M3boi
Well-known member
It is indeed! They're 200TW and a road legal semi, didn't want a full on track semi like a Direzza or RE-11.
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Read the WELCOME ALL BMWFANATICS post.
The unexpected E36 328i find.
- Thread starter M3boi
- Start date
It is indeed! They're 200TW and a road legal semi, didn't want a full on track semi like a Direzza or RE-11.
modocrat
Well-known member
Didn't expect your meat to be so round....Fine, here's a pic of my meat in the form of Bridgestone RE71-RS:
Luigi approved:
Just looking for a second set of wheels, think I have a solution. Weather has been shocking in CPT anyway so not like I can make use of these yet, but next month is looking promising!
M3boi
Well-known member
modocrat
Well-known member
I hope Luigi wasn't the first...
M3boi
Well-known member
M3boi
Well-known member
It does happen, especially when rust is involved, and if the car has had a hard life in terms of driving style and maintenance. I know at some point I’ll have to strip everything and do all the reinforcements, but for now I’ve just done the “drop in” reinforcements that are available, and change the bushings out. It’s not a permanent fix, but will be good enough for now. I’ve inspected all the areas that are prone to tearing and it looks fine for the moment. I actually want to change my rear trailing arm bushings out for uniball inserts as well.
M3boi
Well-known member
Okay well this thread is due an update, been a while.
Since the last post the car has received a few updates. The first being raising it slightly all round but adding a slight bit of rake, to help with control arm angle as well as turn in (adding rake seems to help with this on E36 chassis, can confirm it works. Even if it is minor). Added more camber all round, up front its at about -3.7 degrees and in the rear its at -2.5 degrees. And also adjusted the front swaybar to full stiff (again weird E36 things, they love full stiff up front) (stop it).
The next thing was the rear brakes. Now I didn't end up taking any photos of this process because it turned out to be a PROCESS.
A while ago I bought what I initially thought were E46 328i calipers and brackets. This would allow me to convert to a much bigger, vented rear disc vs the stock smaller non-vented disc. Turns out the calipers are the same between 328i and 323i, 320i etc, however the brackets do change. So when I went to do the upgrade and tried bolting the calipers up to the new, bigger discs, nothing worked. So I got 323i calipers. Yay.
Phoned and messaged around EVERYWHERE to try find the correct caliper brackets, but no luck. And with the trackday coming up, I didn't have time to mess around. So I just said screw it, exchanged the 296mm discs for the 276mm discs and sent it. So the only difference now is that the rear is vented vs solid. While I was there, I fitted the braided rear brake lines x4, and flushed the system again with RBF660. The brakes do actually feel noticeably different. Its not huge, but you can feel they grab better. A worthy upgrade if you do need to do rear brakes, as the discs and pads are the same price and you can reuse your stock brake lines if you aren't upgrading. A 100% OEM bolt-on upgrade.
Then went over and met @nirvash to fit my RE71-RS while he fiitted his matching set of Koya SF15, and I might've taken something from him too. More on that later.
Then off to the trackday! Now with the updates done and the new sticky meats fitted, I had an ambitious goal of going from my 1:31.7 lap time to at least a 1:29.9. I thought it was definitely doable.
But as I leave home, IT STARTS RAINING. Thanks Cape Town.
The rain eventually cleared by about 10:00, but the trackday attendance was wild. It was extremely busy, and the intermediate group I was in was the most full group of the day. So no clean hotlaps for me. Also a lot of novice guys going in the intermediate group, which made for some interesting laps...
Eventually in the last open session of the day I managed to get some clean laps in after chasing some quicker cars, BUT DID IT NOT START RAINING AGAIN. Anyways, bit of a frustrating trackday for me. Too much expectation on my side. I talk a bit more about it in the video, sorry its a bit of a long one.
Got home, took the wheels off to inspect the 71RS, they look good. I'm very happy with the grip, even in not very favourable conditions. They had a lot more grip in the wet than I thought they would, but I wasn't comfortable pushing it. Last thing I need is an inshident.
Cleaned them up, marked each one and put them aside and put the E36 back into "daily" mode. Thanks @nirvash for the wheels!
That's all for now. Now that the weather is getting better again I'll be doing more mountain driving which I'm very excited about, and keen to see how the 71RS feel in the twisties on the road. Next trackday is a private session in November only, and the next public day is only in December. So not much track driving left for the year.
P.S. I just want to reiterate how f#cking good this damn car is. I am so hard on it, it really does get pushed to my limits and it just keeps on taking the abuse without even thinking about it. Who would've thought a cheap little 328i would end up being the best car I've ever owned in terms of all round enjoyment.
E36 really is best car.
Since the last post the car has received a few updates. The first being raising it slightly all round but adding a slight bit of rake, to help with control arm angle as well as turn in (adding rake seems to help with this on E36 chassis, can confirm it works. Even if it is minor). Added more camber all round, up front its at about -3.7 degrees and in the rear its at -2.5 degrees. And also adjusted the front swaybar to full stiff (again weird E36 things, they love full stiff up front) (stop it).
The next thing was the rear brakes. Now I didn't end up taking any photos of this process because it turned out to be a PROCESS.
A while ago I bought what I initially thought were E46 328i calipers and brackets. This would allow me to convert to a much bigger, vented rear disc vs the stock smaller non-vented disc. Turns out the calipers are the same between 328i and 323i, 320i etc, however the brackets do change. So when I went to do the upgrade and tried bolting the calipers up to the new, bigger discs, nothing worked. So I got 323i calipers. Yay.
Phoned and messaged around EVERYWHERE to try find the correct caliper brackets, but no luck. And with the trackday coming up, I didn't have time to mess around. So I just said screw it, exchanged the 296mm discs for the 276mm discs and sent it. So the only difference now is that the rear is vented vs solid. While I was there, I fitted the braided rear brake lines x4, and flushed the system again with RBF660. The brakes do actually feel noticeably different. Its not huge, but you can feel they grab better. A worthy upgrade if you do need to do rear brakes, as the discs and pads are the same price and you can reuse your stock brake lines if you aren't upgrading. A 100% OEM bolt-on upgrade.
Then went over and met @nirvash to fit my RE71-RS while he fiitted his matching set of Koya SF15, and I might've taken something from him too. More on that later.
Then off to the trackday! Now with the updates done and the new sticky meats fitted, I had an ambitious goal of going from my 1:31.7 lap time to at least a 1:29.9. I thought it was definitely doable.
But as I leave home, IT STARTS RAINING. Thanks Cape Town.
The rain eventually cleared by about 10:00, but the trackday attendance was wild. It was extremely busy, and the intermediate group I was in was the most full group of the day. So no clean hotlaps for me. Also a lot of novice guys going in the intermediate group, which made for some interesting laps...
Eventually in the last open session of the day I managed to get some clean laps in after chasing some quicker cars, BUT DID IT NOT START RAINING AGAIN. Anyways, bit of a frustrating trackday for me. Too much expectation on my side. I talk a bit more about it in the video, sorry its a bit of a long one.
Got home, took the wheels off to inspect the 71RS, they look good. I'm very happy with the grip, even in not very favourable conditions. They had a lot more grip in the wet than I thought they would, but I wasn't comfortable pushing it. Last thing I need is an inshident.
Cleaned them up, marked each one and put them aside and put the E36 back into "daily" mode. Thanks @nirvash for the wheels!
That's all for now. Now that the weather is getting better again I'll be doing more mountain driving which I'm very excited about, and keen to see how the 71RS feel in the twisties on the road. Next trackday is a private session in November only, and the next public day is only in December. So not much track driving left for the year.
P.S. I just want to reiterate how f#cking good this damn car is. I am so hard on it, it really does get pushed to my limits and it just keeps on taking the abuse without even thinking about it. Who would've thought a cheap little 328i would end up being the best car I've ever owned in terms of all round enjoyment.
E36 really is best car.
///M Individual
Well-known member
Very nice progress as always bud. Well done. I hope the weather holds up for the next track day so you can chase your time goals.
nirvash
Well-known member
What an awesome car 👌 👌 👌 💪
You running your spacers with the E90 wheels?
Pity about the rain at the track day, was really keen to hear your experiences with the new rubber.
It looks like your tyres picked up a lot of other rubber off of the track lol
The e36's are such great cars in so many ways.
Parked next to my E90, my eyes just naturally gravitate to the E36....
I miss my old green on tan 328i, only had it 2 months sadly before I let it go.
Love how your car looks with the SF15's, Semi's and camber, purposeful like a track car on road👌
You running your spacers with the E90 wheels?
Pity about the rain at the track day, was really keen to hear your experiences with the new rubber.
It looks like your tyres picked up a lot of other rubber off of the track lol
The e36's are such great cars in so many ways.
Parked next to my E90, my eyes just naturally gravitate to the E36....
I miss my old green on tan 328i, only had it 2 months sadly before I let it go.
Love how your car looks with the SF15's, Semi's and camber, purposeful like a track car on road👌
M3boi
Well-known member
Thanks Andreas! Those pictures with the 194M's fitted had spacers just on the front, I've since fitted the rear spacers.
TBP88
Well-known member
You need new wiper blades LMAO.Full gallery of last Sunday morning:
And some POV touge footage chasing a 3RS and a few other cars. Footage is obviously an AI generated simulation 🌚 quite a cool POV angle, let me know what you think.
