BMW E36 "M3 LTW"

[Track_M3]

I've been stock piling to do the whole back end in one swoop

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

What we had - A crusty stock 3.0 M3 back end with 29 year old bushes

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

ACS Eibach rear Anti-roll-bar had already been removed to be powder coated ahead of time
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Stripped - tank yet to be dropped. I know it doesn't look pretty but there was no rot and no cracks

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

3mm plates on all subframe mounts and trailing arm pockets, seam sealed and Raptor painted

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

New rear brake lines - the old ones were in fine condition but had been routed badly, so new ones with all new clips

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr


With the tank down I could redo the fuel system, it had been upgraded to a twin pump system but clearly done with the tank in place

What it looked like before - I'll be honest I couldn't even tell what was what

Drivers before
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Passenger before
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr


Drivers after
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Passenger after
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

I got rid of a factory external return line as it went right to left, into the pump then back right again. New lines & clips and a new pumps (reused the drivers side housing)

Much neater
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Tank back up - still yet to finish cleaning it - why only 2 out of the 3 straps.

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Hopefully get the subframe ect back from the powder coater then can start the big refit this weekend.

Edited by Track_M3 on Tuesday 14th November 16:02

[Am43]

Nice update Sam, shame you never got off up a great first few track days but I’m sure it will be worth it. As always you certainly have some nice parts !

I followed the m2 build and it inspired me to build my m4

[Track_M3]

Am43 said:

Nice update Sam, shame you never got off up a great first few track days but I’m sure it will be worth it. As always you certainly have some nice parts !

I followed the m2 build and it inspired me to build my m4

Clubsport is king - hope that's the theme

[Track_M3]

Bit of a slow process at the minute as stilllll waiting on the powder coater with the subframe and few other bits.

Pressed in some new rear wheel bearings and drill the hubs to get disc retaining screws in for E46 M3 rear rotors

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Cleaned up and refitted rear Intrax suspension, drilled up through all the subframe holes to mark inside the car if ever tie some internal cage bracing down to them, then cleaned the thread and would in new studs/bolts.
Finished cleaning the tank and fitting all the straps.
Changed the prop centre bearing then painted the pro to tidy that up

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Hopefully powder coating comes through this week as it dragging on now.

[Am43]

Track_M3 said:

Am43 said:

Nice update Sam, shame you never got off up a great first few track days but I’m sure it will be worth it. As always you certainly have some nice parts !

I followed the m2 build and it inspired me to build my m4

Clubsport is king - hope that's the theme

I have ended up going a little beyond , the rear subframe is coming off shortly to fit the KMP diff lift kit, I’m now wondering if it’s worth upgrading the anti roll bars while I’m there. But not sure if it will be too stiff, currently on intrax/ solid rear bushes/ roll centre correction/ usual kinematics
Did you do the arb’s on the M2 ? Is it worth while or not ?

[Track_M3]

Am43 said:

Did you do the arb’s on the M2 ? Is it worth while or not ?

Yes... used H&R bars - Front one was worth it, but the rear hit the Intrax so I had to remove it and go back to a stock rear ARB.
If you're happy with the balance now stick with factory bars as anything aftermarket is so much heavier.

Nice! You have gone to town

[roadie]

I really respect your builds.

[LanceRS]

Good effort with this Sam, good to see you back in an e36.

[Track_M3]

Thank you guys

Bit of a spanner in the works… popped into see the powder coater as 6 weeks had passed and every week kept on getting the “it will be done next week” walked in and all my bits hadn’t even been touched - fuming.

Took them to a guy local to my work and hopefully be done within the week.

So in a bit of limbo waiting for bits at the minute, fitting solo bits that can bolt up

New flex disc, have also fitted a new prop centre bearing and painted the prop

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr


Millway Motorsport Trailing arm bushes are super nice
Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Trailing arms painted and mounted

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Fingers crossed for a big fit up this weekend.

[Col 666]

That is absolutely stunning, love it. If it was mine I dont think I could resist some BMW Motorsport checkers livery on it!

[rob0r]

Amazing build, what I would like to aspire to on my E30 one day!

[Dr.Hellno]

Ooof those George W’s are a nice looking bit of kit!

[Track_M3]

Thanks guys

Col 666 said:

That is absolutely stunning, love it. If it was mine I dont think I could resist some BMW Motorsport checkers livery on it!

Know what you mean, as much as a nod to being a UK clubsport LTW I'm just not keen on slickers in general.

[Track_M3]

Finally getting somewhere, after 6 weeks wasted at the first useless powdercoater, a week later the second powercoater delivered on time and has done a excellent job

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

New Millway Motorsport bushes in the inner of the control arms - making the back end now completely rose jointed

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Powerflex black subframe bushes - the rear frame bushes have a bigger hole to allow for tolerances/movement so had a tight M12 insert machined up to avoid any unwanted movement.
Went for Powerflex Heritage for the front diff bush mount as don't want the NVH to be crazy and didn't want a purple bush to bug my OCD, have new E46 M3 bushes in the back of the diff case.

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Still a couple more things to prep them every last bit can be bolted back up.

[Joehow]

Perfection Mr Ratcliffe! Can't wait to see this

[Rob_R]

Great update Sam. Car is looking mega.

[Waitey]

Are you tempted to beef up where the rear suspension units mount onto the cast hub?

You can use some steel plate from the lower hub bolts to join to the bottom of the damper.

It should stop it shearing in compression.

[Boom78]

Amazing!!! It’s times like this when I wish I knew how to spanner, weld, fettle, configure and drive well!! I don’t even know what half the parts added are (or the difference they’ll make) but look v cool and engineered

Off to boggo A3 for trip to ASDA

[Track_M3]

I’m done - well on the back end anyway… actually kinda nearly, just a couple more bolts and clip I’d like to replace

Before :

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

After :

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr


A job I wanted to do since buying this car but everything had to be done and done right

Differential talk - as this is the main party piece :

Old was a tired factory 4 plated 3.0 LSD with a 3.15 final drive (173mph vmax, probably unachievable)

New is a box fresh 12 plated Drexler LSD with a shorter 3.64 final drive built by Heasman Differentials (150mph vmax, possibly achievable on a bigger Europe tracks) shorter ratio and spicy LSD should really wake it up on track, hopefully a game changer.

So basically everything you can see and more is either new, painted or cleaned

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Rear subframe had some bracing added around the rear ARB mounts

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

New ST trackparts slim seat mounts - these were actually designed for the Recaro SPA seats I have and are the first mounts I’ve had that don’t need chopping up or spacing

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

Back on the ground and driven a total of about 5 miles

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr

To another friends garage to carry on tinkering and dry winter storage

Untitled by Sam Ratcliffe, on Flickr


All-in-all took 7 weeks to complete over the odd evening and weekend with friends, could’ve been little quicker with powder coating delays but gave me time to do a proper job on everything

Next up is to finishing covering everything with ACF-50 (why it all looks very glossy underneath)
Then I’ve made a start on chopping out all the rear seat brackets to then carpet the back and fit a cargo net.

[Dr.Hellno]

Proper

Edited by Dr.Hellno on Saturday 16th December 20:00