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Thread: '95 E36 325is Track Build

  1. #76
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
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    Austin, TExas
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    It's been a while! Not a whole lot of progress, but I have raced a few autocrosses and a track day and the car continues to perform flawlessly. Since my last post, the only thing we've done to the car is change spark plugs and coil packs. One thing to note is the car is pulling so much Gs now that anything below 3/4 of a tank and the car starts to fuel starve around high speed corners. I'll post some videos of our recent events down below. But first, roll cage!

    We've acquired an M3 chassis with a roll cage inside and have currently cut the roof off of it, cut the cage out, and now we're planning on cutting the roof off of my car and welding the cage back in. It's been an endeavor but I think it'll be a great addition! Here are some pics.











  2. #77
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
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    Vancouver, BC Ca
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    1993 325is
    Check the SCCA rulebook to see if swapping a 93 325is fuel tank into the car is legal in FP. I'm pretty sure it is, and will cure your fuel starvation issues, as long as the fuel pump pickup is at the same depth as the one that was in the car when delivered from the factory. I have a rather long story that basically says the OEM as delivered fuel pump pickup depth in my 93 325is allows me to autocross on "fumes" without a hint of starvation.

  3. #78
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    Apr 2016
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    Quote Originally Posted by jakermac View Post
    Check the SCCA rulebook to see if swapping a 93 325is fuel tank into the car is legal in FP. I'm pretty sure it is, and will cure your fuel starvation issues, as long as the fuel pump pickup is at the same depth as the one that was in the car when delivered from the factory. I have a rather long story that basically says the OEM as delivered fuel pump pickup depth in my 93 325is allows me to autocross on "fumes" without a hint of starvation.
    That's super odd. The car is a 325is. Is there a difference between a 95 and a 93? If so they're super common around the junkyard around here and its definitely legal in my class.

  4. #79
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    Jun 2011
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    1993 325is
    All I can tell you is this:

    Ibought my my car as a DSP built car. It had a stock original 93 325is fuelpump in it. I could Autocross it on fumes with no starvation.

    The fuel pump died. I was in a huge rush to replace it. A buddy had a brand new Bimmerworld dual pump starvation kit that he sold to me for less than a new OEM pump would have cost me. I stole 1 of the pumps for the kit to get my car back on the road.

    The next time I went to autocross, I was starving in the corners. That’s when the huge fuckabout started trying to fix the starvation problem. I installed the full dual pump kit... still starving at anything less than a 1/3rd of a tank.

    Thats when I decided to check the depth of the pickup sock/filter. The old dead pump had the sock about 3/8” deeper than the pump from the Bimmerworld kit. I cut the pump frame on the new pump and slid th pump down in the frame to the same depth as the old pump and wrapped a hose clamp around everything to hold it in place, put the old jet pump/syphon system back into the drivers side of the tank and everything was restored to the original OEM fuel level behavior of being able to do one or more autocross runs with the fuel gauge needle on or slightly below “E”. I can essentially do a full 8-10 runs with the low fuel warning light on.
    Last edited by jakermac; 10-07-2018 at 10:26 AM.

  5. #80
    mslevin's Avatar
    mslevin is offline Have you checked RealOEM? BMW CCA Member
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    Dec 2015
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    E36, E38, E46
    I always wondered if there was a difference in fuel tanks/pickups. A lot of E36 track car owners complain about fuel starvation, but I never experienced it in my '93 325is, even with the tank basically completely empty. That is, until I got a little overconfident one day and killed the fuel pump, lol. Being able to run a full session on under 1/4 tank definitely helps the lap times though

  6. #81
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    I've been on the hunt for a 93 at a junkyard! So far no luck around where I live, I'll have to further my search. In the meantime, I'm sure it's possible to do what jakermac did with my fuel pickup is it not? To just extend it a little bit?

    Yesterday I picked up an Evo 8 wing for dirt cheap, like just the cash in my wallet cheap...and I'm a poor mfer. With some modifications, I think it would look cool on the E36. Add a bit of a lip to get some more downforce out of it and I'm sure it would be "kinda" functional. Regardless it would be better than the giant air damn I have on the back right now for track use. A little bit of sanding through the multiple layers of paint revealed carbon fiber too!







    And just for fun I did a quick little photoshop to illustrate how I want my car to look eventually.


  7. #82
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    Apr 2016
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    It's been a while since I've updated you guys! Not much has happened to the car other than a new short shifter, vented hood, some new Yoko slicks and a stage 3 clutch. The car is running better than ever and I've become WAY more competitive in autocross events, even taking first a few times.
    cojs22787zf11 by corgon67 corgon, on Flickr
    Last edited by Sterk; 11-19-2018 at 02:35 AM.

  8. #83
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
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    anna texas usa
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    1994 BMW 325IS
    how much weight did you cut when doing the poly windows? love the build, planning on starting the process on my car pretty soon.

  9. #84
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
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    Texas, USA
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    99 MCoupe
    Congrats on build looks like its progressing well.
    I have oil in my blood; that is my dedication level to cars.

  10. #85
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    Jan 2019
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    Connecticut
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    E92, E46, E36
    Looks like it's turning out to be a very nice competitive car

  11. #86
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    Apr 2016
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    Austin, TExas
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    Damn, it's been a minute. I kinda stopped posting since there really wasn't a whole lot of development to the car but I'm thinking of taking the car to SCCA nationals next year just to see what it's all about. I do want to be competitive, and to do that I think I'm going to have to make some pretty significant changes to the car, or maybe even the class if I want to do so. As time goes on, the 3 series competitiveness in F-Prepared dwindles. Competing against cars like the S2K, and the Z3 are a challenge in stock form. Add in their final super lightweight form, low center of gravity, and similar if not better power figures, the chances for my broke-A$5 to podium are slim. "Just do it for fun, do it to learn.." yes yes, I know. I will be doing these things too, but taking that much time and money to compete is difficult for me and if I'm to do that I'd like to feel at least like I did all I could, even if that's not winning.

    So, besides whining about my class, what can I do about it? Well, I can certainly change classes, I can move into DSP or into Street Modified. This would require me to add weight back into the car in the form of interior, but I've already removed my side and rear windows in favor of plexiglass, among many other things like cutting into the fenders, adding a roll cage, so I'm not certain reverting back to one of these classes would be simplest option. If someone has been running in either of those classes I'm keen to hear your experience and to what limit you've modified your car.

    Or, I can suck it up and try and prove that the 3 series does belong in FP, and try and make some changes to the car and myself in the next year to prepare. If I were to do so, here's what I'm thinking:

    Suspension:
    Shocks: I'm currently using ST XTA shocks with 9/12kg f/r springs. I do believe these springs are a bit aggressive for the shock, and I do feel that the car is a bit bouncy. The front end likes to push a lot and the only thing that really solves that is liftoff oversteer. I think a new set of shocks that are properly valved to these sprint rates would help the weight transfer in the car.
    Sway Bars: I'm on 30mm front and 25mm turner adjustable sway bars. I'm almost certain we set too much preload in the bar when we installed it, it was tough to try and get the roll bar connected to the end link even at it's softest setting and I don't think it should have been. We've been running it like this for a while now.
    Alignment: I run about -4.5 front and -3.0 rear camber, I've tried a lot of setups and this seems to be the sweet spot. I've just recently purchased the MRT roll center correction kit and plan on installing that pretty soon. Although I may wait to get the adjustable lower control arm mount and the bump steer adjustable tie rod kit. Would y'all recommend doing those too? Or can I skip that and just go with the correction kit? I probably should have gone with the turner kit but damn that is expensive.

    Aero:
    Front Splitter: Is starting to warp, I mean it's been nearly 6 years! It's time to try something different, possibly a larger design that also covers any unneeded holes in the front of the car. I also need the splitter to sit lower onto the ground. This is some advice y'all gave me when I started this build thread and just have never gotten around to it. To be honest I figured adding more weight to the front of the car wouldn't necessarily help until I fixed the fundamental understeer issue but as we get closer and closer the aero becomes more important.
    Rear Spoiler: I think I get this larger and still be within class rules. A lot of my competitors have gone to wings since they've laxed a few aero rules in FP but I don't know, I think the spoiler is still the way to go.
    Rear Diffuser: I can't run anything along the length of the bottom of the car, so a rear diffuser probably isn't going to help as much as it could, but we can all agree is looks cool af.

    Brakes:
    Pads: I went through a track phase with the car, and while fun, there's only one track in my area and the only affordable way to do it is to run with Track nights and I always feel so out of place with my stripped and caged and stickered autocross car among the street cars. Everyone is always welcome and I'm somewhat of a regular there but I feel like I'm just overstepping my boundaries the more I develop the car into a purebred race car. Anyways, I started running DTC 600 pads and they don't have as much initial bite as the Hawk HP+ Pads so I may try and do some testing before deciding one is better than the other.
    Other than pads, I don't think the price to performance gain is going to be worth it to upgrade to something more substantial than what I have. I'm looking at 3000+ for the next best thing. Brakes aren't incredibly important in autocross anyway, so this is an area I'll likely skip.

    Drivetrain:
    Another one of those areas where the dollar to performance ratio is killer. I've been racing on an old 3.23 factory lsd for a while now. I think a proper LSD would maybe help but It's not like I'm struggling to put the power down...yet. Already using a lightweight flywheel, stage 3 clutch kit, and there's no way I'm affording a lightweight driveshaft so this is likely where it'll sit.

    Weight:
    I still have the sound deadening in the car, I'm really regretting having to remove that stuff, and if I do, there goes my chances at ever reverting to a lower class. So I'm torn about this one.

    Engine:
    The one thing that is still entirely stock, except for the double valve springs. I would really really really like more power in this car, even compared the the miatas I race with, I'm slow off the line and in the straights. I make a lot of noise but not a whole lot of power to back it up. This is another pricey area but I'm willing to spend most of my budget here. If I can at least get to 250whp, I would be happy. I'm open to hear any suggestions on cheap power gain. I'm looking at the VAC stage 5 kit right now, but I still want to keep the reliability of the motor. I'm going to have to do more research but at the very least, throttle body, camshaft, injectors, pulleys. I'm running a fairly efficient cold air intake that sucks in air through the blank headlight and "supersprint" headers with a straight back 3" exhaust, sometimes a muffler if we need to quiet it down.

    With all those things in mind, I really think I can get the car to at least the full potential that I can afford and have time for. I'm always open to suggestions, y'all have given me some really good advice that's help me out a ton in the past few years so thank you!



    Here is a video from the most recent autocross event. Getting 6th in raw time and 5th in our Race tire class. We've really started to be competitive locally. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0XqJZ4nzvo

    And here's another little project we've picked up in the past year. A 1996 328i we're building into a rallycross car.

  12. #87
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    Dec 2020
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    San Jose, CA, USA
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    1994 "532i6", 1998 528iT
    Quote Originally Posted by Sterk View Post
    Engine:
    The one thing that is still entirely stock, except for the double valve springs. I would really really really like more power in this car, even compared the the miatas I race with, I'm slow off the line and in the straights. I make a lot of noise but not a whole lot of power to back it up. This is another pricey area but I'm willing to spend most of my budget here. If I can at least get to 250whp, I would be happy. I'm open to hear any suggestions on cheap power gain.
    Bore out the M50 block to 86.4mm and retrofit the entire S52 rotating assembly in. With that plus factory S52 cams you can make 250whp off a good tune. If you're worried about officials seeing part numbers, you can grind your factory cams to S52 specs (or beyond, frankly) and that would suffice. I don't recall any grassroots racing actually forcing competitors to take the engine apart after winning. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

  13. #88
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    Aug 2012
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    1995 M3
    So the fix is to cheat?

  14. #89
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
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    Austin, TExas
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    1983 BMW E21 320i
    The car does have an S52 in it, just a stock one that had been refreshed a few years ago. And no they don't require you to take the engine apart, but in the prepared class the engine is relatively unlimited, as long as you're not adding boost

    - - - Updated - - -


    In response to aeronaut: Sorry, I'm not sure how you got to that?

  15. #90
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    1994 "532i6", 1998 528iT
    I have no idea what the rules are so I cover all the bases of what you can get away with lol. But if you already have an S52, there is no reason you can't make 250whp. I bought a 100% factory-part-numbers used one from Golgo13 with a harness and DME, and a Mustang dyno chart showing 251whp.

  16. #91
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    1995 M3
    Yea, the path to S52 250whp is well known. M50 intake, cheap-ass headers OR BW y-pipe, cat delete, Schrick cams, 24lb injectors. Replace as much of the exhaust system as you can afford with lighter stuff (eg, 3" to resonator to magnaflow). Tune.

  17. #92
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    Jul 2014
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    metairie, la
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    1999 e36 M3
    My S52 has what you described, plus 3.5" Conforti intake and a Bosch MAF from the Porsche 993 turbo. She makes 260 peak WHP with a nice fat power curve.

  18. #93
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    Quote Originally Posted by fbirch View Post
    My S52 has what you described, plus 3.5" Conforti intake and a Bosch MAF from the Porsche 993 turbo. She makes 260 peak WHP with a nice fat power curve.
    Thanks everyone, I guess the first step is to just get the car on a dyno and see where I'm at. That broader power curve is really what I'm looking for. The car struggles below 4k.

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