I gutted the shitnour of my e92 but we dont have much more to remove except dash and couple more things. I got mine to 3080 and with bucket seat and sunroof delete and lighter battery with sound deadening removed the the couple small things it will be in 2920 max . Idk what else to take out. But I drive mine daily.
N54/E90 6MT Daily Turned Dedicated Drag Build
- Thread starter SJ_1989
- Start date
There's a lot of weight that can be taken out of these cars. More than I originally expected. It's all in the details and the details is the secret sauce. Sauce I won't be disclosing since there are a few guys out there now going for records
I'll find them brotherThere's a lot of weight that can be taken out of these cars. More than I originally expected. It's all in the details and the details is the secret sauce. Sauce I won't be disclosing since there are a few guys out there now going for records
I cant cut any metal and dont want to get the electrical wires out. Can only get another 200 pounds max. So about 2880 total. The rest is way too much $$. I got lighter forgestar f14s as well. Btw I love your build. I really want to see what it will do on the track. Never ever anyone had a gutted caf like this. I am pretty sure your car as is if it would have stock turbos and couple bolt ons it would of been in 10.5 100%. I Will borrow friends skinnies on the front too. Maybe another 30 pounds. I cant remove the dash and cut metal. It's ok. 2900 pounds is a lot better then 3600 pounds.
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LOL secret sauce. There is no such thing as the secret sauce. There is only paying attention, and doing what others do not want to... We have not cut a single piece of metal out of our E90 drag car and it is lighter than this car currently. No secret sauce applied, just a solid plan, well-executed
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Less then 2500 pounds ? That's crazy. I gutted even more today. Got the sound deadening almost done with that. And removed headliner stuff. Just have to find bucket seat and get sunroof delete and lighter battery. Should be in 2900 or so. But mine is e92. I have seen 3 4 door got to crazy low weight. Idk I am trying on mine.LOL secret sauce. There is no such thing as the secret sauce. There is only paying attention, and doing what others do not want to... We have not cut a single piece of metal our of our E90 drag car and it is lighter than this car currently. No secret sauce applied, just a solid plan, well-executed
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LOL secret sauce. There is no such thing as the secret sauce. There is only paying attention, and doing what others do not want to... We have not cut a single piece of metal our of our E90 drag car and it is lighter than this car currently. No secret sauce applied, just a solid plan, well-executed
Including a cage?
That's really impressive. I'm looking at doing the same, doubt I'll manage to get near you 2. Are you willing to disclose the rough weight of the cage? Ive found a few decent ones that weigh between 120 - 143lbs, but thats off the shelf. Thinking of getting a custom ones fab'd up that'll be as light as possible while giving good protection.
LOL secret sauce. There is no such thing as the secret sauce. There is only paying attention, and doing what others do not want to... We have not cut a single piece of metal out of our E90 drag car and it is lighter than this car currently. No secret sauce applied, just a solid plan, well-executed
Whatever you say
. Like I said on the other forum post the number and pic otherwise your comment means nothing. You likely won't because you say it doesn't matter to you guys but it clearly seems like it does. I'll be more than happy to congratulate you if you post it.
Our comment means exactly what we wrote -that it's not up to your standards is ok, but doesn't detract from our claim. I'm comfortable with you not believing, haha, you will when we're ready to release details, we have other (bigger) plans that will come to fruition first. Keep in mind we're a smaller company with many platforms with active development, and one (1) mad scientist driving 95%+ of the development and race work. I can tell you that Tony did send me pics, told me not to share, and you won't like the numbers on them. He's been talking about this for a while, I was happy to see him go full Tony on it. Keep up the good work, should be fun to see some legit light weight N54 powered vehicles.
Chris
Chris
Thought it was about time for an update to the build. It's finally been somewhat nice weather here recently so decided to go get the trailer out and do a bit of cleaning. Come to find out the roof vent had flown off at some point over the winter (we had some crazy winds) so had to take care of that. Moisture had got in but thankfully nothing of value was damaged.
Been working on the car lately getting it ready for paint. Started by pulling the engine and trans out so I can work on the engine bay.
I've stripped most of the seam sealer (sucks), cut off more unnecessary brackets, bosses, etc. Almost done so I can start painting.
Rewarding myself with a beer after an 8 hour day stripping seam sealer.
VTT billet valve cover showed up the other day. This is the new design that is suppose to clear the doc race kit, which is why I got it. But.....while removing the engine I realized how much I hate the serviceability of the turbo when it's in the car. So, we'll be making a custom manifold and move the turbo in front of the engine.
Been working on the car lately getting it ready for paint. Started by pulling the engine and trans out so I can work on the engine bay.
I've stripped most of the seam sealer (sucks), cut off more unnecessary brackets, bosses, etc. Almost done so I can start painting.
Rewarding myself with a beer after an 8 hour day stripping seam sealer.
VTT billet valve cover showed up the other day. This is the new design that is suppose to clear the doc race kit, which is why I got it. But.....while removing the engine I realized how much I hate the serviceability of the turbo when it's in the car. So, we'll be making a custom manifold and move the turbo in front of the engine.
Small update. With COVID going on right now and who knows where it continues to go....especially with Illinois's fantastic Governor ....not a whole lot will be done this year most likely. The plans I have for the car require a lot of $$$, and well, I don't have bottomless pockets. If it takes me a year or two longer to get it completed then so be it, I'm not going to settle for something I don't want and have a similar setup to someone else. The whole purpose of this build is to be different and do things the right way (my opinion, of course).
With that said, progress will still be had this year!
2-3 weeks ago I worked on prepping the engine bay and underneath of the car for paint. This included stripping out ALL the seam sealer. Yes, ALL. I was curious how much weight I could remove. If I ever build a race car again I will still remove the seam sealer but will for sure get it acid dipped as the weight savings was not worth my labor involved. It was messy as hell and shrapnel from the wire wheel gets EVERYWHERE lol.
This is after wire wheeling all the seam sealer and rust, scotch brighting everything, and wiping down with lacquer thinner (for the most part....some pics were in process pics).
[PHOTO DUMP]
It was rattle canned with VHT roll bar and chassis paint in flat black. Even though this can isn't meant for spraying large area's because it has a smaller nozzle meant for roll bars (so you waste less paint), and took awhile to do, it turned out fantastic! One light coat followed by 2 medium coats.
Yes I missed the bottom corner of the battery box. It doesn't matter because it's getting cut out anyway to match the drivers side.
Went up to the shop to get a bit of welding done on the cage before I paint it. This was the first time I was able to see it in good sunlight.
Another goodie arrived as well a few weeks ago.
....not a whole lot will be done this year most likely. The plans I have for the car require a lot of $$$, and well, I don't have bottomless pockets. If it takes me a year or two longer to get it completed then so be it, I'm not going to settle for something I don't want and have a similar setup to someone else. The whole purpose of this build is to be different and do things the right way (my opinion, of course).With that said, progress will still be had this year!
2-3 weeks ago I worked on prepping the engine bay and underneath of the car for paint. This included stripping out ALL the seam sealer. Yes, ALL. I was curious how much weight I could remove. If I ever build a race car again I will still remove the seam sealer but will for sure get it acid dipped as the weight savings was not worth my labor involved. It was messy as hell and shrapnel from the wire wheel gets EVERYWHERE lol.
This is after wire wheeling all the seam sealer and rust, scotch brighting everything, and wiping down with lacquer thinner (for the most part....some pics were in process pics).
[PHOTO DUMP]
It was rattle canned with VHT roll bar and chassis paint in flat black. Even though this can isn't meant for spraying large area's because it has a smaller nozzle meant for roll bars (so you waste less paint), and took awhile to do, it turned out fantastic! One light coat followed by 2 medium coats.
Yes I missed the bottom corner of the battery box. It doesn't matter because it's getting cut out anyway to match the drivers side.
Went up to the shop to get a bit of welding done on the cage before I paint it. This was the first time I was able to see it in good sunlight.
Another goodie arrived as well a few weeks ago
.
Slowly unfortunately. COVID happened and I'm not really doing a whole lot of big ticket items to it at the moment due to the business climate. The sales are down for the construction OEM I work for so playing it a bit safe right now until things pick back up a bit.
I am making some progress though, it's just not exciting stuff. Long story short I've had some quality issues and general bad business ethics from a few vendors and sponsors such that I've decided to part ways with them and design my own parts where possible. I have a few items out getting 3D scanned right now, I've spent some time 3D modeling to get my ideas down on paper, just received my 3D printer (other thread here) for prototyping when I get to that point, and been in talks with machine and fab shops who are on board with manufacturing the parts. Just comes down to finding time to do it, especially when designing parts/systems I don't have experience in.
Also for shits and giggles I developed a Simulink model of the drivetrain (includes engine lug curve, roll resistance, air resistance, vehicle weight, component inertia's, etc) that predicts 1/4 times. I probably won't develop it further to make it more accurate but it was fun making. Used it a bit to see how specific changes effected 1/4 mile times.
Hey dude, I just wanted to check in on you after getting through this insanely sick build thread. Has your work started picking back up allowing you to make more progress with the build yet?
Also, I am local to you & wanted to get more info about the parts you are trying your hand at designing with CAD. I would love to help out with anything I can, I have done a decent amount of CAD work external to my major (software engineering). If there is anything beyond what I feel comfortable designing then I have a lot of really bored homies from engineering school (MSOE, so its a small tight knit group) who are "real" engineers that would be super down to help out with designing & building a racecar.
Plus my best friend who is an engineer at John Deere has a 650awhp 2008 E60 535xi AT (pure stage 2 hi-flows & a helix 3x being the most notable components) & he is starting a new big ST build on his newly purchased 2009 E61 535xi 6MT, so we have both been doing a shit ton of research on everything involving ST setups. I am essentially his pit chief with his cars & have helped him do his builds the right way the first time, so I totally get your whole ethos of this build.
Let me know, even if you dont need the help, i'd love to know what you are working on/designing (or what you are stuck on lol)
Umm, a little. Haven't really spent much time on it other than doing some research and just saving money at the moment so I can finish it all at once. For where I want to take the car and by the time you add up the major components like the standalone system, wiring harness, fuel system, transmission, diff, suspension, etc....it takes a lot of money. Trust me, I want it completed too. I look at it every day leaving the house....
Intake manifold and valve cover at the moment. Valve cover is scanned and intake is roughly designed. Here's a pic of one of the intake runners 3D printed for test fitment. Once I like the fitment I'll do some basic CFD to look at pressure drop.
I looked at MSOE for my undergrad but refused to live in Milwaukee lol.
I might do the exhaust manifold just for fun, idk. I'm going to have the company come to my house and scan some more of the car because I'm a nerd lol and they are car guys as well.
Been using the crap out of my 3D printer making beer tap handles for a buddies bar in his basement. Guess I could share some of that progress
This thread bums me out. We have our drag car about 80% built, and there is a good chance we will never finish it. Just not enough time these days, and going fast in the N54 really doesn't move the needle as far as product sales as it used to. No one really cares anymore, except a small group. Will prob list it up for sale soon so someone can get some use out of it.
