Sunday, February 22, 2015

It's here... 2015 season in F-street, Street Touring Ultra, and E-Street Prepared can now begin.


And already up on scales


Just a hair under 3600 lbs


And the 328 is sold and off to be stripped, caged, and eventually a full on race car for Vorshlag Motorsports shop team for WRL racing. Can't wait to see it out on the track, even if it won't be me driving.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Funny Story...



Yeah, so I'm not getting the M3, or likely the Z3.


Deposit put down on this, which was always a dark horse candidate:


Non-performance pack (no brembos, no 19" wheels/tires/upgraded springs), and non premium, no leather, lots of doo dadds missing, but either way, PP, or premium it was going to be $4k more. I'd rather invest that in suspension and moving to ESP where you can really let this thing sing.



Looking at bumping the tires to 265/35-18's and run F-Street for a while, then upgrade the exhaust, intially, and start getting advice on suspension, for a move to E-Street Prepared. Supposedly, the move to a Magnaflow exhaust yields another 30hp at the wheels, so engine hp the car would be in the 470hp range. I don't know that I need to do much more than that. I'll be focusing on suspension and getting the R-comp rubber to stick.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Tick, Tock, waiting for the money tree to bloom

I'm waiting for the funds for this season to materialize, which should hopefully be in the next few weeks.

Although I'm still jazzed about an FP/XP Z3 build, I've been in the hunt for a no-sunroof, manual seat E46 M3 to have as a backup car for F-Street class. E46 M3's took a number of top positions at SCCA Solo Nationals so it would be a great car for a daily driver to replace the 160k, 328i.

I had one sourced, but sadly, the dealership that had it, knocked off $1k in price, and it sold pretty much immediately after sitting on their lot for the better part of 6 months. MurphysLaww racing for ya'

I'm keeping a lookout for more with this lack of options, as it's also that many fewer electronics that can go wrong. This is the weight savings I'd be looking to get out of one.(this is an estimate based on other peoples postings. I will weigh mine myself and update it)



This should bring it down below CSL weight, and be closing in on Z3 Prepared class lb/hp ratio.

I think the CSL is not allowed in stock class, but I may be wrong

Sunday, January 11, 2015

New Season coming, closed out the last well

Getting progressively more excited about the coming season. Funds for the season, which I expected in January, won't be available until mid feb, though, so I'm still looking for my rides.

I have a good prospect for a Z3 3.0 that was a former STR car, but it's up north. Logistics could be a problem. I'm thinking somewhat about skipping F-Prepared, and jumping straight to X-Prepared too, which would allow me to pick up a Z3 M instead. There have been a few reasonably priced ones around here locally recently. It's going to pain me though to cut the windshield off of an $8k + car though, so I'm not sure I'll go there.

Finished the season well, and picked up my first season class trophy.

Take it with a grain of salt as the more competitive F-Street drivers in our class with appropriate cars were running in what we call Pro-Pax class. I was probably running one of the lowest powered cars allowed in the class, so there's that.

Two of those three did trophy at Nationals this year, and the other was just a bit out. If I can come up with a more appropriate F-street car for next year, I'll bump to Pro-Pax as well.


Been looking at this one... It will probably last due to some significant issues, but appears to be a no-sunroof, manual seat car. I'm not sure if one would be competitive against the 15' stang, but It will be my daily, and I'll generally be focusing on the F/X-P car so that doesn't really matter.


Saturday, December 27, 2014

Dreamin' and list of parts that will be coming off the Z3



VF engineering S/C

308hp on the 2.8, and 330 on the 3.0.

Should wild hair arise, and I pick up a Z3M, it would be more like 350.

This is all at 6 psi, and since this would be for Auto-x only, I think we could bump that some.

I'm hoping for reliable hp in the range of 350-400 at the wheels and then spend some time working on the loose nut behind the wheel.

This is at least the beginning of the list of what will either be coming off, or be altered to make it lighter. I'll be weighing all of this as I go for posterity.

AC blower fan
AC compressor
AC line compress to cond
AC Line evap to compress.
aux condens. cooling fan
bonnet struts
cruise control actuator
dash airbag
door ajar chime gong
driver seat belt
drivers door lock actuator
pass seat belt
pass door lock actuator
engine cover
driverside door airbag
pass door airbag
fan clutch
fan
Fuel injection plastic cov.
fuel cap actuator
headlight ari vent
heating core
high beam light module
hood bonnet hinges
hood weather strip
horn
HVAC compressor mount braket
HVAC condensor
interior sun visors
left window glass
right window glass
Windshield
low side AC line
mirrors
OEM battery cabling
OEM battery
OEM headers
OEM wheels
pass. A pillar trim
drivers A pillar trim
pass AC vent
driver AC vent
pass corner window
driver corner window
pass rear fender liner
driver rear fender liner
pass front fender liner
driver front fender liner
Speakers
Radio Head unit
drive. power mirror switch
pass. power mirror switch
pass window switch
driver window switch
driver seat
pass. seat
spare
spare tire bracket
stearing column trim panel
trunk lid release
trunk lid hinges
under dash trimp panel
vert top hydraulic lines
vert top
washer reservoir
pass. window door trim
driver window door trim
windshield washer pump
wiper motor
wiper relay module
wiper stalk
wipers
wiring harness
Windshield
OEM flywheel
OEM engine

In the interest of not putting the cart before the horse...Tow vehicle acquired

Even a little bigger than I thought I'd go:



5.7L, 4x4 (not intentional), and Tow package (intentional...)

Seems to be solid. but the weird transmission I was warned about is definitely there.

Has a pretty cool SnugTop bed cover that the PO wired with some lighting. I like it, and already feel more manly, and less of a Texan transplant.

So next, have to decide on open or enclosed trailer. Leaning towards enclosed.

Also, looks like I'll end up winning F-street. No one showed for F-Street in the last event, so it ended up being a done deal.

I don't think I lost a race in class after mounting the Koni's. Made a big difference even on toasty tires. But I lost every race to the guys that were running X-Pro class. Fastest of the also rans. With some new 255's I think I could have been within a second of them, but generally was a good two seconds out. Giving up 200hp can't be made up with just a well balanced car.




Sunday, November 9, 2014

Beginning planning for both a DSP 328i, and an FP Z3

So I'm beginning the planning for the conversion of the 328 to DSP(a lite prep), and a future purchase Z3(full on strip and prep pending tow vehicle and trailer purchase).

The trick for me is to get as much stuff that can be used on both cars. This will mainly be Wheels and tires. This will also likely be the order that I begin purchases.

Wheels:

For both cars, I'll likely be trying to run either 17x10 or 18x10 wheels.

Probably hit the easy button here and order these from Vorshlag.com




Tires:


Tires will be R-comp 295/40-17, 295/30-18, or 305/30-18 Kumho V710, or Hoosier depending on availability.

Tire Rack will get this order.

Suspension:

This will probably not be something that will be swappable.

DSP 328:


I may just use the Koni's already on the 328, and add the Bavarian Auto (hard) springs that I already have.



FP Z3:


For the Z-3, I expect to spend some cash:

Suspension

TC Kline Racing Double Adjustable kit:


Brakes:

Wilwood

Forged Narrow Superlite 6R Big Brake Front Brake Kit (Hat)