Back in the day...

[agent]

Great work Luke! I look forward to taking another ride in her.

[randomtask37]

well done man. car looks awesome... now with p0waa

[jdirty]

Just got done reading your thread.. Short and sweet.
Amazing build. I bet that euro 3.2 sounds amazing!
With everything you've done to your sedan,
I can definitely see why you'd like to go all out on coilovers.
Sub'd

[JCarp90]

This is relevant to my interests. Continue.

[warshark6]

i am inspired my 4door will be something like that well done

[Aviator]

NEW Z3 1.9L steering rack, rockauto sells thse for around $255. They are new, not rebuilt. You can't go wrong with a reman from a forum sponsor either though. I avoided any core charge this way however. Not sure how different vendors handle this.
- Rack swap kit

Amazing car! I'm about to do an S52 swap here soon and I sourced a used e36 m3 rack for dirt cheap but this has me re thinking it. A new rack for $255? And who sells the "rack swap kit"? Thanks and great work.

[Aviator]

Bump for kit info. About to order this Z3 rack from rock auto.

[rcsoundn1]

Dam i need to get my cars paint right like that

[Luke_M]

Sorry I missed this Aviator. I got the swap kit from e30tech

[91cabrio]

The m tech bumpers look sweet on the wide body, always wondered if that would work. It looks great nice job. What size tires are you running

[Eurowned]

Looks great! what are the wheel specs?

[henryki]

looks proper, nice job.

[Luke_M]

17x8.5 et20. 215/40/17 tires

Not sure on the tire specs on the race car but it easily fits 10" wide wheels.

[Luke_M]

A couple of updates. Got GC Coils on 440/650 Koni SA's. Rides very nice. You can feel how much better the konis deal with sharp bumps (despite the stiffer springs) and quick turns and transitions. More comfortable and better in the turns. Best of both worlds there over bilsteins.

Next we redid the exhaust as the original was a single 2.5" with crush bends and a simple straight through muffler. Somehow it didn't drone to awful bad and wasn't super loud but it was to much for my tastes. Big props to some of the r3v guys for documenting a Borla Pro XS fitment in the trans tunnel. I used the borla pro xs in the center and a larger magnaflow in the rear. Sounds great. Fairly quiet around town and has a nice deep sound when I'm on it. Cheap too after price shopping. Hopefully I even picked up a little power as well.

I used a 4' 409 stainless straight piece and (2) 180 409 SS degree mandrel bends and I probably didn't even need the last 180 degree bend. 270 degrees total would have probably sufficed. Very cheap and easy way to get a mandrel exhaust. Paid around $350 for both mufflers, the pipes, flex pipe and hangers. Had a friend help with the cutting and welding.

Also got the AC going thanks again to lots of info on r3v and other places. In particular this thread helped a ton:http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=246743 Bought my own Harbor Freight AC Gauges and learned a lot about AC along the way.
FWIW The Euro S50 does accept a US spec AC Compressor with a US spec compressor bracket. Basically treat is as a US S52 and you're set. Only thing is I suspect the bracket holds the compressor down a little closer to the ground compared to the S52. Or is at least rotated that direction. I say that because the custom made lines hit the frame rail and the ac tensioner arm hits the skidplate. I believe they would have worked on an s52 as these are experienced people who did both the lines and skidplate.

Also was lucky enough to have really cool photoshoot by a friend of mine. He recently put it up his blog. http://www.codymphotography.com/blog...24/lukes-e30-m

Up next are covered sport seats and e30 M3 rears to match.

[Luke_M]

In a half hearted attempt to keep a build thread going here are a few interior pics. E30 sport seats with a leatherette outside and nice cloth insert. Added heating elements for the winter.





Changed the valve cover gasket. Redline oil = clean engine!



Also had a chance to take it down the dragstrip. Ran a 13.9 @ 102 60ft 2.287 Definitely could get the 60ft time but overall I'm very happy with it's performance. I know it sounds slow but remember this is a crappy driver making his first ever pass and this is Bristol TN, a notoriously slow, but really nice track. To put it in perspective a friend has a 400+ rwhp C6 and is a regular at bristol. He runs low 13's. A new C7 ran a 13.5 and my brothers GSXR1000 was trapping low 130's (experienced track rider). </excuses>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha7kg8IIYhg