Race Questions

[geoffkoop]

Hey guys,
My dad and I are thinking about building a 3 series race car. We are going to buy one of the E36 with alot of miles and then rebuild the motor and basically most of the car. Anyone who has built one, or has the necessary knowlege please comment. We will probably do this in a few months so until then I am doing a ton of research.
Thank you
Geoff

[Kevin325i]

For a race engine in my opinion the '92 would be best. You have have it bored to be 3L and then add the 3.2L M3 crank to get the displacement to 3.1L. It's got larger vavles than the 93 and later models.

OR, you could get a 328 and do the OBD1 conversion.

Also note that the 92 has the rear subframe failures, which can be welded with plates but if you're racing it might not be your best option.

Good luck with the project.

Kevin

[El Presidente]

I second the 92 option. The engine can be bored and rebuilt using almost all M3 parts.

That will help, but we really need to know what kind of racing to offer you the best advice.

[dutchbmw]

Originally posted by Kevin325i@May 30 2004, 08:35 AM
OR, you could get a 328 and do the OBD1 conversion.

Ask jllphan for the OBD conversion.

My opinion is to buy a Euro M3 (mid '95 and later) with 3.2L engine and strip it from all unimportant things. I have seen such car on the internet a time ago for about €25000 ($30000).

[jllphan]

buy an e30. I love my e36, but if I were to build a race car (with a big budget), I think I might buy an e30...e30 ///M3 if I could.

[mikester328]

I second the 92 option. The engine can be bored and rebuilt using almost all M3 parts.

I hate to be the biggest newbie on the thread but what is boring out a motor? Making it bigger?

[dutchbmw]

Originally posted by mikester318@May 30 2004, 06:40 PM
I hate to be the biggest newbie on the thread but what is boring out a motor? Making it bigger?

Yes, it's for getting a bigger displacement. You can install wider pistons after doing that.

[skawful]

but also your cylinder walls are smaller. Which means you might make your engine explode...

[geoffkoop]

Hey thanks for the input so far. Keep it coming. We are going to probably race on tracks such as Willow springs, fontana etc. So a small 3 series of some sort seems to me like what we want. For the car itself we want to keep it under 10 grand so that we have the excess money to build it ourselves.
Thanks

[Kevin325i]

Go for a 92 and build it to better than M specs. You could get one for 5k easily, probably less for one with a junky interior cause you'll probably strip that right away.

Kevin

[geoffkoop]

yup, we will definitely strip the interior first thing. I really dont even care about the miles on the engine either. I know a BMW mechanic pretty well and he will help me rebuild the engine and transmition.
Thanks

[El Presidente]

Great deal. Definitely get the 92 engine and bore it out. For suspension, look at adding x-brace, front and rear strut braces, stiffer swaybars, and a good coilover kit. If possible, find a very early 92, as the sway bars mount to a different point that increase track performance but lower ride quality.

[Kevin325i]

If you're planning on getting a different suspension set up, tell them you have a car that's pre 9/91. The shocks fit, it's just that the shocks come with tabs on them to mount a sway bar too instead of the control arm (like el presidente was saying)

AND make sure to post pictures and lots of information about your rebuild, if you go to 3.0 with a 92, mostly because i'm planning on doing this, someday... eventually *sigh*

Kevin

[thekid]

aahhh.... love threads like this even though nothing usually comes with them. Ok here are some possiblilities. First off I would get a car with a blown engine, tranny, and had the interior caught on fire if possible, blown A/C, hood all messed up, lights messed up ect ect.... or if not go for the blown engine and tranny. Like they said bore and all that stuff. Larger cams, header.. not nessacarily M3 parts. BMP has some good stuff but kinda expensive. Think about your rear suspension set up. You might want a ti for the E30 rear end, just something to think about as far as suspenion goes. You'll want a Camber kit, and with the camber kit you might need spacers. Depending on what kinda rules what ever kinda racing your gonna be doing has, you can take the headlights out and custum build the intake to go out to drivers side head light... hmmm take all of the windows out and weld at least 3 doors shut. Home made roll cage outta system whatever pvc.....Swaybar bushings...can prolly think of more later. It's all pretty standard basic stuff.

Just checking this is gonna be a track only car right? So you have a tow vehicle correct? Once you do the header cams ect, your gonna have to have race gas for it if you use the correct parts. My friends builiding a 318i motor that's gonna have 12:1 or 12.5:1 compression, so of course he'll need 110 or 120 octane gas. Hmmm...

[MrM3]

i think you should go for a 96-99 3.2L S52, convert it to obd-1, and do some head work rather than building a 92 M50. building a engine can be very costly and time consuming, and in the end, it probably wouldve been cheaper to just get the S52 to start with.