Yet another 328 track car
Discussion
The idea is to build a cheap, affordable and engaging track day car. Having got used to the Nordschleife in a well sorted Mk2 Golf GTi, real wheel drive was a must to add that extra challenge. We picked up a nice black, manual, E36 328 with an LSD and no sunroof for a song. The thinking behind this was the usual one of decent, reliable performance with minimal running costs. M3's were three times the price to buy, and around twice the price to keep maintained.
The car weighed in at 1480kg's with driver and tank of fuel.
The car weighed in at 1480kg's with driver and tank of fuel.
I have moved on quite a bit so these posts are a little delayed. So keep coming back.
We got a deal with some staggered BBS rims with economy tyres.
Then picked up some Cobra Steel core seats. I fabbed up some mounts for the seats and harnesses and made some floor plates out of Dibond.
I gave it a service and new water pump, thermostat and polybelt for peace of mind.
Then we took it for a shakedown track day at Bedford.
All went well but there was a leak from the reverse light switch.
It had a few knocks and clunks so I fitted a new steering coupling and rear shock mounts as well as an OMP steering wheel (losing the airbag, control unit and wiring).
We got a deal with some staggered BBS rims with economy tyres.
Then picked up some Cobra Steel core seats. I fabbed up some mounts for the seats and harnesses and made some floor plates out of Dibond.
I gave it a service and new water pump, thermostat and polybelt for peace of mind.
Then we took it for a shakedown track day at Bedford.
All went well but there was a leak from the reverse light switch.
It had a few knocks and clunks so I fitted a new steering coupling and rear shock mounts as well as an OMP steering wheel (losing the airbag, control unit and wiring).
The coupe passed MOT but the viscous coupling proved to be US and it got quite hot in the MOT bay, I gave it a quick run up the road and seems to have had no ill effects.
Popped a new rad on it and wired in a compact switch and electric fan using the aircon relay now that that had been removed (it wasn't working), and a manual override switch on the dash.
Didn't feel the 14" fan was up to much as it didn't really switch off so fitted a 16" kenlowe. A bit tight on the engine side so swapped it to in front of the rad. works much better.
On a really nice hot day I left the car out in the sun to heat up and went to work with a scraper and removed as much sound proofing as I could, came off nice and easy. The headlining is proving to be more troublesome.
Reweighed the car and with driver and a full tank of fuel 1280kg.
Track day at Brands, drives much better, pretty solid if a little 'soft' in the corners.
A set of Eibach Springs off ebay sorted that out a bit.
As did an x-brace
And Z3 rack, fitted some new track rod ends while it was off.
And Anti Roll Bar kit
Popped a new rad on it and wired in a compact switch and electric fan using the aircon relay now that that had been removed (it wasn't working), and a manual override switch on the dash.
Didn't feel the 14" fan was up to much as it didn't really switch off so fitted a 16" kenlowe. A bit tight on the engine side so swapped it to in front of the rad. works much better.
On a really nice hot day I left the car out in the sun to heat up and went to work with a scraper and removed as much sound proofing as I could, came off nice and easy. The headlining is proving to be more troublesome.
Reweighed the car and with driver and a full tank of fuel 1280kg.
Track day at Brands, drives much better, pretty solid if a little 'soft' in the corners.
A set of Eibach Springs off ebay sorted that out a bit.
As did an x-brace
And Z3 rack, fitted some new track rod ends while it was off.
And Anti Roll Bar kit
Popped in a second fuel pump to help prevent the starvation on hard cornering, I have it plumbed in parallel and the second pump switches from the dash.
I also made a, temporary, Ghetto induction kit - sounds ace - don't know if it is any quicker though…
I made a dibond dash panel for all the homeless switches, will fab something better when I get access to a workshop.
Car was great at a track day at Snetterton, sadly one of the guys had a bit of an off at the last corner, luckily a mate only 15 minutes away had a set of M3 rims with tyres kicking around so the bent BBS' were swapped out for some non staggered rims. I think I prefer it.
I also made a, temporary, Ghetto induction kit - sounds ace - don't know if it is any quicker though…
I made a dibond dash panel for all the homeless switches, will fab something better when I get access to a workshop.
Car was great at a track day at Snetterton, sadly one of the guys had a bit of an off at the last corner, luckily a mate only 15 minutes away had a set of M3 rims with tyres kicking around so the bent BBS' were swapped out for some non staggered rims. I think I prefer it.
Spent the summer sorting out the bits and bobs that needed attention.
Fitted some E46 330 discs and pads to the front along with braided hoses and new metal hoses over the fuel tank.
put some greenstuffs in the back too to help rebalance the brakes.
made a more permanent induction trumpet from the baffle in the old airfilter, seems to be fine. made a blank for the other fog light hole too.
made a new dash panel as the old one wasn't great.
did a couple of laps of the Nordschleife the other evening. The car is great for that track, although the rear ARB might be too aggressive. The lack of power is fine as it is hard enough to keep on the lines without the fear of it stepping out of line. would be much better with some known brand tyres too!
Fitted some E46 330 discs and pads to the front along with braided hoses and new metal hoses over the fuel tank.
put some greenstuffs in the back too to help rebalance the brakes.
made a more permanent induction trumpet from the baffle in the old airfilter, seems to be fine. made a blank for the other fog light hole too.
made a new dash panel as the old one wasn't great.
did a couple of laps of the Nordschleife the other evening. The car is great for that track, although the rear ARB might be too aggressive. The lack of power is fine as it is hard enough to keep on the lines without the fear of it stepping out of line. would be much better with some known brand tyres too!
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