[SJ_1989]

Hey everyone! My name is SJ and I thought it’s finally time to start a build thread here. Recently I decided to take this car to a whole nother level so why not share it with everyone! There is a ton of information I will be throwing at you so bear with me because it’s forever evolving. Hope you guys enjoy this thread as much I enjoy sharing it with everyone!

I will keep this thread updated as much as I can. Once the car is up and racing you can expect A TON more pics and videos on my Instagram account waffles_bmw (read waffles(underscore)bmw) so make sure to follow so you don't miss anything!

Link to the full album documenting the build (pics are in no particular order) is located here.

Now on to the good stuff!

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If you’re not interested in reading the (lengthy) prelude and background
then skip to post 3
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Post 1: Prelude
Post 2: Background
Post 3 and later: The “Meat and Potatoes”

Prelude:
A little bit of history. Bought a 2008 335i E90 automatic back in 2012 after giving up trying to find a good non-molested 6MT in the color scheme I wanted (black exterior black interior with the sport package). Immediately purchased a JB4 (G4 at the time) and ran just a tune until BMS came out with their meowless downpipes (was a “beta” tester). Fast forward maybe 6 months, searching AutoTrader, and I came across the EXACT car I had but it was a 6MT with 50,000 miles. Let's just say I had the 6MT in my garage that evening. From there I went full bolt-on up until recently and loved every minute of it. As of today (7 years later) the car only has 66,000 miles.... Here is a pic shortly after I picked her up in 2012 and got her professionally detailed.



April 2018 is when I decided to take it the next step further and go single turbo. Now at this point I had no intention on this being a dedicated drag car. It was meant to see a track day every now and then but the original purpose was just to be a street monster. After researching several kits I finally settled on a DocRace with a 6466 and a few supporting mods like Spec stage 3+ clutch, Mfactory single mass lightweight flywheel, Precision Stage 3+ LPFP, and various maintenance items.



But before I could begin the swap I had to prepare my workspace! Now one month prior to deciding to go single turbo I had just moved in to a new house (March 2018) so everything was chaotic during this time period. I specifically wanted the new house to have a 3 car garage and wasn’t going to settle for anything less, and this is the reason why…..





I’ve always wanted my own car lift and I was finally able to get one with the new house. Installation was pretty straight forward and I did everything myself. What better way to break it in than with a single turbo swap!

Got the car up on the lift and started pulling her apart. The lift makes it so much easier to drop the sub-frame and transmission. This was one of the top 5 best purchases of my life that’s for sure. Was able to drop the sub-frame and get the turbos out fairly quickly.







I won’t bore you with the details of swapping out to a single turbo as that’s been documented very thoroughly by others on the forums and Youtube. However, as I was going through the swap I began to ask myself “why am I doing this? This car will be capable of 700 whp but where am I going to use all this new found power? Sure I can do pulls on the street but what am I really gaining from that experience?” Though contemplating life choices I was able to get the swap done. Here’s the kit all installed minus a few things that still needed buttoned up.



Now before I get into the details of why I created this thread, I will say I’ve always been a fan of 1320Video YouTube channel. For those of you who don’t know who 1320 is (do you live under a rock?), they are a group of car enthusiasts who travel around the world attending various car events and creating content on social media. Back in the day they were known for their videos of street racing, and they still are, but over the last few years or so they’ve been getting more involved in attending drag racing specific events (TX2k, Street Car Takeover, Rocky Mountain Race Week, etc.). This is when my interest started to peak even further (remember my comment earlier about pulls on the street?). Then one day I came across the Cleetus McFarland YouTube channel where he bought a salvage C5 Corvette, put an exo-cage on it, and the car known as Leroy was born. Following him through his journey of traveling across the country drag racing and having a blast, as cheesy as it sounds, was something I knew I wanted to experience for myself. It was at this point I knew bad financial investments were about to be made.

Sure enough, one phone call to a local shop named E-Fab Motorsports and ~16 hours later, this happened….

[SJ_1989]

Background
Now that you made it through the history of the car, here is a little background on what I’m doing. If the title didn’t give it away, I am in the process of building a dedicated drag racing car. In particular, an N54 6MT IRS drag racing car. This car has 3 purposes. 1) to have a blast with, obviously 2) to break into the 9’s, and 3) to show the N54 community what this car is capable of at the drag strip, and ultimately, get more people involved in drag racing.

There is a shop up in the Chicago suburbs called E-Fab Motorsports. Some of you may or may not have heard of this shop already. Before I go any further, I will say I am not sponsored by E-Fab, but I will promote his business because he does excellent work. This project is solely funded by myself at this point in time. With that said, sponsors are welcome haha. I came across E-Fab by another thread located here. After seeing the quality of work on that build I gave Eric at E-Fab a call and we discussed what I was looking to do with the car. This would be his first endeavor into the world of drag racing and needless to say was very interested in tackling this project. We talked on the phone for quite a while and I knew he was the right person for the job. A no BS “do it right the first time” guy….and that’s exactly what I was looking for.

Over the course of the next two weeks I began gutting the car at home. And by gutting I mean GUTTING. Anything that wasn’t needed in order to go in a straight line did/will get removed. Every interior component, sunroof, AC components, power steering, park brake….all of it gone. Once the car was prepped for E-Fab I loaded up the car into my newly acquired 28’ TAG race trailer and headed on up to E-Fab to start the build.







On my way up to the shop from Central Illinois I decided to pull off at one of the gas stations that had a CAT scale and weigh the truck and trailer. Trailer was supposed to weigh 6000 lbs by itself and I pull it with a SRW F350 (needs to be a dually). I only had the car loaded in it for this trip….no tools, extra fuel, generator, golf cart, etc. Total weight came in at 17,600 lbs!



Arrived at E-Fab and look who I run in to sirdaft1. Look familiar?



Got the car unloaded, pulled it into the shop, and handed over the keys to E-Fab.

[SJ_1989]

“Meat and Potatoes”
If you made it through the prelude and background, I appreciate it! I condensed it as much as I could but left out quite a bit actually. If you chose to skip the two previous sections altogether, no hard feelings, hope you enjoy the rest of the thread. Without further ado, here is the “meat and potatoes” of the build!

Let’s start off by first going through the mod list. It’s quite extensive and it seems to grow every day. I’ll update this as things change but here’s the list so far:

Engine/Drivetrain

• DocRace 6466
• MFactory lightweight flywheel
• MFactory 3.08 Helical LSD
• Turner Motorsport solid diff mounts
• Turner Motorsport solid engine mounts
• Turner Motorsport solid transmission mounts
• Spec stage 3+ clutch
• Custom hood exhaust
• PSP 900 intercooler with custom piping
• Custom chargepipe with Turbosmart BOV
• Precision Raceworks coils
• Precision Raceworks stage 3+ LPFP
• Helix 4x HPFP overdrive
• MHD and BoostBox tuned on C16
• VTT crank bolt capture
• HVAC delete
• Power steering delete
• WOT Box
• Drive shaft loop

Suspension/Brakes/Wheels

• ASD hydraulic e-brake
• Tilton 800 Series pedal box, Tilton clutch and brake master cylinders, brake bias adjuster
• ABS delete
• VTT 15” rear brake conversion
• Turner Motorsport wheel studs
• 17x8.5 ET40 OZ Alleggerita for the rear
• Weld S77 17x5 2.2 inch back space front runners
• Hoosier 28x10x17 bias ply rear
• Hoosier 27.5x4.5x17 bias ply front runners
• AR Design line lock
• Turner Motorsport solid subframe mounts
• BimmerWorld trailing arm bushings

Exterior

• Headlight delete
• Windshield wiper motor delete
• Aerocatch hood pins
• Pinch welds removed in front fenders to clear Hoosier front runners

Interior

• Fully gutted
• 10 point chromoly NHRA approved roll cage
• Window net
• Parachute handle
• VAC seat mounts
• Sparco steering wheel
• Rennline quick release
• OMP steering wheel hub adapter
• Kirkey series 55 aluminum seat with cover
• G-Force camlock 6 point harness
• Hard Motorsport sunroof delete
• Custom aluminum dash with tablet as main display running MHD
• Rear firewall
• Fire extinguisher

After I dropped the car off E-Fab got right to work. First things first, figure out where the driver (i.e. yours truly) needs to be positioned. So, we got the brackets mounted to the aluminum Kirkey seat.



After E-Fab and I was happy with the driver position I let him be and he got to work. Few days later he sends me some pics









Look how tight this cage is. He’s done this once or twice I’d say!



That’s it for now. Give me another day or two and I will post more. There's still a lot

Interesting choice to use such a clean car to tear apart, but good luck on your journey none the less

[SJ_1989]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

Interesting choice to use such a clean car to tear apart, but good luck on your journey none the less

Yea. I mean at the end of the day these cars aren't worth much anymore and I knew the history of the car vs selling this and finding a different one to hack up.

And thanks! I have quite a bit to do yet but getting there.

[Riceball777]

Slick build!!!!!

[SJ_1989]

Originally Posted by Riceball777

Slick build!!!!!

Thanks!

[DiFFv1]

Very nice and creative , Await to see final result. I know its going to make the Illessnoissss!!! ( Tried it lol )

[SJ_1989]

Originally Posted by DiFFv1

Very nice and creative , Await to see final result. I know its going to make the Illessnoissss!!! ( Tried it lol )

Thanks! It's been a lot of work so far but I'm excited to get it running!

[SJ_1989]

Cage is done! Cage was built to NHRA spec certified down to 8.5 sec. We added a few more bars over what the requirement was just because it was easier to do it now (i.e. X in the door and bar connecting the main hoop and window sill.



X in the door. Not required but easy to install now.



Bar connecting the main hoop and window sill bar. Also not required but easy to install now. Went ahead and painted it black before the Hard Motorsport sunroof delete panel is installed. However, I think I'm going to paint the cage a different color besides black. More on that later....



Custom dash bar mount for the steering column. We will be using the OEM steering column for the time being until I see a reason to upgrade.



Few more pics of the completed cage. Turned out better than I imagine it would. True race car at this point!

[SJ_1989]

Shop completed the rear firewall the other day. This completely seals off the passenger compartment with the trunk. Why am I doing this you ask? Well the plan is to go with a 5 gallon external fuel cell next year (likely sooner rather than later) and NHRA rules say if there is an external fuel cell and/or a relocated battery in the trunk then there must be a firewall. Since I have no rear seats a firewall needed to be fabricated. This turned out to be more of a pain that we originally expected but it turned out great!

Halfway through the install. Here you can see the horizontal bar that connects the two rear shock towers together. This was done for reinforcement purposes since so much material was removed.



Here she is all finished up (basically).



I'm a fan of doing things right the first time where I can. As stated my plan is to go external fuel cell next year. Also in future plan is a water tank for an air-to-water setup. Since we are doing all this fab work now it make sense to prep the trunk for the tanks before I paint the interior of the car. Took the opportunity to cut out the trunk floor, brace it underneath, and add the sheet metal flooring.

[Chris@VargasTurboTech]

Love it!

[SJ_1989]

Went up to the shop this weekend and hung out for a bit to confirm placement of the steering wheel, parachute handle, hydro-brake, and gauge cluster.

One thing I noticed while sitting in the driver's seat is the steering wheel makes it difficult to see the gauge cluster. Not that I'll be watching it much to begin with other than the shift light, but we decided it makes more sense to place it slightly to the right of the steering wheel were the Idrive was installed.

Obviously not exactly where my head is placed in relation to the steering wheel but visibility to the gauge cluster will be limited.



Also snapped a few pics of the VTT 15" rear brake conversion I got from Chris@VargasTurboTech. Very nice kit. I for one need the extra brake capacity in the rear because I have a 4.5" front tire (i.e. I need a higher brake bias in the rear). This will accompanied by a bias adjuster. At some point in the future the front brakes will be replaced with a pieced together Wilwood kit as well.





Last but not least, here is a pic of how the car stands at this point.

[NoGuru]

Very nice build. Look forward to updates. I recently took my 2011 335is DCT to the strip and had a blast. I'll be doing it again soon.

[SJ_1989]

Originally Posted by NoGuru

Very nice build. Look forward to updates. I recently took my 2011 335is DCT to the strip and had a blast. I'll be doing it again soon.

Thank you sir!

It's a lot of fun. My hopes is people see this build and go experience it for themselves if they haven't already!

[Kevindk1234]

Nice! Looks awesome!

[SJ_1989]

Getting about time to paint the roll cage! Follow this link to the thread where you can vote what color you want to see!

[SJ_1989]

Well, ABS is gone. Tilton pedal box and all new clutch and brake lines going in soon!



Engine bay looks so much cleaner stripped down. Now if I can just get rid of that DME and fugly coolant reservoir....

[SJ_1989]

After a slight hiatus, we're back at it. Got some interesting things coming up, but until then, here's a few teaser pics.

Enjoy!

Aluminum dash. Simple, weighs less, and looks better than a cut up and empty OEM dash.





And yea, this is happening. Rhodes Race Cars 3 gal fuel cell with -10 and -12 suction ports going in the trunk. Remember, this is a purpose built drag car...a 3 gal is even too much but wanted some freedom for "limited" driving on the street.

[SJ_1989]

Well, one downside of eliminating the ABS and OEM master cylinder is the ugly holes left in the firewall



At this point we might as well plug up the holes and make it look nice at least. I'm not wanting the car to be a show car by any means but don't want it to look like garbage either. So, dropped the engine and began plugging holes and hacking away at all the unnecessary mounting points. Here's an engine bay view of the drivers side.



Here's a cabin view of the drivers side.



Then this happened in preparation for what's to come



At the very least, when all said and done, I can say I have the cleanest engine bay on the platform

[SJ_1989]

Here's a better look at where I think we'll place the fuel cell. As always with my visits to the shop, I forget to take more pics because I'm too excited about checking out progress on the car and BS'ing with the owner. Anyway....it's difficult to tell but the tank is only a couple of inches rearward of the horizontal brace between the strut towers, so pretty far back. Far enough back where you won't be able to peak and see the fuel level. Undesirable yes, but I feel it's a better option than placing the tank all the way at the back of the car. Heaven forbid I get in a wreck and the rear hits the wall, punctures a hole in the tank, and the car catches fire. I'll still be able to fill with a VP jug, just need to be cautious not to overfill it I guess.

It's going to be biased to the passenger side to offset driver weight and to make up for when I go to a lightweight battery. I mean it's not like the tank and fuel will weigh a lot, tank is stupid light and 3 gal of fuel is 20 lbs, just taking a SWAG (Scientific Wild Ass Guess) on where we think it should be. If the weight isn't where we want it left to right on the rear we'll place the ice box accordingly.



And this is by far my favorite part of the build believe it or not. Tilton 800 Series pedal box. I don't know why, maybe because to me this makes it a true race car. As far as I know, outside of professional motorsports, I'm the only one that's done this to an E9X. I'll get better pics when I get the car back, but you'll see the pedals are shifted slightly to the left more than OEM. That's because it interferes with the OEM steering column. Had to draw the line somewhere so I'll use the OEM steering column for now and upgrade later (famous last words). Sitting in the car, to me, the pedal location feels fine.

If you look closely, right behind the clutch pedal, is the line AR line lock. Only using one because with ABS removed only need one. This is common in the drag racing world with ABS deletes.





And here's where the reservoir is mounted. Clean and simple. Looks so good.



Latest engine bay shot. Hood exhaust is in progress.

[Slim415]

perhaps I missed it, but how much power does the car put down last time you checked?