E36 cheap track day toy
Discussion
Hi Horse man, I'm really sorry I didn't see your post originally. Only now I have finally come to use the car and do an update did I notice it. Basically all in it has been about 6k. But that is not to say you need that sitting in the bank. I originally paid 300 pounds for the car. Bought a battery an MOT and some petrol. Painted the wheels and stickered her up. That was it off to the Nurburgring. As you can see looking back over the build i have bought it piece by piece when I could afford it. The biggest outlay where probably the seats and the camshafts. The seats obviously you could get cheaper ones or even second hand. But when I saw the limited run in black and orange. Well I had to have them.
Thankfully I finally have her back home now. After 7 months in a friends garage I have one week to do some running repairs and go to Donington. Then unfortunately she will have to get tucked up under her sheet again until I have some more cash.
Thankfully I finally have her back home now. After 7 months in a friends garage I have one week to do some running repairs and go to Donington. Then unfortunately she will have to get tucked up under her sheet again until I have some more cash.
Ok winter update.
Donington was a great laugh.
We had a pit, not bad for thirty quid. One of my friends went out for a sighting lap, all ok. My turn, on the first lap out there is a bang, then a nasty buzzing noise. Rolled off the track and had a look. Sooner or later all the stress on this cheap old rep mobile was going to start showing I guess. After a ride on a low loader back to the pits we had a look.
Yes the ball joint should really still be in the arm!
Jumped in my mates car, down the motorway to a motor factors. Seventy quid later we are bolting a new one on. One hour after being towed off track, we drove out of the pits.
Was really expecting more issues, pulling or wheel wobble, but she was fine. Couple of bedding in laps and we were back on it. Great track, so much fun!
We had a couple of little spins but all in all a great time, no real damage to the car except the front bumper is a bit shorter than it used to be.
The sun strip has finally started peeling so that will have to be replaced. But for now she will have to go away for the winter.
I am really hoping that I can squeeze in silverstone, brandshatch and maybe even spa next year. But times are very hard. I have just had to sell my Sunday car. I really hope the BMW doesn't have to come next.
Historic moment reached on the way home from Don. I guess she isn't doing bad for it either.
Donington was a great laugh.
We had a pit, not bad for thirty quid. One of my friends went out for a sighting lap, all ok. My turn, on the first lap out there is a bang, then a nasty buzzing noise. Rolled off the track and had a look. Sooner or later all the stress on this cheap old rep mobile was going to start showing I guess. After a ride on a low loader back to the pits we had a look.
Yes the ball joint should really still be in the arm!
Jumped in my mates car, down the motorway to a motor factors. Seventy quid later we are bolting a new one on. One hour after being towed off track, we drove out of the pits.
Was really expecting more issues, pulling or wheel wobble, but she was fine. Couple of bedding in laps and we were back on it. Great track, so much fun!
We had a couple of little spins but all in all a great time, no real damage to the car except the front bumper is a bit shorter than it used to be.
The sun strip has finally started peeling so that will have to be replaced. But for now she will have to go away for the winter.
I am really hoping that I can squeeze in silverstone, brandshatch and maybe even spa next year. But times are very hard. I have just had to sell my Sunday car. I really hope the BMW doesn't have to come next.
Historic moment reached on the way home from Don. I guess she isn't doing bad for it either.
Edited by Hamster69 on Monday 8th September 22:03
I suppose I have a bit, but the amount of fun we have had with her far out ways the costs as I have done it piece by piece. Hopefully next year I may be able to do a few days with only running repairs. Although if the opportunity arises some better rubber or a bigger engine would be nice. 
You've done well. Are you not tempted to get it rolling roaded to see just what power there is in there? I'm interested to know. The 318iS has a cult following that I personally don't get (could be straight six snobbery, as I'm one of 'them' 
), but yours is awesome. The arches look very good. Always been tempted to stick the AC Schnitzer CLS box arches on my Touring.
Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing further updates.
), but yours is awesome. The arches look very good. Always been tempted to stick the AC Schnitzer CLS box arches on my Touring.Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing further updates.
carpetsoiler said:
You've done well. Are you not tempted to get it rolling roaded to see just what power there is in there? I'm interested to know. The 318iS has a cult following that I personally don't get (could be straight six snobbery, as I'm one of 'them' ), but yours is awesome. The arches look very good. Always been tempted to stick the AC Schnitzer CLS box arches on my Touring.
Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing further updates.
Apologies for the off topicness of this but I have just read your profile and I have a question.. What is the flywheel effect on your car like now that your flywheel is under 50% of the original weight? Got any video to demonstrate? ), but yours is awesome. The arches look very good. Always been tempted to stick the AC Schnitzer CLS box arches on my Touring.Keep up the good work. Look forward to seeing further updates.
Apologies
The Nur said:
Apologies for the off topicness of this but I have just read your profile and I have a question.. What is the flywheel effect on your car like now that your flywheel is under 50% of the original weight? Got any video to demonstrate?
Apologies
Might be relevant to Hamster if he gets bored of his DMF setup. All hope is not lost. Apologies
There is a video somewhere... hold on...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lx3zKPxyW8
Also in the spirit of this thread, I s'pose.
watch from about 1:37, that displays full, unfettered acceleration. The engine is a lot more responsive, it just feels utterly relentless. Stomps off nicely into the distance. Downside is slightly s
tter fuel economy, but the sparkle it gives the engine is worth it. Also- a solid flywheel will never fail. Makes the clutch a lot more 'bitey', and it seems to bang home fast gearchanges a lot better.carpetsoiler said:
Might be relevant to Hamster if he gets bored of his DMF setup. All hope is not lost.
There is a video somewhere... hold on...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lx3zKPxyW8
Also in the spirit of this thread, I s'pose. watch from about 1:37, that displays full, unfettered acceleration. The engine is a lot more responsive, it just feels utterly relentless. Stomps off nicely into the distance. Downside is slightly stter fuel economy, but the sparkle it gives the engine is worth it. Also- a solid flywheel will never fail. Makes the clutch a lot more 'bitey', and it seems to bang home fast gearchanges a lot better.
Very interesting, cheers There is a video somewhere... hold on...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lx3zKPxyW8
Also in the spirit of this thread, I s'pose.
watch from about 1:37, that displays full, unfettered acceleration. The engine is a lot more responsive, it just feels utterly relentless. Stomps off nicely into the distance. Downside is slightly stter fuel economy, but the sparkle it gives the engine is worth it. Also- a solid flywheel will never fail. Makes the clutch a lot more 'bitey', and it seems to bang home fast gearchanges a lot better.
Hamster69 said:
Well I would be interested, but I have already removed my dmf. Have a solid plate from an earlier straight four but I can't honestly remember which, this was a necessary mod when I fitted the Kevlar clutch.
That's what I did- early non-air con E36s had no DMF setup. Mine's a replacement for an early 325i. Yours I'm guessing would be from an early 318i. Does make such a difference. How's the Kevlar clutch? I'm getting the feeling that, despite changing mine in Feb/March, it'll need sorting once more... tempting to just upgrade the clutch full-stop and get a 'proper job'. The car I use is a daily, just happens to be used on track too... so can't be too cantankerous!The Nur said:
Very interesting, cheers
No worries, there's a whole thread on her you can quietly enjoy. Thats a nice video carpetspoiler, just been watching it side by side with my own. Obviously yours is still a daily drive, I think my weight vrs your power they would be quite a good match up. It is very hard to compare videos, with us both having separate yellow flags and overtakes etc. I did have to keep pausing mine to let you catch up though.
http://youtu.be/wegXRahvvqc
Its all good fun though.
I noticed your friend mentioning how twitchy she could be. That is definitely the best part of mine now, it is so planted. But she would be useless as a daily drive, the ride is solid.
I think my flywheel came from an M40 engine, where as mine is the M44. The clutch is fine, I didn't go for the full on stage three paddle clutch, but rather the stage two from Black Diamond, which is still totally road usable.
Great chatting with some like minded e36 guys.
http://youtu.be/wegXRahvvqc
Its all good fun though.
I noticed your friend mentioning how twitchy she could be. That is definitely the best part of mine now, it is so planted. But she would be useless as a daily drive, the ride is solid.
I think my flywheel came from an M40 engine, where as mine is the M44. The clutch is fine, I didn't go for the full on stage three paddle clutch, but rather the stage two from Black Diamond, which is still totally road usable.
Great chatting with some like minded e36 guys.
Haha! That was my first ever lap of the 'Ring, it was fking terrifying... about 5 mins in you hear me ask what happened to my head, got massive headrush from the gradient change!
Mine's standard weight but running around 240-250bhp, so around 170-180bhp/tonne. It's also going to be slightly nose-heavy compared to yours- one serious plus for using the M44 as a basis for a track car. There's a few fairly mental supercharged ones rolling around... may be worth considering that with an Eaton M45 (?) from a Cooper S..?
Since then I've also uprated the brakes (I did that lap on pads that cracked & glazed before the end of the trip!), done a LOT of the bushes in poly format (has helped with the twitchiness) and will be changing the rear suspension for something more suitable. Girders, probably. If you happen to be over in August next year, I have a feeling we'll all be going round then. Got it right under my skin now, just watching that again has brought the adrenaline and sweaty palms back.
Cheers for the clutch notes- it'll be done in due course! So much easier now I do the work to the car myself, makes modifying ultimately a lot less daunting. You're lucky it's your job, I've learnt all this st from scratch this year! 
As said, looking forward to seeing what else you get up to. Inspiring to see someone not using one as a drift car...
king terrifying... about 5 mins in you hear me ask what happened to my head, got massive headrush from the gradient change! Mine's standard weight but running around 240-250bhp, so around 170-180bhp/tonne. It's also going to be slightly nose-heavy compared to yours- one serious plus for using the M44 as a basis for a track car. There's a few fairly mental supercharged ones rolling around... may be worth considering that with an Eaton M45 (?) from a Cooper S..?
Since then I've also uprated the brakes (I did that lap on pads that cracked & glazed before the end of the trip!), done a LOT of the bushes in poly format (has helped with the twitchiness) and will be changing the rear suspension for something more suitable. Girders, probably. If you happen to be over in August next year, I have a feeling we'll all be going round then. Got it right under my skin now, just watching that again has brought the adrenaline and sweaty palms back.
Cheers for the clutch notes- it'll be done in due course! So much easier now I do the work to the car myself, makes modifying ultimately a lot less daunting. You're lucky it's your job, I've learnt all this s
t from scratch this year! As said, looking forward to seeing what else you get up to. Inspiring to see someone not using one as a drift car...
To be honest the way money is at the moment, the engine will be staying the same for quite a while. But she goes well enough as can be seen from the Video which has finally finished uploading.
http://youtu.be/wegXRahvvqc
Oh and just for fun I found this, I let a mate take his first track day experience at Donington while I went off to film him. So as you can guess, he dropped it right in front of me.
http://youtu.be/IExx5pSYd5I
http://youtu.be/wegXRahvvqc
Oh and just for fun I found this, I let a mate take his first track day experience at Donington while I went off to film him. So as you can guess, he dropped it right in front of me.
http://youtu.be/IExx5pSYd5I
Good to see so much fun being had for the minimal outlay.
Interested to see that you went with Cat Cams. I've just slotted a pair into my m52/2.8 in the hope that I'll get 240+ when combined with an m50 inlet swap, 6 branch and super light flywheel. I did have a problem with one of the cams needing to be machined to fit the end plate though, and no flats on the blank to aid set-up. They're in now though and just the ECU to be re mapped to suit. Did you do anything to your ECU?
Mines an e21 though, although would like an e36 Compact sometime.
Interested to see that you went with Cat Cams. I've just slotted a pair into my m52/2.8 in the hope that I'll get 240+ when combined with an m50 inlet swap, 6 branch and super light flywheel. I did have a problem with one of the cams needing to be machined to fit the end plate though, and no flats on the blank to aid set-up. They're in now though and just the ECU to be re mapped to suit. Did you do anything to your ECU?
Mines an e21 though, although would like an e36 Compact sometime.
e21Mark said:
Interested to see that you went with Cat Cams. I've just slotted a pair into my m52/2.8 in the hope that I'll get 240+ when combined with an m50 inlet swap, 6 branch and super light flywheel. I did have a problem with one of the cams needing to be machined to fit the end plate though, and no flats on the blank to aid set-up.
Mine made 233bhp on the rolling road with inlet, decat exhaust and a moderately light flywheel... without a map. You should easily see your expected figure with all that, plus cams, plus mapping! Be interested to see how much, as cams are pretty much the last bit to do... apart from Mahle pistons. How much are these cams?(Sorry to derail, small domestic pet which can stuff food in its cheeks!)
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