Driftworks V10 Powered E46 M3

[PhilMorrison]

Please Read: This is a new thread assembled from an old previously lost and now very confused database. So please forgive us if the continuity makes no sense or if anything is missing. There are 100's of pictures still missing. I've had to find each individual image on various hard drives from the past 12 years and re associate it with this new thread. It has taken weeks of my life to do!

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The story starts in 2007 when my buddy Jay took me out in his E36M3. Up until that point I'd been pretty much a die hard Japanese car fan. I was blown away by the balance of power and traction, and it all changed pretty quickly. Within a couple of months I'd decided to sell everything I owned to go and buy this:

It had Terrible Tein coilovers fitted, but had genuine CSL wheels, some big CAA front brakes, and a catalogue of genuine ACS parts.
Much like pretty much every car I've bought in the past 10 years, my intentions were to not go nuts modifying it... That lasted all of about two weeks.
I wanted to run some left over partworn Federal track tyres on the M3, but we only had them in 18"
so they were no good on the CSL wheels. So I bought some 18" BBS from a friend of mine, and rolled the lip of the arches for a little more clearance (scary moment on such an expensive car).

I fitted a Stoptech rear big brake kit, that balances out the big fronts very well.
Then I took my first trip to the Nurburgring. Pretty much everyone here is well aware of the feeling you get the first time you go there. It changed me, and I completely forgot about my idea's of not modifying the car.

Back to the daily driver grind, I put the CSL wheels back on, and colour coded the grill, rear diffuser, and the front splitter. I also got rid of the stupid stansion things on the ACS front splitter. It was back on the white indicators as I lost one of the black ones on the motorway on the way back from the Ring.

I swapped out the Tein coilovers for a set of HSD MonoPro Coilovers, the difference in ride quality and performance was ridiculous!
Obviously, I have a lot of love for the CSL, and in search of a bit more power I bought a cheap(ish) ebay carbon airbox. It wasn't exactly a direct fit, but after a morning of bonding metal outlets into the carbon for the various pipes like idle control, it fitted and looked like this:

I ran it in limp alpha N mode for a while before having a proper alpha N map loaded.
It sounded incredible, but I didn't like the air filter set up as it made the induction noise resonate horribly inside the car, so I moved the filter just behind the front bumper, away from all the heat.

After a quick clean I took these shots

We got some new wheels in stock, so I had to give them a go. Rota Grid 18x10 ET20 all round

We had a blast around Oulton Park. Here's a video of me in the E46 & Paz and Jay in their E36 M3's


After a long search on German ebay, I managed to get these little beauties delivered.
18x10 and 8.5 AC Schnitzer 3 piece wheels. Most modern BMW owners really don't get it, but I think these wheels look just about perfect on the E46 M3.

I bought an Eissenmann back box to mate up to a Supersprint mid section and the 100cell cats I already had fitted and I had the cars paint corrected:

I went to the Nurburgring again a couple weeks ago

Tyre smoke off the fronts! Haha

And then I did this:

Why you ask? Well there was nothing wrong with the engine, it still ran superbly, sounded superb, and was generally awesome and fast. But I've been hatching a plan for the past 6 months, that will explain why this is in our workshop:

and this is also sitting there:

For those of you that just see lumps of metal, it's an E60 M5 5.0 V10 engine, and an E92 M3 6 speed manual gearbox. That plus my M3 should be pretty interesting if I can make it work.
They fit together like this:

I'm in the process of finding the time to fit the engine into the bay as it's going to require a crossmember modification, engine mounts fabricating, gearbox mounts, and manifolds, plus a whole load of other stuff.
I've also placed the order for a Pectel SQ6M12 ECU with Cosworth engine loom, and Cosworth Dash 2. It's about the most money I've ever spent in my life for those three things, but I've messed about with random ECU's and engine looms in the past, and this time I figured 'no thanks, let's not fuck about' So the best of the best it is, and I'll put the new house purchase on hold haha!
I'll update this thread as soon as I pull my finger out and get back on it. For now this is my daily driver:

 

[PhilMorrison]

2010
It's been a few months since anyone last heard about this project. We were set back by an incredibly challenging season of drifting, which as of this weekend will be coming to a close.
However there's been a lot of work going on in the back ground. First and foremost the best decision I made was to enlist the help of our next door neighbours Dynotorque, who are responsible for 90% of the LS V8 Engine conversions in to RX7's and BMW's in the UK.
Craig the owner of Dynotorque is a dab hand at engine conversions, and considering the scale of this particular swap, and my distinct lack of ramp time available in our own workshop, it just made sense to enlist their services.
I also decided to go with a Pectel SQ6M12 ECU system put together by KMS Racing Engines in Holland with a Cosworth Motorsports loom. These guys have plenty of race experience with the V10, and are one of the few companies to have made the V10 work in another car. Their expertise has been invaluable so far, and we haven't even received the ECU and loom yet.

FABRICATE!
The car was pushed into position over the ramp, and the pallet of V10 lined up! What a huge lump!

Ready to take a run up and smash the engine in the hole!

Okay, so a bit more ‘a little bit' more finesse is required.

Craig supports the engine on the inner wings so we can have a look at the minefield of fitment issues underneath.

The engines pushed back right to the bulkhead to see what sort of space we're going to need up top too.

With the engine position measured, the gearbox was held in position, and Craig made the gearbox mount using the E92 M3 gearbox mount shaved down, strengthened with plating, and mounted up to the car body using a milled block of alloy to perfectly fit the uneven mounting surface, and level up the mount beautifully.

Then with the gearbox mount in place, he turned his attention to the front crossmember. This had to be scalloped significantly to accept the sump from the V10. It was strengthened inside with 1/4 steel bar, and plated together.

In this shot you can also see the temporary support used to help make small adjustments to the positioning of the engine.

Then came the time for engine mounts. This was really tight, as we wanted to keep the standard headers on the engine because they are a bit of a masterpiece. Well done BMW!

Some stainless steel plate was cut to mount to the block, and some heavy duty LS engine mounts used. We don't want this engine to move as there's about 5mm clearance between headers and chassis rails, but we also don't want excessive vibration. Here you can see it just tacked together.

Now the drivers side (right side for us in the UK) was a very tight squeeze. Not only were the headers an issue, but you can also see here the first view of the steering rack we've swapped to for further clearance on the front part of the sump where the cam chain sticks out. The BMW rack is very thick, so we've gained a huge amount of room without effecting rack positioning.

Now this is a massive deal! It's a bit of a shame to only give it one picture, as the work that has gone into solving the steering column/header clearance issue is immense! Most people would give up when they see an issue of this scale, but not Dynotorque!
What you see in this picture is a steering column modified to have an extra universal joint. One of the original joints was moved into the car, then a straight shaft is supported by a modified AlfaRomeo Wheel bearing, which goes to another UJ, which passes through a perfectly scalloped section of the chassis rail, which has been reinforced to retain the same strength. It then hits the Mazda steering rack which happens to be the same ratio as a CSL rack, but with more lock… PERFECTION!

After these mamouth tasks were taken on, we finally stepped back, looked at the car, and new that this was actually going to happen! We felt a congratulatory fitment of the plenums was in order. Checking for Bonnet clearance. There is loads!!! Awesome!

After we had a custom propshaft made (E92M3 and E46M3 rear), it was time for the exhaust work. The standard headers had the Cats chopped off, and new stainless flanges welded on. Things are tight, and we tried to ensure the exhaust cleared the external engine oil pumps, and suspension bushes which are prone to melting, but also to make sure ground clearance was at a maximum, as I like my cars low!

Craig has become a dab hand at TIG welding in recent years, and I'm really pleased with the work he's done mating the V10 engine to the Supersprint mid section leading to Eisenmann backbox.

And that's where we're at right now! Most of the big fabrication work is complete. Craig from Dynotorque has worked his ass off on this car for a month straight, and I'm sure you'll agree the work is brilliant.
He has a lot more little jobs to take on, like repositioning and piping the ABS unit, fitting the M5 radiator, and all of the hose work to get this to run, so we've still got a couple more weeks work here.
Then we're just waiting on the Pectel SQ6M12 ECU, Cosworth motorsports loom, Cosworth Pi dash, and an extremely trick mechanical throttle linkage, all from KMS Racing Engines, which will allow us to run a normal cable throttle on the 10 Independent throttle bodies.

 

[PhilMorrison]

I'm not to sure how exciting a blog post this is to others. But for me it's some of the final parts required to complete the mating of S85 V10 and E46 M3, and they are some REALLY special parts.
KMS Racing Engines in Holland are BMW racing specialists. Working with the guys at Cosworth in the UK, they have developed some of the most comprehensive plug and play packages for the S85 V10, S65 V8, S54 Straight 6 and probably a host of other engines.
My photography on the floor in the office really isn't doing these components justice, but the sooner I get it all fitted, the sooner we can get the car running.

Pectel SQ6M-12 Pre-loaded with an S85 V10 Configuration file and map. Even the protective covers for the sockets are amazing.

Even without plugging it in this Cosworth Pi Omega Dash looks awesome.

The External Oil filter housing and block connector with new sensors.

One of my favourite parts, the KMS designed and built mechanical throttle linkage. This replaces the fly by wire motors using all original mounts, and is machined with gearing inside to control both banks of the V accurately with one throttle cable.

A big thank you to John and William from KMS, for creating this awesome package of parts.

 

[PhilMorrison]

Just a small update, not really blog worthy, but worthy of mentioning
E46 M3's are known for having problems with tearing rear subframe mounts in the chassis. Mine has no sign of this happening, but because I'm about to send a few more horses through the chassis, I thought it would be a good time to reinforce it.
So Paz got stuck in

We lifted the car off the entire rear axle

Craig will be taking on the welding of the mounts in the next couple of days, and I'll show that later.
While we've got the subframe off, it's time to refresh the bushes. We're a Powerflex super dealer so it'd be rude to not fit some Powerflex subframe bushes, and any excuse to get our OxyCet torch out . I also decide to bite the expensive bullet and fit all new ball joints to the hubs.

That's it for today. I have the subframe and some posh underbody brace Craigs made being powdercoated at the moment, so we're really making some headway

 

[PhilMorrison]

New M5 radiator is in!
The chassis rails had to be fettled a little, but it was well worth the work to have the correct rad in there.

We even managed to use some very slightly modified standard push clip rad hoses

The KMS racing engines external filter housing has been mounted by Craig, you can see the awesome fabrication for the new rad support as well.

Some of the massive amount of custom hoses we've had to make.

The KMS racing engines mechanical throttle linkage. A work of perfectly geared art.

 

[PhilMorrison]

Small update:
First off, I've been sorting out making sure I can run the car as low as I did before without endangering a very expensive sump. Originally Craig fabricated a steel brace to tie into the suspension, and it was a great bit of fabrication, but it didn't do the same job of protecting the sump that the original alloy underbrace from the E46M3 did. So I decided to spend most of my sunday cutting the hell out of the original, and had SteveO create a slightly extended sump protection section, and strengthen it all so it acts as a brace again as well.. It's not completely finished, but check it out.

I've been eyeing up the front anti roll bar issue, and with the help of Ben found out that we actually had a Z33 350z Whiteline anti roll bar in stock, that was nigh on perfect. I'm just waiting on Craig to machine up some spacer blocks that will allow me to bring the bar down 30mm and back 30mm from the original mounts and it should be fitted. I decided to mount the anti roll bar drop links onto the lower arms instead of the shock body, as we've given the car some more steering angle, which would almost certainly cause the original set up to bind.
To mount into the lower arm's I decided to plate and strengthen the standard item, SteveO is actually still TIGing them as we speak.

I've also solved the clutch issue that was really doing my head in (as I thought I had to take the engine out again). I luckily have a spare E90M3 gearbox, so after mulling over the problem for a while, I started off by cutting a huge hole in the bottom of the bell housing of the gearbox on the car, to gain access to the clutch fork, pivot and the slave cylinder parts that had fired inside. Then after some more measuring up, I enlisted the help of Craig and his lathe, to machine a spacer for the clutch fork pivot, and a new shaft for the slave cylinder.
Showing the original pivot, the extended pivot and the new shaft. Note the extender is roughed up, as it's being bonded into the gearbox casing.

Pivot and extender installed

And the clutch fork in it's happy place

Oh and a nice little plate to cover the huge hole \

The clutch now works! I've gone through the gears (on the ramp) and it feels awesome.

 

[PhilMorrison]

I've run ACS 3 peice wheels on the car for a while, and they aren't to everyones taste, but I absolutely adore them, so I've just built my new rear wheels 18x11.5"
with a 285/30/18 RSR Track tyre, and I'll finish putting the fronts together next week.
It doesn't matter what I try. The camera just does not do these wheels any justice.

 

[PhilMorrison]

First start!

UhhhhMyGaaaawd!!!

 

[PhilMorrison]

IT MOVES!

 

[PhilMorrison]

After another very helpful conversation with John at KMS Racing Engines today, I've ordered a pair of these gauges. They should allow me to finally syncronise the 10 throttles correctly. I've not done a bad job with it so far by using an old school audible pulse matching technique with a rubber hose to your ear, but these should allow me to get the engine to idle very smoothly.

I'm also now waiting for Cosworth to send us some special software that will allow me to connect the Pectel ECU to a laptop connected to the internet, and John at KMS in the Netherlands and Roland at Cosworth can both access and work on my ECU live over the net.. Crazy stuff!

B)

 

[PhilMorrison]

Redline featured the car and we did some terrifying skids at Millbrook with the brakes not working correctly.

Thanks Stavros!

 

[PhilMorrison]

We just got a new camera, so it'd be rude not to test it on the car
Canon 550d on full auto at the moment (until have time to learn how to use it properly)

 

[PhilMorrison]

JamesGascoigne: Caught a Photo of the S85 just kicking in at Mallory with an old 1970'
s Mamiya 645 Film Camera, seemed a shame not to share it with with the Track Culture forum..

 

[PhilMorrison]

I've fitted an exhaust bypass valve. turns out it's quite loud

 

[PhilMorrison]

The car has been featured by Paddy on Speedhunters! Full article here: https://www.speedhunters.com/2011/10/car_feature_gt_gt_track_culture_v10_m3/

 

[PhilMorrison]

I've been terrible at updates for a while as we've been crazy busy with real work (Driftworks Ltd)
Since doing the engine conversion I've tried 3 different fuel pumps and pick up solutions, and although each had their merits, none could get rid of the fuel starvation on sweeping right hand corners. This is a problem on most E46's used on track with good tyres and suspension, but the only difference is when my car see's fuel pressure drop to 4.5bar the Cosworth Dash flashes red, and you immediately lift off. In a normal M3 or CSL you would probably keep your boot in and only notice it as slightly less power up until the point your engine goes pop.
Anyway, after all the faffing about, I decided I'd fit a swirl pot using a brand new standard M3 pump to lift to the pot, then the old classic Mr reliable Bosche 044
Piping was an absolute NIGHTMARE!
Again it's a relatively simple job in a race car, but I had to route multiple hoses under the car clearing suspension, fuel tanks, diffs etc, all with really non compliant fuel hose..
I got there in the end though, and I can now give the car everything it has around left AND RIGHT corners without a worry in the world

While in the boot area, I fitted a lightweight battery. I saved 11kgs doing this swap from my Bosche battery.

I've had some slightly vague steering under braking for a while, and on investigation the Powerflex front lower bushes had melted thanks to the proximity to the manifold/downpipes. So after a chat with BMW suspension setup guru Tom Schirmer, he sent me a pair of his eccentric solid bushes. A very clever and simple solution that gives you extra castor adjustability, and as a nice bonus, is mostly made of aluminium, so along with some additional heat insulation it should be a lot more durable too.
I thought I'd taken fitting pictures, but I can't find them at the moment, so for now here's a picture of them when they arrived. All I had to do was remove the old bush from the housing and drill and tap them for the grub screws. Hey presto, the car handles much better already. They do transmit some more noise, but it's an acceptable compromise for awesome handling.

Also a few months ago I fitted what is now one of my favourite parts of the car, a Carbonetics Carbon Limited Slip Differential. It's an expensive choice, but has completely transformed the way the car puts down power. It's still quiet, and doesn't clunk like other aggressive LSDs thanks to the use of carbon plates. I have to try to make it break traction, and on the limit it's so much more predictable than the standard M3 diffential.. I fitted this into a new housing with a 3.6 ring and pinion, which should mean that I now have the gearing for 212mph if I ever get the chance.

And now for what's litterally just arrived and reminded me to do this update: Nitron NTR 3 way full coilovers!
What an absolute work of art these coilovers are!
I was going to wait to do a fitting video with Al, but as he's away at the Ring, I'm not sure I can be that patient!
Watch this space

I'm currently waiting for a reply from Nitron on the spring rates they've supplied, as they have calculated the optimal rates using my corner weights and tyre choice, and they've turned up with what appear to be 22kg front springs I'm trying to recall if I mentioned that this car is also my daily driver. (For reference we supply our HSD E46 M3 coilovers with a 7kg front haha)

 

[PhilMorrison]

We made a rear strut support brace, as we're running full coilover now, and didn't want to have to fit a roll cage.

And I fitted the Nitrons last night! Turns out.... yes... well.... erm.... they are 'quite' stiff .
I've changed the damping settings this morning, and it seems to have loosened them up a bit, but I'm still sceptical about being able to deal with them on the road. In the dry I'm pretty sure the car would destroy everything on a race circuit, but as I'm a big fan of the bumpy old Nurburgring, I think it may be a bit much.
Regardless Nitron are a fantastic company to work with, and have said they will provide some lower spring rates if I require.

 

[PhilMorrison]

I found some time at the weekend to finally get round to a job I've wanted to do for ages: Correct the bump steer.
Having to move the rack for the engine swap was always going to compromise handling, but I really hoped I could completely correct it with some further engineering. After one attempt that improved the bump steer, but didn't correct it fully, I decided to have some custom parts made up.
The spindles are designed with the same taper as a normal ball joint, and the largest spacer is the same taper internally. then I have some other large spacers and some 2mm and 5mm shims made up to move the tie rod end up and down as I need. The idea is that I correct the bumpsteer with whatever spacers I need, then weld them all together and to the hub. Then I can remove the spindle as normal whenever I need too, and I can also add and remove the small lower spacers as you would with a normal drop link tie rod set up for further corrections in the future.
View attachment 270305
So before changing anything, I checked the bumpsteer I had. I'm using a Longarcre bumpsteer gauge. You have to very accurately measure the static ride height, then ensure that once the wheel and caliper are removed, and the gauge is fitted, that the hub is sitting at exactly the right height. To do this I wound off the spring perches on the Nitron's and used a scissor jack under the lower arm. The results were as expected (pretty dire) With 350 thousands of an inch toe in over 1.5"
of compression. The Longarce gauge uses old money, but as my brain works in mm I've converted into mm. This is 8.9mm toe in over the 1.5" travel PER SIDE, so pretty damn severe!
View attachment 270306
I won't bore you with all the details, but basically you add and subtract spacers to move the tie rod end up or down to correct bump over a given range. I measured at 1.5" compression as I'm using 16kg front springs, so it doesn't have much in the way of suspension travel, and as you can see in the picture below I ended up having to correct by quite a fair amount..... I'm just happy that I had the foresight to see how bad it could be, and made the spindles long enough to correct this much.

View attachment 270307
I spent a bit of time getting it close as possible to zero toe change, but as I haven't corner weighted the car since I fitted the Nitrons, and I am looking to make some small alignment changes, I'll leave the really accurate changes for another day. As a result of the work this weekend, the new SUPER dropped links gave me 13 thousands of an inch toe in at 1.5" travel on the drivers side = 0.33mm
View attachment 270308
And 7 thousands of an inch toe in at 1.5" travel on the passenger side. = 0.18mm
View attachment 270309
I didn't get a picture, but I had to chop the remains of the lower part of the spindle off to get the wheel on as I'm using 18" wheels. I reckon had we move the rack a couple more mm further down that we did, then I wouldn't have been able to correct the bumpsteer. Also as mentioned above, I will be welding all of the upper spacers together and to the hub. I'll also be welding in some further bracing to the hub, so it's less of a point of leverage. But for now after a short test the cars steering is at least as good, if not better than it was before the engine swap, so I am ecstatic!

 

[Bladerider]

You bought this back yet chief ??

 

[PhilMorrison]

You bought this back yet chief ??

Not yet dude. Still trying but it's super complicated.