MasterC17 - 2002 M3 SMG Street Legal Track Car Project

Originally Posted by CJW2OO4

Will you help me swap a s54 into my z4 coupe?

That's at a whole different level than what I am doing. The problem mainly is the wiring harness. If you wanted to go "bare-bones" it wouldn't be too bad. But if you wanted everything to work, properly, you're talking many, many hours of work. I contemplated doing it to my ZHP and realized what a ridiculous idea it was and bought an M3. I suggest selling the Z4 and buying a Z4M. Yes, initial cost is more, but the time and money (because it will be more than you think) you save is well, well worth it. If they didn't make a Z4M I would say do it, but they do, so don't. Not trying to curb your enthusiasm, but it just isn't worth it. Last, think of re-sale value, it would be a lot less than what you put into it.

Swapped the navigation harness out for a radio harness. Tested it and it works great! Started putting the dashboard back together.

Finished putting the dash all together, put all the new lights and trim in the car, wired up the SPAL Fan for now just to run on/off (Bimmerworld Relay coming in Monday) and made a bracket for the SPAL (just need a right angle drill to finish it). With the SPAL installed the car no longer overheats after idling for a long period of time (don't ask). Just need to do the SAP Simulator and we are good to go and pass inspection (I hope)! Pictures tomorrow.

Ok, picture time. Roll Bar is going in on Thursday and I should get the car back on the weekend.

Things to do before dropping the car off: Right-Angle Drill for SPAL, Install Bimmerworld Relay for SPAL, Dry Ice/Heat Gun Rear Sound Deadening, SAP Simulator, Clear SES/SRS Codes, and finally Pass State Inspection.

First-off, here's the bracket(s) I created for the SPAL. Notice it is also off-center because the stud for the clutch fan on the water pump sticks too far out. Also take note that I am drilling a hole for a bolt there and the vice-grips are just temporary




Exterior looks better now (LED Tails, Clear Coners and Markers, Black Side Grills and Gills):




And the more-or less final iteration of the interior (just add roll bar, VAC floor pans, harnesses, and passenger seat (Evo 2)).

:pimp:

This is awesome. Serious work being paid off ITT

Used dry ice to get the sound deadening out of the places where the roll bar will be attached to. So, I removed the two rear center "squares" and the rear floor "squares". They didn't come out quite as well as I would have liked, and I had to hammer them a lot more than I would have liked, so it doesn't look so pretty . Oh well, the sound deadening is gone anyway. Also drilled the hole for the top mount on the SPAL so that's all set now. I got the relay in but need to figure that all out later. Pictures tomorrow maybe.

I'm telling you, just use a heat gun and xylol and you won't dent up the floor.

Originally Posted by vaio76109

I'm telling you, just use a heat gun and xylol and you won't dent up the floor.

Too late . If and when I do the rest of the sound deadening I'll be using a heat gun and xylol! Just needed to get this finished before Wednesday.

Wired up the relay for the SPAL to the factory sender and it works fine. Also sealed the sunroof. Dropping the car off tomorrow for the roll bar, should have it back this weekend.

Dropped the car off for the roll bar today. Going to do a 4-Point with Cross Bar and Harness Bar. Rear mounts will tie into the rear shock towers (won't be BMW CCA legal, oh well) and the fronts will tie into the rocker panels. In a rollover a bolt in would be next to useless and more likely than not punch through the floor. The floor boards on these cars are not very strong.

Picking the car up tomorrow morning, will post pics

P.S. When I dropped the car off it weighed just a bit more than 2900 no driver, no fuel according to my calculations. With the addition of a passenger seat and the roll bar it should weigh in a bit under 3000lbs. From there, we can drop more weight via suspension and brakes. A battery may also be a good idea, as well as a muffler (stock weighs 55lbs or so). Doing all that should bring me back close to 2900lbs. From there, I would need to start doing body panels to drop anything signifigant.

Alrighty, here's the pictures of the roll bar. He did an amazing job, it came out great, I'm very happy. Now I just have to paint it.

Started to wrap-up the interior so I can paint the roll bar.

This is really exciting!!

Don't know if you mentioned it in the thread, but what color are you thinking about painting it?

Originally Posted by Gheybe

This is really exciting!!

Don't know if you mentioned it in the thread, but what color are you thinking about painting it?

Thanks

I did not mention it actually; I am going to paint the roll bar Silver (basically the same color as the exterior (Titanium Silver Metallic)) and also do the (remaining) interior trim in Silver to make it all flow. Should look pretty good when I'm done, I hope.

I have great appreciation for welds.

How much did the A/C weigh?

I like the idea of a street legal track car! Do you still have all the airbags?

Coming along nicely. What I'm going to do, to make the interior (bare metal showing) and help with sound is do a layer of Lizard Skin. It's supposed to do A LOT for the sound and weight is almost nothing. I'm going to do the entire interior chassis all the way into the trunk.

Originally Posted by invictus

I have great appreciation for welds.

I know, I almost don't want to paint over them!

Originally Posted by Tarmac_E46_M3

How much did the A/C weigh?

I like the idea of a street legal track car! Do you still have all the airbags?

Coming along nicely. What I'm going to do, to make the interior (bare metal showing) and help with sound is do a layer of Lizard Skin. It's supposed to do A LOT for the sound and weight is almost nothing. I'm going to do the entire interior chassis all the way into the trunk.

The A/C all-together minus Evaporator weighed about 30lbs I believe.

I have to still pass state inspection, so if I were to remove the airbags I would need to trick the car into thinking they were still there. I know you removed yours, did you use resistors or code them out with DIS or something?

Honestly, I don't mind the sound too much, it's really not as bad as you would think.

Originally Posted by MasterC17

The A/C all-together minus Evaporator weighed about 30lbs I believe.

I have to still pass state inspection, so if I were to remove the airbags I would need to trick the car into thinking they were still there. I know you removed yours, did you use resistors or code them out with DIS or something?

Honestly, I don't mind the sound too much, it's really not as bad as you would think.

Wow, a lot more than I thought. I might end up pulling the A/C.... we'll see how the summer goes. I did it an entire summer with the STI I had, no A/C and all. But i also didn't really go beyond the SD and OC areas here in Ca.

That's what I was getting at, if you used any resistors. I don't have the seat or door airbags, so I need to figure what I need to do to fix that light. I think I found a thread on M3F about it, I just need to get resistors and start playing with it.

I guess I'm more concerned about sound for when I slap on a 3.5" exhaust... lol. That's going to be loud! right now it's not too bad, but I don't know what it's like without the carpet, I'm sure louder than my car (I still have the stock exhaust).