[tdott]

Long over due, i've been meaning to post a thread to document my progress but I never got around to it. So i'll just catch everyone up to where I'm at.


Oct 22, 2023.
I finally found a 6MT that was decently priced (most were still high off covid).
Sun beaten Florida car, but clean no rust, no accidents. Needed a bunch of work, perfect for the build.


First to fix was the oil leak. Not sure who thought this was a good idea.


First big stack of parts showed up


Tackled the Oil pan issue, ended up swapping in an aluminum auto pan which has more baffling than the manual one and easier/cheaper to get. May use the steel pan later to weld in a baffle kit.



Some temp wheels to hold me over.


Stage III intake and a bunch of maintenance


Found some seats to hold me over for HPDE events, waiting for the sunroof delete to come in, so most of the interior is still intact.


Second phase of parts came in, ignore M3 hood that was for something else.


It was time to install the headers, engine, trans, diff and subframe mounts, along with the condor chassis mounted shifter


Next up was getting the Spec E9X Ohlin's installed.


I went with a M Factory Metal plate LSD built by Corsa Technik in Pompano, plus a finned e60 diff cover


Next was to gut some of the interior, install the sunroof delete.


Almost ready for a track day, so it was time for brakes. Rebuilt Calipers, Hawk DTC70 Pads, Zimmerman 312mm rotors. There really is no need to upgrade the brakes, 335 brakes also aren't allowed in SE9X.


Phase 1 was complete and ready for it's first track day


First track day was a success, no issues and the car performed well.




That was Phase 1 complete.

Last summer I helped Biginboca do his oil pan gasket and cooling system overhaul. He had helped a lot with all my questions and spare parts.

[tdott]

During this time I was also running FARA's superlap series (time trials) in my M3 leading the championship.


Then it was time for the full race car build, there was no turning back now. Didn't track it as much as I thought I would due to running the M3 and taking 1st place in the championship.

Pulled the dash and drove it to get the cage built.


Lots of race gear was on order, my race seat was the first to show up, lots of driver gear, fire system, kill switch stuff was needed.



Visit to my cage builder showed some good progress, I was happy with the placement and how it tucked up around the front roof area.


Paint brushed the cage black, nothing fancy, didn't want it to start rusting.


Fire System & Kill switch installed, second set of wheels with slicks and it was ready for race tech & it's 1st race weekend with NASA Florida at Homestead Miami Speedway.


Passed Race Tech!


Over 1 year in the making, I personally built my own Spec E9X (minus the cage) and competed in my first race this past weekend.

I completed Comp School last year with a street car and didn't participate in any races that weekend. This was my first ever race, I completed 4 races this past weekend which earned me my full competition license and will no longer be a rookie for the next weekend I do in April. Still a lot to learn and work on, but I'm ready to put in the work.

First milestone was on Friday, my car passed Tech without issue.
It's been a journey but it was a proud moment, I focused on staying out of trouble and completing the races. My car preformed well without a hiccup, it did have a stored code for the exhaust vanos mechanism, I swapped the solenoids and it didn't come back. So hopefully it's good, but I plan to put new solenoids in for the next race.

Here is a video some GoPro in car footage with AiM data overlays.

Gotta thank the Spec E9x Racing Series crew for helping me with all my questions and guiding me in the right direction when needed.

Follow my IG @spec_e92 and subscribe to my youtube to follow my future races. The next race is planned for April at Sebring.

That was the quick and dirty summary, ill try to post more info here with more details on future changes and updates.

[rasabatino]

FANTASTIC summary and video! Definitely will be following you here and IG. Saw your car over the weekend at HMS.

I just sold my NC Miata and am starting to build my daily/HPDE e90. Your "phase 1" is my goal right now and looks like I'm on the right track.

Quick Question: did you used your stock seatbelt for HPDE? I am not sure what seat base to get in order to use the stock 3point belt with my sparco qrtr.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by rasabatino

Quick Question: did you used your stock seatbelt for HPDE? I am not sure what seat base to get in order to use the stock 3point belt with my sparco qrtr.

I did use the stock seat belts, but check with your local track group, some organizations may not allow it when you have a race seat installed. Honestly it's not ideal, you really want a seat of harnesses in but for a small number of events i guess it's okay to get a feel for it.

I was lucky to find a pair of seats locally that already had mounts and sliders that would work on my car. They were manual sparco sliders with Planted E9x mounts.

[rasabatino]

Originally Posted by tdott

I did use the stock seat belts, but check with your local track group, some organizations may not allow it when you have a race seat installed. Honestly it's not ideal, you really want a seat of harnesses in but for a small number of events i guess it's okay to get a feel for it.

I was lucky to find a pair of seats locally that already had mounts and sliders that would work on my car. They were manual sparco sliders with Planted E9x mounts.

I got used to swapping seats in and out in 5min on the Miata but it's more involved here for sure.

So, when you used the sparco seat with the 3-point belt: did the seat base had an anchor point for the seat belt hook on the left-hand side? That's the only thing that I haven't seen a picture of.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by rasabatino

I got used to swapping seats in and out in 5min on the Miata but it's more involved here for sure.

So, when you used the sparco seat with the 3-point belt: did the seat base had an anchor point for the seat belt hook on the left-hand side? That's the only thing that I haven't seen a picture of.

Do you mean the right side of the driver seat? Yes, the oem seat belt buckle is mounted on the seat mounts.

[tdott]

Some pictures from the last event with other fellow E9X'ers:




Maxxis tire has a pretty good tire contingency program, I won 2 free tires from the weekend for finishing 4th and 3rd in races 2 & 3.
This is great for someone new to racing like me with no sponsors yet. Hoping I can attract a sponsor or 2 soon.

[tdott]

What's better than a throphy?

Free tires! My Maxxis contingency prizes showed up!


Prepping for the next race, the car is getting wrapped (reveal coming later), trying to decide on what graphics to go with.

Thinking something like this A:


or this B:


Which one gets your vote? or let me know if there is anything else i should look at.
I know it's not an M, but just using the color scheme should be okay?

[rasabatino]

Option A is understated, Option B would make a bad ass race car.

Option B.

[mabrahams]

Who did your cage? Was there a reason you went with a coupe rather than a sedan?

[tdott]

Originally Posted by mabrahams

Who did your cage? Was there a reason you went with a coupe rather than a sedan?

Local race shop not open to the public, but they've done a few cages on cars that I race with and they know these cars and the class rules, so I choose to go with them vs going with a cage builder that doesn't know the class or chassis and would be figuring it out.

I prefer coupes! Just a personal preference.
They are also lighter and easier to make min weight.

[zero2sixtyZ]

Awesome thread and build. The E92M is clean as well.

[Fiasco]

Great build, well done. Ballpark on build cost to date?

[tdott]

Originally Posted by Fiasco

Great build, well done. Ballpark on build cost to date?

I haven't added mine up, but I'm pretty sure im in the ballpark of the estimates on the SpecE9x website.

https://spece9x.com/build-sheets/

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by tdott

Long over due, i've been meaning to post a thread to document my progress but I never got around to it. So i'll just catch everyone up to where I'm at.


Oct 22, 2023.
I finally found a 6MT that was decently priced (most were still high off covid).
Sun beaten Florida car, but clean no rust, no accidents. Needed a bunch of work, perfect for the build.


First to fix was the oil leak. Not sure who thought this was a good idea.


First big stack of parts showed up


Tackled the Oil pan issue, ended up swapping in an aluminum auto pan which has more baffling than the manual one and easier/cheaper to get. May use the steel pan later to weld in a baffle kit.



Some temp wheels to hold me over.


Stage III intake and a bunch of maintenance


Found some seats to hold me over for HPDE events, waiting for the sunroof delete to come in, so most of the interior is still intact.


Second phase of parts came in, ignore M3 hood that was for something else.


It was time to install the headers, engine, trans, diff and subframe mounts, along with the condor chassis mounted shifter


Next up was getting the Spec E9X Ohlin's installed.


I went with a M Factory Metal plate LSD built by Corsa Technik in Pompano, plus a finned e60 diff cover


Next was to gut some of the interior, install the sunroof delete.


Almost ready for a track day, so it was time for brakes. Rebuilt Calipers, Hawk DTC70 Pads, Zimmerman 312mm rotors. There really is no need to upgrade the brakes, 335 brakes also aren't allowed in SE9X.


Phase 1 was complete and ready for it's first track day


First track day was a success, no issues and the car performed well.




That was Phase 1 complete.

Last summer I helped Biginboca do his oil pan gasket and cooling system overhaul. He had helped a lot with all my questions and spare parts.

An no invites. WOW.

[AmuroRay]

Option B livery.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

An no invites. WOW.

Bro, you don't have to quote the entire post!

[tdott]

Due to time, I wasn't able to go with any of those livery designs. I slapped together whatever I could find in time, and this was the results.

New color + Livery



Completed my second race weekend at the famous Sebring Int'l Raceway.
This was actually my first time driving this car at Sebring, so it took a little getting used to. I still need to work on some stuff, so more seat time is needed for sure.

Overall it was a successful weekend, with no issues. Finished 4th in the feature race on Sat. securing 1 more free maxxis tire! It was a bigger field this time with 8 cars in our class and 6 other SpecE9Xs, more in Sunday's race as Rookies that passed Comp School on Saturday got to join the Sunday races.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by tdott

Bro, you don't have to quote the entire post!

Sue me - great build, the Livery looks fantastic. Did you Vinyl or paint it?

Also, does Spec E90 require a specific tune? I know that Spec E46 required a tune from Epic.

Can you add MILVS? I doubt it...but...

[tdott]

Originally Posted by AmuroRay

Sue me - great build, the Livery looks fantastic. Did you Vinyl or paint it?

Also, does Spec E90 require a specific tune? I know that Spec E46 required a tune from Epic.

Can you add MILVS? I doubt it...but...

Thanks!
Yea I DIY'd Vinyl wrapped it, then added the graphics/decals.

It is a Spec tune from Epic also. No MILVS are allowed.

Currently only running the headers and muffler delete, I need to do the spec exhaust which is a Y pipe to 3" then a muffler.

[tdott]

Pics and videos are coming in.


Race #4 took place on Sunday:
Spent most of the race trying to turn consistent laps without making too many errors and ended up behind a friend in his Spec E90 for most of the race.

Seems like I am going to need to upgrade the N54 stock oil cooler or something bigger. Oil temps topped out at about 292F.

[Joe_in_WLA]

Looks like fun. No cool suit? Sitting on the grid in Nomex without ac has gotta' be brutal in FL.

Loved this: "There really is no need to upgrade the brakes, 335 brakes also aren't allowed in SE9X."

I used to race stock 911 with similar car weight and brake specs. They're more than enough with great pads and fresh fluid.

Good look solving oil temp. Shiny side up!