My new e21 drift build

[audioscience10]

So I already have a build thread going over in the e21 section... I've been lurking the drift section for a while, read through Mike's thread over the course of a week and I love the e36 truck! So I've decided its high time I come over to your side of the madness.

The e21.



An opportunity presented itself to pick up a '96 328is, that had been in an accident already, for next to nothing. Well nothing against the e36 guys, but I've never been the type to do what everyone else is doing. I already had my e21 that I drove over the winter, but it had the way too little power m10 engine, so I decide to pick up the 328 and do a little mixing and matching between the 2 to get one nice drift car. It was natural to decide to put the m52 into the little e21. I can't stop there though because the next problem would be finding componets for the e21 suspension that would be good for my goals...

So in goes the e36 subframes with the suspension! Fast forward a little. Here are the adapters that I came up with to mount it in the e21.


How it looks with a wheel and the angle I get with the factory e36 steering. (Its still hitting on the adapter a bit just before full lock so I have to cut a little bit more out.) In the end I'l probably end up with less rubber but it I make it all work with these a lower profile tire should clear everything even better.



Heres how my engine bay is looking as of right now.


With that the front suspension is almost done. I'll be on to the back in a week or so.

[joeemartuccii]

good work, im excited to see this thing together!

[motocaddy]

that angle looks pretty good! nice work! very interested to see how this turns out.

[audioscience10]

that angle looks pretty good! nice work! very interested to see how this turns out.

Thanks. To be completely honest I'm not sure how I got what seems like a decent starting angle... Its mounted with all the same dimensions (except the strut towers are .5" closer together) as the mounting in the e36 and with the angle I have the tire would be hitting the wall of the wheel well.

Btw love the vert with the yellow wheels!

[Nisanda]

nice job! very original i like it.

now we need to see the motor in, the car should be a blast to drive.

[motocaddy]

Thanks. To be completely honest I'm not sure how I got what seems like a decent starting angle... Its mounted with all the same dimensions (except the strut towers are .5" closer together) as the mounting in the e36 and with the angle I have the tire would be hitting the wall of the wheel well.

Btw love the vert with the yellow wheels!

Thanks! I think you'll be in much better shape on rubbing once you get some lower offset wheels and better sized tires.

[audioscience10]

nice job! very original i like it.

now we need to see the motor in, the car should be a blast to drive.

Gotta get the rear end adapted to the car before I can put the motor in. Since I can tweek the location on the motor a bit, but the tires gotta land in the wheel well. Like if I put the motor in and I'm really close to making a stock driveshaft fit I can move the motor a little bit.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks! I think you'll be in much better shape on rubbing once you get some lower offset wheels and better sized tires.

Yeah I gotta take a little material off the adapters and should be able to get to full lock with this rubber. Then with any less or with lower offset I shouldnt have any problems. I do have a set of 17x7" steelies that I built for my e28 (et22ish) that I'm tempted to try to cram under this thing (with flares of course.)

[audioscience10]

I notched my adapter plates to the max that I feel comfortable due to strength concerns, it got a few extra degrees but it still hits a little before full lock.


I did realize why I am getting all the extra angle that it wasn't getting in the e36... Its because the subframe and in turn the steering rack is sitting about 1.5" lower than it did in the e36 so the tierods are making the tires toe out. So I will lose a little of the angle that I have. Plus I'm gonna run lower offset wheels.
What size tires do you guys generally run on a 17x7 wheels? I was thinking for this car I wanna keep them really low profile. I'm think I'm gonna run the wheels I had built for my e28 and get spacers to run about a et5 offset and I wanna run like 4" bolt on flares.
What do you guys think?

[audioscience10]

Not a lot of work done today. Put the wheels on the front and set it on the ground. Sweet no rubbing with it sitting on the ground lock to lock! Started measuring stuff out for mounting the rear subframe. Definitely not gonna be as easy as the front but still doable. I'm gonna have to modify the trailing arms because they mount about 4" wider than the rocker panels on the e21. :-\

[jeremy5000]

I like where this is going... subscribed for more!

[papiichulo]

Things gonna be look wicked mean with some big flares on it

[SoloKarter]

I wouldn't run 17's. you can get much more angle before hitting anything on a smaller wheel. Do like a 15x8 with a 195/50/15.

[audioscience10]

I wouldn't run 17's. you can get much more angle before hitting anything on a smaller wheel. Do like a 15x8 with a 195/50/15.

Will 15" rims even fit over the e36 brakes? Ill probably run the 16s that came on the 328 for sliding. Maybe the 17s just on the street. Even though it'll be mostly a slider I live in Michigan so its so easy to keep it legal for the street too.

[audioscience10]

Finally got over being sick and got to work on the car... Started modifying the e21 subframe to use as an adapter for the e36 sub to mount to.

[audioscience10]

Quick update... Just to give an idea of how I'm rebuilding the trailing arms. Of course I am going to reinforce the crap out of them.



I'm going to box it in using 1/4" for the sides, 1/8" top/botttom, 1/8" cross bracing inside, and 1/8" overlapping the seams. Hopefully done by the weekend!

[kyillest]

big props for tackling this task. going to be worth it in the end.

[audioscience10]

big props for tackling this task. going to be worth it in the end.

Thanks man. What I wouldn't give for the right tools to do the job though. The one side piece I got done took me like an hour. If I had a good band saw or mill I would be done already most of the work I do is with my 4.5" grinder and a sawzall

[audioscience10]

Today's little update... Didn't really have the time to get into the trailing arms so I whipped out this little steering extension block.

[silas656]

So ...those rotors look a little worn, do you plan on replacing them and adding a hydro brake ?

[audioscience10]

I'm definatly going to add a hydro. I'm gonna hit the yards and try to find a cheap set of factory calipers to run dual. Honestly I havent really looked at the disks too much. I think once the surface rust is cleaned off they'll be ok to start with. The car stopped just fine before I pulled all the parts off.

[silas656]

sounds sick, how are you going to attach the extra calipers?

[audioscience10]

sounds sick, how are you going to attach the extra calipers?

I think I'm just going to cut some brackets and weld them onto the trailing arms.

[audioscience10]

Haven't updated the build in a while...

The passenger side trailing arm is done other than a little clean up and paint the driver side should be done tomorrow. Then I'll be on to finishing the subframe adapter.

[silas656]

sickkkkkkkkkkk

[audioscience10]

Trailing arms done!