golfduke wrote: I've got a 97 M3c track car too, good choice. And re: weight loss- removal of the rear seats and interior carpet lost me 118lb. Swapping the vaders for cobras lost me another 85lb. The interior is heavy as hell. There is up to 4" of high density (heavy) foam backing between the unibody and carpet itself in some areas. I've got my car down to 27xx on scales, but that's completely gutted- no stereo, ac, gas light on, sunroof delete, etc...
All throughtout January I concentrated on finding the pieces that I needed and was not going to purchase new. For example, I got rid of the cheap no name open intake filter and sourced a factory airbox and installed a K&N filter
It went from this:
To this:
That MPower badge has to be worth 1 or 2 hp!
And I put one of these inside:
I know some people might say I should have left the open filter and whatnot, but I have a very clear idea of what I want from this car. My goal is to eliminate as much weight as possible and have a very reliable engine. The exceptions to the rule, like I mentioned before, will be the AC and radio as this car will be driven to and from the track.
Next is the list of performance parts that will go on the build, stay tuned, but here is a sneak peak:
When you can, get a fiberglass or carbon fiber hood. That's at least 20 lbs off the front end.
Mr_Clutch42 wrote: When you can, get a fiberglass or carbon fiber hood. That's at least 20 lbs off the front end.
Definitely ... see post below and you will understand how I came to that decision.
And after a little hiatus ... we start again, hopefully I can keep the momentum and post updates more often.
So, last post I mentioned how I was going to drive the car for about a month in order to see what needed attn ... and drive it I did. Except I drove it into the back of a truck, ouch!
This happened after exactly one month of daily driving, on the Friday that I was going to rip out the interior. In almost 20 years of having a driving license, this was the first time I got into an accident. It was my fault, no doubts about it, but to this day I cant understand what the hell happened.
I was doing about 25 mph, I got on the brakes and as I was slowing down I hit a metal plate on the road and the brake pedal got really hard ... like the ABS kicked in and no matter how hard I pressed it would not let me apply the brakes, so I rammed into the truck. I think had it been another car, it would have been worse, but oh well.
Bringing it back home
Whats up with tow truck drivers? Are they all weird, or just the ones that I come accross? This guy talked to me about the weirdest crap for the whole 50 mile trip home, invited me to an airboat show and then took $165 from me. Crap.
Finally in the garage, and off I go to sleep:
Tomorrow I will assess the damage.
Ouch! ABS is a mother sometimes. Still a good looking car even when crumpled(aka, LeMons livery).
That sucks dude, hope it's not as bad as it looks!
The next morning, I got up bright and early to check the extent of my berkeleyup. Not long after I started, the car looked like this:
The headlight pushed the airbox back and caused the MAF to come undone from the intake pipe, thats why the car run like crap, good.
a little more work:
Frame rails are straight as an arrow ... good.
Radiator intact, good
A/C stuff ok, good.
It looks bad, but if you think about it it was not that bad. The airbags did not even deploy. So now that I have a better idea of what happened, I made a list of essentials and off I went to scour the junkyard.
I always find cool stuff whenever I go to the junkyard, case in point the car parked right outside
and this one inside
I left with all this:
Saturday was better than Friday ...
Ouch! Looks like you will have it fixed up in no time though.
Nice car. It looks like the repairs won't be too bad. Where in FL are you and what groups do you plan to be running with at Sebring?
Slippery wrote: All throughtout January I concentrated on finding the pieces that I needed and was not going to purchase new. For example, I got rid of the cheap no name open intake filter and sourced a factory airbox and installed a K&N filter
That looks like the Conforti air intake or something close to it. Someone will pay you a few hundred for it.
Wait, the car had glass housings on it.......good thing DOT didn't respond to the wreck. 
Those are also berkeleying expensive.
Is the Miata getting prepped for track work as well? 
The next few days reminded me of the search for this car. They were spent searching Craigslist, Ebay, Bimmerforums, M3Forums ... anywhere I could find the missing pieces to complete the car. I finally found a guy that had a Hellrot fender from his rear ended M3, no hood though.
I finally broke down and picked up the cheapest/ugliest black hood I could find on Craigslist, man that thing is big. I tried fitting it in my wife's SUV but no luck, so this is what I resorted to:
I forgot to open the door before running the rope through the doors, doh. Good thing I watched plenty of Dukes of Hazzard episodes.
I got to work putting it all together like a puzzle and ended with this first:
and finally this:
As I was putting stuff together, I was also removing and selling some of the factory parts. You may notice the foglights are gone. Those were sold and will be replaced with factory plastic covers.
The hood is temporary, it will be replaced with a Mashaw fiberglass hood later on. For now its going to stay like that.
bgkast wrote: Ouch! Looks like you will have it fixed up in no time though.
I am trying my best :D
Lof8 wrote: Nice car. It looks like the repairs won't be too bad. Where in FL are you and what groups do you plan to be running with at Sebring?
Thanks! I am down in West Palm. I like Chin Motorsports, their events are well run; might join NASA later on.
Harvey wrote: That looks like the Conforti air intake or something close to it. Someone will pay you a few hundred for it.
Thanks for the heads up!! I was thinking of keeping it just in case, might sell it now lol.
yamaha wrote: Wait, the car had glass housings on it.......good thing DOT didn't respond to the wreck.
Yeah, it came with glass headlights and HID. I sold the passenger side headlight and with the money bought all the junkyard parts !!
z31maniac wrote: Is the Miata getting prepped for track work as well?
Thats plan B, lol.
BTW, forgot to mention. As I was wrestling the factory hood off the car, I managed to break the windshield! My luck.
More pictures coming tomorrow!
Nice work getting it back together! Sorry about the windshield though... 
Harvey wrote: That looks like the Conforti air intake or something close to it. Someone will pay you a few hundred for it.Thanks for the heads up!! I was thinking of keeping it just in case, might sell it now lol.
Yeah, as I remember it, when I sold my wife's E36 I took off the CAI and I think I got $150 for it used.
Slippery wrote: BTW, forgot to mention. As I was wrestling the factory hood off the car, I managed to break the windshield! My luck. More pictures coming tomorrow!
Doh! That is one nice thing about older BMW's with the forward-opening hoods - very easy removal and replacement.
http://montrealracing.com/forums/showthread.php?841529-Brake-Failure-amp-Wreck-in-E36-M3-at-VIR-ICE-MODE
Heres some info on what you experienced... There is a lot more information on the subject if you look. Sorry you ended up finding out about it like this!
peej410 wrote: http://montrealracing.com/forums/showthread.php?841529-Brake-Failure-amp-Wreck-in-E36-M3-at-VIR-ICE-MODE Heres some info on what you experienced... There is a lot more information on the subject if you look. Sorry you ended up finding out about it like this!
You know what, that brought some flashbacks of the moment. The brake pedal went rock solid and no matter how hard I pressed on it, it would not budge. It was so fast, that I never even thought of letting go and reapplying.
Like I said, I think it was not too bad since the truck was pretty high and the car ended up mostly under it. There inner fenders are a ways back too from the headlight, its mostly empty ... that helped too.
In between trying to piece the car back together and looking for parts, some of the fun parts started arriving.
The steering wheel leather was all torn on the factory wheel and the airbag had to go, so I ordered a Momo adaptor along with a Momo Prototipo from Pelican. First time I ever ordered anything through them. I found their website difficult to navigate and outdated looking, but the price was ok and the parts arrived promptly.
The factory steering wheel, I believe it is 370 or 380mm
First on the list was to disconnect the battery, let it sit and remove the factory airbag/steering wheel. You remove two T30 torx retaining screws from the backside and off it comes. It took me a while to figure out how to unplug it, but it just pulls out. I could pictures the airbag going off on my face.
Once the airbag is off, a 16mm socket takes care of the steering wheel nut. I find this is the first car which I had to use a 16mm socket on ... several bolts are 16mm, Germans.
I really was not sold on the Momo horn button, and after a few online searches I found this BMW one on Amazon
Fit perfectly on the steering wheel
All buttomed up
Next up, start ripping out the non essentials!
Looks good!
Yep - 16mm... the VW's and MINI's I've wrenched on a full of them. more than a few 18mm as well.
Swoon. MOMO Prototipos really are the best looking wheel ever.
Good God, that Momo is sex on a stick!
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