E36 cheap track day toy
Discussion
I agree there is something to be said for getting through the gears quicker. But where you have the longer straights reducing top speed makes you very slow. Also I found at Bedford my ratios were good for accelerating right through the long corners. Don't want to have to change gear half way through them or be bogged down at the start of the corner in too high a gear.
I guess it's personal taste. For the amount of power I have I'm happy with the Diff. I'm also still running the 318 gear box so my ratios will be different to those of you with straight six lumps.
I guess it's personal taste. For the amount of power I have I'm happy with the Diff. I'm also still running the 318 gear box so my ratios will be different to those of you with straight six lumps.
Edited by Hamster69 on Friday 28th August 20:30
Edited by Hamster69 on Saturday 29th August 07:20
So Donnington prep day. Started with the basics, removed and deglazed all brake pads. I'm sure no one needs to see anymore pictures of my pads. Suffice to say the pads are still in good condition with only a couple of mm worn off them.
Then followed up by a brake fluid change, our bleeder is currently broken so with the help of a friend it was done the old fashioned way.
I rotated the tyres front to rear, after a few trackdays they are also wearing very well. The fronts still have 5mm of tread and the rears 6mm. The fronts were wearing a bit on the edges though so swapped with the rears which are fine. Also balanced all four wheels while they were off. Again I'm sure no one needs a pic of a tyre.
The maintenance done I moved onto repair and improvement. The engine fan packed up at Bedford, investigation found it had blown its fuse. But I wasn't really happy with the state of some of the wiring. It's obviously got quite hot.
Having checked this out during the week I had ordered some new thicker wire and some fully insulated large spade terminals. Even though the half speed fan run through a dash switch still worked, I decided to rewire them both.
With a bit of labelling to make any future work easier.
That done and working I turned my attention to more of an annoyance than a fault. Recently driving the car leaves will suddenly come flying out of the heater vents at you. Annoying and at times quite startling, which you don't really want. Especially as it only happens at speed. I checked online to see if my car had a pollen filter, because I didn't think it did.
Apparently it did though, so I ordered one. When It arrived I looked at the instructions, it's clearly for a different model E36. I spoke to a mate who used to work for BMW who told me I had been right, it hasn't got one, but you can retrofit a pair over the ends of the blower motor housing. If I just lifted up the scuttle I would see what he was talking about. So I removed the plastic screws, took the nut of the first wiper arm, gave it a tug and
I can't tell you how happy I was when the wiper arm snapped off in my hand. Oh well at least it's the passenger side. I won't risk the others side until after Don.
Scuttle clipped back down I moved on to better security for my tailpipe silencers. The hose clamps worked for a couple of times off and on, but are now jumping teeth and not tightening enough. So something a bit more permanent I think. I got drilling and tapping. Now they bolt on, with one easy to remove bolt in each. Much quicker in the pits now.
So one wiper aside she is all ready to how again. Finished up hoovering a load of leave from the interior. She will get washed tomorrow and possibly polished if the weather is nice.
Then followed up by a brake fluid change, our bleeder is currently broken so with the help of a friend it was done the old fashioned way.
I rotated the tyres front to rear, after a few trackdays they are also wearing very well. The fronts still have 5mm of tread and the rears 6mm. The fronts were wearing a bit on the edges though so swapped with the rears which are fine. Also balanced all four wheels while they were off. Again I'm sure no one needs a pic of a tyre.
The maintenance done I moved onto repair and improvement. The engine fan packed up at Bedford, investigation found it had blown its fuse. But I wasn't really happy with the state of some of the wiring. It's obviously got quite hot.
Having checked this out during the week I had ordered some new thicker wire and some fully insulated large spade terminals. Even though the half speed fan run through a dash switch still worked, I decided to rewire them both.
With a bit of labelling to make any future work easier.
That done and working I turned my attention to more of an annoyance than a fault. Recently driving the car leaves will suddenly come flying out of the heater vents at you. Annoying and at times quite startling, which you don't really want. Especially as it only happens at speed. I checked online to see if my car had a pollen filter, because I didn't think it did.
Apparently it did though, so I ordered one. When It arrived I looked at the instructions, it's clearly for a different model E36. I spoke to a mate who used to work for BMW who told me I had been right, it hasn't got one, but you can retrofit a pair over the ends of the blower motor housing. If I just lifted up the scuttle I would see what he was talking about. So I removed the plastic screws, took the nut of the first wiper arm, gave it a tug and
I can't tell you how happy I was when the wiper arm snapped off in my hand. Oh well at least it's the passenger side. I won't risk the others side until after Don.
Scuttle clipped back down I moved on to better security for my tailpipe silencers. The hose clamps worked for a couple of times off and on, but are now jumping teeth and not tightening enough. So something a bit more permanent I think. I got drilling and tapping. Now they bolt on, with one easy to remove bolt in each. Much quicker in the pits now.
So one wiper aside she is all ready to how again. Finished up hoovering a load of leave from the interior. She will get washed tomorrow and possibly polished if the weather is nice.
Another great day out yesterday. Only slightly hampered by the rain, but we still had a lot of fun.
The car handled itself really well. The Nankangs are surprisingly good in the wet. We had a couple of little spins and a slight off, but you don't know where the limit is until you pass it.
It was great to meet some fellow E36 and E46 owners. A couple from on here and a couple not.
Now I need to get her back in the workshop. The ABS seems to have died (I don't know when it happened but it was very noticeable in the rain) and we now have a knocking noise. Hopefully nothing too major as I have very few empty weekends coming up.
The car handled itself really well. The Nankangs are surprisingly good in the wet. We had a couple of little spins and a slight off, but you don't know where the limit is until you pass it.
It was great to meet some fellow E36 and E46 owners. A couple from on here and a couple not.
Now I need to get her back in the workshop. The ABS seems to have died (I don't know when it happened but it was very noticeable in the rain) and we now have a knocking noise. Hopefully nothing too major as I have very few empty weekends coming up.
So post Donnington check, the knocking got a whole lot worse on the way to work.
That would be one totally destroyed engine mount then. Looking underneath it's put a lot of load on the gear box mounts to.
I think I will replace them all with stiffer ones. I have seen some, but they just say e36, nothing about which engines. Anyone know if the E36 mounts were universal?
Other than that not to much damage. The tyres don't seem to have liked drifting too much.
So without any immanent track days I decided to finish fitting the pollen filters. Hopefully without any more breakages. The other wiper arm did actually come off. Typical now I have bought two.
The pollen filters are a retrofit. But look like quite nice pieces of kit. Designed to clip over the ends of the heater box.
It's not too hard to get in on the N/S. But the O/S was a sod. Basically remove the entire scuttle, loosen the wiper linkage then squeeze and I do mean squeeze it in.
Finally in, I put the car back into storage. I'll buy some mounts next month ready for the big trip!
That would be one totally destroyed engine mount then. Looking underneath it's put a lot of load on the gear box mounts to.
I think I will replace them all with stiffer ones. I have seen some, but they just say e36, nothing about which engines. Anyone know if the E36 mounts were universal?
Other than that not to much damage. The tyres don't seem to have liked drifting too much.
So without any immanent track days I decided to finish fitting the pollen filters. Hopefully without any more breakages. The other wiper arm did actually come off. Typical now I have bought two.
The pollen filters are a retrofit. But look like quite nice pieces of kit. Designed to clip over the ends of the heater box.
It's not too hard to get in on the N/S. But the O/S was a sod. Basically remove the entire scuttle, loosen the wiper linkage then squeeze and I do mean squeeze it in.
Finally in, I put the car back into storage. I'll buy some mounts next month ready for the big trip!
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff