E36 cheap track day toy
Discussion
I noticed that to. When I first started looking for this cage it was about 900. It's now down to 500. Thankfully I paid more like half that. The competition one is still about a thousand. Which I find odd because it's basically this cage with a few more straight pipes welded in. Or so it looks from the pictures.
Sorry for the very late reply, but I have been working on my day to day car and updating the thread on that. We will be going to Oulton park first off this year.
I'm very pleased to say that after the couple of outings last year, I have had huge interest from several friend. So already booked for this year are, Oulton park, Snetterton, Brandshatch, Bedford Autodrome and Spa. Very excited to finally tick Spa off the list.
I'm very pleased to say that after the couple of outings last year, I have had huge interest from several friend. So already booked for this year are, Oulton park, Snetterton, Brandshatch, Bedford Autodrome and Spa. Very excited to finally tick Spa off the list.
Finally the time has come for the BMW to come out of hibernation.
Up on the ramp this afternoon next to our current restoration project. Which is the other reason I'm not home much at the moment.
Four nice and sticky semi slicks going on.
With the tyres stripped I gave the wheels a light dusting of paint to tidy them up.
Those done I moved on to the brakes. The rear pads haven't really worm out yet, but I'm so fed up of the noise those Ferrodo's make I'm changing them out for some performance friction pads.
You can just see in the photo that replaced the bleed nipples to. The old ones were getting really hard to undo. I have bought some new, with an 8mm hex instead of the 7mm on the originals. Not a huge difference I know but makes them easier to undo.
All bled and back together. Then time for a little fine tuning on our new geo machine.
I'm looking forward to getting back on track, see what these tyres can do.
One last little thing, new bonnet badge. As the old one had gone pale.
As far as I'm concerned she is ready to go.
Up on the ramp this afternoon next to our current restoration project. Which is the other reason I'm not home much at the moment.
Four nice and sticky semi slicks going on.
With the tyres stripped I gave the wheels a light dusting of paint to tidy them up.
Those done I moved on to the brakes. The rear pads haven't really worm out yet, but I'm so fed up of the noise those Ferrodo's make I'm changing them out for some performance friction pads.
You can just see in the photo that replaced the bleed nipples to. The old ones were getting really hard to undo. I have bought some new, with an 8mm hex instead of the 7mm on the originals. Not a huge difference I know but makes them easier to undo.
All bled and back together. Then time for a little fine tuning on our new geo machine.
I'm looking forward to getting back on track, see what these tyres can do.
One last little thing, new bonnet badge. As the old one had gone pale.
As far as I'm concerned she is ready to go.
Forgot I had taken this.
It is quite amazing with figures like that, that she handles so well. Unfortunately the rack was seized solid. I couldn't even adjust the front toe. I will have to leave it like this for now, then may be some adjustable rear arms and front top mounts could be in order. Would be nice to see how the track experience changes just through small adjustments.
I defiantly want to sort out the rear toe. It can't be helping that one side is toe out and the other toe in.
I'm so used to doing alignments on Porsches, where everything except the front Caster is adjustable. You feel kind of helpless looking at these figures and not being able to do anything about it.
It is quite amazing with figures like that, that she handles so well. Unfortunately the rack was seized solid. I couldn't even adjust the front toe. I will have to leave it like this for now, then may be some adjustable rear arms and front top mounts could be in order. Would be nice to see how the track experience changes just through small adjustments.
I defiantly want to sort out the rear toe. It can't be helping that one side is toe out and the other toe in.
I'm so used to doing alignments on Porsches, where everything except the front Caster is adjustable. You feel kind of helpless looking at these figures and not being able to do anything about it.
A proper report to follow when we get home. But I can say we all had a great time, I have never driven that hard before. The new tyres are awsome!
Only a couple of small issues, the half speed switch for the fan seems to have stopped working. I suspect the relay but I will investigate when home.
Leaving the track I was surprised to see the fuel light on, as I had half a tank not long before. I stopped and fuelled up but she only took 32 quid. Then the gauge said half a tank. Probably one of the level sensors has failed. This is a pain but you can't do this kind of thing without constant maintenance I suppose.
Hopefully lots more pics and possibly vids to follow as well as the post inspection report.
Only a couple of small issues, the half speed switch for the fan seems to have stopped working. I suspect the relay but I will investigate when home.
Leaving the track I was surprised to see the fuel light on, as I had half a tank not long before. I stopped and fuelled up but she only took 32 quid. Then the gauge said half a tank. Probably one of the level sensors has failed. This is a pain but you can't do this kind of thing without constant maintenance I suppose.
Hopefully lots more pics and possibly vids to follow as well as the post inspection report.
Thank you for the interesting PDF Helix. The test you suggested is only listed for the E38 so I guess I will have to do it the old fashioned way. At least the sensors are not exactly hard to get to with no interior.
Bully the tyres are Nankang NS2R. They really are excellent. Not something I would usually say about Nankangs.
So it has been a few days. The photos are starting to come in.
The day was nice and bright, cold but bright. Ideal conditions really.
As I usually do I started not knowing the track and really fumbling a few of the corners for a while.
But as the day went on I managed to get some more confidence and heat into the tyres.
They really do grip hard.
The brakes were not as good as last time out. I'm going to make a point of doing some work on them before Snetterton.
Apart from that and the already mentioned level sensor, everything went great.
The car really does handle and stop so well now. The only thing it could really do with is a bit more power. Possibly next winters project.
Bully the tyres are Nankang NS2R. They really are excellent. Not something I would usually say about Nankangs.
So it has been a few days. The photos are starting to come in.
The day was nice and bright, cold but bright. Ideal conditions really.
As I usually do I started not knowing the track and really fumbling a few of the corners for a while.
But as the day went on I managed to get some more confidence and heat into the tyres.
They really do grip hard.
The brakes were not as good as last time out. I'm going to make a point of doing some work on them before Snetterton.
Apart from that and the already mentioned level sensor, everything went great.
The car really does handle and stop so well now. The only thing it could really do with is a bit more power. Possibly next winters project.
A full 11 hours of work on the car today. But I still didn't get round to the brakes.
As I said the tyres were great at Oulton. But I can't help feel they could be even better if the wheel alignment was spot on.
I started with new rear camber adjustment arms.
These have come down in price a lot recently and although these were the cheapest I could find, I was still impressed with the nicely powder coated finish.
Fitting them wasn't as much fun as I had hoped. The original arm bolts were extremely rusty.
Eventually I managed to undo both, to find that you can't remove them past the Diff. So I unbolted the diff and jacked it right up in the chassis, giving me just enough room to free the bolts and remove the arms.
New arms in. I took the opportunity to undo the trailing arm mounting bolts so I can adjust the rear toe later.
Next came some front camber adjustment plates. With the strut removed I could see this wouldn't be easy either.
The old top mount is considerably deeper than the new ones. Also the cup for the spring top has the wrong size center. If fitted like this it would allow the spring to move, which is not good. In the end I made up some spacers so I could mount the old top cup underneath the new adjustment plate.
This will stop the spring moving and also give me back some of the height lost from the old top mount. I know the coilovers are hight adjustable, but if I move it to far it will affect the spring rate. I don't want to do all this then find it handle worse.
After many hours of fetling and adjusting they were back on the car.
The major work now complete. I replaced the inner and outer track rod joints.
I have wanted to replace these since the first day I had the car, they were just so rotten. But this was the first time it was necessary as they would not undo to adjust the toe any more.
With everything done and back on the floor, the front ride hight is a bit lower. I may have to do something about this. But I will try it for now.
On the geo ramp again. This time everything adjusts nicely. I have removed all of the spacers between the front shocks and hubs, that were giving me camber before. Although I only seem to be able to get three degrees of neg camber on the front with the plates. I might put one spacer back in at a later date. At least now I can fine tune.
The rear set up is lovely. With 2.5 deg of neg camber and 0.2 of toe.
The front with 3.0 camber and 0.0 toe. I may run like this at Snetterton then do more fine adjustment after. If the ride hight doesn't become an issue.
Finally, I know no one but me cares about the stickers. But I am very proud. I bought a 300 pound car and challenged myself to take it to as many different tracks as I could. Until the rear bumper was full of track stickers.
That's it, full!
Challenge compleat. I can now start to repeat tracks I have been to before. Which is handy as I have Snetterton booked for next month. That is the last sticker she will be getting. Well, I'm sure there could always be room for Spa.
As I said the tyres were great at Oulton. But I can't help feel they could be even better if the wheel alignment was spot on.
I started with new rear camber adjustment arms.
These have come down in price a lot recently and although these were the cheapest I could find, I was still impressed with the nicely powder coated finish.
Fitting them wasn't as much fun as I had hoped. The original arm bolts were extremely rusty.
Eventually I managed to undo both, to find that you can't remove them past the Diff. So I unbolted the diff and jacked it right up in the chassis, giving me just enough room to free the bolts and remove the arms.
New arms in. I took the opportunity to undo the trailing arm mounting bolts so I can adjust the rear toe later.
Next came some front camber adjustment plates. With the strut removed I could see this wouldn't be easy either.
The old top mount is considerably deeper than the new ones. Also the cup for the spring top has the wrong size center. If fitted like this it would allow the spring to move, which is not good. In the end I made up some spacers so I could mount the old top cup underneath the new adjustment plate.
This will stop the spring moving and also give me back some of the height lost from the old top mount. I know the coilovers are hight adjustable, but if I move it to far it will affect the spring rate. I don't want to do all this then find it handle worse.
After many hours of fetling and adjusting they were back on the car.
The major work now complete. I replaced the inner and outer track rod joints.
I have wanted to replace these since the first day I had the car, they were just so rotten. But this was the first time it was necessary as they would not undo to adjust the toe any more.
With everything done and back on the floor, the front ride hight is a bit lower. I may have to do something about this. But I will try it for now.
On the geo ramp again. This time everything adjusts nicely. I have removed all of the spacers between the front shocks and hubs, that were giving me camber before. Although I only seem to be able to get three degrees of neg camber on the front with the plates. I might put one spacer back in at a later date. At least now I can fine tune.
The rear set up is lovely. With 2.5 deg of neg camber and 0.2 of toe.
The front with 3.0 camber and 0.0 toe. I may run like this at Snetterton then do more fine adjustment after. If the ride hight doesn't become an issue.
Finally, I know no one but me cares about the stickers. But I am very proud. I bought a 300 pound car and challenged myself to take it to as many different tracks as I could. Until the rear bumper was full of track stickers.
That's it, full!
Challenge compleat. I can now start to repeat tracks I have been to before. Which is handy as I have Snetterton booked for next month. That is the last sticker she will be getting. Well, I'm sure there could always be room for Spa.
Thanks. It is still nice to get feedback.
Why don't you start a thread for the compact. It's good to see what others are up to. But also can help when others make suggestions about your build.
Oh and here is a tip. If you don't want to throw money away on a bigger engine. Don't go to trackdays with your brother in law, with his silly 1000hp car. It does make you crave a few more beans.
But do take a good group of mates, especially to the further away tracks. Lads weekend away goes much better with a trackday in the middle.
Why don't you start a thread for the compact. It's good to see what others are up to. But also can help when others make suggestions about your build.
Oh and here is a tip. If you don't want to throw money away on a bigger engine. Don't go to trackdays with your brother in law, with his silly 1000hp car. It does make you crave a few more beans.
But do take a good group of mates, especially to the further away tracks. Lads weekend away goes much better with a trackday in the middle.
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff