FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

He already crashed and died.  Bummer.

Bimmer*

YoungCR said:

Any review yet on the coil overs?

Not really. I haven't really driven it since the first night. I need to revisit my alignment. After everything settled its way off. I have a guy that is going to do it, but hes super busy trying to get his car ready for this weekend too. I plan on driving it a bunch tonight.

From the driving I did then, it still seemed quite soft. I might need to spend another $150 and get myself some swift 873244K rear springs so that I cant feel my spine after driving it.

[Jdesign]

So I forgot to post on here. I have been fairly busy, but I was able to get my car aligned before the drift event even though it was cancelled. It was probably one of the more "accurate" things done on this car.

In a swift last minute decision I bought cheap tie rods from Orielly. A good friend of mine is the Madison area rep and got them overnight delivered for $11 inner and outer the night before the alignment. When I installed them everything seemed to bolt up just fine, but there was a problem I didn't realize until I drove it. The taper of the tie-rods is smaller than the aluminum of the angle kit.  This means there is ever so slight play in the mounting location and I will need new tie rods that are the correct size, which also means I will need another alignment.  Ughhh At least the event was cancelled because if I leave it like this im sure I will oval out the aluminum angle kit. 

The alignment shop was a good 45mins from my shop so I got a bit of seat time to get a feel for the new Coilovers. The new suspension seems a lot better than what I had. I was able to sell the old coilovers for $100 which now means I have $180 into new coilovers LOL. I currently do not have a sway bar in the rear of the car, but I just got end-links to install the one I have. I think thats going to make a world of difference to how the car feels, and its likely part of the reason why I think its feels "soft" in the back.

[B C]

The alignment heads fit the style of the car too well. A permanently installed set should be your next mod

[Daggerty]

$50 dollar ebay angle kit?

[Jdesign]

Daggerty said:

$50 dollar ebay angle kit?

Yeah. Like so:

[Daggerty]

Jdesign said:

Yeah. Like so:

Ordering

[Jdesign]

Daggerty said:

Ordering 

Be prepared to be amazed at the steering response difference.

[Rekpoint]

Opps im dumb

[Jdesign]

Rekpoint said:

Opps im dumb

WUT?

[Jdesign]

Had a decent weekend and was able to finally get a good 4 hours of solid seat time in this thing. Prior I also flushed all the fluids and fixed 87% of all the mechanical issues.

https://www.facebook.com/rpodell/videos/627341451616/

With that, I did have some issues as expected......

• (FIXED) I managed to shear the front diff bolt on my lunch break
• (FIXED)I developed a decent size oil leak right onto the exhaust from the remote oil filter plate (a new gasket from a spare oil filter fixed this thankfully)
• (FIXED) I also realized that the top nuts of the struts wiggled themselves loose while driving(prob weren't tight from new)
• The rear lower strut bushings on my XPeeding rods are already shot (LOLOLOL)
• The tie rods are still not the right size and I order (hopefully) the right ones -E46
• (FIXED)I put too much oil in it as I must have marked the dipstick incorrectly when I finally added one a few months ago
• My lifters tend to stick if I hit redline for more than 20 seconds or so
• One of the V-bands on my exhaust is about to break because it hangs too low from jim-bobs weld job

Oil leak-

Bad bushings-

Tie rod fitment-

I currently ordered more parts to hopefully solidify the suspension. 

• E46 control arms ( I have the dimensions for offset CABs from Earl so I will be making my own from delrin) 
• E46 tie rods
• Rear sway bar brackets (currently no rear sway bar)

WMTB5670.MP4

Attachments:

• WMTB5670.MP4

[Jdesign]

E46 control arms showed up, but it turns out I dont have CAD data for the CAB's. I ordered some offset CAB's as I continue to wait for the tie rod ends.

The rear sway bar brackets did show up and I installed them in the car. I drove it a little bit but the tie rods are making quite the racket now and I dont want to ovalize the mounting holes before I install the tie rods. So I wait....  

In the meantime I REALLY REALLY would like to have functioning windows. I think My plan will be to run a momentary 6pin 3 position toggle switch on each door, as the motors and doors have been swapped around and nothing is compatible anymore. if anyone has done a door swap from a late to early model E36, please chime in if its easy to convert. Otherwise Im hard-wiring some Steampunk Phuturistic one the door so I can relive my self of swampassness.

[Daggerty]

Jdesign said:

I drove it a little bit but the tie rods are making quite the racket now and I dont want to ovalize the mounting holes before I install the tie rods. So I wait....  

If this angle kit doesn't work I'm suing you for the 45 dollars.

Jdesign said:

In the meantime I REALLY REALLY would like to have functioning windows. I think My plan will be to run a momentary 6pin 3 position toggle switch on each door, as the motors and doors have been swapped around and nothing is compatible anymore. if anyone has done a door swap from a late to early model E36, please chime in if its easy to convert. Otherwise Im hard-wiring some Steampunk Phuturistic one the door so I can relive my self of swampassness.

 I remember reading a post awhile back on bimmerfest about a guy trying too do it. He had both full doors, @Early and late, and swapped harness, spliced wiring and in the end he bought the early model door that was right.

Saw a video of a guy who had the motor spliced into a 2 prong extension cord male end and the female end spliced to power and ground so when you flip it over and plug it in you reverse the polarity so too speak. Not sure if that's the way you want to go but thought it was pretty clever.

[Jdesign]

Daggerty said:

If this angle kit doesn't work I'm suing you for the 45 dollars.

Here was my problem.....

Fucking assholes had the wrongs title and I didn't notice. So I have since ordered E46 tie rods. (FYI/ Note to self; E46 rods are .5mm larger DIA that E36) 

Daggerty said:

 I remember reading a post awhile back on bimmerfest about a guy trying too do it. He had both full doors, @Early and late, and swapped harness, spliced wiring and in the end he bought the early model door that was right.

Saw a video of a guy who had the motor spliced into a 2 prong extension cord male end and the female end spliced to power and ground so when you flip it over and plug it in you reverse the polarity so too speak. Not sure if that's the way you want to go but thought it was pretty clever.

Yeah that's what my plan was. I have been rolling the windows up and down with just two power wires and flipping the polarity, but that is really annoying when you just want to hop in and roll them down.

[Jdesign]

Tie rods came, now waiting on offset CABs.

[Jdesign]

Put in a bunch of hours on this over the past two weeks. I might not have pictures of everything because I was too busy trying to make sure I had everything I needed.

I did miss some things I considered important ( glass coolant overflow/ Non-working passenger window) but the track tech didn't, so that's I good news.

Heres a list of everything I did:

• E46 control arms 
• Nolathane Offset CABs
• E46 tie rods
• New top hats/camber plates (more on this below)
• Rear sway bar brackets
• Installed the rear sway bar
• Installed a 6 prong 3 position momentary switch for the windows 
• Drove the car a bunch

The tracking is much wider with the new arms and I gained quite a bit of angle

Heres a quick pic I snapped of all the new suspension goodies installed. (sponsered by eBay)

So I ran into an issue after installing everything. I had this really odd binding and I couldnt for the life of me figure out where is was coming from. I tried adjusting everthing. Finally I figured out the source after installing and uninstalling my front coilovers about 7 times. When I drove the car to Slinger to visit a friend I notice that the car developed a clunking in the front. So upon inspection I noticed that the struts have a locknut at the top that was loose. So I grabbed the nearest Cresent wrench and tightened them up. 

Big mistake. As one would expect, the spherical top hats/camber plates on the "Maxpeeding Rods" are made from Chinesium, a very delicate metal that I happened to crush with my exuberant strength. This added force caused them to pivot in their sockets very tightly and abruptly giving me the binding issue. I then ordered new ones in RED as seen below. 

Once these were installed, and I read the correct installation torque spec: ( when the car is on the ground, snug but do not over tighten main strut 22mm nut ) the car felt fantastic again.

[Jdesign]

So fantastic in fact that I went to the Jefferson speedway this past Sunday and went skid racing. I had a blast and didnt have a single hiccup the entire time.

[B C]

Yes! at least one of us is out enjoying their car already this year!

great work my friend! 

Was this your first event?

I wish we had access to a big abandoned runway that we could just do whatever on. Setup a cones course, rage rolls, saudi drift experimentations, burnout exhibitions..

[Jdesign]

snap said:

Yes! at least one of us is out enjoying their car already this year!

great work my friend! 

Was this your first event?

I wish we had access to a big abandoned runway that we could just do whatever on. Setup a cones course, rage rolls, saudi drift experimentations, burnout exhibitions..

This was my first event in this car, and first time skid racing! 

Jefferson is super laid back and everyone was very helpful and patient with everyone. There were guys that had fully prepped and built cars, to guys that just bought their first car and wanted to try it out. It was well worth the $30 for the entire day!  I got in about 20+ runs. 

Funny that you mention the abandon runway. I have be tossing around the idea of trying to host an event about a mile from my shop on an old airport runway. The venue would be perfect.

[B C]

Lets make it happen!

[Jdesign]

snap said:

Lets make it happen!

I think I need to drive a car that IS NOT this car. First impression to the owner of the property is key. But I will swing by there this summer to ask if its a possibility. 

Photo of venue for reference:

There are old planes, properly weathered out buildings, and large hangers that give it an awesome retro vibe.