Long term non BMW project teaser

[slammin.e28]

Stikrz!

[Eric]

I gave up trying to make 17" wheels work for now. The combination of Evo II brakes (300mm rotors; 4-piston Brembo calipers) and stock fenders is simply causing too much headache.

why not look into CCW wheels custom made for your specs?

Also toyo makes the R888 in 225/45/16 I believe.

[Emre]

Couple of fun events this weekend: car show yesterday; NY BMW CCA track day today

Just had the wheels refinished in GT3 orange and added some cheesy graphics. These were taken this past Sunday at GFest '12:




My ridiculous vanity plate:




Today, I had the car on the track (NJMP--Lightning) with the NY BMW CCA. The car is FINALLY running right! We were able to pass most of the early M3's (E30 and E36) running in the instructor group...except for one guy with an insanely fast E30 M3 2.5L stroker. Not bad, considering I've got a bone stock (165 hp) engine under the hood. With twice the HP and 25% more rubber on the ground, the race-prepped E46 M3's were out of reach.

Found a fellow lunatic to play with:








Dicing with the Bimmers:








Look, ma ... no body roll!




Well, that's it for now. After two years of work, things have finally started coming together on this project. The suspension and tires are working beautifully. The engine is strong. The car feels great!

[leegf]

awesome shots. glad to hear the car is finally sorted!

[Emre]

Photos from Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant

I had the car up at Tremblant last weekend with the BMW Club of Quebec. It was Canadian Grand Prix weekend, so attendance was pretty light and everyone had plenty of track time. The weather was gorgeous: sunny, dry, and not too hot.

Anyway, here's the 16v in action at my favorite track:





















You'll notice in some shots it looks like the car is smoking a bit. That's because I hadn't seated the dipstick properly and some oil was splashing onto the headers in left-hand corners. Unfortunately, that session was the one where the track photographer took the coolest pics!

Also, in a few of the pics it looks like the car is squatting hard under acceleration and rolling quite a bit. It's funny, but it feels good from the driver's seat, so I was pretty surprised when I saw the pics. I'll have to check in with the guys from Ground Control to see what they think. May need to reconsider my spring rates.

All in all, it was a great weekend. I drove 450 miles to the track, did 7 or 8 hard sessions on the track over the course of 2 days, then drove the 450 miles back home. The car ran like a top, despite the oil leak for that one session (totally my fault).

[aproy]

looks awesome Emre!

[Petebee]

Hey I did the same thing with the wheels on my Scirocco (Porsche GT3 Orange):





Awesome MB!

[E30_Pare]

Any info on the ground control setup? I've been searching for a decent setup for my 190d, but nothing on the market seems worth the money. If all else fail might just get an h&r cup kit. Anywho sweet ride that is a proper cossy

[Emre]

Any info on the ground control setup?

What do you want to know?

If all else fail might just get an h&r cup kit.

I've heard nothing but bad things about the Cup Kit. If you want H&R springs, try their "Nurburgring GP Spec" springs paired with Bilstein Sport dampers revalved to "Firehawk Spec." It's basically a copy of the old FIA Group N suspension.

Anywho sweet ride that is a proper cossy

Thanks!

[bestwheelbase]

Looks great on the track.

[cbouchez]

It looks amazing!! Love your car man.

[E30_Pare]

Dumpability, pics of front mounting, camber plates? Ride quaility (bouncy, stiff, soft, harsh, etc), rear suspension setup, camber arms? Skid plate? I don't know if any of you guys have seen 190 suspension before, but the first time I had the tires off I was just baffled. Then of course the w201 seems to have a very limited after market options. I've also heard of people modifying to fit e36 camber plates & konis. Not very clear on many things. Thanks 190rev :(

[Emre]

Alignment

I mentioned that the car felt a bit understeery at Tremblant last month. So I took it in to a local race shop that Levent works with (Bulldog Motorsports, Clifton, NJ) for another alignment. After a lengthy discussion with a couple of guys who have experience on the track with the W201 chassis, my goal was to be able to dial in between 3 and 4 degrees of negative camber up front.







Turns out I had -3 degrees camber in the rear but only -2 degrees in the front. Plus, there was a massive amount of toe-in up front. The GC camber plates don't have a provision for caster adjustment, so we were stuck with whatever we had.

We were able to dial in lots more negative camber up front, but really weren't sure what our goals should be in terms of toe. Considering the suspension design and weight are grossly in line with an E36 M3 on Ground Control suspension, we figured that would be a reasonable baseline. That meant a bit of toe-out.

This is what we ended up with:

FRONT CASTER: +10.2
FRONT CAMBER: -3.3
FRONT TOE TOTAL: +0.08

REAR CAMBER: -3.0
REAR TOTAL TOE: -0.23

I haven't tried it out on the track yet. But just driving around a few on-ramps and things you can definitely feel the front end is much, much sharper on turn-in (I'm sure the toe-out has a lot to do with this). And the car feels more neutral overall; the balance has shifted from gentle understeer to slightly tail-lead.

We'll see how it does on a real circuit: I'll be at Calabogie with the folks from BMW Club of Ottawa next weekend (July 20-22) and then at Summit Point with the BMW CCA NJ Chapter the following weekend (July 28-29).

Can't wait! ::D :woowoo:

[markseven]

Emre, that car is soon hot, mang.

How was the lack of camber not visible to the naked eye?

[Emre]

Emre, that car is soon hot, mang.

Thanks!

How was the lack of camber not visible to the naked eye?

It was originally set to -2 degrees, which is what the folks from GC recommended. Now it's between -3 and -3.5 degrees. The theoretical maximum is -4 degrees.