 flat rate on labor, and me picking up the materials costs. It was just a matter of timing, since they wanted both cars at the shop, and needed lift space free to do it. That also meant I couldn't remove the M3 spindles and brakes yet, since the wreck needed to roll until they were done with it.

Before that happened, I had started spending some money on mods as they came up. Scored some good deals here on a lightly used TMS LTW flywheel, 3.5 HFM, AA chip for it, and 21.5# injectors. And I was researching my butt off trying to solve the EWS (anti-theft system) issues that might come up, since this was a late production '95 which used coded keys.

In addition to the used parts, I bought a new valve cover, gaskets and studs, and even sprung for a Dinan CF fuel rail and ignition module covers, since both were damaged on the '95, and I sorta liked the idea of being a bit of a mystery under the hood.

I also picked up a new M3 clutch kit, Rogue Octane SSK, and Powerflex CABs.

A month after I got the car, I took the M3 and my 325 to Bavarian Mastercare. When I got there, we were all thinking it was just going to be a trans and engine swap, and I was going to take the wreck out of there and scavenge anything else I needed before I took it to the salvage yard.

I bounced the idea of getting some of the M3 parts off before it left the shop, specifically, I wanted the brakes and spindles, and would like to have had the steering rack (95 M3 racks were the quickest ratio, 96+ M3's used the standard 325 rack).

The owner, Habib, said he'd do some figuring on labor costs, since he'd have to remove parts from both cars, and swap the parts on both cars, to allow the wreck to roll out of there.

He came back with a figure of $1500, which was not unreasonable considering 2x the amount of work. I have a rare blood type, so I figured I could sell blood, and hey, blood loss is another great way to loose weight!

So, a day later, I stop by the shop to check on the progress, and behold! He'd removed the entire front suspension, from the steering rack down to the hubs, as one piece, and the rear sub frame the same way, on both cars.

I wasn't just getting SOME of the M3 suspension, I was getting it ALL.

 

-to be continued