BMW M3 with V10 M5 manual swap

Very rarely does a car come across my desktop, at which I just stare in amazement. The ground up restoration and re-incarnation of this wonderfully stock E30 M3 into a fire breathing monster shows that there are people out there still have fine taste. And deep pockets.

What we have here is a fully loaded SCCA ready BMW E30 fitted with just about everything they could scrape together from the stock parts bin, plus a Dinan 5.7L stroker kit. This car is well above and beyond what anyone needs in terms of performance, while maintaining a totally stock look.

Below is a brief outline from the builders of the car Piper Motorsports.

Full pics – click here –

The all new E90 (06-07 BMW 3 series) front and rear sub frames with all associated suspension components where assembled on a chassis jig and adjusted to fit within the stock body of the M3. To achieve this, the stock front frame rails have been removed and new rails where constructed to adapt the new sub frame. We’ve even raised the front shock towers to allow proper suspension travel for the E90 suspension. The rear of the car was completely cut and removed, excluding the exterior body panels of course, then re constructed to fit the new rear suspension package. This includes the fabrication of new rear shock towers, frame rails, spring mounts, wheel tubs and all related sheet metal work.

Many have asked us, where’s the roll cage? Just look closer. Knowing that the customer wanted some form of interior re installed, the roll cage was integrated into the body. The A and B pillars have been sectioned and removed. The bars are inserted into the body making the cage virtually invisible. Door bars are normally just too intrusive on a street car so the inner rocker panels were also sectioned. A hefty piece of box steel was then welded in place connecting the front of the cage to the back while offering some additional side impact protection as well. Essentially all that will be seen after interior is installed will be the rear X and harness bar.

Now for the part everyone’s been waiting for, the infamous S85 M5 V10 power plant. This motor was chosen for obvious reasons and it’s been matched up with the M5 6 speed manual transmission, differential and half-shafts. The installation of the engine actually started during the first few steps of the suspension assembly on the chassis jig. The new E90 front sub frame was completely reconstructed, among other things to adapt the new engine. Firewalls generally get in the way when stuffing big motors into little cars, so the firewall and transmission tunnel have been removed and were later reconstructed around the new engine and transmission. We were very happy with the final placement and balance of the engine, in fact the top of the cylinder heads are just shy of sitting lower than the top of the wheels themselves.

Once the motor was in place and the firewall sealed up, then it was time to wire the car. Rather than spending countless hours ourselves, we decided it was best to contact the best at Apex Speed Technology in CA to complete the task. They worked with a Pectel SQ6M12 management system and wired the car front to back. They made multiple trips from CA, spent countless hours, worked late nights and weekends but we couldn’t be happier with the results. There are many neat features that one would never expect to see on an E30. Such as programmable and adjustable traction control, full variable camshaft control for all 4 cams, full electronic throttle control for both throttle banks, driver selectable Anti-lock Brake system, Digital Pi OMEGA dashboard with multiple pages to monitor all vital functions and a Ole Buhl Racing power management system with electronic load control and power distribution.

As you could imagine, with the new suspension and wheel/tire combo the fender clearance became an issue. So we’ve extended the front and rear fender flares to accommodate the wider track which gives it a more aggressive, but subtle look. To finish it off a stainless steel dual exhaust system with twin mufflers exit through the rear bumper.

After our job with the metal fabrication was finished our friends at Old School Enterprises took on the body work and paint. After a very short turn around time the car was back at the shop with a beautiful, no tint silver paint job. The attention to detail is outstanding. With body work and paint to such a high standard, the M3 hardly looks modified.

Drag Racing your street car Part 4

Staging at the Drag Strip

Hello again….in part one of our discussion, we touched base on what you needed to do in the days preceding your track day, everything from monitoring the weather conditions, to managing your fuel levels. Part two of our discussion revolved around the prep needed the day of the event, and what to bring to the track. This discussion will revolve around the event itself. Part three revolved around going to the track, and getting ready for the run. In this article, we will discuss the run itself. There is a lot going on at the starting line (as our discussion last time alluded to.)

Ok, you are staged, and you are waiting for the tree to light up. How you launch is (for the next .4 of a second) the most important thing in the universe. How do you launch your car, really there are so many variables to consider, it would take many pages to go into all of them. You need to know your car, and how it takes off the line. Does your car take off strong, or does it “peter out” My car for example (2004 Chrysler 300M Special) has many modifications, one of which is a High Stall Torque Converter. It allows you to launch the car in the heart of the power band. The down side of that is that if you launch in the power band, you will not have the traction needed to “hook up” (or launch hard with no tire spin.) So, it is a balancing act, using the maximum power while obtaining maximum traction. The reason for this revolves around what is called the “60’ time” This is the first timed 60’ of the track. This can make or break the run. Basically, the better the 60’ time is, the better the run will be. In most cases, every .10 of a second you save in the 60’ equates to roughly .15 a second at the “top end” of the track.

So, you have launched well, and you are racing down the track, it is important to remind you that you need to be observant of the other car on the track. If something breaks on the other car there is a good chance it can come across the track and into your lane. Also, be observant of your car, and what it is doing. If something doesn’t feel right, let off the gas and roll down the track. Track officials don’t hate anything more than having to clean up a mess that a car left on the track. If you know something is breaking, get off the track as soon as possible. There are usually turn off roads at given intervals down the track. Use one; get the car off the track. Live to race another day.

So everything is going well, you are giving it hell. If you own a manual transmission equipped car, you are watching the tachometer, shifting to keep the car up in the power band. If you own an automatic, you are “just driving Miss. Daisy” You get to the “top end” of the track, or the “line” Don’t make the mistake of letting off right there. Keep your foot in the gas for a good second or two after you cross the line. It is all about follow through. If you let off too soon, it will adversely affect your timed run. Most tracks have at least the length of the track in run-out room. This means if you have a quarter mile track they will usually have a quarter mile run off space to slow down your car safely. In fact most facilities will have at least double the size of the track in run-off. Let your car slow down naturally, gradually engage the brakes. Don’t jam on the brakes, just relax and be gentle. Drive to the end of the track, make the turn back to get your time slip. Pick it up, go back to the pits, and look it over. It has much information about your run. Specifically, look at the “Reaction Time” or RT as it maybe indicated on the slip. This is how quickly you react to the lights on the tree. The faster you make the car move, the better your reaction time will be. Most tracks have switched to NHRA style timing, and go with a .000 light for a perfect light. Anything negative means you left too soon. It doesn’t matter for a Test N’ Tune night, but it is good practice to get into. Cutting good lights is a skill, if you do decide to go Bracket Racing, this will be something you must be good at in order to win.

The next item to look at is the 60’ time. This is the amount of time needed for the car to travel the first 60’ of the track. This will be an indication of how good of a launch you had. It will also give you clues on how to adjust the launch technique to improve the time. Remember, every .10 of a second at the start is worth .15 of a second at the end. Also, look at the trap speed, and the Elapsed Time, or “ET”. The ET is the official time of the run, and the trap speed is measured at the finish line, or the “trap”. This is what will ultimately make your day.

The last article in this series will revolve around the “debrief” and the wrap up at the track.

The W12 Lupo

Take an average size mini car, add some good ole displacement and you get a monster. The same recipe works and has been proven to achieve great numbers.

What we have here is a pretty stock looking (minus hood ornament) VW Lupo with a gross weight of 1830lbs without a driver. That’s pretty slim even compared to a base model no options EG Civic. So add two 24valve VR6 engines at 204hp, one front, one back and you got something that will tear some rubber. Of course we know of the twin VR6 Golf that did not perform, the dual engine Talon that did not perform, but this little car burnt off an 11.9 with no traction whatsoever and stockish motors. We’ll have to keep an eye on this little bugger to see what kind of times it can do next.

full set of pic

Japanese Origami Super GT style

Take some cardboard, double sided tape, a pizza cutter, glue, an Epson printer and build your own!

This Epson Nakajima Racing Honda Super GT class car was made for the Tokyo Auto Show entirely out of cardboard. This beats the previous clay models that I have seen to date. I bet it was made from recycled cardboard too.

They made the model to 1/24^th scale first, to make sure it was proportionate based on photos. Then the artists enlarged the prints to make the car full scale and ready for a life size product. It took more then 2 weeks to complete and many flat sheets of cardboard.

Pretty neat nonetheless…

more pictures – click here

CanadianCarAudio.com and SelectiveSound Giveaway

This time the boys over at CanadianCarAudio.com have coordinated with Davis from Selective Sound for another amazing giveaway. Selective Sound has donated a Viper 5902, 2-Way HD Security System with Remote Start and all you have to do to win it is sign up on Canadian Car Audio and follow the rules in this thread.  That is it! No string attached, 100% free !

MSRP on this unit, $799 !!!!!!!!!

Selective Sound is one of the most recognized Audio and Security shops in the GTA, and have been one of the leaders of the Canadian 12 Volt industry for the last 15 years.  With over 30 years of experience within our ranks, we are your ultimate source for everything car audio, video, security, and custom installations.

To find out more about the Viper 5902, go here.