BMW Rallying Forum

Here is my E36 compact rally build.

It is a budget car which I am building get me rallying while my long term project is underway (BMW E21 323i).

I love the £/smile ratio of the compact. Lots of cars which can be picked up really cheap, spares are readily available, and I like the fact that there is a whole host of parts which can be raided from the BMW parts bin.

The car I am using for a base is a 1995 316i manual, unfortunately it has a sunroof but the car was free.

One of the previous owners had converted it to a 2.5 24v for road/drift use. The engine had a suspected head gasket failure and had been parked up for months. Some bits were missing including the front suspension, but a trip to the local scrappy sorted that.

Now the car is back at the workshop and work is underway.
First was the removal of the front end, and then the engine and box.







Then the engine bay good a good old clean and I started removing anything unwanted (batt tray/abs etc).









She scrubbed up ok!
Next I enlisted some help to strip the interior and remove the sound deadening.









I started removing wires which were not needed - Central locking, power windows, abs, airbags etc.
So far I have removed 21kgs of sound deadening and wiring alone. Let alone the carpet and interior trim. She is on a serious diet!

I picked up a set of used coilovers, an E46 steering rack, an E36 convertible chassis brace and had them glass blasted.



Next up the E46 steering rack got cleaned up.



I then stripped down the steering joint to measure the rubber guibo. I am making a metal replacement.



I also reinforced the front crossmember by adding additional welding and doubling up material where the engine mounts meet etc.
This was then etch primed and painted in "tough black".















I have some E30 325i shafts from an old car of mine so cleaned them up and gave them a bit of black too.



The 2.8 injectors have been ultrasonically cleaned too, ready to put into the M50 inlet manifold.



6 puck clutch + cover sorted as well as E21 323i flywheel. The E21 323i flywheel is lighter than the E30 325 one and is being lightened further and balanced now along with the clutch cover (should end up around 4.5-5.0 kgs).



More to follow soon...

Will

I'll be following this build with interest Will

Good to have another Compact build up and running. Brings back memories

I finished the strip down and rebuild of the front suspension earlier.

The H&R coilovers actually had Bilstein dampers inside to my surprise. Even better was the fact that the dampers were in great condition. They also came with the E36 M3 Evo top mounts. Eventually I will swap them out for camber/caster adjustable items but these will get me going for the time being.







I am using E30 wishbones as the ball joints are supposedly stronger. They are fitted with the E30 M3 solid eccentric bushes.

Another good start to a project, some nice toys in the background!

Thanks, I wish they were mine, they are customers and a couple of staff cars.

I am itching to get the fabrication done now so that I can get it ready for paint!
I should be able to get a lot done over the long weekend coming hopefully, particularly if I have any willing friends to help.

Looking good! You've got proper Team Dynamics rally wheels too

Unfortunately they are borrowed from the E30 to get this mobile .

I have standard BBS 15's on this one from an E30 M3, but they currently have no tyres so are at the back of the workshop!

Oh well, shame you didn't get them thrown in too! I look forward to seeing your E21 come together in the future - I had two E21 323i road cars (one was sadly written off in a river crossing on a road rally ) and absolutely loved them. Be great on an SV - about half the width of my body kitted compact and probably half the weight too

E21's are my absolute favourite!

These should make you smile then







They are the three that always spring to my mind.
Mine is a pre facelift Alpina 323i and will end up being a group 2 kitted tarmac car of some sort. It will take inspiration from each of those three.

I don't know of any other pre facelift Alpina e21's in the uk at all and neither does a friend who it the E21 "top dog" in the UK BMW club.

It has a stroked M20B28 race engine in build, a dogleg box, Alpina finned LSD etc etc. I will never sell it if I can help it!

Will

I spent a little more time prepping the x-brace and wishbones and stripping the disc rear arms for blasting and modifications.







The project has changed direction a bit today because a friend has now written off his M3 3.0...

It has been a busy easter!

I finished stripping the interior, somehow another 18kgs of junk came from the car to my amazement. Next I continued thinning the wiring and started the fabrication of the hydraulic handbrake.

I have done some more to the engine bay including removing brackets/rust and stitch welding. The sunroof blank has also been made and I will fix it in place at a later date.

Thats coming on well! What kind of cage are you going for?

Thanks, I am itching to get it done!!

I have not decided on a cage yet. Mainly because the off the shelf items are not quite what I want.

I will look at the safety devices and custom cages offerings again and try to make up my mind. Any suggestions?

Will

Will

What aspects of the available roll cages would you want to change

Is your rallying going to be confined to the UK under MSA rules or do you have plans to go abroad and rally under FIA rules

Peter