Hello, everyone. You may know me from such previous builds as E39 M5 touring conversion (click here for BaT auction results:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...ng-conversion/ ) and E46 M3 touring conversion (click here for build thread:
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=544393 )
After realizing the cost of completing the M3 build (rear body/bumper, rear fenders, and full body repaint) would be quite beyond what the car is worth in the end, I decided to <ahem> shift gears and start something new based on a few cars I've seen and driven before and that is an E91 touring diesel 335d with a 6 speed manual transmission.
I've seen one sedan with the manual but no tourings, at least not in the USA, so I figured why not?
Here is where I'll keep all the details updated and is a good way to keep track personally of what I've done and what still needs work.
A week ago Sunday, I flew to Atlanta and picked up the donor car, a 2011 335d with a salvage title which already had stage 2.8 modifications done by Tune My Euro (AARodriguez). I asked him to finish it off with v2 hybrid turbos and a new fuel pump and tune for me, and he did, so now it's a full stage 4.1 car. Andrew was nice enough to pick me up personally at ATL and drive me back to the shop. On the way, after some nice BBQ for lunch, it was raining and he noticed the wipers weren't brand new, so he bought Bosch versions at the local O'Reilly's and we fixed a situation where the windshield nozzles weren't working. After that I was on my way.
I drove it from there to Greenville SC to attend the BMW CCA Oktoberfest 50th anniversary event and was lucky enough to be able to hot lap it on Michelin's Laurens Proving Grounds 2.0 mile high speed test track pretty much at full speed. The brakes were not happy with me for sure and were smoking like crazy after just 4 hot laps.
The car held up great on track despite having only square 225 all season Cooper tires and fairly awful brake pads and the instructors there (driving M5 competition package cars) were shocked at its ability and speed.
My transmission, driveshaft, race clutch, 6-speed swap kit, and various other goodies will be on the way soon from Denmark thanks to Dennis over at Schmiedmann.com. He's been amazing so far in helping me source the parts that aren't available in the USA.
Tomorrow, my custom built 330d Wavetrac 3.25 LSD from Dan at Diffsonline.com should arrive as well.
The touring I'll be using as a base is due in Wednesday from Nevada and I'll post photos of that soon. For now, here are some photos so far.
My old M5 touring:
My E46 M3 touring:
Donor 2011 335d non-sport:
Dyno chart of donor car (will re-run on my local DynoJet as a baseline):
I couldn't help but clean the interior when I got it. Was dirtier than I thought (left side is clean, right side is dirty):
Chasing an instructor in his M5 comp:
Hard to see, but billowing smoke from brakes:
That's it for now.