Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

[Fair!]

This is the thread detailing the build-up of the Vorshlag X-Prepared car. I called the thread XP3 because it will eventually become our X-Prepared car. and of course it's a BMW 3 series. It may begin it's racing life as an F-Prepared car with BMW power, then morph into the X-Prepared car once we can get LS1 power under hood. Well, that's The Plan anyway.


Here are some examples of the exterior prep / look we are shooting for:

(this one is the closest)



Goals:

• Light Weight (2650#)
• Showcase for all Vorshlag Suspension products
• Showcase for LS1 swap work
• TTOD in Solo2!
• Autocross and Track use only

[Fair!]

Vorshlag XP3 Build-up Begins!

The Plan includes multiple stages....

Stage 1:

• Step 1... steal underpants
• Pick up E36 2-door car (we found the candidate!)
• Drag it home (thanks for the trailer loan, McCall!)
• Gut the interior; eBay what we can. Keep the dash intact, at least initially
• Fix the maintenance stuff (windshield, noisy fuel pump, new roundel, stuff like that)
• Stick a cheap M3 front bumper back on the car
• Locate Getrag (the sub-$200 unit, not the ZF) 5-spd transmission, driveshaft, clutch pedal
• Piece together E30 flywheel (16#) and hybrid clutch to make it work
• Do the 5-spd swap (the car was so cheap it was worth it)
• Full Vorshlag suspension with camber plates, shock mounts, wheel studs, 3-way externally adjustable shocks, etc
• Buy 18x11 wheels (CCW 3-piece or SSR 1-piece) that tuck in as much as possible, and bigazz Kumhos
• Cut the hell outta the fenders to clear the wheels and tires
• Lightweight exhaust (not cat), maybe with a Euro M3 header if we can get one cheap
• Step 3... Profit
• Go race

[Fair!]

re: Vorshlag XP3 Build-up Begins!

Stage 2:

• Make it pretty... and lighter
• CF front flared fenders
• CF doors or here
• CF trunk or here
• CF hood
• Rear flares (riveted on)
• Lexan side and rear glass
• Bigazz wing yo! Dats how we roll....
• Front splitter (hey, down force!)
• DL-1 digital dash
• Roll cage (based on this main hoop)

Actually, most of the CF body parts we get will be from MA Shaw:

[Fair!]

re: Vorshlag XP3 Build-up Begins!

new XP3 Buildup Page is here

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

http://www.vorshlag.com/xp3.php - New updates for the past 3 days.

McCall helped me put the XP3 car on a diet today.

• Started out as a daily driven 1992 BMW 325is at 3043 pounds with 3/4 tank but no spare
• Ended the day as a race car, tipping the scales at 2706 pounds, with dash and a/c still intact
• 337 pounds of interior fluff removed!!!
• Lots more to remove tomorrow (and cleaning... lots more cleaning)

Front seats are out, but the 52 pound stockers will be replaced with >15 pounders. The 30 pounds of missing race seats are easily offset by the massive fuel load in the car right now.

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

I like how high it sits now. Exhaust, battery, A/C, body panels, suspension are all left to do. No doubt it will be in the 2400s soon!

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

I like how high it sits now.

Some of that is from being jacked up... never rolled out the camber. And also the e-brake was on when we let it off the jacks... it was all "jacked up".

I would be working on it now but the stuck PoS garage door has be blocked from tools, air power, and electricity. Really pisses me off today.

[Shortcutsleeping]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

Ya'll need to check into becoming a Race Technology distributor. I'd love a Dash2 and you KNOW you guys are gonna buy one. Peddle a few DL1s...

Work on that, mkay?

Costas

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

Ya'll need to check into becoming a Race Technology distributor. I'd love a Dash2 and you KNOW you guys are gonna buy one. Peddle a few DL1s...

Work on that, mkay?

Costas

I like your thinking. We're all over the Dash2. It is on the short list.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

Lots of updates over the past 2 weeks, with work by Fair, McCall and Hanchey. Weight is down to 2669 pounds as of 9/19/06.

Updated: http://www.vorshlag.com/xp3.php#newstuff

[hancheyb]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

So I get 2449 when we remove:

-3/4 tank of gas ~60 pounds
-A/C ~50 pounds
-Exhaust ~50 pounds
-Battery ~30 pounds
-Sunroof ~30 pounds

Of course, it doesn't have seats so add 40 pounds back. Not bad and we haven't even talked about CF bits. Putting M3 suspension may add a little in brake rotors, but we'll hopefully get E30 M3 aluminum control arms. 17x11s won't be light, but can't weight more than stock.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

So I get 2449 when we remove:

-3/4 tank of gas ~60 pounds
-A/C ~50 pounds
-Exhaust ~50 pounds
-Battery ~30 pounds
-Sunroof ~30 pounds

Of course, it doesn't have seats so add 40 pounds back. Not bad and we haven't even talked about CF bits. Putting M3 suspension may add a little in brake rotors, but we'll hopefully get E30 M3 aluminum control arms. 17x11s won't be light, but can't weight more than stock.

I honestly didn't think we'd get close to 2450 min without CF and Lexan... maybe we shoot for 2250 lbs and build a 5.0L instead? We've got plenty of time to decide, as the first LS1 will be a junkyard 5.7L. The "built" motor is too far off to even speculate about.

[Fair!]

Re: Vorshlag F/X-Prepared Car Begins!

2006.10.09 - De-wiring and more maintenance (see web link for more pictures and info)

The week before the 2006 Solo2 Nationals we couldn't stop working on the XP3 car (or the STU car, which got new strut braces and some other last minute tweaks), with the stock seats temporarily installed for a few diagnostic test drives and a lot of GOO GONE used to remove adhesive (from the OEM asphalt floorpan insulation). After that grueling week of driving, towing, and in Hanchey's case vomiting, we made it back home - tired, but elated, with a win (STU-L) and a 2nd place (STU). After a week of recovery we were back at it on the XP3 car.



We have managed to track down a number of issues (to be expected on a 274K mile cream puff such as this). A dead cell in the battery was easy to fix - swap in an old but functional battery Hanchey had. Next, a few test drives (misfiring under load badly) and code checks later, we remedied some issues but kept getting cylinder misfires on #1 and #6 (even after swapping the 6 coils around, all of which had been replaced since 2000). The #1 and #6 fire 360° apart, so that leads us to think it has a bad a Crank Position Sensor. Another night we finally dig it out of the thick road grime and find that the resistance is 1/3rd of the OEM rating. Hmm... so let's spend another $65 on yet another sensor. This is the last part we buy before we just yank the engine early and start on the LS1 swap. We are dying to get that started! So, the part is ordered (and just arrived today) for one last try to revive performance in this BMW six.

With Bentley manual in hand, Fair also "de-wired" several nonessential systems, including: rear antenna amp circuit, rear speaker circuits, rear interior lighting circuit, rear defroster circuit, front speaker circuits, front interior lighting circuits, and moonroof motor circuit. No "magic smoke" on the next test drive, so nothing was done wrong (like you had any doubt!). Maybe 6 pounds of wire and a 3.6 pound factory radio amp were yanked. With a goo-covered gaggle of factory wiring pared down to the bare essentials, a bit of split loom and some clean-up work made for tidy trunk wiring.



We sat in several fixed back racing seats at Nationals, in the Solo Performance Specialties booth - thanks for bringing out your goods! Prices looked great and the fit was ideal on the CORBEAU FX-1 seats. Fiberglass FIA approved buckets that were 20 lbs, only $299 (FX-1 Pro is 19 lbs, $279, and narrower). Beats the $550-650+ we were going to blow on 17 pound Kevlars from SPARCO and COBRA. If budget were unlimited, and/or we planned on hard core wheel-to-wheel, we'd spend the extra coin on CF or Kevlar seats (and HANS). We also saw the CF wing we wanted.

2006.10.11 - Replaced the Crank Position Sensor and the car runs on all 6 cylinders on the test drive. W00T!!! "It's a hot runner..."