Project E36 - Track Day Car
Discussion
Diablos-666 said:
WOW - just went through all 19 pages of this - Boss is away 
To be fair i only really read your posts Benni - Great write up although whilst on page 5/6 i was looking forward to getting to page 19 and reading about that elusive m3 engine you mentioned fitting 1 or 2 time
Shame you didnt get round to doing it.
What are your plans once you sell Project E36 then, Go Go Project Porsche?
Again, i loved reading this thread, this is what PH is all about!
Well Done
Cheers Dave. Complete change of plan To be fair i only really read your posts Benni - Great write up although whilst on page 5/6 i was looking forward to getting to page 19 and reading about that elusive m3 engine you mentioned fitting 1 or 2 time
Shame you didnt get round to doing it.What are your plans once you sell Project E36 then, Go Go Project Porsche?
Again, i loved reading this thread, this is what PH is all about!
Well Done
Just sold the Porsche and we're keeping the BMW. It's going to be getting the Alpina engine fitted in the next few weeks, going on a bit more of a diet, and then it'll be back on track
Can't believe it myself 
I'm selling for combination of reasons really. Me and a mate want to go racing, and it's either in the Porsche or the E36.....and the 964 is way to nice (and expensive) to race. The other reason is that I had a baby not too long ago.....well my wife did, but I helped. I can't use it for a weekend drive with the family, so it invariably gets left in the garage, which is a crying shame.
Currently on the lookout for a nice E30 M3
I'm selling for combination of reasons really. Me and a mate want to go racing, and it's either in the Porsche or the E36.....and the 964 is way to nice (and expensive) to race. The other reason is that I had a baby not too long ago.....well my wife did, but I helped. I can't use it for a weekend drive with the family, so it invariably gets left in the garage, which is a crying shame.
Currently on the lookout for a nice E30 M3
Well, it’s update time, and for the first time in a while it’s a good long one
The car has been at CR M-Tech for the Alpina engine swap, a diet, and plenty of other bits and bobs. Before I get to the work itself, I want to say a big thanks to Chris at CR M-Tech who did a brilliant job for us. We knew he would do the job fine, but he did loads of extra bits and pieces that made a lot of difference, and he was quite happy to tell us when our suggestions were not worth doing.
What Chris doesn’t know about E36’s, probably isn’t worth knowing, and he’s got access to a healthy amount of parts too. He also rallies an E36 M3, so puts his money where is mouth is so to speak. If you want anything doing, then give him a bell on 07949 464954.
I’d also like to thanks Rich (Sniff Diesel) for the bits he did on the car, supplying some nice solid engine mounts, and selling our spare inlet manifold for us. Cheers mate
OK, so on to the work. The full list was:
2.8L Alpina engine swap with ECU
M3 Evo exhaust headers
M3 Evo decat exhaust
M3 Evo oil filter housing and oil cooler
M3 Evo rad pack
M3 Sump with custom baffles
M3 Evo brake master cylinder/servo, with new brake lines and remove ABS system
M3 Evo front cross-member with additional strengthening
Steering rack to replace damaged one
Fully strip existing wiring loom and re-wire to bare minimum
Weld in front section of roll cage to front struts
Powerflex poly bushes to front subframe and suspension
Solid engine and transmission mounts
The car has been at CR M-Tech for the Alpina engine swap, a diet, and plenty of other bits and bobs. Before I get to the work itself, I want to say a big thanks to Chris at CR M-Tech who did a brilliant job for us. We knew he would do the job fine, but he did loads of extra bits and pieces that made a lot of difference, and he was quite happy to tell us when our suggestions were not worth doing.
What Chris doesn’t know about E36’s, probably isn’t worth knowing, and he’s got access to a healthy amount of parts too. He also rallies an E36 M3, so puts his money where is mouth is so to speak. If you want anything doing, then give him a bell on 07949 464954.
I’d also like to thanks Rich (Sniff Diesel) for the bits he did on the car, supplying some nice solid engine mounts, and selling our spare inlet manifold for us. Cheers mate
OK, so on to the work. The full list was:
2.8L Alpina engine swap with ECU
M3 Evo exhaust headers
M3 Evo decat exhaust
M3 Evo oil filter housing and oil cooler
M3 Evo rad pack
M3 Sump with custom baffles
M3 Evo brake master cylinder/servo, with new brake lines and remove ABS system
M3 Evo front cross-member with additional strengthening
Steering rack to replace damaged one
Fully strip existing wiring loom and re-wire to bare minimum
Weld in front section of roll cage to front struts
Powerflex poly bushes to front subframe and suspension
Solid engine and transmission mounts
Edited by benny.c on Sunday 3rd October 23:07
First up is stripping out the loom. I’ve seen this done before but it’s not until you hold two bin bags full of wire, that you realise just how much a loom weighs. Chris told us ours was the biggest loom he’d stripped out, probably as our car was an SE, so had electric everything, with all the options ticked.
This is how the interior looked when we took it in. The rather nasty “stolen recovered” look.
Then the stripping started.
And more.......
Rich weighs some of the loom......
.......and Chris rebuilds it. This is our reworked loom in it’s entirety. Unbelievable.
This is the new, sparse, neat interior. What a difference. The vastly reduced fuse box has been relocated to the inside of the car, and all that remains to do is add a kill switch once we've made a panel for it.
This is how the interior looked when we took it in. The rather nasty “stolen recovered” look.
Then the stripping started.
And more.......
Rich weighs some of the loom......
.......and Chris rebuilds it. This is our reworked loom in it’s entirety. Unbelievable.
This is the new, sparse, neat interior. What a difference. The vastly reduced fuse box has been relocated to the inside of the car, and all that remains to do is add a kill switch once we've made a panel for it.
Edited by benny.c on Sunday 3rd October 23:02
New engine in place
Solid engine mounts
Solid transmission mounts
Big Evo rad with oil cooler below
Ready to roll again
As the car isn’t road legal we can’t test it, but it sounds lovely
Now all that remains to do before the next track day is an oil change and some cosmetic bits and pieces
Solid engine mounts
Solid transmission mounts
Big Evo rad with oil cooler below
Ready to roll again
As the car isn’t road legal we can’t test it, but it sounds lovely
Now all that remains to do before the next track day is an oil change and some cosmetic bits and pieces
Edited by benny.c on Sunday 3rd October 23:16
sniff diesel said:
Get it on a rolling road Ben, would be interesting to see how the Alpina lump compares to a 328i and the M3 engines.
Don't know if I want too. I'll be crushed if it's putting out 170BHP joe_90 said:
Excellent, but why the solid engine mounts?
What Sniff said basically. Plus they are nice and shiny d4cjr said:
Thanks for your comments Benny, It has been a pleasure working on it. Its certainly 100% a dedicated Track beast now. when your board of it mind, we will get a nice M3 lump in her next ! 
Hopefully see you at oulton on the 2nd, and hopefully have my 328 ready for then too
Cheers for doing the work mate. Didn't know you were on here Hopefully see you at oulton on the 2nd, and hopefully have my 328 ready for then too
Just because we're tight
I don't know really. Partly budget, but there are tons of M3's tooling about on track days so it's nice to try something different really. Our build has always been about cornering, stopping and being light rather than outright power, so I guess we're continuing down that road for now. With a bit more weight saving we are hoping to be down to 1,100kgs.
I've no doubt that in a year or so, the Alpina engine will be on Ebay and Chris will be fitting a 3L M3 lump for us. We have most of the other bits and bobs fitted now, so an M3 swap would be just the lump itself, a prop shaft and rear end. We've also considered some sort of V8 swap, but it would destroy the handling.
Tinkering and developing it is almost as much fun as driving it, so I've no doubt it will evolve over the next few years. A GTR bodykit is on the cards, but you've got to have a decent engine in before that's fitted, otherwise you end up looking a bit daft.
I don't know really. Partly budget, but there are tons of M3's tooling about on track days so it's nice to try something different really. Our build has always been about cornering, stopping and being light rather than outright power, so I guess we're continuing down that road for now. With a bit more weight saving we are hoping to be down to 1,100kgs.
I've no doubt that in a year or so, the Alpina engine will be on Ebay and Chris will be fitting a 3L M3 lump for us. We have most of the other bits and bobs fitted now, so an M3 swap would be just the lump itself, a prop shaft and rear end. We've also considered some sort of V8 swap, but it would destroy the handling.
Tinkering and developing it is almost as much fun as driving it, so I've no doubt it will evolve over the next few years. A GTR bodykit is on the cards, but you've got to have a decent engine in before that's fitted, otherwise you end up looking a bit daft.
Edited by benny.c on Thursday 7th October 23:51
Evo said:
Only just found this post so for those that haven't sat down and readit from start to finish, it's probably the best "built not bought" threads i have ever read.
Thanks mate, your comments are very much appreciated.The old girl has been dragged out of storage and we are doing a bit of tidying up at the moment before the new trackday season gets underway. Next time out (hopefully in April) I'll definitely get some updated photos and video, as it really is running nicely at the moment.
Hi mate, sorry, only just saw your question. We removed the valve to the rear right of the engine that heater flow and return go to, and connected the flow and return hoses to each other with a Samco hose. It has made the cooling system much easier to bleed (a right PITA on these cars!).
Passenger rides always welcome
We hadn't even seen the old girl for nearly year as we've both been busy with kids and work. Got it out of the garage last weekend though and had all the the calipers, discs and pads off, and gave it a general good looking over. Booked a track day for Friday 2nd up at Oulton so I'll try and get some video.
We hadn't even seen the old girl for nearly year as we've both been busy with kids and work. Got it out of the garage last weekend though and had all the the calipers, discs and pads off, and gave it a general good looking over. Booked a track day for Friday 2nd up at Oulton so I'll try and get some video.
Hi Brendan, great to see the old girl being used regularly again
It was never the quickest accelerating but hopefuly you've found out that it stops and turns rather nicely. It's always nice to go past much more expensive machinery in a 20 year old BMW Definitely give me a shout when you go to Oulton.
E46 M3 engine you say. Tell me more!
It was never the quickest accelerating but hopefuly you've found out that it stops and turns rather nicely. It's always nice to go past much more expensive machinery in a 20 year old BMW
Definitely give me a shout when you go to Oulton. E46 M3 engine you say. Tell me more!
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