[spxxx]

I am just now getting hooked on road racing as I've really only Auto-x'ed in the past and my car is my DD.

I did a pretty good job preparing my car for the track (I think) and didn't see any limps my first time out at Buttonwillow in 100* temps. Mods below:

Dinan FMIC
Dinan Oil Cooler
Mishimoto 9 row AN10 Transmission Cooler
50/50 - Coolant/Distilled + 24oz Watter Wetter
Redstuff Pads
Motul RBF 600
JB4 + MHD Flash - 15psi/12:1AFR/12deg max timing
E40 fuel + Meth/Water cooling
VRSF DPs
Mfactory LSD
Koni Yellow + Dinan Springs
Dinan F&R Sways
PSS tires (got greasy 15min into sessions)

Up next:
- Better brake ducting
- Rebuild Tranny cooler mounting to help with airflow to brakes
- KW Coilovers w/ swift springs
- Up for suggestions

[spxxx]

Unfortunately, as you can see, due to hose kink issues I had to mount my tranny cooler in front of my oil cooler, my oil Temps didn't get above 255* so I'm not super concerned but it blocks my brake ducting on the passenger side.

Not sure how efficient our brake ducting is but my brakes did get a bit soft near the end of some runs due to slow traffic.

What a horrible addiction I now have lol

[Cloud9blue]

The more you mod the car beyond its stock configuration, the more potentials for problems developing at the track, as you have already found out.

Not sure why you bother with messing around with trans cooler, while still running on street orientated tires like PSS and pads like EBC Red, which won't hold up at all at track once you start driving the car to its full ability.

If you are new to DE/track driving, I would just invest in some proper track capable street tires (Bridgestone RE11, Hankook R-S3, etc.)and real track pads and focus on your driving instead. Ditch the meth injection, they are not reliable for road course uses and they are known to fail and cause hydrolocked engine. And there is not much point of running meth if you have E85.

Also, should have done the rear subframe bushings while you had the rear sway and lsd installed. Flash the TCU to the Alpina software as well if you haven't done it already.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

The more you mod the car beyond its stock configuration, the more potentials for problems developing at the track, as you have already found out.

Not sure why you bother with messing around with trans cooler, while still running on street orientated tires like PSS and pads like EBC Red, which won't hold up at all at track once you start driving the car to its full ability.

If you are new to DE/track driving, I would just invest in some proper track capable street tires (Bridgestone RE11, Hankook R-S3, etc.)and real track pads and focus on your driving instead. Ditch the meth injection, they are not reliable for road course uses and they are known to fail and cause hydrolocked engine. And there is not much point of running meth if you have E85.

Also, should have done the rear subframe bushings while you had the rear sway and lsd installed. Flash the TCU to the Alpina software as well if you haven't done it already.

I have powerflex rear subframe bushings, as well as the Alpina flash.

This is a daily driver that will see 10-12 track days a year. I plan to pick up some RE-11s but I have a 75% new set of PSS on the car now... the PSS got quite greasy and picked up a lot of rubber by the end of the day but no chunking... I could definitely use some camber plates and m3 arms. I didn't time my laps but I was pushing it and keeping up with much more powerful cars in the "intermediate" group.

The meth/water is fine as I'm just using it for cooling, not for octane which won't result in any sort of catastrophic failure.

As far as brakes go, the bite was pretty decent with the redstuff pads, again they're like 6 months old so I'm not going to swap them out until I need to - suggestions on a good streetable track pad?

I don't understand your argument regarding the tranny cooler, it's a reassurance that the tranny will stay alive during a 30min+ session - the temp at all tracks near me is ~100* throughout the summer and I plan to keep the car for a while. I know you suggest the CSF radiator over a tranny cooler but my coolant temps didn't break 205* in ~100* heat. Obviously I'll see more weaknesses crop up as I start pushing the car harder but the tranny cooler took me 3hr to install and was only ~$200 w/ hoses, core & fittings.

[spxxx]

BTW, how are the TCKline coilovers?

Looking back, I was mistaken... my coolant did get up towards 215*

[Cloud9blue]

- You need to pay attention to the line pressure with the addition of trans cooler. It has been documented an in-line cooler result in significant drop in line pressure. Not a good thing considering everything is hydraulic actuated. That's the biggest reason why I think adding a trans cooler on these cars is a terrible idea, unless you have data showing that you are still able to retain the same line pressure.

- PFC 08. Only pads that can stand the abuse I put through on this car. Noisy on the streets, but still work just fine in cold temp. The fact EBC Redstuff works for you means you are either not driving the car very fast or the track is very very easy on the brakes. I tried Yellowstuff, which is more aggressive the Redstuff, on my car last year. They literally fell apart once I picked up the pace.

- I have TC K DA. They works well, but for +$3k new, there are better options out there if you can just stretch the budget a bit more.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

- You need to pay attention to the line pressure with the addition of trans cooler. It has been documented an in-line cooler result in significant drop in line pressure. Not a good thing considering everything is hydraulic actuated. That's the biggest reason why I think adding a trans cooler on these cars is a terrible idea, unless you have data showing that you are still able to retain the same line pressure.

- PFC 08. Only pads that can stand the abuse I put through on this car. Noisy on the streets, but still work just fine in cold temp. The fact EBC Redstuff works for you means you are either not driving the car very fast or the track is very very easy on the brakes. I tried Yellowstuff, which is more aggressive the Redstuff, on my car last year. They literally fell apart once I picked up the pace.

- I have TC K DA. They works well, but for +$3k new, there are better options out there if you can just stretch the budget a bit more.

Yeah the Redstuff pads had pretty bad fade but it wasn't a super fast track.

I agree with you on line pressure being a concern, I actually considered putting a sensor in there since I have it spliced to measure stock and then measure again with the cooler installed. This is something I plan on doing in the next few weeks, thankfully there are several people who have run a large core than me (likely more pressure drop) for years without issue. I will post my results once I do some testing.

How often do you get out on the track? I'm considering the bilstein pss9 now, I have had some expensive builds and I'm really trying to keep this one under $5k hence me trying to cheap out on coils (KW ST/v1) but I know I'll want to upgrade as soon as I install them.

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Yeah the Redstuff pads had pretty bad fade but it wasn't a super fast track.

I agree with you on line pressure being a concern, I actually considered putting a sensor in there since I have it spliced to measure stock and then measure again with the cooler installed. This is something I plan on doing in the next few weeks, thankfully there are several people who have run a large core than me (likely more pressure drop) for years without issue. I will post my results once I do some testing.

How often do you get out on the track? I'm considering the bilstein pss9 now, I have had some expensive builds and I'm really trying to keep this one under $5k hence me trying to cheap out on coils (KW ST/v1) but I know I'll want to upgrade as soon as I install them.

Once or twice a month when the season starts.

Whatever coils/shocks you go with, a set of camber plates would be necessary if you don't want to wear our your tire shoulders prematurely.

Never had Bilstein before, so can't comment. But look for a kit that offers high spring rates (+400lb/in front, +700lb/in rear) and have shocks that can properly damp those spring rates. Customer service and rebuild-ability of the kit is important as well, if you plan on keep the car for the long term. I heard Bilstein is pretty bad on that part. I would personally go for a set of single adjustable Motion Control Suspension coilovers paired with Vorshlag plates if I have to do this again. I honestly think these TC K and Ground Control stuff are just glorified Koni shocks, but I know some might disagree with that.

For this car and for the purpose that you are building toward, I would spend majority of your budge on the suspension components, considering how heavy the chassis is and how fast it can be on the track.

You might want to ditch your rear Dinan sway depending your driving style. My guess if that anything stiffer than the stock ZSP rear sway will be taking away too much traction from the rear.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

Once or twice a month when the season starts.

Whatever coils/shocks you go with, a set of camber plates would be necessary if you don't want to wear our your tire shoulders prematurely.

Never had Bilstein before, so can't comment. But look for a kit that offers high spring rates (+400lb/in front, +700lb/in rear) and have shocks that can properly damp those spring rates. Customer service and rebuild-ability of the kit is important as well, if you plan on keep the car for the long term. I heard Bilstein is pretty bad on that part. I would personally go for a set of single adjustable Motion Control Suspension coilovers paired with Vorshlag plates if I have to do this again. I honestly think these TC K and Ground Control stuff are just glorified Koni shocks, but I know some might disagree with that.

For this car and for the purpose that you are building toward, I would spend majority of your budge on the suspension components, considering how heavy the chassis is and how fast it can be on the track.

You might want to ditch your rear Dinan sway depending your driving style. My guess if that anything stiffer than the stock ZSP rear sway will be taking away too much traction from the rear.

I plan to get rid of the rear sway, that was the previous owners doing. I agree that those other coils are just glorified Koni but I have had great experience with bilstein for longevity.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[paradoxical3]

My setup on my X1 35i Msport

Stoptech ST60 BBK
JRZ RS Two coilovers
Swift Springs 11k/16k
Pure Turbo Stage 1 upgrade
PFC 11 brake pads
CSF Racing Aluminum Radiator
Turn In Concepts custom dual core oil cooler
Wavetrac LSD
JB4 with flexfuel wires
ER chargepipe
ER Intercooler
BMS downpipe
NGK plugs
M3 rear sway bar
M3 rear subframe bushings
M3 rear guide rods
Ground Control Hybrid camber plates
Kartboy rear end links
Alpina B3 transmission flash
Fuel-it stage 2 lpfp
275/40/17 square Nitto NT01 on apex arc 8 wheels

Next step is ducting for the oil cooler and cutting out the midcats (which I suspect are clogged) and replacing with vibrant resonators.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by paradoxical3

My setup on my X1 35i Msport

Stoptech ST60 BBK
JRZ RS Two coilovers
Swift Springs 11k/16k
Pure Turbo Stage 1 upgrade
PFC 11 brake pads
CSF Racing Aluminum Radiator
Turn In Concepts custom dual core oil cooler
Wavetrac LSD
JB4 with flexfuel wires
ER chargepipe
ER Intercooler
BMS downpipe
NGK plugs
M3 rear sway bar
M3 rear subframe bushings
M3 rear guide rods
Ground Control Hybrid camber plates
Kartboy rear end links
Alpina B3 transmission flash
Fuel-it stage 2 lpfp
275/40/17 square Nitto NT01 on apex arc 8 wheels

Next step is ducting for the oil cooler and cutting out the midcats (which I suspect are clogged) and replacing with vibrant resonators.

Nice! Probably turn a lot of heads with that setup on the track, how does it handle with an upgraded rear sway and stock front? Is the oversteer bad?


I went with the bilstein pss9 because I found them cheap second hand low miles and rebuilding the struts is only $190/ea, the springs are 385/615 which should be sufficient.

[paradoxical3]

Originally Posted by spxxx

Nice! Probably turn a lot of heads with that setup on the track, how does it handle with an upgraded rear sway and stock front? Is the oversteer bad?


Yeah, not many people have seen one before on track. Always get people asking what it is.

I went with the bilstein pss9 because I found them cheap second hand low miles and rebuilding the struts is only $190/ea, the springs are 385/615 which should be sufficient.

It actually doesn't oversteer that badly - it is pretty much exactly where I want it. Easy to rotate yet not overly tail-happy. The LSD really helped. You gotta remember that the car is xdrive, so from the factory it understeered like a pig. Stiffening up the rear only actually helps on xdrive cars.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by paradoxical3

It actually doesn't oversteer that badly - it is pretty much exactly where I want it. Easy to rotate yet not overly tail-happy. The LSD really helped. You gotta remember that the car is xdrive, so from the factory it understeered like a pig. Stiffening up the rear only actually helps on xdrive cars.

totally forgot you're xdrive, how is the xdrive with just a rear lsd? in your case a rear sway alone makes plenty of sense. I almost pulled the trigger on a xdrive e92 but wasn't a fan of the xdrive system or weight of the car but I imagine that with an lsd it's a whole new beast.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

- You need to pay attention to the line pressure with the addition of trans cooler. It has been documented an in-line cooler result in significant drop in line pressure. Not a good thing considering everything is hydraulic actuated. That's the biggest reason why I think adding a trans cooler on these cars is a terrible idea, unless you have data showing that you are still able to retain the same line pressure.

- PFC 08. Only pads that can stand the abuse I put through on this car. Noisy on the streets, but still work just fine in cold temp. The fact EBC Redstuff works for you means you are either not driving the car very fast or the track is very very easy on the brakes. I tried Yellowstuff, which is more aggressive the Redstuff, on my car last year. They literally fell apart once I picked up the pace.

- I have TC K DA. They works well, but for +$3k new, there are better options out there if you can just stretch the budget a bit more.

Soooooooo, you are 100% correct, I destroyed/melted my Redstuff pads (they're currently crumbling away and squealing) I plan to put my OEM pads back on tonight and pickup something new for tracking. Put Yellowstuff on the rears (they were sitting in my garage) - might try the stoptech street for my next track day (slow track)

[Ginger_Extract]

For reference, what were your lap times? I didn't have issues until I started going faster. Buttonwillow is a bit easier on these cars in terms of temps because of all the straight away space to ram air through the rad.

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Ginger_Extract

For reference, what were your lap times? I didn't have issues until I started going faster. Buttonwillow is a bit easier on these cars in terms of temps because of all the straight away space to ram air through the rad.

I was busy dealing with some electrical (jb4) issues and didn't time any laps but I'm sure they were on the slow side as I am a total newbie when it comes to road courses.

Which apps do you guys suggest for lap timing?

[chris82]

I would add camber plates to gain some negative camber

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by chris82

I would add camber plates to gain some negative camber

coincidental timing, just ordered Dinan fixed camber plates. M3 arms didn't do much for me on my E92 so I went with plates on my E82. Will likely do M3 arms in the future though.

[just_dirty]

Originally Posted by spxxx

I was busy dealing with some electrical (jb4) issues and didn't time any laps but I'm sure they were on the slow side as I am a total newbie when it comes to road courses.

Which apps do you guys suggest for lap timing?

Harrys lap timer is what I use and it works really well.

[spxxx]

FYI Amazon is great, they honored EBCs warranty and gave me a full refund on my redstuff pads. Putting on Stoptech 309s to see how they do for steet/track duty and if they don't hold up at the track I'll pick up some PFC pads for the track and swap to the stoptechs for the street.

[Cloud9blue]

Originally Posted by spxxx

FYI Amazon is great, they honored EBCs warranty and gave me a full refund on my redstuff pads. Putting on Stoptech 309s to see how they do for steet/track duty and if they don't hold up at the track I'll pick up some PFC pads for the track and swap to the stoptechs for the street.

don't bother with using street pads for track...

once you overheat them, you most likely won't want for street use either since they won't bit nearly as well as before and often generate excessive brake squeals due to uneven wear.

just get some real track pads...

[spxxx]

Originally Posted by Cloud9blue

don't bother with using street pads for track...

once you overheat them, you most likely won't want for street use either since they won't bit nearly as well as before and often generate excessive brake squeals due to uneven wear.

just get some real track pads...

Bleh I know this is the right thing to do. A 1300* rating should be fine for some of the slower courses in my area. We'll see, only paid $90 for them. I'm so cheap....