Isn't 100% locking exactly the same as a welded diff?
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Welder is locked ALL the time (imagine a go-kart, or quadbike).
LSD still has a progressive ramp angle and takes time to engage dependant on load/power application. So you're getting some slip initially, and then depending on conditions (grip, oil temperature in the LSD, etc) it will eventually fully lock.
With it dropped 25%, its much better with that small amount of slip. You can see how early I can use WOT mid-exit of corner compared to before. Its a fine balance, but I am sticking with the lower lock for now.
NorthloopCup
ClioSport Moderator
Fuckin hell, you were very lucky there at Galgenkopf mate with that wishbone failure!
Love this thread though!
Love this thread though!
How would clutch plate dif compare to torsen dif? Why did you choose clutch not the torsen?
Thanks!
Torsen diffs act like an open diff if you unload one wheel, IE over kerbs etc where as a plated diff doesn't
Pros and cons with both, but for a 'track only' application you will go quicker with a plate differential. The trade of is they wear out, where a torsen/helical differential is fit and forget.
I've always known the exhaust ran very hot, and the assumption was I was at the limit of 2.5" with the power level/RPM/engine capacity. To prove this assumption, I moved one of my cameras under the car at Oulton Park, and yeah... it was running hot:
I wanted to move up to 3", mainly so it wasn't glowing half way down the car, and push the engine a little harder. This would mean modifying the headers to suit a 3" collector. To do anything with the headers, the engine has to come out, so it was stripped and ready to lift out.
Whilst the engine was out, I wanted to add a small baffle in to the base of the sump to try and prevent some of the forward surge I get under heavy braking. At the moment it hasn't been an issue, but it has been spotted on the log files in the past. I simply copied thebasic VAC/Turner kit.
The big end bearings were also replaced whilst the sump was off. Nothing wrong with the old ones, just stupid not to do them for how cheap they are.
With the engine out and exhaust off..
I set about cutting the headers up as the primaries are not a great shape standard!
I wanted to ensure the primaries were a consistent shape, and then merge them into a 3". There isn't really a 2" > 3" collector available off the shelf, so after a lot of trial and error, trimming and testing I ended up with the headers done. I also added a bosses for dual EGT, per bank, and a wideband sensor.
With wanting to run the engine harder, I wanted more sensors and ideally more protection from the ECU. Whilst the Adaptronic has been great for all these years, I decided to sell it and move to an ECUMaster EMU Black. Having been impressed with their PMU16 for the past 18 months it was a logical choice with having dual EGT and wideband on board, along with a whole set of further features.
I spent a considerable amount of time stripping my engine loom, to add further sensors in, and then redoing my 'main' loom inside to suit the new ECU. This included adding in provisions for CAN between the Dash2Pro and various other things.
I transferred most of the setup from my Adaptronic map and got he car running. Next up was the 3" exhaust which didn't take too long. I took the DIY approach again, as I had time and the mandrel components are cheap enough.
With the intake temperatures running quite high, and cutting a hole in the bonnet making no difference (even if it was temporary!), I decided to change the arrangement of the coolers at the front of the engine. I cut the slam panel middle section out, and dropped the radiator around 120mm. Then got rid of my tall oil cooler in favour of a short, but wide Setrab cooler. When I get time, the top of the coolers will be boxed off so air coming in through the front grilles has no where else to go other than the ITBs.
The rest of the car was then built back up ready for mapping. I've increased the RPM limit to 7600rpm now.
Everything was stable, and now have much more protection enabled in the form of EGT and Knock. There will be more to learn and adjust as the car is used, but its a good base.
As you will have previously seen in the thread, I have had continual issues with the rear camber arm rose joint wearing out near immediately after fitting. It was a big issue as to change them the differential has to be removed from the car, which is time consuming. With having some spare time over the christmas period, I got round to doing something about it.
The differential was removed, and I compared the width of the inner mounting point to a standard BMW ball joint, which is used in the outer trailing arm on an E36/46. These have been incredibly reliable (3+ years use) and trouble free on my car, so it was a good starting point.
The idea was to create a housing, which this ball joint could be pressed in to as it normally would be in the trailing arm. This housing could then be welded onto the camber arm, giving a fixed inner side to the camber arm. I picked up some 5mm wall CDS, which the internal diameter of was just smaller than the minimum dimension I wanted to be a press fit on the ball joint. The inside was turned out to the dimension required.
I then chopped the tube to length, and milled it flat to the required exact width.
These were then welded on to the ends of the arm and gusseted. The ball joints were then pressed in.
With the inner side being fixed, the only way to adjust the camber would be to spin the whole outer part of the arm. This would be far from ideal, as you would only have a coarse adjustment (of an M16 thread). I decided to make a new pair of outer parts, and utilise a standard BMW eccentric camber bolt. This way I could do the big adjustments on the M16 thread of the arm, and the fine adjustment on the eccentric bolt.
Picked up a pair of new eccentric bolts from BMW, then got the arms fitted and the differential back on the car. From there the alignment was done and hopefully those arms wont need to be touched for some time!
This leads us up to the point of getting ready to head out to Spa Francorchamps, and we should have been on track today, for the first of two days. Unfortunately due to COVID19, the trip was cancelled and the circuit closed as you would imagine. With the car ready to go and only a handful of small jobs outstanding, I have been on with these over the past couple of weeks, so more updates soon.
Yeah, considered it, especially ceramic coating, but decided against it in the end. That side of the engine is not so bad once you have air flow through the engine bay when you are moving. The issue seems to be the hot air coming through the radiator/oil/power steering coolers, hitting the front of the engine (air has then wwarmed up) and the open filter just sucking it straight in.
If I remove the passenger headlight, I see a reduction of 15-20C inside the ITB backplate, as your essentially creating a ram air effect in the engine bay via the gaping hole where the headlight was. For quite a few series you need to retain both headlights, hence wanting to keep it in - not keen on cutting up the headlight either to retain half of it etc.
This is where dropping the coolers will hopefully help. I now have over 200mm of open space above them to the bonnet, and a clear path from the kidney grilles into that space. The plan is to hopefully create something to funnel the air into this space like below, like you would see on the supertourers
Got three days in during August, and have a few more planned before the end of the year. Plenty changes have happened... I will get round to updating this thread at some point!
Not too much has happened this year, as with everything. February time I managed to get hold of a new fiberglass bonnet, wing and door after the damage in 2019. I had them painted, and got them fitted in preperation for heading to Spa at the end of March...
Right after this, lockdown happened, Spa and all other plans were cancelled. With the car being practically ready to use, I didn't really have anything to do over the next 4-5 months. I had a few jobs I wanted to get out of the way, so the following is spread over that time frame...
I tried fiberglassing for the first time, which didn't turn out too badly for a first version...
I then used the left over fiberglass materials to box in my radiator/oil cooler/PAS cooler..
Right after this, lockdown happened, Spa and all other plans were cancelled. With the car being practically ready to use, I didn't really have anything to do over the next 4-5 months. I had a few jobs I wanted to get out of the way, so the following is spread over that time frame...
I tried fiberglassing for the first time, which didn't turn out too badly for a first version...
I then used the left over fiberglass materials to box in my radiator/oil cooler/PAS cooler..
Designed and 3D printed some ABS ducts for the foglights (Brake cooling) and inner ducts (for the alternator)...
Designed some inner door handles to suit my door cards, rather than a tacky piece of wire hanging out...
Removed the original switch panel, built a new one with some CAN functionality and mounted it above the screen so you can actually see it when driving. It was always a struggle to see the other one looking downwards.
Won a job lot of expensive Yamari thermocouples to replace my terrible chinese cheap ones. Swapped these into my exhaust manifolds and have a lifetime supply spare...
Ducted both rear windows into the differential cooler rather than just the one side...
Fitted 4x new wheel speed sensors and ABS rings, wired into an ECUMaster wheel speed to CAN module. Allowing me to log individual wheel speeds, axle lock status (left to right or front to rear), and traction control if required.
Designed a small circuit board with on board voltage regulator and pullup circuitry, allowing me to log each side of the fuel tank indvidually. It uses a Teensy 3.2 processor and then feeds the data onto the CAN network for the dash to receive. I'm using both hardware and software filtering. The board was made for pence by JLCPCB.
Fitted an LSU 4.9 Wideband as the EMU Black has a wideband controller on board, allowing me to move to closed loop.
Then we got to the end of July and managed to get some track days booked towards the end of August. After many cancellations and changes before this, we had three days planned in the space of a week.
First up was Anglesey - perfect conditions!
Fitted an LSU 4.9 Wideband as the EMU Black has a wideband controller on board, allowing me to move to closed loop.
Then we got to the end of July and managed to get some track days booked towards the end of August. After many cancellations and changes before this, we had three days planned in the space of a week.
First up was Anglesey - perfect conditions!
Two days later, Snetterton - again, perfect conditions!
Then a couple of days later, Cadwell Park - you guessed it, perfect conditions!
At the end of the day, I couldn't stop the car sliding, and noticed the coolant temperature was increasing. It turned out the radiator had made a break for freedom from its mounts, hit the crank bolt and had a hole sliced into it. That was it, day over at 4.30pm.
Although, I wasn't bothered after having three faultless days up to that point. The best video from Cadwell is above with a couple of mates in other E36s.
Also, I put together a small video to show how a swirl pot application actually works in the real world, which is even more effective on a BMW with a split tank. I rarely look at fuel level myself, as the ECU provides consumption in litres, so I always have a log of how much fuel has been used.
Then a couple of days later, Cadwell Park - you guessed it, perfect conditions!
At the end of the day, I couldn't stop the car sliding, and noticed the coolant temperature was increasing. It turned out the radiator had made a break for freedom from its mounts, hit the crank bolt and had a hole sliced into it. That was it, day over at 4.30pm.
Although, I wasn't bothered after having three faultless days up to that point. The best video from Cadwell is above with a couple of mates in other E36s.
Also, I put together a small video to show how a swirl pot application actually works in the real world, which is even more effective on a BMW with a split tank. I rarely look at fuel level myself, as the ECU provides consumption in litres, so I always have a log of how much fuel has been used.
After this we booked a few more days in September/October, for them to be cancelled or moved. I had replaced the radiator and the car was sat ready to go whenever required, but the days just were not happening for us.
With nothing else planned, I had time to think on what route to take with the car for 2021. I had not even thought about racing in 2020 after everything that had been going on.
When I saw the 2021 750MC calendar released for Roadsports, the events were just of no interest (2x Silverstone, 2x Snetterton, Croft and Brands Hatch). If Cadwell and Oulton were on there, I may have been interested, but not this time.
From here, with a good amount of winter to go at, I decided to push the engine further, and see where the limit really is on the M5x platform. I stripped a spare head, had it cleaned and skimmed, and ordered some much more agressive camshafts. I'm also moving to aftermarket springs, retainers and solid/shimmed lifters.
This will involve some more custom work, unique timing and various other things, so I will try and keep this up to date with that. 2021 should be fun!
With nothing else planned, I had time to think on what route to take with the car for 2021. I had not even thought about racing in 2020 after everything that had been going on.
When I saw the 2021 750MC calendar released for Roadsports, the events were just of no interest (2x Silverstone, 2x Snetterton, Croft and Brands Hatch). If Cadwell and Oulton were on there, I may have been interested, but not this time.
From here, with a good amount of winter to go at, I decided to push the engine further, and see where the limit really is on the M5x platform. I stripped a spare head, had it cleaned and skimmed, and ordered some much more agressive camshafts. I'm also moving to aftermarket springs, retainers and solid/shimmed lifters.
This will involve some more custom work, unique timing and various other things, so I will try and keep this up to date with that. 2021 should be fun!
Had a few hours on the cylinder head this weekend. Lapped all 24 valves in, put some new Supertech stem seals on, and cleaned a few other bits. Awaiting arrival of springs, retainers and camshafts now.
The good news is an Oulton Park day we booked some time ago for the 12th December is going ahead, so looking forward to using it once more this year 👍
The good news is an Oulton Park day we booked some time ago for the 12th December is going ahead, so looking forward to using it once more this year 👍
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
I'm at Oulton on the 5th.
Weather's looking terrible.
Weather's looking terrible.
I'm not hopeful either 😂
Oulton Park started wet, but there was a dry line appearing after lunch, oppertunity to finish off the rear AR-1s. It was a very quiet day, near empty track in the last hour. A few showers meant a bit of caution was required, but still good to get back out for a day.
After loading the car onto the trailer, it appears the droplink had disconnected itself from the ARB at somepoint. This could have been on one of the summer days however, it felt no different. Easy fix.
No other issues to report... on to 2021 👍
After loading the car onto the trailer, it appears the droplink had disconnected itself from the ARB at somepoint. This could have been on one of the summer days however, it felt no different. Easy fix.
No other issues to report... on to 2021 👍
Hopefully some more RPM and noise with the new top end for next year 👍
Received a nice delivery just in time for Christmas.
Then had a couple of hours spare today to get the springs and retainers on the new head.
Stripped the old hydraulic lifters and spent some time cleaning the old oil and gunk out of them. More on this soon.
Finished by installing 24x new exhaust studs as they are so cheap.
The part number is BMW 11127593376 if anyone comes across this. They are from an N series diesel.
Then had a couple of hours spare today to get the springs and retainers on the new head.
Stripped the old hydraulic lifters and spent some time cleaning the old oil and gunk out of them. More on this soon.
Finished by installing 24x new exhaust studs as they are so cheap.
The part number is BMW 11127593376 if anyone comes across this. They are from an N series diesel.
Not in the traditional 'off the shelf' method, but fixed shims, yeah. Completely want to avoid the buckets and lash caps which Cat/Shrick sell, as they have an all too common problem with 'falling off' the valve stem under heavy use. Retaining the bare casing of the internal hydraulic assembly, and stacking custom fixed height shim stock inside to get the required lash - that way nothing can fall out/off 👍
Waitey
ClioSport Club Member
Alpina D3, AC Cobra
Just the set up I used in my K series, was good to 9500rpm!
Had a bit of time over the past week to crack on. Started with pulling the engine...
Its always easier to work on these engines at a lower height, especially when not touching the bottom end or removing the flywheel/clutch etc. Further back in this thread, I had put together a stand for this, but in the end it got chopped up for other things over the years. Spent an hour and got a new one together for the same purpose.
I have been having ongoing issues with my LSU/wideband due to positioning on the headers, partly due to how far down the exhaust it resides. Its something that needs looking in to if I want to continue running one. To put it in perspective..
Before pulling the old cams and cylinder head off, I wanted to properly measure and document the 'US M3' camshafts I have been running for the past few years. There is quite a lot of information out on the internet about them, but you can't really trust someone measuring them out of the engine with a £10 set of Amazon calipers, it means nothing. Most of the information contradicts one another. So whilst I had the chance, I measured both camshafts properly with the engine still in time. Hopefully this will be useful to someone one day, otherwise it will be a good comparison to the new camshafts.
I then removed the timing chain, and used the camshafts to physically check the valve to piston clearance with the crank in different positions between -25 to +25 of TDC, the tightest areas for clearance. This is only relevant for this type of build (M54 internals in an M50 block, and so on), but with it being a fairly common build now, its more useful information. I could then plot this information:
There was plenty of clearance at full VANOS advance, well over 2mm at the tightest point, if anyone finds this post and wants the full set of measurements just let me know. The camshafts measured out at the inlet being 10.25mm lift, 252 degrees duration, and the exhaust 9.7mm lift, 240 degrees duration. There may be a few tenths of a millimeter variance due to the variable lash with hydraulic lifters, but its close enough.
Its always easier to work on these engines at a lower height, especially when not touching the bottom end or removing the flywheel/clutch etc. Further back in this thread, I had put together a stand for this, but in the end it got chopped up for other things over the years. Spent an hour and got a new one together for the same purpose.
I have been having ongoing issues with my LSU/wideband due to positioning on the headers, partly due to how far down the exhaust it resides. Its something that needs looking in to if I want to continue running one. To put it in perspective..
Before pulling the old cams and cylinder head off, I wanted to properly measure and document the 'US M3' camshafts I have been running for the past few years. There is quite a lot of information out on the internet about them, but you can't really trust someone measuring them out of the engine with a £10 set of Amazon calipers, it means nothing. Most of the information contradicts one another. So whilst I had the chance, I measured both camshafts properly with the engine still in time. Hopefully this will be useful to someone one day, otherwise it will be a good comparison to the new camshafts.
I then removed the timing chain, and used the camshafts to physically check the valve to piston clearance with the crank in different positions between -25 to +25 of TDC, the tightest areas for clearance. This is only relevant for this type of build (M54 internals in an M50 block, and so on), but with it being a fairly common build now, its more useful information. I could then plot this information:
There was plenty of clearance at full VANOS advance, well over 2mm at the tightest point, if anyone finds this post and wants the full set of measurements just let me know. The camshafts measured out at the inlet being 10.25mm lift, 252 degrees duration, and the exhaust 9.7mm lift, 240 degrees duration. There may be a few tenths of a millimeter variance due to the variable lash with hydraulic lifters, but its close enough.
The camshafts and cylinder head could now come off..
Happy with the condition of the bores/pistons and old headgasket, nothing out of the ordinary to show. I'm not changing anything there, it will just get a clean, new gasket a few other bits. Last check was to verify the actual measurement of the piston below the deck when at true TDC, easy with everything apart.
Hopefully get on with some more in the next couple of days 👍
Happy with the condition of the bores/pistons and old headgasket, nothing out of the ordinary to show. I'm not changing anything there, it will just get a clean, new gasket a few other bits. Last check was to verify the actual measurement of the piston below the deck when at true TDC, easy with everything apart.
Hopefully get on with some more in the next couple of days 👍
With the cams arriving and the valves/springs installed in the head, the remaining job was to convert the hydraulic lifters to solid as previously mentioned, and shim them to the correct lash CatCam specify.
The hydraulic portion of the standard tappet was stripped, check valve and spring removed, leaving just the inner and outer piston housing which would now become solid. Everything was cleaned at the same time before even starting. The shim stock is in two thicknesses, cut to the inner diameter of the housing. The thicknesses are 0.20mm and 0.25mm, so a combination of the shims stacked together allow adjustment to get the correct lash. Prior to his, I already knew my total stack height would be between 1.0mm and 1.4mm, so those two thicknesses gave me enough scope.
I put 1.00mm worth of shims in each lifter to begin with, to get a starting point on clearance then I could easily work out what combination would be needed to get the desired clearance.
Now it would be impossible to install these onto the cylinder head without the components falling apart as you turn them over (well, you could use grease). Much easier with some 3D printed magnetic holders which keep the whole assembly together.
The hydraulic portion of the standard tappet was stripped, check valve and spring removed, leaving just the inner and outer piston housing which would now become solid. Everything was cleaned at the same time before even starting. The shim stock is in two thicknesses, cut to the inner diameter of the housing. The thicknesses are 0.20mm and 0.25mm, so a combination of the shims stacked together allow adjustment to get the correct lash. Prior to his, I already knew my total stack height would be between 1.0mm and 1.4mm, so those two thicknesses gave me enough scope.
I put 1.00mm worth of shims in each lifter to begin with, to get a starting point on clearance then I could easily work out what combination would be needed to get the desired clearance.
Now it would be impossible to install these onto the cylinder head without the components falling apart as you turn them over (well, you could use grease). Much easier with some 3D printed magnetic holders which keep the whole assembly together.
Once the trays were in, the cams were installed and then clearances checked one by one.
After stripping and changing the stacks a number of times, i got them all within the range of the CatCam spec, 0.20-0.25mm on each valve.
At this point I was nearly ready to put the head back on the bottom end with the old headgasket, to measure the new camshaft profile and clearances. I decided to clean the bores and pistons before this, and found an issue towards the bottom of cylinder 5.
Obviously not ideal, and initially did not know what could have caused this. After some discussion, it looks like the rings have rusted to the cylinder wall at some point in time since it was built (~late 2017). Moisture has got into that cylinder, and slowly rusted the rings to the cylinder wall, which has then broken free as I started the engine back up. Obviously this wasn't causing any issues, compression numbers were good (180psi across all six), and the engine had been making solid power.
I thought back to when the engine has previously stood, and it wasn't ran for 9-10 months between the crash at Spa (March 2018) and January 2019 (New shell being painted). At this time, it was sat in the garage, with paper towel in the inlet ports, for the duration. Asked myself, why only cylinder 5? Well, if you rotate the crank so the piston is in the position of the 'damage', and take a note of the crank angle (30-40 degrees ABTC), cross reference it against the above camshaft data and it is at the exact point where the inlet valves on cylinder 5 are wide open, with all the rest being closed.
I could have just put the head on and ignored it, as it 'was' running fine obviously, but really this would be a stupid idea in case of any further issues down the line I would always look back and only have myself to blame. Unfortunately, this block has already been honed a number of times, and it just isn't possible to run a standard piston/ring size again with another hone.
After much thought, I decided a 0.5mm bore, to 84.5mm, would be the way forward to get a true perfect cylinder size without damage, and still retain the standard headgasket (as they run an 85mm bore). I stripped the bottom end down completely, everything was in great condition, especially the main bearings.
From here it seemed a bit stupid to just buy standard 0.5mm oversize pistons, considering they were practically the same price as aftermarket. That said, I ordered a set of Wiseco high compression which are due in the next few days from the USA.
In conjunction with these, forged rods are going in at the same time so I can aim to spin the engine much higher. These have already been received so hopefully get to building the engine back up in the next few weeks 👍
After stripping and changing the stacks a number of times, i got them all within the range of the CatCam spec, 0.20-0.25mm on each valve.
At this point I was nearly ready to put the head back on the bottom end with the old headgasket, to measure the new camshaft profile and clearances. I decided to clean the bores and pistons before this, and found an issue towards the bottom of cylinder 5.
Obviously not ideal, and initially did not know what could have caused this. After some discussion, it looks like the rings have rusted to the cylinder wall at some point in time since it was built (~late 2017). Moisture has got into that cylinder, and slowly rusted the rings to the cylinder wall, which has then broken free as I started the engine back up. Obviously this wasn't causing any issues, compression numbers were good (180psi across all six), and the engine had been making solid power.
I thought back to when the engine has previously stood, and it wasn't ran for 9-10 months between the crash at Spa (March 2018) and January 2019 (New shell being painted). At this time, it was sat in the garage, with paper towel in the inlet ports, for the duration. Asked myself, why only cylinder 5? Well, if you rotate the crank so the piston is in the position of the 'damage', and take a note of the crank angle (30-40 degrees ABTC), cross reference it against the above camshaft data and it is at the exact point where the inlet valves on cylinder 5 are wide open, with all the rest being closed.
I could have just put the head on and ignored it, as it 'was' running fine obviously, but really this would be a stupid idea in case of any further issues down the line I would always look back and only have myself to blame. Unfortunately, this block has already been honed a number of times, and it just isn't possible to run a standard piston/ring size again with another hone.
After much thought, I decided a 0.5mm bore, to 84.5mm, would be the way forward to get a true perfect cylinder size without damage, and still retain the standard headgasket (as they run an 85mm bore). I stripped the bottom end down completely, everything was in great condition, especially the main bearings.
From here it seemed a bit stupid to just buy standard 0.5mm oversize pistons, considering they were practically the same price as aftermarket. That said, I ordered a set of Wiseco high compression which are due in the next few days from the USA.
In conjunction with these, forged rods are going in at the same time so I can aim to spin the engine much higher. These have already been received so hopefully get to building the engine back up in the next few weeks 👍
Hopefully get back there at least once this year 😎
Greeny.
ClioSport Club Member
440i + 182
You/your car was mentally quick in and out of corners, enjoyed watching you arrive and disappear lol. I want a diff
Best mod you can do on them to be honest, transforms the car more than any power mods ever will!You/your car was mentally quick in and out of corners, enjoyed watching you arrive and disappear lol. I want a diff
