The road-going racing car - Sam McKee's BMW E36 328i

The road-going racing car - Sam McKee's BMW E36 328i

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McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Friday 25th April 2014
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I've had an E46 328i for two years now, and I think it's brilliant. So much so, in fact, that I really struggled to think of a replacement without spending a lot more. So when plans to go racing fell through, and I decided getting a car to use on track days and sprints was the next best thing, I toyed with lots of alternatives. I had a very helpful thread on here wondering what could be the do-everything car for £3-5k, but in honesty, no solution was coming out totally right.


So I bought this:



This is a 1997 E36 328i SE saloon, late of Synchromesh, who has a detailed ownership thread on here. That's certainly a nice load of information to have when buying a car, especially as he used it on six track days during his short time with it - so I'm reasonably confident in hoping no major issues will turn up when I start doing the same. Naturally, buying from a like-minded PHer made for a very pleasant and hassle-free transaction. I even let him drive his/my car one last time, collecting the S-Type he replaced it with on my way home!

I'm pretty happy with how nicely it's cleaned up for a 17-year-old, 177,000-mile car! So here's some more photos, with its stablemate..












Belies its mileage rather well in here..




It's very, very interesting to drive the cars back to back. Maybe it's exactly how you'd expect! The E46 makes a magnificent cruiser, it's heavier-weighted and more direct than most modern cars but is ultimately easy to drive, and runs quietly, smoothly, effortlessly. Still capable of making a great noise, tearing down a back road and putting a big grin on your face, but perhaps a little sanitised.

The E36 takes the same kind of Jekyll and Hyde balance, but turns it completely on its head. From the moment you fire it up, with a stiff, direct-feeling key that whumps it into life almost instantaneously, this is a different car. I thought the steering was relatively heavy in the E46 - it ain't. This is more like it. The clutch too. The throttle has a cable, not a series of digital instructions, and even the gearshift is heavier and more connected. Forget the cars only being two model years apart, this was released in 1990 and it never left. I can smell petrol. Excellent.

On the road, it's much firmer (it has M-Tech suspension from factory), but not in a crashy way, just firm. It's on 16"s like the E46, so the difference in the chassis setup is easy to pinpoint. But once I get past the speed bumps on my estate and onto a more open road, that ceases to be an issue at all. The car has... urge. It's an urgent thing. When you plant your foot there's an immediacy to the way it kicks you in the back, the noise turns on and it begs for more revs. Snick the next gear home and as you feed the power back in that distinct kick is there again - not rough, not because you fluffed the change, but because everything right through from the throttle butterfly to the tyres feels directly connected and it does what you ask, when you ask. It's fantastically raw by comparison.

Little things really please me. Like when I rev-match on a downchange, it always seems to be exactly where I wanted it, just so. It feels lighter, pointier, everything has much more of a sharpened edge.. And of course, it's faster, which when you've owned the same car for two years you can't fail to notice. And become a little addicted to.

I'm bound to say it isn't half as good at being "a car". It tries, but it just isn't - it makes all sorts of little random-interval squelches from the HVAC, buzzes from fans, little pops and squeaks and farts.. It shudders badly when you upset it over a bad road, and if you get the right frequency you can even feel the steering column move. Oh, and at the moment the aftermarket head unit assaults you under hard acceleration by lunging out of the dashboard in a mad bid to skin your knuckles, but perhaps we can't blame the car for that one. It also has no cruise, no steering wheel controls, no parking sensors, no sunroof, no auto wipers (or even an adjustable intermittent), no nice soft-touch plastics, nowhere to put your shades, the air con doesn't work.. None of the things I'm used to. I drove it to work for a week and could see how, when you're tired or had a long day or just plain can't be arsed, it would annoy you.

In other words.. It's perfect.

I absolutely made the right decision buying the E46 back in 2012, it's especially obvious when you get back into it after this, it's just a superbly competent car. So there's my road car. This new toy is louder, harsher, tattier, less convenient, less finished... But when you have nowhere to be and everywhere to drive, it's the one. By a mile.

I'm gonna keep 'em both. biggrin

First outing: Blyton Park, 9th May. Watch this space!


As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Cheers guys! smile

f0xy

154 posts

189 months

Friday 25th April 2014
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Completely agree on the E46 vs E36 front. Im on my 2nd E36 track car now (205k miles, substantially modified), but had an E46 for a 'normal car' too.

One thing I learnt from the 1st to 2nd E36, was to do all the bushes you can afford to do, then get the alignment sorted before taking it out. My first E36 I did a couple of bushes on, and it handled like a boat, not precise or very impressive at all when on the limit (both cars were on £700+ suspension). The current one I did ALL the bushes, balljoints, then had it properly aligned and it was night and day difference - so precise and easy to feel what its doing.

Good luck with it!

MarvGTI

427 posts

124 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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Great buy, I read Synchromesh's BMW thread after he put the Jag one online!

I hope you have lots of balls out fun in it!

cozmcrae

140 posts

132 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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I had an E36 328 last year and when it died I dabbled in other car but they just weren't the same, not even 328 E46s. if you want an upgrade, go for an E36 M3, they are fantastic pieces of kit. Saying that though, theres really nothing that compares to a 328 in the price range. Have fun man.

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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Cheers guys! I'm definitely planning to make the most of it. It's quite amazing how different it is to the E46, but ideally so for this purpose.

Thanks for the advice, f0xy - I agree that worn bushes can make them very vague. I actually had a set of Powerflex front lower wishbone bushes waiting to replace the shot ones on the E46, but now I keep being tempted to put them on this instead.. I'm pretty sure they'll fit without any trouble!

I'd love to hear more about your car. What did you replace the bushes with, and did you do the rear diff ones as well, or just suspension?

Synchromesh

2,428 posts

165 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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This'll be interesting. Enjoy!

carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
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McSam said:
Cheers guys! I'm definitely planning to make the most of it. It's quite amazing how different it is to the E46, but ideally so for this purpose.

Thanks for the advice, f0xy - I agree that worn bushes can make them very vague. I actually had a set of Powerflex front lower wishbone bushes waiting to replace the shot ones on the E46, but now I keep being tempted to put them on this instead.. I'm pretty sure they'll fit without any trouble!

I'd love to hear more about your car. What did you replace the bushes with, and did you do the rear diff ones as well, or just suspension?
Bushes...

Here's what I've changed so far.

- front anti-roll bar bushes
- rear anti-roll bar bushes
- lollipop bushes
- rear trailing arm bushes

To fit:

- subframe bushes

The ARB bushes definitely made a difference- the old ones were absolutely knackered. I replaced with normal Powerflex ones. The lollipop bushes were an amazing change. The steering is so much more direct and feelsome with the purple Powerflex ones in. My rear trailing arm bushes (a real pig of a job, just to warn you) are the Powerflex black ones, and they are s.t.i.f.f. I still use the car as a daily and it's entirely liveable (to me) but boy, does it pick up vibrations well. Slightly naff braking surfaces that have broken up really show with the black trailing arm bushes.

However, it's transformed the way the car feels at the rear. It's so adjustable and just so much fun!

I've yet to stick the subframe ones in, but I'll get there. Diff ones I've not even considered changing. A common one is the E46 M3 gearbox mounts- apparently they're a good shout. Poly/solid engine mounts could be interesting too.

Oh, and buy an LSD, unless it's already got one. Well worth the dolla. Just remember that an Evo one (3.23 ratio) is a large-case diff, so will require the entire rear end from an Evo. The 3.15 ratio regular M3 one fits just fine. I'm using the standard 2.93 ratio diff (good for a top speed of 165mph, theoretically).

Another thing to consider- short shifter kit. Mine's the AC Schnitzer one, and it's absolutely transformed the gearchange. Tight, crisp, and very manly to use. Gearbox oil is worth doing too, 'lifetime' guarantee is a load of crap- the stuff I pulled out of mine looked like coffee...

Enjoy it. They're awesome cars. I am still very much in love with mine.

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Monday 28th April 2014
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Thanks a lot for that, Carpetsoiler ( hehe ) - very useful to hear your experiences. Sounds like I'd definitely better get the Powerflex purple bushes in the E46's front wishbone lollipops, and if I'm as pleased with the results as you, they'll go on the list for the E36 too.

I hadn't thought of ARB bushes but that also makes sense, I guess they're pretty straightforward to do, too?

No LSD on this car, I'm afraid. Not yet, anyway wink I want to see how it handles at Blyton next week before I decide the hit list for upgrades, but I'm sure it'll come. I hear from the previous owner that when you're trying to be quick, the inside wheel will spin up a bit, though when you're trying to be sideways you can make both break away quite nicely!

At the moment, I think my upgrade route will likely be brakes (uprated pads and fluid, not much more as I have 16" wheels), suspension bushes and a slightly more aggressive alignment, then perhaps stiffer, lower but likely non-adjustable springs and dampers. Don't want to go silly on suspension on the grounds of cost, it just needs to feel precise enough to be good fun, not mega fast. By this time LSD will be on the wish list. Then I'll start thinking about something like the Supersprint exhaust manifold, liberating a few more horses and a lot more noise. Then M50 inlet manifold, which altogether might see it near 230bhp. Sounds like fun driving

carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Monday 28th April 2014
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McSam said:
Thanks a lot for that, Carpetsoiler ( hehe ) - very useful to hear your experiences. Sounds like I'd definitely better get the Powerflex purple bushes in the E46's front wishbone lollipops, and if I'm as pleased with the results as you, they'll go on the list for the E36 too.

I hadn't thought of ARB bushes but that also makes sense, I guess they're pretty straightforward to do, too?

No LSD on this car, I'm afraid. Not yet, anyway wink I want to see how it handles at Blyton next week before I decide the hit list for upgrades, but I'm sure it'll come. I hear from the previous owner that when you're trying to be quick, the inside wheel will spin up a bit, though when you're trying to be sideways you can make both break away quite nicely!

At the moment, I think my upgrade route will likely be brakes (uprated pads and fluid, not much more as I have 16" wheels), suspension bushes and a slightly more aggressive alignment, then perhaps stiffer, lower but likely non-adjustable springs and dampers. Don't want to go silly on suspension on the grounds of cost, it just needs to feel precise enough to be good fun, not mega fast. By this time LSD will be on the wish list. Then I'll start thinking about something like the Supersprint exhaust manifold, liberating a few more horses and a lot more noise. Then M50 inlet manifold, which altogether might see it near 230bhp. Sounds like fun driving
Always a pleasure. I'd say go for the black lollipops for the E36, just out of interest more than anything. The purples are brilliant for fast road/daily driving.

ARB bushes are a case of jack the car up so both wheels are off the ground, undo mounts, slide off old bushes, slide on new ones with copious amounts of copper grease (not lithium, lithium eats poly bushes). You'll be treated to a live-view of what a vagina with discharge looks like when you do them up. nuts (grease squeezes out, looks rancid!)

LSD is a must. 3.15 ratio is a good shout. Makes the rear end a lot more predictable and controllable. Coupled with black Powerflex RTABs it is beautifully adjustable with the throttle.

I use EBC Redstuff pads. They're excellent. Lots of stopping power, cheap to buy, lasted a long time too. I would recommend ATE Super Blue Racing fluid, it's got a superb boiling point for wet and dry work.

Eibach Pro Kit is a good shout for suspension. I went for the Bilstein B10 Power Kit on mine and it's knife-edge sharp.

I got a full Toyosports exhaust system (decat) and that sounds incredible, as well as really liberating the horsies. On a Dyno Dynamics roller at JKM (known as the heartbreaker rollers, I was nervous) I scored a whopping 233bhp... with a DaveF induction kit (heatshielded), M50 intake manifold, solid flywheel (lightened to 7.5kg) and the Toyosports exhaust system. No mapping or anything.

M50 is also a must (there are a lot of 'musts', but trust me on this one!), it really opens the engine up above 4,500rpm.

Have a look through my project thread if you need any inspiration. Can also tell you how easy most of this stuff is to fit. hehe

Hamster69

747 posts

145 months

Monday 28th April 2014
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I can't recommend Performance friction brake pads highly enough. I have them in my E36 track toy now. They are quieter and have more stopping power than the Ferrodo DS3000 I had in there before. I just wish I could remember where I bought them. If anyone knows a good supplier could you drop me a note on my build blog as I'm going to need some rears soon.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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Loads of very useful info again, CS - thanks, all duly noted. Do you have a link to your car's thread?

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for LSDs and if a suitable one appears, I'll buy it. Reckon I'll judge which polybush stiffness to go for after I get the purple ones in the E46, than I'll have a better idea of the effects.

Your power figures are impressive, I remember reading those in Hamster's thread when I looked through it a while back (hope you get that car back out again soon, by the way, looked like a great little project!).

I hadn't really thought about a solid flywheel conversion, how's the engine response? Just today I was thinking how leisurely your gearchanges need to be with all that inertia..


At the moment, I'm itching to get the car out, seeing it lurking behind the house is hard..



Bank holiday weekend should be spent prepping both cars, one for Blyton sprint, the other for its MOT! I think I'd better pick up some part-worn tyres to go on this too, the 3mm or so left on the Kumhos it has at the moment are unlikely to get me home after a day on track hehe

Emeye

9,773 posts

222 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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Great thread to rekindle my E36 want. Everyone I every drove felt fantastic, just as you describe.

I could never find one that wasn't rusty or shagged that wasn't stupidly priced though. frown

carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
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McSam said:
Loads of very useful info again, CS - thanks, all duly noted. Do you have a link to your car's thread?

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for LSDs and if a suitable one appears, I'll buy it. Reckon I'll judge which polybush stiffness to go for after I get the purple ones in the E46, than I'll have a better idea of the effects.

Your power figures are impressive, I remember reading those in Hamster's thread when I looked through it a while back (hope you get that car back out again soon, by the way, looked like a great little project!).

I hadn't really thought about a solid flywheel conversion, how's the engine response? Just today I was thinking how leisurely your gearchanges need to be with all that inertia..


At the moment, I'm itching to get the car out, seeing it lurking behind the house is hard..



Bank holiday weekend should be spent prepping both cars, one for Blyton sprint, the other for its MOT! I think I'd better pick up some part-worn tyres to go on this too, the 3mm or so left on the Kumhos it has at the moment are unlikely to get me home after a day on track hehe
Here you go!

Buy an LSD on condition. They're not easy things to refurb... but I'll be giving it a shot soon enough, got the internals of a 3.73 one to fit into an E36 casing somewhere along the line, should be amazing for acceleration!

Purple = road/occasional track, black = corpse-stiff.

The engine response with the solid fly is amazing. The standard dual mass setup weighs around 21kg, the solid is 12kg, the lightened one is less than 8kg... so it wakes up a bit..! Also remove the CDV (clutch delay valve, causes sloppy gearchanges, put in for crappy drivers who can't use a clutch properly).

I have a full set of Style 30s that are going if you're interested? As in, full set of 5, all with good tyres. Yours for £70 if you want them. smile

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
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Well, I think I had a very successful first outing at Blyton on Friday!



The morning started off damp with more showers making it wet, but it dried up into the afternoon which made for a nice chance to see how the car handled all conditions. It's downright lairy in the wet, with attempts to go quickly provoking the inside wheel spinning up, and mid-corner pokes rewarded with nice, progressive slides. I found it quite intuitive to throw around, it seems to enjoy being sideways!

When I got a bit more serious I found a car that felt a bit tired, with vague brakes, soft springs and little to no damping - but beneath this there's clearly a lot of potential and I thoroughly enjoyed it biggrin when everything's tightened up I think it's going to make a fantastic piece of kit, but even now it's great fun and quite well balanced. Makes a rather nice noise too.

I was impressed with its durability, the powertrain standing up very well indeed, kepeing itself cool and performing just as strongly at the end of the day. It developed a small tapping noise from the head at idle, but I put this down to the oil having been heated up more severely than usual and it seems to be clearing now. I got an indicated 10.8mpg on track, which is about 0.4L/min, pretty good actually. Though not as good as 36.7mpg on the trip up there!

We had an open pitlane morning on the Outer Circuit, then five timed runs each after lunch. We then swapped to the Eastern configuration for the rest of the afternoon, which was more technical and quite a good challenge! Here's an onboard video of my fastest timed run


Thanks to Mr Soiler above, yet another set of Style 30 wheels arrived just before I went up to Blyton. I thought I might need them for spare tyres, but as it turned out I came back on the same set of Kumhos I drove up on, and brakes were rather more of a concern! I eventually wore completely through the front right inside pad when braking from 100mph for a 40mph entry, which was a bit interesting and made for a careful drive home. At least it was my very last session at ten to five!

This puts more serious pads at the top of my list, perhaps EBC Redstuff. The standard items didn't fade as much as I expected at Blyton, but a step up in durability would be welcome. I'll likely change the fluid at the same time, and I'm considering a set of braided steel hoses to improve feel and confidence, anyone care to share their experience on that?



Brake dust all washed away, and lurking in my back garden again.. smile


McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Saturday 24th May 2014
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I managed to take advantage of some (brief!) breaks in the weather today to get a look at my brakes and drop the old oil out. Front right pads perhaps a little further down than I'd have planned..



Worthy replacements!



The left-hand pads were nowhere near as bad, still worth replacing but there was 2-3mm left on them. I imagine some of this is down to Blyton being an anticlockwise circuit and most sessions were without a passenger, so the right side would have been loaded up a fair bit more. But it may also have had something to do with this brake duct, which was missing from the right side until this afternoon:



Alongside the fog light, that fell victim to a cone in the previous owner's last track day - cheers James! wink - but it seems to have gone back on OK.

The car's now sitting with no oil in it, since a huge thunderstorm hit at an inopportune moment, but on Monday I'll refill it with Mobil 1 0W40 and hopefully change the stuck-open thermostat too. I say hopefully, since in order to do that I have to get the viscous fan coupling undone, with a huge 32mm spanner bought for the purpose!

In other news, a set of E46 328i caliper carriers are on their way to me. These will allow me to fit 300mm front discs from that car, up from the 286mm I currently have, but still fit 16" wheels. The calipers are identical so no other changes needed, just the discs and pads, which is nice.

I also had a bit of a trial fit of the aluminium air intake heatshield that I made for my E46, but annoyingly the layout is quite different and it'd need a bit of butchering to fit properly. It also seems harder to get a good cold air feed on this car. To that end, I'm thinking of getting a Dave F type setup - anyone know where I can still source one?!

carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Sunday 25th May 2014
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Good to see you made the right choice with the Redstuffs. biggrin a very worthy and informed person must've told you about them! hehe

Out of interest, where did you get your E46 328i carriers from and were they massively expensive?

Re: DaveF filter... good luck. Rocking horse st rare these days. However... I may start making pattern ones at some stage. I'll keep you posted.

My best mate brought home his new toy today. An E36 328i saloon, manual, in Montreal Blue. Has the M50 manifold already done and the E46 330 big brake upgrade. It's not as quick as mine, but it stops on a sixpence. Having driven the two back to back, I'd say that a short shift kit, decent suspension and a slippy diff are your next best upgrades.

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Monday 26th May 2014
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Heh, indeed hehe

I'm planning to go in stages with the brakes. First, standard discs with these Redstuff pads and fresh ATE Super Blue fluid. I'm hoping this will stand up alright. Then in a while I'll upgrade to the 300mm discs for a bit of extra margin. If I've underestimated how much I'm asking of the car, then I'll think about 325mm 330ci brakes but I don't want to go that far as I have twelve 16" wheels I'd like to keep using!

I emailed the seller of the first "breaking" E46 328i I found on eBay, and he was happy to send me the carriers for 30 inc P&P, which I thought was a good result. They're around 150 a side if you want new ones from a dealer..

I feared as much about the DaveF kits. I think with some choice adjustments I could get my heatshield to fit, but I want to study the DaveF setup to see where he's routed the intake as space looks a little tighter than E46 as well.

Sounds like your mate has found another good one! Decent suspension is right behind sorting the brakes, and I'm hopeful that controlling the body roll will help the open diff be slightly less annoying, though eventually I know I'll need an LSD to feel I can really push the car properly. I don't mind the gearshift all that much, perhaps because I'm so used to it from my road car, and anyway I always have the gear ready before the revs are right so a lightened flywheel would probably come first.

ETA - PH is being daft and dropping pound signs from posts again, insert as appropriate..

carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Monday 26th May 2014
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Yeah that's kind of what I was planning. And if all else fails, you can go and find some Brembos to slap on there. hehe

You got a really good price for those- some of the breakers have been after absolutely extortionate prices. 80 was bandied about by one.

For what it's worth, what makes a DaveF filter a DaveF filter is simply the addition of the heatshield- it's just a K&N Gen2 induction kit, with added heatshield.

You really do need a locking diff to make the most of the car. Mine just loves cornering- it's so planted and stable, you put your foot down and it just... sticks. I've had some insane speeds going on/off certain sliproads (M3 Jct 4a and M25 > A21 Tonbridge) spring to mind). Either get a well-looked after diff or prepare to rebuild one though. For track work a 3.23 ratio one is nice, but they're large case and you need an Evo rear end to fit the damn thing. The regular 3.15 LSD from the early 3.0 M3s is still a good bet though.

Lightweight flywheel = win.

Also... you may wish to consider a good exhaust. biggrin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_FlSqhkjso

McSam

Original Poster:

6,753 posts

174 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
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I was very pleased with the brake carriers, and that's a lovely noise coming from the back of your car but I'm strictly focusing on cornering and stopping first!

With that in mind, the next upgrades arrived..



Mmmmm lick HSD Dualtechs from Driftworks, these offer one-way adjustable damping, camber/caster front top mounts and adjustable ride height without altering spring rate - all for less money than a basic set of fixed Bilstein struts, so it was a bit of a no-brainer! They arrived a bit late and left only one weekend for fitting before my next event, but that seemed like plenty of time..

Until we had the wheels off, and then the first bolt we touched sheared clean off! No photos as I wasn't quite in the mood, but we used up a few hours and many drill bits extracting one of the front bottom mount bolts from the hub, that was no fun. Happily, apart from that everything undid and came apart dead easy, and we could have achieved the whole job in four hours otherwise. Huge thanks to Matt for his help with the whole job, because at the first hurdle I'd have been well buggered on my own!

Measuring up to make sure we got both sides even:


Very tasty top mounts:


And not a lot of droop now!


Rear dampers, old versus new.. There were a few odd handling characteristics from the rear end at Blyton, and these explained why! The left-hand damper felt a bit soft and compressed fairly easily in the hands, but the right-hand one was staggeringly slack, maybe only a third the resistance. Already I was feeling pretty happy about making this change!


Rear spring comparison. Actually not so massive a drop as it looks, since the new springs are also a lot stiffer, but the car's still gone down quite a bit at the back.


So we got the car on the ground, and went to fire it up, roll it back and forth and get it settled for alignment. Except it wouldn't start. After trying various little tricks including jumping it with an LS400 - if that ain't enough, nothing will be - no joy, which was a bit shattering. This issue has a thread all of its own but suffice to say that you should never leave the key in one of these cars for an extended period. If the key's in the ignition while the battery discharges, the car unlearns it and you cannot start. A new key from the dealer (£46, two day lead time) sorted it out.

Turns out the geometry was pretty good, about time we had some luck! The posture was nicely balanced, rear at 610mm both sides and front at 648 left, 650 right. I was happy enough with that, since that's the side I'm gonna be sitting. The front is much higher than it should be but I was concerned with arch and strut rubbing, I'd had to space the front out 15mm (with OEM setup of 225/50R16 on 7Jx16 ET46 Style 30s) and didn't want any issues just yet. Rear toe was dead straight and the front was toeing out about 40 minutes, bit too much but if we tried adjusting it on the driveway we'd likely have made it worse. Front camber nicely balanced left/right at about -3°.

I had braided hoses and fresh ATE Super Blue fluid for it, but after the various nightmares these didn't get done and the car went to Curborough without them. The suspension bedded in quite nicely beforehand, feeling really quite incredible compared to the original stuff! After running in on full soft, I wound all four dampers up to 4 clicks of 16, which felt better on track. I think it'll stand more without being overly stiff.

Here's a quick vid of a timed run towards the end of the day, 1'11.46 on the new "figure 8" layout.

The car was fantastic - I took a load of tools and four spare wheels, and didn't need anything at all! Did 30 laps or so over the day, thoroughly enjoying the new-found body control and predictability. The car feels so much better, I didn't realise how much I was instictively correcting for body roll until there wasn't really any, and all the stupid judders and rattles it used to make are gone.

EBC Redstuff front pads stood up quite well, though I didn't have any sessions over 6-7 minutes so I didn't expect much fade. I had to disable the ABS, as it wasn't a fan of the unsettled braking zones that Curborough demands, but with that done the brakes felt great. Controllable, feelsome and very powerful.

At the moment, apart from setup work to get the geometry just so, the only thing I feel the car really needs is a limited-slip diff. This new suspension has definitely minimised the problem, but particularly in fast second-gear exits you can still get a bit of a one-tyre-fire if you push too hard. That said, it can slide quite nicely if you provoke it, I'll put together a highlight reel hehe

A very lengthy update, but also a very positive one! The car feels great now, a pleasure to drive, and if an Elise driver can have a go and say "you really undersold that, what a fantastic toy", then I reckon I've done rather well smile


carpetsoiler

1,958 posts

164 months

Tuesday 15th July 2014
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Nicely done. smile

Good suspension + straight six + E36 = many smiles.