Just starting out with an E46 330ci budget track car build
Discussion
Andrew-b90y3 said:
Also with reading other threads about 330 track cars a lot of people are saying oil temps run exceedingly high on these cars, with this in mind I've seen these popping up as a solution to run an oil cooler,
Anybody any experience with these?
I wasn't overly pleased with them as an option, hence going S54 filter housing.Anybody any experience with these?
Also you may want to re-consider the AC delete, as it gets hot in a track car in the summer.
The team dynamics I've got are actually 17 x 8.5 (sorry typo on my part)
I got those wheels as they were £150 off eBay, absolute bargain and the tyres weren't much either so I got a set of semi slicks on lightweight wheels for quite a small outlay. They suit my needs because I don't have a huge expendable income to spend on the car and I'm keeping it on a budget so a lot of the bits will be make do from the E36 etc!!
To reply to a couple of the other posts I think that I'm going to be putting the e36 up for sale eventually, the idea behind the 330 is that its future proof, I was more than happy with the e36 but I could see it not being fast enough for me in the long run and I think I would eventually out grow it whereas I'm never going to need or be able to afford (on my budget) anything quicker than the 330 for the same money, it'll be plenty quick enough for what I want it for and I can upgrade it as and when I can!!
Plus it gives me a good excuse to hide in the garage every now and then!!
I got those wheels as they were £150 off eBay, absolute bargain and the tyres weren't much either so I got a set of semi slicks on lightweight wheels for quite a small outlay. They suit my needs because I don't have a huge expendable income to spend on the car and I'm keeping it on a budget so a lot of the bits will be make do from the E36 etc!!
To reply to a couple of the other posts I think that I'm going to be putting the e36 up for sale eventually, the idea behind the 330 is that its future proof, I was more than happy with the e36 but I could see it not being fast enough for me in the long run and I think I would eventually out grow it whereas I'm never going to need or be able to afford (on my budget) anything quicker than the 330 for the same money, it'll be plenty quick enough for what I want it for and I can upgrade it as and when I can!!
Plus it gives me a good excuse to hide in the garage every now and then!!
Looks good so far. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what you do with it. I've got my own 330 build thread on here two. I've found out the hard way that the oil temps can hit 120 degrees easily in 3/4 laps of a circuit even in ambient temps of around 10 degrees. I've just fitted a 19 row cooler with a S54 oil filter housing with a thermostat delete. Hopefully keep those oil temps are something a little more sensible for longer stints on track now. At least I had the oil temp and pressure gauge so I could see how quickly the temps started to increase on track.
tombate911 said:
Looks good so far. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what you do with it. I've got my own 330 build thread on here two. I've found out the hard way that the oil temps can hit 120 degrees easily in 3/4 laps of a circuit even in ambient temps of around 10 degrees. I've just fitted a 19 row cooler with a S54 oil filter housing with a thermostat delete. Hopefully keep those oil temps are something a little more sensible for longer stints on track now. At least I had the oil temp and pressure gauge so I could see how quickly the temps started to increase on track.
Cheers Tom!I’ve read your build thread and subscribed to it, absolutely brilliant car and top notch workmanship gone into yours, it gives me plenty of inspiration to get cracking with mine!
There’s no real update on this at the moment I’m afraid, a mini me has kept pretty much all my time occupied at the moment, so much so that I’m considering all options in relation to which car to keep and track and could do with some advice!!
The pros of the e36 are that it’s lightweight, it handles great and it’s pretty much ready to go and do another track day, the only things I could do on it really are more weight saving, there’s still the sunroof to come out and the carbon fibre delete to go in (which I already have) All the sound deadening to come out and material from both back doors, boot lid etc! Another advantage of the e36 maybe that it’s better to learn my trade on track in a car that isn’t as powerful as the 330 and then upgrade to the 330 in the future as I have room to keep both cars and will be dailying the 330 anyway!!
Onto the 330 and it needs building from the ground up really, so I would need to spend a fair bit of money doing this and then I wouldn’t want to feel like I’d be in over my head with the power available to me in the 330 having only done one track day prior!
When I was 21 a few years ago I did my bike licence with some friends and the first bike I bought was a G reg VFR400 NC30. It was old, pretty tatty and all my pals bought R6’s and GSXR’s etc! 12 months later they’d all sold the bikes and given up as bikes weren’t for them apparently, I’d had 12 months of having the mick taken due to the bike I was reading etc but starting from a point like this made me a rather competent rider, could be a lesson learned?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated
The pros of the e36 are that it’s lightweight, it handles great and it’s pretty much ready to go and do another track day, the only things I could do on it really are more weight saving, there’s still the sunroof to come out and the carbon fibre delete to go in (which I already have) All the sound deadening to come out and material from both back doors, boot lid etc! Another advantage of the e36 maybe that it’s better to learn my trade on track in a car that isn’t as powerful as the 330 and then upgrade to the 330 in the future as I have room to keep both cars and will be dailying the 330 anyway!!
Onto the 330 and it needs building from the ground up really, so I would need to spend a fair bit of money doing this and then I wouldn’t want to feel like I’d be in over my head with the power available to me in the 330 having only done one track day prior!
When I was 21 a few years ago I did my bike licence with some friends and the first bike I bought was a G reg VFR400 NC30. It was old, pretty tatty and all my pals bought R6’s and GSXR’s etc! 12 months later they’d all sold the bikes and given up as bikes weren’t for them apparently, I’d had 12 months of having the mick taken due to the bike I was reading etc but starting from a point like this made me a rather competent rider, could be a lesson learned?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated
I don't know how I missed this thread, but it's been a great read so thanks for posting it OP. 
I had to smile when I saw your E46 radiator - my E46 325ti Compact one looked just like that within 6 months of me buying it!
I thought my Compact might make a good track day car, but to be fair mine seemed like too good an example to be used (abused) like that! But if I found a cheap, tatty one I'd be sorely tempted.
Personally I'd keep the E46 330i for future track exploits - it may be a bit heavier, but the extra power has to give you more scope for the future. I don't know, but I would expect an E46 Coupe shell to be a bit stiffer than an E36 Touring one with a sunroof.
Gotta love a straight 6 petrol BMW though. I bought an E90 330i as my latest daily last month - just need to resist the urge to start stripping it.
I had to smile when I saw your E46 radiator - my E46 325ti Compact one looked just like that within 6 months of me buying it!
I thought my Compact might make a good track day car, but to be fair mine seemed like too good an example to be used (abused) like that! But if I found a cheap, tatty one I'd be sorely tempted.
Personally I'd keep the E46 330i for future track exploits - it may be a bit heavier, but the extra power has to give you more scope for the future. I don't know, but I would expect an E46 Coupe shell to be a bit stiffer than an E36 Touring one with a sunroof.
Gotta love a straight 6 petrol BMW though. I bought an E90 330i as my latest daily last month - just need to resist the urge to start stripping it.
Well after much deliberation and taking various people’s council on what to do etc I’ve decided to keep the 330 and sell the e36 on so that will be going up for sale very soon. I do love the e36 but I think ultimately I will grow a little tired of it and being an estate it’s not the ideal shape for track work etc, the 330 is tatty enough for me not to be overly bothered about turning it into a track car so work the conversion to track car work is going to start shortly!
I’ve done a few little bits and pieces on it at work today while I had a few minutes, when whatever happened to the rod happened it pulled the shark fin off but left the base attached to the roof, I always assumed that it would be bolted through the roof so I left it in place but today I pulled it and etc voila it was just stuck on, result!!
|https://thumbsnap.com/aHetHzjj[/url]
I did consider sticking the shark fin back onto the roof but it’s just a tatty track car and I don’t think it really ads much to how the car looks anyway so I just left it.
When I bought the team dynamics the centre bore was stepped and made it a little strange for the wheel fitting onto the hub with the hub only locating by a couple of mm, so I got the verniers out and measured the internal diameter of the bore and the external diameter of the hub!!
This is the step in the wheel bore:
With the spigots fitted the wheel now locates on the hub by at least 10mm, much better!
Once that was all done I test fitted a wheel onto the front of the car to see if I would need to run wheel spacers with the coilovers I’m going to buy etc,
Looking at how the wheel sits I think a 10mm hubcentric spacer with studs and nuts should do the trick, I’m planning on running -3 degrees camber on the front so it’s hard to gauge how the wheels will be with that sort of camber but we’ll see.
While I was poking around I noticed this on the o/s/f:
That will explain the vague feeling of wondering that I’m getting from the steering when going over white lines or small bumps in the road etc.
The plan now is to order my coilovers from Richard over at Venom who I must also say has been really helpful with help and advice, order some camber adjustable top mounts and some poly bushes for those front control arms. Fit all that little lot on a Saturday that I’m off work and hopefully get a geo done in the afternoon, the car should then be ready for her first track day!
Thanks for reading everybody, more updates to come soon!
I’ve done a few little bits and pieces on it at work today while I had a few minutes, when whatever happened to the rod happened it pulled the shark fin off but left the base attached to the roof, I always assumed that it would be bolted through the roof so I left it in place but today I pulled it and etc voila it was just stuck on, result!!
|https://thumbsnap.com/aHetHzjj[/url]I did consider sticking the shark fin back onto the roof but it’s just a tatty track car and I don’t think it really ads much to how the car looks anyway so I just left it.
When I bought the team dynamics the centre bore was stepped and made it a little strange for the wheel fitting onto the hub with the hub only locating by a couple of mm, so I got the verniers out and measured the internal diameter of the bore and the external diameter of the hub!!
This is the step in the wheel bore:
With the spigots fitted the wheel now locates on the hub by at least 10mm, much better!
Once that was all done I test fitted a wheel onto the front of the car to see if I would need to run wheel spacers with the coilovers I’m going to buy etc,
Looking at how the wheel sits I think a 10mm hubcentric spacer with studs and nuts should do the trick, I’m planning on running -3 degrees camber on the front so it’s hard to gauge how the wheels will be with that sort of camber but we’ll see.
While I was poking around I noticed this on the o/s/f:
That will explain the vague feeling of wondering that I’m getting from the steering when going over white lines or small bumps in the road etc.
The plan now is to order my coilovers from Richard over at Venom who I must also say has been really helpful with help and advice, order some camber adjustable top mounts and some poly bushes for those front control arms. Fit all that little lot on a Saturday that I’m off work and hopefully get a geo done in the afternoon, the car should then be ready for her first track day!
Thanks for reading everybody, more updates to come soon!
Andrew-b90y3 said:
Thanks for the info Helix, what are the benefits of adding more castor to the front of a track car?
I’ve not tried it, here’s a link to someone who had:http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/archive/index.php/t...
helix402 said:
I’ve not tried it, here’s a link to someone who had:
http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/archive/index.php/t...
Cheers Helix, they seem to get very positive reviews and are considerably less than poly items so I’ve ordered a set today from work, I’ll post how I get on with them after fitment!!http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/archive/index.php/t...
Andrew-b90y3 said:
Cheers Helix, they seem to get very positive reviews and are considerably less than poly items so I’ve ordered a set today from work, I’ll post how I get on with them after fitment!!
I’ll look forward to your feedback. I fitted a set to some housings a while back but decided against fitting them as I was so happy with my existing set up (not a track car). This is only a small update but it’s an update all the same. Having discovered that the front control arm bushes on the car were shot I needed to look at replacing these as the handling on these cars when the bushes have failed is woeful. I was initially going to go down the poly bush route but a very helpful member on here pointed out that a lot of folks fit Z4M control arm bushes and after some research they’re cheaper.
So we start with a couple of worn out old control arm bushes with brackets...
These aren’t the actual ones off the car, I had a couple of genuine BMW brackets with bushes in my toolbox, I thought I’d use these as if I made a mess of fitting etc it wouldn’t leave the car off the road. I’ve got access to a press at work which makes this job miles easier!!
While I had the bushes out I thought I might as well just clean up the brackets, it was a lot dearer to order the bushes with the brackets so I just ordered the bushes themselves.
After a clean up and a lick of paint,
All fitted, note that the bushes aren’t handed but the brackets are, the arrows on the bushes need to correspond with the arrows on the brackets and there needs to be an equal distance of protrusion on either side of the bracket from the metal bush casing!
As you can see from the last picture they’re pretty much a solid bush and the castor offset is pretty substantial so I’m hoping to get good results from these. Fingers crossed I’ll have some time this weekend to get them fitted.
One last little purchase that I get for every BMW that I have .....
The all important key ring!!
So we start with a couple of worn out old control arm bushes with brackets...
These aren’t the actual ones off the car, I had a couple of genuine BMW brackets with bushes in my toolbox, I thought I’d use these as if I made a mess of fitting etc it wouldn’t leave the car off the road. I’ve got access to a press at work which makes this job miles easier!!
While I had the bushes out I thought I might as well just clean up the brackets, it was a lot dearer to order the bushes with the brackets so I just ordered the bushes themselves.
After a clean up and a lick of paint,
All fitted, note that the bushes aren’t handed but the brackets are, the arrows on the bushes need to correspond with the arrows on the brackets and there needs to be an equal distance of protrusion on either side of the bracket from the metal bush casing!
As you can see from the last picture they’re pretty much a solid bush and the castor offset is pretty substantial so I’m hoping to get good results from these. Fingers crossed I’ll have some time this weekend to get them fitted.
One last little purchase that I get for every BMW that I have .....
The all important key ring!!
gchristofi said:
Found your thread....... an enjoyable read and you've inspired me to get on with mine... and maybe get a key ring too!
Definitely get a key ring, most important part of any build ha!Good to see you on here pal, now you can get a project thread for yours started on here too!!
Well it was a sad day last week but the E36 has gone on to pastures new, a nice chap cane to pick it up from Milton Keynes and said he was planning on drifting it and ‘giving it death’ his words not mine!
I’ve got a little bit of an update on things with the 330 and I’m pleased to say that things are moving along (even at the slow pace they are going) a good friend of mine who has an R53 track car located a couple of standard sized Corbeau clubsports for me at a great price so they were snapped up ....
They are in great condition and for the money were a bargain and one thing that really surprised me about them is that they are really really light! I’ve bought a set of Sabelt 4 point 3 inch harnesses (out of date) but I won’t be competing in the car so this is no matter and they were a good find! Also ordered a set of Atech motorsport offset seat mounts which put the seat as close to the tunnel as they need to be (spoke to Andrew at Atech) about these in length and he’s a really helpful guy so hopefully that little lot will turn up next week at some point.
One really exciting purchase for the car that I’m really really looking forward to is a set of Gaz coilovers. I’ve been in touch with Mike over at Gaz directly and he’s been really helpful and given me some really good advice on what kit to purchase. I’ve decided to go for a 330 challenge spec monotube setup with Gaz front and rear top mounts. Now I know this is a budget build and for me these coilovers are certainly not ‘budget’ but in all my hours of research everybody always says invest well in suspension and brakes so I’ve saved up and saved up and these will be the result. I did look at a few sets of KW V2, V3 etc but the kits turned out to be coming on for ten years old some of them and were very strong money so in the end I’ve settled on Gaz. I spoke to KW directly and they were mega helpful but advised that for serious track use KW clubsport are the o my really way to go in their range and they’re way out of my price bracket!! Watch this space for the next update!!
I’ve got a little bit of an update on things with the 330 and I’m pleased to say that things are moving along (even at the slow pace they are going) a good friend of mine who has an R53 track car located a couple of standard sized Corbeau clubsports for me at a great price so they were snapped up ....
They are in great condition and for the money were a bargain and one thing that really surprised me about them is that they are really really light! I’ve bought a set of Sabelt 4 point 3 inch harnesses (out of date) but I won’t be competing in the car so this is no matter and they were a good find! Also ordered a set of Atech motorsport offset seat mounts which put the seat as close to the tunnel as they need to be (spoke to Andrew at Atech) about these in length and he’s a really helpful guy so hopefully that little lot will turn up next week at some point.
One really exciting purchase for the car that I’m really really looking forward to is a set of Gaz coilovers. I’ve been in touch with Mike over at Gaz directly and he’s been really helpful and given me some really good advice on what kit to purchase. I’ve decided to go for a 330 challenge spec monotube setup with Gaz front and rear top mounts. Now I know this is a budget build and for me these coilovers are certainly not ‘budget’ but in all my hours of research everybody always says invest well in suspension and brakes so I’ve saved up and saved up and these will be the result. I did look at a few sets of KW V2, V3 etc but the kits turned out to be coming on for ten years old some of them and were very strong money so in the end I’ve settled on Gaz. I spoke to KW directly and they were mega helpful but advised that for serious track use KW clubsport are the o my really way to go in their range and they’re way out of my price bracket!! Watch this space for the next update!!
Only a little update but nothing major, still awaiting the dampers from Gaz, they said 4 weeks so hopefully they’ll arrive sometime soon!!
Other bits have been arriving while I’m waiting for the dampers to arrive,
These arrived from A-tech motorsport, extremely good quality and great service from the fella who supplied them (answering all my questions) I’ve ordered some high tensile bolts too which have a nice finish and will look good as you’ll see them when the doors are open on the car. All I need to consider now is where to mount my 4 point harnesses to and how many eyelets I’m going to need but that can all be done when the buckets are put into the car.
Also as a little bit of a side project I picked this up to tidy up my garage, I’m planning to paint the floor and the walls and this will be nice to have all my tools in order and can be wheeled onto the drive etc.
I didn’t give much money for it but it came with keys and as you can see it’s a bit messy, I took all the drawer liners out, tar and glued the whole thing because the drawers had been taped shut and gave it a quick clean with autoglym rapid detailer and cleaned the top with screenwash, think it came out ok.
Other bits have been arriving while I’m waiting for the dampers to arrive,
These arrived from A-tech motorsport, extremely good quality and great service from the fella who supplied them (answering all my questions) I’ve ordered some high tensile bolts too which have a nice finish and will look good as you’ll see them when the doors are open on the car. All I need to consider now is where to mount my 4 point harnesses to and how many eyelets I’m going to need but that can all be done when the buckets are put into the car.
Also as a little bit of a side project I picked this up to tidy up my garage, I’m planning to paint the floor and the walls and this will be nice to have all my tools in order and can be wheeled onto the drive etc.
I didn’t give much money for it but it came with keys and as you can see it’s a bit messy, I took all the drawer liners out, tar and glued the whole thing because the drawers had been taped shut and gave it a quick clean with autoglym rapid detailer and cleaned the top with screenwash, think it came out ok.
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