JAFFSTER’S E46 RACE CAR BUILD

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http://store.bimmerworld.com/jaffster-delrin-shift-knob-p1184.aspx

Got a chance to get some more time at the track…not much, only about 45minutes, but enough time to enjoy the car and a nice hot fall day.

First test day I used scrub michelins, and the grip was very good. Car was neutral with a tiny bit of corner exit understeer, but very controllable.

Second day I used scrub yoks, which i actually set the car up for, and there was noticeably more understeer…to the point where I had to lift off to regain some grip. I have some ideas why its understeering, and a big part of it was running improper pressures, I think the tires were getting way too high and just got out of range, as these are usually very sensitive. Unfortunately i did not have much time to test yesterday, just snuck in a few sessions, so i did not get a chance to really get the car dialed in any further.

Drivetrain wise the car felt great. Torque out of corners and mid corner was fabulous! Instant power, zero lag, and the car is just planted when you gas out (minus the understeer lol). I was also told the car is as quiet as a Cadillac CTS-V…good news for running lime rock!

Only issue I had was a lack of HP on the long back straight…was only able to hit 140 at about 90% (data showed a fair amount of lift and not WOT). On the shorter straights I’m hitting pretty high speeds b/c i’m benefiting from the torque and acceleration in the middle gears. But it seems in 5th and 6th, specifically after 130, the car doesn’t have the “umph” to accelerate at the speed it should. It was also 85 degrees, so if it was 65-70 I would probably have another 30-40hp, which would make a huge difference. After the initial heatsoak from a cool motor that was sitting, the car did not change once up to temperature. Water/Oil was solid at 180/200 respectively.

And of course some video…this is one session split up into two parts (youtube restrictions). I moved the camera from the last time upon recommendation, unfortunately when I tightened it right before i went out, it moved a bit to the left. I put black gaffers tape on the firewall bulkhead and dash cage tubing to help reduce glare…and it worked pretty well, the lexan with UV coating just shows bad on camera and all the reflections/glare show up.

First test day at Monticello Motor Club a success! Only was driving 70-80%, slow into braking zones, easy on the straights, feeling out the car, making sure everything worked. Car handles fantastically, engine felt great, and i’m now ready to change fluids and start developing the car now that i know all the systems work.

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She’s Tuned, Groomed and ready to Shakedown!

Neel from Apex Speed Technologies flew in to tune “Teh Jaffster” E46…and while i’ve been talking to Neel about parts of this car for quite sometime, and am aware of his background, experience and clients…his professionalism and skill was beyond impressive in person.

He got in, and within 5 minutes had all the little initial bugs worked out and started working on getting the Motec to let my motor live!

He focuses on driveability, reliability, and performance….peak numbers are not my priority, and thats usually the easy part…making the engine last and be smooth in every other aspect is where the talent comes in.

Several hours later (and one very disgusting Pizza Hut lunch that Neel is probably still feeling) we were ready to do some full sweeps and get the power up to where I wanted it with his input on where he felt it would be where I would be happy…and he hit it perfect head on!

We only had to get to 7.5psi and we made the power I was looking for..extremely smooth and we’ll see if any tweaking is needed once its on track in the next couple weeks. It’ll be as simple as datalogging a session, emailing it over and getting a revised file back to load up.

I’m looking forward to working with Neel on future projects, and for anyone else out there with an above average need build (although mine was not really above average, I just wanted the best) definitely give Neel a call. Got a V10 going into a 135…call Neel. S54 in an E30 running drive by wire and dual vanos…call Neel He also has some sweet ABS systems, but i’ve got to save a few more pennies for that to happen (at some point though).

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Car is almost done! A couple more hoses, some wiring and it’ll be ready to, um, check over again to make sure nothing is screwed up Then i can bring it to the dyno and tune it.

I’m still here…I found some time to work on the car a little bit, and got the dash mounted.

Front and Rear lexan windshields are done.

One more item checked off the list, Fuel lines plumbed, Fuel Pressure Regulator Mounted, Fuel Rail mounted with injectors, just waiting on fuel filter.

http://jaffster.com/E46M3/8-14-08/

Presenting the Jaffster Wing

http://jaffster.com/E46M3/8-5-08/