E36 328i coupe 'track' project

[bradgalbraith 218]

Another small update: Changed the spark plugs last night (the old ones were pretty shot) and pulled a whole lot more of the interior out. I've pulled out pretty much everything from the front seats backwards including radio, wiring, speakers and door cards so I guesstimate that the car is ~ 60kg lighter now. A compression test was done a few weeks ago and I'm pleased to say the 266,000km engine is at 180psi across all 6. . A set of BC gold coilovers will be going in shortly along with a set of E46 330 brakes which are on their way. Progress has been a bit slow but I plan to have it suitably equipped for the Eurohaus track day at the end of October.. The plan is to install braided brake lines, new brakepads, rear trailing arm bushes, a 3.64 diff, Fenix radiator, fit the semi-slicks and find at least one new bucket seat for a decent price.

 

*Apologies for the poor quality photos. Will be taking a bunch more on a decent camera soon.

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by bradgalbraith

[zero 1162]

Looking good.

I would advise against the fenix radiator - they are cheap for a reason. Better to pay a bit more for a decent brand.

[Michael. 2313]

2 hours ago, zero said:

Looking good.

I would advise against the fenix radiator - they are cheap for a reason. Better to pay a bit more for a decent brand.

BC Golds, Fenix radiator... clearly it's a cheap build, you get what you pay for I suppose. 

 

[zero 1162]

2 hours ago, Michael. said:

BC Golds, Fenix radiator... clearly it's a cheap build, you get what you pay for I suppose. 

 

BC Golds are not that bad. Sure there is better but there is also alot worse.

Fenix is another story as their rads are known for failing. And a dead rad on the track can quickly lead to a damaged engine if not careful.

 

Just my 2 cents of course.

[bradgalbraith 218]

Hold the phone.. I wasn’t aware that Fenix radiators are so bad? I thought they were decent? Any other suggestions? And as far as BC golds go, I’ve never heard anything bad about them. For my purposes, anything better would be excessive. 

[zero 1162]

13 hours ago, bradgalbraith said:

Hold the phone.. I wasn’t aware that Fenix radiators are so bad? I thought they were decent? Any other suggestions? And as far as BC golds go, I’ve never heard anything bad about them. For my purposes, anything better would be excessive. 

Nothing wrong with bc golds.

But yeah fenix is bad - some leak straight away, and some last only a year or less. Not worth the gamble for such an important part of the car.

Some other posters will be able to recommend alternatives but I can recommend mishimoto and silverdale radiators.

[dirtydoogle 383]

Try find a z3m OE radiator. Better than a Fenix. 

I run an OEM radiator, not a problem. 

BC gold are good entry level, my personal favorite is the XYZ in that price range. 

 

Cool build man, keep up the good work 

[bradgalbraith 218]

Alright thanks for the suggestions, I'll be looking into my options. 

[bradgalbraith 218]

Coilovers and E46 330i BBK now in! Totally different car handling wise but I will definitely need to do further work on the brakes. I'm also currently running some electric vaders that I got in a trade for the NOS setup. Someone buy them, they're becoming rare and collectible! I'm eyeing up a pair of Racetechs. 

[Gaz 1062]

What other plans do you have for the brakes? Did you notice much difference with the 330i brakes? 

[zero 1162]

What issues are you having with the brakes?

 

I've done the 330i brake swap on a 328i e36 coupe with excellent results.

[bradgalbraith 218]

2 hours ago, zero said:

What issues are you having with the brakes?

 

I've done the 330i brake swap on a 328i e36 coupe with excellent results.

I’m not having any issues, the rotors and pads are just old and don’t feel as effective as they could be.

5 hours ago, Gaz said:

What other plans do you have for the brakes? Did you notice much difference with the 330i brakes? 

I’ll be doing Goodridge braided brake lines, probably EBC yellow stuff pads and DBA slotted rotors. That’s the idea anyway, the brands might change. 

[Gaz 1062]

18 minutes ago, bradgalbraith said:

I’m not having any issues, the rotors and pads are just old and don’t feel as effective as they could be.

I’ll be doing Goodridge braided brake lines, probably EBC yellow stuff pads and DBA slotted rotors. That’s the idea anyway, the brands might change. 

Keeping the rears stock? Be interested to see how you go, looking at doing the same but using m3 evo rear pads and discs

[zero 1162]

1 hour ago, Gaz said:

Keeping the rears stock? Be interested to see how you go, looking at doing the same but using m3 evo rear pads and discs

The brake balance is best with e46 330i fronts and e36 328i rears.

Quite an improvement over 328i front and rears.

[Gaz 1062]

10 hours ago, zero said:

The brake balance is best with e46 330i fronts and e36 328i rears.

Quite an improvement over 328i front and rears.

How does that work? Would have thought matching front and rear would have given best balance. See alot of 'mericans use e46 328 rears, 330 fronts

[bradgalbraith 218]

10 hours ago, zero said:

The brake balance is best with e46 330i fronts and e36 328i rears.

Quite an improvement over 328i front and rears.

As Nathan has said, I'll be doing e46 328i rears to achieve the optimal 68% Front/32% Rear brake bias. By themselves, the 330 front brake upgrade is said to be a bit unbalanced:

E36 with E46 330i front and E46 325i/328i rear: 68% / 32%

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?531881-E46-330-Brake-upgrade 

Edited September 27, 2018 by bradgalbraith

[bradgalbraith 218]

11 hours ago, Gaz said:

Keeping the rears stock? Be interested to see how you go, looking at doing the same but using m3 evo rear pads and discs

I've got a full set of M3 evo pads if you're interested? I think they're just standard but could be useful.

[Gaz 1062]

2 hours ago, bradgalbraith said:

As Nathan has said, I'll be doing e46 328i rears to achieve the optimal 68% Front/32% Rear brake bias. By themselves, the 330 front brake upgrade is said to be a bit unbalanced:

E36 with E46 330i front and E46 325i/328i rear: 68% / 32%

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?531881-E46-330-Brake-upgrade 

Thats an interesting read, thanks. I was going with e46 330 fronts and m3 evo rears which are slightly smaller than e46 330 rears so assume the outcome will be similar to 330 brakes all round? Its also going on a touring so with the extra rear weight I think it will be ok

[zero 1162]

2 hours ago, Gaz said:

How does that work? Would have thought matching front and rear would have given best balance. See alot of 'mericans use e46 328 rears, 330 fronts

Oops yes you are correct, should have read e46 330i front, and e46 328i rear.

It was a great improvement when we did it on @BatMansWilly 's e36 coupe.

We also used braided lines and high quality fluid.

[bradgalbraith 218]

So I took the car to my first track day ever on the weekend. We had an absolute blast down at the Taupo Bruce Mclaren Motorsport Park! The car performed exceptionally well considering it is 23 years old and has 278,000 km on it. We drove it down from Auckland, drove hard all day and drove back without a single issue. It would definitely perform better with some better pads, an LSD and if some of the rear bushings were replaced but all in all I'm very impressed. I also managed to get myself 2 Racetech seats to replace the Bride replicas which I had before. I highly recommend spending the extra money for a better seat. The shape is far better, it's more comfortable and most of all it doesn't twist and flex. Overall, not bad for a car that has cost only $8649.50 to date. See some of the photos below from the day:

Edited April 13, 2019 by bradgalbraith

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2136]

good to catch up etc mate

also, in regards to the people anti fenix above. interestingly one of them used to be an agent for them and at the time of selling it to me said there was nothing wrong with them. whats changed, a bad breakup with an employer perhaps ? anyways, the one in my coupe has seen heaps of abuse, 10 or 12 track days now, plus many drives locally to the pub or whatever, club days, hawkes bay and back taupo and back, every time at manfeild is driven up etc, and has never missed a beat, doesnt drop a single drop.

so there you go.

[Michael. 2313]

2 hours ago, _ethrty-Andy_ said:

good to catch up etc mate

also, in regards to the people anti fenix above. interestingly one of them used to be an agent for them and at the time of selling it to me said there was nothing wrong with them. whats changed, a bad breakup with an employer perhaps ? anyways, the one in my coupe has seen heaps of abuse, 10 or 12 track days now, plus many drives locally to the pub or whatever, club days, hawkes bay and back taupo and back, every time at manfeild is driven up etc, and has never missed a beat, doesnt drop a single drop.

so there you go.

Well they did make me and 20 people redundant before Xmas 2015, hardly a way to have your employees endorse such a product.

New owner has the company now however, so I highly recommend them! (Or factory BMW parts)

[bradgalbraith 218]

Slight update- Style 24s have since been sold and replaced with BBS RK 17x8s. I've also replaced the front control arms as the old ones were knackered. Pro tip- if doing this job, it is made 10x easier if you spray some CRC/WD40 on the thread before you try and remove the outer balljoint that connects onto the hub.. the first one took me a while. I also had a good friend of mine polish the car to bring up the Cosmo Schwartz shine. It's coming along slowly but surely. 

[zero 1162]

How do you like the powerflex bushings?

 

I use them too.

[bradgalbraith 218]

On 1/20/2019 at 12:27 AM, zero said:

How do you like the powerflex bushings?

 

I use them too.

I really like them for a number of reasons- Cost is decent, they feel nice and firm and they were easy to install -overall, a quality product. I guess it's hard to say too much more than that as there are many factors that make up how the car feels and handles. They are undoubtedly a vast improvement on the floppy factory ones that were in there before. After putting the new control arms in too, the front end has really tightened up. You can drive much harder through the corners and the car doesn't squirm and dart around like it did before. Just need to get an alignment done to get both wheels to have more toe in. Looking at getting the Powerflex rear camber arms and rear trailing arm bushings before I do my alignment. Has anyone had experience with Powerflex camber arms? A friend of mine has Hardrace camber arms and doesn't rate the quality of them too highly..