Bought myself a winter project

Looking at selling my supra next year to put a deposit down on a house, but I cant see myself not having a toy. Been looking into BMWs as they seem to be going cheap and a popular track car I desided to go for the e36 as the e30s are going for silly money at the mo.

Ended up winning this one on ebay for a whopping £122

Its a 318is the only thing im dissapointed with is its got a sun roof, Ive started stripping the interior out of it the engine and box is comming out of it tomorrow. The plan for this is to make a race prepped car for the track and drifting im looking at doing the following to it over the next few months

Install an rb25 skyline engine and box or poss a 1JZ looking for around 500reliable bhp

Remove the glass and make a lexan set

Install a fully tig welded CDS rollcage

install a set of FIA approved seats with 4 point harnesses

m3 evo disks with a brembo 4 pot caliper conversion on the front poss the rear too

coil over suspension

Nice set of 18" alloys, might get a set from a 5 series and roll the arches to suit

M3 lsd

I want to make and do as much of this my self (works going to love me) any tips on this project would be great im only going by threads off google

Sounds like a good project

sounds good mate,

let us know how you get on!

Nice one mate, knowing you that will be a great track car, some good e36 threads on pistonheads.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=463194&nmt=Project%20E36%20-%20Track%20Day%20Car

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=564225&nmt=Project%20Ring-shed%20E36%20325i

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=594265&nmt=M3%20Track%20Car

nice one mate, i intend to do exactly the same next year...hence the supra's going . Not decided what toy to have have though yet, either a kit car or something like your project.

On a slightly seperate note, do you know what sort of cost it is to do drifting as i would love to get into it but need somewhere to practice without worrying about fuzz or stacking the car into something...or into the roundabout . Needs to be quite cheap fun though for me to be aloud by he mrs haha.

£122 thats insane!

Nice one mate, knowing you that will be a great track car, some good e36 threads on pistonheads.

 

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=463194&nmt=Project%20E36%20-%20Track%20Day%20Car

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=564225&nmt=Project%20Ring-shed%20E36%20325i

 

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=594265&nmt=M3%20Track%20Car

cheers mate ill have a read up been looking into a cosworth engine install too how reliable would one of these be at 500 mark?

Sounds like a nice project The 318is came with a version of the mtech suspension IIRC

How come it was so cheap? Is there something wrong with it, or did you just get lucky?

cheers mate ill have a read up been looking into a cosworth engine install too how reliable would one of these be at 500 mark?

Imo if driven properly cosworth lumps become unreliable after 350bhp, the E36 chassis would be to heavy to get the most out of one of them lumps, id go 1 or 2jz myself but that would work out costly, how about a E39 V8 M5 lump or have you thought about the 540i V8 lump? they can be picked up for peanuts and with 280bhp and plenty of torque that would go well in light chassis.

nice one mate, i intend to do exactly the same next year...hence the supra's going . Not decided what toy to have have though yet, either a kit car or something like your project.

 

On a slightly seperate note, do you know what sort of cost it is to do drifting as i would love to get into it but need somewhere to practice without worrying about fuzz or stacking the car into something...or into the roundabout . Needs to be quite cheap fun though for me to be aloud by he mrs haha.

bmws seem to be the cheapest car to get a 325i up is best, the most expensive thing will be fuel and tyres I guess have a read up on http://www.driftworks.com

Sounds like a nice project The 318is came with a version of the mtech suspension IIRC

 

How come it was so cheap? Is there something wrong with it, or did you just get lucky?

yer the engine is shot overheated on the motorway the rest of the car is in good condition will a huge amount of history and a load of new bits fitted, theres enough on it to sell and get my money back on the car

Imo if driven properly cosworth lumps become unreliable after 350bhp, the E36 chassis would be to heavy to get the most out of one of them lumps, id go 1 or 2jz myself but that would work out costly, how about a E39 V8 M5 lump or have you thought about the 540i V8 lump? they can be picked up for peanuts and with 280bhp and plenty of torque that would go well in light chassis.

cheers mate ill look into it the v8 route would be a nice change, was thinking of the rb25 engine as they are coming up cheap and have good tunning pottential

cheers mate ill look into it the v8 route would be a nice change, was thinking of the rb25 engine as they are coming up cheap and have good tunning pottential

When i was at Marhan i was talking to the skyline boys and 2 rb25's failed that day;)

When i was at Marhan i was talking to the skyline boys and 2 rb25's failed that day;)

my mate has one it bits I might do a full rebuild on it, the 2jz will be to expensive to do might as well keep mine, the 1jz ive been told has a strong engine and capable of 500 I just cant seem to find many forsale I think the drifters are using these as they cope with the abuse more

As jamie said, stick a beemer v8 in it. The m62 4.4 from a 540/740/840 is an amazing motor, it shift our 840 along very nicely and its 1.8 tons. I thinks Birds still sell the mounts and other bits and pieces you need to get it to fit in an e36 as they used to offer it as a service I believe. I thought alpina offered a v8 in an e36 aswell so it is possible. If they fit then a 4.8 X5 motor should fit too;)

As jamie said, stick a beemer v8 in it. The m62 4.4 from a 540/740/840 is an amazing motor, it shift our 840 along very nicely and its 1.8 tons. I thinks Birds still sell the mounts and other bits and pieces you need to get it to fit in an e36 as they used to offer it as a service I believe. I thought alpina offered a v8 in an e36 aswell so it is possible. If they fit then a 4.8 X5 motor should fit too;)

thanks mate ill read into that too

Removed the old engine today not sure what to do with the ABS keep it in or remove it to save weight??? being as the whole brake system is being uprated not sure if it will be much help either

thanks mate ill read into that too

 

 

 

Removed the old engine today not sure what to do with the ABS keep it in or remove it to save weight??? being as the whole brake system is being uprated not sure if it will be much help either

Ditch the ABS mate, true track car style plus more weight loss

Little update on the project been busy over xmas with it stripped a load more from the car, theres not much left of it now and its become very light. The engine and box has been removed all the interior and sound deadning, all the luxurys gone interior lighting and other.

Been fabricating the rollcage up from 2" CDS tube, one poxy job got there in the end though after a few small fires and my arms, back and neck burnt from all the welding spatter managed to get some primer on it as its sitting outside untill I get some spare time to carry on. Just need to put the front door cross members on it now and the cage will be finnished.

put extra supports in over the rear axel as the axel mounts are known to break out the floor when driven hard

Removed the sunroof as it was quite heavy lump then fabricated and welded in a sunroof pannel

bought some tastey deep dish wheels the rears are 9.5j so I have some arch fabrication to do

Bought a toyota 1jz engine been reading up on them and they seem to produce good power, been searching the net and found some pics with them already fitted, not the neatest of installs but shows it can be done, ill be going for a single turbo with poss an uprated intake manifold.

Going to start making the lexan windows up this week as a sheet of that has arrived, wont be fitting them untill the car is painted though.

looking out for a gearbox for the 1jz so I can make a start on fitting it all.

Wow big progress Looks ace so far, can't wait to see it finished!

Great progress, just one small question, your choice of wheel, I would have thought a lightweight wheel along the lines of CE28N/TE37 would have been more appropriate for a track car?

Great progress, just one small question, your choice of wheel, I would have thought a lightweight wheel along the lines of CE28N/TE37 would have been more appropriate for a track car?

They are fairly light I mainly went for the look still not 100% sure if i will keep them as theres a lot of work to get them to look right on the car. aiming for 500bhp from the 1jz so ill need some wide wheels to cope

They are fairly light I mainly went for the look still not 100% sure if i will keep them as theres a lot of work to get them to look right on the car. aiming for 500bhp from the 1jz so ill need some wide wheels to cope

They do look very smart, I love the black spoked with polished rim look

Nice work, that is going to be cool:cool:

Nice work,I like the cage, and I know what a total PITA they are to make and weld, I vowed never to do another after my attempts at a Volvo one years ago

Just remembered i have a steering wheel boss i got for the M3 in the shed, yours if you want it, my donation to the project:)