Compact Tarmac Car?

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Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby thiswayup » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:57 pm

I don't know if anybody saw us, but we recently did Mull in an E30 325i and now I have to admit I'm hooked.
Now my problem is this. The E30 is set up for gravel (which I thoroughly enjoy) but the big heavy straight 6 really wasn't good over the hundreds of jumps, it came down really hard (still have the bad back to prove it) and the handling was less than ideal.
I've now got this idea in my head where i'd like to leave the E30 as it is for gravel and build a lighter 4 cylinder compact for Mull next year.
How much power can you get out of the M44 without spending a fortune?

What do you good people think?
All advice greatly appreciated.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby bruvs1 » Tue Oct 29, 2013 6:06 pm

Without going mad, 170bhp, for a couple of grand if you do the work yourself. Basically cams, machining work, porting, oversize throttle body, lighten and balance bottom end.
http://www.bruvsmotorworks.co.uk 320is, 330is rallying!
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby thiswayup » Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:09 pm

Cheers for that bruvs,
Who's suspension would you recommend? Mull is tarmac but hell its rough in places plus big jumps and compressions, so it would need to be tough,
Also what ratio diff do you think? I use a 4.4 on the e30 but thats probably too low for use with direct top box do you think?

Geoff
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby bruvs1 » Tue Oct 29, 2013 9:17 pm

Everyone has there own preference on shockers, bumpy tar - bilstien b6 shocker, do a coilover conversion to 2.25" , fairly simple 225lb front spring as a starter, 4.45 diff might not be too far out on mull, presume theres not too many straights there!? , with a few more revs in the engine might do 100mph? Ideally a 5.1cwp would be better as it would give you back 1st gear.. but not cheap..
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby Garry.M » Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:58 pm

I just weighed an m44 an the m52 (2.8 alloy engine) on one of the scales for my corner weigh scales I have and the 2.8 is only 18kg heavier than the m44!
Build a "budget" 328 compact on 17" tyres with an m50 inlet manifold,, remapped ecu with a 7k limiter and bolt yer 4.445 lsd in and it should give you 112mph@7k,,,,, probably on the limiter going passed the phone box but should be plenty flexible on Calgary
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby mrfuzzyfelts » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:28 am

Engine weights

M42 - 100kg

M44 - 102kg

M52 - 118kg

S50 - 152kg
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby Garry.M » Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:16 pm

mrfuzzyfelts wrote:Engine weights

M42 - 100kg

M44 - 102kg

M52 - 118kg

S50 - 152kg


Those weights are for a bare engine - no inlet, alternator, pas pump, wiring harness etc,,,, but the differences are about right for a guide
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby GAJ1 » Wed Oct 30, 2013 3:28 pm

That's what tempted us to the 2.8 was the weight increase to the 1.8 is not massive. Still ongoing with ours.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby thiswayup » Thu Oct 31, 2013 1:06 am

Thanks Guys, thats certainly food for thought.
Whats the best gearbox combination with the m52?
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby Garry.M » Thu Oct 31, 2013 10:10 am

Just as well with the 328 /m3 5 speed,, direct top.
You'll buy an Mot failure 328 for £500-800,, that would give you most of the bits required,,,, then weigh the rest in!
Or give Chris Ransley a shout and he'll supply all the bits you need and keep you right . I'm going to be fitting the m3 rad and expansion bottle to mine for better cooling.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby Ranger 6 » Thu Oct 31, 2013 3:50 pm

thiswayup wrote:I don't know if anybody saw us, but we recently did Mull in an E30 325i...

What number were you? We might have seen you.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby is-si » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:13 am

I may be stating the obvious here, if you were to swap engines around:
The 4 pot would suit the lighter e30 (with an e36 direct top box)
The 6 pot would suit the heavier e36
The e36 shell has the bulkhead further back that lends itself to a straight-6 - as theres more cylinders behind the front cross-member.
Besides the engine weight theres the weight of a larger g'box & another length of exhaust pipe etc.

Regarding the bumps, with the bilsteins we've ran we've had to run a spring slightly harder than what was ideal for cornering and we've also had to have a higher compression rate in the front dampers than what is usually the norm.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby slidewaysbmw » Sun Nov 03, 2013 12:44 am

Geoff ,rather than going to the expense of building another complete car it's got to make more sense to drop the 2.8 into your car .then buy a more suitable suspension set up to handle the tar.
I spoke to phil littlewood a while back and he had a few good ideas about a coil over set up for tar.
With a little mod to the rear turrets and the breather pipes ,fitting rear coil overs are easy to fit.
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby thiswayup » Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:24 pm

Ranger 6 wrote:
thiswayup wrote:I don't know if anybody saw us, but we recently did Mull in an E30 325i...

What number were you? We might have seen you.

96 - handy, just incase we rolled
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Re: Compact Tarmac Car?

Postby Ranger 6 » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:26 pm

We did see you - SS1 you sounded great going up the hill in Dervaig and then I think I mentioned it at a control - we were in 151.
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