318ti drift build

[E36M3LX]

I'm baaaaaaack!

Unfortunately, not my car, but my brother's e36 ti is going from time attack to drift car and I want to share some of the process here.

Currently on BC racing coil overs and SLR half kit with e46 arms up front. Going to be changing some of the geometry to a more drift-friendly set up, secondary hydro handbrake, adjustable rear suspension(serrated plates), secondary diff mount, chasebays booster delete, different tires etc.

A little background on the car; It's a 1997 california edition ti, 2 owner car, m52 swapped, vortech supercharged(14psi), e85 fuel, almost all maintenance done, soft poly bushings everywhere, original 4 cyl trans and stock sachs clutch, upgraded pressure plate, e30 diff and axles(2.93 ratio), 18inch mpars with 275 rear tires, cliq tuning over fenders, CF hood, mostly original interior.

Right now the interior is torn apart for mounting an asd pull-up style handbrake in the original handbrake location and just finished making a template for the secondary calipers. we are waiting on the brackets to be cut for the huge wilwood 4 piston calipers that we are mounting in the rear for the handbrake. This car is somewhere near 400whp so we wanted a handbrake that could lock up 265's easy.

I'll post some pics as soon as I get them on my computer.

[E36M3LX]

[ZEKTI]

But the internet told me Getrags can’t handle any power/s

Nice build, time attack seems fun.


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[Novablue454]

This will be a blast! I'd skip the chasebays booster delete though, IMO.

[E36M3LX]

But the internet told me Getrags can’t handle any power/s

Nice build, time attack seems fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

haha right!?! So far so good. I don't think we are more than 300wtq, and I think that's what's saving the trans and clutch. Also hasn't seen many clutch kicks... Yet haha!

The time attack was what originally got us into drifting and its always a good time but drifting is so much more fun. In more than one way too; the cars, the people, the events, the girls

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This will be a blast! I'd skip the chasebays booster delete though, IMO.

we are super excited to get back out there! It's been a while.

What's your .02 on the chasebays stuff? I know single output can be sketchy but handbrake will be a secondary system so should be good right? Lol

[E36M3LX]

Got the handbrake mounted in the car this weekend. Came out pretty clean.

[Liquidity]

So, no parking brake then?

[E36M3LX]

No parking brake. We will leave it in gear, use curbs as needed and wheel chocks on trailers. It's never been a daily driver with us, this is more of a fun weekend car.

Mocking up calipers and making a template. Started running lines too, just ran out of spare parts from previous builds. Not my cleanest work but it's quick and effective. Hardline all the way out one of the old e brake cable guide tubes to a tee at the diff. Using an3 adapter right off the tee to 18" SS line.

[Liquidity]

Definitely make a few sets of those brackets, those trailing arms don’t survive crashes.

[Novablue454]

What's your .02 on the chasebays stuff? I know single output can be sketchy but handbrake will be a secondary system so should be good right? Lol

Yeah, the single output is not ideal and also not allowed in any FD sanctioned pro-am event or above. Between wanting a booster delete and the known throttle and clutch pedal problems in these cars I'd jump in to a pedal box.

[E36M3LX]

Definitely make a few sets of those brackets, those trailing arms don’t survive crashes.

trailing arms will be reinforced and we already have spares on deck! now we are trying to figure out how to get stronger axles in the car. the little e30 axles often break at the output flange. Anyone have experience with these adapters from bron2drift? they supposedly fix that weak point and then we use e34 axles instead of e30.

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Yeah, the single output is not ideal and also not allowed in any FD sanctioned pro-am event or above. Between wanting a booster delete and the known throttle and clutch pedal problems in these cars I'd jump in to a pedal box.

this car is not going to see any kind of competition and a pedal box just doesn't belong in a full interior car IMO. We just want to clean up the engine bay a bit and replace/discard old useless parts as much as possible.

[i.mulhern]

How do you like that SLR Mini Kit? Is it basically ackerman, bumpsteer and roll center correction but not so much extra angle??? I would be using one an an e46. Nice ti!

[E36M3LX]

How do you like that SLR Mini Kit? Is it basically ackerman, bumpsteer and roll center correction but not so much extra angle??? I would be using one an an e46. Nice ti!

thanks! The mini kit is awesome. You're correct, only thing it doesn't have from the full kit is the spherical joint at the inner mounting point of the front control arm and extra clearance that the tubular control arms have. With the right offset wheels you still get tons of steering angle. IIRC the mini kit offers the same 40% quicker steering as the full kit as well.

[i.mulhern]

Cool! Thanks for sharing!!!

[E36M3LX]

time for an update, progress was slow due to covid drama.

got the secondary caliper brackets welded on. i tacked them on then we had a friend tig them for us.





we used shims to keep the caliper where it needed to be.



reinforced the control arms





and the subframe got camber/toe correction and reinforcements as well.

[E36M3LX]

now that everything is welded, we are going to paint everything. not going crazy, just wire wheeling and rattle can for now. thinking about doing the subframe wrinkle black and cast iron silver/gold for the control arms. should match the BC coils and we already have the paint laying around anyways.

got some new parts in the mail too... new e30 axles and new coil packs from FCP euro. their lifetime warranty is the business. we decided to supercharge this car instead of turbo to keep the torque down low so the car doesn't rip itself apart. hopefully the e30 axles will hold up to the abuse. fresh clutch is already slipping slightly(stock sachs with upgraded pressure plate)



we are lucky to have the support of our friends and family, car is torn apart in mom and dad's driveway right now because I dont have room for it at my work at the moment.

[E36M3LX]

everything cleaned up nice then painted all the things. subframe got wrinkle black in the areas that are visible from under the car. the cast iron came out pretty cool on the control arms, almost looks factory.

underbody needed some massaging in the area of the camber adjustment of the subframe, but was minor.

I set the alignment at max toe in and near max positive camber so we'll see what settings that gets us at.

Big job! wheel bearings are new too