120D E87 Endurance Racing build

[olan98]

Hi everyone!

Been creeping these forums for a while looking for tips and tricks and realized that even after 10 years, the E87 120D is still fairly uncharted territory in high-performance racing.

(or people are very good at gatekeeping their secrets)


I have a few problems i want to solve for the moment being.

Tracks are modified to keep top-speeds low and as much competition as possible, while putting even more pressure on the cars cooling and handling.


Cooling:

In previous racecars, i've bought readily made oil adapters to put into the filter housing replacing the enternal filter for an external one into an thermostat block i can also put sensors into.

There seems to be no premade adapters for the M47D20TÜ2, and i know that diesels (especially turbo like these) tend to get really hot, i can only imagine what 8hours in 30+ degrees celsius would do to it.

I'm going to be running 5W60 and figuring that if i pre-heat properly i won't have any problems with it being too thick.

Seen that some people do adaptors that replace the OEM oil cooler, but i want to do as little incursion as possible and keeping that would also help with cooling.

Having an adaptor CNC made is also an option, but not very cost-effective.




Handling:

i've seen many people having problems with front camber (and so have i)

Pulling the pin will apparantly only makes 0.5 - 1 degree while only thing we are allowed to swap being different springs.

So there goes dinan, M3 LCA and adjustable plates out the window.


What have you guys done?



Best Regards,

Olan98

[spidertri]

What does your rule book allow for modifications to the front suspension? Can you slot the holes in the strut tower to get more negative camber that way?

I'm not familiar with the M47, what type of oil cooler does it have stock? Is it one of the coolant-to-oil heat exchangers?

[olan98]

Finally a reply!

Only springs (suspension-wise) altrough i noticed that the damper mount is sort of "clamped"and can be changed in altitude?

if it's possible to adjust the altitude, then technically it should result in a lower front and bit more camber...


Only problem being the tyre rubbing against the damper, but this could be fixed with a more negative offset rim.

I might be out in the dark here, but feels better to vent my ideas before changing my alignment.



Exactly, Coolant to oil heat exchanger.

The idea of keeping everything and just running a larger radiator has crossed my mind, but i don't think that it'd be sufficient.

Seen some conversion plates to get rid of the cooler and put AN out/inlet instead, but that'd still leave me with two filters, and that i don't know how that'll affect my oil pressure.

Thx in advance for any answers!

[spidertri]

Is there a wheel/tire size limit? Lower offset wheel will get it away from the strut. If you can only change springs then I'm not sure of a good way to get more camber other than lowering and pulling the pins like you say.

Does anyone else you know run a E87/E90 in this series?

For endurance racing, I'd want to separate the coolant and oil system cooling, so get the AN conversion plate and install an oil radiator as large as you can fit. What do you mean by 2 filters?

I'm using that style of oil cooling on my 128i, it hasn't negatively affected my oil pressures.

Do you have oil temp and oil pressure sensors?