BMRBOI

I think he means 2300 lol or he's dreaming

very nice paint bro!

The owner cant prove that the engine is a 3l. If it was i wonder if you can measure the stroke, I think the alpina 3l engine used a different crank I wonder if AC done the same. He really needs a dyno print out. I highly doubt it, look at the work done to an m3. He is claiming the ac is as fast as an m3..

Are you wanting to stick with the m20 engine? You could look into the m50/m52. If your willing to spend all that money on a stroker i would think the m50b25 would be cheaper?

Make sure you check the boot sill under the rear window. They can develop rust around there.

Looking good!

What make are those wheels? They look like BBS RCs

Nah they are some reps, they not bad looking tho. Back in the day I used to have 17" drift-Rs on it, they were heavier then these reps which I found interesting.

Two thumbs up for wheel selection Likey likey

Awesome thread! Great job! Very neat.

Thanks guys, I think all I need to do is m-sport body kit and tidy paint.

Cheers James,

Yea painted them with a high temp black paint made for pot belly fires. Kinda looks like a brown with light on it, meh makes it tidy.

Are the calipers painted?

Looks great

Done the brakes,

Had a picture showing before but somehow I deleted them.

Pretty happy with how they turned out. Braking is more aggressive, steering is a little heavier not in a bad way though. Rear brakes fitted without modification to the dust shield and also brake pad wear sensors fitted without modification. 1st pic comparing e36 rear vs e46 rear.

Off to get a wof…

diff and subframe out

Are the rear subframe bush holes larger then the front Eddie? I noticed them on my m3 bushes last week when I was installing them.

I nearly bought one last year off a wrecker in the UK when I got some other parts. I thought it was a waste of money at the time.

Might be worth doing it later down the track, obviously there is a benefit, but its only marginally bigger.

I am wondering if there are any other aftermarket upgrades to the M3 one that could be better going for. Hmmm?

In saying that, I'm not trying to build a hard core track car so it's probably not a necessary spend!

Hmm yeah same, but just keep spending more haha. Ill just fit the brakes and see how i got for pedal travel.

OK now thats all sorted...

Does anyone know who does the rear subframe bushes?? the nice type

Turner motorsport (think pelican parts too) do aluminium ones which are solid mount type. Or maybe you could make your own out of spun ali. I had ruff poly style ones which i replaced with standard m3 ones, i feel these are much better for road use.

Good to hear you finally tracked down the knocking noise

Do you need to modify the handbrake shoes for the larger rear rotors?

From my understanding, the e36 and e46 have the same dia had brake shoes (except m3 and 330i). This was the reason why i went with the e46 328i rears. If you wanted to fit the 330i rear brakes you will have to custom make hand brake shoes using the e36 base and 330i top piece welded together or install 330i trailing arms into the e36.

I hope they are the same size haha

Interesting point you make regarding the axle line. I vageley recall something about that - I think it would require a cert if it was welded in.

That's true, I actually looked into doing the 330i brake upgrade sometime last year... its probably cheaper - but I've spontaniously gone down the M3 route, so it means swapping in the whole suspension assemblies front and rear, I mainly wanted that as they have slightly bigger wheel bearings which probably makes sense having a torquier engine than the stock M3 setup. Nearly there with the front, yet to find the rear gear and rebuild it all with new bushings etc. Quite costly mind you with OEM M3 bits... but so be it, I'm not selling the car!

Haha i know that feeling dude, have you considered upgrading the master cylinder to the m3 one? Im in the process of hunting down information on this, I wonder if it is worth the hassle. It will be good to see how you get on with your brake conversion.

Yeah I'd seen the same cage design too.. Seems like a good idea if the car goes through some hard track use.

I'd probably be more inclined to have it all welded in. Looks like you've made yours bolt in?

Well, the engine is lighter so by the Low Volume standards they don't need upgrading... seems illogical but its all about the mass of the car more so than the speed it can do. However I am upgrading to M3 brakes, of which I am nearly there with the front, but have yet to sort the rear end later in the year.

Yeah mines bolt in; this is because I was told you cannot solid weld behind the rear axel. I showed Dyno Power Tauranga want I wanted and they told me that.

I was going to go with the m3 brakes but at the time I got the 330i ones a lot cheaper, it would probably be much of a much-ness now since I have spend money on new rotors. Will you have to swap out the trailing arms for m3 items as well? Could always go for the e46 rear set like mine.

Most interesting to see how you've expanded on the rear strut bar linking it to the subframe mount point location.

Heh imported the rotors, what did they sting you for shipping?

Yeah the idea comes from a roll cage i saw on the internet, it allows for support over the rear mounts hopefully to reduce subframe movement. Also big thanks to James (Thorburn) for fabrication hours.

I was lucky enough to have a family friend bring the parts in for me. I just had to pay for the gst and customs fees. iirc turner wanted well over $400nz to ship them, if it wasn’t for the cheap shipping i wouldn’t have bothered.

Have you upgraded your brakes to suit the v8 Michael?

Hey guys,

Well its been nearly a year of happy motoring, so I thought i'd update you on part two of the build.

I was getting knocking from the subframe and we couldn't figure out what was causing it. I thought I had broken a mount or something from the floor. After checking all the mounting tabs and finding nothing broken, I put it down to the subframe bushes which must of had a bit of play.

So, I ordered new M3 subframe bushes from Turner Motorsport (almost half the price compared to BMW NZ) and I had a chance to fit them over the weekend. I'm happy to say the knocking has gone! They were a nightmare to get in compared the the poly bushes.

For future reference: The poly bushes were ruff branded bushes, the kit did not include any washers and the bushes seemed to be all the same size, unlike the M3 mounts, which seem to be different front to rear. The poly bushes almost seemed sloppy in place and came out very easy. I could have installed these wrong, but I'm sure these require extra spaces etc to work correctly or they are crap.

Also, we have been working on a subframe brace, this brace mounts to the rear subframe mounting points and ties into the rear strut towers. I have noticed the rear end to be significantly stiffer with reduced rear body flex. I'm not 100% sure on how I will go by getting a cert for this. The reason why this bolts on at all points is from what I've been told, you cannot in NZ solid weld braces to the rear of the car located behind the rear wheel axis point.

Finally, I received my brake rotors from Turner Motorsport to complete my "big brake kit".

My brake set up consists of e46 330i front brakes and e46 325/8i rear brakes. I will be using standard bmw pads with Turner motorport/stoptech cross drilled rotors and turner braided lines.

I know there will be people disproving of my brake choice (un-sprung weight, cross drilled, road car blah blah) Doesn't faze me.

Pictures to enjoy!

Aside from the fact that yes; I remember when this sort of style/car was de rigueur c.2000, are those stockings on the rear lights?!!

Those wheels used to be IT in their day. I can almost remember what they are called.

Ive had jamex in the past which look identical to those.

Darn, all I wanted to do is watch I-sky lol. It'll have to be done on the laptop.

Hi guys, ive read various options on the internet which allow you to run flash on ipads. Has anyone succeeded watching/using flash content? Myth?

There seems to be a cost involved with these apps, I don’t want to pay for something which doesn’t work.

Cheers,

Niroy

Darn, I had part #3 sitting around at home somewhere (im pretty sure).

If you need it let me know.

Sorted. fyi $15.70 via BMW, ex Auckland, less BMW club

Hey Eddie I got a intercooler at home off a 09 ra rodeo. If you want it let me know.

I'm pretty sure I dont. I checked my boot lid wire and it has a few cracks in the coating but I can't see anything rubbing. At least today is sunny so I can have a good look.

You don't have a tail lamp full of water do you?

Cheers Brent! I will also check the boot lid wiring loom, common place of shorting.

brake light switchesw are a comon fail on e36 e34 etc.

but normally they just dont work when the fail not blow fuses.

also check if it s got a high stop light wired in that the wires are not shorting to the car body .

also the wiring going to the number plate lights often fail and short out where they bend just under the boot lid left side.