The it was supposed to be just an oil pan gasket project

[ZHPizza]

No shit. When I saw you considering aluminum welding I was going to suggest you visit my boys at Nth degree. Tell John that Shitty Britches died. He'll be sad.

[Sockethead]

Small world! They're good people... Bill has some good stories.
I'll tell John. We ran into a snag on the heat exchanger brackets and he has to make new ones so he still has the car.

Check out this gem, original twin Turbo.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181202/facbe3be1dfc0d1d6f90db643c57be11.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181202/18c48321231eb4066fc34ce6e36a053f.jpg

[DeathTrap]

Love it!!

[ZHPizza]

Bill had a dark blue e24 M6 for the longest time. I'm good friends with his son who drove it for about two years of college. It fit in and also stood out from all the other broke college kid beater cars.

[Sockethead]

He still has it but he thinks he's going to sell it soon. He sold the E30 M3. He has a 37 Ford he's putting a modern rolling chassis with an LS under it.. That's going to be sweet...

[Sockethead]

Got the car back the other day. They did an excellent job. I had to cut part of the radiator support to get the heat exchanger fans to fit
so John reinforced it for me with a custom bracket. The new outlets look great too. Can’t wait to get this plumbed in and wired up.
The Ford Lighting harness that came with it will work perfectly. Almost like it was made for the e46. The only modification it needed was the relocation of the relay trigger wire within the harness.
@ZHPizza John was bummed when I told him shitty britches died. Bill’s son was there too. (I forget his name)
They said you’re crazy, haha!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/614aa83d276256400cab1c439e219a25.jpg

[slater]

awesome, rob! that looks great.

and nate is a little crazy. but in all the right ways.

[ZHPizza]

Bryson! I love those boys. Grab a handful of their junk the next time you're over there. Just say it's from me so it's not weird.

[Sockethead]

Bryson! Grab a handful of their junk the next time you're over there. Just say it's from me so it's not weird.

Umm.... no.... :)

[rkneeshaw]

lol you guys are hilarious

Nice work Rob, looking great! I can't wait to hear how you like it when you get it on the road

[Sockethead]

Got the car back together this weekend been a long 5 months trying to find the time but got lots of it done while my MIL was in town over the holidays.
The heat exchanger proved to be a real challenge and I ended up changing the mounts several times. I had to scrap the bottom mount I had made at Nth Degree fabrication because I mis-calculated the angle the heat exchanger had to be in for the bumper to fit.
I was able to make the top bracket they made adjustable up/down, left/right by turning the mounting holes into slots.
I trimmed the shroud to fit, put the bumper on and then was able to tweak the heat exchanger to fit and tighten down the mounts

The hoses light up perfectly to where we guessed the new elbows would go.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/f5ff00932248b5f77d0f0b1ebf89662b.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/c6893cee8f0259dbeacf010620f6c17b.jpg

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/b3ca4f2aabd48c28fde52f9232647b52.jpg

Next, I wanted a better way to fill the cooling system for the supercharger. Taking to hoses off the manifold, trying to fill and put the hoses back on with no coolant leaking out is an exercise in frustration.
I found a tiny over flow tank with a single outlet on the bottom on eBay. It would fit perfectly next to the air box by the MAF sensor. I had the guys at Nth degree cut off the 1” hose coupling and weld on. 3/4”. Then I cut the suction side of the hoses to the manifold and tee’d it in.
After I primed the system I found I had made a mistake thinking the the radiator style neck and cap would work. I forgot that the those caps are two way: letting pressure out and sucking back in. Since this was on the suction side. It was constantly pulling air in.
I found a new neck and cap from filler neck supply.Com and had it welded on. Now it works as well as I hoped. No more guessing if the system is full and hearing air bubbles in the system.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/24816bed1144045eee2a2f21b33b5cd5.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/4a1925398356e9ff9b3c8acf9fc3200f.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/b67a45ee61bf32828d5b84df92741631.jpg

Making this little bracket out of a piece of aluminum angle took a while. It sucks when all you have is a hacksaw and some files.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/daf72dc45e78e19603ced3778cf50a84.jpg


Lastly, I wired the fans in. I was able to use the whole Harness that came with it for the Ford Lighting. All I had to do was pull the trigger wire out and run that to the switch I mounted in the cab. The relay is mounted in the drug box. Along with the relay for the angel eyes.
The fans move a TON of air and will be a big help in a few months when it turns 90 degrees for the summer...

[slater]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190121/4a1925398356e9ff9b3c8acf9fc3200f.jpg



rob... A+ freakin' work, man! love this bit in the pic above, especially - nice engineering there, and i love the bracket you made.

hey - didn't i send you a couple fasteners for that curved piece that goes around the ABS pump?? ;) ;)

[Sockethead]

Yea you did! Good eye! I will put them on after I remember where I put that box you sent me LOL

Thanks for the kudos on the bracket... took me a while to figure out how to tackle the angle of the strut tower into the bracket...

[slater]

Yea you did! Good eye! I will put them on after I remember where I put that box you sent me LOL

Thanks for the kudos on the bracket... took me a while to figure out how to tackle the angle of the strut tower into the bracket...

yeah, i bet! i think i may borrow/steal your idea, as i will be needing a strut tower-mounted bracket for the oil separator i'm putting in the 335. BMS has a nice mounting location for their kit, but my can/separator is like 2x the size of theirs and it won't fit. frig.

[Sockethead]

Go for it! I always post with the intent that it may help someone else too. I Used a small carpenter's square to get the angles correct...

We had the BMS catch kit can in the 135... very nice setup... but a bit of a PITA on the 135 because you have to take out the cabin filter housing to get to it

[slater]

Go for it! I always post with the intent that it may help someone else too. I Used a small carpenter's square to get the angles correct...

We had the BMS catch kit can in the 135... very nice setup... but a bit of a PITA on the 135 because you have to take out the cabin filter housing to get to it

yeah. i don't like their baffling, but the execution of the 'kit' is very nice - i am replicating it, albeit with my own can (42draftdesigns ultimate can - better baffling and inlet/outlet positions, but it's freakin' gigantic). this should stop a lot of oil sludge buildup on the valves...

[Sockethead]

I have to figure out something for my car too. When I removed the hose from the PVC valve on top of the supercharger manifold, it had a lot of mayo on it. I did have one set up early on but it was useless. The can filled with condensation water instead of oil. (I think I documented that earlier in this thread) I need to figure out if it was the distance of the hoses or the lack of adequate baffling in the can. I had it in the drug bin.
The problem down here is not only are we coastal but the temperature changes wildly which leads to lots of condensation. last week we had some days in the 70s, today it's in the low 40s...

[slater]

I have to figure out something for my car too. When I removed the hose from the PVC valve on top of the supercharger manifold, it had a lot of mayo on it. I did have one set up early on but it was useless. The can filled with condensation water instead of oil. (I think I documented that earlier in this thread) I need to figure out if it was the distance of the hoses or the lack of adequate baffling in the can. I had it in the drug bin.
The problem down here is not only are we coastal but the temperature changes wildly which leads to lots of condensation. last week we had some days in the 70s, today it's in the low 40s...

both baffling and hose length/routing play big parts, for sure - but baffling would be priority for me. the can i originally used on the ZHP i bought as a test can and it had lousy baffling. it was a good POC can but not good for long-term use.

i know vince (in sweden) was using his can/separator in the drug bin and it worked well for him; however, the M3 would have different hose routing (shorter) than the ZHP.

are you using an actual PCV valve in the line from the can to the intake manifold?

[Sockethead]

I think Ryan (rkneeshaw) has his running to the drug bin but the weather is much more stable in Michigan (in the sense that when it gets warm/cold, it stays that way for a while)

The PVC valve is the round disk in the background of the last pic above. It's a BMW part that comes already installed on the supercharger manifold

[Sockethead]

I drove the car to work a few days last week. Except for the quirks in the tune, which I hope to get straitened out soon, the car is running strong.

The supercharger has amazing torque. Very V8 like: most of the torque is already in at 2k-2.5k RPM. There is really no need to rev it past 4.5-5K RPMs even when passing or pulling away from traffic. It really is impressive. I think it has more low end torque than the M2.

Kristen took it to work the other day and saw one of the techs taking picture of it lol. She's been wanting to drive it bad. I think she likes it better than the M2. Once I get the bigger injectors in and Ryan's tune, I should be able to take the M2. It's already got about 20hp on the E46 M3

I stopped by Nth Degree yesterday and showed John the car. He was genuinely impressed with the whole package and couldn't stop raving about how tastefully everything is done. That really meant a lot to me after seeing some of the amazing cars they have worked on there!

I still want to modify the Magnaflow exhaust to make it work properly with the car. I'm going to be taking it back to Nth degree for that. John likes using the Vibrant Exhaust mufflers so that's what will be going on it. When it's done, it will 2.5" all the way to the tips

I did notice that the heat exchanger is about 1/4' too far to the left looking at the front of the car. This is bugging the crap out of me so I gotta get in there and fix that.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190216/5255e016f7fbab481ae413e32ba07e3b.jpg

[DeathTrap]

I did notice that the heat exchanger is about 1/4' too far to the left looking at the front of the car. This is bugging the crap out of me so I gotta get in there and fix that.


OCD FTW.

Tis a very nice car tho

[rkneeshaw]

Nice work Rob! Car is looking great. That intercooler looks awesome behind that front lower grill.

I'm so glad you were able to get it out and drive it.

I'd love to hear how it sounds with that Vibrant muffler. I think the magnaflow cat-back performs the best of just about any out there, even with that "squeeze" down to a single 2.25" outlet at the end of their muffler. I think that little joint is what causes some people to have that whistling problem too. I had considered trying to find a way to replace that rear muffler many times. I really am interested to hear how it works out for you

I removed my catch can and swapped to the M56 valve cover a while ago, I got tired of having to remember to empty the can. I kept the catch can for a couple weeks after install in the M56 valve cover and had barely anything in there, so I considered it good and pulled the catch can at that point. Others have had mixed results with the M56 cover, but then they are often trying to solve different problems too. There's a huge thread on it on e46f.

[Sockethead]

Haven’t updated here in a while... got a few things taken care of:

Got the restrictive single outlet muffler cut off and a Borla 2.5” dual in/out muller welded on. John at Nth Degree was able to salvage the tips from the Magnaflow muffler. The car is louder now but it flows much better.
Problem is, and this is surprising , on the dyno, I lost 2lbs of boost and 20 hp by swapping out the muffler.
I order 2 new pulleys. I was running an 83 mm. Got an 81 mm and a 79 mm .still waiting for the 79 to finish production but with the 81mm it feels like I got all that boost back.
I raced Kristen in the old M2 from a 50 mph roll and we were dead even. That felt pretty good.
Once the 79mm pulley arrives I’ll get it back on the dyno and see where the HP and AFR are and go from there

[johnrando]

Hmm, wonder why the power drop.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Sockethead]

Hmm, wonder why the power drop.



The only thing I changed was the muffler so I’m assuming it was the back pressure. I haven’t put much mileage on it since the last dyno and it was at least 15° colder when I did this dyno run.

[cornercarver]

I wonder how the muffler/back pressure would reduce boost... You've got a supercharger, not a turbo, right? Maybe there's enough overlap in the exaust/intake timing that the back pressure affected it.

[Sockethead]

There is an ongoing debate on the forums about superchargers and back pressure... it will make you eyes bleed.
I got less back pressure and less HP when I removed the the restrictive muffler but the with pulley change, the car is definitely stronger than it was before I swapped out the muffler
If the 79mm pulley ever shows up, I’ll have some dyno numbers to back that up.
The supercharger has definitely been a learning experience.

[Sockethead]

New wheels and Michelin s4..
The tires made a huge difference compared to the mismatched Hankooks.

I’m hating the new wheels though.
I’m probably going turn right around and sell them after getting the CSL replicas powder coated. Probably high gloss black or maybe black chrome

[az3579]

^ Says new wheels but posts no pics or a description of what they are. :shifty

[Sockethead]

I dislike them so much, I didn't even take any pictures of them.

[ZHPizza]

Is this the what grinds your gears thread? Cuz this is some bullshit

[Sockethead]

Ok here you go... you happy now?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190513/73ca4c964de167f60a7a079248d2c121.jpg

[Chaplian]

I actually kinda like them.

[ZHPizza]

Lol I don't hate them either. Kind of like a thinner spoked sm-10.

[Sockethead]

Yea I really wanted the Sm10 but they don’t have any offset that will work with my car even with the fenders rolled. I thought these would be a good compromise
The thing I hate about these new wheels is that there is no concaveness at all .. they kind of stick out and the finish is suppose to be anthracite but they are a really sparkly silver...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190514/78447c56868b8bb37f44fab506ca381f.jpg

[Vas]

What brand are they ?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Sockethead]

Flow one. They are a tire rack brand. The wife gets wholesale pricing.

[Chaplian]

The more I look at them, the more I like them.

Also, I want to buff your paint. (No, that's not a euphemism.)

[rkneeshaw]

They aren't too bad, but I get what you're saying about the concave thing. I love that about the Alzor style 040 I have on the car, especially on the rear wheels

https://preview.ibb.co/j8rTdp/IMG-20181013-1124089.jpg (https://ibb.co/bYcejU)

https://i.ibb.co/k3phCWq/IMG-20190427-153937.jpg (https://ibb.co/GsXVSbC)

At least you have those nice Michelin PS4s, best tires I've ever owned

[BADCLOWN]

What lip do you have on your car?

[Sockethead]

Getting my CSL replicas redone in gloss black. New wheels will be for sale next week.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190705/899fc01aaa0db854331d2ba8cba1701b.jpg

[704sw]

That’s going to look menacing

[Sockethead]

Thanks! I’m pretty excited.
The powder coater, Tinsley Custom Coatings, wasn’t happy with the finish so he redid them. They look amazing!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190706/b691379ae9e26c2dc2b2b51c1a7894ab.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190706/8981faee61fd9fcc0e1ea1c9e43d67c8.jpg

[BADCLOWN]

You know I’m a fan of gloss black wheels, they look great

[Sockethead]

You know I’m a fan of gloss black wheels, they look great

Yes, your wheels were my inspiration :)

[Johnmadd]

:drool

[johnrando]

Gorgeous!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Sockethead]

Thanks John & John

Got the wheels on yesterday. I should of just done this instead of trying to switch it up with new wheels

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190709/4fe12405829571f4a0f919d0d0ec6f57.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190709/9418f187a8b641cc36049d5ea20852bb.jpg

[BADCLOWN]

Looks very damn good, dig the M3 mirrors too!

[Hornung418]

Glad to see those splitters are holding up after all these years! Forever salty that I never got to put them on.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[Sockethead]

Glad to see those splitters are holding up after all these years! Forever salty that I never got to put them on.

The passenger side one is beat to shit. I have a backup pair somewhere in the loft of the garage that I'll put on some day

[Vas]

Any updates?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[ItsRichieRich]

Totally bumping an old thread. But I found this thread after googling "zhp oil pan baffle" and read through the whole thread. Very impressive build. The hassle of the SC made me reconsider it haha.