Sundayjumper and his 316i

[Sundayjumper]

My car is arriving later today - bought blind from ebay - so I'm hoping I've not made a massive mistake here ! It's a W-reg 316i Compact. Ta-da:



Silver, black interior, sports pack, no sunroof. That's "my" spec !

Apologies for the following brain dump. Lots of possibilities and I need to work out the priorities. Keen to hear any & all suggestions.

I'm not going for a full-on rally build. I've been doing Autosolos in my other car but wanted something smaller & lighter instead that will also cope with some grass autotests and some winter fun events. The important thing here is that I need to stay in the "production" class. I can modify the engine, brakes, suspension, but I have to retain a full interior (different seats are OK, but removing them completely is a no-no), glass windows, factory body panels. If I don't stick to that I get moved to the "kit car / specials" category and would need to go all-out on the build to be competitive. Which I can't really afford right now.

So my plan is to lighten it as much as I can without falling foul of the rules. Any top tips there ? There must be a bunch of sound proofing I can lose while still keeping a "full interior" ? Simplify the wiring loom ? Hollow out the rear seat ??

The engine might need to be switched for a 318ti. I think that would be allowed. A 2.8 six-pot might be pushing my luck.

Brakes I assume will need some updating and I'd like a LSD but as far as I can see they're rocking horse poo and priced accordingly nowadays

Suspension, I nearly jumped in and bought the s/h Eibach springs that are on ebay atm but if I'm stripping some weight I don't know where the ride height is going to end up. Are there affordable coilovers that aren't rubbish ?

Interior I'll want a bucket seat, harness & bolt-in rear cage I think. No need for a full cage at this level.

At the wild end of possibilities, I love the wide-arch rally cars, but I don't have a handle on just how much work that involves. How is the wide track achieved ? Big spacers & offset wheels or is there a "proper" solution with modified suspension arms ? Lots of cutting / welding ?

[Sundayjumper]

Do I just need to find a cheap 2.8 Z3 and transfer the entire running gear to my Compact, killing several birds with one stone ?

[Sundayjumper]

I had a mini ebay spending spree at the weekend.

Cheapie coilovers (I've got a broken rear spring that needs replacing and I'm curious to see if £250 coilovers will put up with some autosolo / autotest abuse)
Spare set of wheels (wrongly listed as 15" when they're actually 16", £55 seemed good)
Rear strut brace (which will also act as reinforcement to the top mount)
Front bumper mesh to replace the slats (to make it look like an M3 )
US front number plate trim (because I'm secretly a bit chavvy )

And a 16ft Brian James trailer !

I'm holding off on buying other mechanical bits until I decide on the overall plan. Stripping a Z3 is the most appealing option right now but I need to sort some workshop space to avoid making my driveway look like the back end of a trailer park.

First job is to find out if there's anything actually wrong with the car and to get it through an MOT. My code reader will only access the engine ECU, not the airbag, ABS, etc, there were loads of DME faults logged, but to me they looked consistent with a general strop about flat battery at some point. All four coils, all four injectors, fuel pump, MAF and some others too. They can't ALL be faulty...... can they ?

[Garry.M]

Should be a fun build.
Being that age of 316ti, it should have discs on the rear which is good. I've a mate that bought a 4.1 lsd for his rally car build - which turned out to be a 168mm,,, so it might be up for sale. He might end up using it until he can get a 188mm
Ripping the interior out and using a hot air gun to remove the sound deadening will a bag weighing nearly 10kg! When the interior is out you could send your wiring loom to Chris Ransley of Cr Mtech in Shrewsbury. The std loom is 14-15kg!,,, he can strip it right back til it's 4.8-5kg and you'll still have electric windows, heater etc. Each door bar is the best part of 3kg. Removing rear wiper motor. (if you're allowed in the regs). Are you allowed to replace the passenger seat with a bucket seat?

[Sundayjumper]

"Ripping the interior out and using a hot air gun to remove the sound deadening will a bag weighing nearly 10kg!"

Just from the sound deadening ? Nice. I need to keep all the visible interior trim in place, but it'll be fine removing the hidden stuff from behind it. Same for under-bonnet and roof sound deadening.

Loom was already on my list of things to do, is there any online info about what can be removed ? I was going to take a trial-and-error approach, pick an item to remove and then follow its wires back down the car.

Rear wiper can definitely go, and I'm allowed to put a bucket seat in to replace the passenger seat.

[Spac]

If you can excuse my crappy handwriting, this is what came out of my '99 316i.

https://m.imgur.com/gqNpaJB

[Sundayjumper]

That’s handy, thanks !

What’s involved in removing the ABS stuff ? I wasn’t planning on going that far but it can go on the “one day” list along with the adjustable bias pedal box.

[Spac]

I haven't done any ABS removal on the 318 yet. Just gotta remember to hit the DSC button before each run!

On the 318Ti, I removed the wheel sensors. Supposedly this can trigger a fault code that lowers the rev limiter to 5300rpm - my car didn't do it from the ABS delete, but some other fault did... :/ There is a work-around, but I can't vouch for its effectiveness.

[Sundayjumper]

Well, we have some extremely slow progress.

The driver's window wasn't working, seemed like it had just come off the runner, but one day due to me being dopey and forgetting about it, I absent-mindedly pressed the button and was rewarded with a nasty crunching noise from inside the door

Short story - s/h regulator from ebay for £20, easy job.

The car had a full set of warning lights on the dash, brake pads, ABS, ASC, airbag.

Brake pads - someone had left the osr sensor wiring loose so it had rubbed on the driveshaft and worn through

Airbag I was able to clear with a code reader.

The ABS & ASC warnings remain. The reported error is the return pump, a bit of Googling suggests it's probably dodgy electrics in the control module. So that's my next step although I quite like the idea of ditching the whole lot to keep the car as simple (reliable) as possible.

[Sundayjumper]

ABS fault was indeed a dodgy solder joint in the control module. Easy fix. Although I rather destroyed the casing on the way in. Oops.

I’ve taped it up with duct tape and ordered a complete spare unit from eBay. Once the tape falls off I’ll swap them over.

[Sundayjumper]

Still not ready for an MOT, but Basingstoke Motor Club were running a grass autotest yesterday, for which you don't need MOT, tax, etc (as long as you trailer the car there, obvs.)

I'd still never driven the car so was prepared for it to fall apart or blow up but it performed brilliantly. Apart from the first run where I forgot to turn the ASC off and on damp grass it would barely move before cutting the power.

I'm now enthused to get it properly sorted and have a go at a Targa rally event.

[Sundayjumper]

I've not updated this for a while. Highlights that I can remember....

MOT time - the only fail was the o/s/r jacking point ! I got that welded up and we were good to go

Got some cheap ebay coilovers, £250 for the set, have been OK so far.

Bought some front hubs/brakes from a 323i for £50 as an upgrade from the solid discs.

Swapped in the buckets from my other car and some 4pt harnesses I picked up.

Did the Targa Rally at Rushmoor last weekend ! Awesome. Broke both the engine mounts and got the passenger window to jump out of its runners.

Bought another Compact as a donor. That was a 250 mile round trip today but I've got a a 318ti engine and an E30 LSD to go into mine. And the rest of the car.