E36 M3 Targa Car Build

[Beeker2 69]

As the title says I'm building a E36 M3 3.0 into a Targa Tarmac Rally car.

My history has been targa on and off for over 10 years, starting with a 4AGZE power AE86 and currently a stopgap DC2 Integra (R bits).

I really wanted to get back into RWD, or even 4WD, but the reliability of the BMW RWD sold me on that path.

Decided on the Pre EVO 3.0 M3 so I can compete in the 2000>3000 class, and avoid the grunters such as GT3's in the 3000>4000 class.

The current plan is:

> Car, purchased. NZ new 1993 with 133kms on it. A clean and tidy starting point - DONE.

> Diff and LSD, Kaine Barry to tighten/ramp up and install a 3.91 - DONE

> Gearbox, Kaine Barry to inspect and install a ~retainer strengthen (or something that sounded like that) - DONE

> Clutch, Kaine Barry to install new competition clutch - DONE

> Suspension. Chris from Suspension tech to install Bilsteins and new springs all around. Might do something better later. - DONE

> Cage. Custom Cages FIA cage to be installed by Dan Slater. - DONE

> Seats. Racetech 4009WHR or 4119 - DONE

> Front brakes. Competition AP 4 pots on floating AP rotors (325x32 j hook) from Essex racing. - DONE

> Rear brakes. AP Racing rear 4 pot kit on OEM rotor - DONE

> ABS Disable - DONE

> Rear Brake Bias Valve

> Wheels, Apex ARC-8- DONE.

> Geoff Steel carbon door cards - DONE

> Z3 Quick Rack - DONE

> Engine. Just a good tune and service. Dione

> New OEM fuel filter - DONE

> Vanos refresh. - DONE

> New OEM Engine mounts

> New OEM suspension front wishbones

> New sundry suspension bushes - DONE

> Rear adjustable control arms

> Chip - Ordered

> Super sprint race Exhaust. - DONE

> Fire Systems. Ordered

> Stilo Intercom - DONE

> Camera system. TBA

> X Brace DONE

> Removable Steering Hub - DONE

The key date driver here is targa south island. They have never done it before, and maybe never again. Ideally the car would be ~finished for targa rotten-rua so we can shake it down.

Here is the donor. The wallet is shaking with fear.....

Edited October 10, 2014 by Beeker2

[Neal 543]

Looking forward to you build.

I'm a bit behind the times but are MANZ certing moly cages ?

[Driftit 2078]

Nice you are going to all the right people. They do amazing quality work.

[Beeker2 69]

Looking at wheels now, as the BBK wont fit under the OEM's.

Looking at these 17x8.5 : http://store.bimmerworld.com/apex-arc-8-bmw-e36-3-series-wheels-p1341.aspx

or these 17x8: http://store.bimmerworld.com/team-dynamics-pro-race-12---17x8-e3646-p291.aspx

Note: I prefer the look of the 18, but i need compression ability for bumpy roads....

I'm thinking Apex is my preference right now.

[Beeker2 69]

Fitted some new bonnet gas shocks, tick.

Sick of the bonnet falling on my head.

Have kept the old ones in case i get a light weight bonnet later.

Installed some new rear rotors, BMW OEM.

Weird, one side had these wires stuck of the vanes. lucky i spotted it!

Edited March 10, 2014 by Beeker2

[Michael. 2313]

Exciting stuff, this will make for a very good build, I shall follow with interest.

[Beeker2 69]

Placed this order on Turner Motorsport yesterday. Mostly reinforcement kits for common failure points. Will get this done alongside the cage install.

E36 Fog Light Block-Off Cover Set (L&R Pair)

E36 Front Subframe Reinforcement Kit

E36, Z3 Strut Tower Reinforcement Plates (Pair)

E36 Rear Sway Bar Reinforcement Kit

E36, E46 Rear Shock Tower Mount Reinforcement Kit

[Beeker2 69]

A few bits arriving

[Steve K-B 51]

Awesome! We'll be in the same class. I cant make Rotorua but plan on doing South Island.

Cant wait to see the progress. Kayne's awesome. He helped me a lot and was invaluable through out the build of my car. Dans cages are amazing too. Keep the updates coming!

Edit: Just read the brake thread, I should have put two and two together and realised who you were sorry!

Edited March 13, 2014 by Steve K-B

[Beeker2 69]

Awesome! We'll be in the same class. I cant make Rotorua but plan on doing South Island.

Cant wait to see the progress. Kayne's awesome. He helped me a lot and was invaluable through out the build of my car. Dans cages are amazing too. Keep the updates coming!

Edit: Just read the brake thread, I should have put two and two together and realised who you were sorry!

Steve, from my predictive planning if it wasn't for you i would be the class winner!

But I have accepted 2nd as being ok

We are 'trying' to get the car to Rotorua to shake it down prior to south island. Fingers crossed.

[E30-323ti 66]

Re: Wheels, I gather you have seen this current group buy for Apex wheels on Bimmerforums.

If you're not going with height adjustable coil-overs, the 17x8.5 (& maybe the9.0's) fit without spacers, and have a tonne of brake clearance.

Q' on the steering quick release, is it indexed so the wheel always goes back on in the right spot?

Might pay to check the little wire hooks aren't there to balance the rotor, I recall my old 323 GTX had them.

I'll check my M3 rear rotors when I'm in the garage next.[edit] Yes, my OE M3 rear rotors do have those little wire hook/clips on them[/edit]

Edited March 15, 2014 by E30-323ti

[Beeker2 69]

Re: Wheels, I gather you have seen this current group buy for Apex wheels on Bimmerforums.

If you're not going with height adjustable coil-overs, the 17x8.5 (& maybe the9.0's) fit without spacers, and have a tonne of brake clearance.

Q' on the steering quick release, is it indexed so the wheel always goes back on in the right spot?

Might pay to check the little wire hooks aren't there to balance the rotor, I recall my old 323 GTX had them.

I'll check my M3 rear rotors when I'm in the garage next.[edit] Yes, my OE M3 rear rotors do have those little wire hook/clips on them[/edit]

thanks for the Group Buy, i had not seen it. Will looksee.

Quick release, yes one of the splines is double thick, so only one one on.

Re rotors. Interesting. Only one of mine had it. I removed it anyway!! I told jerry clayton spares and they were to report it to BMW. No response so far.

[Beeker2 69]

Strip started. Too late to go back now!

Edited March 16, 2014 by Beeker2

[Beeker2 69]

More stuff just turned up from the US of A

[Beeker2 69]

Just ordered a E36 M3 3.0 Group N Oil restrictor, genuine from BMW as opposed to the ebay copies. Wasn't much more.

For those that dont know:

"The restrictor is a standard M3GT/M3R part m(part # 1112 1 415 562), with constant high revs on a race track, the oil gets pumped up into the cam box faster than it can drain to the sump, when completely full, the excess oil goes into cyclone separator, and then is drawn into plenum, then into combustion chambers"

Edited March 18, 2014 by Beeker2

[Beeker2 69]

Ordered the front brake kit: http://www.essexparts.com/shop/complete-brake-systems/competition-brake-systems/essex-competition-brake-system-bmw-m3-e36-bundle.html

Its a 4 pot AP racing kit (Not fast road, above that) with proper floating 325x32 AP racing rotors.

Have also ordered 2x extra rotors as spares.

Its a proper racing caliper with: No dust boots to melt, piston springs to reduce pedal knock back, annodized and not painted calipers to eliminate paint fade, custom size to accept extra think 32mm rotors, full floating rotors (not direct bolt).

Edited March 21, 2014 by Beeker2

[Beeker2 69]

Looking forward to you build.

I'm a bit behind the times but are MANZ certing moly cages ?

Sorry, missed this one. I've done a fair bit of research here including qualifiyng things with MANZ direct.

Long story short, we'll have custom cages certify it under their FIA cert, and MANZ will cross register it for NZ off that.

It might seem a bit strange what i'm doing by buying a kit from the UK and then installing it in NZ, but the UK kit has a couple of key benefits.

Firstly, its made of T45 Steel. This is lighter that normal CDS steel, but not subject to fracture like Moly does. Secondly the kit is very well designed and the fit is very tight to the body shell. Its quite cost effective to buy and less labour time required to install as its pre bent, however you then have to add freight.

As an FYI, this is what another cage provider Saftey Cages talks about inregard to steel options:

"CDS Carbon Steel Otherwise known as Cold Drawn Seamless Carbon Steel, this material is used to manufacture all of our standard motorsport and 4x4 roll cages due to its conformity to FIA material specifications and because it offers two essential characteristics: good elongation and receptiveness to welding.

Compared to T45, CDS it is a very cost effective material. T45 Initially used only for aerospace applications, T45 has been used in the manufacturing of Safety Devices’ roll cages for quite some time. The advantage of T45 is that it has a tensile strength approximately twice that of the standard Cold Drawn Seamless tube (CDS). Due to T45’s high tensile strength, we can manufacture the roll cage using tubing of the same diameter but of a thinner gauge (wall thickness). As a guide, this equates to a weight saving of approximately 0.5 kg per metre of tubing or 10 - 15% of the total roll cage weight when compared to CDS. However, this does come at a cost: a roll cage manufactured in T45 is significantly more expensive than its CDS equivalent and is therefore only really required by competitors at the higher end of the motorsport spectrum.

ERW mild steel Electrically Resistance Welded (ERW) mild steel does not have an adequate tensile strength to comply with article 253 section 8.3 of the FIA regulations relating to material specifications, and is only used for non-structural applications such as roof racks where a durable product is required.

Cr (Chrome Molybdenum) steel Although popular with some roll cage manufacturers, we do not use Cr in any of our tubular products because its quality consistency is problematic and energy absorption far less effective than T45."

[Beeker2 69]

Arrived

[E30-323ti 66]

ERW mild steel Electrically Resistance Welded (ERW) mild steel does not have an adequate tensile strength to comply with article 253 section 8.3 of the FIA regulations relating to material specifications, and is only used for non-structural applications such as roof racks where a durable product is required.

FYI

The NZTM-Q29, ERW Rollcage tubing allowed under MSNZ Sch A, does meet the FIA Minimum Tensile Strength requirements of 350MPa (or N/mm² as it's shown).

The fact that it is ERW and not CDS makes the NZTM-Q29 tubing non-compliant, not it's strength.

No deniying the fact we'd all love to have T45 cages....

Looking forward to seeing pics of those stoppers installed.

[Beeker2 69]

these arrived. Wont fit until i've done a dyno heath check.

[Beeker2 69]

Ordered this cage form 'Custom Cages' in UK today, with local fabricator Dan Slater installing.
Made from T45. Will be adding extra bars thou.

[Beeker2 69]

Just ordered 4x ARC-8's to get me going, 17x8.5" ET40 Anthracite

Perfect fit for E36 with BBK's

[Michael. 2313]

This is going to be one awesome machine.

[E30-323ti 66]

Nice - Looking forward to the build thread going bezerk when all these pieces are coming together.

What (size) tyres are you thinking of running? 235/40's all round I'm guessing - Nice.

[Beeker2 69]

Nice - Looking forward to the build thread going bezerk when all these pieces are coming together.

What (size) tyres are you thinking of running? 235/40's all round I'm guessing - Nice.

yes, but subject to tyre availability. You are supposed to run Federals and their tyre does come in this size. My preference would be Dunlop 03G thou, but from a quick look they only do a 45 profile tyre. A bit more research is required. It'll certainly be a square setup with the same size all around.