A ti swap thread like no other!

[BMW_Hatchback]

sick vid congrats again

[sokat1989]

Congrats.
let me know if you need help making some video of the car running. I'd be happy to help (as well as get a chance to maybe get a ride in a freshly swapped car)

[ChItalian1027]

Looks good Rob!! congrats on getting it complete!! Wish I would've made it out since I'm only an hour away from you. But now that finals are only 3wks away I won't be able to go

[PhotoMotion]

Posting live from the road!

7:00pm: Got the ti from the exhaust shop.
Drove it the 20 minutes home.
7:30pm: Threw all the PhotoMotion gear in the car.
8:00pm: Set out on a 300 mile road trip.

How is THAT for a trial run?

Car 1.5 hours into the trip and still running.
-Temp and such seem to be holding fine.
-Front end is squirrely as all get-out thanks to alignment off and 2nd-hand FCABs thrown in until the nice stuff is ready next week.
-Brakes should have been re-bedded before I set off, braking distances are awful right now.
-Custom stainless exhaust has more highway drone that I would like, may have to swap.
-Odd resonant noise coming from front left. Stopped and checked all the important bolts, nothing loose, nothing rubbing as far as I could tell. Solution: Turn the radio up until I can get the car in the air.

Alright, bowl of steak 'n' shake chilly devoured, time to get back on the road.

Can't wait to put coil-overs on this thing. The extra weight up front really makes the car dive under braking.

There's still plenty to do, but hey, it's driving!

[Jean H.318TI]

thats so sick dude

[PhotoMotion]

[Update: Made it all the way to Putnam! Had some weird electrical issues on the way up. Hit the turn-signal and the radio and V1 both reset. Hit the brights and everything dies for a split second, including the spark plugs! Guess I have some gremlins to track down.]

[PhotoMotion]

The swap is officially broken in! It survived its 600 mile round trip with minimal drama.

• Elephant Motorsport was on hand at the track and were able to sort out my front end-alignment. I had 7/8" of toe-in!!
• The electrical gremlin mentioned above ended up being a loose battery terminal.
• At the track I had a slight coolant leak from a hose junction. A quick clamp-tightening sorted that out.
• This week the Ground Control coil-over suspension goes on, then it's off to corner balancing.

Can't wait to have the rest of this come together! As always, I have to thank the build sponsor AutoWerks of America for making this build possible. Hit 'em up if you need OEM or performance bits!

[ChItalian1027]

Rob, how was Putnam? I go there every track event they host with my friends. Its such a fun track glad you got everything sorted out

[PhotoMotion]

ChItalian: Putnam was fun, though I was there as a the official photog rather than a driver. It's the downside of this business

Got a few shots of the exhaust. It's a bit drony for me on the interstate, so I'm not sure if I'll make any changes, but I'm giving myself some time to get accustomed to it.

More pics and work coming up this week!

[BMW_Hatchback]

wow that exhaust looks sooo legit

[PhotoMotion]

How do you mean Hatch? You mean that I didn't delete the cat/resonator?

[Junk]

I think he means it looks nice! Not all hacked up, splattery stick welded, git'r'dun muffler shop work. Surprised it is droney with the cat and resonator! I guess I will try a longer muffler and no resonator..

Nice job! Did you need the M3 trans crossmember or is that the original TI one?

[tiFreak]

lol, yeah, legit is good

[PhotoMotion]

Ah, thanks for the clarification guys.

Junk: To tell you the truth, I don't remember. I had so many parts laying around that I grabbed the nearest one that fit. That said I think I looked at them once and thought they looked pretty much identical.

[ChItalian1027]

Post up a vid of how it sounds Rob!!!