TBP88
Well-known member
LMAO. We have different ideas of what constitutes body roll. When's the next trackday? Please get a passenger bucket also!
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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
The unexpected E36 328i find.
- Thread starter M3boi
- Start date
TBP88
Well-known member
LMAO. We have different ideas of what constitutes body roll. When's the next trackday? Please get a passenger bucket also!
TBP88
Well-known member
LMAO. We have different ideas of what constitutes body roll. When's the next trackday? Please get a passenger bucket also!
M3boi
Well-known member
Okay so time for a fairly big update. I've been on a mission lately, not sure why.
First up, swaybar went in!
I have it set to the middle adjustment setting at the moment, did some back road testing and the car feels a lot more stable now. Very big improvement in body roll. I need to really push it one weekend to feel if it needs to go stiffer, but I'll post an update once I do some tuning. I suspect I might have to zero out the toe in the rear to get the balance just right. Then once I have the semi slicks fitted, see if the car needs a rear bar.
Then, something I've been wanting to do for a while!
It was between this and the Momo. This was in stock, the Momo wasn't, and they're made in the same factory. Very happy with it, definitely feels more racecar now paired with the seat!
Which then leads to the change in the center of the dash. After seeing the success @Benji had with his CarPlay unit from Aliexpress, I thought I'd give the universal single din a go. It was stupidly cheap, so definitely worth a shop. Decided on the version with a knob, I hate touch screen volume control.
Extremely happy with this unit! It boots up instantly, the display is clear and touch sensitivity is fast. It doesn't fit perfectly, there is a little overhang at the top which covers the airflow controls for the airvent, but I never touch that so it doesn't bother me. For R1000-odd, I am super happy. It also improved the audio quality a bit, which then lead me down the next road
Now I didn't want to go crazy with this, I'm no hardcore audiophile, but I definitely wanted a bump in audio quality and the 27 year old speakers just weren't cutting it. Have to have to tunes pumping on the way to the mountain pass or track. So I just got some Pioneer mids to replace in the front footwells and rear parcel shelf:
But of course this wasn't going to be an easy, straightforward swap like I thought it would be. BMW decided for some reason to seal the decklid speakers, so after a while of prying, I managed to split both halves of the speaker unit with this result:
The speakers are completely attached to the unit, thanks BMW. This meant a bit of cutting and grinding with the Dremel, and eventually managed to get them out.
Pioneers placed:
Did the same with the front mids but didn't take pictures as its relatively straightforward. The bump in sound quality is huge, even with average Pioneers like these. Just shows how bad the stock speakers were. But of course I couldn't stop there.
While the new speakers were super clear, there was absolutely no bass. And I hate dialing bass into the mids as the sound quality just goes down. But I also didn't want a whole amp and sub in the boot install, this is a backroads/trackday car after all. So I did some investigation on active subs and decided that it was the best way to go. Again, didn't want to go crazy so ordered this guy off Takealot:
Unfortunately there wasn't enough space under the passenger seat or under my bucket seat, so I settled on behind the passenger seat, velcro'd down to the carpet. I never have passengers in the rear so it wasn't an issue for me.
This active sub wasn't very expensive so I didn't have hugely high hopes for it, but hot damn. What a difference in sound quality now! Its filled the sound up just the right amount and the amount of punch is perfect! That last pic is what I have it set to currently and its great. So glad I did this, and it takes up zero space and weighs nothing. Perfect for my use case! I'll get my colleague to dial it in properly for me next week to get it spot on.
Sorry for the long update, but hope you enjoyed
First up, swaybar went in!
I have it set to the middle adjustment setting at the moment, did some back road testing and the car feels a lot more stable now. Very big improvement in body roll. I need to really push it one weekend to feel if it needs to go stiffer, but I'll post an update once I do some tuning. I suspect I might have to zero out the toe in the rear to get the balance just right. Then once I have the semi slicks fitted, see if the car needs a rear bar.
Then, something I've been wanting to do for a while!
It was between this and the Momo. This was in stock, the Momo wasn't, and they're made in the same factory. Very happy with it, definitely feels more racecar now paired with the seat!
Which then leads to the change in the center of the dash. After seeing the success @Benji had with his CarPlay unit from Aliexpress, I thought I'd give the universal single din a go. It was stupidly cheap, so definitely worth a shop. Decided on the version with a knob, I hate touch screen volume control.
Extremely happy with this unit! It boots up instantly, the display is clear and touch sensitivity is fast. It doesn't fit perfectly, there is a little overhang at the top which covers the airflow controls for the airvent, but I never touch that so it doesn't bother me. For R1000-odd, I am super happy. It also improved the audio quality a bit, which then lead me down the next road
Now I didn't want to go crazy with this, I'm no hardcore audiophile, but I definitely wanted a bump in audio quality and the 27 year old speakers just weren't cutting it. Have to have to tunes pumping on the way to the mountain pass or track. So I just got some Pioneer mids to replace in the front footwells and rear parcel shelf:
But of course this wasn't going to be an easy, straightforward swap like I thought it would be. BMW decided for some reason to seal the decklid speakers, so after a while of prying, I managed to split both halves of the speaker unit with this result:
The speakers are completely attached to the unit, thanks BMW. This meant a bit of cutting and grinding with the Dremel, and eventually managed to get them out.
Pioneers placed:
Did the same with the front mids but didn't take pictures as its relatively straightforward. The bump in sound quality is huge, even with average Pioneers like these. Just shows how bad the stock speakers were. But of course I couldn't stop there.
While the new speakers were super clear, there was absolutely no bass. And I hate dialing bass into the mids as the sound quality just goes down. But I also didn't want a whole amp and sub in the boot install, this is a backroads/trackday car after all. So I did some investigation on active subs and decided that it was the best way to go. Again, didn't want to go crazy so ordered this guy off Takealot:
Unfortunately there wasn't enough space under the passenger seat or under my bucket seat, so I settled on behind the passenger seat, velcro'd down to the carpet. I never have passengers in the rear so it wasn't an issue for me.
This active sub wasn't very expensive so I didn't have hugely high hopes for it, but hot damn. What a difference in sound quality now! Its filled the sound up just the right amount and the amount of punch is perfect! That last pic is what I have it set to currently and its great. So glad I did this, and it takes up zero space and weighs nothing. Perfect for my use case! I'll get my colleague to dial it in properly for me next week to get it spot on.
Sorry for the long update, but hope you enjoyed
M3boi
Well-known member
Thanks! Always a fun time working on it 😂
M3boi
Well-known member
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Sabretooth tiger
///Member
Definitely my dream E36 this. Great work
M3boi
Well-known member
Thank you guys, much appreciated!
Came through the Post Office, but did have tracking. Mine arrived in about two weeks, surprisingly.
M3boi
Well-known member
Trackday time! The public trackday this past Saturday allowed me to test the setup with the new front swaybar, but because I added 2kg of active subwoofer, I had to remove weight somewhere else, right?
Ended up chatting to A-line, who bring in Koya racing wheels and just put their own center cap on and sell them.
www.koya.com.au
Went for the SF15 (A-line brand it as "Chase") as they are flow formed, so super light and quite strong.
Weighed the Imolas, crazy heavy. 11.7kg per wheel SF15's came in at 7.5kg per wheel, do the rotational/unsprung mass math...
A few beauty shots:
Think the Imolas are definitely cooler, but function over form right?
Some on track action shots:
Car feels really good now with the changes made, also did an alignment adjustment the day before and did 0 toe in the rear to get it to rotate a little better, and added more toe-out in front. I managed to shave off 1.5 seconds from my previous PB, so I must be doing something right!
I don't think I'm going to go any quicker on EfficientGrips though... they're holding on for dear life around the back section of the track. I'm going to wait until Spring to order some RE71-RS, and maybe add one or two more bits before going back to take a significant amount of time off my current time.
Enjoy the PB onboard video
Ended up chatting to A-line, who bring in Koya racing wheels and just put their own center cap on and sell them.
koya motorsport wheels - koya wheels
KOYA MOTOSPORT SF Series SF01 18″ SF02 17″ SF03 18″ SF05 18″ SF13 18″ SF15 17″ 18″ One Piece Monoblock Forged Fixed Design Forged PMF03 17″ 18″ PMF04 18″ Forged SF04 Drag Edition 18″ Forged SF06 Drag Edition 18″
www.koya.com.au
Went for the SF15 (A-line brand it as "Chase") as they are flow formed, so super light and quite strong.
Weighed the Imolas, crazy heavy. 11.7kg per wheel
SF15's came in at 7.5kg per wheel, do the rotational/unsprung mass math...A few beauty shots:
Think the Imolas are definitely cooler, but function over form right?
Some on track action shots:
Car feels really good now with the changes made, also did an alignment adjustment the day before and did 0 toe in the rear to get it to rotate a little better, and added more toe-out in front. I managed to shave off 1.5 seconds from my previous PB, so I must be doing something right!
I don't think I'm going to go any quicker on EfficientGrips though... they're holding on for dear life around the back section of the track. I'm going to wait until Spring to order some RE71-RS, and maybe add one or two more bits before going back to take a significant amount of time off my current time.
Enjoy the PB onboard video
nirvash
Well-known member
Really liking the new wheels,
makes the car look so purposeful 👌
Haha, I laughed when I saw that post of you taking the hub nut off, I've used that Hi-Lift jack handle so many times as a breaker bar extension
It was riveted to my bro's Hi-Lift jack, but I drilled it off and has been serving me well ever since, works like a charm, sometimes my bro has to look for it because I'm using it somewhere on some car🤣
makes the car look so purposeful 👌
Haha, I laughed when I saw that post of you taking the hub nut off, I've used that Hi-Lift jack handle so many times as a breaker bar extension
It was riveted to my bro's Hi-Lift jack, but I drilled it off and has been serving me well ever since, works like a charm, sometimes my bro has to look for it because I'm using it somewhere on some car🤣
