F80 Track Build

[ninekrpm]

As shared, did a few upgrades…and made a few changes to get some weight out of the car.

Well, here are the results, roughly 50#’s out, slightly less then what I was hoping for…

The weight officially is at 3K #’s (no driver, 3/4 tank of gas).

[GuyLedouche]

Got my i48CX. This thing is a piece of art. 10.8 lbs.

[ninekrpm]

Share pics of the install.

[GuyLedouche]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

Share pics of the install.

Pretty easy install. There’s a hole for the hold down cleat for this size battery. Just need to drill through and put a nut on the backside. Other than that no change to the mounting.

[GuyLedouche]

To update. I started to register the battery with bimmer code and my scanner and the car died during the process. I had the car hooked up with my CTEK lithium charger as I always do when coding. Battery seems to be completely dead at this point.

I hooked up a good battery and the car is fine so this is related to the battery.

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by GuyLedouche

To update. I started to register the battery with bimmer code and my scanner and the car died during the process. I had the car hooked up with my CTEK lithium charger as I always do when coding. Battery seems to be completely dead at this point.

I hooked up a good battery and the car is fine so this is related to the battery.

Interesting…

I finally started mine today, it did start right away, but I do see a battery discharge warning on the dash. Have it hooked up to a charger today as well. Let’s see…

Going to try to code tomorrow.

[GuyLedouche]

Battery showed 10.6 V so the car disconnected and wouldn't take a charge. I hooked a charger up to the battery posts and got above 12 V and hooked back up to the car and am charging. Will see what happens.

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by GuyLedouche

Battery showed 10.6 V so the car disconnected and wouldn't take a charge. I hooked a charger up to the battery posts and got above 12 V and hooked back up to the car and am charging. Will see what happens.

Any updates on the battery setup?

[ninekrpm]

I did end up coding the battery, used 40ah as the setting.

however am seeing this even when the batter is fully charged, ignition ON




and when the car is running, I see the following





That said...car starts up just fine...so not sure what to do with the error.

Finally, I did notice that when the battery is fully charged via the charger, I can turn the ignition ON and move the charger to tune mode; this allows me to keep the car's ignition on.

However, if I start the car, let it run for a bit; turn off and try to keep the ignition ON; I get the error above and the ignition turns off

I am going to the track tomorrow; going to take the stock battery with as a backup...

[GuyLedouche]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

Any updates on the battery setup?

Charged it for a full day and now holding 13.3 v. They must ship at a low state of charge.

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

I did end up coding the battery, used 40ah as the setting.

however am seeing this even when the batter is fully charged, ignition ON




and when the car is running, I see the following





That said...car starts up just fine...so not sure what to do with the error.

Finally, I did notice that when the battery is fully charged via the charger, I can turn the ignition ON and move the charger to tune mode; this allows me to keep the car's ignition on.

However, if I start the car, let it run for a bit; turn off and try to keep the ignition ON; I get the error above and the ignition turns off

I am going to the track tomorrow; going to take the stock battery with as a backup...

Let the car run idle for two plus hours yesterday, the errors seem to have gone away…started with no issues/errors this morning.

At the track today…all seems well with battery, no errors.

[SYT_Shadow]

Voltphreaks seems to have disappeared, but we had their battery in our E90 M3 track car and it gave zero issues for years on end. Worked exactly like a stock battery. Really impressive.

[septavus]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

Its happening...this weekend I took the plunge into converting the F80 into a full on track car. May the force be with me

Last time I went through this was with my E46 M3 back in 2007/2008, I must say that the E46 was so much simpler then the F8x.

I would like to use this thread to document the process as much as I can, including your contributions...so that this can become a good reference thread for anyone taking on this journey in the future.

The goals with this (for me):

- Safety is number one with a full cage in the car. This is my second stint at this, took 8ish years off to focus on the family. I am fortunate/blessed to have the family support to jump back into this. Wit that, I am at a stage of life (family, kids, etc.) that I am probably indexing towards safety more then I did with my E46 M3. Even though the E46 had a full cage, safety, etc. In other words, would like to at least have the same level of safety credentials.

- Weight reduction, the holy grail for all of us...I am currently at 3370# with driver. Goal is to get the car to/under 3200# w/driver. I am not building towards any sanction, just want a fast/balanced car...that has all the safety credentials. I had gotten the E46 down 2950# w/driver...

- Finally, I want to keep the car clean/sorted...so will be spending some time on organizing the interior (interior will be painted, wiring organized, etc.)


The Journey...


I will try to keep the first thread updated with my progress to keep everything organized...

6/27 (the beginnings)

- This past weekend, I completely removed all the interior parts (rear was already gutted) that will be tossed (carpet, airbags, speakers, plastic panels, etc.). Fun fact, the airbags alone came to 100#'s...

- Removed the dash and sorted through it

- In the process, have marked all the wires for now (nothing removed yet)


Pending decisions (any feedback/guidance welcomed here)

• AC/Heater removal: need to figure out what to do here, including do I remove now or defer to later? So much easier to do now...but, would need to sort though plumbing (would love any feedback here)
• Wiring / Modules: a lot more electronics here then the E46. Need to figure out how far I can go without impacting/killing something critical
• What to do with I-Drive and Screen: this I believe needs to be kept in order to be able to read messages, make some adjustments, etc.
• Head/DVD Unit: what to do here...how dependable is this to everything? It has the most harnesses/wires plugged into it (scary, LOL)

7/22 Update

Well, not a lot of engagement, but progress continues...

Spent the past few weeks getting the interior prepped and car is now at the fab shop in LA.

Took almost 50 hours getting the car gutted, wire loom thinned, etc. Now, a week in and another two weeks to go for fab work and then off to paint...

For the Heater/AC, I ended up looking up the GT4 parts to loop the water line.

I did hire someone to help me with the coding and also worked with two guys that I connected with via IG in Europe who have either built or are building their F8x cars. They have been a great help guiding me through the process...

Unfortunately, idrive, headunit and screen are required unless some major coding is done. For now, I have decided to keep these.

All and all, the extraction took out over 400 pounds...would love to be at 3200 w/driver. Might be wishful thinking...lets see

Going to be very weight conscious, so a few goodies that will go back...with some weight reduction.

Stay tuned for more...

















August 19, 2022 Update


The car is back in habitat...

8 weeks from start of the build, it took 3 weeks to prep, 4 weeks for cage, 1 week for paint...

Pretty excited about the progress and craftsmanship of both the fabrication (pit garage_la and kingsautobody in LA/OC).

Cage is chromoly, tig welded, nascar side jack points, etc...

Much to do now to put this back together and setup the next test/track day...lets see where it goes and how long it takes.























February 2023 Update



Long overdue, but it has been that kind of a build…
To recap, I started stripping the car in June / July (2022). The car was then dropped off at the fab shop for a good 6-7 weeks of work, which took the timing to pretty much end of August.
I took a few days off week of Labor Day off to knock out at least 50% of the work effort to put the car back together…well, this is where it all started.
After getting the basic car back together (harness, seats, etc.), I wanted to test the cars electronics, including taking the car for a dyno to ensure there is no limp mode issue or similar. Basically, at this point the car started, but the cluster was lit up like a Christmas tree and I had no power to the iDrive system. I took the car to EAS for a few dyno runs and the car ran with no issues, however, the cluster continued to show all the lights. I was a bit lost given that I was careful/thoughtful striping the harness and had gotten help from someone in Europe who was doing the same and posted his build along the way on IG – I reconnected with him immediately but was unable to diagnose the issue remotely.

I found a copy of ITSA and started tracing wires and which led to no resolution either. I spoke to several shops (yes, all the motorsport / bmw focused shops) and still got nowhere unfortunately. Amazing, how much little knowledge and or lack of resourcing is available in the states for E9x and F8x wiring – call it a specialty. Most pro shops are not dealing with the complex wiring in these platforms and guiding the owner to leave the factory wiring as-is or go to a standalone unit or buy a factory build car – LOL, yes a couple of shops gave me that answer.

Anyhow, 4 weeks plus in and my research continued and now trying to find more people / shops in Europe / Germany. Randomly, I found an IG reel of an F8x car that was just built, full cage, and what looked to be professionally stripped / setup wiring. I reached out to the owner who shared more details and what looked to be an amazing build and wiring setup; he connected me to Martyn @ Project Rogue Motorsports. Martyn (originally from England) now runs a motorsport shop around the corner from Team Shirmer, Custom Racetec, etc and focuses on the electronics. I connected with Martyn, and he tried to help remotely diagnose the issue, and again, had NO luck and I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for him. Jokingly (but half serious), I offered to fly him to California for the weekend to help me with the issue. He had never been to the States, and he committed to the visit; however, said that it would be over the winter when he can break away from the shop commitments, builds, etc.

Meanwhile, I continued to plan for alternatives and wanted a backup plan. I stared searching for a used full chassis harness and found one on eBay for the same car, year, tranny, etc. and for only $400 shipped. OMG! This was my backup plan in case I needed to start from scratch…

Well, Martyn finally did commit to the visit and arrived second week of January – yes, it had been almost 5 months since I was stuck. He arrived to my house / garage and I kid you not, he identified the issue in 30ish min and what was a blown canbus feed from the FEM body module. The FEM has 3 canbus outputs that run around the car for various modules; somewhere, somehow, I faulted one…he quickly moved the faulty can to another feed and everything lit up, including all the modules that were not working. The smile on my face and relief was as you can imagine, priceless…WTF! I could not believe it, wanted to kick myself…however, was extremely happy to see it all come to life.

So we had a choice at this point, keep the OEM harness and have Martyn cleanup the wiring while he was there, or use the backup harness which was sitting here and have Martyn strip and build a new harness. I know he was nervous touching / messing with the original harness but happily committed to putting the spare harness together. We spent the next 3 days working on this (see my IG for videos) and it came out absolutely clean with like factory finesse. By day 3 we had the harness on the car, he started coding everything, including the AIM Dash.
I am extremely grateful that I connected with Martyn and so appreciate the friends that I made through IG.

Anyhow, 8 months since all this started, I have the car back together and working the chassis setup this weekend – a few final touches from there and so look forward to getting the car on the track in a few weeks for a shakedown.

Can now sits at 3050 (w/no driver) with about a half talk of gas, I have carbon doors on order which will definitely get the car down to under 3000.

More shortly after the shakedown weekend late March…stay tuned.

I'm having the same issue, also building a track car. Can you shed any like how "blown canbus feed from the FEM body module" was fixed?

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by septavus

I'm having the same issue, also building a track car. Can you shed any like how "blown canbus feed from the FEM body module" was fixed?

By replacing the FEM module…you will have to have someone code the FEM for you.

It is pretty quick and simple…

[ninekrpm]

This weekends project…

Upgrading the DP’s with a resonated setup from “inked customs” out of Germany

I will run this with the existing BW GT4 replica exhaust for now…

However, going to transition in a few weeks or so to an “inked custom” setup with a single midline (more on this soon).

[ninekrpm]

Few install pics…

[GuyLedouche]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

Few install pics…

You had the stock DPs on? That exhaust is going to be loud as hell haha

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by GuyLedouche

You had the stock DPs on? That exhaust is going to be loud as hell haha

It’s going to be wild.

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

This weekends project…

Upgrading the DP’s with a resonated setup from “inked customs” out of Germany

I will run this with the existing BW GT4 replica exhaust for now…

However, going to transition in a few weeks or so to an “inked custom” setup with a single midline (more on this soon).

Video posted if interested…

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4n-X...RlODBiNWFlZA==

It’s going to be wild…loud!

[johnjames85]

My car has just arrived in Germany and is with Martyn. Thank you very much for the indirect recommendation. I informed Martyn that I found him because of you and your build thread.

[ninekrpm]

Originally Posted by johnjames85

My car has just arrived in Germany and is with Martyn. Thank you very much for the indirect recommendation. I informed Martyn that I found him because of you and your build thread.

Happy for ya! He was great to work with. So much knowledge and patience to do a meticulous job.

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by ninekrpm

Happy for ya! He was great to work with. So much knowledge and patience to do a meticulous job.

+1 on Martyn. He did my wiring!