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It’s been a while since we have had the time to sit and write a post and we have so much to discuss with so many things going on at the moment, it’s been ridiculously busy but we really want to get back to releasing new blogs and what better way to kick things off ...our BMW Z4, yes finally our GT3 V8 Street build is complete and were happy to say all road legal, taxed, tested and MOT.

This build has taken it time, but for all of the negatives this build had along the way is all but forgotten when you’re in that driver’s seat, this car is next level out on the street, we have built some show stoppers over the years, but nothing comes close to the attention this car brings, it’s absolutely crazy, the grin factor doesn’t leave and its sounds like it looks, all we can say if you do embark on a z4 gt3 build then do it properly and install a V8 of choice, you really will not be disappointed.

 
Z4 GT3 V8 Street
BMW Z4
BMW Z4 GT3 V8 Street
 

Our V8 choice was the LS3 and we would highly recommend this option, our engine partners build and supply LS3, LS3 Twin turbo or if you’re after the cubic capacity you can request a fully built 680hp LS7, which they have also fitted in their Porsche C4S 997 R13 demo vehicle, but that is another story.

The weekend will see us join up with the Bilstein UK crew at cars & coffee which is happening at Demon Tweeks in Wrexham and we will then be heading to the “Z” fest in Leicester as well as hopefully heading to Stafford for the Max Power reunion in August, we will also be at the Gravity show at the NEC, so if you see us at any shows come and say hello.

 

BMW Z4 GT3 V8 Street
BMW GT3
 

One thing we have learned with this build is pick the your build team you want to work with wisely, doing the due diligence is key especially if they come recommended, or as we found out Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or any other of the leading media platforms doesn’t show the company in its true light, only what they want you to see, what should of taken us 12 to 18 months to construct has taken 4 years because we said “yes” to working with certain companies along the way for company exposure, all were desperate to work with us on this unique build, but we put it down to experience and enjoying the fruits of our labour and we now do pretty much everything in-house or with our reliable professional partners we now work with.


Now it’s time to enjoy this build and get to as many shows as we can.

This spoiler looks so good fitted we feel it needs its own post, its a new addition that we have wanted to do for so. We have been putting together or supplying our 997 GT3 R parts for quite a while now as well as building our own cars for customers and 2023 is a big year for us with the 997 platform, as we have not one but two R13 LS7 V8 builds in development, both based on the rather amazing C4S, this is the chassis in particular that will becaome the base car we will use for all of our R13 wide body builds with LSX Performance builds.

 
 

Every 997 that wears our kit wears a R13 race wing, and that’s a superb look, we absolutely love that look and its one that is in the programme as long as customers want it, but when we work with Speedwells on the Turbo-R, he didn’t want that race wing set up, he wanted a GT wing and we have to say it looked amazing, in fact that particular build went through a couple of GT engine covers and although they were both beautiful they still wasn’t what we were looking for, we wanted that old 997 Gemballa Avalanche style cover with the side intakes and high wing.


Our engine cover side air intakes will become functional on some builds as they do like to take in huge amounts of air so it would be silly not to utilise them, our engine cover vent system will use the C4S style grill and the wing will be Height adjustable to a point, and the beauty of this wing is you can use on a narrow or wide body so will be available for the 991.1 & 991.2 chassis.

Cover is now ready for production so get in touch for more details

 

2023 has start off as a very busy period for us and it is about to get a lot busier as we get stuck into not one but two Porsche 997 builds, these have been in the planning stage for the last 12 months as we have been deciding what parts we want to use moving forward as these builds will be offered as a drive in drive conversion for 2023 and moving forward.


This whole planning process started midway through 2021 when our old friend Kyle Rushall got in touch with us about our R13 GT3R wide body aero programme that he was considering fitting to his Porsche 997.1 Turbo after seeing the rather special Speedwells 997 Turbo-R build, Kyle just said he had to have one and he had the perfect donor, a 2007 997 Mezger Powered twin turbo, there are not many people willing to cut up a 997 Turbo chassis, especially the Mezger powered version, Iby is just a one off and pretty much cut from the same cloth as we are so tearing into a 50k turbo comes naturally, Kyle is basically cut from the same cloth as us especially when he gets to build and drive the car he wants but it wasn't long before we got talking about LS V8 engine swaps as that's what Kyle is involved in every day of the week, building LS engines and installs, as well as building and supplying his own LS7 Engines, no crate engines everyone is a built engine, and his LS7 build V8 is a little bit special, so as our cogs started turning it wasn't long before his beloved 997 Turbo & 996 Turbo were sold and we said hello to not only his but our own 2006 C4S platforms that we will use for our LS7 power upgrades, we are very excited with what we have planned for both of these 4S chassis along with the parts and companies that will we be working with to bring our vision to the UK streets.

 

GT RS-Street Engine Cover & Rear Wing

 

Every build will wear our R13 GT3R signature wider body, there will be a huge amount of options for our street builds, the customer can spec their own builds, all of the optional extras are listed on our website and we will also be introducing an all new standalone website for the conversion which will show every part of the build, so keep your eyes peeled for the all new R13LSX website, but if you are not familiar with the aero pack and what it consists of here is what is included along with the various options.

Porsche 997 R13 Aero Pack Front Bumper, front bumper canards, front replacement vented fenders, front splitter, front floor, side skirts, rear quarter panels, rear bumper, rear bumper out take grills, rear diffuser full floor with strakes, front and rear bumper aluminium grill sets Optional Extras Choice of rear engine cover, 1, ducktail, 2, GT steet, 3, swan neck race spoiler, 4, R13 GT3R race wing, carbon roof replacement, light weight carbon doors, kevlar arch liners, brake cooling channels, flat under floor


As well as working on four rear engine covers and wing assemblies for street and track use, there are a couple of items we are making that really do excit us, the first one which is a personal favourite is our GT RS Street engine cover and low set wing, which is loosely based around the old 993 GT2 Evolution engine cover which will have side functional air vents with a low style carbon wing that will be adjustable for height with wing extenders, we will also look to develop special air intake for this rear cover which will be another exciting feature for the future developments and that’s why this set up is quite exciting.

Another exciting part will be our R16 evo front bootlid, we have yet to see a nice bootlid option, which doesnt exist, and if it doesnt exsist you have to make one, both items will be a great addition for the R13 GT3R wide body styling.

 
 

Another area which has been a big discussion is the suspension, our main focus is to have a useable street set up that can be used daily just like the Speedwells built Turbo-R, street usability is paramount.

For the original Speedwells Turbo-R build we teamed up with Bilstein who built us a fantastic bespoke set up, the car drove beautifully it really did the job and we were happy to team up with them again on all of our new builds for this conversion only to be told Bilstein UK do not have the time to work on special projects at the moment due to a huge backlog of work, so unless we had a spare 9 months to wait that’s how long it would take to get a system built for the R13 LS7 street, which was never going to be an option for us, but as they say thing happen for a reason and that reason is Nitron Uk, which is a huge plus for us and they will be making us a complete bespoke custom set up based on their amazing product they already produce for Porsche, it’s one partnership we are really happy about and we cannot wait to test the NTR –R1 built to our R13 Specification, this was one area we had a bit of concern with especially with the relatively low options for this build, but we are happy Nitron UK are joining the high quality list of companies we have onboard with this build.



For the wheels we will run our usual 3 piece Forged 10.5x19 & 13x19 set up fitted with 265/35R19 and 345/30R19 Michelin tyres, for the wheels we will be working with 3SDM and we must say we are really excited to work with a long established UK 3 piece forged wheel company, for this product its only worth getting involved with the industries finest and the quality 3SDM bring to the table is priceless, the added bonus is they are UK based, so not only do we get the high quality standards, they are home grown. We will have two of our own designs as well as two designs from the 3 piece line up that are currently available from the 3SDM line up, with this option we get 4 special designs to choose from, which is more than enough to suit most people’s taste, but as wheels are a personal choice we will be happy to work with customer needs and personal prefrences when it comes to the design.


13X19 GT3R-RS Forged Wheel


Another area we will be developing and offering a full overhaul to the customers that are after the complete package will be the interior, the 997 is a lovely place to sit, but can be enhanced and made even better, the first enhancement for our own builds will be the seats, most Porsche owners are happy with carbon backed Recaros, but not for our builds, we will be working closely with the FIA Approved super light weight carbon fibre race seat manufacturer Tilletts seat design will depend on if you require seat belt harness or the conventional seatbelt set up, on our own demo vehciles we want it completely street useable so will be fitting the B8 Screamer, so we can run the conventional seat belt, for the rest of the interior we are hopeing to be work with a well renowned interior specialist that is currently working for Rolls Royce, but once we have secured his services we will be able to talk more on that subject.

 
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Unit 5
James Road
Tyseley
Birmingham
B11 2BA
Art...Some people collect it, We like to build it
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