BMW Compact Build

Lots of E36's around here these parts - also competitive ones. But they tend to be compacts with the S14 (the E30 M3 R4 16V) engine in them.... they do go though... like stink!

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Brgrds
Brian

This E36 seems to do well with the 6 cylinder. John I know you have posted this car as an example of what everyone should be running.

http://www.tonigardemeister.com/xfilesuk.php

Alex. Buy that car ASAP if it's a 95. Later it'll have the 3.2 and OBD2 but still a steal for that price.
The compact was much easier to do Supra swap then the non-compact are due to semi-trailing rear vs multi-link rear. But you can get internals for the BMW. Keep the engine stock, maybe intake, exhaust, WAR chip or similar, JVAB struts, and Porterfield pads and go rally.

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Grant Hughes

Gear ratios are not great but you end up with a decent 2-5 if you do a lower ratio final drive. I think around a 4.11 would be good and you can find used ones that can go into your diff case. And clutch pack LSDs.
Dave's car with a 4.3 is a riot to drive. First gear is for loading onto a trailer.

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Grant Hughes

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Andrew_Frick
This E36 seems to do well with the 6 cylinder. John I know you have posted this car as an example of what everyone should be running.

http://www.tonigardemeister.com/xfilesuk.php

My intent was to show what a then full time WRC driver did with his own money.
Not that a 6cylinder BMW was what everybody should be driving.

Seems a lot of people think its fun to put words in my mouth and intentions in my head....hmmmmm isn't that strange?

I also posted it to show the hilarity of the "ooooooh ! aaaaaaaaH! The turbo 4wd cars are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast I NEEED a new blue Subie" crowd think.

Do we all remember the time when Citroen sent Dani Sordo to some Finnish rally as warm up for Neste Finland WRC---and Sordo was 3rd in points and Gardemeister was enter in that rwd thing


and was closer in SS times with that rwd car than he was in his Suzuki WRC turbo 4wd car?
That was also the point..
Okie dokie?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

I think Hintz's m3 is an I6....

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

only thing with that S14 engine is that they are expensive as all get out! I googled around for them and it seems like they are hard to find in the first place. One i found for sale was about 5000 dollars....

see! BMW tax!

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First Rally: 2010 First RallyX: 2004 (a bunch)
Driver (0), Co-Driver (7)
Organizer (3), Volunteer (3)
Cars Built (2.5), Engines Blown (2) Cages Built (0) # of rotations (3.5)
Last Updated, Apr 9, 2023

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john vanlandingham

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frumby
JV that's an E30 with the 4banger. I know you say the 6 has a floppy crank, but it seems you could run one basically stock and unstressed and make tons of torques?

To join in the lastest trend: what the fuck do I know?
All I know is I've never seen a decent handling on gravel inline 6 car here.

Wat da fawk? None of your jvab i6 cars are out in the woods yet. Of course I'm used to driving an ohlind misterbitchi, but I would say my i6 feels pretty damn good.

Dave

And with the money I saved not buying an S14, I was able to buy an M3 engine and jvabs!

Dave

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DaveK
And with the money I saved not buying an S14, I was able to buy an M3 engine and jvabs!

Dave

Yo! Dave there's a guy started a thread about one a dem Misterbitchi Evos, can you suggest anybody in someplace called Sleezattle that could help him with suspension and maybe motor and restrictor? What's that guys name out there?

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Its been a while since I've had a chance to work on the BMW, but there've been a few teething issues with the car, so its time to dig back in. First up is refurbishing the rear differential, as the MkIII Supra LSD we installed wasn't doing much of the "L" part anymore. I got stuck on some ice out at BWDS last winter and it was pretty apparent that the rear diff wasn't coupling both rear wheels together. I also noticed at a rally-x event this summer that the car really felt like it was chugging in the loose stuff, and you could feel the car surge a bit as the tires would find traction.

Here's a shot of the diff bolted up in the car:



Yanked out of the car with the rear cover removed - these things smell terrible and the fact that it was a $40 diff from the local pick'n'pull with unknown mileage didn't help!



One of the "nice" features of the OEM supra diff is that they weren't shimmed very tightly from the factory. This cuts down on diff chatter in parking lots and when making tight turns and more importanlty it also means that the diff plates weren't really subject to all that much wear. Here's half of them after getting a good de-greasing:



This is where the magic happens. The OEM diff used a spring in the middle. The kit I purchased gets rid of that and uses a spacer and two belleville washers which act sort of like very stiff springs. According to the guys who sell the kit, breakaway torque increases up to 250 lbs, so this thing should be pretty solidly locked now.



Another shot of the diff gooing back together. You do need a backlash gauge to make sure the tolerances are all in line, but we found the instructions with the kit were right on with what shims to use:



One final shot before the rear case was re-installed:



It'll be a couple weeks before we get to test the diff out, but should 250 lbs breakaway prove to be more than we want for a rally application, they also have a milder kit that'll bring the breakaway torque to 100 lbs, which is still better than the factory setup. The good news is that with replacement diffs being so cheap and available in both 3.9 and 4.3, if I don't love it, I can always build another one and save this one for drifting.

Thanks for reading!

Dave

Very curious, as this is next up on my car, and not sure if the 100 or 250 kit is the way to go. That diff stock is not so good.

100 is for weak ass fwd cars. I set mine about there so you know it can't be right. I thought there was a 175 ft/lb kit.
(175 is what manly men with fwd and power steering use, but they're probably wrong too..)

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

This thread needs more in-car! <Coming October 1st, 2012!>

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Grant Hughes

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NoCoast
This thread needs more in-car! <Coming October 1st, 2012!>

The car is really fighting to make sure that doesn't happen:

Pulled the transmission out of the car this afternoon.

Tried unbolting the old clutch from the flywheel and the first allen bolt stripped out.

Wandered over to the table with the new clutch and I unwrapped the new cerametallic clutch only to find they'd shipped me an organic one instead.

Replaced the throw-out-bearing and leaky clutch line and put transmission back in the car with the same old clutch still in there.

Almost a complete waste of time. Grrr.

Dave