BMW 328i e36 Track Toy!
Discussion
This thread has been a long time coming, so let's start from the beginning...
In 2013 I bought a MK2 Golf GTi 16v with the intention of building a stripped out track weapon. After a couple of trips to Snetterton where I was overtaken by everything, and left a little underwhelmed, I soon lost interest in pumping loads of cash into it, and sold it after 4 months. Just before prices started to rise.
During my MK2 ownership I acquired a Mk5 GTi Edition 30 as a daily hack, which was promptly remapped with REVO stage 1 software. Although this was only ever intended as a daily driver, it did make one or two appearances on track, and given it was totally standard, it was jolly good fun, apart from the chocolate brakes. A remapped Edition 30 is a really great car, probably exemplified by the fact I still own it more than 3 years later.
|http://thumbsnap.com/UH6EDGZQ[/url]
And so the story begins. I have driven my good friend Hugh (see his soon-to-be turbo'd MX-5 thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... nuts over the course of a year deliberating whether to slowly mod the Edition 30 into a track orientated road car, weighing up the pros and cons of FWD vs RWD, cheap car vs moderately expensive car, turbo vs naturally aspirated, and EVERYTHING in between, I finally decided to start looking at BMWs. Initially this took the form of looking a track spec e46 M3's, but after lusting over those for a while (a long while) I came back to reality and started looking at more economical models. A brief interest in an e36 M3 was quashed due to rising prices and reliability issues, leaving the most obvious choice, an e36 328i.
I eventually found a nice green example not too far from where I live, owned by a very nice chap called Luke. The car was listed on eBay and seemed to tick all the boxes: BC coilovers, Eiback ARBs, fully polybushed, M3 LSD, so I nipped over with Hugh one evening and was instantly sure that this was the way to go. The owner Luke had clearly spent good money in the right places, the car drove fantastically and looked the business. A return trip with my co-owner (my dad) and a deal was done.
Spec:
- 1997 BMW 328i Coupe
- 94,000 miles
- BC Coilovers
- Fully polybushed with Powerflex Black bushes
- M3 3.0 LSD
- Eibach anti roll bars
- X brace
- Front and rear strut braces (ultra racing)
- Sparco and OMP racing seats with harnesses
- Harness bar
- Viscous Fan delete
- EBC Yellowstuff pads
- Vanos rebuilt 5k miles before purchase
- Genuine staggered M3 sunflowers (7.5/8.5)
Here are some pics of how she looked when I bought her:
In 2013 I bought a MK2 Golf GTi 16v with the intention of building a stripped out track weapon. After a couple of trips to Snetterton where I was overtaken by everything, and left a little underwhelmed, I soon lost interest in pumping loads of cash into it, and sold it after 4 months. Just before prices started to rise.
During my MK2 ownership I acquired a Mk5 GTi Edition 30 as a daily hack, which was promptly remapped with REVO stage 1 software. Although this was only ever intended as a daily driver, it did make one or two appearances on track, and given it was totally standard, it was jolly good fun, apart from the chocolate brakes. A remapped Edition 30 is a really great car, probably exemplified by the fact I still own it more than 3 years later.
|http://thumbsnap.com/UH6EDGZQ[/url]And so the story begins. I have driven my good friend Hugh (see his soon-to-be turbo'd MX-5 thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a... nuts over the course of a year deliberating whether to slowly mod the Edition 30 into a track orientated road car, weighing up the pros and cons of FWD vs RWD, cheap car vs moderately expensive car, turbo vs naturally aspirated, and EVERYTHING in between, I finally decided to start looking at BMWs. Initially this took the form of looking a track spec e46 M3's, but after lusting over those for a while (a long while) I came back to reality and started looking at more economical models. A brief interest in an e36 M3 was quashed due to rising prices and reliability issues, leaving the most obvious choice, an e36 328i.
I eventually found a nice green example not too far from where I live, owned by a very nice chap called Luke. The car was listed on eBay and seemed to tick all the boxes: BC coilovers, Eiback ARBs, fully polybushed, M3 LSD, so I nipped over with Hugh one evening and was instantly sure that this was the way to go. The owner Luke had clearly spent good money in the right places, the car drove fantastically and looked the business. A return trip with my co-owner (my dad) and a deal was done.
Spec:
- 1997 BMW 328i Coupe
- 94,000 miles
- BC Coilovers
- Fully polybushed with Powerflex Black bushes
- M3 3.0 LSD
- Eibach anti roll bars
- X brace
- Front and rear strut braces (ultra racing)
- Sparco and OMP racing seats with harnesses
- Harness bar
- Viscous Fan delete
- EBC Yellowstuff pads
- Vanos rebuilt 5k miles before purchase
- Genuine staggered M3 sunflowers (7.5/8.5)
Here are some pics of how she looked when I bought her:
Edited by JCH88 on Wednesday 17th February 21:02
Being a tall chap (6ft 6) the first matter that needed addressing was the seating position. The previous owner, Luke, was of normal build and had the seating position set up perfectly, centred to the steering wheel, good height and just far enough away from the wheel...for normal folk. Unfortunately, my larger frame just did not fit, so I set about researching seat mounts for the e36, bought some from DriftWorks which ended up not fitting the seat, and therefore I had to fudge something together, which was far from ideal for my first outing (and only so far) at Snetterton in early November.
The only other changes were the removal of the rear seats and various bits of trim to try and save a few KGs.
This is how the seats were mounted
Rear seats out
New wheel and spacer
Got the car all ready for snetterton, seating position was pretty pants, but adequate to still drive safely and have fun...which I did. The car was running on totally shot road rubber at this point, and the brake discs appeared to be warped delivering heavy vibration under load. All in all though I had a great day, it's certainly a much better track hack than the Mk2 ever was, and kept up with some expensive machines in the corners.
Some pics:
MX-5 (last outing before turbo)
Shot tyres:
More to come...(feel free to follow me on instgram for more frequent updates @hootz123)
Sorry for pic quality, the look pants. 2MB limit really isn't enough.
The only other changes were the removal of the rear seats and various bits of trim to try and save a few KGs.
This is how the seats were mounted
Rear seats out
New wheel and spacer
Got the car all ready for snetterton, seating position was pretty pants, but adequate to still drive safely and have fun...which I did. The car was running on totally shot road rubber at this point, and the brake discs appeared to be warped delivering heavy vibration under load. All in all though I had a great day, it's certainly a much better track hack than the Mk2 ever was, and kept up with some expensive machines in the corners.
Some pics:
MX-5 (last outing before turbo)
Shot tyres:
More to come...(feel free to follow me on instgram for more frequent updates @hootz123)
Sorry for pic quality, the look pants. 2MB limit really isn't enough.
Great car OP. I just had a look around your Instagram, the car looks great, please get this thread up to date!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
declasm said:
Looks good! I can't get enough of E36 build threads 
Check mine out http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Since early November I have accumulated a number of parts for the car in preparation of actually using it more frequently throughout 2016.
First up, I really wanted new wheels. The sunflowers are great, and elledgedly the lightest of the OEM options, however after much reading of internet forums I decided to move over to a square set up, as these appear to be an easy way to change the playfulness of the car and reduce understeer. The tyres on the sunflowers were done, so why not upgrade the wheels at the same time as replacing tyres right?
It turns out the e36 is a pretty hard car to buy square set up wheels for, or wheels in general for that matter. The issues you have are clearing the strut on the front, and not rubbing on the arches in the rear, choosing offset is a bit of a pain to say the least. The e46 resolved this problem and I believe wider wheels are much easier to fit.
Much more forum sweeping later I had my sights set on some 17x9 et23 Team Dynamics, an obvious choice, but they're such good looking rims in a tried and tested formula. After discussions with a few people it became apparent that not only would significant arch rolling (flaring) be needed on the rear to fit these, but also, in a 200hp 328i, I might be a bit 'over-tyred' making the car feel a bit benign on track. I shelved this idea, especially as this spec would have cost £800, and this is supposed to be a moderately 'budget' build.
I then got impatient and made a silly eBay purchase of some BBS RC090 'Stye 5' split rims off a guy in Southend-on-Sea. Nothing wrong with the wheels, they were ratty as anything, but straight and true, just in need of a refurb. I lost interest in spending £300 on a refurb with the potential of needing new bots etc, and sold them a week later. Good job, as these wheels in a 17x8 et20 necessitate the use of a family narrow tyre in order to clear the arches...not what I wanted on my track car.
During my brief BBS ownership a set of 17x8 et30 team dynamics came up on eBay, sods law right! They were from MagikWheels, which after firing off a few emails to Team Dynamics (Rimstock) turned out to be affiliated to the company. The wheels seemed perfect, and were listed at a cracking price, less than half that of the 17x9's I mentioned earlier. A few checks on 'willtheyfit.com' and I snapped them up. I am still yet to use them in anger but I hope the 17x8 set up will allow the car to feel a touch more playful on track. Also, I can only recommend MagikWheels from my own personal experience.
How the wheels were packaged
Looking pretty good
That's all I have time to post right now, more to come. Got to go get the car sorted for a day at Snetterton tomorrow!
First up, I really wanted new wheels. The sunflowers are great, and elledgedly the lightest of the OEM options, however after much reading of internet forums I decided to move over to a square set up, as these appear to be an easy way to change the playfulness of the car and reduce understeer. The tyres on the sunflowers were done, so why not upgrade the wheels at the same time as replacing tyres right?
It turns out the e36 is a pretty hard car to buy square set up wheels for, or wheels in general for that matter. The issues you have are clearing the strut on the front, and not rubbing on the arches in the rear, choosing offset is a bit of a pain to say the least. The e46 resolved this problem and I believe wider wheels are much easier to fit.
Much more forum sweeping later I had my sights set on some 17x9 et23 Team Dynamics, an obvious choice, but they're such good looking rims in a tried and tested formula. After discussions with a few people it became apparent that not only would significant arch rolling (flaring) be needed on the rear to fit these, but also, in a 200hp 328i, I might be a bit 'over-tyred' making the car feel a bit benign on track. I shelved this idea, especially as this spec would have cost £800, and this is supposed to be a moderately 'budget' build.
I then got impatient and made a silly eBay purchase of some BBS RC090 'Stye 5' split rims off a guy in Southend-on-Sea. Nothing wrong with the wheels, they were ratty as anything, but straight and true, just in need of a refurb. I lost interest in spending £300 on a refurb with the potential of needing new bots etc, and sold them a week later. Good job, as these wheels in a 17x8 et20 necessitate the use of a family narrow tyre in order to clear the arches...not what I wanted on my track car.
During my brief BBS ownership a set of 17x8 et30 team dynamics came up on eBay, sods law right! They were from MagikWheels, which after firing off a few emails to Team Dynamics (Rimstock) turned out to be affiliated to the company. The wheels seemed perfect, and were listed at a cracking price, less than half that of the 17x9's I mentioned earlier. A few checks on 'willtheyfit.com' and I snapped them up. I am still yet to use them in anger but I hope the 17x8 set up will allow the car to feel a touch more playful on track. Also, I can only recommend MagikWheels from my own personal experience.
How the wheels were packaged
Looking pretty good
That's all I have time to post right now, more to come. Got to go get the car sorted for a day at Snetterton tomorrow!
vMPM said:
Thanks dude, your car looks really nice, keep it up. I'll keep the updates coming too.Another update, there's a fair amount to get through.
Around November time I had a email from Luke, the chap I bought the car from. Unfortunately, the Sparco harness that Luke had bought for the passenger side off eBay turned out to be a fake. Luke had received an email from Trading Standards highlighting that the seller he had bought from was currently under investigation. Anyway, thanks to Luke for bringing this to my attention. Obviously it had to be changed as soon as possible and thus this was purchased (from DemonTweeks):
Around November time I had a email from Luke, the chap I bought the car from. Unfortunately, the Sparco harness that Luke had bought for the passenger side off eBay turned out to be a fake. Luke had received an email from Trading Standards highlighting that the seller he had bought from was currently under investigation. Anyway, thanks to Luke for bringing this to my attention. Obviously it had to be changed as soon as possible and thus this was purchased (from DemonTweeks):
More...
So having dithered about wheel choice, choosing tyres was an all more simple affair. Wheels were shod in 225/45 r17 Federal 595-RSRs. Got them on the car a week later and I think they look great, a touch 'chav chariot', but far more racecar than the 'standard' sunflower. Stance is good, and so far (although I have done very little testing) there appears to be no rubbing even though the arches have not been touched.
So having dithered about wheel choice, choosing tyres was an all more simple affair. Wheels were shod in 225/45 r17 Federal 595-RSRs. Got them on the car a week later and I think they look great, a touch 'chav chariot', but far more racecar than the 'standard' sunflower. Stance is good, and so far (although I have done very little testing) there appears to be no rubbing even though the arches have not been touched.
problemchild1976 said:
are these actually any good as track cars?
i would have thought the mx5 a better choice and then when you have a bit of spare £ along comes the supercharger
(plus you get to compare your driving directly with your friend....haha)
enjoy
JJ
In answer to your question, yes they do, this one has had a fair amount of work though.i would have thought the mx5 a better choice and then when you have a bit of spare £ along comes the supercharger
(plus you get to compare your driving directly with your friend....haha)
enjoy
JJ
Ref why I didn't buy an MX-5: I'm 6ft 6. Would have loved one, they're cheap, light, fun, and have a huge amount of aftermarket support.
So, time for another update.
On Thursday of last week (18th Feb 2016) I got a call from Hugh to say that their mazda was definitely not going to be ready for their day at snetterton on Saturday. Hugh asked if I would like to come along and use the 328i with him, and his partner in crime, Chris.I duly accepted despite the fact that the car needed a fair amount of work to get it ready. I managed to get Friday off from work and set about prepping the car.
First up, front discs and pads. I'd had these a while but hadn't got around to fitting them. EBC yellows and standard discs, these are plenty good enough for track day use, and coupled with decent fluid and braided lines actually make a good, cheap brake setup.
OLD
NEW
I then had to fit the seats which ended up taking forever, along with a new drivers harness.
Finishing up about 9pm, having started at 9am, they car was pretty much good to go, just had to adjust the harnesses on the day and fix the passenger seat in place.
Now, Snetterton was cold, wet and therefore really greasy...do you see where this is going yet? After a few slow laps of bedding the brakes in and scrubbing the new tyres in, I started to push on slightly. Coming around Riches the back end let go, I didn't catch it quickly enough and was sent into a spin. A full 180 on the tarmac, and onto the grass, the car was sliding parallel to the barrier. Stupidly I hadn't fully wound the lock off and as soon as the tyres found a bit of grip the rear end rotated slightly and we clipped the barrier. Unfortunately this caused a red flag (sorry to whoever was there) as we were bogged down and couldn't get the car out. The marshals were great and superbly efficient, the car was soon on the back of the low loader and we were back in the paddock. Further inspection of the damage revealed a modest amount of rear quarter damage, luckily all cosmetic. A fair amount of duck tape later and we were good to head back out, thankfully without further incident.
This thread is meant to highlight not only changes that are made to the car, but also to document my journey and development. I accept that the crash was caused by my inexperience in a RWD car, and I'm just glad that it happened at relatively low speed and with minimal damage; although it's driving my bodywork OCD nuts. Next, thing on the list is to get a lot of seat time, and some tuition.
On Thursday of last week (18th Feb 2016) I got a call from Hugh to say that their mazda was definitely not going to be ready for their day at snetterton on Saturday. Hugh asked if I would like to come along and use the 328i with him, and his partner in crime, Chris.I duly accepted despite the fact that the car needed a fair amount of work to get it ready. I managed to get Friday off from work and set about prepping the car.
First up, front discs and pads. I'd had these a while but hadn't got around to fitting them. EBC yellows and standard discs, these are plenty good enough for track day use, and coupled with decent fluid and braided lines actually make a good, cheap brake setup.
OLD
NEW
I then had to fit the seats which ended up taking forever, along with a new drivers harness.
Finishing up about 9pm, having started at 9am, they car was pretty much good to go, just had to adjust the harnesses on the day and fix the passenger seat in place.
Now, Snetterton was cold, wet and therefore really greasy...do you see where this is going yet? After a few slow laps of bedding the brakes in and scrubbing the new tyres in, I started to push on slightly. Coming around Riches the back end let go, I didn't catch it quickly enough and was sent into a spin. A full 180 on the tarmac, and onto the grass, the car was sliding parallel to the barrier. Stupidly I hadn't fully wound the lock off and as soon as the tyres found a bit of grip the rear end rotated slightly and we clipped the barrier. Unfortunately this caused a red flag (sorry to whoever was there) as we were bogged down and couldn't get the car out. The marshals were great and superbly efficient, the car was soon on the back of the low loader and we were back in the paddock. Further inspection of the damage revealed a modest amount of rear quarter damage, luckily all cosmetic. A fair amount of duck tape later and we were good to head back out, thankfully without further incident.
This thread is meant to highlight not only changes that are made to the car, but also to document my journey and development. I accept that the crash was caused by my inexperience in a RWD car, and I'm just glad that it happened at relatively low speed and with minimal damage; although it's driving my bodywork OCD nuts. Next, thing on the list is to get a lot of seat time, and some tuition.
JCH88 said:
problemchild1976 said:
are these actually any good as track cars?
i would have thought the mx5 a better choice and then when you have a bit of spare £ along comes the supercharger
(plus you get to compare your driving directly with your friend....haha)
enjoy
JJ
In answer to your question, yes they do, this one has had a fair amount of work though.i would have thought the mx5 a better choice and then when you have a bit of spare £ along comes the supercharger
(plus you get to compare your driving directly with your friend....haha)
enjoy
JJ
Ref why I didn't buy an MX-5: I'm 6ft 6. Would have loved one, they're cheap, light, fun, and have a huge amount of aftermarket support.
One thing i've learned is that no matter how cheap your simple track toy cost to acquire, it cost multiples of that to keep going and upgrade!
You get attached to it
Good thread.
CABC said:
One thing i've learned is that no matter how cheap your simple track toy cost to acquire, it cost multiples of that to keep going and upgrade!
Totally in agreement here - our mx5 upgrades now far outweigh the purchase cost of the car. I enjoy the process of building it, but given time again, I'd buy ready built.It's interesting comparing an MX-5 to this machine. The e36 picks up speed deceptively quickly and feels significantly faster than the 190bhp it's putting out. On track it definitely cocoons you from the action a little more but pays it back by having a much more accomplished ride (probably emphasised by the dampers). Having tried both, I'd be torn as to which I would buy again with my own money...
I feel it's time to resurrect this thread, a lot has happened since my last post so i'll try to get in all down, and in order.
Anyway some pics from spring last year:
First up a new windscreen was fitted as I managed to crack the original being a buffoon.
I also painted the front bumper using cans from paints4u as the bumper had clearly see some gravel trap action in the past.
Sanded down
Primered
First coat of base
Few more coats
Then clear
By no means a perfect job, but good enough for a track toy (for now), and not bad for a few rattle cans in a garage.
Anyway some pics from spring last year:
First up a new windscreen was fitted as I managed to crack the original being a buffoon.
I also painted the front bumper using cans from paints4u as the bumper had clearly see some gravel trap action in the past.
Sanded down
Primered
First coat of base
Few more coats
Then clear
By no means a perfect job, but good enough for a track toy (for now), and not bad for a few rattle cans in a garage.
Edited by JCH88 on Saturday 11th March 19:48
I also gave the damage a quick coat of boston green to try to make it look 'less bad'. This will be properly sorted at some point.
The impact of the crash ruined the boot latch mechanism and the boot would alway close securely, so i ordered some spring clips and whacked them on.
After this i did another track day but ran into an issue. I was being limited to 5250rpm and could get the thing to rev any higher. I still managed to get some decent track time in, but it was frustrating not being able to use the full rev range.
The fault was traced down to a speed signal error which put the ECU into limp mode, restricting revs. Pulling out the ABS fuses and relays didn't solve the problem unfortunately, and information on how best to rectify this issue was scarcely available. I finally decided that rather than running a wire from the ECU to the back of the clocks, as suggested on DriftWorks forum, I would avoid any potential issues with wiring the wrong pin etc and get the ECU mapped to remove this error.
So when you're getting a map anyway, you might as well upgrade stuff...right!?
I promptly ordered an m50 manifold and spent some time getting that to fit. It ended up being more of a pain that i had expected owing to missing connectors and hoses that were perished, or not long enough.
I also got the ECU remapped by EndTuning which cleared the faults and should have freed up a few more ponies with the M50 manifold.
In addition to the above, I took a gamble and ordered a GT style splitter off eBay which arrived months before i actually got it fitted owing to the seller sending me the wrong supports for it. *Sigh*
I also fitted a new scuttle and a bad boi sun strip, because i'm cool
The impact of the crash ruined the boot latch mechanism and the boot would alway close securely, so i ordered some spring clips and whacked them on.
After this i did another track day but ran into an issue. I was being limited to 5250rpm and could get the thing to rev any higher. I still managed to get some decent track time in, but it was frustrating not being able to use the full rev range.
The fault was traced down to a speed signal error which put the ECU into limp mode, restricting revs. Pulling out the ABS fuses and relays didn't solve the problem unfortunately, and information on how best to rectify this issue was scarcely available. I finally decided that rather than running a wire from the ECU to the back of the clocks, as suggested on DriftWorks forum, I would avoid any potential issues with wiring the wrong pin etc and get the ECU mapped to remove this error.
So when you're getting a map anyway, you might as well upgrade stuff...right!?
I promptly ordered an m50 manifold and spent some time getting that to fit. It ended up being more of a pain that i had expected owing to missing connectors and hoses that were perished, or not long enough.
I also got the ECU remapped by EndTuning which cleared the faults and should have freed up a few more ponies with the M50 manifold.
In addition to the above, I took a gamble and ordered a GT style splitter off eBay which arrived months before i actually got it fitted owing to the seller sending me the wrong supports for it. *Sigh*
I also fitted a new scuttle and a bad boi sun strip, because i'm cool
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