Oh hi again - pix and track footage of the new ride

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/14310485_1061254923993175_2979554860966362624_o.jpg

Been probably 6 months now. I got a 328 Touring.
Most boring version possible: premium trim, automatic and xdrive.
For Canada, we never got the rwd wagon, so xdrive was the only choice. And for me, the primary purpose of this car was to haul my bike gear + wife to bike races in comfort with plenty of room to spare. This car does that in spades :smiley:

The original car out of the box didn’t drive all that well - tons of feel through the steering, and the motor is a darn peach. But the car has loaded with a bunch of fun sapping features that BMW baked into the xdrive setup. This like BMW variably boosting brake pressure depending on the speed you are going and amount of pedal travel used in the brake. This made for inconsistent braking and the pedal firming up at different spots in the range of travel depending on what speed you hit the brakes at.

It also tries hard to vector power from front to rear axles multiple times in a corner when you’re getting the car loose. The transfer case simply bangs the clutch and it makes for abrupt power transfer - the car shifts front and rear each time the clutches are hit. It’s like a mild clutch kick. really bad. That and it had brake vectoring and reduces engine power when it calculates when the brakes are overheating (calculates! Not measured!). I coded all of this stuff off, and now it operates with a static 40:60 rear biased awd power distribution, and no brake funkiness. Car drives better.

Car is updated with paddle shifter retrofit, Bilstien stocks and camber plates. Oh and it has the intake manifold and tune out of a 330i - making it a 330i motor (that is the only difference - this wagon now has 255hp vs 230hp originally)

Track video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDxCVvs5v-s

As can be seen on the track video - especially at around 3:42, the car rotates quite a lot on entry. Get it setup right for a corner with trail braking, and the back end will rotate very nicely. I set it up like a fwd car (-2.5f, -1r camber, -0.1f, 0.1r toe), and note that the front end toes out under compression (and rear toes out on lift), so the whole car gets loose in a trail braking situation. Hillariously fun on track.

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/l/t31.0-8/14125490_1061254917326509_1934093257144548749_o.jpg

Above, you can see me setting it up for a corner. Look how loaded the front tires are and unloaded the back is - and the camber difference. The back end is near 0 in that situation…and toe would be about 0 as well! I previously had the car lowered - looked sick…however, it drove like ass. Xdrive has reduced shock travel - and despite putting short stroke shocks on it, it bottomed out everywhere. On track, it would ride the bump stops and randomly understeer out of no where. I ended up selling the lowering springs (Eibachs) and went back to the stock xdrive springs. Car is way way way way better. Below is when the car was lowered…it did look damn cool doe.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EdPlo9RlHl8/V9LpTHMm9II/AAAAAAAACPc/3buQLSuLQGIExqhRPWRkhLJDJTIKZMMTwCLcB/s1600/image.jpg

Up next is m sport bumpers. It already has a bmw performance wheel, so I may as well continue the sport package retro fit and grab the sport seats too :slight_smile: Oh and oil cooler. Car pulls timing on the track big time. Get’s way too hot. I removed one of the under panels beneath the transmission and it helped big time - though timing is still pulled. Oil temps get too high, and the cooling system is burdened with cooling both the motor and transmission together.

Car drives great though, and is fun. One of the few wagons that are driver focused.

This is on BFG SC2’s, which are 380 tread wear tires. With real tires, it’d actually be quite fast on a track like this.