Originally Posted by savowood
Before we get too far into this, you should note my expectations are probably a bit different than what you may have. I race a 128i in Grand-Am in the CTSCC. I also go out and have fun at the occasional DE, so I think I have an idea of what you might want, although I could be way off.
How much is budget a consideration? It's hard to tell you what you can/should do without an idea of how much you're willing to spend. Given the car list in your signature line, I can imagine you might have a good sized budget available.
Let's get started though, with brakes and tires. The first thing you should do, and the thing that will make you faster than engine mods, is brakes and tires. The 6 piston calipers and rotors on the 135 are quite good, but the street pads will burn away in no time. You're going to need to get some nice pads on there. Hawk makes several in the HT line. Stay away from the HPS or HP+. HT-10 is probably a good choice. We use aftermarket brakes with Pagid pads. Pagid doesn't make anything for the street version of the car.
Tires and wheels should be done at the same time you do the brakes. You can find a lot of nice lightweight 18" wheels. You'll probably want an 18x8.5 with an ET of 45. Try to keep the weight to 20# or less per rim We use the O.Z. Allegria. There are other options for less which perform as well. As for tires, are you going to drive them on the street? If not, you can get full slicks, but you're probably going to want to start with something like a nice summer high performance tire. Maybe even an R compound if you already have some track experience, but seriously stay off them if you don't. They can mask your mistakes. A good street tire would be something like a Toyo T1R or R1R, or maybe a Michelin Pilot Sport PS2. If you want a set of the Continental slicks we use, I can put you in touch with the right person to get some. You might do better to get some basic Hoosier R6 rubber as it tends to be a little less expensive.
By this time, you're probably going to want to do a short shift kit and clutch if you don't have the DCT. Steptronic is an evil and awful excuse for a transmission, so we'll just stay away from that. I like B&M for shift kits, and SPEC for clutches. I've had several cars with a SPEC clutch and I find them to be excellent. The punishment I put them through, they last amazingly long. Pricing is about the same or less than your typical tuner sport clutch. You're probably going to stall it several times the first month you have it while driving on the street, but you'll get used to it. I'd probably go with a SPEC 3, which is surprisingly cheaper than a 2 or 2+.
Moving on to the next stage, the bars. You can get some nice bars for a few hundred bucks each. You can get what we use for about $2k or a little more per axle. They're bladed bars, and basically infinitely adjustable. Adjusting on the fly if you want to set it up that way (in car adjustment), or mounted on the strut bar. If you're interested in these, let me know. I can put you in touch with my team owner and he'll get them to you.
After the bars, it's time for springs and dampers. Ground Control does a nice job with adjustable coil overs. You can always specify the spring you want. Then for the dampers, although we use AST, my preference would be JRZ. They're good for dual duty, while at the same time being great on the track. Dual adjustable, easy to set up, and probably the one thing that will make you feel like a master more than any other. It'll be the best $4k you've ever spent on making your car (and you) faster. Also, depending on how sticky the tires are and the stiffness of the springs, you're probably going to need camber plates. Brian at JRZ can help you out with them. When you're ready to do this stage, call him and tell him what you're looking for. He'll set you up with what you need based on your level.
By this time, you're spinning the inside wheel, and think the traction control is for wimps. It's LSD time! No, not time to drop acid. Limited slip, baby! I'm not sure which one we use on the CTSCC car, but it's probably the Turner one, and yes, it's expensive. On the other end of the price spectrum, it's Wavetrac. I've heard great things about them, although no personal experience. Personally, if I were building a dual duty car, I'd probably go for the Wavetrac.
Now you're getting really fast, and probably wanting to Time Trial with SCCA or NASA. I think they require a cage, so it's time to do a full roll cage. I have a great guy in Austin (Dripping Springs) who builds a nice cage. There's also Precision Chassis Works in Arizona. Great work from that shop. And of course, if you're in the Virginia beach area, my team owner's shop does them, too.
You may have noted I haven't mentioned a single engine or drivetrain mod so far. Power will make you faster, but not as fast as the other stuff I've already mentioned. A full intake, exhaust, and tune will get you probably 60 horses. That might take a half second off your lap times. For comparison, just switching to an R compound tire will take at least a second off. I'd probably go with the Dinan stage 3 to do this. I think it includes the headers, pipes, intake, tune, etc. Then look at getting serious in the motor after doing the stuff i just mentioned...
Balance the crank, match the pistons, port and polish the heads, and get a hot cam in there. You're looking at about $15k to have it done right, but you'll get the car over 400 to the ground. At this point, it's a good thing you did the brakes and tires. =-)
Now, we can look at aero. A splitter and wing should be done at the same time, and they'll take a lot of time to match. We're not allowed any aero, so I don't have any idea on where to go for this on the 135. On my Boxster, I built the splitter myself, and I'm still trying to tune the rear wing to match it after almost a year.
I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me for more exacting details on anything.
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