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Dale Schwartz's Black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am Firebird
Norman Vigus' Silver RX-7
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Dado's Yellow 1995 BMW M3
Alvin Gogineni's 1967 Datsun Roadster SPL311
RB Motoring's 2003 Lancer Evolution
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John Bidwell's Red S-10 Pickup

Technical Corner : Feature Car Last Updated: Aug 16th, 2006 - 11:01:00


Dado's Yellow 1995 BMW M3
By Jacob Isaac-Lowry
Aug 26, 2004, 12:22

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This week's Car of the Week spotlight is on Dado's 1995 yellow BMW M3. For those of you who have watched any of the Teckademics DVD's or who have seen any of their clips floating on the net, you will instantly recognize this standout M3 and its driver. This M3 has been fully converted from a street car to a track machine, sporting a tubbed interior, Tec-3 engine managment system, complete roll cage, and all the little tricks that make a race car lighter and faster than its showroom siblings. If you live in the DC area you may catch a glimpse of this overhauled beamer as it passes you at 160+ on the freeway!


The M3's Current Mods

Engine
  • Active Autowerkes Stage 3 Turbo Kit
  • AA Custom 3.2 M Motor Built
  • Stage 3 1400 CFM Intercooler
  • Stage 3 Hybrid Turbo: 60-1 compressor end mated to a clipped TD06 exhaust end
  • Electromotive TEC3 engine management. Supplied by SIAS Tuning
  • Pauter rods
  • JE Pistons 8.3:1 motor
  • AA Turbo Spec Cams
  • Knife edged crank
  • Hi performance valve springs
  • Dual electric 10” fans
  • Heat Wrapped exhaust manifold and piping
  • HKS Racing Bypass Valve
  • HKS Super Sequential blow off valve
  • Greddy Boost Controller
  • Greddy Turbo Timer
  • AA Water/Alcohol Injection System
  • Zionsville Aluminum radiator
  • SPA Technique Oil cooler with braided lines supplied by CDOC
  • Euro E36 oil filter housing with outlets for oil cooler
  • Custom 3 inch side exhaust by Jav
  • AA Custom 3.5" Low Level Air Intake
  • Fuel starvation kit stage 2 (secondary fuel pump)
  • Main fuel pump welbro 255
  • Active Autowerke aluminum lightweight flywheel
  • Active Autowerke 4 Puck Racing Clutch
  • Evo M3 6 speed Transmission supplied by GMG Racing
  • 2.93 Differential with 60% lockup by www.diffsonline.com
  • AA Shift Knob
  • AA Short shift kit
  • Rogue Engineering Finned differential cover

    Suspension
  • KW Coilovers Variant 3’s
    1. Independently adjustable rebound and compression damping
    2. Inox-line stainless steel technology
    3. Individual height adjustment
    4. Infinitely adjustable rebound damping
    5. 14- level adjustable compression damping
  • BMW X-Brace
  • Active Autowerke Rear Toe Bushings
  • Turner Motorsport rear camber arms
  • RD Sport strut brace
  • Ground Control Sway bars supplied by MPact Motorsports
  • Ground Control Camber plates supplied by M3 Motorwerks
  • Ground control rear shock mounts supplied by M3 Motorwerks

    Interior
  • Stack ST8110SR Boost Street Dash it has
    1. Tachometer
    2. Boost Pressure in PSI
    3. Speedometer
    4. Odometer & Tripmeter
    5. Oil & Fuel Pressure readout
    6. Water & Oil Temperature readout
    7. Volt Meter
    8. Fuel Level
    9. Infrared Lap Timing
    10. Predictive Lap Timing
  • EFI Systems UEGO1000 Wideband O2 Sensor
  • Sparco Suede steering model 323 supplied by CDOC
  • Sparco quick release hub supplied by CDOC
  • Sparco horn kit supplied by CDOC
  • AA E-brake handle
  • DAS Sport full welded in cage by CDOC
  • Nerf padding supplied by CDOC
  • Fully gutted
  • Teamtech 5 point harness with camlock supplied by CDOC
  • Cobra Evolution Technology GT Seats full carbon fiber drivers seat supplied by CDOC
  • Cobra sportline for passenger supplied by CDOC
  • Electronic fire supression system with 3 nozzles supplied by CDOC
  • Kill switch in cabin and outside supplied by CDOC
  • Window net supplied by CDOC

    Exterior
  • Vented carbon fiber hood by www.mashaw.com
  • Sparco hood pins
  • Rieger Carbon Fiber front splitter supplied by MMS Tuning
  • BMW LTW M3/GT Rear Wing
  • Removeable Height Extensions in carbon fiber by www.mashaw.com
  • Full paint Ferrari Code #102
  • Full front end 3M paint protection film installed by http://www.pftfilms.com

    Miscellaneous
  • BMW Clear Lenses
  • ZKW European Ellipsoids with Lava Lighting Angel Eyes supplied by Ko Performance
  • 6,000 K Low beam xenons supplied by Ko
  • 8,500 K foglight xenons from xvision supplied by Import expression
  • Kinesis K58 18X8.5 front
  • Kinesis K58 18X9 rear
  • Falken 451 235/45/18 front
  • Falken 451 255/35/18 rear
  • RRT Stud kit
  • Road Race Tech Brake cooling plates and ducting
  • Stoptech 14 inch front with Cobalt racing pads
  • Stoptech 13 inch rear with Cobalt racing pads

  • Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3 Dado's M3

    Although it is readily apparent from the extensive modifications to this car that it can turn some serious lap times, Dado went a step farther in further reducing weight and race prepping his vehicle than most. It honestly is a track only car that is driven on the street. Very impressive. Dado was kind enough to give us a heads up on what has been going with his M3 recently:

  • Nasa VIR February 21-22 wrap up.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "First of all we had a great time and got to meet some really nice people out there. My instructor Dan McKeever was great and a huge help since this was my first time driving this car at a track, first DE, and first time at VIR. I got bumped up to HPDE3 and was doing some laps just under 2:20

    well the car did extremely well even though I was being conservative. Shifting at 6,000 (7,000 is the limit). Was running street tires falken 451's (235 front - 255 rear). Boosting just 10psi (it's tuned for 17) which should be just around 430hp to the motor. As for suspension mods this weekend I was just running the coilovers and nothing else just to get a feel of the car.

    I would also like to thank G&W for helping me and hooking me up with a lift and bleeding my brakes (brakes died the first day). There is nothing scarier coming down the front straight at 160mph and not have any brakes. Mikael (works at G&W) was a huge help and also changed my diff fluid since it seemed to be leaking after the first day. On the second day my diff blew on turn 1 without even completing a lap. I had to leave my car at G&W and I am going to pick it up on Monday which is about a 5 hour drive for me (yeah stupid me drove the car 5 hours to the track) I will learn from my mistake and trailer the car down next time. By the way, on the way back home I rode with a friend and we broke down 30 minutes from home. Even though we had so many issues I would just like to point out that I am hooked and will be coming a lot more often to these events. Nice meeting everyone this weekend.

    Thanks David from Pro Imports for the help and also Carlos for coming down. Sorry about your car too.

    Thank you Chris Cobetto, Laura Cobetto, and everyone else that was involved in organizing this event. The organization of the event and classroom times were great, very satisfied. VIR again next weekend so hopefully I will have the car running again."

  • New TEC3 installed by Built Motorsports and Tuned by SIAS Tuning
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Would like to thank Vic from SIAS for flying over from San Francisco and tuning the m3. The MSD Box was ditched since the tec3 unit is able to give enough spark. Definitely one of the best buys yet and if anyone is looking to go standalone I highly recommend getting in touch with Vic from www.siastuning.com Great guy and don't forget to buy him dinner.

    Thanks to www.builtmotorsports.com for helping out with the dyno and installing the unit and Teckademics for paying for the TEC3 Unit. They also did a leakdown test before the dyno and it was showing 32% leakdown on cylinder 4. This was due to the car running lean with the AA software. AA tried several times to fix this problem and we had to resort to a chip with 6,000 rev limit. I have no more problems with the TEC3 unit. Now that the leaning problem has been solved it's time for a rebuild soon I wish I had gone with TEC3 from the beginning, it would have saved me so much money and headache by driving down to Miami."

    While engine and driveline failures are unfortunate and being forced into the hassle of a complete engine management system replacement is a pain. We can all agree that the rewards of having an unbelievable car are worth the effort required to maintain it and keep it running on the extreme edge of performance. Oh and just in case you were wondering what all this engine work equates to? When Dado's M3 was last dynoed in October 2003 at Altered in Gaithersburg, it made 458 hp to the wheels at 17psi. At 11 psi it made 385 to the wheels. Mix that power with a tubbed 50/50 balanced M3 chassis that is riding on one of the best coilovers on the market, throw in some patented StopTech braking ability, and you can understand why Dado is hooked on ripping through the corners in this thing. All of us here at AutomotiveArticles.com wish Dado the best of luck in keeping his M3 running and hope he can continue to take advantage of the driving enjoyment his amazing machine offers. And to our readers, if you want to see some great footage of Dado and his car in action, check out the Teckademics website and snag on of their DVD's. We've got them all and love them.

    Don't forget to check back next week to get the scoop on AutomotiveArticles.com next Car of the Week.
    Keep the applications coming. Who knows, your car could be next!

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