A killer snap through the shoe at Road Atlanta from the locals-only practice sesh.

On a whim… I decided I wanted to re-wire my strobe switches, and mount my gauges in the dash. I made the old switch panel and the gauge cluster out of a sheet of carbon fiber many years back. When I bought the VDO gauges back in 2005… Summit sent me the wrong sending units, and I never got around to ordering the correct ones. The cluster has laid dormant in my garage ever since.This is basically what I started with. I pulled the center dash console, made a quick Home Depot run for some brackets and solder, and snagged some metal toggles from Auto Zone.

This didn’t take long. I like this setup much better than the carbon fiber plate that used to sit in the ashtray. This is much more solid.

Onto the gauge cluster install… I snagged some aluminum from Home Depot, and cut it to line up with the back of the carbon fiber that holds the gauges.

Drilled matching holes in the aluminum, and the console.

Pop-riveted them into place.

The right side had to be Dremel’d out with a cutting wheel, because it had an angled edge that the left side didn’t have.

Dremel’d two of the tabs slightly to allow for a flush fitment.

Then I cut one of the brackets to size, and bolted it to the aluminum plate.

You can see where this is going.

Riveted the cluster to the bracket.

Re-wired the strobe switches to the control module, and installed the entire center console back in the car.

The result of an early morning run to Summit Racing. The stainless lines and fitting that came with the MAX e-brake were metric. The only additional brake line we could find on a Saturday evening was 1/4″ standard line. This line was the closest to the OEM line we would be splicing. The Earl’s fitting would allow us to utilize the standard fitting on the 1/4″ line, and adapt it to the metric lines that came with the e-brake.

This is the OEM line that runs from the brake master to the ABS module. After the ABS module, it splits left and right to the rear, so we deduced that our best bet would be to run the e-brake inline here.

Stainless lines run in-line between the brake master and the e-brake.

The stainless lines then got run under the dash and along the transmission tunnel to the mounting point of the e-brake.

This is basically where the e-brake would end up. I’m trying to keep my hand movement to a minimum between the steering wheel, shifter, and e-brake.

Bumper back on, while Matt hangs the exhaust proper.

Final touches on the exhaust hangers.

Foerst Motorworks has hella Jag clientele.

Off the lift and ready to KILL. All she needs is an alignment and a wash.

We had to bleed the brakes like 5-6 times. Both manually and with a power bleeder. I thought the guys from Parts Shop Max were joking when they said you had to bleed it a lot. I gave the e-brake a couple solid pulls in the parking lot. It was raining, but it locks up like a champ!

MAJOR progress today. I don’t think this car knew what hit it.The calm before the storm…

Treehouse bushings versus the stock 60mm.

Treehouse bushing installed.

Old guibo. You can see where it tears under stress. This one is pretty tame compared to some of the others we’ve pulled out of this car.

Who needs a transmission stand? Matt Foerst manhandling the transmission from the motor.

Hard to believe this is only the 2nd transmission that has been in this car.

OEM e34 M5 pressure plate.

UUC Motorwerks lightweight flywheel.

Clutch Specialties 6-puck ceramic installed.

Old e35 M5 throwout bearing versus the new one. Thankfully… Global Imports BMW had one of these in stock.

Ready for re-install…

Turner RTAB versus the stock bushing.

Pressed in and ready to be bolted up.

The center support bearing was destroyed. We had to make a mad-dash across town to pick up a new one from United BMW.

The new one… ready to rock.

Trans back in, driveshaft bolted up.

The old ITG filter. I do mean OLD.

See? This thing is literally falling apart.

Prep team from left to right: Erin Sanford, Matt Foerst, Chris Stein, Michael Sarol, Byron Hill.

New sparklers…

To replace the old ones.

Trying to troubleshoot the hydro e-brake install… and narrow down the best plan of attack.

Random, awesome beef jerky man.

Random snap of my rear lip. Destroyed and eaten away by years of molten rubber bombardment.

Aspec tips c/o Foerst Motorwerks!!! These things are SICK!

Fitting…

Sanford behind the stick.

Brantley finishing the welding.

The end of the night.

Tomorrow we need to weld hangers up for the exhaust. I’m making an early run to Summit Racing in McDonough for some Earl’s fittings that should help us run the hydro e-brake in-line before the ABS module.

HUUUUUUGE huge thanks to Matt Foerst and Erin Sanford. They put hella wrench time on the car… and were a gigantic help. I never could have got all this done today without them. Thanks to Michael Sarol for driving me all over town to pick up parts. I love you guys. SERIOUSLY.

You know you drift a BMW when your Bentley service manual is held together with zipties.

My box from Turner was on my doorstep this evening. I have a TON of Turner parts on my car. They really make some of the best parts on the market. Nearly every suspension component on my car is from Turner.Turner Motorsport Spherical Rear Trailing Arm Bushings. I’ve wanted these for at least 3 years. They are so gorgeous that I almost don’t want to install them. These should replace the last of the rubber bushings in the car.

New ITG filter for my Conforti CAI. My old one is decrepit and borderline rotted away.

Stainless steel clutch line.

New flex disc (or GUIBO). I swear this will be the 9th or 10th one of these that will go in this car. I destroy these things with zero mercy.

Turner Motorsport Harness Collars. These weren’t ‘necessary’… but they were totally mandatory.

A local company called Clutch Specialties put this 6-puck ceramic clutch together for me in 24 hours. I sent them my old OEM e34 M5 clutch for reference. Then they delivered it to me at work… at no charge. Talk about service!!!

The OEM e34 M5 it will replace…

Parts Shop MAX hydro e-brake… complete with Earl’s stainless lines and fittings. God I hope this works.

Parts started trickling in today for the massive overhaul that the e46 is about to get. I’ve really been doing nothing lately but driving the ever-living hell out of this car. It is time to hook old grrrl up with some new bits and keep her running strong.Treehouse Racing “Eyeball Arms” to replace one of the few rubber bushings I have left on the car.

Zeckhausen Racing Modified Clutch Delay Valve. Why I’ve had this car for this long and never heard of this mod is beyond me. Big thanks to Tony Shulz for the heads up on an amazingly simple, inexpensive, and GREAT mod.

New delrin shifter… more metal than a bubble shift knob, but just as effective.

Long overdue Longacre helmet hook for the rollcage. Now I can cut the crusty 5-yr old bungee cord off the cage.

Picked this up from Mr. Stribling himself. Maybe this will help the return trip down the hill back into 10a…

Didn’t make as much progress on the car tonight as I wanted. I ran out of daylight. I tried hammering out the bumper supports that got bent when I tagged Austin. It’s going to need some more hammering, because now one bolt will thread, and the other won’t.

I dug up an old smoke lense to replace the one I shattered on Austin’s car. I went ahead and drilled out the hole with a 1″ hole-saw for the strobe light. The headlight is kinda smashed in there… I can’t get this lens on the car, so I’m gonna have to figure something out.

Wasn’t I just saying it was a shame that the locals couldn’t get any seat time at Road Atlanta? Yesterday I got a phone call, and that dream became a reality. 3 hours. 10 drivers. One of the most amazing days of my life.

More to come…

A few random snaps from the Sunday afternoon shooting session with Tripp and Tom from Spitfire.

My poor car is looking pretty hammered. A true testament to the trials and tribulations of being a dedicated track car.

Tom getting the Mino HD set up on the steering wheel.

Tripp ready to rock the Red One.

Tripp sent me a cut of the footage they shot on the 22nd. It turned out RAD! The interior shots utilized a rollcage-mounted Canon 5D Mark II and a steering wheel-mounted Flip Mino HD camera. All the exterior footage was shot using a RED ONE. I can’t get over the quality from the 5D Mark II. I’m super stoked they asked me to be a part of this project. It was definitely a fun Sunday afternoon of shooting.

I met up with the crew from Spitfire Studios today to do some stunt driving. More details soon…

I was curious to see what kind of results I would get if I strapped my iPhone in the e46 and recorded a run using Dynolicious’ skidpad mode. The data is pretty interesting. I was surprised the lateral numbers weren’t higher. I suppose if I strapped the phone in the trunk that it would read differently. It is odd that the braking number is so high, because I don’t use the brakes… ever. I also found it interesting that the car pulled just shy of 1.0 G on accel.rnrnrnOverall… I think this app is great. The timed run feature is very interesting, and extremely fun to use. More on that soon.