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Thread: Mid-life crisis aka "Drift Missle E36"

  1. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    MD, USA
    Posts
    570
    My Cars
    2005 M3 Coupe
    Don't let the kids be an excuse. I built an entire race car in 14 months from the time my son was 2 months old. The secret is to wait until the wife and kids are in bed and then work thru the night. Most of my car was built from 10PM-2AM Friday and Saturday nights. Where there's a will there's a way.

  2. #27
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    Virginia, USA
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    41
    My Cars
    1995 M3
    What radiator did you get? Mishimoto? Curious because I'm looking into getting an aluminum radiator sometime soon.

  3. #28
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    BALTIMORE
    Posts
    804
    My Cars
    98 323
    unless you do a turbo, probably won't need it. my needle didn't budge past the 1/2 mark at every drift event this year. then again, i think the hottest event i had the car at was only 85-90*

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by dmw16 View Post
    Don't let the kids be an excuse. I built an entire race car in 14 months from the time my son was 2 months old. The secret is to wait until the wife and kids are in bed and then work thru the night. Most of my car was built from 10PM-2AM Friday and Saturday nights. Where there's a will there's a way.
    I didn't make any excuses. I built my car & enjoyed my 1st event 2 weeks ago. It was fun but not sure it's really my cup of tea. I'm going to do 1 more event before I make up my mind.

    Quote Originally Posted by ILoveDrifting View Post
    What radiator did you get? Mishimoto? Curious because I'm looking into getting an aluminum radiator sometime soon.
    I just got some cheap radiator off ebay that came w/2 electric fans. Worked like a charm & my car never overheated. It did get a little warm after 3 back to back runs but all in all did very well.

  5. #30
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    Time for a blast from the past. Quick update for you.

    Shortly after my last post, I had a friend who asked to borrow the car so he could get some seat time in while he was building his own Pro-Am car & I gladly obliged. Long story short, he drove it for over a year while I moved on to some other projects. I built an airbagged e46 (& then sold it), bought a Jeep Cherokee & built it for off-roading w/my sons, built an overlanding rig for camping with my boys, & started a turbo build on a Miata.

    Well, my friend finally finished his Mk3 Supra drift build & no longer needs the e36 so I got it back. I took it out to a drift event yesterday & did some shakedown runs with it. It went pretty well. I discovered the power steering pump was puking fluid & the rear sub-frame has some issues (unknown at the moment) so I didn't get to do a lot of runs in it. That being said, I'm back at it & I'm going to give another shot to see if drifting is for me.

    New plans for the car;
    Obviously replace the power steering pump, fix/re-enforce the rear sub-frame & put in polyurethane bushings, throw on some cheap/temporary steering knuckle adapters, put a hydro e-brake, put a bucket seat back in it (my friend took the old one out b/c it wouldn't pass tech as I built it) & get a bunch of tires to burn up. Next month is a 2-day drift event that I'm going to participate in with my "crew chief" (i.e. a friend that will do all the work in trade for seat time). If after 2 days of drifting (so long as the car holds together) I still don't really enjoy it as much as I do racing, I'll give it my friend to enjoy while I go back to my other car related hobbies. Stay tuned for more over the next month.

  6. #31
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
    Posts
    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    I'll be surprised if that subframe is still uncracked. But please update the build with pics as you go!

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by protomor View Post
    I'll be surprised if that subframe is still uncracked. But please update the build with pics as you go!
    If it is cracked is there a way to repair or do I have to replace it?

  8. #33
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
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    6,660
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    2 E30s and a maxima
    Me myself personally? As long as it isn't rusted to the point where you can put your finger through it, I'd just patch and weld the wh0re. Brace some extra so it won't happen again.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  9. #34
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    I was recently reminded about this thread so I thought I would update it. I just went to a drift event yesterday & had a good time getting sideways. After my first event 2 years ago in this car (before I let a friend use it for 2 years) I would have told you that drifting an e36 sucks because it's just to difficult to keep in a drift. Now that I've made some modifications to it (more specifically added tons of angle) I can tell you the e36 is a great drift chassis. So here's what I've done.

    First let's start with angle. I got the idea of modding my own LCAs from looking at Unicorn Driftknuckles setup. I chopped the LCAs & extended them by 1.5" which resulted in lots of more angle making the car so much easier to catch from looping around on me.

    angle 1.jpg
    angle 2.jpg
    angle 3.jpg
    It gave the front wheels "hella poke" which resulted in having to chop the fenders of course but gave me the clearance I needed to avoid rubbing the frame rails at full lock.

    I also added some knuckle adapter blocks to correctly position the tie-rod ends.
    angle 4.jpg
    angle 5.jpg

    This mod alone completely changed the car & how it handles on the track.

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    I don't have any pics of the car on track to show the angle but I do have this pic showing how much angle I got from the DIY angle mod kit.
    angle 6.jpg

    The next mod I made was to add a dual rear caliper hydraulic e-brake. I went with a cheap eBay special from China which seemed to work ok but I discovered that something is wrong b/c after about 2 runs the brake would lock up & drag on the rotors. I'm assuming it's dragging a little but I'm not sure why. I bought a dual caliper bracket off eBay & welded it to the knuckle (which took a lot of work to get positioned correctly, although considering my drag issue, maybe I didn't get it positioned correctly).

    hydrobrake 1.jpg
    hydrobrake 2.jpg

    I also installed a Kirkey bucket seat but I didn't take a good picture of it yet. I can do so if anyone needs it but basically I cut the slider off the OEM seat & fabricated a bracket to attach it to the Kirkey. It worked great in keeping me securely in the seat. I still need to fabricate a proper harness bar for my 5-point but I may hold off until I can fabricate a roll cage for it over the winter... if I decide to keep drifting it that is.

    So after having a lot of fun at my 3rd event & getting much better at linking corners w/o looping around, I've decided to keep moving forward with the car for now. I'm picking up some more drift spares & I'm going to fine tune the suspension & fix my hydraulic e-brake issue before my next event in a month. I'll try to do a better job of updating this thread.
    Here's the only pic I took yesterday at the event.

    drifting pic 2.jpg

    - - - Updated - - -
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Nudnik; 09-18-2017 at 08:39 AM.

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    dfw Texas
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    257
    My Cars
    e36m3/4/5, e46330i
    Nice thread! I see some of my old parts in the pics, lol.

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
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    92 325is Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by vaderTT76 View Post
    Nice thread! I see some of my old parts in the pics, lol.
    Yeah, some of your old parts helped get this drift pig on the track this last month. Thanks again. That motor mount was sorely needed.

  13. #38
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    dfw Texas
    Posts
    257
    My Cars
    e36m3/4/5, e46330i
    Glad you got it sorted, man!

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    Anybody have any thoughts on why my hydro ebrake might begin to lock up after a few runs? When it's cold, the hand brake operates as it should but after a few run the hand brake starts getting stiffer to the point where the wheels lock up. If I let some fluid out of the caliper it gets loose again & functions as it should. I'm assuming the brakes are dragging a little but I am able to roll the car around so I don't think they're dragging that much. Could it just be there's a little bit of air left in the lines causing it to happen? Any thoughts?

  15. #40
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
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    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    Do you have a residual pressure valve? Is it in backwards?

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  16. #41
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
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    92 325is Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by protomor View Post
    Do you have a residual pressure valve? Is it in backwards?
    I'm going to assume I don't have one (since I'm not sure what that is) & my handbrake only has the handle, the master cylinder & the fluid bowl. Where would a residual pressure valve be located?

  17. #42
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    fairfax,va, usa
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    6,660
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    2 E30s and a maxima
    Did you make the kit yourself? Usually there's one somewhere between the master and the T split to the calipers. It keeps pressure so you don't have to pump it between uses. But if it's backwards, it'll do what you're describing.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

  18. #43
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Denton, TX
    Posts
    41
    My Cars
    92 325is Coupe
    I made it myself w/a cheap eBay brake & e36 calipers I got from the junkyard. The brake lines are steel lines I got from the parts store so I'm 99% sure is not a valve between the master & the T-junction. Unless there's one built into the handbrake then that is not my problem is my guess.

  19. #44
    Join Date
    May 2007
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    fairfax,va, usa
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    2 E30s and a maxima
    Then I got no idea.

    Status: Someone put glitter in my oil. Wait. Why's all my oil outside the engine? What's that knocking?

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