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Thread: E36 325is/M3 track car project

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    BMW E36

    E36 325is/M3 track car project

    Hey everyone,

    My name is Stuart and I've been lurking here for a solid year soaking up all the wisdom and knowledge, of which there is a lot, so many thanks for that. I purchased a chassis that once lived a life as a GTS 1/2 325is car in NC and now I'm putting Humpty Dumpty back together. It was in pretty rough shape and so I've been spending most of my time stripping the remaining bits down and doing some rust repair/baseline fixes to get the chassis ready to build back up. Painting the interior should happen this weekend and then beginning the real build part. My overly ambitious goal is to get it on a track in an HDPE type session by the end of the summer...we'll see how that goes. The overall plan is to run in the NASA Mid-Atlantic GTS 2 series with some endurance racing on the side as time/money allow. I run an E30 with some guys in ChampCar and so this is the natural progression from that to some more focused racing, so naturally have some more personal racing skills to develop but that's what this car is going to help with.

    That all being said, I figured I would ask you all what you would want/do if you had a blank E36 canvas to build up from scratch. Any lessons learned that you would apply to a new car or things that went well/didn't go well? I've acquired a ton of parts (after lots and lots of research) in anticipation of building it back up, but before I start throwing things on, I figured I'd ask you all for any thoughts/guidance you might like to share. I'm learning a lot as I go, as this is the first car I've ever built but I'm really enjoying the process.

    For instance, I have both an M50 and an S52 motor, and the harnesses for OBD1 and OBD2. I have the M50 manifold as well as the S54 oil pump/pan setup. My thought was to run the S52 with OBD1 and an M50 manifold and S54 pump/pan. I figured I could wait on the better cams and other performance bits while I get my racing legs under me. I can't seem to find an answer to how people do any sort of data logging with OBD1 though, or if that's terribly relevant at this stage in the game for me. Since I have the car entirely apart, I'm trying to solve future problems while it's easy and accessible.

    Anyhow, thank you in advance for any/all thoughts or ideas you guys and gals might have, I really appreciate it!
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Parker, Colorado
    Posts
    3,128
    My Cars
    GTS3 E36, 97 M3/4/5
    Just wrapped one up. GTS2 car with S52 with S50 intake and OBD1. Spend time on the wiring. Get it all cleaned up and thinned out as much as possible. Knowing what is where will help a considerable amount when trying to troubleshoot electrical issues. If you have the S54 pump and pan, do that as well. Far better than the S5X baffles and much easier to do up front.

    I do not data log on this car.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Posts
    15
    My Cars
    BMW E36
    That’s good to hear I’m not far off the mark. I got a painless harness after a lot of deliberating...hated to spend the $$ but it seemed like a good starting point for an electrical neophyte. Are you running any sort of GPS/video system? Thanks for the response!

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