Just starting out with an E46 330ci budget track car build

[Andrew-b90y3]

Hey everybody and cheers for having a look at the build of my budget E36 track car.

This all started when I went to Anglesey on a mid week track day with a friend a couple of months ago in his R53 MINI track car. I'd never done a track day before and he was kind enough to let me have a good few laps in the MINI over the course of the day and I absolutely loved it. The driving part of the day was brilliant but also being around the pits and speaking to other people on the day etc was also just as good and I decided that it was something that I would really like to get myself into.

So this got me thinking about what car that I would want as a track day vehicle. I'm a technician at BMW and have been for around ten years now so naturally I am swayed towards BMW's, it just makes perfect sense as I know the cars inside out and have access to lots of equipment etc. Importantly doing this for me also has to be done on a budget, I've just started a family and really cant justify spending vast amounts of money on a track car, I've looked at a lot of build threads and they seem to spiral out of control quite quickly. Previously I've built a pretty high spec Nova (many years ago) and it ended up being a garage queen because I had spent far too much time and money on it and I don't want this to happen again.

Another thing which has made me feel this way is that when I was on the Anglesey track day I had done a fair few laps in the morning and thought I was going pretty well. My pal who owned the MINI booked me some tuition in the afternoon. I didn't really want to do this because he'd paid for the day etc and I felt like I was sort of taking away from his time but he pushed me into it so I went out and did around 5 laps with an instructor and wow, I cant believe the difference in my driving after some tuition. Driving doesn't come that naturally to me, I'm not bad but wouldnt say I'm anything special but I am very good at listening and I just cant believe the difference before and after some tuition. I would value good tuition over any modifications.

So with all this in mind you must be wondering what my vehicle of choice is, well its an E36 320i M52 which I paid £147.00 for. Well I paid £150 for it but found £3 under the seat so bargain track day work has already begun, it already has FK coilovers, front and rear M sport bumpers and sideskirts and some universal wheels with rubbish tyres (these are getting changed)

Anyway here's some pictures:

IMG_0592 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0593 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0594 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0590 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0591 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Now i know its only a 320i and its not a fire breathing monster but I want to learn how to drive correctly on track and feel like having something far too quick wouldn't help at all and due to the amount it cost me its worth having a go with. The plan initially is as follows:

As much weight loss as possible (its free and can be done easily)
Sticky track day tyres (going down the route of Nankang NS2R - budget and get great reviews)
Lightweight alloy wheels
Big brake upgrade (E46 330 front discs and pads)
Front and rear strut braces
Rear adjustable camber arms
Front adjustable camber topmounts
Poly bush front control arm bushes
Poly bush rear trailing arm bushes
Stainless exhaust with decat
CAI
Sunroof delete panel
Braided hoses
Coilovers
Full Geo setup - I can do this as I have access to a Beissbarth machine and have got good setup readings already

This is phase 1 of the car if you like, now if i start getting on with it then I have a few options in mind, I'll upgrade the engine to a 325i or 328i engine or sell the E36 and get into an E46 330 or 325.

Let me know what you guys think, any hints tips or advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Andrew-b90y3]

Matter88 said:

I'm well versed in track/race E36's - I think your initial plan is a good one. The E36 is an incredibly capable platform which you can continue to build on almost indefinitely.

Personally I would be looking to spend as little money on the Touring as humanly possible. Get it light, get it low and plough your money into trackdays, brake pads and tyres.

If after 12 months you're still loving it, get yourself a coupe or a saloon.

If you can't resist spending money on stuff, make sure it's transferable to a non touring body.

Just my 2p worth!

Thank you for the input, its all helpful information. That is pretty much the plan, I'm not actually sure in practice how many track days etc that I'm going to realistically be able to do, I'm hoping its going to be a few. I'm going to get plenty of tuition and track time under my belt and when I'm ready to upgrade it will be into a higher powered E36 or E46 were most of my purchases etc can transfer across. The touring stands me at such little money that it seems daft not to get a feel for things in this first and then upgrade in the future transferring my purchases across.

[Andrew-b90y3]

So i got a free Saturday recently at work where I could spend some time doing some bits and pieces to the car so the weight loss began:

IMG_0568 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

I cant believe the amount of weight in the back of this car, the carpeted boot floor was about 10mm thick MDF covered in carpet so weighed an absolute tonne.

IMG_0569 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0571 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0576 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0575 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Lovely lovely green carpet, again weighs a tonne!

IMG_0573 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0580 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0579 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

FFE2B70C-F046-40F5-A24A-B2B0F283A25A by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0587 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0588 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Thats with the seats back in, I left the gear knob surround in place as I think this looks a little neater than removing the center console. I sold the armrest on eBay so the car has cost me even less now. I'm not going to go as far as stripping back the loom as I feel its a bit unnecessary on this car. All the door cards have come off now too and they've also been sold. The next weight loss is sunroof and roof lining to be removed, apparently sunroof cassettes in these weigh a tonne and all that weight high up cant be great for car setup, cornering etc and i'm going to rivet a carbon fibre effect ABS sheet into place and bond it to the roof.

[Andrew-b90y3]

So I know that I said that this is a budget build but with a view to components being able to fit any future cars and brakes being one of the most important aspects of a track car I did treat myself and purchase these:

IMG_0632 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0631 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

They are E46 330i front brake calipers which have been refurbished last year with Pagid RS29 pads fitted. The discs are also E46 330i 325mm front discs, all of the bits are in great condition. One of the lads at work has mentioned to me that Euro car parts will make braided hoses up if you give them specs and measurements so that'll be the next purchase in relation to the braking system. In regards to the rears I'm just going to run standard discs and pads as with a large front brake set up like this I wouldn't imagine that the rears get over worked etc? Also got donated these off of one of the lads:

IMG_0690 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

We have really good pressure bleeders at work so fluid changes should be nice and easy once all the components have been replaced.

[Andrew-b90y3]

helix402 said:

I’d recommend gen BMW M3 rear trailing arm bushes rather than PU. If you want a set of used gen BMW 330 E46 f pads with lots of life left (one has small nick to friction material where I levered it back) they are yours for the postage cost, £3.

Send me a pm if you want the pads.

Thanks mate but I'm sorted for front pads!!

[Andrew-b90y3]

Ok so I forgot I had these in my tool box but I came across these having a sort out the other day so these can be fitted at some point soon: Genuine rear BMW E36 trailing arm bushes:

IMG_0639 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Whilst trawling through eBay, which is what I do most nights I came across these listed not to far away from me at an absolute bargain price so I had to head over and collect them:

IMG_0628 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0700 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

They are 5 x 120 ET37 8j Team Dynamics Imola. Having had a read about ideal setups for E36 these seem like they will do the job just fine and I cant believe the weight of them, they are extremely lights and easily interchangeable onto most BMW's. I test fitted a 205/45/17 onto the wheel to get an idea of size and they seem ok but perhaps not wide enough. I've managed to source a set of Nankang NS2R's in 215/45/17 for a very reasonable price which I'm going to collect this week so that should be wheels and tyres sorted out.

I did a test fit of them onto the front and rear of the car to get an idea of fitment and to see if I need any spacers etc:

IMG_0702 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

IMG_0703 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

They fit great and clear the coilovers front and back, I think I'm going to run 15mm spacers front and back which should give me a nice wide track, coupled with the geo setup I'm going to be using and the wheels and tyres it should handle very well indeed.

Edited by Andrew-b90y3 on Tuesday 6th April 07:55

[Andrew-b90y3]

Matter88 said:

Excellent! Where are you based? If we're close I'm happy to do a run out @ a winter TD and bring the '36 racer out!

I'm based in Manchester so I'm quite lucky that Oulton park is only around 45 minutes away from me. Aside from Oulton, Cadwell, Croft, Donnington and Anglesey are all within a 2 hour drive which isn't bad so I have plenty of choice.

Anglesey is the only track I have ever driven, I've spectators at Oulton so many times but never actually driven it .... yet!!!

[Andrew-b90y3]

Yeah Paul S4 I'm lucky because me and the Mrs can manage with one car between us so we have a lovely and comfy 118d M sport for daily business so the e36 will only be used for track days and not much else so comfort can be compromised.

The rear beam bushes are all the same on e36 models.

I've got a little bit of an update but I've managed to source some extremely cheap Nanking NS2R's which I'm going collecting tomorrow which is exciting.

Also got offered an extremely cheap Z3 1.9 M44 today, done some reading on these as a track tool and the reviews aren't great, anyone any experience to share?

[Andrew-b90y3]

Yeah Paul S4 I'm lucky because me and the Mrs can manage with one car between us so we have a lovely and comfy 118d M sport for daily business so the e36 will only be used for track days and not much else so comfort can be compromised.

The rear beam bushes are all the same on e36 models.

I've got a little bit of an update but I've managed to source some extremely cheap Nanking NS2R's which I'm going collecting tomorrow which is exciting.

Also got offered an extremely cheap Z3 1.9 M44 today, done some reading on these as a track tool and the reviews aren't great, anyone any experience to share?

[Andrew-b90y3]

So a little bit of an update on the car because I managed to get a bit of time away from home yesterday and managed to get into work for a few hours and sort a few things out on the E36.

So I've done so much research and going backwards and forwards in relation what tyres I was going to run on the car. I'd been reading a lot about semi slicks and then looked at going down the route of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tyres, I was looking at these as when I went to Anglesey with my pal in his supercharged MINI the performance of these tyres wet and dry was great. However when I looked at the price of these in the size that I need they were nearly four times the purchase price of the car and I really couldn't justify this amount of money. So i began my search for a set of Nankang NS2R, these are used as the control tyre for the Compact Cup championship and have a B wet rating, compared to most other semi slicks which are available which have a lower rating than this so I'm going to give them a try and found these,

CF9652AE-682C-4677-A03E-472BF4681EE0 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

57A046BF-E951-486B-9CD4-5903B6A3E2C5 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

DF4666D7-BBD0-4259-A4A4-11C89E228A4A by andrew conroy, on Flickr

B0238CDF-F1D5-4D7F-919A-9CCD8B2504C2 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Picked these up for a very reasonable price indeed, they are Nankang NS2R 215/45/17 XL W, theyve got loads pf meat left on them too. Now the only issue that I thought I might have had was in relation to the size of these tyres versus the size of the wheels I was fitting them to. The Team Dynamics wheels that I have measure 8.5 inches across the width of the wheel. Due to this I thought that 215/45/17 may be a little narrow but I measured across the tread of the tyre and they measure 8.75 inches across so fingers crossed I should have no worries. Anyway I fitted them and they fit perfectly....

411101D7-93E5-457A-BC07-B033673EF791 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

2A755FD3-D3DD-4FD6-A8E2-ED6A2C53A3C1 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

I also gave the wheels a bit of a clean up as I don't think they had been on a car for some time when I bought them and they came up great.

08479556-4D07-4417-ACF4-61BAB62BD4E8 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

6CB2F623-8D9E-4CA3-81D7-94C9213E11BD by andrew conroy, on Flickr

05EF2EA9-A58F-4EA1-AF07-B9DE4B4650D3 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

You've probably noticed on the pictures that I haven't refitted the centre caps, this is purely functional as when on track days frequent wheel bolt torque checks are required and I don't want to be popping the centre caps on and off as they'll end up getting lost.

Edited by Andrew-b90y3 on Tuesday 6th April 07:54

[Andrew-b90y3]

So the next thing that I wanted to do was to get them fitted on the car and get an idea of how they fit, if I'm going to need to run spacers etc. The wheels which are already fitted onto the car are some universal fit wheels with 205/40/17 tyres which are fitted with 5mm spacers and tuner bolts.I didn't really want to run these, also the tyres are way too small for track use. So I removed the old wheels and got the spacers off the hubs and got the new wheels fitted and I'm mega impressed with the fitment, so much better than what had come off the car.

314D8FE4-CF55-47D8-A351-4EF43195913A by andrew conroy, on Flickr

4B178CEB-C9D5-4E75-B4BA-1FEE93D0CF2B by andrew conroy, on Flickr

CF49ECF2-3B8F-4EBB-8088-6879E6CCC574 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

2E6922BE-812F-4056-8D2D-120E3AC97EF3 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

F1B15B58-CA7A-4628-BB3C-BA56578D5C0D by andrew conroy, on Flickr

2D66BBF0-2C04-4C5F-80FF-B38762D00405 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

The fitment is spot on. I had a look over the car on the ramp and the fronts clear the coilovers, they are a little close on the wheel arch liner (the plastic lip) but I might just remove these so that sorts that problem. On the rear they are also just fine, once I have fitted the rear camber arms and the front camber plates i'll be running more camber in the front and rear anyway so this could help with my clearance issues. All in all though I'm really impressed with them, one thing which I have noticed about these tyres i that they fit a lot wider than standard road tyres and the sidewalls are extremely hard. I cant wait to try them out on track!!

[Andrew-b90y3]

I'll try and summarise purchases and prices so far but I dont think that I'll be near the £1500 mark just yet.

Purchase price of the car £147.00
Brakes: £250
Wheels: £150
Tyres: £160
Weight saving modifications: Free
E46 front seats: £40.00
Bumpers and skirts: £250
CAI: £20.00
Coilovers: £200.00

So that gives me a total upto now of £1217.00, not too shabby really. I've sold various bits and pieces I've collected throughout car ownership so I've tried to not outlay money where possible and used the cash from selling these other bits and pieces.

Purchases to come in the immediate future are:

Buckets and harnesses
Braided Hoses
Service kit
Front Control arm bushes (lollipops)
Front and rear strut braces
Lower cross brace
Adjustable rear camber arms
Adjustable top mounts

So I would imagine with that little lot purchased i'll probably be approaching the 2k mark, still not bad I dont think. The idea is then to enjoy it to its full and possibly upgrade the engine or strip it of its parts and transfer them onto a coupe/saloon, E46/E36.

[Andrew-b90y3]

Yeah MX6 the touring shell isn’t ideal but for the amount of money that I paid for it I might as well make do and see what it’s like. The extremely low cost offsets it not quite being the right body style etc.

If I can get it light enough then I’m sure it should hold its own!

It’s got an MOT too!!

[Andrew-b90y3]

Thanks for the lengthy reply and It’s probably a little bit of both Humour to be honest. I am plodding on and making my own decisions but it’s always nice to know what other people think and have their opinion on what I’m doing because they might highlight something to me which I hadn’t considered or I may be able to learn something from them etc. I’ve never done this before so it’s a learning process for me anyway.

Interesting the point that you made about the diff change, am I correct in thinking that if I changed the diff to a lower ratio then top speed will be decreased but acceleration increased?

I do have a little bit of an update as well, not much of one but I’ve collected some bucket seats over the past few days:

[url|https://thumbsnap.com/puYjuBss[/url]

The blue one is already fitted with a sliding e36 subframe and so is bolt straight in for a drivers seat and the passenger one needs a mount fabricating but I’m going to purchase some box section and make up a mount myself.

They are mega dirty and need a good clean but they’ll serve a purpose and do the job. I’m also not going to b running harnesses with them for a number of reasons. My research has shown me that harnesses without a roll cage can be quite dangerous due to no movement of a roof collapse was to happen etc. Also with no harness bar the angle at which the back straps would be can cause spinal injuries/compressions so I’m going to be running seatbelts.

[Andrew-b90y3]

I’ve not had much time to update this recently as I’ve been busy with our new arrival to the family but I’ve got a few things done over the last few days:



When I bought the 330 brake setup the calipers have already been fully refurbished but they hadn’t been painted so when I had a few minutes at work I gave them a nice coat of bright yellow paint.



My braided hoses have also arrived so I’m going to do a late night at work on Friday and an early morning on Saturday to get the brakes fitted and bled up (the deadline for having the car ready for Oulton on the 10th is looming)

Gave the buckets a clean up the other day too and they haven’t come up half bad:





I did win a steering wheel and boss on eBay too which unfortunately hasn’t arrived, I paid for the item immediately and the seller told me he has posted it and since it hasn’t arrived he’s now ignoring my messages etc which is the annoying side of eBay I suppose.

My sunroof delete panel has also arrived so hopefully Saturday afternoon I’ll be able to get the sunroof assembly out and get that fitted.

Thanks for looking and more updates to follow this weekend.

[Andrew-b90y3]

Jay_87 said:

Great thread, and the fact its a touring makes it even cooler, hopefully I'l see it on track at some point next year.

Will be following this one with interest!

Thanks mate. Yeah il be doing as many track days as I can next year.

I’ve seen this as inspiration but can’t find out anymore information about it, spec etc

[Andrew-b90y3]

Thanks for the positive comments everyone, its good to hear other peoples views on the project (good or bad) but its always nice to hear positive comments. I haven't updated this for a little while as I have a 10 week old so time is quite limited at the minute, however my Mrs is very understanding which has resulted in me doing early mornings and late nights in the workshop to get things done on the car ready for Oulton Park which was on the 10th November .... more on that later but first some updates leading up to Oulton.

So i've had the E46 330i front brake set up sat in my toolbox for quite some time now so i thought that it was about time I got them fitted up.

Before:

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

As you can see from the pictures the front discs and calipers are extremely rusty, a lot of surface corrosion on the disc which would never come off with any amount of braking.

To this:

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

The new setup looks so much bigger than the old brakes that were fitted plus I think the yellow calipers really work against the black wheels and the green car. I have some dot 5.1 brake fluid but I haven't put this in yet as the brake line (flexis) are seized onto the solid line so I need to make up a work around to fit my braided hoses but due to time i'm fitting the new calipers onto the existing lines. While I was at it I also stripped and rebuilt the rear brakes including greasing up the slider pins etc.

I took the car for a bit of a drive once i'd fitted them and first opinions are the added bite that the brakes now have is great, pedal feel is a little different to how it was with the old calipers on as in there is slightly more pedal travel until you can feel the bite of the brakes but this was to be expected with the larger size of the calipers but for now is manageable. Hopefully this may be taken away/improved when I have the chance to fit the braided hoses.

The back brakes aren't great but the aim of Oulton Park on the 10th is to enjoy myself and to see what areas of the car needs improvement, plus there would be no fun if I did everything at once so they'll do for now.

More updates and Oulton Park report to follow .............

[Andrew-b90y3]

One of the things that I'd been keeping my eye on purchasing was a dished steering wheel, not really as a necessity because as long as the steering wheel is black and round then it would do the trick but more as an item to make the car feel more like a track car. Sticking with the budget idea of the car I managed to secure this little package for £15 plus postage ..........

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Which revealed the following ...

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

A dished suede steering wheel and boss, as you can see from the pictures it was filthy but at the bargain price which I paid for it then who cares, luckily we've just started using Autoglym at work so a little bit of elbow grease later saw it looking like this,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

And then onto fitting which took all of 5 seconds,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

First impressions of driving with the wheel are that its a lot 'deeper' than the standard wheel which I wasn't sure whether I would like or not but driving the car and having the wheel closer actually feels a lot better.

I also ordered these bits and pieces to be fitted in time for Oulton,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Servicing parts I would imagine are often overlooked or forgotten about sometimes but are probably some of the most important things to remember so i ordered up 6 spark plugs, 10 litres of engine oil and an oil filter. Also received these in the post,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Two rear strut top mounts, I ordered these up because when i brought the car out of storage one faile when I drove it for the first time and this happened,

IMG_0582 by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Thanks for having a read, further updates and Oulton report to follow.

[Andrew-b90y3]

So its Thursday the 8th November at 16:50, my boss let me finish a few minutes early so I could throw the service bits that I had ordered onto the car and get the top mounts changed in time for Oulton on Saturday. I bring the car into the workshop to start doing a bit of work on it and notice the following,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

This is the rubber intake pipe from the MAF to the throttle body and its split in about a thousand places!!! I enthusiastically visit the parts dept and I'm reliably informed that said part is still available and can be at work at 7am the following morning at a cost of £50!!!!!! Now budget with this part has completely gone out of the window but if i hadn't noticed then this little piece of pipe could have ruined the day at Oulton as the car would have not at all been performing properly. 7am the following morning and we have this,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

To this:

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

The intake pipe had split because when I fitted the air filter I didn't support the intake pipe so it must have been flopping around over time and stressing the intake pipe to the point of breaking. To make sure it didn't happen again I had to manufacture a bracket to support the air filter. So I got an old metal number plate and did this,

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Untitled by andrew conroy, on Flickr

Its a little bit rough and ready but it'll do the job and with Oulton in the morning it was needed in a hurry.

I did a nut and bolt check on the car after work to make sure that everything was tight and as it should be and then it was up bright and early for Oulton in the morning.

[Andrew-b90y3]

Jimmy Recard said:

Looking good OP. I did see this car at Oulton Park on Saturday but I didn’t see you to talk to, otherwise I would’ve come over

This is pretty much where we are aiming with our budget Omega estate

Cheers pal, yep I was there in the estate.

I thought that I’d caught up with you on Saturday but I think I only caught up with your co-owner and your racing driver mate!!