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Nate, I seem to remember you saying the cooling upgrades and eventual addition of an oil cooler were for the purpose of being able to run longer-form time trials/track events. Is the following weekend going to be one such event, or another 3-hot lap format?
When do we get an FD thread? Or is there one already?
Zak got ya! The whole thing rabbit holed a bit but I'm happy to be working on the mechanical aspect of that car now. Still should be running by spring if things go well, and I stop working on other projects.
Nate, I seem to remember you saying the cooling upgrades and eventual addition of an oil cooler were for the purpose of being able to run longer-form time trials/track events. Is the following weekend going to be one such event, or another 3-hot lap format?
Yeah! So another time attack 3 lap format for the next event, but the oil cooler is still in the works. It's on order from fab9 (ordered back in Jan), and I haven't heard a peep from them, so we'll see if I have to cancel that order. It just seemed convenient and had all the setrab parts I wanted so I pulled the trigger. I also have some splitter parts on order from Professional Awesome, and a splitter template coming from 9LR.
So current goal is get the car back together for next weekend's event, shake down the car a bit there, and get the oil cooler + splitter setup before the next event in April. And hopefully shift back to working on the FD because I'm dying to get it running.
A few quick updates. First, when adjusting the new endlinks, I noticed some pretty massive differences in the tie rod adjustment. I did not think it was this bad, when I took it to get the alignment they weren't this far off, but I did notice the thread engagement was less than ideal at that time.
Normal thread engagement:
Sus thread engagement:
I got to measuring the inner tie rods themselves, and the length from the rack ball joint to the start of those threads is 1" different on each side. I'm a bit concerned I have something whacky going on here, so I'm going to order some new inners to compare. I didn't pull the outter to measure overall length, maybe that tie rod just has more/longer threaded shaft (they are different brand inners). Not sure, but it's in the back of my mind now and I don't think I can drive the car in anger too much until I get to the bottom of it. I did double check and confirm the rack itself is centered, with equal turns each direction to lock, so I don't think it's something silly like that.
But i did get the car back together and shook down.
And the results are exciting. I did a 2nd - 5th pull up to about 120mph and saw a 2* change in IAT's after the pull. This was after already driving around for a bit to get oil temps and everything up to temp. It was a cool day (54* ambient), but this was huge compared to the old setup, even on the streets I'd see 10+* swings in IAT on a pull like that.
And on track I had seen as high as 35-40* above ambient before, so I'm hoping this setup fixes that.
Also oil cooler finally shipped from Fab9, and splitter parts are coming in. It looks like snow for this weekend, so instead of hitting the track day I'm going to ride some powder and get the car DIALED before the next. These early events are always hit or miss for me since I'm so far north and in the mountains (7k+ ft elev.)
Glad to see the attention to detail on the ducting paid off. It'll be interesting to see how it performs on track. 2* through a pull seems pretty promising though.
Kick ***! Aside from the tie rod discrepancies. I don't think I've ever see a pair that far off, though that potential issue has definitely crossed my mind before. You had an alignment done back in the fall if I remember correctly, right?
At any rate, that's kick *** regarding the results with the new intercooler and ducting. 35*+ temps above ambient had to have been costing some serious horsepower!
I remember being concerned about this back in the days when building my racecar. I had some extenders machined up, but there was a matching problem on either side. In your case it may be adjusted out by re-centering the tie rods (matching the thread engagements), then reseating the steering wheel on the shaft splines.
You might even be able to center out the tie rods like Gee said, then just reclock your steering wheel hub accordingly. I've done that more than once on my car after clocking the steering shaft one or two splines off following a subframe removal.
The car was recently aligned last spring. And this rack is a different rack that I swapped in a few years ago, it's a properly de-powered PS rack. At the time I did center the rack lock to lock and installed the tie rods, but never checked them this closely after the alignment and never noticed the discrepancy.
The rack is literally perfectly centered lock-to-lock as is. If I turned the wheel a touch right, to shorten the length on that side, then the rack itself would be off center, right? I set rack center by (with no tie rods on) turning the rack from lock to lock, counted the turns, divided by 2, then turned that amount from lock and installed the wheel. This was verified by with the wheel on turning full lock 1 direction, re-centering, then full lock the other direction and made sure the turns were the exact same amount each direction from center.
After measuring the tie rod itself I do think I have a parts discrepancy here, the left and right tie rods measure differently from the threads to the ball joint where they mount to the rack. I've got another matching tie rod (same mevotec as I'm using on the drivers side) and I'll be comparing them. I'll keep y'all posted!
Track day was snowed out for me, so I tore back into the car. Driving it last week was good motivation.
Off came the bumper to install my splitter mounts. This waS a big win because ive been ĺooking for a good solution for a while, and nothing off the shelf would work with my setup. Betweeb the awr swaybar mounts, FM IC piping, fab9 stage 2 core, room is minimal. I knew i wanted to mount it off the frame rail and was considering building something until I stumbled upon these NC mounts. After some measurements i was pretty sure theyd work and ordered up a set.
Since the bumper was off for the last time in hopefully a while, i finished out the ducting with weatherstripping. Came out nice!
And fabbd up some block off plates out of abs.
And i had to re do the brake ducts. Trimmed them way down to get the angle i need to clear everything else. Like everything else these are done in a way that keeps everything easily removable.
Gotta source some birch plywood and finish up the splitter next. Not gonna go too big with it, still deciding if ill need splitter rods/cables out front, etc.
Last edited by Fireindc; Mar 10, 2025 at 01:46 AM.
Ha, no way! That's sick. The Racebred NC mounts are kick ***. I was surprised the company doesn't make NA/NB mounts as well but it's good to know they're working for you too!
Front end looks great. Solid job sealing up the whole thing!
Tie rod issue is a non-issue. Different brand inners, one with way too much threaded length, over 1" extra. I just panic'd when I saw it and had to dig in, good thing I was planning on updating the alignment this year anyways. Now the inner tie rods match at least.
Oil cooler install went great, and fired up with no leaks. Hard to take pics in here because everything is so close, but I'm super happy with the line routing. It's as short as possible with no interference or rubbing on anything. Tolerances are tight, but when the motor is under load it should actually give these lines even more clearance from the frame rail (or really, the plastic guard/flap on that side). This setrab kit from Fab9 was actually really nice, despite long lead times after ordering and some slight damage to the cooler in the mail. It did have everything I need, despite me needing to research and figure out which outlet off the oil filter plate was OUT so I could run pressure into the cooler to the bottom and out the top outlet.
No oil cooler leaks, but I did find several coolant leaks with the new 20psi supermiata cap. One of which was from my coolant reroute plate on the back of the head (sigh), but I was able to snug it up and I think that's fixed, or at least mostly mitigated for now. If it continues to drip from back there I'll be going with the SM reroute kit, it looks so much nicer. Mines so damn old, a BEGI unit IIRC and one of the first reroutes on the market that used the kia water outlet.
Other coolant leaks were from the rad hoses (tightened clamps more seemed to fix those), and the slightest seep from my damn heater hose line! This thing is under the turbo heat shield and I honestly kinda forgot about it. Damn thing is splitting like a hot dog, and crazy it didn't leave me stranded, so I've got silicone hoses on the way and some heat shielding for them.
I bought a 9lr splitter template, just to make this easier on myself. Well worth the $18 or whatever it was. Honestly nice that they offer this.
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out how to get 2 splitters outta 1 pc of wood. Also there was a whole debacle where I went to a local hardware store (I live in a small town, no lowes or home depot) and bought "birch" plywood (and paid way too much for it). Only to get it home and realize it's way too ******* floppy to use, and after some research learned it's actually a cheap pine core with a birch veneer on it. I know nothing about plywood but I learned a few things after that.
Then I drove the 1.5 hour to Lowes, and they didn't have birch either. So I started doing some phone research in the store (Home depot is another hour away from me at that point still) and found Maple as a good substitute for Birch on some BMW forum and went for it. The downside of maple is mostly the price, the weight is nearly the exact same, and the strength is supposed to be superior, but IDK about that). Chime in here if you have any opinions on types of wood for splitters, because I feel like I've read every forum post I could find and 99% say birch with a few people saying Maple is fine substitute but higher price.
So, basically for me living in a small mountain town, getting my hands on birch plywood is a nightmare. Alumalite is a no-go because that would be a 3 hour trip to the nearest sign store that carries that in bulk. I did buy 2 sheets of the maple to have some extra on hand going forward. It's funny because on the forums everyone talks about how cheap and common birch plywood is, and it proves to be neither where I live. I'm not complaining, I chose to live where I live and love it here. But damn I'd love to have easier access to good lumber and hardware.
Clearly the front isn't shaped yet. Left that big so I could draw on it and decide the shape.
Any input here? I think the 3.25" line is where I want it, both aesthetically and functionally to balance my lil street wing, and also it should be more possible to get away with that size without supports. That said I did buy a pair of splitter rods to have on hand if this thing turns out too floppy. But a good friend suggested I cut it to the larger size and trim it down based on car feedback, which is a good idea, and I might go that route.
TBH this car is inspirational for me, I've always loved how Keiths car looked:
Last edited by Fireindc; Mar 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
Looking good so far! Cooler install came out clean from what it looks like.
FWIW, I made my last two splitters out of maple. For some reason, the hardware store down the street from my work doesn't stock birch and IIRC maple is only marginally heavier.
I like the idea of starting big with the splitter and trimming as needed. Also, using some aluminum angle to stiffen up the splitter does wonders, especially if you run it without rods!
Mostly done with the splitter! Went with a pretty simple shape, no fences, just spats. It's just under 4", which I chose after reading up on Occam's Racer and a few other places. Anything bigger than 4" seems to be where diminishing returns start to kick in, and lots of class regs limit at 4", and it looked good, so why not.
You probably can't tell but I also moved the spats further out, they should cover more of the wheel (maybe all of it on 225's) which is cool. About 2" up and 3/4" out more. I'm going to build some attachments to tie the spats into the splitter.
Is this overkill? If I were running splitter rods/cables, I'd say yeah, but even that full box tubing is surprisingly light.
This inaccurate bathroom scale says I'm overweight, but the splitter still only ~15-17 lbs for this beast. Better than I thought, TBH.
Tacked on some tabs, which really helped. The way it's mounted weight on the splitter wanted to push back this direction. Butted and tacked on. I'm going to come back and make 'em an L bracket to hold the splitter better vertically, but to be honest I don't think it needs it. Fortunately my subframe is already kinda beat up so I could care less about these tacks.
This means it works, right?
Last edited by Fireindc; Mar 30, 2025 at 10:34 PM.
Been hustling to make sure the car is dialed for the trackday this weekend. Repurposed some road sign to make my spats, which came out great. 2 m6 bolts on each side holds it together with rivnuts (not pictured), easily removed to pull the splitter. Even with those bolts the whole thing comes off in a minute or so.
Replaced the OE rubber hoses here with silicone, and wrapped them. Should be good to go for a while.
Unfortunately I had a snowboarding accident yesterday and ended up with an "Acute t12 anterior superior endplate fracture", aka a broken back, so I'll be taking it easy and no racing for me. Still walking around pretty well and pain levels aren't too bad, but no snowboarding, mountain biking, or racecar driving for me for a bit.
Just grateful I'm not more fucked up, tbh, the cracking noise I heard when I wrecked was new to me and pretty scary. Should make a full recovery in 8-10 weeks though.
Dude. I'm so sorry to hear about the snowboarding accident. Snow sports are no joke. 8-10 weeks is rough but taking all the right steps will give you the best luck at recovery.
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