Buying an M3 E36 for track days
Discussion
excellent choice mate,
I have an evo myself and love it dearly, they are very honest drivers car, no traction control or ESp or any of that nonsense, just your right foot to keep you out of trouble!!!.
M3PSM and Jappa on here both have seriously seriously quick 3L m3's, i am sure they will be along shortly, and that they will give you sound advice, however, all 3 of us are members of www.e36coupe.com
look on their forum and FAQ, it is a wealth of specialised information and there are often forum members cars for sale. there are also journals of a number of members who have stripped their car out for track slag duty, so you can see which mods work and more importantly which dont!!
my evo is an ex forum members cars and i have to say the forum has saved me a small fortune over this last year and a half.
hope this is helpful mate, let us know how you get on!!!
Jam
I have an evo myself and love it dearly, they are very honest drivers car, no traction control or ESp or any of that nonsense, just your right foot to keep you out of trouble!!!.
M3PSM and Jappa on here both have seriously seriously quick 3L m3's, i am sure they will be along shortly, and that they will give you sound advice, however, all 3 of us are members of www.e36coupe.com
look on their forum and FAQ, it is a wealth of specialised information and there are often forum members cars for sale. there are also journals of a number of members who have stripped their car out for track slag duty, so you can see which mods work and more importantly which dont!!
my evo is an ex forum members cars and i have to say the forum has saved me a small fortune over this last year and a half.
hope this is helpful mate, let us know how you get on!!!
Jam
Good cars, but not an ideal 'track-car'. Although can be made a lot better.
Depends what you want from it, really:-
Infrequent track use, mainly road - main thing will be uprated brakes, and keep an eye on suspension wear. Like any mainly-road car the brakes will probably still need care on-track, as will the tyres, as they're heavy cars.
Part road / part track - this is where it comes unstuck, as weight will be a real enemy - won't want to strip it right out to preserve road comfort, but brake and tyre wear will become expensive, and the suspension will need replacing with adjustable springs/dampers pretty quick.
Mainly track - strip it right out and cage it and yeah, sounds like a plan.
Any route, it's got the right engine!
Depends what you want from it, really:-
Infrequent track use, mainly road - main thing will be uprated brakes, and keep an eye on suspension wear. Like any mainly-road car the brakes will probably still need care on-track, as will the tyres, as they're heavy cars.
Part road / part track - this is where it comes unstuck, as weight will be a real enemy - won't want to strip it right out to preserve road comfort, but brake and tyre wear will become expensive, and the suspension will need replacing with adjustable springs/dampers pretty quick.
Mainly track - strip it right out and cage it and yeah, sounds like a plan.
Any route, it's got the right engine!
Have a look in Pistonheads classified section.
I agree, great car to track as prices are so low. You can pick E36 M3's up from £4k upwards and probably get £700 for the interior which should pay for a cage. You'll need decent seats, uprated brakes (AP's ideally), track tyres, coilovers and other suspension parts replacing and with the effect of stripping the car out, you'll have a seriously quick and fun track machine!
Have a look on www.bmwtrackdays.com for track-based cars!
I agree, great car to track as prices are so low. You can pick E36 M3's up from £4k upwards and probably get £700 for the interior which should pay for a cage. You'll need decent seats, uprated brakes (AP's ideally), track tyres, coilovers and other suspension parts replacing and with the effect of stripping the car out, you'll have a seriously quick and fun track machine!
Have a look on www.bmwtrackdays.com for track-based cars!
We're currently converting 2 E36 M3's to track/race spec and agree they are perfect cars for such work. All you need decide is what level to take them to. We've got a customer with an E36 M3 with an interesting 3.0/3.2 conversion in it that just needs finishing off, thats he's interested in selling, I could pass you his details if you like?
As mentioned above, they are a great base car with no fancy traction control and they have a very good engine and (5 speed) gearbox. Out of the box though, they're not up to track use. The brakes and suspension need upgrading as a minimum and there is a load of weight that be be easilly removed which helps massively.
There are always a few on Ebay and Autotrader as well as here. Also try Racecars Direct for a ready prepped example.
Dedicated sites for these are www.e36coupe.com and www.bmwtrackdays.com which have a wealth of info. Check out the Journals section in bmwtrackdays for pointers on upgrades.
Paul
There are always a few on Ebay and Autotrader as well as here. Also try Racecars Direct for a ready prepped example.
Dedicated sites for these are www.e36coupe.com and www.bmwtrackdays.com which have a wealth of info. Check out the Journals section in bmwtrackdays for pointers on upgrades.
Paul
Thanks Thorney - that would be great.
And cheers Paul I will look into the sites as soon as the administrator sorts out a login problem (apparently I logged in once before and due to DB size problems they deactivated my account)
Looking forward to exchanging ideas and view with you guys either in this thread or in person.
And cheers Paul I will look into the sites as soon as the administrator sorts out a login problem (apparently I logged in once before and due to DB size problems they deactivated my account)
Looking forward to exchanging ideas and view with you guys either in this thread or in person.
Also worth keeping an eye on the BMW Racing Drivers Club www.bmwrdc.com
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