1995 M3 coupe .. track day car

[joel]

jacked the car up tonight and looked at the exhaust. I can remove it easily.. especially since I know it has already been removed within the last half year or so, but there's no way I can remove the old exhaust safely or bolt the new exhaust in place without help. Everything is just too heavy. I can't wait to get it done though.

and I'm still struggling with where to place jack stands on this car. The points to use for the floor jack are fairly simple and sturdy, but jack stand locations are sketchy at best. Most recommendations for the rear are to place jack stands immediately in front of the rear wheels, at the "toe plates", where the rear trailing arms meet the subframe. But that's deep enough up inside the car that the car just isn't lifted that high up unless you have some rather high lift jack stands.

placing jack stands at the front is a little easier... I think, but I haven't tried it yet, other than using the lift points on the rocker panels, which are also rather sketchy.

Ugh... really need to find another e36 person who has done this and see what they do.

[benny_mech]

I've used extra jack stands to hold up the exhaust while working on it.

[joel]

yeah... I only have one set of jack stands right now

[joel]

Over Friday and Saturday I got the black OEM luxury bumper on... but realized that the passenger bumper bracket is broken off of the bumper cover. It's not meant to be removed.. so the one I have from the old bumper will have to be plastic welded on... or something. At least it looks better, for now.

I also got the rear diffuser/trim piece reinstalled.. and installed a couple of other replacement pieces while I was at it (bracket that holds wires to the hood strut, etc.).

I also cut the old passenger side fog light plug off (it was left dragging on pavement... oops) and crimped on a new plug... only to realize I had the wrong plug. Sooo.. I need to make a junk yard visit and cut off a plug with wires from any random e36


so, the car is kind of complete now. The luxury bumper means it currently has slats in the middle rather than a mesh, and it's missing the front lip. And with the missing passenger bumper cover bracket the cover likes to pop out too far. I also need to get a passenger side brake duct and then buy a new underpanel and get that installed. It's a process.. but things are looking up

will have a few pics later

[joel]

pics!

old and dirty




oem luxury bumper next to aftermarket new bumper


installing the new bumper


new and clean






so you can see what the 'sport' bumper looks like.. same bumper, but different grille and it has a lip

[joel]

finally got the exhaust on the car. I bought the mid-pipe/cats and cat-back a year ago. The old exhaust was welded where it was supposed to be bolted together, and the muffler was rusting. The muffler produced a bit more drone and low end noise as a result, but certainly didn't sound like anything special. The engine and intake certainly sounded good though.. as good as (better), and as loud as, many M3 exhausts that I've heard.

So I finally did it.. pulled the old exhaust off at a shop.. on a lift. It came off in one piece, due to the aforementioned welding, and I promptly sold it to another shop tech for $50. The OBD2 mid-pipe went on nicely, with all new gaskets/seals between the headers and the cat-back. The Active Autowerke Gen 3 cat-back didn't go on as easily due to worn rubber exhaust hangers and not enough clearance to tighten bolts up, etc. I'll have to get new hangers soon.. and we'll fabricate some mounts up that hold things in a better way than they're held now.

The OBD2 mid-pipe should flow a lot better.. due to a change in design from having a small X-pipe pre-cat, to having two completely separate full-size pipes.

obd2 mid-pipe is at the top.. obd1 mid-pipe is on the bottom:



The Active Autowerke Gen 3 cat-back is about half the weight of the OEM cat-back, is obviously louder, but also produces more of a growl when you get on the throttle. It's very noticeable when wide open, and I think the sound it produces compliments the engine noise very nicely. This is one of the better videos I've found of an M3 with the same cat-back, though my car has a lot more noticeable engine noise as well:


Listening to that video again.. my car definitely sounds more aggressive than his. He has the S52b32us, and I have the S50b30us engine, and with my mods (cams, larger intake/AFM, larger fuel injectors, and chip) the engine revs a lot higher and sounds meaner. Pushing more air through the exhaust means more noise

The car definitely accelerates more smoothly too. I can feel that the car is a little faster as well (the cat-back is proven to add a few hp to a stock car.. who knows how much it's added with mine, especially with the better flowing mid-pipes).


nothing special... phone camera pics:





now I really need to install the springs I've had for over 6 months (should happen soon), and then align the wheels properly. Then I might actually be able to drive the car in a way that matches how it sounds.

[joel]

I also polished the windows yesterday.. got all of the ugly hard water spots off.



the windows look soooo much better now. This also meant that I could finally install the all-important track decals, for the tracks this car has been on so far

[joel]

leading up to getting an alignment.. ideally after swapping in the springs, soon.. I have been reading about this car's ideal alignment and the adjustments online. The M3 has no front camber adjustment from the factory. Apparently the factory camber is around -.5 up front. Well, a year before I bought my car the M3 was aligned with about -1.5 front camber.

So.. the ways to increase front camber are:
1) shims .. gain .5 - 1 degrees negative camber
2) install '96+ M3 front strut mounts, and swap them .. gain about 2 degrees negative camber
3) install camber plates.. ~1 - 4 degrees negative camber

So, it's probably not swapped '96+ strut mounts, since my camber isn't -2.5 degrees. There are either shims in place, or camber plates installed. Guess what I'm checking tomorrow


'course this is all a bit moot.. since the ideal camber is around -2.5 up front anyway. But, -1.5 for street is reasonable on this car, and will certainly aid in the car's handling until camber plates can be ordered.

[joel]

the car definitely has the '95 strut mounts, as expected. I didn't get a chance to clear out some of the garage and start work on upgrading the springs today, so maybe I can do that tomorrow or Thursday.. and find out if there are shims in there

[girdwood]

[ExplosiveToaster]

Joel let me know if you want to borrow my GoPro and microphones to record your car It's not a crazy setup, just two cheap lavalier mics with 20ft cables plugged into a GoPro using a headphone jack splitter, but the results are pretty good!


BTW joel the guy in the Subie wagon named Shawn said he knows you from the Subaru forums from a while back.

[joel]

yeah.. he's a good guy. I have a video of my car around the Ridge with him riding as passenger

[joel]

Quote: Originally Posted by ExplosiveToaster

Joel let me know if you want to borrow my GoPro and microphones to record your car It's not a crazy setup, just two cheap lavalier mics with 20ft cables plugged into a GoPro using a headphone jack splitter, but the results are pretty good!

that's pretty cool. I miss hearing the tire noise though

[ExplosiveToaster]

Quote: Originally Posted by joel

that's pretty cool. I miss hearing the tire noise though

It'd at least work to show what the motor & exhaust sound like

EDIT: Funny he's talking about how he wants brakes like yours, when he was there with me he had a StopTech BBK up front

[joel]

he has both the Legacy GT wagon, and a tdi sportwagen, so he might be talking about the sportwagen. He didn't like his old brakes very much after riding in my car

[joel]

started work on replacing the springs. I am installing Vogtland '95 M3 Club Spec springs onto the Bilstein Sports that were already on the car.

front strut removed with the OEM M3 springs on there. I had a difficult time getting the strut mount nut off the top.. ended up needing a more powerful impact gun.


Vogtland springs installed. I'm now having difficulty getting these reinstalled.. those top mounting bolts are pointing away from each other, which is making it very difficult to get them through the small holes in the strut tower... ugh. I still have to work on the rears too, though they should be a lot easier.

[joel]

compare strut mount studs in last image with this one

[joel]

was able to bend the mounts a bit today, so that the studs are more straight. The studs slid right into the strut tower holes now.. easy

[girdwood]

I could have sworn I posted a reply last night on this, but I'll do it again... what's the difference in the springs you put on VS the stock ones?

[joel]

they're maybe 3/4" or 1" shorter.. and the have a higher spring rate. The OEM M3 springs with the Bilstein Sport suspension actually raised my car about a 1/4" above stock ride height. The Bilstein Sports are meant for lower and stiffer springs, so having such tall springs just makes the Bilsteins handle weirdly. I'm sure they top out sometimes... not very good.

The Vogtland Club Spec springs aren't going to lower the car much, but they'll be a great step up from a stock suspension setup, will handle better on track, and probably ride a little better on the street as well. We'll see though. My main goal was to get some springs in there that were a little shorter.. like what these Bilstein Sports were designed for. And I got a good deal on the Vogtland springs.

Eventually the M3 will get a racing coilover setup, new strut mounts with spherical bearings, adjustable front camber/caster plates and rear control arms, etc. But for now.. this should be a good compromise.

[girdwood]

Ahh, figured they were a more aggressive spring rate, but wasn't 100% sure.

[joel]

yeah... I don't even know how much more aggressive they are. I am made to believe they are the actual springs used for the club spec series, so they probably weren't super aggressive or super different from stock. They're more like an OEM upgrade.. a little lower, and a little stiffer. They should be a nice fit for the Bilstein Sports, which are extra stiff for stiffer springs, but don't have enough travel to accommodate shorter springs very well.


so I did get the front suspension bolted up tonight. It feels good to finally finish that part. It "only" took me four days.. though I did very little on Saturday evening and on Sunday. I'll probably keep the front jacked up for a while longer while I replace the fender liners, install the brake ducts, replace the passenger fog harness, and clean a few other things up. Then I'll start it on the rear.. which should be a lot more simple.

[joel]

some pics

shiny Vogtland Club Spec springs in the box


had to move some things out of the way to fit a car in the garage


confirmed that shims were definitely installed on the car. This is good for about -0.5 degrees of negative camber on each side. This is fine for now.. more negative camber will exist once the car is lowered.


first front strut is out! dirty..


then six uh-60's flew over


cleaned things off


a full day later.. got the new springs installed after gaining access to a more powerful impact gun


pic of the strut mounts bent back up a bit, so the studs are more straight and slide into the strut tower holes nicely


my 'triumph!' photo... took this after everything was bolted back up, loctited, and torqued. I just need to run the wires properly now.

[joel]

so I made a newbie mistake last night and installed the left side strut on the right side... and the right side strut on the left side. And I used red loctite. I realized this when I went to attach the wires to the struts today. Grr.

So, I spent an hour unbolting both struts before I left for work today. I probably could have had them bolted back in on the correct sides as well, but loctite made that difficult. I'll get them bolted back in correctly after work

[benny_mech]

Moot point now that you got them off, but a heat gun or propane torch will soften up Loctite.