Just starting out with an E46 330ci budget track car build
Discussion
Little bit of a lengthy post coming up but the direction that I've been taking the car in has changed a little bit and my plans for the car have been altered somewhat but for the better I think. I've had the use of another car for quite some time now but due to some personal circumstances changing I no longer have the use of said car anymore. This leaves me in a difficult spot because I have no car for work at this point and then comes a predicament with the 330.
The 330 is insured all year round as obviously I don't want it to be left without cover and what I usually do is when I'm going to be doing a track day I tax it for that month and drag it out to do the track day and then it goes back away. With the use of the other car being gone now and with the way things are at the minute with everything on the up etc it seems daft to have a car insured all year round that I use 5 or 6 times a year.
The last track day that I did was Cadwell and from me it's about 2 hours and 15 minutes away, I finished work on the Friday and set off to Cadwell, the journey was pretty tiresome tbh with no interior and 330 challenge spec coilovers the noise and discomfort for some reason was really bugging me. When I arrived at the hotel, it was late and I was extremely tired and fatigued from the journey leaving me to question is it worth such discomfort in the car for the sake of a track day and would it really hamper my enjoyment driving on track if the car still had seats etc. Don't get me wrong when I take it out on track its amazing, the coilovers are truly impressive and the way it grips and handles is ace.
The other side to this way of thinking is that my lad is nearly 4 now and I really want to start enjoying the car with him. Due to bucket seats, coilovers etc etc his seat won't go in the car and even if it would I wouldn't put him in it due to how hard the suspension is so I've come to the decision that for now the car is going back to pretty much standard.
My plan is to fit some Eibach Sportline lowering springs, refit the interior but leave things like the shifter, the strut braces, the braided lines and the track pads that I have in the car. This way I can drive to a track day with the A/C on, music on and be in relative comfort and enjoy my day because I've come to realise I got sucked into buying things which at my skill level were of no benefit to me and I was in danger of ruining a nice car due to what I'd been reading and what I thought I needed. Luckily I didn't go too far with the modifications and I kept everything I'd removed so things can be refitted easily. I do need another M Sport steering wheel though if anybody has one they want to part with.
Sorry for the long post but I'll update shortly with some pictures from fitment of the Eibachs etc!!
The 330 is insured all year round as obviously I don't want it to be left without cover and what I usually do is when I'm going to be doing a track day I tax it for that month and drag it out to do the track day and then it goes back away. With the use of the other car being gone now and with the way things are at the minute with everything on the up etc it seems daft to have a car insured all year round that I use 5 or 6 times a year.
The last track day that I did was Cadwell and from me it's about 2 hours and 15 minutes away, I finished work on the Friday and set off to Cadwell, the journey was pretty tiresome tbh with no interior and 330 challenge spec coilovers the noise and discomfort for some reason was really bugging me. When I arrived at the hotel, it was late and I was extremely tired and fatigued from the journey leaving me to question is it worth such discomfort in the car for the sake of a track day and would it really hamper my enjoyment driving on track if the car still had seats etc. Don't get me wrong when I take it out on track its amazing, the coilovers are truly impressive and the way it grips and handles is ace.
The other side to this way of thinking is that my lad is nearly 4 now and I really want to start enjoying the car with him. Due to bucket seats, coilovers etc etc his seat won't go in the car and even if it would I wouldn't put him in it due to how hard the suspension is so I've come to the decision that for now the car is going back to pretty much standard.
My plan is to fit some Eibach Sportline lowering springs, refit the interior but leave things like the shifter, the strut braces, the braided lines and the track pads that I have in the car. This way I can drive to a track day with the A/C on, music on and be in relative comfort and enjoy my day because I've come to realise I got sucked into buying things which at my skill level were of no benefit to me and I was in danger of ruining a nice car due to what I'd been reading and what I thought I needed. Luckily I didn't go too far with the modifications and I kept everything I'd removed so things can be refitted easily. I do need another M Sport steering wheel though if anybody has one they want to part with.
Sorry for the long post but I'll update shortly with some pictures from fitment of the Eibachs etc!!
Following on from my previous post about the use of the car and how I'm going to be changing it I did a lot of research on what was the best way to do things and how to do them like I usually do. I didn't want to to just jump into another set of coilovers as I my friend who I do my track days with has entered time attack this year so my track days will more than likely be few and far between for now.
Looking at my various options I figured that lowering springs would be my best bet for the time being. Cheap, comfortable, useable as a daily and they give me the option to upgrade my struts later on with struts of my choice to focus the car even further. In the end there was only really one name that I could go for and the name was Eibach. Reading lots of posts about people's experiences and the differing ride heights between the pro and the sportline kit I went with the sportline kit in the end. I'm probably going to upgrade the struts in the future anyway with some Bilstein jobbies and I got a good deal on the Eibachs so I went for them.
The quality of these springs is obvious and they arrived next day which was great. I cracked on with fitting them and forgot just how easy it is to work on an e46 suspension setup. 4 bolts and a front strut is off, excellent cars.
I'm really happy with the ride height, I haven't measured it but it looks very similar to the height that I had the coilovers set to which is good. I haven't really drove it yet as I've got a few other bits and pieces to do on it now but I'm happy with how it looks and will report back on how it feels to drive with no coilovers. I'm probably going to need to redo the geo. I've knocked the camber pins pit of the front and visually it looks to be running a fair bit of camber, possibly something near - 2 which would be good but I won't know for definite until I have it on the machine. The e46 strut towers are actually slightly slotted so you can get a little more plus with the car at this height it naturally gains some negative camber anyway.
Looking at my various options I figured that lowering springs would be my best bet for the time being. Cheap, comfortable, useable as a daily and they give me the option to upgrade my struts later on with struts of my choice to focus the car even further. In the end there was only really one name that I could go for and the name was Eibach. Reading lots of posts about people's experiences and the differing ride heights between the pro and the sportline kit I went with the sportline kit in the end. I'm probably going to upgrade the struts in the future anyway with some Bilstein jobbies and I got a good deal on the Eibachs so I went for them.
The quality of these springs is obvious and they arrived next day which was great. I cracked on with fitting them and forgot just how easy it is to work on an e46 suspension setup. 4 bolts and a front strut is off, excellent cars.
I'm really happy with the ride height, I haven't measured it but it looks very similar to the height that I had the coilovers set to which is good. I haven't really drove it yet as I've got a few other bits and pieces to do on it now but I'm happy with how it looks and will report back on how it feels to drive with no coilovers. I'm probably going to need to redo the geo. I've knocked the camber pins pit of the front and visually it looks to be running a fair bit of camber, possibly something near - 2 which would be good but I won't know for definite until I have it on the machine. The e46 strut towers are actually slightly slotted so you can get a little more plus with the car at this height it naturally gains some negative camber anyway.
Another little update on the transformation back to road car. When I was building the car I didn't think it would be being out back to a road car so I stupidly sold my steering wheel and airbag.
Managed to find a decent M Sport wheel off a nice lad on ebay for 60 quid and he even threw in an airbag for me so thanks to him.
Omp was looking a bit sorry for itself and with me being a mechanic I didn't want to much it up even more using it for daily duties so I've swapped back.
Cleaned up the wheel with a magic sponge and some interior cleaner and its come up a treat, I now also have volume controls and cruise back so happy days!!
Managed to find a decent M Sport wheel off a nice lad on ebay for 60 quid and he even threw in an airbag for me so thanks to him.
Omp was looking a bit sorry for itself and with me being a mechanic I didn't want to much it up even more using it for daily duties so I've swapped back.
Cleaned up the wheel with a magic sponge and some interior cleaner and its come up a treat, I now also have volume controls and cruise back so happy days!!
It's been a month since I've taken the coilovers off and fitted the lowering springs and I can honestly say I'm getting a lot more enjoyment out of the car. I'm not listening for noises anymore and fearing for my spine when I come to a bump in the road.
I stumbled across a topic from this forum from a few years ago where a couple of knowledgeable members are commenting on a 330 build ideas thread and their recommendations are totally right so that the car can still be enjoyed day to day and on track occasionally.
I took my lad out for a drive over the tops at weekend and I did the same drive on my own with the car in track spec and it was awful. However now it was so much better and my lad had a great time which is what its all about. We can enjoy the car together now which is amazing.
We also had a trip over to the railway near us and caught a glimpse of this machine.
I stumbled across a topic from this forum from a few years ago where a couple of knowledgeable members are commenting on a 330 build ideas thread and their recommendations are totally right so that the car can still be enjoyed day to day and on track occasionally.
I took my lad out for a drive over the tops at weekend and I did the same drive on my own with the car in track spec and it was awful. However now it was so much better and my lad had a great time which is what its all about. We can enjoy the car together now which is amazing.
We also had a trip over to the railway near us and caught a glimpse of this machine.
SWoll said:
There looks to be some serious negative camber on that rear wheel, or is it just the photo? Looks borderline 'stanced'. 
Well spotted, - 2.2 degrees to be precise. I've not redone the geo yet from having the coilovers on. We've got an alignment machine at work so I'm still trying to work out what a good fast road alignment will be before I align it up. Andrew-b90y3 said:
SWoll said:
There looks to be some serious negative camber on that rear wheel, or is it just the photo? Looks borderline 'stanced'.
Well spotted, - 2.2 degrees to be precise. I've not redone the geo yet from having the coilovers on. We've got an alignment machine at work so I'm still trying to work out what a good fast road alignment will be before I align it up. Totally agree with the direction you're going with it BTW. A good track car almost never makes a good road car, especially not with the kind of roads we have in the UK.
helix402 said:
In my E46 days I think I ran nearly -2 degrees rear camber without any tyre wear issues.
I agree Helix, main aim will be to get as much front camber on the car as I can (camber pins knocked out and as low as it is at the front) I'd be hopeful to get close to - 2 degrees and then adjust the rear to be pretty much the same or maybe a touch less, just unsure what to do about front and rear toe, any suggestions? Andrew-b90y3 said:
helix402 said:
In my E46 days I think I ran nearly -2 degrees rear camber without any tyre wear issues.
I agree Helix, main aim will be to get as much front camber on the car as I can (camber pins knocked out and as low as it is at the front) I'd be hopeful to get close to - 2 degrees and then adjust the rear to be pretty much the same or maybe a touch less, just unsure what to do about front and rear toe, any suggestions? Front
> 2.8 degrees neg camber (Turner motorsport plates help!)
> 0.2 degress of toe in (originally toe'd out, but this eats the inner edge of the tyre)
Rear
> 2.0 degrees neg camber
> 0.2 degrees of toe in
Just to bring the thread up to date I gave the car a really good clean this morning and the transformation from track car to road car is nearly complete.
I've lost a couple of brackets etc that I need to finish off the interior and I need to refit the boot trims etc but other than that it's back to how it was.
I can honestly say I've been enjoying the car a lot more, I haven't been listening for noises and fearing the worst for me teeth and spine. Going over the tops in it now is really enjoyable!!
I've lost a couple of brackets etc that I need to finish off the interior and I need to refit the boot trims etc but other than that it's back to how it was.
I can honestly say I've been enjoying the car a lot more, I haven't been listening for noises and fearing the worst for me teeth and spine. Going over the tops in it now is really enjoyable!!
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