Help on E36 track car build

[Chagollan]

hi,
im CT and this my VERY 1st post. I came here cuz someone told me this was the best place to ask any and all Bimmer questions soo...

can u help me out. my car is a '99 323is that i was planning to convert to a purpose built track car. which would be perfect, but theres one draw back, its an auto. i really didnt have a choice in the matter because it is my very 1st car and my uncle gave me a great deal on it, that i just coulnt pass up. it only has 60,000 miles on it, and the body is in show room quality.

but heres my question, do you think i should keep the car and convert it to a manual, or should i sell it and buy a e36 M3 with 115000 miles on it or something like that??

thanks a million guys.

-CT Chagollan

[99MPower]

sounds like u already have other plans.... if u want to build a purpose built track cars, my recommendation would be to sell the auto 323 and buy an already track built e30..

whats your budget, whats class do you want to race in, is this a HPDE car, or a W2W car, is it still going to be a street car or trailered track car, etc, etc

we need a little more info to be able to help you...

[Chagollan]

well my budget is quite honestly "spend as little as possible", so i would say if i was going to sell the 323 it would be the money from that sale + $2,000.....so maybe 9,000 to 10,000. but if i keep the 323 than it would depend on what parts i needed and th labor cost, soo... honestly whichever is the cheapest...

i dont wanna buy a already built track car, cuz i wanna do it my self. im going to school for automotive and mechanical engineering...so i wanna get my hands dirty.

its gunna be a trailered track car, for just HPDE, autoX, track days....things like that...but not W2W

p/s.... what would be the max miles i should look for on the m3 or e30, etc if i sell the 323

[not2quick]

Your uncle's gonna be pissed when you sell a perfectly good car he gave you a deal on.

[Chagollan]

naw, hes fine with it.....
i asked him and he syd i cam do whatever i want with in...its mine.....soo

sell it, or dont?.......

[gobuffs]

what's your budget if you keep it?

running a car on track regularly is expensive, building a car to run on track is stoopid expensive (BTDT, stopped adding the $$ up at $40k and about 4-5 years ago- and that was for a car I bought for $2750 and parts out for nearly $7k, IOW I had a shell and $4k in my pocket)

[Chagollan]

what's your budget if you keep it?

if i keep it....than like 2 grand...thats it...

all im gunna do is gut it, stiffen suspension, roll cage, lexan, and tires...nutting to drastic.....

[gobuffs]

if i keep it....than like 2 grand...thats it...

all im gunna do is gut it, stiffen suspension, roll cage, lexan, and tires...nutting to drastic.....

there's more than $2k in parts alone...even if your labor is free.

[tyreed70]

Spend your money on track time.

[Niles Patel]

Not trying to be mean but it sounds like you've never even been to a track.
Just go do a track day with what you have. Spend a few bucks on decent trackable street tires (I like kumho ecsta xs). You can track an auto and still have plenty of fun.
Save your money for school. AND ACTUALLY GO TO SCHOOL.
IF you have a few bucks leftover spend it on USED parts one at a time. You'll save an incredible amount of money that way.
Putting lexan in anything other than a race car is a needless pain in the butt. It's "cool" or whatever, but trust me it's pointless. My race car runs stock glass.

You'll hate what I have to say right now, but you'll be telling others the same thing in 5 years.
Been there, done that, have the leftover 635 parts from years ago to show for it. Luckily I didn't completely ruin a nice car because I went slow and went to school.
TRUST US, we've all been there, don't ruin a nice street car, just take care of and track what you have.

Holy cow, when did I hit the 'crochety old man' stage of life?!

[Lateral G]

What Niles said. Run what you got.

In addition to getting some seat time, it will give you ample opportunity to ask people about the route they chose for putting together a dedicated track car. (When I hear "purpose built", I think Forumla Ford, Daytona prototype, etc.)

There are BMW club HPDEs coming up very soon at Thunderhill and Buttonwillow, for example. You can see what a hundred other people have done, including club racers.

[Chagollan]

Not trying to be mean but it sounds like you've never even been to a track.

no offense taken, but i have been to the track b4 and Porsche club races with my uncle and grandfather, so im not a complete newb. i have probly about 10 hrs seat time total.

Save your money for school. AND ACTUALLY GO TO SCHOOL.

one of the reasons y im doing this is because i AM going to school, in one of my classes im gunna have to do a project car....and i wanted to build a track car anyways......so y not kill 2 birds with one stone.

Putting lexan in anything other than a race car is a needless pain in the butt. It's "cool" or whatever, but trust me it's pointless. My race car runs stock glass.

the reason y i wanna put lexan is because most people seem to say its a whole lot safer, and its a hella lot lighter. but if you say i dont need to wory about that, than i guess i wont worry about it.


----so ur sayin i shouldnt worry about the tranny???
dispite what evry one seems to say about them on a track??

[kolo1racer]

Sounds like the same or at least similar thread to mine about 2 years ago, except I bought a donor car and built my own from there. A cheap race car by most standards I've done mine for about $16,000. Nothing fancy, no engine work and no aero.

Every bit of advice you have been given, I can validate X 1000.

If you decide to track the 323 you are going to break things and you will have ample opportunity to get experience fixing them. Your cage, unless you can weld (properly) is going to run you in excess of $2500. Your suspension, even on the cheap $1000+. Decent tires $750-$1000

If it were me, I'd buy a used track car, E30's are really cheap right now and learn in that. Find the BMWCCA Club Racing calander and walk the pits talking to the guys. Scott Lang helped me a ton as did Mickey Miller from Bullet Motorsports both So Cal guys. Find someone that knows their sh*t and then ask as many questions as you can without offending anyone. But listen! Every person at the track that will talk to you is more than willing to help because that's how they learned.

Trust me, 99% of the folks on this forum know their stuff and they are speaking from experience. I'm learning to listen.

Good luck and have fun with it.

Kelly

[Chagollan]

Kelly,
thanks....ill take all of what you sayd to hart.

fortunately i do know how to weld, and one of my moms good friends is a welder professionally....so that cuts down the price of the cage.

i have talked to a few of my unkls friends at the track, but there all Porsche club racers/mechanics.....so they really now nothing about BMWs. they all say i should start out with a 944, or a 100,000 mile boxter....hell some eaven sayd go buy a MX5 and use that engin or eaven replace it.......

haha, it seemes like depending on what group you talk to, ull get a different awnser......so confusing...haha

[Scany1980]

I'll trade your E36 for my 91 E30 318is that's track ready I know you want to do stuff with it, and with any track/race car there's always something to do. My car was for sale for a while and is probably still listed here.

I've done trackdays with an auto, and it works, but far from a manual and if you're in it for the long haul you'll get a manual at some point. But seat time would be #1.

[Chagollan]

I'll trade your E36 for my 91 E30 318is that's track ready I know you want to do stuff with it, and with any track/race car there's always something to do. My car was for sale for a while and is probably still listed here.

I've done trackdays with an auto, and it works, but far from a manual and if you're in it for the long haul you'll get a manual at some point. But seat time would be #1.

so its an Auto??
is it still still legal??
whats the millage on the engine and trans?
and have you had it on a dyno, whats it putting out to the wheels??

[RangerGress]

If you don't need the E36 as a daily driver, then sell it and buy something cheap to track, like an E30 or a Miata. Nothing Porsche is cheap to track. Well, nothing is cheap to track, but you get the idea.

Then spend some time to find an E30 or E36 that is mechanically (reasonably) well cared for but with a beat up interior. Budget << $1k. Then replace all the maint items, start turning it into a track car, and selling the bits you don't need.

Carefully plan your work and assign priorities. Lexan windows are silly in the early stages. They aren't going to make the car more fun. Light doesn't make your car more fun. What's fun is having similar cars to play with. Your priority should be maint items, reliability, safety and suspension.

Do things the easy way by following a tried and true Spec class recipe. If later you want to go your own way, fine, but go easy on the imagination early on.

[Chagollan]

the more and more i research it.....it look's like the cheapest rout is ether a spec e30 (but is a 20+ year old car), spec3, or miata to my spec (because spec miata dosnt realy let you so anything to the car.)

[Scany1980]

so its an Auto??
is it still still legal??
whats the millage on the engine and trans?
and have you had it on a dyno, whats it putting out to the wheels??

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1237073

Since then the odometer stopped and the exhaust now has a Magnaflow cat. Haven't dyno'ed it, but the engine is strong.

But I have to agree with Ranger above. Going with a spec car like the 325i/is is probably a better bet. I like the 318is because it's so light and the perfect autox/trackcar. If it wasn't for I want to go w2w I'd still be running the 318, making it faster

[Chagollan]

thanks for the offer but no thanks....thers cars on outotrader and cars.com that have about the same miles as min will have, and there going for 7000-8000...

so thanks but no thanks, i think im goin tward the spec3 rout (give or take a fer rules), haha
thanks

[Scany1980]

thanks for the offer but no thanks....thers cars on outotrader and cars.com that have about the same miles as min will have, and there going for 7000-8000...

so thanks but no thanks, i think im goin tward the spec3 rout (give or take a fer rules), haha
thanks

Spec3 is great That's why I chose it myself.

[Chagollan]

PERFECT

[Michael9218]

You may want to set aside some money for grammar lessons or a functioning keyboard...

[Chagollan]

[Lateral G]

I don't know how hard the conversion is, but here's a tranny ...

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=376973

At 10 hours of seat time, I wouldn't sweat too much over the transmission. Eventually you'll want to get rid of it.

And as others have mentioned, think very, very carefully about your budget. I recently bought a '93 325is as a second track car. It's older and has more miles than yours, but I went way, way beyond your $2k budget to deal with preventative maintenance (lots of bushings, cooling system, etc.) and basic safety gear (roll bar, FIA seats and harnesses). I didn't do the work myself, so that drove up the cost. But I haven't done a single performance upgrade. Not even tires. (At present, it emulates Top Gear's "reasonably priced car".)