Craig's 328i Sport - e36 Track Car Build Thread

Craig's 328i Sport - e36 Track Car Build Thread

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Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Thursday 6th May 2010
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M3 arm off a 3.0 will be a direct swap, but remember they run a different calliper spacing so you're going to need to replace pairs and fit new rear brakes, if memory serves me right the 3.2 trailing arms have larger rear bearings not sure if this means you'll need 3.2 drive shafts aswell as I never got round to comparing the drive shafts and I knew from day one I'd be fitting the hollow 3.2 ones.

Modified prop shaft should work just fine, swapping the diff carrier and fitting just the rear diff won't be too bad of a job but I wouldnt like to guesstimate what a garage would charge.

Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Saturday 15th May 2010
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Well as I mentioned in my last update; the passenger’s side rear trailing arm lower ball joint was showing signs of wear and I thought it was best to replace it. Although it probably would never have caused an issue on the road, with me going back to the Nurburgring on the 20th of May I wasn’t going to risk it.

I’ll be honest I wasn’t looking forward to attempting the task, and had visions of me having to drop the rear trailing arm to be able to remove the bush with a press. I did a bit of research and there was mixed responses, some people had managed it with the arm in situ, some had not. Anyway I set aside this weekend to complete the job giving myself time to get the arm to a hydraulic press should I require the use of one.

Started the day by removing the rear camber arm and dropping that out the way, once that was out the way I also removed the rear calliper, rear disc, rear handbrake shoes and then removed the bolts holding the heat shield on to allow a bit more clearance underneath. With all the above items out of the way I then gave the ball joint a few quick squirts of WD40 in the hope it would free things up.



I then set about finding a suitable sized socket to aid the removal of the ball joint, I found with the rubber boot of the joint removed a 1 1/4” socket would fit fine, tapped the socket into place and gave the ball joint a few swift hammer blows. To my surprise the bush was moving so I continued to bash at it until it was free, failing this the tool I made to fit the new ball joint (more on this below) would also double up as an extraction tool.





Next step was to fit the new ball joint, I constructed a tool consisting of a bit of tubing, some 5mm steel plate, 10mm threaded bar a 36mm socket and a few 18mm nuts and washers. I drilled a 10mm hole into the steel plate and mounted a length of threaded bar to it with nuts and washers either side to hold it in place, then I welded the steel tube centre of the threaded bar. This would allow the ball joint to be extracted into the tube, if you were removing the ball joint you’d use this with a 1 1/4” socket, but to fit the new ball joint I used a 36mm socket.



Fitment was simple, place the tool to the back of the hole on the trailing arm, slide the bush along the threaded bar and offer it up to the front of the arm, fit the 36mm socket and then a washer and an 18mm nut. Then simply tighten the nut down until the ball joint is in place.



Job done... even had time to pick myself up a new set of NGK spark plugs and fit those too, I went for the bog standard BKR6EK as at the end of the day they’ll get replaced often enough so ‘enhanced’ platinum plugs were not required.

Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Sunday 16th May 2010
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Well today the car was finally committed to the realms of the track car, the weight loss started. I’ll let the pictures do most the talking...









I decided to remove all the carpets from the back, also all the carpet underlay and any other un-needed items in the cabin. The front seat belts were removed including the B-Pillar slide adjuster however I did keep the B-Pillar cover.

The plans are; whilst the car is still used as a daily driver the interior is to be finished in a ‘Club Sport’ spec. I’ve removed the bulk of the weight, and will continue to remove un-needed items including the tar sound deadening (more on that below) but I will be keeping the thin boot carpets just without any of the additional sound proofing under layers. I will remove un-needed brackets however I am going to keep the head lining and A/B/C pillar covers, then once the roll cage has been fitted I’ll trim the rear bench and fire wall with a thin black carpet.

The idea is to remove as much weight as possible whilst keeping the car within reasonable comfort for travelling in, at this moment in time the car will not be racing so there is no need for drastic weight loss and the few hill climbs and sprints the car will compete in will purely be for enjoyment at the moment.

Now onto the tar sound deadening, this stuff is easily removed with a bit of heat and then solvents can be used to clear up the mess left by the glue. I turned to my, well my friends, trusty heat gun to help with the tar removal.







More on this at a later date, sometime in the summer I’ll also remove the main carpet and remove all the tar from under there too.



All the junk removed, only the thin grey boot carpeting and the plastic boot trays will be re-fitted. Going to carry on with more work tomorrow, I’m thinking of just using hair dryer heat on the tar that is affixed to the inside of the body panels such as the doors and rear quarters.

MrRoo89

15 posts

166 months

Tuesday 18th May 2010
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keep up the good work man biggrin

Windymiller

1,924 posts

239 months

Tuesday 18th May 2010
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Have you seen the dry-ice method for removing sound deadening? I used a heat gun on my old 325i and it turned into a total nightmare! It leaves a thin film of tar behind which you have to scrub with a rag soaked in petrol/terps. I was off my nut doing in one night!

The dry-ice vids on YouTube look a lot easier.

Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Tuesday 18th May 2010
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Yes I have, and funny you mention it as I have just asked a friend tonight where I can find some as I have a banging head ache after removing all the residue last night and earlier on today with petrol, thinking the dry ice method for under the main carpet if I can get my hands on some.

joe_90

4,206 posts

230 months

Tuesday 18th May 2010
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link please to the dry-ice method? and where can you get this/cost.

thanks.

sniff diesel

13,107 posts

211 months

Sunday 23rd May 2010
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Had a ride in this today, very handy piece of kit around the Ring - once the wheel nuts are tightened wink . Here's a video of me trying my best to keep up (appologies for my language at the end):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mj8C8odyXQ

Windymiller

1,924 posts

239 months

Monday 24th May 2010
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Yours sounds pretty good Sniff! WTF's that white van doing on there about 8:49??! Mental.

Windymiller

1,924 posts

239 months

Monday 24th May 2010
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ps, Sniff, how and where did you mount your camera?

disco!!!!

716 posts

185 months

Monday 24th May 2010
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nice project
makes me a bit jealous when i think about my 318is
what sort of power are you running at the moment, the m52 is pretty tuneable and you can see roughly 220bhp without too much money spent

Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Monday 24th May 2010
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Good to meet you, I'll drop you an e-mail later with my details incase you're over again this year?

Ref: Wheels Bolts... Just to explain to others that after coming out of the mini-karoussell it sounded like a wheel bearing had collapsed. The rumble was an odd one especially as it never made any noise below 60mph, anyway cut a long story short the powder coat on the back of the wheels had melted obviously causing a gap between the hub and the wheel. Remember, this car in April did 17 laps without issue, and the previous day in May did 6 without issue (was checked the night before for tightness, and the usual checks). SO, it must have just got a little bit hotter than normal and melted, check your wheels after a refurb, I'll be removing all traces of paint on the hub to wheel interface tomorrow.

More of an update will follow, but the ickle 328i is really punching above its weight at the 'Ring, there is another video of a silver Subaru behind me (I got shown the video later at the hotel) which completes an 8:38 lap and the BMW actually passes the gantry a few seconds before that!!

HairyChineseKid

45 posts

181 months

Tuesday 25th May 2010
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Craig! said:
More of an update will follow, but the ickle 328i is really punching above its weight at the 'Ring, there is another video of a silver Subaru behind me (I got shown the video later at the hotel) which completes an 8:38 lap and the BMW actually passes the gantry a few seconds before that!!
Saw this at the ring at the weekend, Very nice, great time too, im still learning the track and managed a 9:20 which i thought was quite quick obviously not though!, which hotel did you stay in, cant remember if i saw this outside the pistenklause

sniff diesel

13,107 posts

211 months

Tuesday 25th May 2010
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Windymiller said:
ps, Sniff, how and where did you mount your camera?
It's a Dogcam bullet cam mounted in the headlining just in front of the interiour light, just to the right of the rear view mirror (you can just make out a few black dots off the top of the windscreen). Completey stealth mounted, I'll get a picture to explain it better.

sniff diesel

13,107 posts

211 months

Tuesday 25th May 2010
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Windymiller said:
Yours sounds pretty good Sniff! WTF's that white van doing on there about 8:49??! Mental.
That's the obligatory "Dave F" heatsheilded induction kit - the cheapest 10bhp you'll ever add.

I did 2 laps on the bounce and that van had actually started his lap on my first one so I was kind off looking out for him. Still saw my first coach going round on friday - crazy place.

ExPat2B

2,157 posts

199 months

Tuesday 25th May 2010
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sniff diesel said:
Had a ride in this today, very handy piece of kit around the Ring - once the wheel nuts are tightened wink . Here's a video of me trying my best to keep up (appologies for my language at the end):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mj8C8odyXQ
The apexes are over here ------------------------------------------------>>

Hope this helps =-)

sniff diesel

13,107 posts

211 months

Tuesday 25th May 2010
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ExPat2B said:
The apexes are over here >>

Hope this helps =-)
Thanks for that Pat, I never claimed to be a Ring King, having only driven 27 laps in my lifetime. In the lap in the video the car in question is my daily driver, on mis-matched tyres it does understeer when pushing it which would account for half of the missed lines and I reckon negotiating traffic accounts for the other half. I'm reluctant to "cut people up" and take the apex after overtaking someone just before a corner as I consider that poor track ettiquette.

I look forward to seeing your videos on how it should be done as I have a lot to learn.

pugwash4x4

7,522 posts

220 months

Wednesday 26th May 2010
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sniff diesel said:
ExPat2B said:
The apexes are over here >>

Hope this helps =-)
I look forward to seeing your videos on how it should be done as I have a lot to learn.
oooh good reply clap - cutting, whilst being subtle but without being personal= 10/10 for avoiding for the normal PH name calling

Craig!

Original Poster:

349 posts

196 months

Wednesday 26th May 2010
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Agreed, however having met Rich I'd expect nothing else but a smart well written reply. I'd like to see most people do a 9:11 in heavy traffic after only 27 laps... especially on road tyres that offered very little confidence IMO.

sniff diesel

13,107 posts

211 months

Wednesday 26th May 2010
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Craig! said:
Agreed, however having met Rich I'd expect nothing else but a smart well written reply. I'd like to see most people do a 9:11 in heavy traffic after only 27 laps... especially on road tyres that offered very little confidence IMO.
Cheers Craig, was trying my hardest just to keep you in sight. Got a set of Kumho's on the way ready for July's trip, not sure weather to fit some bucket seats as I like to recline and snooze whislt waiting for the ferry.