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Meet Our Expert:
Terry Fair
Vorshlag Motorsports
The E92-chassis BMW M3 is great because it’s the only 3 Series with a V8. I’ve always been of the opinion that to make a reliable engine, you make it as big as possible and spin it less. There is a high rev limit on this motor, but it’s reliable. We’ve had customers beat on these for years and years.
Unlike most high-strung BMWs, it has a good factory cooling system. The motor mounts are solid, and the V8 doesn’t torque over as much as the tall straight-six engines, so it doesn’t pull on the water necks and power steering lines.
The only real direct competitor to this M3 is the 2011-’14 Ford Mustang GT and Boss 302. They’re very similar in power, weight and performance capability. The M3 has a better rear suspension, but it cost twice as much, though the price difference is coming down on the used market.
Everything else in the price range–Corvette, Porsche 911 or Cayman–is very different. Only the M3 and the Mustang are real four-seat two-doors with V8 power.
The E92 M3 doesn’t have the weak points I’d note in a 1M or 335; the brakes are good, the suspension is nice. We’ve got a customer with 150,000 miles on his, and he just tracks the piss out of it. We haven’t seen an Achilles’ heel on this car. The rear differential bushings and subframe bushings fail over time, but that’s true on all BMWs.
A cold-air intake is a really big upgrade on these. A buddy was dynoing his car when they were new, and it seemed like it was choked up. We took the filter off and picked up 25 horsepower.
The factory exhaust is fairly restrictive, too. Otherwise the engine is pretty high strung–the intake and exhaust are the low-hanging fruit. A header would probably make good power, but there aren’t any inexpensive options on the market; the demand is just too low.
Brake pads are obviously a big upgrade, as is brake cooling. You can fit a lot more wheel and tire on these cars, too. We usually run 295s at all four corners on 18x10s. It’s a 3600-pound car–you can never have too much tire on a heavy car.
The 1M has the same suspension as the E92 M3. Those 1M guys were even more track oriented, and they’d just trash the front tires with the lack…
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