E36 cheap track day toy
Discussion
First attempt at editing something together. Hopefully better editing and more angles at the weekend. But I'm quite pleased with it.
Spa Francorchamps
Spa Francorchamps
Awesome thread Hamster!!
Just read every bit from start to finish, really inspiring.
I am planning on buying an e36 compact next year when I get back from a winter in the alps and turning it into a cheap track car, my first track car as well. This thread has given me some good ideas about what to do to it, and how! Thanks for sharing it all.
Looking forward to any future updates!
Just read every bit from start to finish, really inspiring.
I am planning on buying an e36 compact next year when I get back from a winter in the alps and turning it into a cheap track car, my first track car as well. This thread has given me some good ideas about what to do to it, and how! Thanks for sharing it all.
Looking forward to any future updates!
Here we are in December and amazingly I still don't have the videos from Spa yet. But when I get them you will see them.
Christmas is fast approaching and it's time to plan next year and any winter modifications. Next year I am getting married. Which as you can imagine is going to affect the track day schedule a bit. Both because I won't have the money or the free time. But I intend to do at least the local ones, so Bedford, Snetterton and maybe either Silverstone or Brands as the big event of next year. I don't think there will be any big Euro trips unfortunately.
Well I say that. For my stag do my best man and I are going to arrange a cheap car challenge. Limit of 150 quid each, up to three people a car sort of thing. Which will hopefully involve a trip to the Nurburgring for a few laps of a public session.
This has given me the idea of buying an M50 or M52 engine car with the possibility of ripping the lump, loom, box etc out of it in the end.
I won an auction for a e36 323 estate on eBay last night but didn't meet the reserve. I am thinking M52 block and head with M54 crank and S52 cams should be a potent little engine. For now though this is all future possibilities. The benefit of the M52 is that it's alu block is lighter than some of the M3 engines. It is still heavier than my little M44. So for now if I want to do this in the future and keep the fantastic level of grip I have now. I need to lose even more weight and get a bit of front downforce. So for Christmas I'm asking for some plastic rear windows. I'm also looking at fibreglass or carbon fibre parts like bonnets.
I really would like to get a bit of front down force on her no matter what happens. At the last couple of dry days last year I felt I was right on the limit of front grip. Plenty on the rear from the spoiler. The current front bumper is not in the best state anyway after the ball joint popped at Donington a couple of years back. So I may as well look at an M3 bumper and then fit an even bigger splitter.
There you go those are my plans for the new year. Any comments or ideas about bigger engines welcome.
But for now happy festive season everyone.
Christmas is fast approaching and it's time to plan next year and any winter modifications. Next year I am getting married. Which as you can imagine is going to affect the track day schedule a bit. Both because I won't have the money or the free time. But I intend to do at least the local ones, so Bedford, Snetterton and maybe either Silverstone or Brands as the big event of next year. I don't think there will be any big Euro trips unfortunately.
Well I say that. For my stag do my best man and I are going to arrange a cheap car challenge. Limit of 150 quid each, up to three people a car sort of thing. Which will hopefully involve a trip to the Nurburgring for a few laps of a public session.
This has given me the idea of buying an M50 or M52 engine car with the possibility of ripping the lump, loom, box etc out of it in the end.
I won an auction for a e36 323 estate on eBay last night but didn't meet the reserve. I am thinking M52 block and head with M54 crank and S52 cams should be a potent little engine. For now though this is all future possibilities. The benefit of the M52 is that it's alu block is lighter than some of the M3 engines. It is still heavier than my little M44. So for now if I want to do this in the future and keep the fantastic level of grip I have now. I need to lose even more weight and get a bit of front downforce. So for Christmas I'm asking for some plastic rear windows. I'm also looking at fibreglass or carbon fibre parts like bonnets.
I really would like to get a bit of front down force on her no matter what happens. At the last couple of dry days last year I felt I was right on the limit of front grip. Plenty on the rear from the spoiler. The current front bumper is not in the best state anyway after the ball joint popped at Donington a couple of years back. So I may as well look at an M3 bumper and then fit an even bigger splitter.
There you go those are my plans for the new year. Any comments or ideas about bigger engines welcome.
But for now happy festive season everyone.
Looking at the picture above in isolation you do need more negative camber at the front as the outside wheel is starting to go positive at that roll angle.
Looking at a similar picture of my car a few years ago, I did the same and up-rated the rear anti roll bar.
My theory was that the heavier rear anti-roll bar would stabilise the car but still allow the front suspension to work.
I have to say, it worked, the under-steer I was experiencing completely disappeared.
Looking at a similar picture of my car a few years ago, I did the same and up-rated the rear anti roll bar.
My theory was that the heavier rear anti-roll bar would stabilise the car but still allow the front suspension to work.
I have to say, it worked, the under-steer I was experiencing completely disappeared.
Thanks for the advise, the photo isn't recent and I think I have put a bit more neg on since then. I will defiantly look into it though.
So today I went and payed for my 328i.
As you can see it's a bit of a mess. We have a very small budget for the stag do. Couple of hundred quid each. I was starting to think I couldn't get a straight 6 model as prices are defiantly going up. So I bit the bullet and have bought an unfinished "drift project". It needs quite a lot doing as you can see, the brakes are not connected, it has a battery drain etc etc.
But there are a couple of redeeming features. It is an estate, giving us plenty of luggage room and a bit more leg room on the stag. More importantly it started life as a 318. The previous owner has already shoe horned the 6 in, with the gearbox I would need. There is apparently a new clutch and fly wheel in there. He has already swapped the looms and had the ecu played with. So what this means is it should all be plug and play with my coupe. The engine does run so all I need to do is tidy it up. Connect and bleed the brakes and I should have a usable car. Obviously there will be a shopping list of things to do. But with six months to do it, I'm quietly confident.
I could also swap my 318 engine into it and sell it as a running car when I'm totally finished with it. The really big problem right now is the low loader driver who I had arranged to meet this afternoon never turned up and never answered his phone. So I have had to leave the estate on the old owners drive. Don't suppose anyone near Braintree with a loader or trailer wants to spend their New Year's Day moving a dead estate?
I have done a swap with a mate, my old telly to dump it at his unit until it's drivable. Love a barter!
I can see this being a two car thread for a while.
So today I went and payed for my 328i.
As you can see it's a bit of a mess. We have a very small budget for the stag do. Couple of hundred quid each. I was starting to think I couldn't get a straight 6 model as prices are defiantly going up. So I bit the bullet and have bought an unfinished "drift project". It needs quite a lot doing as you can see, the brakes are not connected, it has a battery drain etc etc.
But there are a couple of redeeming features. It is an estate, giving us plenty of luggage room and a bit more leg room on the stag. More importantly it started life as a 318. The previous owner has already shoe horned the 6 in, with the gearbox I would need. There is apparently a new clutch and fly wheel in there. He has already swapped the looms and had the ecu played with. So what this means is it should all be plug and play with my coupe. The engine does run so all I need to do is tidy it up. Connect and bleed the brakes and I should have a usable car. Obviously there will be a shopping list of things to do. But with six months to do it, I'm quietly confident.
I could also swap my 318 engine into it and sell it as a running car when I'm totally finished with it. The really big problem right now is the low loader driver who I had arranged to meet this afternoon never turned up and never answered his phone. So I have had to leave the estate on the old owners drive. Don't suppose anyone near Braintree with a loader or trailer wants to spend their New Year's Day moving a dead estate?
I have done a swap with a mate, my old telly to dump it at his unit until it's drivable. Love a barter!
I can see this being a two car thread for a while.
Had a bit of a sort out on Saturday. It's amazing how much more room you have if you put the spare wheel away, refit the rear seat base and put the backs down.
That said there is a lot still in there. Seem to have a front subframe and rack, exhaust down pipes, 318 electric fan, front struts, head lights, fog lights, a role bar which I haven't identified yet. Etc etc. Luckily I found two front brake hoses as I needed these to reconnect the brakes. I believe piecing together the cars back story that the last owner put the compleat front suspension from another car on this car. I'm not sure why but he did. He was a very helpful chap when I picked the car up. But I can't say I approve of his methods. The brake hoses, wheel speed sensor wires and pad sensor wires have all been cut.
I can understand at a push the hoses, if you maybe didn't have the right spanner and were stripping it asap on someone's drive. But the sensors just unplug FFS!
Anyway hoses out of the boot on and brakes bled. Battery charged. The car starts slightly spluttery but once running it seems good. The previous owner put the lump and box in it himself. I suspect there maybe a vacuum line or part of the idle system disconnected. That is for another day. For now just a full check over.
Basic faults. Five missing wheel bolts, (I never understand how this happens). The O/S/F lower arm bush eye is on upside down. N/S track rod gaiter is split. The exhaust back box is held on with wire. One exhaust down pipe stud is snapped, one gearbox mount bolt is snapped of in the chassis.
Good points. The car started life as a 318. It now has an M52 328 lump and the larger gearbox fitted. It has been remapped with the immobiliser delete. This should mean it will be plug and play with my car.
This was honestly the major selling point to me.
As the ecu in my 318 has also been played with already I could do a straight swap and sell the estate as a running 318.
That won't be for a while now though. For now I need to get this running nicely and through an MOT. Then I can think about putting the plastic windows in the other one.
First thing first though, the previous owner has fitted the 328 engine loom but not really routed it. The battery is still under the bonnet. In a 328 it would be in the boot. Resulting in the surplus of wire under the bonnet. Checking in the boot there are mounts for a battery which is good. When I have some time I will thread the wire through the interior and move the earth strap. This also means I can put a bigger battery with the extra room in the boot.
The alternator isn't really charging. Again when I have time I'm going to strip it out. Hopefully it is just the regulator as I don't really have any budget for this car. It's just a bit of stag do fun. I already went over the stag budget, but I'm justifying it to myself that money spent on the engine is actually money spent on the coupe. The car as a whole was cheaper than buying an M52, loom, gearbox etc.
That said there is a lot still in there. Seem to have a front subframe and rack, exhaust down pipes, 318 electric fan, front struts, head lights, fog lights, a role bar which I haven't identified yet. Etc etc. Luckily I found two front brake hoses as I needed these to reconnect the brakes. I believe piecing together the cars back story that the last owner put the compleat front suspension from another car on this car. I'm not sure why but he did. He was a very helpful chap when I picked the car up. But I can't say I approve of his methods. The brake hoses, wheel speed sensor wires and pad sensor wires have all been cut.
I can understand at a push the hoses, if you maybe didn't have the right spanner and were stripping it asap on someone's drive. But the sensors just unplug FFS!
Anyway hoses out of the boot on and brakes bled. Battery charged. The car starts slightly spluttery but once running it seems good. The previous owner put the lump and box in it himself. I suspect there maybe a vacuum line or part of the idle system disconnected. That is for another day. For now just a full check over.
Basic faults. Five missing wheel bolts, (I never understand how this happens). The O/S/F lower arm bush eye is on upside down. N/S track rod gaiter is split. The exhaust back box is held on with wire. One exhaust down pipe stud is snapped, one gearbox mount bolt is snapped of in the chassis.
Good points. The car started life as a 318. It now has an M52 328 lump and the larger gearbox fitted. It has been remapped with the immobiliser delete. This should mean it will be plug and play with my car.
This was honestly the major selling point to me.
As the ecu in my 318 has also been played with already I could do a straight swap and sell the estate as a running 318.
That won't be for a while now though. For now I need to get this running nicely and through an MOT. Then I can think about putting the plastic windows in the other one.
First thing first though, the previous owner has fitted the 328 engine loom but not really routed it. The battery is still under the bonnet. In a 328 it would be in the boot. Resulting in the surplus of wire under the bonnet. Checking in the boot there are mounts for a battery which is good. When I have some time I will thread the wire through the interior and move the earth strap. This also means I can put a bigger battery with the extra room in the boot.
The alternator isn't really charging. Again when I have time I'm going to strip it out. Hopefully it is just the regulator as I don't really have any budget for this car. It's just a bit of stag do fun. I already went over the stag budget, but I'm justifying it to myself that money spent on the engine is actually money spent on the coupe. The car as a whole was cheaper than buying an M52, loom, gearbox etc.
Edited by Hamster69 on Sunday 3rd January 18:34
Finally got the rest of the Spa videos. This is a first attempt at some editing.
Spa Francorchamps
Clearly outpaced by most things, but also catching up with lots through the corners and up Eau Rouge.
Hope you like it. Let me know what you think.
Spa Francorchamps
Clearly outpaced by most things, but also catching up with lots through the corners and up Eau Rouge.
Hope you like it. Let me know what you think.
Another Saturday so time for a bit more work on the new project. Nothing to heavy though. I am suffering with a bulging disc which is trapping my sciatic nerve. So I am literally not lifting anything.
First off I had a bit of a read up on this engine. It has two throttle bodies. One for normal pedal control and one controlled by the traction system to cut engine power in a slipping situation. These days this is all done by a single electronically controlled throttle. Great for a standard road car, less attractive for a car aiming for some Nurburgring laps. Even less for an engine going into the track car.
Luckily my research found that this same engine fitted in the Z3 didn't have the second throttle. So a Z3 inlet pipe was purchased and that is my first engine mod. A tiny bit of weight saved.
I adjusted up the parking brake shoes as the lever was coming up to my ear. This has surprisingly worked well. I thought the cables had stretched. I then popped in my new wheel bolts to replace the missing. Not sure why they are gold but hey.
Now to try and get the exhaust fitted properly. The previous owner just did this.
I know it was sold as a work in progress, but the back box might as well have been in the boot with everything else. Especially when I got it off to find there were no ring gaskets fitted at the front and no hangers at the rear.
I don't know where this exhaust came from, (probably the same car as the engine) but it doesn't really fit. You can't lift the box enough, with closer inspection one of the brackets on the exhaust is hitting the rear ARB.
I'm sure it was useful in some way on its old car. Here it's just in the way and so goes.
New hangers fitted, why these were ever removed I don't know but thankfully they are cheap.
That's it, box back on. Lined up much better with the bracket removed. It will get bolted up properly when I have found some gaskets.
Finally pulled the alternator off and stripped the back. The regulator does look knackered so hopefully replacing that might work. Very preferable as the reg is 11 quid and the alternator 200.
Amazingly the car did start this morning in the very cold. Yes the battery was disconnected but at least it has held a charge.
It does really struggle to start though. Every time it is started it cranks for quite a while. Once running it seems smooth and fine. Anyone in the know, could this be to do with the ews delete? I have inspected the inlet system and there doesn't seem to be any problems. Nothing disconnected.
First off I had a bit of a read up on this engine. It has two throttle bodies. One for normal pedal control and one controlled by the traction system to cut engine power in a slipping situation. These days this is all done by a single electronically controlled throttle. Great for a standard road car, less attractive for a car aiming for some Nurburgring laps. Even less for an engine going into the track car.
Luckily my research found that this same engine fitted in the Z3 didn't have the second throttle. So a Z3 inlet pipe was purchased and that is my first engine mod. A tiny bit of weight saved.
I adjusted up the parking brake shoes as the lever was coming up to my ear. This has surprisingly worked well. I thought the cables had stretched. I then popped in my new wheel bolts to replace the missing. Not sure why they are gold but hey.
Now to try and get the exhaust fitted properly. The previous owner just did this.
I know it was sold as a work in progress, but the back box might as well have been in the boot with everything else. Especially when I got it off to find there were no ring gaskets fitted at the front and no hangers at the rear.
I don't know where this exhaust came from, (probably the same car as the engine) but it doesn't really fit. You can't lift the box enough, with closer inspection one of the brackets on the exhaust is hitting the rear ARB.
I'm sure it was useful in some way on its old car. Here it's just in the way and so goes.
New hangers fitted, why these were ever removed I don't know but thankfully they are cheap.
That's it, box back on. Lined up much better with the bracket removed. It will get bolted up properly when I have found some gaskets.
Finally pulled the alternator off and stripped the back. The regulator does look knackered so hopefully replacing that might work. Very preferable as the reg is 11 quid and the alternator 200.
Amazingly the car did start this morning in the very cold. Yes the battery was disconnected but at least it has held a charge.
It does really struggle to start though. Every time it is started it cranks for quite a while. Once running it seems smooth and fine. Anyone in the know, could this be to do with the ews delete? I have inspected the inlet system and there doesn't seem to be any problems. Nothing disconnected.
That is a good start. Thanks helix. I was reading last night that on cars that have had ews delete, which I believe this has. Sometimes long cranking can occur until the ews unit is unplugged. I'm not sure why this would happen, especially as my 318 has ews delete and it never affected the cranking.
Not exactly on topic but, I am back at work now. Still hobbling around and having to sit down a lot, but working. Hopefully this is the first step to getting back on the spanners properly and getting some BMW work done. In the meantime I have been let loose on a couple of our restoration jobs at work. You may remember many months ago before I hurt my back. I was restoring a 1982 911 gearbox. Well it's finally finished.
It may not look like much. But there is many tens of hours of my life in that box. Including making special tools in my lathe, it has been a real labor of love.
Now I have been asked to build the engine for the same car. It was already stripped by another tech who now can't finish it. So I started the huge amount of prep I put into any restoration this week.
Hopefully all good practice for a BMW stroker build one day.
It may not look like much. But there is many tens of hours of my life in that box. Including making special tools in my lathe, it has been a real labor of love.
Now I have been asked to build the engine for the same car. It was already stripped by another tech who now can't finish it. So I started the huge amount of prep I put into any restoration this week.
Hopefully all good practice for a BMW stroker build one day.
Edited by Hamster69 on Saturday 13th February 13:40
Back on the E36s today. Managed to finally fit the back box with some new gaskets. I won't bore you with pictures of it. Suffice to say having ordered some proper BMW ring gaskets these turned out to be to big, with no others listed! Nice work BM! Anyway I had a scout about online and found a very usefull site called Clampco. They sell ring gaskets by size and are very cheap.
The alternator still isn't charging after the regulator was replaced. So I stripped it.
Not the easiest of things to separate, with about 20 years corrosion. The end of the rotor where the regulator brushes contact, is very dirty and have major wear. This is stopping a good contact. There is a deep groove where the old regulator ran. Nothing for it but to spin the shaft up and grind the face.
Rebuilt and fitted. It worked, the system is now charging. But unfortunately only at 12 volts, anything under 13.6 really isn't good enough.
I swapped the battery from the coupe onto the estate which let it run for quite a while. Brilliantly the thermostat seems to be stuck shut.
Right it's time to bite the bullet. I'm happy to spend a bit on the engine as it will be going in the coupe one day. New alternator and thermostat ordered. Thankfully the car needs very little to get it through an MOT. One rear shock ordered as it's leaking and knocking. Luckily GSF had a 41% off sale this weekend!
The alternator still isn't charging after the regulator was replaced. So I stripped it.
Not the easiest of things to separate, with about 20 years corrosion. The end of the rotor where the regulator brushes contact, is very dirty and have major wear. This is stopping a good contact. There is a deep groove where the old regulator ran. Nothing for it but to spin the shaft up and grind the face.
Rebuilt and fitted. It worked, the system is now charging. But unfortunately only at 12 volts, anything under 13.6 really isn't good enough.
I swapped the battery from the coupe onto the estate which let it run for quite a while. Brilliantly the thermostat seems to be stuck shut.
Right it's time to bite the bullet. I'm happy to spend a bit on the engine as it will be going in the coupe one day. New alternator and thermostat ordered. Thankfully the car needs very little to get it through an MOT. One rear shock ordered as it's leaking and knocking. Luckily GSF had a 41% off sale this weekend!
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