The best mod for all 135i/128i track cars?

[scottn2retro]

Hi All -

We'd been racing our 135i in stock/sport class since 2008, but nothing has transformed the car like what we did recently in moving up in class and putting on a 1M front end. The car is a completely different animal now.

By putting on the 1M front fenders and bumper (also front center undertray and front fender liners), we now have an effective front offset of 17 (22 et wheels and 5mm spacer) and 62 in the rear.

Rolando now says he can drive the car on any line he wants. By making this change and being able to go to 275 tires on all 4 corners, the car istantly became one of the faster cars in the field. It always had power, but now it has handling.

More pics of the conversion
https://www.facebook.com/sctsracing/...5329109&type=3

[1&done]

Looks good! Is the over all width of the car much wider in the front than the rear? I can tell a difference when I swap from my 18.5 ec7s 18x8.5 235/40s to the 18x9 Arc 8s w/ 255/35s. I am strongly considering doing this conversion.

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by 1&done

Looks good! Is the over all width of the car much wider in the front than the rear? I can tell a difference when I swap from my 18.5 ec7s 18x8.5 235/40s to the 18x9 Arc 8s w/ 255/35s. I am strongly considering doing this conversion.

I guess I should measure the front and rear tracks now. Part of why I posted a pic kind of looking head on. Standing at the back of the car, it seems like the conversion of the front has 'squared up' the car. The car does not look wierd in any way leaving the rear of the car as OEM 135i.

[Kgolf31]

Yea...more room would help up front.

[fcman]

Yeah I have looked into this as well, seems like wider fronts, along with some camber would really help this car shine.

[Nugget]

Looks great, this car could definitely use some more rubber up front. What front splitter are you using?

[lastMleft]

So the 1 handles like it's on rails now,if you don't mind what was the cost to convert? Thanks......

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by Nugget

Looks great, this car could definitely use some more rubber up front. What front splitter are you using?

We made one out of Alumilite.

There is a thread on the conversion P/Ns. Note that we did not do everything that someone looking to build a really fully looking OEM car would do:
http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=818411

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by Rukuss

So the 1 handles like it's on rails now,if you don't mind what was the cost to convert? Thanks......

There's another thread here on the complete parts list, but it's in the thousands to pull it off and look OEM.

Now that we've done the conversion and have been tracking for a while, I have some observations:

1) With 5mm spacers up front (et22 wheels), we were breading the wheel studs. 3mm spacers put us too close to the front spring perch, so we ended up going with 12mm spacers (12mm spacers have their own hub-centric that we need to save the wheel studs). That gives us a lot of turn in, but limits how much we can turn the steering wheel. Not a big deal for a race car, but could be very limiting for a street car.

2) In the rear, we had an issue with the right rear tire rubbing on the fuel neck (we ground through it and had to replace it). In replacing it, we used a heat gun to re-shape it and mounted the tube further from the tire, but withe 3mm spacers, it is still touching it. Again, we don't want to race on 5mm spacers, so I'll need to re-roll the rear fenders some more so we can go with 12mm spacers in the rear as well.

[lastMleft]

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

There's another thread here on the complete parts list, but it's in the thousands to pull it off and look OEM.

Now that we've done the conversion and have been tracking for a while, I have some observations:

1) With 5mm spacers up front (et22 wheels), we were breading the wheel studs. 3mm spacers put us too close to the front spring perch, so we ended up going with 12mm spacers (12mm spacers have their own hub-centric that we need to save the wheel studs). That gives us a lot of turn in, but limits how much we can turn the steering wheel. Not a big deal for a race car, but could be very limiting for a street car.

2) In the rear, we had an issue with the right rear tire rubbing on the fuel neck (we ground through it and had to replace it). In replacing it, we used a heat gun to re-shape it and mounted the tube further from the tire, but withe 3mm spacers, it is still touching it. Again, we don't want to race on 5mm spacers, so I'll need to re-roll the rear fenders some more so we can go with 12mm spacers in the rear as well.

You wouldn't happen to have a close up front pic? Sounds like the car is a blast to track now.

[BrokenVert]

Its great to see that you guys are still around! Glad to see that youre still developing the car.

[Ginger_Extract]

What's wrong with a 5 mil spacer specifically? Is it just the fact that it's a non-12mm spacer w/ hub extenders?

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Ginger_Extract

What's wrong with a 5 mil spacer specifically? Is it just the fact that it's a non-12mm spacer w/ hub extenders?

5mm spacer only leaves ~6mm of hub lip for the wheel.

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by Rukuss

You wouldn't happen to have a close up front pic? Sounds like the car is a blast to track now.

Let me know if this has what you want to see
https://www.facebook.com/sctsracing/...5329109&type=3

[Kgolf31]

Originally Posted by Ginger_Extract

What's wrong with a 5 mil spacer specifically? Is it just the fact that it's a non-12mm spacer w/ hub extenders?

I've never had issues with 5mm spacers

[fboutlaw]

You know, with this setup you can run 285/30-18 square.

[pkimM3r]

i think berk did this a long time ago. it may have been 285s all around. cant remember. that car was a beast.

[pkimM3r]

just saw pics. cota? i need to go there once.

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

I've never had issues with 5mm spacers

We never did either with the 17" wheels. It was when we did the switch over to the 18" that those wheels did not seem to have as much grab on the hub centric.

[scottn2retro]

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

We never did either with the 17" wheels. It was when we did the switch over to the 18" that those wheels did not seem to have as much grab on the hub centric.

The thickness of the rotors of the new brakes may have also been a factor. But we're at the point now where we've changed all the studs and are running 12mm spacers on all 4 corners.

For the rocker panels, we ended up just using 1M rocker panels and dealing with the upper part of the back end to bring in line with the rear fender

[scottn2retro]

Hi All - to get even better handling, we put 10.5x18" wheels up front and Ralph was able to get an overall field win in the car at Road Atlanta. The car keeps getting faster.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by scottn2retro

Hi All - to get even better handling, we put 10.5x18" wheels up front and Ralph was able to get an overall field win in the car at Road Atlanta. The car keeps getting faster.

The car looks great, what kind of modifications are you running? It's a "stock class" car right?