Project Ring-shed E36 325i
Discussion
matt21 said:
very interesting story and having known the car most of its life i will follow this closely
wonder if that towbar would fit my 1994 E34 touring??
Matt - please don't show this thread to Bill. I feel like I'm wrecking his pride and joy, although it absolutely flies now it's been stripped.wonder if that towbar would fit my 1994 E34 touring??
All E36's use the same towbar apparently, not sure if it'll fit an E34.
absolutely said:
I would have thought a 2 door would have been a better option, greater stiffness for a track car.
A subject of much controversy, but the 4dr is said to be the stiffer of the two.From memory, it sits lower on the driver's side due to it being developed in LHD form, and the extra drop on that side levels out when you have just a driver in LHD form. Apparently. Dunno if I buy that.
Project looks great, if you can be bothered to strip out the heater and all the gubbins that go with it that's a fair weight saving.
sniff petrol said:
matt21 said:
very interesting story and having known the car most of its life i will follow this closely
wonder if that towbar would fit my 1994 E34 touring??
Matt - please don't show this thread to Bill. I feel like I'm wrecking his pride and joy, although it absolutely flies now it's been stripped.wonder if that towbar would fit my 1994 E34 touring??
All E36's use the same towbar apparently, not sure if it'll fit an E34.
I bet it flies, it was always quick, remember trying to keep up in my Cooper S and was a bit baffled as he slowly pulled away in his 16 year old BMW
dan101smith said:
absolutely said:
I would have thought a 2 door would have been a better option, greater stiffness for a track car.
A subject of much controversy, but the 4dr is said to be the stiffer of the two.From memory, it sits lower on the driver's side due to it being developed in LHD form, and the extra drop on that side levels out when you have just a driver in LHD form. Apparently. Dunno if I buy that.
Project looks great, if you can be bothered to strip out the heater and all the gubbins that go with it that's a fair weight saving.
WRT the heater, apparently you need a working screen demister for the MOT. I know a lot of rally cars use heated front screens (a la Ford Quickclear) but they cost several hundred quid. Hence to keep a working blower and demister I've had to leave the entire upper dashboard.
sniff petrol said:
dan101smith said:
absolutely said:
I would have thought a 2 door would have been a better option, greater stiffness for a track car.
A subject of much controversy, but the 4dr is said to be the stiffer of the two.From memory, it sits lower on the driver's side due to it being developed in LHD form, and the extra drop on that side levels out when you have just a driver in LHD form. Apparently. Dunno if I buy that.
Project looks great, if you can be bothered to strip out the heater and all the gubbins that go with it that's a fair weight saving.
WRT the heater, apparently you need a working screen demister for the MOT. I know a lot of rally cars use heated front screens (a la Ford Quickclear) but they cost several hundred quid. Hence to keep a working blower and demister I've had to leave the entire upper dashboard.
matt21 said:
I wont but spoke to him last night, he is glad its gone to an enthusiast who will enjoy it for a while rather than someone who just abuses it and doesnt care.
I bet it flies, it was always quick, remember trying to keep up in my Cooper S and was a bit baffled as he slowly pulled away in his 16 year old BMW
Cool, good on him - I'd dread to think what condition some of my old cars are in now. This thing is deceptively swift, being as there's so particular sweet spot in the rev range there's no sudden perceived change of rate of acceleration, and with a cable operated throttle the response is perfect. I bet it flies, it was always quick, remember trying to keep up in my Cooper S and was a bit baffled as he slowly pulled away in his 16 year old BMW
I guess the standard PWR is about 10bhp/tonne up on the MCS. Will be getting it weighed in the morning so will find out for definite, BMW quote 1330kgs with a full tank (what does 65 litres of petrol weigh?)
Remember the EVO Grand challenge from earlier this year? Theirs was dynoed at 187.1bhp and 175.4Lb/ft against a quoted 193bhp and 181Lb/ft. Theirs had also had a replacement engine so I'd hope mine was putting out similar figures. The fact that the mechanic that fitted the engine was keen to buy the car when he heard Bill was getting rid suggests to me that it must be good'un.
Greendubber said:
What about one that plugs into the fag lighter and sticks on the screen with 2 suckers?. Seen a lot of them in old VW's due to the screen demister being rubbish. Could mean you can ditch the heavy original and just slap this one on to keep the MOT tester happy perhaps?.
You could be onto something there - got any links to a website? Only other thing as Benny.c found out on his Jagermeister track car is that the cooling system becomes a bh to bleed without the heater matrix as it contains a bleed screw apparently.
sniff petrol said:
Greendubber said:
What about one that plugs into the fag lighter and sticks on the screen with 2 suckers?. Seen a lot of them in old VW's due to the screen demister being rubbish. Could mean you can ditch the heavy original and just slap this one on to keep the MOT tester happy perhaps?.
You could be onto something there - got any links to a website? Only other thing as Benny.c found out on his Jagermeister track car is that the cooling system becomes a bh to bleed without the heater matrix as it contains a bleed screw apparently.
http://www1.westfalia.net/shops/car_accessoires/be...
Or...
http://www.gbdriver.co.uk/acatalog/12v-car-heater-...
I have no dount they look cheesy but should be enough to keep the MOT tester happy, plus it wouldnt be too hard to hide a power feed for it and just plug it in for the drive to the MOT station
benny.c said:
What did you use to remove the cats? Looks like a flexible fitting at one end? Do you think it'd be too loud for the noise test up at Oulton?
Yeah Ben it's just a couple of 90cm lengths of flexible exhaust tube. To be honest it doesn't add any power, just noise. My mate's got a noise meter so I'll get it tested to find out for you. Your's all ready for next Tuesday?
Had it weighed yesterday and it came in at 1300kgs* including myself (80kgs) and just under half a tank of fuel, so I reckon 1200kgs empty. That still includes the full dashboard, all the seats and window motors, sunroof panel and radio and 4 speakers (I need my sanity on longer solo trips) so I reckon 1150kgs would be possible with 2 racing bucket seats, polycarb windows and a aluminium panel replacing the sunroof. Not sure what the full dash and heater matrix would weigh and whether it's worth the hassle of removing them.
- the weighbridge rounds off to the nearest 20kgs apparently, so it could be anything from 1290-1310kgs really.
sniff petrol said:
dan101smith said:
absolutely said:
I would have thought a 2 door would have been a better option, greater stiffness for a track car.
A subject of much controversy, but the 4dr is said to be the stiffer of the two.From memory, it sits lower on the driver's side due to it being developed in LHD form, and the extra drop on that side levels out when you have just a driver in LHD form. Apparently. Dunno if I buy that.
Project looks great, if you can be bothered to strip out the heater and all the gubbins that go with it that's a fair weight saving.
WRT the heater, apparently you need a working screen demister for the MOT. I know a lot of rally cars use heated front screens (a la Ford Quickclear) but they cost several hundred quid. Hence to keep a working blower and demister I've had to leave the entire upper dashboard.
Having said that, I'm beginning to wish it was still there.
RatLad said:
sniff petrol said:
dan101smith said:
absolutely said:
I would have thought a 2 door would have been a better option, greater stiffness for a track car.
A subject of much controversy, but the 4dr is said to be the stiffer of the two.From memory, it sits lower on the driver's side due to it being developed in LHD form, and the extra drop on that side levels out when you have just a driver in LHD form. Apparently. Dunno if I buy that.
Project looks great, if you can be bothered to strip out the heater and all the gubbins that go with it that's a fair weight saving.
WRT the heater, apparently you need a working screen demister for the MOT. I know a lot of rally cars use heated front screens (a la Ford Quickclear) but they cost several hundred quid. Hence to keep a working blower and demister I've had to leave the entire upper dashboard.
Having said that, I'm beginning to wish it was still there.
To be honest I think I've taken it as far as I want to for the trip to the Ring next month. If all goes well there then I might have a few more plans for it.
sniff petrol said:
Yeah Ben it's just a couple of 90cm lengths of flexible exhaust tube. To be honest it doesn't add any power, just noise. My mate's got a noise meter so I'll get it tested to find out for you.
Your's all ready for next Tuesday?
Would be interested to know the results as our next work will be some cheap new headers off ebay, de-catting and losing the middle boxes. Don't want any hassle at track days with the noise though. Like you say, no performance gains but will make it easier to hear the engine in a helmet.Your's all ready for next Tuesday?
All set for next week. Got some ex BTCC wets as the weather looks like it could go either way at the moment. Turns out they are Matt Neil's, but on the plus side they are unused
Last time out, we had a rather horrible noise coming from the diff area on the last lap I did and we investigated properly last night. I was all for taking it to a garage as the cylinder head incident from our last outing has mentally scarred me. Mike then spotted that a solid brake pipe had worked it's way loose and was resting on the prop shaft Fortunately no damage done but it could have been nasty. It's amazing how much noise the pipe was making when the prop shaft rotated - it really sounded like a gear or bearing had been destroyed.
So all ready to go. Just got to get a new gear knob - I broke the stock one when we fitted a short shift lever
Edited by benny.c on Tuesday 29th July 14:51
benny.c said:
... our next work will be some cheap new headers off ebay, de-catting and losing the middle boxes. Don't want any hassle at track days with the noise though. Like you say, no performance gains but will make it easier to hear the engine in a helmet.
I'd have thought that you'd be better off spending the money on an M3 engine now your car stops and handles more than well enough?cg360 said:
Re stiffness, I remember when the M3 saloon came out, a couple of mags mentioned the 3-door being stiffer.Apparently you need more chassis rigidity when there are two holes in each side, than if there is only one. Does that make sense?
I remember seeing some Nurburgring laptimes between the M3 coupe and convertible and there wasn't a lot between them, about 2-3 secs so enough to take into account the extra weight of the cabrio but not the stiffness. If I did cage it up anyway it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference between a 2 or 4 door, and I'd rather have the extra access to carry spare wheels and stuff to trackdays.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff