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We're Building a W204 C300 Race Car!

7K views 7 replies 1 participant last post by  FCP Euro 
#1 · (Edited)
Some of you may have heard and some of you may not have heard, but we figured this would be one of the best places to write up about our W204 C300 race build for this coming American Endurance Racing season. Last year, we campaigned an E30 325i in 5 races finishing 8th overall which was an accomplishment in itself.

However, the E30 was tired at the end of the season and we started weighing our options for what to use in the 2017 season. We could have rebuilt the E30 or do something entirely different. Reality is, a lot of people build BMW race cars and there is a formula in place for popular applications. We wanted to do something different and we wanted to do something different with the intent of learning a platform 100%. We hope that the knowledge we gain from this build will benefit the entire W204 community. Enter, FCP Euro's W204 C300 race car. :D:y

The story of this car started in November. Kyle (who many of you may know from this board) drove down to New York City to pick up a 2010 C300 Sport with a 6 speed manual. Out of all places to find this car, we did not expect it to be in NYC. But for such an unusual car it only seemed fitting that it would be found in an unusual place. It started as a very low mileage car that also was well maintained. There were body blemishes, but it's a NYC car and the car is going to be thrashed on the track. Mint condition exterior or interior for that matter were not primary concerns.

Here are a few pics of the car the day it arrived to FCP Euro's facility:





And as race car builds go, this car didn't stay in it's stock form for too long. The first step to any race build is to strip the cars interior out. One night after regular hours a few of us worked together to strip the car down. In about 2 hours most of the interior including the carpet and headliner had been removed. To be honest, this was one of the easier cars to remove the interior from. I attribute this to the construction of the vehicle.









Building a race car is a challenge, but have fun doing it:

 
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#2 ·
After the cars interior was stripped out we took it to AutosportCT to have the cage built. In American Endurance Racing the vehicle must have a full cage as one of the safety requirements and safety in automotive racing is always a top priority. While the car was there the factory roof along with the sunroof were removed to make room for a European spec replacement (more on that later). Cage building is a combination of artistry, science, and just plain fab skill.

Below are some photo's of the initial part of the cage build along with the Recaro race seat installed:







Another component of this build was taking care of the rear end. From the factory, the rear differential is open which is not ideal for racing applications. We ended up sourcing a Quaife unit but before we could get the differential installed we had to drop it down and out.

Part of the trick on removing the differential is one side of the rear axle suspension has to be unbolted so you can remove the stub shaft from the differential. Also, since the battery is disconnected we had a volunteer to sit in the trunk to gain access to the differential mount bolts. All in all, the removal of the differential housing went smoothly





 
#3 ·
After some more in house work the car had to go back to AutosportCT for final cage assembly/completion and while that was happening we also wanted to get the factory rear differential removed and the Quaife installed. We did document the process of the differential work and will make that available at some point in the near future. And of course, while the car was at AutosportCT we had to make sure we go some awesome shots of the welding and fab work that was being done.













Here are some shots of our very own Nate Vincent setting up the differential. As mentioned above, we documented this process and will make sure it's available.













While the car was having final fab work completed at AutosportCT we took a moment to organize the new race car parts that were going to find their way onto the C300. Some of these parts were changed, especially the brakes which you will see later in the thread:

 
#4 ·
After final fab work was completed on the cage, the car returned to FCP Euro for the final push. The first race of the year is February 11-12 at Road Atlanta. The car returned to our facility permanently just after the new year. This is when we got cracking and really started getting things accomplished. We have a master build file to keep track of what's happening but documenting while building can be another job within itself. On the return of the car to FCP Euro we literally tore it apart, removed the front and rear bumper covers, head lights, tail lights, front bumper support, trunk latching mechanism, etc.

The first steps in this part of the build were to figure out how to situate the recovery straps, how to deal with the factory trunk latch since power has to be killed during fuel stops. Also, we had to make as much room as possible to install new suspension components:


















 
#5 ·
This post now brings us up to date with where the car currently sits and how we're doing with the dead line. This past week we have made great progress and even started the car. The biggest parts of the build have been done but there are still some unknowns coming up. We're going to be working on sorting out the car in terms of electronics and removing as much wiring as we can while still keeping all the key systems on the car s happy as possible. As we go through it we will be sure to document here on this thread as it may be useful for others in the future. However, I digress. Brakes are critical (amongst other things) but we wanted to use as much off the shelf components as possible for the car. With that said, we went with the P30 brake package found on the C63 AMG. To use these brakes we had to chance the front wheel carrier and while we were at it we also changed the front lower control arm to that from the C63 AMG for alignment purposes. We also chose the AMG wheel carrier due to how easy it will be to replace a wheel bearing as opposed to the stub axle style bearing used on the C300 from the factory. While this is a C300 we did end up using components from it's bigger brother:













Major difference in construction between the AMG and non AMG control arm. Not only is there more material but the arm is slightly longer giving us some added camber for the front wheels which we will want to run.





While the brakes and front suspension were sorted out we also spent some time inside the car removing dead weight including rear door speakers, wiring, etc. We also reinstalled the dash, instrument cluster, HVAC controls (we need to use the factory blower motor for keeping the windshield clear in some conditions) and we even got to start the car as well for the first time in close to 2 months. Video link below :D



At the end of a long night on Monday (1/16) we got a lot done and had to take a few moments to admire the car.







We have been building this car primarily after business hours and on weekends. It's been a major undertaking but seeing it come together and hearing it start up is an awesome experience. Next up on the list which we will be tackling Thursday night (1/19) is the following:

Differential install
Brake pad install and bleed
Wire kill switch
Install center net
Install window net
Test fit wheels (if arrive)
Install studs (if arrive)
Exhaust system build
Battery install

I will make sure that this thread is updated by Friday with the next steps on the build. :y
 
#6 ·
Last night we worked on the car from about 4:30 until about 12:30. However, in the 8 hours we worked on the car we got a lot done and I am happy to say that the car is now moving under it's own power. Yesterday marked a huge day on the build as the wheels came in and we had were able to get the tires mounted and balanced.

The wheel we have decided to go with is the TSW Roatary Forged Turbina wheel. It looks like a wheel that should be on a Mercedes and it's relatively light weight. There's lots of material in the spoke area which is also nice. Machining and finish also looked to be of high quality as well:



The tires we have gone with are Bridgsteone RE-71R with 255/35-18 on all 4 corners. In AER the minimum treadwear allowed is 200. So this tire is right on that mark. It's also one of the more popular options for tires in AER as well. Below is a photo of the tire mounted and balanced on one of the wheels:



The next step in this equation was getting wheel studs installed. For wheel studs we are running MSI studs and hardware. MSI is one of the leading manufacturers in studs and also probably one of the safest. All the cars in NASCAR run their studs and nuts. They're not cheap, but being that they hold the wheel to the hub it's also not an area where you want to go cheap as an inferior stud can easily break. To install the studs we used red loctite, double nutted the stud, and installed flush to the wheel hub. Then we mounted and torqued the wheels down. It takes about 30 minutes for the loctite to cure. At that point, you're good to go. :D





We did an initial test fit of the new wheels on the passenger side of the car to make sure they would clear. On the setup we are running we clear the front spring adjuster by about half an inch and surprisingly almost clear the fenders in the front with the tires. We will roll the fenders slightly to make more clearance but this setup is perfect and more importantly it clears the P30 AMG brakes:







Next up on the list we broke the crew up into a few teams. We had one team doing some in car prep (installing window net and other safety items) and another team to deal with resealing and installing the differential. Yours truly was on the team taking care of the differential. We installed new side cover seals and used Loctite 5970 to seal the cover to the differential housing.





Installing the differential was a three person job, we basically had one dead lift the differential in place, while the other guided the stub shaft of the axles in, and while the other held on to the loose components of the suspension on the passenger side (that's the side we chose to loosen up to clearance the axles when we originally dropped the differential out). All of this was a juggling act but I did manage to catch a few photos. We also installed new mounting bolts for the differential and torqued to spec:











With the differential installed we went ahead and filled it up. Since we now have a limited slip we couldn't use the same gear oil used in the factory fill. However, we do have an exciting partnership with ROWE this year in our racing efforts. We are using their products for the differential, engine, and grease. We went ahead and filled the differential up to capacity:



Next up on the agenda was to bleed the brakes and get all the old brake fluid out and get some new stuff in. For brake fluid we are going to use Motul RBF 660 which is a DOT4 racing fluid with a very high dry boiling point. We flush the brakes at the end of every race and this is what we will be using this year. Also, the Motive power bleeder makes quick work of this operation as well:





After bleeding the brakes and ensuring all air had been removed from the system we went ahead and put the wheels on all 4 corners again. At this point we were ready to put the car down on all 4's :y. This is what it looks like on the ground again:



















I also have a quick video where we took the car for a "spin" inside of our work space. I will try to get that up as well. At this moment we are about 75% complete on the project.
 
#8 ·
This week we took a break from the build to have the car wrapped in our livery along with our partner logos. This year we are working with two great partners including ROWE and Rein Automotive. Part of our partnership with them involves the incorporation of their logos with our livery. These photos were just released to the company and I wanted to make sure that I had them posted here as soon as I could. Check it out:

















Coming up this week we have a lot of work left to do. Primarily we need to retorque all suspension components to the proper specification, reinstall all underpanels and fender liners, fab the rest of the exhaust, install rear window and windshield, clean up inside of the car and wiring, install adjustable front sway bar links, install adjustable rear camber arms. Our schedule and plan is to have this car ready to roll out to Atlanta as early as 2/6 if weather is a concern.
 
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