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Thread: 1987 L6 track car build

  1. #1
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    1987 L6 track car build

    Hi there, been a forum member for a long time and in the long time i had two e36 track cars. One was a 1998 328is and the other one was a 1995 325i. Both cars were built up nice and were really fun, but there was something missing. A long time ago i purchased my 1987 bmw L6 in alpine weiss which i daily drove for a couple years then hit a deer and the car was parked for around 3 years until a couple weeks back. I've decided instead of throwing the car away i would build up from scratch transfer some stuff from the 325i and build something unusual and not something someone would have.

    The e24 before the deer:

    10561722_776421085739264_4905697275907773094_n.jpg

    The 328i track car:

    11116321_952692288112142_3260359378679176223_o.jpg

    The 325i track car:

    19149257_1429398370441529_3886995702773955724_n.jpg


    The m50 in this car has full bult ons, and was pretty good runner at the track with beeing 250k miles. The only bad thing is that the motor was leaking water out of the coolant path in the back of the head. With that in mind i decided to build it up to make a 3.1 stroker m50. Will be using m54 crankshaft and m54 pistons on top of what i already have with 100 octane. Talked with rk-tunes and could see around 270 whp to the wheels with 100 race gas, paired up with a 3.46 rear end in the e24 it should be a quick car.

    Car will be received a full new paint job but the interior will be left alone until i decided to build a full cage. So with that in mind i have teared the whole car to it basically just being a bare shell. Cut out the sunroof, rear seat brace, took out the fuel tank because i will be running a fuel cell.

    Bolted in the e36 roll bar and the seats with side mounts, the bar actually fits pretty good, and little bend on the bottom plates for the rear arches and it was all bolted in. Brackets and seats were straight bolt in too little adjustment for my height and they are set.

    25286060_1587696821278349_1186171775_o.jpg

    Teared down the m50 and began prepping the block for paint and the new pistons and crank.

    25286060_1587697381278293_673728613_o.jpg

    More updates to come!

  2. #2
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    Couldn't fit everything in post one so some more stuff and some more pics.

    My e24 steering shaft splines were ruined and the steering wheel choice wasn't big so i decided to custom mount my e36 steering shaft and use the steering wheel off of the e36. Took me a couple hours to break and tear everything apart, took a bit of thinking and mounted it. Used e36 shaft, e24 steering column mount and bushings and spacers from both cars and here is the end result. You can also see that i made a custom panel for some of the gauges too will still be making a lower panel for more gauges and switches because my harness will be very simple.

    25317371_1587697054611659_1933756865_o.jpg

    25188145_1587707677943930_1214352512_n.jpg

    Wheels i will be running will be 18x9.5 et35 d force ltw with 265/35/18 federal fz-201 tires all around with spacers in front and in rear. I also test fitted the rear wing of the e36 but will probably go with a bigger apr wing because this one just looks a bit too small on this car. Also wheels are in the picture on how they should sit with 30mm spacers in the rear and the ride height set.

    25198937_1587707691277262_1855348501_o.jpg

    More stuff to come in the next couple of weeks!

  3. #3
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    1985 535i, 1980 635CSi

  4. #4
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    Bringing this back from the dead, finally i am able to continue the build. Bottom end is back together with fresh bearings and piston rings. Since i sold my m50 head, found a rebuilt m52 head around locally and will be picking it up next week. It will go to the machine shop to be checked and resurfaced.

    Also my uncle had his old motor that was blown sitting around, with some still usable bits so i snagged it.

    40096945_310166269791639_991697408796655616_n.jpg 40114334_1833057480148163_2712603075301867520_n.jpg


    Whole bottom side of the car has been cleaned and coated with new paint to freshen up the look. Cut out the rear spare tire, rear bumper, a little bit of rear side extensions to save weight and build a full out rear diffuser cover the whole rear end of the car back from the diff. Rear trailing arm and rear sub frame bushings have been replaced with black poly ones for a stiffer rear end. Up next will be rebuilding the rear diff, it is a 3.46 LSD so paired with the m50 it should feel pretty quick..

    40089044_648420075557926_2793220792563793920_n.jpg 29003997_1684016294979734_1306919916_n.jpg

    On the other hand, been messing with my daily, here's a dyno video.

    338 AWHP and 327 Ft-Lbs on Mustang Dyno.
    Sorry for the crappy facebook quality.




    Next up on the to do list in the next couple of weeks:

    *Order engine and trans mounting arms.
    *Order a rebuilt steering box.
    *Build rear diffuser.
    *Hopefully start the motor in a month or two.
    Last edited by eagleeye635; 08-26-2018 at 01:08 PM.

  5. #5
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    Awesome line-up. Glad to see your progress coming to fruition.

  6. #6
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    A little update, finally got around to finishing up the interior. Cleaned it kinda, it was a real PITA to get all the residue left over from the sound deadening. Primed it, but of course ran out of primer because the last can sprayer got stuck and was too lazy to go to Menards. So primed what i could and painted what i could all that is left is the driver's side floor board. Will finish it up Monday after work.

    42378229_266000153917657_5475092663898210304_n.jpg42358795_453267888806540_7173398156657295360_n.jpg

    Mocked up the front end last week to see how would everything lay out. Bought some poly plastic that's thicker and made a splitter that holds my weight, also got rid of the ugly metal bumper with some 1/4 thick poly plastic also that i bent i a couple different ways to form the front end. I am still waiting on my driver's side fender to fully finish up the front end.

    42374650_1876562392651207_1833651482897940480_n.jpg42325035_2150596591829554_8344617708003786752_n.jpg42465713_415752442288295_7384770617033097216_n.jpg

  7. #7
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    Here are some rebuilt rear end pics, painted Ford red to have a little ford spirit in me. LOL

    42394639_2014991178560201_7062952080503209984_n.jpg42307838_2207223469553267_4445837947941421056_n.jpg

    Couple weeks back, I was trying to remove the piston rings from the m54 pistons that i bought, and managed to break both piston ring lips, so i had to order two used pistons that had their rings in good shape. Also picked up the head from the machine shop last friday, fully rebuilt, cleaned and machined.

  8. #8
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    Can you provide more info on the materials used in the splitter/facia combo up front?
    love the wheels filling in the arches so fully.
    thx

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by pondhopper View Post
    Can you provide more info on the materials used in the splitter/facia combo up front?
    love the wheels filling in the arches so fully.
    thx
    Yeah, it is poly plastic or HDPE thats how they call it. They sell it at menards in sheets. Facia was done in 1/4 thick and splitter was done in 3/8.

  10. #10
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    A little bit of an update, got the engine back together (almost) pulled 2 cam studs out so gotta re-thread and install coils, otherwise everything looks good so far, couple bits here and there to finish up. Engine install went really smooth, since the e24 engine bay is huge and motor is small compared to the m30, had little alignment problems with the mounts but got it all sorted out.

    I had ebay long tube headers installed hoping to build a custom exhaust, but that did not work out as the headers were hitting in so many places..Thrust arm, subframe, steering linkage were all in the way, so i had to think of a solution. Luckily i had my old cast m50 manifolds and merging collector laying around, which installed with no problems, just a little hammer here and there.

    45483819_504470103362591_4143780598890102784_n.jpg

    45437232_365515024196625_9137830431645761536_n.jpg

    Found a BBK off of a 540i for the low and pulled the trigger, will rebuild the calipers, upgrade the guide pins, lines and should do the duty. The plan is also to use all brand new lines from chase bays, with brake booster and abs delete and a manual adjuster.

    Here they are compared to stock brakes.

    45384735_479062239169180_6547630892032983040_n.jpg

    Saw a great deal for ESR wheels, they had my all time favorite wheels RPF-1 replicas so i had to get them as well. They were priced very well and if needed can be replaced cheap. They are super light and look great on the shark. Will have to mess with spacers in the front to figure out the fitment for my liking. Will be using my old tires off of the e36 265/35/18 Federal Fz-201s.

    In the picture below i used e36 fancy wide diffuser along with my custom skirts to fill the bumper.

    The screws that were used on the rear bumper kinda will be replaced with black rivets, this is just a test fit!@

    45344828_2454970901199690_7042197969600249856_n.jpg

    A bunch of stuff is still left until i can actually hear it run, but i am getting there little by little. Ordered a new fuel cell, switch panels, cut of switch, lines, inline pump, etc to finish up whats left with the fuel.

    Since my car had no fenders/nose panel, found a guy in Cali who had the whole front end that was rust free, so that is also on the way. Then i can actually finish up the whole body and aero so the car can look like a car for once.

    Stay tuned boys and girls!
    Last edited by eagleeye635; 11-17-2018 at 05:27 PM.

  11. #11
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    Little update, front end is finally all finished up, took about 6 hours to fully complete, lots of cutting, welding and measuring but made it work!

    Test fitted how the front wheel will look when finished.

    Still need to purchase one grill and one turn signal, since i've lost them somewhere.


    47504615_1112154058948894_720095101610622976_n.jpg

    47260163_2273152076237703_1526684075694227456_n.jpg

  12. #12
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    That's quite a vision. Looking great. Definately a one of a kind!

  13. #13
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    Been busy 2 months, haven't had time to really work on the car not the want to finish it. Since summer is around the corner, and something kicked in my butt to get moving. So here are some updates.

    Finally finished up the engine fully, had 3 stripped intake cam studs that i had to care of. Painted the valve cover Ford Red, of which most of the suspension components are painted. Still waiting on the radiator since i got sent the wrong one, to finish up connecting the cooling system and wiring up the fan.

    53087102_382851782499465_1302760174691287040_n.jpg

    Had to throw out my ebay 2-1 collector ( basically a replica bimmerworld one) because it had such bad fitment, so i ordered the real bimmerworld one but ran into problems with this one as well. Basically i cannot use the original steering box and linkage as well as the front sway bar. So had a night of thinking and measuring up, and looks like that i can use a non-m e36 sway bar, mounted straight to the frame, will have to make plates that sandwich the frame in a wider manner so it does not rip apart. Since the e36 bar is thicker its a win win situation without the need to upgrade to a thicker one.

    As well as a manual e21 rack should do the trick with bump steer plates from AKG.

    52749938_350060755594144_3650269211399290880_n.jpg

    52876811_552928888561713_5971843195464581120_n.jpg


    Purchased a used set of sparco bucket seats from Mpartsworldwide on instagram, waiting for the floor mounts from Bimmerworld to arrive so i can mount the up and the harnesses.

    52601989_1232363286920511_9143050483357712384_n.jpg
    Last edited by eagleeye635; 02-23-2019 at 09:54 AM.

  14. #14
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    Installed rally road oil cooler cap, but still have to finish up plumbing the oil cooler and the lines them selves. Decided to use the right side of the car and make an enclosure so the air that comes in through the headlight can only escape out through the cooler and out through the hood, which I think would have a higher pressure of air coming in and cooling it a lot better since there is only one way to escape.

    52890012_323798754914891_212202402676211712_n.jpg

    Got my CAE adjustable selector rod, since the getrag is short and the trans tunnel is long and the shifter hole is pushed back quite a bit compared to the e36, should pair up with the IRP shifter thats on the way quite nicely.

    Ordered all parts to finish up the whole exhaust after the 2-1 merge collector. Always loved the way 6 series race cars back in the day had side exhaust, so decided to do something similar, yet mine is gonna a bit on the louder side even with a resonator/muffler and 1-2 tips.

    52590391_2089063077856859_8869556827193344000_n.jpg

    Here is a replica vs bimmerworld y-pipe.

    52537774_856515484680231_4483349895951941632_n.jpg


    Took apart my diff last week, and found the LSD all in pieces, the cross-rods were broken and the gears all damaged. Luckily my friend had 3.38 LSD out of a e36 that i sold to him that i will buy back to transfer the parts into my e24 casing.


    Ordered parts that are coming here in the next week or so.

    IRP V2 shifter.
    New radiator.
    Differential reseal kit.
    Gear, trans, engine oil.
    Seat floor mounts and side mounts.

  15. #15
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    Back for a little update, received my bimmerworld floor mounts and omp tall sidemounts to finish up mounting the seats. Had a little trouble lining up a couple of bolts to the floor mounts but otherwise went really smooth, probably my most hated thing to on a racecar is to install/uninstall the seats and floor mounts. Having big hands and not a lot of space to work with is a problem.

    Bought a adjustable DSSR from CAE. I had to use the Large version because the shifter hole is way back behind the trans. Thought it would be a direct fit, but noticed that the DSSR end is not as wide as the IRP shifter end, so it took a bit of filing to get it to fit right without the use of force, greased it up a bit so it shifts smoother. Coming from a bimmerworld shifter, this thing shifts 10x better and feels more rigid. I always used to have problems with the shifter/trans becoming loose when the trans warms up. When downshifting from 3rd to 2nd i sometimes would go into the reverse tunnel and loose a couple of seconds of focus while getting back on track.

    53778018_375832529813578_7479906118324453376_n.jpg

    Tore down the 3.38 diff, transfering over all the bearings and the LSD onto the e24 housing and we should be good to go!

    53825923_2028439753940039_5885247824324460544_n.jpg

    Had a chat with Ground Control, to get my coilovers set up the right way, so they are getting built as we speak. Very excited and can't wait for them to show up and see how the car will sit.

  16. #16
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    Updates, updates, updates! Who doesn't love updates.

    First things first, got around to mounting new wheels and tires, still am waiting for my Ground Control suspension to come in. Test fitted them, looks like ill need to roll and maybe pull the fenders a bit in the front, and keep the rear just rolled.

    58724822_520788761785391_2497316018523734016_n.jpg

    Finished up plumbing coolant, fuel and oil lines, just waiting on a couple 90 degree fittings to connect to the oil cooler.

    58443620_2240743552854430_9068639702508109824_n.jpg
    58443875_380127036046022_8685901324081954816_n.jpg

    Mounted the exhaust how i want it to be, made a plate with reflective tape to cover up the rusted/cut out quarter panel. Either way my car will be shooting flames with the new tune so the reflective tape will do its job in projecting.

    57416481_174027856864744_8968426128238706688_n.jpg
    58380879_907331586271438_7841123330458386432_n.jpg

  17. #17
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    Since the fenders that i bought were spray painted i really did not care about cutting them up a bit, so out of not having anything to do i cut out vents for the air to escape out of the front fender wells since the car is less aero dynamic then other track cars.

    59334842_329525481097933_7750625620752596992_n.jpg
    58576611_243132039867036_6052444256843333632_n.jpg

    Should fire up the car soon, waiting for my ecu to come back from Rk-Tunes and all the fuel fittings to show up for the fuel cell and then finish running the wires for the fuel pump, ignition and starter.

  18. #18
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    Been busy 3 months, a lot has happened good and bad.

    64214271_691142284675221_2120340451121692672_n.jpg

    Had a lot of trouble with wiring, spent a week chasing problems with a badly soldered ignition wire which lead to the car not firing up, after that was fixed i found that the main relay clicked but did not let me start the car so i have to jump all the pins in order for it to start. Still have to figure out what is going on because it looks jacked up.

    https://youtu.be/I2IAamr-5AI

    Bought a used oil cooler cap from a forum member who lost the spring that holds the upper part of the cap so the filter gets full pressure. Ran the car for the first 30 minutes ever and noticed that my oil cooler was completely cold and that oil pressure was around 8, so after days of digging around some guy on facebook mentioned that there is suppose to be a spring, installed it and boom all like new.Then ran into a small missfire at idle, replaced tps, cps, icv, spark plugs and still missfires a bit. Ordered new o2 sensor and coils, hopefully they fix the problem because there is nothing left to replace.



    Received my ground control coilovers after a long wait, ordered custom specs, caster and camber plates, quality is as always amazing. Installed them along with powerflext black front control and thrust arm bushings.

    66637633_357405335154679_4993749193634873344_n.jpg

    66616247_1375006542651914_6250104677644369920_n.jpg

    3.38 LSD is back from the rebuilder. Pictured is the whole rear end (still have to finish up wrapping the exhaust ).

    66816267_1619600174887600_1761416906142646272_n.jpg

    Car looked very plain so i decided to do a Hard Motorsport livery to make it pop out a bit.

    66447006_483152965590650_8898623400621113344_n.jpg


    Bringing the car back home to my garage to finish up the small bits and pieces, then will be bringing it to EP3 Motorsports to fab up e21 rack and e30 front sway bar.
    Last edited by eagleeye635; 07-12-2019 at 12:12 AM.

  19. #19
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    Loving this. Any updates?


    I'm about to take delivery of a '79 635csi Euro- Also thinking outlandish track car is appropriate, considering it's been sitting in a friend's back yard since '93.

    Keep it up.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poject Junky View Post
    Loving this. Any updates?


    I'm about to take delivery of a '79 635csi Euro- Also thinking outlandish track car is appropriate, considering it's been sitting in a friend's back yard since '93.

    Keep it up.
    Thanks! No updates as i haven't touched the car for a couple of months since i am very busy with work and building my clients supercharged e36. The e24 should be ready for next season..

  21. #21
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    Great fun building a car to your own design! Glad to see your project coming along. I bought an old 633 recently and I am interested in building it into a street/track car instead of trying to do a restoration on it.

    I notice your rear subframe doesn't have any modifications for camber/caster adjustment. Do you think the camber will change much with suspension, wheels, and tires you plan to run?

    I bought a GC coilover kit or about a year ago I guess for my 850i and I am very happy with the results.

    I put together a BBK for the front of the 850 using large 4-pot Brembos but i ended up installing a Ceiko kit on the rear. If I am not mistaken, the OEM 850 brakes will fit the E24 but they are heavy compared to the the brembo and ceika calipers.

    I installed the Moose Engineering adjustable pivot balls on the upper (rear) control arms on front suspension to take out any slop or movement when steering.

    IMG_20191222_165736 (1).jpg
    IMG_20190612_150123256_HDR (2).jpg
    IMG_20180406_165927656.jpg
    IMG_20180414_161815180 (6).jpg

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by JDP530 View Post
    Great fun building a car to your own design! Glad to see your project coming along. I bought an old 633 recently and I am interested in building it into a street/track car instead of trying to do a restoration on it.

    I notice your rear subframe doesn't have any modifications for camber/caster adjustment. Do you think the camber will change much with suspension, wheels, and tires you plan to run?

    I bought a GC coilover kit or about a year ago I guess for my 850i and I am very happy with the results.

    I put together a BBK for the front of the 850 using large 4-pot Brembos but i ended up installing a Ceiko kit on the rear. If I am not mistaken, the OEM 850 brakes will fit the E24 but they are heavy compared to the the brembo and ceika calipers.

    I installed the Moose Engineering adjustable pivot balls on the upper (rear) control arms on front suspension to take out any slop or movement when steering.

    IMG_20191222_165736 (1).jpg
    IMG_20190612_150123256_HDR (2).jpg
    IMG_20180406_165927656.jpg
    IMG_20180414_161815180 (6).jpg

    I think it will change a bit but would need to see it first after alignment.

    The car is unfortunately for sale, had some stuff come up and looking to get it to someone who can finish it up.

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