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.

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:

 

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

 

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:

 

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:

 

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


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.

 

Finally somebody doing something with our Non-AMG W204s!

 

Pretty awesome!

 

Awesome! Good luck with the build it will be great when it's done!

4matic?

 

RWD 6 speed manual

 

It's a very solid car in terms of construction and so far has been great to work on. We're really hoping to learn a lot from this car to better support the community. If there is a weak point, we will find it.

Thank you!

Thank you, still a lot of work ahead and time is ticking. But we'll make sure that this thread is updated as everything progresses. Even when the car is "done" it won't really be done.

Bingo!

 

Awesome!!!

 

Amazing build, VERY clean and methodical in your approach to building a solid race car.
Subscribing to this thread for sure. Love the updates and pictures, thank you for taking the time to document this!

 

Sweet mother of God....

Just wondering, are you guys parting out those pile of parts removed from the W204 or keeping them?

 

yes let us know

 

what type of engine work is planed for this project.
love what's been done so far.

 

Yes I am curious for any power upgrades also.

Any engine modification?
Forced induction?

 

It's been a major effort but seeing it come together has been great. The next big moment of anticipation is when the car gets wrapped in it's livery.

Thank you for the compliments and you're welcome. We'll definitely keep this thread going throughout the year showing before race prep and after race tear down/analysis. This is going to be an amazing chance to learn all about this platform and what it can and can't do.


Yes, we will be selling the parts removed from the vehicle. Just need to organize and figure out what we have. Maybe we'll make another thread specifically for that.

At the moment, we're leaving the engine as is. But that's just to make the deadline for the first race and at least assure some level of reliability. One area we are looking at is cooling and we're considering redesigning the oil cooler setup to an external setup. But we're going to have to see how the car runs for long periods of time. Road Atlanta is our first race and we'll have zero opportunity to do a shake down before hand since everything is basically closed in the North East.

However, as time goes on and issues become known we'll be addressing those issues with engineered solutions. On top of that, as we figure out it's capabilities and reliability we'll see about upping the output as well. However, in AER reliability is key. If the car comes off the track for anything other than a required driver change and fuel you have an uphill battle for the rest of the day.

 

Curious why start with a c300? Why not just do this to a 63?

 

They are put into a specific class.

 

Ahh, so they are staying with stock internals and engine. Gotcha! Now I am peaked even more. Want to follow this!

 

Great Build. I had no idea the W204 came with a 6spd option!!!!
I keep dreaming of a LSX/6spd swap W204 BS DTM track car..... just not sure about how to keep all the power windows, abs working with an LSX mill.

Any specs you can give out on wgt savings to-date would be appreciated.

Again great trail blazing build. Pleez keep the well done updates coming.

I'm about to kick off an E36/E46 LS track car build.... but this might affect my brain

Cheers.

 

Awesome.

 

I love the gif, it's perfect. And we could have gone C63 but we were keeping in mind operating costs and the how the car would be classed. AER has 5 separate classes and some of the most competitive classes are cars in the low to mid 200 horsepower range.

Exactly.

Yes, we will be running a stock internal engine. While this particular car is very low mileage (~25K) we have 121 hours of racing (not including qualifying in this season) so if there is a weakness in the engine somewhere we will more than likely be finding it.

Something like 2% of W204's came equipped with a manual transmission. It's basically rarer than rare. We bought this car private party but at the time there were only a total of 15 available for sale in the entire country.

An LS swapped W204 would definitely be interesting and I'm sure it can be done, lots of room in the engine bay. Part of the challenge on this build is going to be getting the ABS and factory engine electronics to remain happy with other electronics removed from the car. We will be documenting work arounds, wiring, and other things we do to trick the car into thinking everything is as it should be. This info would be ideal for someone looking to LS swap one of these cars.

As it stands, we may be without ABS for the first race of the season because we are concerned with triggering a limp mode condition which we do not want to happen. Unfortunately, a lot of the testing on the car is going to be done on Thursday and Friday morning before qualifying and Road Atlanta is going to be a learning experience. But, I am confident we will learn how to make the car happy with the missing electronics.

Weight wise, we are down at around 2900 lbs with the cage installed. The sunroof is gone and we replace the sunroof with a European spec slick roof (no sunroof cutout) which definitely saved some weight and helped lower the center of gravity. Once the fire suppression system is in I am expecting weight to be just under 3000 lbs for the first race.

 

I'll be following this with interest.

I hope to be at autobahn in August and hopefully I'll see you there.

 

Also make sure to record some videos of the race or even stream it if you can! We're on your team haha.