Project "eBay E36"

[JesterMX6]

Yeah i think with the setup i have now, i just need to practice. Which means either waiting til next season and only practicing on track days, or going out after 1am and finding deserted parking lots and hoping no cops show up.

5 years ago i'd have probably been doing the parking lot thing all the time. marriage, home ownership, and adulthood kind of changed my outlook on that and my willingness to risk a run in with the law has decreased dramatically.

[ILoveDrifting]

yeah. better to save it for the track.

[e36MattK]

maybe get some more angle to catch that snapping

[jalopi]

+1, angle kits are pretty sweet at saving you from embarrassing moments and/or hitting a wall

[JesterMX6]

November 5, 2015

Accumulated a few parts over the past few weeks and put my car back in winter mode.

Hit up ebay for some rear camber adjustment arms and found these for cheap. Another local e36 is running these and said they're nice and solid.


2015.10.31 rear camber arms by George, on Flickr

After much research on steering disconnects, i decided to skip the ebay crap and get a proper NRG gen 2.5 and short hub adapter.


2015.10.31 nrg quick release v2.5 by George, on Flickr

I did, however, hit up ebay for a steering wheel. Until I'm sure on what size i want to run, i didn't want to drop loads of cash on a wheel only to decide it was too big or too small for my comfort. Found a 320mm wheel for $30 and I figure at this rate I can try a few different sizes if i have to and still be under $100


2015.11.05 steering wheels by George, on Flickr

With the quick release hub, I can now get in and out of my car without my pants rubbing on the bottom of the wheel.

Words cannot describe the feeling of walking up my car after class, opening the door, and seeing this sight. Feels so race car.


2015.11.05 steering wheel disconnect by George, on Flickr

that's the sport related stuff. other than that, i scored a deal on a set of Hankook i-pike snow tires and had them installed on the bottlecaps.


2015.10.27 winter tires by George, on Flickr

Then i swapped the rear springs back to the progressive ones. It's crazy just how short the linear springs are since they are so much stiffer.


2015.10.27 linear vs progressive by George, on Flickr

Car is now in snow mode and ready for some snow drifting...except it's still 70F outside and we're coming up on the 2nd week in november.


2015.10.27 winter mode by George, on Flickr

[jalopi]

i have the same camber arms that you bought, though mine are silver. the material used seems to be OK, but the design is bad. when installed on the left side, it's damn near impossible to get a good grip on the inboard jamnut with the exhaust in place. so you should probably leave the muffler off until you get the camber dialed back in

[ILoveDrifting]

yeah i saw those rear arms too! please let me know how they go in, very curious to see how they perform

[jalopi]

aside from the hard to access locknut, the only thing i can complain about is the bushing rubber on the one end. kinda sorta pliable, definitely better than the aged stock one but not as good as a poly/spherical setup. but then again, it's kinda hard to justify a nearly 4x price for one bearing and an easier alignment

[ButteDorFrank]

cool project, one thing I had seen on youtube from Ryan Tuerck saying to use the Hydro ebrake for easier smoother transition ...

[JesterMX6]

January 7, 2016

Two months with no progress. School/Work/Winter have all gotten in my way. Yesterday was my birthday though and my wife got me a few things.


2015.01.06 birthday by George, on Flickr

A proper set of track gloves, 2 tow hooks, and a wheel stud conversion kit. My next purchases are going to be big ones. SLR angle kit and a new clutch. Neither of which will be happening very soon.

Currently the car is down for a bad starter (which i just replaced in August. grr.) so I was driving my wife's E46...then that started dripping oil at idle...so now i'm driving my dad's E39 (not that i'm complaining). So between my E34 which has been untouched for the past year, my e36 which can't start, and my wife's e46 that can't keep lubricated i have a LOT of bmw work ahead of me. #bmwlife

[trev dogg]

January 7, 2016

Two months with no progress. School/Work/Winter have all gotten in my way. Yesterday was my birthday though and my wife got me a few things.


2015.01.06 birthday by George, on Flickr

A proper set of track gloves, 2 tow hooks, and a wheel stud conversion kit. My next purchases are going to be big ones. SLR angle kit and a new clutch. Neither of which will be happening very soon.

Currently the car is down for a bad starter (which i just replaced in August. grr.) so I was driving my wife's E46...then that started dripping oil at idle...so now i'm driving my dad's E39 (not that i'm complaining). So between my E34 which has been untouched for the past year, my e36 which can't start, and my wife's e46 that can't keep lubricated i have a LOT of bmw work ahead of me. #bmwlife

sick build thread. and thats cool your in lincoln nebraska, i have a lot of family in hastings.

just FYI those camber arms are notoriously weak. yes, they will do the job but, when you end up going off track(because drifting) it is very likely those camber arms are gonna snap and make you very sad. its not because of the material, they are just not engineered very well. when you're ready for something reliable, i would recommend AKG, turner or achilles camber arms. they are only about 100 bucks more than the ebay specials and a lot more reliability. i run akg and bent one of my arms from crashing into a wall. i called akg and the center tube that i taco'd was only $30 shipped!

[JesterMX6]

thanks for the tip. the field at the track i frequent isn't too harsh so i don't anticipate a major issue in the immediate future, but i'll keep those in mind for the future.

[jalopi]

they seem beefy enough to me, might be a different story if you dun goofed into a wall, but then again you'll be breaking stuff if that happens anyway. certainly hard to beat for $80

[Substance D]

I have those arms, they are weak, mainly the clevis. I taco'd one just from street use. Called them and asked about a replacement, they told me to shove it. So i just made straight and put it back. It should be boxed in a bit to prevent this, but w/e

[trev dogg]

thanks for the tip. the field at the track i frequent isn't too harsh so i don't anticipate a major issue in the immediate future, but i'll keep those in mind for the future.

not a problem dude. i also have to add, now that you have camber arms, its time for 0 camber rear alignment!! and i dont say that just for the tire wear... the car will no longer be trying to grip and it will slide so much easier, helping with your transitions dramatically. you need to modify your rear trailing arm brackets for this, so that you can get enough adjustment in your alignment. its easy to do, but hard to find any info on it, just let me know if you would like more details.

[Mikestokman]

It's easy to find info on it, page 50 something in mikee36's build thread, beam team Tyler's Instagram has some pics of it, and I think I explained it a bit in my build thread. Basically get some stiff poly/delrin trailing arm bushings, cut one of the dimples off of the bracket, weld on a flat plate and then shim the bushing with washers till your toe is in check. Make sure to buy the guy who aligns your car a case of beer, because aligning it and having to keep re shimming it sucks a lot.

[trev dogg]

^ you the man

[JesterMX6]

I'm facing a choice and need some feedback.

Is it worth jumping over to a 98 323is at this point (moving all my mods and such over)? My reason for jumping would be mostly for the coupe body. Options would be swapping the motor over and selling the m52, doing an M50 manifold and exhaust swap, or just starting from base (motor-wise) and only swapping over suspension and diff.

Worth it?

[jalopi]

hell no

* too much work just to have a coupe

* if/when you cage your car, you won't need to play contortionist just to get anything in/out of the back

only benefit i can really see for having a coupe is touchy-feelzy aesthetics and better overfender/flare options

[JesterMX6]

so chasis/weight/wheelbase are all virtually the same between coupe and sedan correct? if so then yeah i guess it is purely asthetics. hmm. the ad states:

"BMW coupe for FIX UP or PARTS, body great shape, interior poor condition,
it had run good when it was parked but battery is dead since it has been sitting for awhile & battery is in trunk in which trunk will not open although it can be accessed through the rear seats, .that's why it's being sold so cheap.. "

It's also listed as a 4 cyl. when i texted them about it and asked if i could bring a battery to hear it fire up they said "BMWs take a special battery. we can't get to the trunk and the battery is dead."

It's got a clean title and 180k, is a 5spd, and the body does actually seem to be in decent condition.

They're asking 500 for this thing, which is the only reason i've considered it, but based on what you're saying I guess i should stick with my current build. Maybe i'll buy it and flip it. At that price, surely i can get the thing running and make a buck.

[jalopi]

a spare shell is never a bad thing to have, especially if you've got room for it, but unless i wrecked my car i don't think i'd go through the trouble of swapping everything over to a new one

[Mikestokman]

I found swapping from a sedan to a coupe to be a huge advantage to me. I'm 6'6" and the longer door just made it easier to get in and out of the car. Once we popped out the rear windows, bending the cage was no big deal either. Sedan definitely requires less awkward welding positions, but it's not the worst thing in the world.

[JesterMX6]

i appreciate the input. thanks.

[Novablue454]

Sedans are cooler anyway!

[JesterMX6]

Okay so the 323i got sold before they even gave me a chance to look at it. moving on.

Let's say i were to allow myself around $1500 to spend on the car. Here's my options, and i'm looking for opinions from you guys.

Option 1: unsprung clutch/chromoly flywheel combo, exhaust, other odds and ends (intake boot to delete ASC section, panel delete cards, etc).

Option 2: SLR Ultra kit with the adjustable billet Lollipops

Option 3: eBay turbo kit to run a few PSI for some extra power since the drift course around here is a 60+ mph course.

I'm already leaning towards a certain decision and will more than likely stick to it, but if someone makes a compelling enough argument for a different option i'm easily swayed.

Don't hold back. I want all arguments.