Tom's Track Car - BMW E46 -Engine Number 3

nice one Tom..think im gonna book Oulton for the 24th October...hope the weather is better than last time :jimmy:
 
Nice car this mate, I need to go and speak to chris about a map for mine once I sort the exhaust out, I take it your pretty local judging by the tracks you regularly visit?
 
Nice car this mate, I need to go and speak to chris about a map for mine once I sort the exhaust out, I take it your pretty local judging by the tracks you regularly visit?


Thank you mate.
Yeah, From Warrington. I was over at EFI on Saturday with a mate and will be back there one night next week I would image if his engine is rebuilt in time.

Few little bits ordered for the Clio today. Will put up a little update over the weekend if they get fitted.
 
Thank you mate.
Yeah, From Warrington. I was over at EFI on Saturday with a mate and will be back there one night next week I would image if his engine is rebuilt in time.

Few little bits ordered for the Clio today. Will put up a little update over the weekend if they get fitted.

Ah right I'm only in Widnes, Chris is the only man to go to with Renault mapping he's ace.
 
Not a lot of happenings recently bit i've been keeping my self really busy with lots of little things.

Start off by removing the red stripe from the front of the car and replaced it with a yellow one to match the cage.

36523337564_e4d5e3b49b_b.jpg

Been putting the van and trailer to good use to on the weekends moving some cars around the country which has taken me to some interesting shows and photo shoots.

37186167346_908d90e196_b.jpg

Between all of that I also managed to get VIP tickets to the BTCC at Rockingham. VIP entry and treatment all day was a fantastic way to experience the BTCC

37186213616_e36513ce99_b.jpg

37247497301_d060fe1f06_b.jpg

Few little jobs sorted on the clio.

Endcaps have now been repainted back to black.
Alternator was rebuilt and refitted which has fixed the charging issues I was having on track.


37204030732_91fa34865b_b.jpg

New lower stiffer lower engine mounts fitted.

37203980722_539c79d38b_b.jpg

And finally a heel toe pedal fitted to help out on track as I've not got the most flexible hips so rather than using my heel I do use the side of my foot.

37389126615_548b79a97a_b.jpg


Couple more things to do when I get a few hours of dry weather. Also been helping out a couple of mates working on a MK1 Clio rebuild in the evenings too which has taken quite a bit of my time lately. I'll post some photos of that when it's finished.
 
looks good Tom..she is 100% track ready...hope all goes well at Oulton and you have a fantastic day...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tombate911
Clio's aside that Transporter is heaven on earth Tom..! Beautiful bit of kit, could possibly be my next buy in a few years along with a trailer.

HUGE fan of the colour of it too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tombate911
Just spotted the transporter. Very nice. Is that your daily? If so how do you find it day to day? I'm going to be changing the 3 series in the next few months and have been thinking about getting a transporter or msport transit as I really like them but just not sure I could live with one day to day.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tombate911
Clio's aside that Transporter is heaven on earth Tom..! Beautiful bit of kit, could possibly be my next buy in a few years along with a trailer.

HUGE fan of the colour of it too.

Just spotted the transporter. Very nice. Is that your daily? If so how do you find it day to day? I'm going to be changing the 3 series in the next few months and have been thinking about getting a transporter or msport transit as I really like them but just not sure I could live with one day to day.

Cheers guys. I've had the van 3 years now and did the full conversion my self with sink, running water, electricity, gas and a double bed. It's perfect for the track days, towing the trailer, family holidays and getting away mountain biking on the weekends. It's my daily driver and I commute between 15/100 miles a day in it. Great comfy vehicle to travel in with the captains seats and driving position, cruise control etc and also returns about 38mpg average.
I don't every see me ever not having a van in my life now, just so practical and great for everything really unless you need something small to park in city centres etc.
 
Last edited:
'Not alot happening recently" my ass ! You're always upto something.....

Some nice upgrades and updates Tom. Maybe not as exciting as your recent cage, diff or some of the suspension upgrades. But all good stuff none the less :smile:

Can i ask what you did the front lip highlight with @tombate911 ? I have an idea with mine seeing that.

THANKS.
 
'Not alot happening recently" my ass ! You're always upto something.....

Some nice upgrades and updates Tom. Maybe not as exciting as your recent cage, diff or some of the suspension upgrades. But all good stuff none the less :smile:

Can i ask what you did the front lip highlight with @tombate911 ? I have an idea with mine seeing that.

THANKS.

Cheers mate. Sometimes I forget how much I've done. Especially considering I've only done one track day on the gripper and not tried it with the cage, however I know that's just going to slow it slightly with the cage, going to try and counteract that a little by running minimum fuel needed for each session. Rather than keeping the tank full.

The front lip was simply done with yellow vinyl. Going to do the rear splitter when I get time.
Only 6/7 weeks till the next track day! Can't wait to get back to oulton, it's only local to me too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: trackspec197
Little job got done today. I've been resting up for two weeks after crashing the mountain bike, ending up with a sore shoulder, couple of cracked ribs and torn stomach muscle so took it easy today and had a go at some basic jobs which didn't involved any hard work.

Ordered this months ago, at the time it was a custom braided line so go from the clutch slave back to the metal piping for the clutch, removing the rubber section and the expansion area in the middle of the line. Also gave the clutch a quick bleed while I was at it.

37671074446_a6c34a586b_b.jpg

Also popped to my friends in the car yesterday, on average it gets driven less than 1 days a week which is always less than 10 miles.
MOT coming up when I get back from my holidays, just need to get a side light sorted for that and it should be ok.
 
Is that from Mitch at Proline Tom? Any pics of it fitted mate?

Yeah it is. Didn't take any photos as it's tucked under and around the gearbox mount. Runs from the bulkhead past the end of the gearbox where the earth strap bolts on and then along the front of the box using the standard bleeding Clip to the slave.
 
Little bit of an update:
Sent my spare (3rd) set of wheels away for powder coating earlier in the week, sticking with the usual gloss black theme, I've picked up 4 Federal RSR's from @Arch last week in Scotland so going to be mounting 2 of those up on 2 of the alloys to take to track days as spares on the trailer just in case.

Small things happening in the next few weeks:

Booked in for MOT on Saturday, Just about keeping it on the road at the moment, enjoying taking it for the off blast on the road once a week.

Alignment being checked before Oulton on the 18th November, want to see what the rear beam is sitting as now I've dropped some shims in there, hoping for parallel toe all around and 3.5 Front Camber and 2.5 Rear Camber.

Gearbox Temperature logger
Spent a few hours in the evening this week working on the temperature data logger that some people will have seen me working on previously. Changed the design now, rather than using a LCD screen to display the temp and max temp I've now decided to log the temperatures on an SD card and review the temps at the end of the session when it's been logged. Very simple but hopefully it will give myself and few people that have been interested on here how hot the oil is getting on track when running a plated diff.

Count down to Oulton - 3 weeks.
Car is pretty much set to go except the above little jobs I've got on the go, Looking forward to getting it back on track again.

Not got a lot planned for it at the moment except from driving it, I do however have a little niggling thought in the back of my mind about stripping the interior, dash and cage out over Christmas and New Year to paint inside, removing the rest of the carpet and interior panels. The verdict is currently out on that though.

Also as you can see I've spent a little bit of time tonight sorting out my forum signature. Would be good for forum members to follow/subscribe to them!
Thanks. :drunk:
 
Liking that lower engine mount. Have power flex black inserts in mine, but been looking at the vibrant-technics mounts. Be interested to see how you get on with it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tombate911