How we turned our broken high mileage F80 M3 into a track monster!

[R44 Performance]

The F8X generation BMW M3 & M4 is getting on a bit in age & with age, has come depreciation. If you open up AutoTrader, you can find many high-mileage examples at very attractive prices but you don’t dare pull the trigger because of the thrashed drivetrain & deferred maintenance that lay behind the low price tag.

It’s a shame because these S55-powered BMWs have the potential to be very reliable when looked after & maintained thoroughly. We put together a reliability guide for the S55 engine here in case you are curious: https://r44performance.com/blogs/r44...ance-servicing

You see an F80 M3 with 120,000 miles on the clock for under $30,000 and already start imagining the thousands of dollars leaving your pocket to get it up to scratch.

However, when we saw our 2014 F80 M3 for sale at only £20,000 ($25,000), the only thing we thought was… yes please. What could go wrong? Well, quite a lot it turns out.




Straight after collection our director, Rhys, took the car on the NC500 - a 500-mile road trip around the north coast of Scotland, here in the UK. The car made the trip absolutely fine and we thought we had bought a gem. As we planned to do some development with this car, we got to work on the maintenance & installed an MMR crank hub kit. We’ve supplied many of these kits & haven’t heard a single customer car spinning the hub. Although a spun crank hub has affected less than 5% of S55 engines worldwide, we wanted to be on the safe side & get it sorted before any tuning began.


https://r44performance.com/products/...k&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Unfortunately, shortly after installing this upgrade, the charge cooler let go. The engine ingested some water which caused a lot of internal damage. We needed a whole new S55 engine. This is why we always recommend replacing the cheap plastic OEM charge cooler with a higher-quality aftermarket item. We now run the CSF S55 charge cooler which is billet aluminium - not only is this far more reliable but it also improves cooling massively.



Here’s the CSF S55 charge cooler we run: https://r44performance.com/products/...e&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Our good friend Tom (the man behind our 1000bhp G80 M3) fortunately had a low mileage S55 doner engine from an F87 M2 Competition. He swapped the crank hub over & dropped the new engine in for us along with a DCT service & replacement flywheel.

This was quite a significant expense & completely wiped out the savings we’d made by buying a higher mileage example. 80,000 miles didn’t seem too high to us but it’s obvious the car had seen some pretty hard use & was very tired overall.

With a new low-mileage motor now in the car, we made a start on the performance upgrades.

In terms of bolt-ons, the car’s running the full CSF cooling package, including the heat exchanger, charge cooler, DCT oil cooler & engine oil cooler. We’re running an Active Autowerke equal-length midpipe which sounds incredible. The sound difference with an equal length on the S55 is crazy - far more high-pitched & less rasp. This is paired up with catless downpipes which provide the flow we needed for the Tom Wrigley 700 hybrid turbos.



The car runs around 650 bhp at the crank - all the power we need for a track car. Tom Wrigley Performance took care of all the software using MHD.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/vGaLJkuf6LE?si=nLO9tde5KKuSH7KH

With the engine & drivetrain now 10/10, the track mods began. We threw away the OEM discs & pads for the EBC 2-piece floating brake discs all around & EBC RP-X pads. These pads are only for track use - perfect for what we were after.



https://youtu.be/sf-uF4euArs?si=84ux_mwryxz8_x_4

The next stage of the project was to install Nitron R3 coilover suspension, an SW Motorsports half roll cage, 2x Tillett carbon fibre racing seats, Schroth harnesses, a SHFT LED steering wheel in carbon fibre & Alcantara + the new MHC LDN pre-preg carbon styling kit.





What’s the catch? We only had 4 hours until the car was due to be showcased at Petrolheadonism underground which meant we were really against the clock.



https://youtu.be/m19XCUfJ4Eo?si=OwU81l2pscJY6L6L

Since the show, we’ve made a few minor adjustments including all F8X upgrades from suspension secrets. This includes solid control arm bushes, adjustable drop links, camber arms, traction arms & toe arms. The guys at Suspension Secrets gave us the perfect track-spec suspension setup along with a much-needed alignment.





A lot has happened with our F80, looking back. We wanted to give you a full breakdown of the project since we get a lot of questions & enquiries about the mods we’re running. We have lots of customers asking us for the ‘Rhys-spec’ which always makes us smile.

All parts on this car are available on our website: https://r44performance.com/collectio...-modifications

We can ship worldwide at excellent rates. If you’re looking to modify your F80/F82 or any BMW, feel free to send us a message!

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment on any experiences you have buying a high mileage BMW. Did you get burned like us?

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by R44 Performance

Straight after collection our director, Rhys, took the car on the NC500 - a 500-mile road trip around the north coast of Scotland, here in the UK.

Oddly, was going to ask if this car was ever up in Scotland - I swear I was driving behind it. Near the bridge to the Isle of Skye if I recall where I saw it, but was all over the northern coast - so can't fully recall where it was. Now I wish I would have taken a pic.

EDIT: Apparently, your car didn't hit a cool factor like this guys M diesel.

[M3SQRD]

A good mixture of performance parts except for the CSF TMIC! Should provide many years of enjoyment on track with proactive maintenance. Curious to hear how the EBC 2-piece rotors, and pads (I’d never consider EBC for track pads), handle track braking extremes.

[Topcarbon]

do you have a better photo of those seats? perhaps a link to who/where sells them

[1heckinboi]

How cruel luck with the motor bombing itself with the charge cooler after having the hub done lol

[R44 Performance]

It was time for some more modifications on our BMW F80 M3 track car and we thought we’d share them with you…



Our F80 is already setup for track but we’ve been desperate to add some final touches.



First off, the SW Motorsport rear seat delete kit is something we have been meaning to do since we installed the SW Motorsport half roll cage. It looks far better than the exposed floor and finishes the interior off nicely.

SHOP YOUR OWN https://r44performance.com/products/...+&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Our main reason for installing this mod was, firstly to ensure complete cleanliness in the back of the F80 after removing the rear seats, but also for noise reasons. We drive our cars to the track, around the track and back home so it was important that the car was still pleasant to use on longer journeys.




SHOP YOUR OWN https://r44performance.com/products/...p&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Next up, we installed the JQ Werks Madtrace racing steering wheel system + the driving dynamic control module to give me full access to configure the free to use buttons. In my case, I chose to use the traction button and gearbox adjustment button on the wheel to make everything easy to adjust while live on track.




SHOP HERE https://r44performance.com/products/...l&_ss=e&_v=1.0




The final detail on the F80 was a custom front tow hook cover. This is so we have access to our tow strap at all times without having to mess around with removing the cover. If you are looking for an off the shelf solution then the iND painted tow hook covers is the option for you

SHOP HERE https://r44performance.com/products/...r&_ss=e&_v=1.0

SHOP HERE https://r44performance.com/products/...p&_ss=e&_v=1.0





Let us know your thoughts on the build and what you think we should do next!

[R44 Performance]

https://youtu.be/ivhBgWVttdY?si=_87BuMccCA5fXEYH