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DC2 TypeR / E36 328i
Gutted to not be there on Monday mate, enjoy! Seems everyone is going. 
Had a quick check over the car before Donington, and felt a slight bit of play in the front N/S wheel bearing, or so I thought. These have never been replaced before, so I swapped it for a new one...
After fitting, the play was still there. Turns out the play is coming from the shock itself, the piston seems to be worn in its body. This will need replacing/sorting.
The day was a waste of time really - massively overbooked (mix up with the organisers booking system) and only ended up doing 54 miles on track. Got flagged for noise on multiple occasions which I found hard to believe considering I've never had a problem before. Donington is 98db driveby, where Oulton/Cadwell are 92db driveby.
y
YouTube Video
Heading to Oulton in a couple of weeks so the shock(s) need sorting before then!
After fitting, the play was still there. Turns out the play is coming from the shock itself, the piston seems to be worn in its body. This will need replacing/sorting.
The day was a waste of time really - massively overbooked (mix up with the organisers booking system) and only ended up doing 54 miles on track. Got flagged for noise on multiple occasions which I found hard to believe considering I've never had a problem before. Donington is 98db driveby, where Oulton/Cadwell are 92db driveby.
y
YouTube Video
Heading to Oulton in a couple of weeks so the shock(s) need sorting before then!
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
So after exploring options on replacing the front shock, well the pair, it turned out the components would not swap over anyway so I had two options.... keep using the dodgy shock or replace them. After speaking with the original supplier (had them around 2.5 years), I got another set sorted...
Got them fitted and set up, slightly different to the previous set, but no major issues. The pictures also show the front brake cooling which was changed a while back and just never posted anything about it.... the brackets are mounted from the shock, feeding air from the bumper ducts into the centre of the disc.
Then today it was taken for alignment again, front/toe and camber re-set up as per the previous settings further up the thread. The rear was still as it was set, which is good.
With Oulton park coming up in less than a week, I wanted to be sure there was zero issues with noise. Like I said previously, never had an issue at any circuit until a few weeks ago at Donington... somehow it failed the 98db driveby there yet is fine with a 92db driveby at Oulton.... go figure.
Anyway, the simplest way to be 100% sure was to swap for a larger silencer. It has gone slightly louder since it was first fitted, but I had put that down to possibly losing some of the silencer material from the centre box. The exhaust has been fine for over a year now, since it was made when the engine went in, all still in one piece anyway. I dropped it off the car...
Then picked up the largest silencer I could fit in the centre, as well as within the space of the transmission tunnel; went for Magnaflow this time. The new silencer is shallower height wise - the aim was to mount it higher to aid with clearance, as the previous round silencer occasionally caught on things.
After an hour or so of messing around, cutting the old silencer out, changing the position, height, etc... I had it tacked together. Then it was welded up and fitted back to the car. I would have preferred to get it TIG'd but with time at a minimum I needed it sorting today. Could always be re-done in the future.
First impressions are its noticeably quieter on idle/cruise as you would expect. Hopefully this one will make certain of no future noise issues.
Got them fitted and set up, slightly different to the previous set, but no major issues. The pictures also show the front brake cooling which was changed a while back and just never posted anything about it.... the brackets are mounted from the shock, feeding air from the bumper ducts into the centre of the disc.
Then today it was taken for alignment again, front/toe and camber re-set up as per the previous settings further up the thread. The rear was still as it was set, which is good.
With Oulton park coming up in less than a week, I wanted to be sure there was zero issues with noise. Like I said previously, never had an issue at any circuit until a few weeks ago at Donington... somehow it failed the 98db driveby there yet is fine with a 92db driveby at Oulton.... go figure.
Anyway, the simplest way to be 100% sure was to swap for a larger silencer. It has gone slightly louder since it was first fitted, but I had put that down to possibly losing some of the silencer material from the centre box. The exhaust has been fine for over a year now, since it was made when the engine went in, all still in one piece anyway. I dropped it off the car...
Then picked up the largest silencer I could fit in the centre, as well as within the space of the transmission tunnel; went for Magnaflow this time. The new silencer is shallower height wise - the aim was to mount it higher to aid with clearance, as the previous round silencer occasionally caught on things.
After an hour or so of messing around, cutting the old silencer out, changing the position, height, etc... I had it tacked together. Then it was welded up and fitted back to the car. I would have preferred to get it TIG'd but with time at a minimum I needed it sorting today. Could always be re-done in the future.
First impressions are its noticeably quieter on idle/cruise as you would expect. Hopefully this one will make certain of no future noise issues.
Car is now 82db static, still quite a bit of noise under load though which is fine.
Oulton yesterday - dry(ish) in the morning then monsoon in the afternoon. First time back there with the 3.46 final drive, much better, mostly 4th and 5th gear now. New suspension feels better as expected. Lap times started to fall under 2 minutes late morning, improvements to be had if the weather had stayed dry though - always next time.
YouTube Link
Oulton yesterday - dry(ish) in the morning then monsoon in the afternoon. First time back there with the 3.46 final drive, much better, mostly 4th and 5th gear now. New suspension feels better as expected. Lap times started to fall under 2 minutes late morning, improvements to be had if the weather had stayed dry though - always next time.
YouTube Link
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Under two mins is awesome mate
That's chucking quite a bit of fire out the back isn't it!
Looks silly quick around there now, sub 2 minutes is mental
Looks silly quick around there now, sub 2 minutes is mental
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Those conditions were awful
I've turned the few milliseconds of fuel on over-run off now.... we turned it on a long time back to try and solve some 'drop to idle' issues when you clutch down, but forgot it was still on. It puts out a bit of oil when lifting off at high RPM and I think it was just igniting that, as its never done it that bad before lol. Once it was turned off, it stopped...
I think with a full dry day there its achievable consistently, I never really got the new suspension properly adjusted in the small amount of dry-ish time there was. I could see the dark clouds coming over and ended up staying out for something like 50mins to get the last of the dry, about 22-23 laps in one go. There were 6-7 laps in the middle of that which were consistently between 1,59-2,02, so with a bit more time I'd say its about right for the car
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Have you ran slicks on this at any point yet Jord?
Nah, it would be fun but I don't really want to considering the amount of wear it puts on everything else (as happened with the Mk1s).
The Mk1s were cheap enough to maintain, but with the double balljoint setup at the back of the E36 (nearly 100 quid to replace all four), and cost of bearings, I'd rather run semi's on their limit and let everything last a bit longer. Also with running 16's they aren't really that available compared to 17/18 (more common E36 wheel size).
Considering the RSR's are under 55 quid a corner and last 5-6 track days its stupid not to run them really..
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
Makes sense yeah.
I see Rob was close to that barrier 😅
I see Rob was close to that barrier 😅
Yeah, very lol. Taking a risk and heading to Snetterton in mid December to see the year out, few bits to do before then. Hopefully get lucky and have a dry spell!
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
It's a fair drive to Snett, will you be staying over the night before?
Yeah, only been over that way once before, night before and after, luckily its a Saturday so it shouldn't be too much of a rush
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
You'll be on the limiter down the 1/2 mile Bentley Straight won't you?
Possibly, never really looked at what speeds people usually get down there - the limiter is 225kmh/139mph in 5th, just about hit that on the straight at Spa
Cool - No doubt carrying more speed onto the straight at Spa, around 115mph after Eau Rouge, so only another 20mph to go (uphill mind). Luckily I didn't go for a 3.6x ratio diff as I think that would have ended up being far too short for UK circuits. The 3.46 seems to be the perfect all rounder for the engine
So the week before Snetterton I swapped the slide pin bushes on each caliper - these are just rubber from factory, and tend to make the pedal go softer the hotter they get (as the caliper flexes). New spring clips/retainers combat this somewhat, as they stop it flexing as much - although the only real fix is to go solid with them, removing the rubber part. Some companies in the USA sell 'solid' replacements, so about a month before I ordered some.
They consist of a brass bushing (which is a push fit into the caliper, retained by a circlip), and a matched slide pin. Each caliper was then taken apart and the bushing/pin fitted..
A very small amount of high temp grease was added, and from then on its just a matter of checking them over every so often. The pedal feel has completely changed - its how it should have been in the first place, firm and consistent. The other benefit is now the pads will wear completely square - whereas previously they wore at an angle to each other due to the flex in the caliper.
After filling the car with fuel, checking the oil and all the other usual bits, we headed to Snetterton. The forecast looked terrible, and on the day it was terrible. We got a dry sighting lap, then it was non stop rain all day until about 3pm. I ended up removing my rear ARB completely which did help in making the rear end softer/roll more in corners, meaning I could still drive quite quickly. At the end of the day though, you are never going to drive it 'hard' without a set of proper wets.
YouTube Link
No days planned for a while now, handful of jobs to sort over 'winter' but no major rush yet.
They consist of a brass bushing (which is a push fit into the caliper, retained by a circlip), and a matched slide pin. Each caliper was then taken apart and the bushing/pin fitted..
A very small amount of high temp grease was added, and from then on its just a matter of checking them over every so often. The pedal feel has completely changed - its how it should have been in the first place, firm and consistent. The other benefit is now the pads will wear completely square - whereas previously they wore at an angle to each other due to the flex in the caliper.
After filling the car with fuel, checking the oil and all the other usual bits, we headed to Snetterton. The forecast looked terrible, and on the day it was terrible. We got a dry sighting lap, then it was non stop rain all day until about 3pm. I ended up removing my rear ARB completely which did help in making the rear end softer/roll more in corners, meaning I could still drive quite quickly. At the end of the day though, you are never going to drive it 'hard' without a set of proper wets.
YouTube Link
No days planned for a while now, handful of jobs to sort over 'winter' but no major rush yet.
I was originally on a M3 3.0 LSD (3.15 Ratio), Medium Case (188mm)
I've rebuilt it with a 3.46 ratio (tops out about 140mph in 5th, but much better mid range), a pair of new clutches and new bearings mid way through last year.
Many people swap to the 3.2 large case (3.23), but then you are very limited if you want to change ratio in the future, and not to mention the rear subframe needs changing to allow the large case to fit
sub'd. Awesome work with the car, I can't wait til I can get my hands on an e36 to do this.
Had the car out at Anglesey on Saturday - perfect conditions, lots of lapping and a good few sessions with other cars...
E36 vs S2000 Anglesey Coastal 27th February 2016
E36 3.0L vs E36 2.8L Anglesey Coastal 27th February 2016
The day wasn't without its issues though, I had a spin at Turn 1 and it seems hitting the kerb hard killed the wideband sensor (for the second time)...
E36 vs S2000 Anglesey Coastal 27th February 2016
E36 3.0L vs E36 2.8L Anglesey Coastal 27th February 2016
The day wasn't without its issues though, I had a spin at Turn 1 and it seems hitting the kerb hard killed the wideband sensor (for the second time)...
Quite a few of the cars left mid afternoon, leaving a pretty much empty track for the remainder of the day, including many clear laps...
Lap of Anglesey Coastal BMW E36
Will also be needing two replacement tyres before the next outing..
After a quick check over the day after it seems a couple of the radiator cores have started leaking (again), which will also need sorting. Quite poor considering it covers minimal miles, is only just 12 months old and the same happened to the one before it too..
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
The exit kerb on turn 1 is pretty rough isn't it!
Yeah, quite a few of them were, outside Church was quite bad too. The circuit looked a bit tatty to be honest in comparison to MSV, looks to have been no up keep in a few places around kerbs and huge drop offs, etc
JamesBryan
ClioSport Club Member
On there on Sunday so I'll see what it's like.
Nothing much has changed since Anglesey... After spending some time in Japan during March/April and then work either side I've not had much time to check over the car. One of the first cars spotted:
Never saw another, although there was plenty of decent metal...
A large group of us have Anglesey booked again for the first May bank holiday, which should be a good day out, but a few things needed sorting before then. Had some time in the evenings this week so got on with it...
One of the front caliper pistons looked a bit worse for wear, so with the price of them (£12) I decided to replace it, as the other side was replaced in October last year..
The other good news with the brakes is the pads are now wearing perfectly square, rather than at an angle (since fitting the solid brake caliper bushes)..
Everything was re-assembled and bled through with fresh fluid, all good to go again. Both electric windows had stopped working a while ago, so it was time to sort those out. I ended up fixing them and stripping 3/4 the weight from each door card..
Then decided to cut some weight on the bonnet and boot lid, removing the inner skins, nearly 1/2 the weight on both..
They need some edging round to finish, but that will be done at some point in the week.
Just needs an oil change tomorrow and its about ready for next weekend.
Never saw another, although there was plenty of decent metal...
A large group of us have Anglesey booked again for the first May bank holiday, which should be a good day out, but a few things needed sorting before then. Had some time in the evenings this week so got on with it...
One of the front caliper pistons looked a bit worse for wear, so with the price of them (£12) I decided to replace it, as the other side was replaced in October last year..
The other good news with the brakes is the pads are now wearing perfectly square, rather than at an angle (since fitting the solid brake caliper bushes)..
Everything was re-assembled and bled through with fresh fluid, all good to go again. Both electric windows had stopped working a while ago, so it was time to sort those out. I ended up fixing them and stripping 3/4 the weight from each door card..
Then decided to cut some weight on the bonnet and boot lid, removing the inner skins, nearly 1/2 the weight on both..
They need some edging round to finish, but that will be done at some point in the week.
Just needs an oil change tomorrow and its about ready for next weekend.
I'm not on this forum often, and have been torn between a 172 and a 328/325 for a while. You have amazed me with your ability to learn everything you have done yourself! I have spent pretty much 3 hours of my Saturday to read every post for 36 pages. What's your friends red e36 running? Similar to yours? Fantastic build and I shall be following with a lot of interest. Marvellous
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Cheers. The red one is 225hp or so, only a 2.8 vs the 3.0 in mine. The previous owner of it has a build thread on here. Same running gear, wheels, tyres, brakes, suspension etc. Just lacks out of the corners due to having a longer diff ratio and less power/torque as you'd expect.
Quite a bit has changed since the last update. I'm trailering the car now... so headed back to Anglesey on the bank holiday May
It rained first thing for an hour then was dry for the remainder of the day. The car was faultless..
A couple of people had mentioned the car putting out some considerable flames on over-run at times, which its not done for a while, and the only thing that had changed is I now run no headlight so the air box is directly open to the air.
After looking at the data logs once home the inlet temps were up to 10C less than with the headlight in... must have been pulling hot air from the back of the engine bay before hand. Spa last year saw circa 30C inlet temps when it was 2C outside.... Anglesey was nearer 20C when it was 15C outside! In turn the ECU had added some fuel in on trim and caused it to run a bit richer. The trims need dropping back slightly and checking really.
Towards the end of the day I didn't really like the feel of the brakes under high braking force, it sort of felt like brake fade, but wasn't. The power just didn't seem to be there, well, the feel through the pedal more so. The solid caliper bushes which I had fitted previously had made a considerable difference but they still didn't feel as I'd expect.
With running 16s there aren't too many options to change caliper, well not that other people have done. Many aftermarket calipers will fit under 17s, but talking big money really. I wanted a solution to keep my E36 M3 discs and fit under my 16s. Porsche 996 front calipers use the same thickness disc as the E36 M3 (28mm), just a slightly larger diameter, so I picked up a set of used calipers and set about getting them to fit.
People have done this before, but claim you need 18s if you want to run without modifications to the caliper, and 17s with some modifications. Another reason why you shouldn't believe what you read on the internet.... with some machine work (12mm from the mounting face) and some adaptors:
They fit well under 16s with the stock disc and 15mm spacers..
I still need to get some pads and retaining pins before bleeding them up then the next track day will be the real test.
Another major task which is still on-going... a complete re-wire. I started by ripping out ALL the stock wiring, fusebox, everything:
Planned to only run the bare minimum. Keep the standalone, with a new engine loom, and then just wipers, instruments/gauges, lights and bare essentials. Removed all the HVAC unit, controls, electrics and blanked off the bulkhead.
Engine loom was first, all terminated to a bulkhead connector. Shielded cable for all sensors, bit of an overkill but had spare cable to anyway.
The engine bay was then tidied up, expansion tank moved to the back now the standard fusebox has gone, and loom fitted.
Interior loom is nearing completion, then its about set. Hopefully get the remainder finished over the coming weeks before heading back to Cadwell.
They are Cannon Neptune series. Available from RS components and in different pin combinations. Pins have to be purchased separately. This is a 48pin signal contact version: http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/industrial-automation-circular-connectors/2735360/
Had a few issues with pad fitment on the drivers side caliper, due to inconsistency with the hub casting/position, but nothing a small bit of machine work could not sort. Pads now fit perfectly, bled the system through with fresh fluid and all operating fine. Cadwell Park tomorrow.... interested to see how they perform.
330i. E30 Touring.
Do the pads overhang the disc at all?
I have a set of 4 pots i'm tempted to whack on my M3, but would rather not go for CSL discs if i can help it..
BIFCAIDS
ClioSport Club Member
340i M-Sport & 182
When I looked at it last week on the passenger side it was perfect.
