Hello! I recently discovered M42Club and I thought I'd move my build thread over here from E46Fanatics, where there'd be more shared interest in an M42-powered BMW.
Keep in mind this first post is a combination of a few posts on my E46Fanatics thread that occurred of a period of a few months. It may seem a little disjointed. Here is a link to the original thread for proper context:
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1102425A year ago I bought an E36 318is after leaving a note on the windshield a few months prior. The owner texted me asking if I wanted the car, and a week later it was mine!
It was completely stock with ~180k miles on the clock.
-1995 model year
-5MT
-Boston Green on beige non-sport interior
-Completely stock
-Garaged by the previous owner (those sideskirts say otherwise!)
The first thing I did was, obviously, a ZHP knob. The old one was peeling and would come off completely if you changed into second gear a little too enthusiastically!
The car had a few issues upon purchase:
-Gearbox didn't like going into gear sometimes - 100% fixed with fresh fluid, shifts beautifully now.
-The passenger window motor had a stripped plastic gear - fixed
-Both rear wheel bearings were bad. My father and I replaced both ourselves over the course of a few weeks. It's not the world's worst job, but it certainly takes time to do.
Obviously all brakes + pads, fluids, etc were changed upon purchase.
After these issues were sorted, I basically drove the car like this for the rest of the Fall semester while I got the hang of driving a manual.
Over winter break, I found a set of DS1 wheels for $250, and ordered an H&R Sport Cupkit as well as new Sumitomo HTR ZIII tires in 235/45r17 size. This was a slight issue, because '95 M3s specced 235 tires in 40 profile, which, if you know anything about tires, is a performance size for 17 inch wheels and is thus hard to find cheaply. Sumitomo ZIIs come in that size, but they had poor reviews. ZIIIs had much better reviews for autocross, but they only came in 235/45. I bit the bullet and figured the car wasn't low enough for it to be an issue. It turned out largely OK, but the fronts still rub a tiny bit at full lock, which isn't too bad. The car IS still rather low, to the point where I cannot even fit a 5mm spacer front or rear without the tires rubbing. Oh well.
Here's how she sits now:
I absolutely adore the DS1 wheels - they are borderline retro and very period-correct.
A few other things I have done:
-Basic weight reduction, pulled the speakers and cassette deck, replaced the hole with a delete plate from Turner Motorsport.
-Gutted the trunk, my scale told me that was good for ~15lbs, though that could be wrong.
I added an M-Tech II steering wheel a few months ago :woot: $300 shipped from Lithuania.
I friggin' love this wheel, it feels so much better than the ugly, large diameter bus-driver 4-spoke wheel the car came with. The only downside is I now don't have an airbag pointing at my face at all times. Welp :cry:
Photos from an autocross event with the BMWCCA Golden Gate Chapter
Photocredit for action shot: Mark Mervich
I shimmed the front struts with Turner Motorsport's camber shim kit for more negative camber. I don't have photos of the install but it only took me an hour to do. I used one washer between the strut and the hub assembly. I can't say what the camber value is now, but it is noticeable for sure. The car is now a 49 point B class car for BMWCCA autox. I've decided to stop mods that will add to my class points because, let's face it, the car is *barely* competitive in B class, running against 335i and M235i cars on nothing less than Michelin PSS, Direzza Start Spec, and RS3 rubber. A stock 335i on PSS rubber in stock sizes was well in the 55 second range, while my fastest was a 57.366. Of course, it's be folly to only blame the rubber - most of the problem is yours truly! :facepalm: More seat time is definitely needed.
Waiting to pass tech
Hal's EDGE Motorworks E46 M3 is a really, really neat build. Couldn't get enough of it!
Lord knows how much I want a full E36M body kit with LTW aero. This particular E36 M3 even seems to have the ultra rare GT gurney flaps!
Photo Dump:
My rear passenger-side seat belt has been stuck since I bought the car. It would not extend at all, thus making it impossible for someone to use that seat. This wasn't a big deal because 99% of the time it is just me in the car, but it still kinda bothered me. I figured I could try to fix it properly and do some other things while I was there. The objectives of this exercise were threefold:
-Fix my seat belt so that it could extend and retract as it should
-Learn how to remove E36 rear seats for future reference
-Remove some sound deadening for (admittedly minor) weight reduction
First I removed the seat bench. Just pull up and towards you - they pop out very easily.
Then I unbolted the seat belts from chassis with a 16mm socket. At this point the seat belt has gotten worse and retracted into the seat such that the seat could not be put into its "up" position.
This is just a reference photo I took for what order the seat belts and washers have to be for reinstallation.
I tugged and pulled on it a little to no avail. I figured I could at least take out the heavy rubber sound deadening underneath the seat bench while I was there. I took a razor to it and cut it out in chunks.
Seat bench area with sound deadening cut out
Out of sheer mindlessness I tugged on the offending rear seat belt again - IT MOVED FREELY! It extended and retracted smoothly and did not get stuck again. Upon closer inspection I found out what had happened.
This is the rear passenger side seat belt. As you can see, it is missing the plastic stopper that prevents it from retracting all the way into the seat.
This is the driver side rear seat belt - it still has its plastic stopper.
What had happened was that at some point, when the previous owner had folded the rear seat down, the seat belt had retracted back into the seat *past* the plastic stopper, allowing the plastic stopper to get stuck inside the seat belt mechanism. It remained stuck there until it finally broke off the belt today. That plastic stopper is still sitting in the seat somewhere, but I'm not gonna open up the seat just to remove it.
I put everything back together (sans sound deadening) and everything works fine!
I weighed the sound deadening I pulled: ~7 lbs. Not bad! I'm still within the 1-50lbs weight reduction range for BMWCCA autox classification, so I don't have to reclassify my car.
Yes, while I was there it DID occur to me to just delete the rear seats entirely. I was sorely, sorely tempted, believe me! But with an event coming up this weekend, I did not want to reclassify my car and end up in A class with all the E36 M3s. Furthermore I kind if want to wait until I have fixed-back buckets before doing any kind of major interior stripping.
Post-autocross report!
The last time I went autocrossing I wasn't particularly happy with my performance. I didn't get my tire pressures right, and I hit a wall in my lap times and I wasn't able to focus on what I was doing wrong so I could fix it.
That all seemed to change at today's event. I got my tire pressures damn-near spot on and I was consistently dropping huge chunks of time with each run. The car felt absolutely perfect, too.
Fastest time: 57.684To put that into context, an S2000 on all season tires was around 57.1, and a stock E46 330i ZHP on semislicks was in the 54s. Given the tires I'm running (Sumitomo HTR ZIII) and my hamfisted-ness with a steering wheel, I'd say I didn't do so bad!
The fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Luckily it cleared up very quickly.
This little cigarette-lighter powered air compressor worked beautifully. I was able to get my tires up to 34 psi cold with the expectation of working the tires up to 35 or even 36 psi when warm. The tires felt good on these settings. They had great bite and turn in while maintaining a very healthy amount of grip.
The car as whole felt superb. It has this amazingly controllable and predicable oversteer balance that really helped with getting the car situated during long sweeping corners. If you did it right you could use the throttle to control the rear axle mid-corner. If you got greedy with it, though, the rear end would step out in an unsightly manner, so I had to be careful not to overcook my corner exits. It's an insane amount of fun and I literally cannot get enough of it. I need more seat time, dammit!!
That's pretty much where the car is at right now - it's a massive first post(!) but I just wanted to move the thread to a site where 318s get a bit more love
I'll definitely keep this thread updated, I think my next mod will be an E36 X-brace. I'm a college student, so money is definitely tight! Thank god autocross isn't terribly expensive.
Topic: guitarhead429's E36 318is Autocross/Build Journal (Read 3838 times)