Page 1 of 9 123456789 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 220

Thread: 325 Vert Drift Build

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic

    325 Vert Drift Build

    What's up everyone, so I've been reading around and commenting here and there but I figured it would be time to make a thread since I'm coming up on some stuff that I'm sure I can use some help on, but I'll start it off...

    Bought my vert last August from an older gentleman, it was overheating, but it was relatively clean, and only had 99k miles! Got it for 1500 bucks bone stock. The guy didn't have time for it, and he wanted me to bring it back so he could see it once I got it fixed up, I'm not sure he would want to see it now lol.



    At this point, I still had my e92 M3, so progress didn't really happen fast since a lot of money was going into that car, I ended up trading it in for a daily so I could free some money up for the e36 and to start saving for a house.

    During that time though I redid the whole cooling system, metal impeller water pump, electric fan, tstat and aluminum housing and all that stuff. Cooling issue was solved which was nice. To avoid driving the m over the winter the e36 became my winter daily. Wasn't too bad since the heated seats still worked and it was pretty comfortable minus the blown suspension.

    Bought some used fortune auto's from a fb group, bad decision when I got them and they were seized and there were no rear adjusters, whatever. Put those on...



    Test fit the 219m's from my m3 for some laughs, this basically decided for me that I didn't want to go with 18's when it came around time for wheels. But ended up finding some 16 inch mille miglias for free, so I picked them up and painted them grey, pictures of them later...



    Next on my list was getting to saving for a roll bar since at Club Loose here in NJ it's required for all convertibles. Had a friends shop do that and was happy with the outcome. (disregard dirtyness in all of these pictures lol)



    Scored a welded 3.91 shortly after that for 150 bucks, tossed it in. Had a drift clinic in early march coming up soon, so I wanted to get prepped for that. The clinic went well, was basically just a parking lot next to the track to do donuts and figure 8's. I had pretty much no experience at all other than playing forza, so it was fun but a big learning experience. We had the option of going on the track, but I declined since I knew I wasn't ready.

    I was shooting some photos and video at East Coast Bash and a friend at the track was getting rid of some sparco evo 3's, I'm a big man, so these were necessary. Got some VAC mounts for the driver's side, not sure if the floor is different for the vert's but I had to cut a corner off the driver's side of the mount to make them work since there was no chance of them fitting with it there, VAC seemed confused like no one had run into this problem before so I was a little confused myself. Never actually got around to putting the passenger in yet to this day, money could be used elsewhere in the build, so the seat has just been in my garage. The seat itself was a pain to get in the car, it's a little too wide but I made it work.



    After a few months when the summer started getting closer and the roll bar hadn't been painted yet, so I brought it to a friends body shop but he likes to tinker with things. At this point when the roll bar was put in the sound system stopped working, and the auto top kept getting stuck halfway so the motors were disconnected and the back of the car where the carpet was removed was a wiring mess, so we removed all the speakers, the cabriolet module, the airbag module, the amp and other unnecessary wiring to clean it up a little, it made the rear much more bearable. Got a hub and nardi, but didn't notice that the bolt pattern was different for it and we just had to mount it into the wider holes, so we threw on a grip royal in the mean time and I put the nardi on when I got home. We ended up not painting the cage that day, but I left it and he worked on it during the week.





    A few weeks later is when I got rid of the M3, so this freed up a lot of money for the e36 to get some real work done to it. I'll update this when I can, gotta get to work!
    Last edited by mcfilmwerks; 12-06-2017 at 03:17 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
    Posts
    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    Pix no worky

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

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Quote Originally Posted by protomor View Post
    Pix no worky
    Well that's no fun, gonna look into it, first time using imgur for this stuff

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Ok, I think I made the pictures work! With some basic stuff done it was time to keep moving. Last moves before I felt comfortable signing up for my first event

    Care-package came in...
    Condor poly rtabs, subframe, diff (not pictured), subframe and rtab reinforcements, villains handbrake, and stuff for a dual caliper setup using srs concents weld on tabs and another oem caliper



    Had a friend do this since I don't know how to weld and I was in a time crunch to get this done for my first actual event

    Subframe out



    bushings in, never actually got a picture of the diff bushings since they were an afterthought to do while everything was out





    Reinforcements welded in





    my crusty calipers all on



    Lines ran for the handbrake and everything is done.








    So, all of this stuff was things that I felt would make the chassis feel better, and I got some peace of mind by doing the reinforcements, so we were all set for my first event, which was freedom moves at clubloose. Since the clinic I hardly practiced at all, but my friend Reese sits on C group grid and basically just told me to go for it, after going off track and boardsliding on my first run I started getting comfortable and by the end of the day I felt like I made some good progress and had so much fun.

    These were the only 2 pictures I found of myself that a friend took of me because to be honest I wasnt much of anything to take photos of...




  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    178
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3 Coupe
    Looks good! I loved drifting at englishtown. such a fun track. I hope to get back up there for an event next year.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Las Vegas, NV
    Posts
    479
    My Cars
    E36 M3, jzxE28
    How well was your hydro working with that dual caliper setup?
    instagram @andyitslit

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    It was a while between my first and second events, from early September to almost the end over October, and it was a relatively busy time so I didn't get too much done, but I did start to tackle the e46 arm setup. So basically got meyle hd e46 arms, new e90 inners, e36 outers, and condor offset cab's.

    The meyle arms are bulky, so even with condors hex bushings you need to grind the end down to fit into the hex, got that done, and then on the other end I needed to grind down near the balljoint since it was hitting the dust shield/rotor. Cut 20mm off the inners and then everything seemed to work ok. Still running no front sway since I was weary of drilling through the 46 arm, but I may change my mind after one of the founders, Matt Petty told me that's what he did with his 46 arms.



    Picked up some 17 inch mille miglia's, but 17x8 +20 not the concave like my 16's



    After getting an alignment I was good for ClubLoose's Haunted Moves which was a Friday afternoon/night and then all day Saturday. I struggled friday night, the e46 arms pushed my 16x8.5 +15 mille miglias out too much and they were rubbing too bad with the wheel turned and I decided to try to use achilles atr sports for this event as burners and they ended up out gripping the semi decent hankooks I had in the front. Swapped them around to run the 17's up front and then threw the 16's in the rear to burn and I was set. Got some pictures from this event, at this point after my second event I feel even better with the car and I'm really starting to get the hang of everything





    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Press22 View Post
    How well was your hydro working with that dual caliper setup?
    It takes a decent pull, but it locks the rear up just fine. I've had some instructors/friends drive my car and they said it's not the hardest theyve had to pull the handbrake

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by blake261 View Post
    Looks good! I loved drifting at englishtown. such a fun track. I hope to get back up there for an event next year.
    Let me know if you're coming to an event next season man! I'm planning on making as many as I can

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Posts
    178
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3 Coupe
    Will do, I drilled through my old e46 arms no problem. Was like that with a Turner front sway bar for 4 yrs.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    I'll finish this off to catch up to today...

    3rd drift event/last event for me for the year was Stuffed Moves at Club Loose



    Car was good, nothing went wrong. It was a pretty straight forward day of driving/learning





    I found someone local selling knuckles for cheap and dropped them off with a friend to cut and weld, which is finished and I'm gonna go pick up today. While I'm doing that I'm gonna try and do new brakes up from since everything will be apart. Plans for the winter are going to be new coilovers, probably going to go with bc's with caster/camber plates, camber arms for the rear to pull some camber since I'm selling the 16 inch mille miglias next weekend, and a z3 steering rack

    Quote Originally Posted by blake261 View Post
    Will do, I drilled through my old e46 arms no problem. Was like that with a Turner front sway bar for 4 yrs.
    Sounds like that's gonna be the plan then, car still felt ok with the sway bar disconnected but I dont have much to compare it to

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    dover
    Posts
    281
    My Cars
    none
    Who did your knuckles? I have some angle adapters from a member here and they have been pretty troublesome. Id luck to have someone with experience do my knuckles.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Quote Originally Posted by e30 394 View Post
    Who did your knuckles? I have some angle adapters from a member here and they have been pretty troublesome. Id luck to have someone with experience do my knuckles.
    My friend works at OneMotion Garage in Philly so I gave them to him to do, he's done them previously. Didn't get a chance to get them last week so I'm hoping to get them tomorrow and throw them on the week between Christmas and New Years. I know that EliteJDM in Philly can mod e36 knuckles as well

  12. #12
    mslevin's Avatar
    mslevin is offline Have you checked RealOEM? BMW CCA Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Sunnyvale, CA
    Posts
    915
    My Cars
    E36, E38, E46
    Interesting rollbar design, no downbars from the top to the wheel wells? Car looks pretty sweet overall, I love drift verts.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Quote Originally Posted by mslevin View Post
    Interesting rollbar design, no downbars from the top to the wheel wells? Car looks pretty sweet overall, I love drift verts.


    The cross bars go down to the towers with another bar between the towers to tie them if that what you mean, but thank you man! Was shaky on the vert, and it's created more work, but it's been fun and it's a bit different

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Wadsworth, Ohio
    Posts
    11,482
    My Cars
    BMW
    Love seeing verts getting rowdy! Build seems to be going great so far.

    -James

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Quote Originally Posted by ECSTuning View Post
    Love seeing verts getting rowdy! Build seems to be going great so far.

    -James
    Thank you! Should be putting in an order for some stuff with you guys shortly so I can make the most of the time between Christmas and New Years!

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic


    Picked the knuckles up. Hopefully going to be throwing them on along with new hubs/bearings and brakes in the front in the next 2 weeks. Plenty of time since its basically time to store the car for the winter.

    Also, does anyone have any experience with nerptech? They have some nice looking camber arms and I was originally planning on going with turner but wanted to see if anyone had any experience

  17. #17
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
    Posts
    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    Basically camber arms are all the same. $185 is a bit much for those camber arms IMO though. I consider camber arms to be a consumable since it's what will bend in a crash. But of the spherical options, I guess it's one of the cheaper. No I have not used any nerptech products.

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

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    yeah the turner ones are even more which is why I was considering. Budget wise I was thinking about just grabbing some spc arms since I've heard about them when I had my z

  19. #19
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    dover
    Posts
    281
    My Cars
    none
    Just installed Nerps camber arms lastnight. Fitment was spot on super easy install, and easy adjustment. Id rather support him than a big company especially since his quality of work is really good. I wouldn't say they are consumable, maybe the cheaeper ones like spc. Danny George rolled his car with nerptechs arms and they didn't need replacing.
    #goodenoughforformuladrift
    image1.jpg

    Plenty of adjustment my car is pretty damn low and I could run positive camber if I wanted. 10/10 would recommend. I have his rack spacers as well, and will probably get his RTAB as soon as my bank account recovers from the holidays.
    Last edited by e30 394; 12-14-2017 at 10:59 AM.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  20. #20
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
    Posts
    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    Rolling your car doesn't necessarily break the camber arms. By consumable I don't mean that you'll definitely be replacing them every year. With wall taps and hits during tandem, the camber arm is (and should be) the weak link. I would rather break a camber arm than need to replace the rear subframe. I like things to designed such that hits don't cost an arm and a leg to replace.

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

  21. #21
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    dover
    Posts
    281
    My Cars
    none
    I can understand that for sure, there is still the upper control are to pretzel if you get into someone, i think that would still go first before a subframe or wheel.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  22. #22
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    fairfax,va, usa
    Posts
    6,660
    My Cars
    2 E30s and a maxima
    Those are usually OEM and dime a dozen already.

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

  23. #23
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    dover
    Posts
    281
    My Cars
    none
    Thoughts on a low grade bolt on the wheel side to have a replaceable part like shear bolts on tractor implements.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    NJ
    Posts
    211
    My Cars
    e36 325ic
    Quote Originally Posted by e30 394 View Post
    Just installed Nerps camber arms lastnight. Fitment was spot on super easy install, and easy adjustment. Id rather support him than a big company especially since his quality of work is really good. I wouldn't say they are consumable, maybe the cheaeper ones like spc. Danny George rolled his car with nerptechs arms and they didn't need replacing.

    Plenty of adjustment my car is pretty damn low and I could run positive camber if I wanted. 10/10 would recommend. I have his rack spacers as well, and will probably get his RTAB as soon as my bank account recovers from the holidays.
    Definitely hear you on this and same protomor. Had the option to trade 46 arm setup for an slr ultra kit and 500 on top but the replacement parts situation in the event of anything breaking is what stopped me at this stage of where I am.

    also @e30 394, when I picked my knuckles up I asked my friend if he would be willing to do someone's if they shipped them in, so if you would want him to do them and you would want to ship them I can have him message you. Just an idea if you don't have a local place

  25. #25
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    dover
    Posts
    281
    My Cars
    none
    Quote Originally Posted by mcfilmwerks View Post
    Definitely hear you on this and same protomor. Had the option to trade 46 arm setup for an slr ultra kit and 500 on top but the replacement parts situation in the event of anything breaking is what stopped me at this stage of where I am.

    also @e30 394, when I picked my knuckles up I asked my friend if he would be willing to do someone's if they shipped them in, so if you would want him to do them and you would want to ship them I can have him message you. Just an idea if you don't have a local place

    Okay sweet I need to figure out a game plane first ill let you know for sure.


    IG: dimitriantoniou

Page 1 of 9 123456789 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. What to look for on 92 325 vert
    By cosM3os in forum 1991 - 1999 (E36)
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 07-16-2004, 08:47 PM
  2. dinan e30 m3 vs. 325 vert on I5
    By Serious in forum Pacific Northwest - US
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-01-2004, 11:51 PM
  3. e46 325 vert vs. Civic vs. blower Eclipse
    By hoonpv in forum Kill Stories
    Replies: 26
    Last Post: 06-30-2004, 09:58 PM
  4. FS: 95 325 Vert, 95 M3, 2000 325i and 99 528i
    By SR20Fastback in forum BMW Cars For Sale / Wanted
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 03-18-2004, 02:08 AM
  5. 325 vert on its way. Ready to paint and kit...
    By John540i in forum 1983 - 1991 (E30)
    Replies: 23
    Last Post: 07-10-2003, 08:40 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •