Is it just me or is Nascar more interesting than F1 nowadays?

[BigD]

?

[Jr ///M5]

How's the ///M5 coming along Dmitry?

[George M]

I don't know D...they both have their following. Have to say it is quite remarkable what Michael Shoe has done to dominate...will go down in history as the greatest ever....driving for Ferrari no less...lol...MB put him out...just deserts. Seems like a few years back there was more parity in F1. Nascar seems to be really popular...because of its rough and tumble nature...Americana at its finest really...a far cry from the road racing European crowd. I like to watch both but rarely ever sit down and watch a full race. The Daytona 500 is big to me. But nothing compares to Indy...always has been a big deal...even with the car controversy in recent years. This year...Honda just kicked ass and probably not a bad thing engine displacement was capped to 3.0 liters from 3.5 liters last year to keep speeds down in the face of escalating horsepower and ways to make the cars go faster. Had to love Buddy Rice's performance...with Letterman being the car owner....great stuff. What a brilliant young driver....nice to see an American win it.
George

[BigD]

How's the ///M5 coming along Dmitry?

Hey Jr!

It's coming along expensively...of my own accord. :) Right now, here is the upgrade list:
-everything except block/head/cams/rods is new
-Forged 95mm JE pistons
-13 lb aluminum JB flywheel
-kevlar clutch/pressure plate w/reinforced springs
-Sparco seats (Evo 3 for me, Evo for the passenger which are generally not so um, wide LOL)
-US ellipsoids with 6000K HIDs
-20mm M5T nurburgring rear bar

The block boring began last week. Hopefully it will be done this or next week. I am more giddy about getting it back than I was before my first date with a girl. Those first 5000 km's will be so hard. :) After break-in it will also get a custom fuel map. The guys who designed the pistons say that depending on the fuel map, they see anywhere between 350-390hp on this upgrade. :p

http://www.strengthandhonor.ca/repair/piston-top.jpg

[BigD]

Yeah I still can't shake the feeling that Nascar racing doesn't take any real talent but lately I've been watching the races just because they're actually entertaining. I can still appreciate what it takes to drive an F1 car, and the technology. But waking up on Sunday at 7 or 8 AM to already know how the race will end? ...meh.

I would personally be on cloud 9 if WRC came to Ontario (or North America for that matter)!!!


I don't know D...they both have their following. Have to say it is quite remarkable what Michael Shoe has done to dominate...will go down in history as the greatest ever....driving for Ferrari no less...lol...MB put him out...just deserts. Seems like a few years back there was more parity in F1. Nascar seems to be really popular...because of its rough and tumble nature...Americana at its finest really...a far cry from the road racing European crowd. I like to watch both but rarely ever sit down and watch a full race. The Daytona 500 is big to me. But nothing compares to Indy...always has been a big deal...even with the car controversy in recent years. This year...Honda just kicked ass and probably not a bad thing engine displacement was capped to 3.0 liters from 3.5 liters last year to keep speeds down in the face of escalating horsepower and ways to make the cars go faster. Had to love Buddy Rice's performance...with Letterman being the car owner....great stuff. What a brilliant young driver....nice to see an American win it.
George

[SamB]

I would personally be on cloud 9 if WRC came to Ontario (or North America for that matter)!!!

BigD, come to New Zealand in April next year for our round of the WRC, I can show you some good spots. Believe me there is nothing like seeing a WRC car in action :)

[Brian C.]

Maybe this will help that itch a little bit BigD. I hadn't seen this highlight video before, but as always, it's kick-ass!

Go to Rally Planet (http://www.rallyplanet.com/index.php?pid=17978) and click on the 2003-highlights.wmv link. It has all the other year's videos and lots of other photos and videos. Just go to the media galleries and search around. Enjoy!!

Brian C.
zoom!
:D

[Jr ///M5]

Aw yea, WRC....now that's some intense stuff. I still can't see how the navigator is able to read the course maps while jiggling around in the seat without puking..=) It is certainly entertaining to watch. Don't know if I would want to be close to the course while the race is going on, there have been some really close calls with spectators...

Dmitry, it sounds like your beast is coming right along. Glad to hear the progress report. Have you checked out the tranny and drivetrain while it's apart? Will the shop let you do any work on the engine bay while the motor is out? Like an engine bay detail? You won't find a better time to do it while the engine is out. Good luck with it, I know you're going to enjoy it when it's complete.

Todays European Grand Prix race at the 'bergring was an exceptional performance by Ferrari, with yet another one-two finish. The commentator stated they weren't looking forward to the race in Canada though, it seems they only win on odd number races. Canada's is race #8....
Mercedes lost both their cars to engine failures right during their showcase race for the board, sponsors, and owners to witness.
On the other hand, David Letterman is sitting on cloud nine, along with young Rice. Much deserving and a gracious winner I might add.....

[winfred]

http://www.geocities.com/nosro/climbdance/

[Karl]

right

[Brian C.]

... of course not quite as fast, when I was on a road trip many moons ago. For a "flatlander", it was one of the most scary things I'd ever done, and the "herbal sedative" that I had made it seem like it was the edge of the earth. I finally got to the top and proceeded to run the front wheels into a ditch. With so little air, the engine didn't want to turn over so I was stuck. At what......~11k feet?! After what seemed like an eternity, I got help from a guy in a pick-up and then it was all downhill from there. Yikes! What a day THAT was. Ahhhh, to be young and stupid. Not too young anymore though. :p

Brian C.

[George M]

good stuff Brian...like the part about the herbal sedative...lol and your last sentence...me too on both accounts..haha.

Hey Dimtry...I had no idea you were even rebuilding your M5 engine...wow. Looks like you are really going deep and not just doing the head. Speaking of the head...who is doing it?...and what will be the reconditioning cost?....were all the valves OK? Know Jason has his M5 head off and wonder if you two guys have compared notes. What displacement are you taking it out to? Bet the thing is gonna be real strong when finished.
Best of Luck,
George

[Mitch90535im]

Nascar seems to be really popular...because of its rough and tumble nature...Americana at its finest really...a far cry from the road racing European crowd.

There is a huge slice of Americana in NASCAR. I grew up watching, (mostly listening to AM radio on Sunday afternoons, back in the days of Richard Petty, Cale Yarbrough, David Pearson, Allison's, etc. Jody Ridley, a noted short track racer and once Winston Cup rookie of the year (at age 40) is from here. I've followed his career through the years. Jody's family go all the way back to the early moonshining days of the sport here in North GA, and all around the south for that matter, running mostly short asphalt ovals. The dirt tracks are busy all over the south these days, cart dirt track ovals are growing in number too.

Having said all that, I prefer road course racing. The GT race at Mt. Treblianc (man that's fcked up spelling) was great, for the scenery, and the ocassional righ-hand turn. Mont-Tremblant (that's much better - isn't google great)

mmmmm good coffee

[BigD]

Thanks for the links guys, give me something to do at work. :)

Yeah it's going to be quite the little toy.

Jr, the tranny and diff are in really good shape (especially compared to my 535 which would whine in first and third, this car's driveline is completely silent) but I'm changing all the fluids anyway. Yeah they'll let me do what I want but they close at 5 and so do I...soo. But I'm going to do some serious detailing when it comes back. It's entered in the BimmerFest East show, July 3rd in Pitsburgh.

George, all 24 valves were busted, as were 2 pistons. What happened was that the oil pump self destructed, so the tensioner went bye bye too, chain skipped and the rest is history. I'm also putting in an S52 tensioner to prevent this from ever happening again (closed design, not dependent on oil pressure, and tighter too). The stock pistons are 93mm I believe, so at 95 it should be around 3.7L. I can't wait to see what it's going to be like, not only will the flywheel be liiight but an already high revving engine will be bored with a forged bottom end...!!!! Like I said, the guys who designed these race S38's and say they've seen 390hp out of this upgrade! I don't really care if it'll be that much, the car is already stupidly fast. But I'm taking it to the best dyno guy in the area anyway. :p The guy doing the head is doing the whole engine, Bill at Motec. I think all of his work will be 2500 loonies.

http://www.strengthandhonor.ca/repair/valve-1.jpg

[George M]

Outstanding D...what a great project. I gots to know what you will have into the motor to rebuild it...a guesstimate in US funds?
George

[BigD]

Outstanding D...what a great project. I gots to know what you will have into the motor to rebuild it...a guesstimate in US funds?
George

Sorry, forgot to answer that, edited the post. It will be 2500 Canadian I believe. Now, he has worked on several M3 and some M5 engines so he had perfect used OEM valves which he gave me for $23 a piece (that's not a typo, saved my ass). But I'm not sure if the price includes these or not. Guess I'll find out in a few days when he's done. The rest of the parts were quite fun to find. I managed to score a crank for $450 US from the guys who sold me the pistons too (and the flywheel, tomorrow), which is like 2 grand retail. All the rest of the stuff is from BMA. For the fun of it, my mechanic called the dealer to get a quote for all the parts WITH a mechanic's discount and it was 5k CAD. Granted this included a pair of pistons but still. Everything from BMA was like 2 (that oil pump is $$$).

Speaking of the oil pump, I knew this engine was finiky but jeezus. In M5 withdrawal, I'm scavenging the net for every bit of M5 and S38 info I can find and what I've learned is that you cannot floor it below 1500 rpm because the oil pump does not develop full pressure until then!!! I wonder how many M5 owners even know that (in addition to the really strict and long warmup procedure).

[BigD]

Oh and the pistons were 1300 US!!

[George M]

Thanks for the info D...was curious what rebuild costs were for such a masterpiece.
Sounds like you are talking to the right people to get the pieces you need. Was particular curious about the 24V head with all its complexity...figured you needed a real crackerjack shop to set it up for you...will shimmed valve clearances and all.
If you haven't already done so...presume you have...check in with Roadfly boys to learn about the foibles of timing chains on the venerable M big six. Early examples were even more finicky...M6 cars in particular noted many timing chain failures. On trick for those guys was to code their OBC's to kill the ignition to crank the motor and build oil and tensioner piston pressure prior to firing the motor. Some change their timing chain hardware every 100k miles as a precaution.
Please keep us informed about your rebuild...sounds like a great project. One part of me is glad I don't have that engine but the other part is green with envy ;-)
George

[BigD]

Just for you George :) :

http://www.strengthandhonor.ca/repair/head-1.jpg

This is what the oil pump looked like (EEEP!):

http://www.strengthandhonor.ca/repair/oilpump-1.jpg

[rickm]

You need to label that one NWS for George. ;)

[George M]

That cylinder head is automotive art Dimtry...and that oil pump...well...has seen better days :-)
George