vMPM BMW E36 328i Street/Track Build

[PowerslideSWE]

A well sorted E36 Coupe is a very pretty thing, yours is no exception. Welded diff tho will do you no favors on the track unöess you plan to drift it. Please say that you won't.

[vMPM]

On the 30th of April we headed up to Winton for another track day. We had been checking the weather obsessively and an 80% chance of thunderstorms was forecasted. On the way there it was raining. This was good, I wanted it to rain to justify swapping in the welded diff so I could have some slidey fun.

And of course as soon as we got close to Winton it stopped raining and the track dried up (and stayed dry for rest of the day). Driving with a welded diff in the dry sucked. The car just pushed, it really felt like it just wanted to drive straight (as you would expect). For most of the day I was 2-3 seconds off my PB time (and that was before I stripped about 60-70kg out of the car). Thats how much worse the welded diff made the car handle.

I have to admit that sliding on exit was a lot of fun though. Turns out it was a little too fun...



After a day of frustration due to my slow lap times I went out in the last session and just said f**k it, I'm going to have fun. That meant driving freely, which meant driving aggressively haha. I kept getting more and more aggressive with the slides until I spun, snapping my fiberglass lip and breaking a foglight lense. I wasn't mad though, I just laughed, I knew I was pushing my luck haha.

Funnily enough I was much quicker in that session, even with all the sliding, setting my best time for the day with a 1:47.7. For reference, I did a 1:46.9 at the last track day before I stripped all of the weight out of the car.

Here's another photo from the track day:



On the way home from Winton we had some fun on (private) dirt roads:

[vMPM]

Then on the 7th of May I headed down to Haunted Hills, a purpose built hillclimb facility which I had never been to before. It was a really neat little track with plenty of elevation changes. I had a lot of fun driving the car. The understeer was nowhere near as bad as Winton. I think thats because I wasn't driving as hard as I was at Winton, where I know the track well and there is plenty of run-off.

The car looked as sad as it ever has; still filthy from Winton the week before and missing a foglight and lip. Nonetheless here are some photos from the event:









I thought this photo was cool, the E36 leading a pack of JDM monsters



Now the plan is to take a break from track events for the next couple of months, save money, buy parts and get the car right. Here is the mod shopping list:

Difflab 3.64 4 clutch 1.5 way 45%/75% LSD
TMS Rear Camber Arms
Ground Control Camber/Caster Race Plates
Rogue Engineering 12mm Wheel Spacers (with extended lug nuts)
BMW ZHP Shorty Shift Knob
BMW French Foglight (right side)
AKG Diff Mount Bushing Set Poly 75D
AKG Rear Subframe Bushing Set Poly 75D
AKG Rear Trailing Arm Bushing Set Poly 75D
AKG Front Control Arm Bushing Set Poly 75D
OMP Corsica 330mm
OMP Hub Adapter
Sparco Evo
NZKW E36 Bolt On Seat Subframe
NZKW Steel Side Mount Plates
Sabelt 4 Point Harnesses
Abraham 4 Piece LTW Wing
Flow Designs Front Splitter
M50 Manifold Conversion Kit
Tow Hook
Bumper Quick Release

[vMPM]

PowerslideSWE said:

A well sorted E36 Coupe is a very pretty thing, yours is no exception. Welded diff tho will do you no favors on the track unöess you plan to drift it. Please say that you won't.

Thanks! The car is a track car, not a drift car. A proper LSD is the next thing I'll buy. The welded diff was literally a 1 week interim measure haha.

[moggy13]

Looks like the beginning of a well sorted track car mate. Looking forward to seeing the mods coming through.

[vMPM]

moggy13 said:

Looks like the beginning of a well sorted track car mate. Looking forward to seeing the mods coming through.

Thanks mate , I'll keep the thread updated

[JCelic]

Any updates? I've been following this car since I saw photos of it.

[vMPM]

JCelic said:

Any updates? I've been following this car since I saw photos of it.

I sold the car back in June. After putting together that shopping list and adding up the cost I decided it would be a smart financial decision to get out before I reached the point of no return. I sold the car for $9,000 so I didn't lose much money.

Since I sold the car back in June I have been on the hunt for an s2000 for weekend/track duty.

I drove a friend's 3.0L M3 at Winton last weekend, here is the video if anyone is interested: https://youtu.be/K2iS9LBPVhM

[vMPM]

For anybody who is interested, I have replaced my E36 with a E87 130i which I picked up last week. I have just started a thread with lots of pretty pictures: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...