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

[Fair]

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You might notice that we have this bundle of 3 hoses all stacked up with zip ties, above. That was for mock-up, but for real track use we needed proper "line separators". We couldn't find triple stack units but these dual hose brackets from Vibrant worked well, and with some threaded holes in the frame (nutserts) it made for a nice mount as well. We used a lot of these on the left side of the engine bay as well as for runs from under the radiator, going from one oil cooler to the other.



This is the remote oil filter mount and thermostatic oil cooler bypass along with one of the two oil coolers. There's hoses and hoses and hoses... That's enough about oil lines for this time. I will show why we had to change the vent line and move the breather in a future post.

EXHAUST SYSTEM FABRICATION



Last time we had just wrapped up the custom 1-7/8" primary long tubes. I was hoping these could be a pre-production test for a move on our normal E46 Ls swap headers (which are 1-3/4" at the time of this writing) but these were built to fit this dry sump equipped car only, so they aren't going to production any time soon in this size.



From the header collector 3" V-band clamps were added to a dual 3" stainless exhaust. The dual pipes fit inside the ample tunnel of this BMW, per our original LS swap design.



There's even room for an "X" style merge, which Ryan built from scratch. We did not install catalytic convertors for the initial testing and dyno tune, but if this ever became eligible for a "street car" competition series (Optima) we left room for them. Now that Optima has an "Outlaw" class, that is better suited to this car. For now it is all tucked up under the car nicely with good ground clearance.



The twin 3" exhaust was run back to the left side of the differential unit, then off to some Magnaflow 3" mufflers tucked up high at the rear. We had already competed the spare tire well surgery in anticipation of a rear diffuser, which allowed the mufflers to tuck up and mount higher in the trunk area than would normally be possible.



Probably overkill, but Ryan made sealed ends to back-purge the exhaust system with Argon for final TIG welding. This leaves a smoother finish on the inside of the welds.



I will show more of the exhaust outlets when we show the diffuser construction. With the diffuser the car sounds eerily quiet on track, but its a bit noisy right behind the car. Not too loud, but you can tell it makes some power.


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