Tom and Tripp from Spitfire Studios asked me to come out and do some driving for a project they are working on. With a marshalling yard at our disposal, a giant white backdrop set up, and a huge crane in place… it was definitely going to be a rad shoot.My buddy David Jones was kind enough to let me borrow his (sick) Mustang.
With all my car troubles at Road Atlanta… I was worried about the e46 running well enough for the shoot. I didn’t want to leave an entire film crew stranded if my car decided to act up again. THANKS DJONES!!!
Tripp prepping the Red One. This camera is lightyears beyond GNAR.
The canvas. The footage will be keyed out in post… so the white backdrop will help immensely.
Lights… camera…
Tripp and Tom firing from the sky.
They’ll wash off.
My brother Jamie came out to the shoot. He is attending the Art Institute in Atlanta for film. Expect big things from this guy in the near future!!!rn.
Lunch was GREAT!
Setting up for the last take.
HUGE thanks to Tom and Tripp for having me out to drive, and to the entire crew for all their hard work!! I think the finished product will be sick!
I got a chance to do some more stunt driving for Spitfire today! More details soon…
Perched for attack.
Matt Foerst and Michael Sarol watching as someone hit the kitty litter.
Hanging out with Matt and my buddy Dennis Mertzanis.
Erin Sanford trying to diagnose fuse issues.
More diagnosing and attempted repair at the line.
A couple snaps through the horseshoe at Road Atlanta while the car was operational.
A snap of the e46 landed on SpeedHunters. I don’t think I have met Mike Garrett, but I do appreciate the kind words!!!
“Speaking of looking good, here’s Andy Sapp’s sexy E46 BMW. This car was at Road Atlanta to take part in the small FD ProAm event that was held alongside the “big league” competition.”
rn
This image sums up my weekend. So what the hell happened?As of now… it looks like the hydro e-brake may have played a role. I was advised by a BMW tech that I could pull ABS fuses, and not trip the car into limp-mode. He said ABS electronics run independent from the motor, so I’m fine. WELL… ABS has 4 fuses… which (I think two) are shared with DSC. I pulled the fuses, and tested the e-brake. It locked up the rears… no problems, right? Wrong. I didn’t get a chance to really test the car out until I was at the top of the hill at Road Atlanta. The e-brake worked fine… but the car was totally in limp-mode and wouldn’t rev past 5K.I rush back to the truck, we replace all the fuses and reset it with a battery disconnect. The car ran fine the rest of practice. Problem solved, right? Wrong. My first qualifying run… I floor it out of the gate. The car was in limp-mode. I flipped a bitch right back to the truck. From this point on… we can’t get the car out of limp-mode. We reset the ecu, clear OBD2 codes, and think we get it out of limp mode… allowing me to redline 1st-3rd gear into 10a… then BAM… back into limp-mode. I almost threw the car into the wall (on accident) because of this shit. VERY VERY DANGEROUS.
Why does something go wrong with this car EVERY YEAR at Road Atlanta? I’ve had this car since 2001 (new)… and it has never… EVERRR gone into limp-mode. Not once. Then I get to the top of the hill on race-day, and I’m stuck with an inoperable car that was totally killing it the week before during practice.Every project with this car has basically been a giant pain in the ass, and I’m pretty much furious with it. I knew running that e-brake was going to cause problems… it was too easy. Standalone seems to be what I need to bypass all the computational over-thinking I don’t even want in the car… but at this point I don’t want to spend any more money on it. All I want to do is thrash and have fun… but I am so pissed at the car right now.
If I drove poorly and fumbled it… fine. I can live with that. But to have the car shit out on me and not let me make a single qualifying run is a spit in the face.
Ride along in/on the e46 for 3 practice runs at Road Atlanta from the locals-only practice sesh the 28th.
Keep your hands in the car. Don’t touch anything.
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.
