Vorshlag BMW E46 M3 CSL - V8 Downforce Monster Track Car ("Chainsaw Massacre")

[Fair]

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I will end this section with the shot above, showing the 8.8" housing, SPL Parts lateral arms with sphericals, and big fattie 345mm Hoosiers. This setup should be able to handle all the torque the 7.7L engine can throw at it.

OFFSET SHIFTER, SHIFT BOOT, HANDLE & KNOB

When we designed our LS swap kit for the E46 chassis we built it around the still somewhat common 1998-2002 F-Body Tremec T56. This OEM trans was rated at 400 ft-lbs of torque, which was OK when LS motors made 300-350 hp.



For this car we went straight to the T56 Magnum - which shares almost nothing with the OEM T56. The Magnum has 700 ft-lbs of torque rating, but the shifter is about 1.5" farther forward. The shifter that comes with the Magnum is shown sitting atop the tunnel in the pic above right. We used an SFI rated scattershield from QuickTime as well. Safety is important on this build.



The stock round shifter opening is pretty far back relative to the Magnum's shifter placement, so Ryan cut out the tunnel to expose the opening for this trans, then made an aluminum plate to cover it all up. To this he mounted the aluminum base for the Joe's Racing shift boot attached (see above at left). This includes a heat shielded Nomex shift boot (just sitting over the console opening, above at right) which snaps in place to the provided aluminum base, making for a fire / fume / heat barrier between the underside of the trans tunnel to the cabin. We use these Joe's shift boots on everything.



The Joe's Racing boot will hide under the OEM center console plastics (which are shown above without the boot) and underneath a second, OEM shift boot. The included Tremec shifter put the lever a bit too far forward to be able to re-use the factory center console. For a race car its no big deal but this car has to "look right" for Optima, so we ordered a McLeod offset shifter to fit the Magnum. This custom built unit has 1" right and 3" rear offsets. The images above show the McLeod shifter in place - notice the handle stub lines up with the old "round" shift hole opening. We've used these shifters on previous builds like this when the shifter doesn't line up with some OEM console pieces.



Once the McLeod shifter was in place a simple Hurst handle and 6-speed patterned black knob were added, then an OEM E46 M3 BMW Alcantara shift boot snapped into the OEM center console from above. This is the "pretty" shift boot to cover up the race parts underneath.



That's the finalized shifter sitting in the OEM center console, above. Took a bit of work to get it all to line up but the shift feel is great and the McLeod unit has adjustable shift stops to prevent over-engagement. If the shift lever length isn't comfortable for the owner we will buy or make another arm, and the same goes for the knob.

FUEL RAILS BUILT & INJECTORS INSTALLED, MSD MODIFIED



The MSD Atomic intake manifold is one ugly cuss of a cast Nylon unit, bit it outflows the other "OEM height" intakes for big displacement LS engines (including the FAST), and it will fit under the stock height hood. One other oddity is that the shape does not clear any aftermarket fuel rails. From anyone. We wouldn't consider using an OEM fuel rail on a build like this - both from a performance and aesthetics stand point. the OEM fuel system is made for a return-less style routing, which is another "Hard Pass".



After wasting a good bit of time reaching out to companies who sell custom fuel rails (none of which had tackled the MSD yet) we settled on the same Holley extruded rails we use on a lot of LS builds. Ryan marked them for clearance around the various lumps and bumps in the MSD Atomic and handed them to Tim, who chucked these up in our CNC mill and got to work...



Instead of mapping the cut-outs and programming the job in CAM software, then cutting each rail in CNC mode, Tim used the Digital Read Out and manually moved the cutter to clear away metal where Ryan marked. Each rail was milled in an area that isn't critical for strength or fluid / pressure containment, as shown above. It was a bit of a pain but with an end mill with a DRO you could do the same in about an hour.

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