128i build - NASA TT5/SCCA Time Trial

[RyanDavies]

For my rear canisters, I tucked them inside the bumper cover, was easy to zip tie along with some foam wrapping (Home Depot). Fronts were a bit trickier. I ended up with them on the strut tower brace, as with Xenons I could never fit them by the headlights. Really would have preferred that location. The trick is to find somewhere they aren't subject to the absurd engine bay heat this car produces, a trick I could never come up with a reasonable solution for.

[bionicbelly]

Ok, I am coming off a couple of days of work that were exact opposites. Yesterday F'ing sucked. I have not been that mad at a car for a couple of years. I ended up with my splitting maul hammering on chunks of wood, just so I would not beat the piss out of the car. It is cool now though. Maybe.

Anyway, before all that, I got the rear of the car finished. Ready to put tires on. Rouge Engineering and BW arms, and links installed, SS lines, Ebay 328 calipers cleaned up, rebuilt and installed. BTW, I thought the rears were aluminum also, they are not, but I guess the piston is bigger, so I went ahead an put them in, since they were the calipers I had rebuild kits for. Also got the res. for the rear shocks run. I ended up going under the bumper mounting brackets, and then through the the flappy air vents in the trunk. It will require removing the rear bumper to change springs or remove shocks, but I plan on getting them rebuilt with quick disconnect lines in the near future.

Also finished the shifter install. It is a CAE type from coolerworx. It is the only piece I could scavenge from my Z3. It was not as clean of an install as I would have liked, but I used the taller tower that came with it. Had I used the shorter one, it would have fit under the boot, but then the throw is increased by a bit.

Also got the drivers seat mounted. Still waiting on the passenger brackets, but they should be here this week. I took all the carpet out, and I am going to use the stock floormats as carpet. I did not realize how light they were, so I don't feel to bad. There are some threaded studs on the floor that I popped holes in the fasten the mats down, and I will add some industrial strength velcro around the edges to really keep them down.

So back to the first paragraph, and my shit day day yesterday. I had to go to our regional solo meeting at 1:00, so I got up early to get some things buttoned up on the car. It has been on jackstands for a while, and I wanted to at least get the rear tires on the ground. No biggie. Pop on the exhaust, put the underbody panels back on, mount and balance rear tires, presto, done. My trailer hitch had other ideas. I have taken the exhaust off and on several BMW's, and it is always easy. Should be 15 minutes tops to put back on. Nope. Big fat stupid NOPE. Turns out, with stock exhaust, if you put the front on, and try to raise the rear into position, the right side bracket will not clear the hitch. If you get the rear hangers on, the exhaust will not move back far enough to get the flanges over the manifold studs. It took two hours of gaining a 1/16th here, and a 1/16th there. I was so mad, by the time I got it in place, I had to clean up for the meeting, and didn't do another damn thing. Anyway, it is done, so on to other things.

This week, I hope to get the ducting finished up, the BW Spherical front end installed, passenger seat installed, and pads and rotors in. After that, I have to get it aligned, and on the dyno. My first autocross is in two weeks, and the next weekend is at NCM. Definitely cutting it close.

[mKilgore]

Have you ever run NCM before?

[519.E82]

Sorry if it's been mentioned else where but what corbeau seat is that? easy to install? good fit/comfy?

Thank you

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by mKilgore

Have you ever run NCM before?

Yes I have, once, and it was awesome. It is also the only track that I do not have a win at, so I am excited to get back there and fix that glitch.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by 519.E82

Sorry if it's been mentioned else where but what corbeau seat is that? easy to install? good fit/comfy?

Thank you

https://corbeau.com/fx1-pro.html

I had actually bought one used last year, and never got it in my car, but it was one of the large ones, and did not fit me very well. There are three sizes for this seat, I have the small for me (driver), and the medium one for the passenger. I am 6'0" 200lbs, and a 33 waist. I bought this one new, (I will put the used one on the passenger side) I have not driven with it yet, keep that in mind, but so far, sitting in it and making car noises seems to be very comfortable. the fit is not as snug as other seats I have been in, but it is snug enough that it will keep me firmly in place. I drive to all my events, so I wanted something comfortable, and not too tight, because I am sometimes in the car for 10-12 hours, run an event, then another 10-12 hours home. I need to be able to move a little bit. I am very optimistic for these.

Mounting was extremely easy. I already had the stock seats out, but installing and adjusting took less than an hour. I actually did not use corbeau hardware, I got mounts from Brey-Krause. Very easy, very adjustable, and has the ability to mount stock belts or harnesses. (I don't get my harness till after the first TT, so this was important to me)
http://www.bkauto.com/R_9262_for_Nar...s_p/r-9262.htm

They have three widths of mounts for different width seats.

[mKilgore]

Originally Posted by bionicbelly

Yes I have, once, and it was awesome. It is also the only track that I do not have a win at, so I am excited to get back there and fix that glitch.

I'll be very interested to hear how it goes. I have not driven there yet but hope to. I'll be interested to see what times you do and how the 1 series feels around the track.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by mKilgore

I'll be very interested to hear how it goes. I have not driven there yet but hope to. I'll be interested to see what times you do and how the 1 series feels around the track.

Looks like the best I could muster was a 2:27:5 in the Z3. I am hoping this car will be quicker. I need it to be anyway. I would imagine it is going to be pretty excellent. If you are local stop out and say Hi. I can have passengers, so bring a helmet if you want.

[bionicbelly]

Took a half day yesterday, and spent the rest of the day in the garage. I got the driver side brake duct done, everything ready for the passenger side, BW Spherical arm conversion in, a couple of interior things done, and buttoned up a bunch of little things.

Here is what I came up with for ducting. I used the hard motorsport chamber ducts, steering limiter, and fog light inlets. The inlets did not work out the way I had hoped, but I already had them, and had to improvise. Ugly af, but they will be functional. Probably do something else down the road when I can focus on one thing in detail.

Also, I am really excited for the BW front end kit. Holly balls, this thing is solid. I don't have much experience with spherical rod ends, I hope they are are pretty durable. It seem like the ends that I got with the BW arms are light years better than the ones that came with the rouge arms. Time will tell.

[bionicbelly]

Still have a good size to do list...
front brake caliper swap/rebuild
finish passenger side duct
passenger seat
more interior work
pads and rotors
CDV delete
Coding for the track...
Hope to have all this done this weekend (except the pads and rotors. They won't be here till late next week)

Then I can get the...
Alignment
Dyno
done next week.

[mabrahams]

Great work so far!

When is first shakedown?

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by mabrahams

Great work so far!

When is first shakedown?

I have an autocross coming up next weekend, and then it is straight to NCM. I am planning on doing the Friday test day, just to kinda get shocks fine tuned, and get some tire temps and what not. I am so ready to drive this turd! I am getting pretty optimistic about it's potential.

[mKilgore]

What control arms were you running before? M3? I wonder how "streetable" that BimmerWorld kit will be. I'm going to assume not very streetable.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by mKilgore

What control arms were you running before? M3? I wonder how "streetable" that BimmerWorld kit will be. I'm going to assume not very streetable.

I am going to assume that as well. I drive to and from events. Streetable is not really anything I worry about. 😉

[justpete]

The ballends on the BW arms are Aurora Precision Race parts. The Rogue parts use FK Bearing parts. Swapped the FKs out for Aurora PR parts and have the BW arms replacing the upper camber arm and wishbone in the rear. Perfectly streetable. Talked with BW about the front end kit but decided it wasn't necessary as yet, it isn't a 1er though, fwiw. Helps to use SealsIt seals on the ballends for street use, they last a couple years or more.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by justpete

The ballends on the BW arms are Aurora Precision Race parts. The Rogue parts use FK Bearing parts. Swapped the FKs out for Aurora PR parts and have the BW arms replacing the upper camber arm and wishbone in the rear. Perfectly streetable. Talked with BW about the front end kit but decided it wasn't necessary as yet, it isn't a 1er though, fwiw. Helps to use SealsIt seals on the ballends for street use, they last a couple years or more.

This is awesome info. There is definitely a big difference between the two. The aurora ends are much heavier duty. I will be doing this when the FK ends die. Thanks for the heads up. I found the SealsIt on pegasus right after I got most of this stuff installed. That will be in the works as well.

[bionicbelly]

Another update. Got the car off jack stands a couple nights ago, and I am really excited to get this thing on the track. I was worried about the spring rates, but after driving around a little bit, I think they will be good. The ride was surprisingly "plush". Very excited to start dorking around with shock settings now.
The only thing that is worrying me is there is a lot of diff noise. I am hoping it is because of all the solid mounts and lack of interior. I know that when I did all solid stuff on my Z I could hear more of the drivetrain (trans and diff) but it was not like this. The Z had fill interior though.

[ajsmithvmi]

Are you going to be at NCM this weekend (Mar 17?) If so I'll be there also.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by ajsmithvmi

Are you going to be at NCM this weekend (Mar 17?) If so I'll be there also.

Weekend after actually, the 24th and 25th.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by ajsmithvmi

Are you going to be at NCM this weekend (Mar 17?) If so I'll be there also.

Weekend after actually, the 24th and 25th.

[135]

Originally Posted by bionicbelly

Also got the res. for the rear shocks run. I ended up going under the bumper mounting brackets, and then through the the flappy air vents in the trunk. It will require removing the rear bumper to change springs or remove shocks, but I plan on getting them rebuilt with quick disconnect lines in the near future.

I see you have actual coilovers on the rear (instead of the usual separated damper/spring setup). I've only seen this conversion on one other 1-series before.

Did you calculate the change in motion ratio and then selected an appropriate spring rate for your chosen undamped ride natural frequency?
And did you measure the motion ratio as the suspension moves throughout its range of travel?

Did you reinforce the strut tower mounting position?

Is that a stainless steel fuel filler neck?

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by 135

I see you have actual coilovers on the rear (instead of the usual separated damper/spring setup). I've only seen this conversion on one other 1-series before.

Did you calculate the change in motion ratio and then selected an appropriate spring rate for your chosen undamped ride natural frequency?
I did not. I leave that up to people with more knowledge and experience than me. I used what AST said I should use. FYI- It is 650 front,
and 450 rear. I do not know if this is where it will end up, but it seems like a good starting point. I may decide to change rates after driving the car awhile.

And did you measure the motion ratio as the suspension moves throughout its range of travel?
? I thought motion ratio was a constant. And, it probably is in the range that this will be moving.

Did you reinforce the strut tower mounting position?
No. It is not needed on anything newer than E46. E46 is okay to do coil over, but you have to watch it. Anything older, reinforcement is necessary. This is according to AST.

Is that a stainless steel fuel filler neck?
I believe it is stainless? I did not really check that, so I can't say for certain.

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