Hello.
I am Michael and 19 years old. Some of you may know my father’s euro-spec BMW E36 M3 Turbo project which we both work on. Around 1 year ago the second BMW E36 appeared at home. I bought the car from our friend who was taking part in drifting tournaments. Thanks to that I did have a base for a drift car. Nevertheless, during that year I did a few upgrades and modernized the setup. It is a combination of the E36 318iS chassis and the M50B25 NV engine. This is my track and daily driven car. I use the car to drive to school and I drive the car everywhere I have to drive. I was also driving the car in snowy winter despite having welded and fully locked 3.45:1 differential.
At first the car looked nicely…
Both our E36s in front of our home
… until first trainings. A lot of scratches appeared on the car. A few parts came off and became destroyed. Several wheel rims broke too. During one drifting practice day on a local track, while practicing the tsuitso I had an accident with another BMW prepared for drifting. Drifting is a very contact car sport. In the picture below damages can be seen.
At present the car is equipped with custom springs and custom shock absorbers. We have installed the 26mm front sway bar and the 19mm rear E36 M3 sway bar. They are mounted with Powerflex roll bar mounting bushes. To increase caster angle we put E36 M3 S50B30’s front lower wishbone rear eccentric bushes.
26mm front sway bar and Powerflex bush
My father Chris working on my car
Because the stock hand brakes do not work at all in E36s, we used the hydraulic one. The Sandtler hand brake mechanism works with the Willwood brake pump. Our hydraulic hand brake runs inline with the foot brake.
To improve capability of the hydraulic hand brake we installed new brake discs and Ferodo brake pads on rear wheels. On front ones we mounted brakes from the BMW E46 330i. The brake disc from the E46 330i is 325x25mm. The ABS system is removed.
Comparision of E36 325i front brake disc & stock E46 330i front brake disc
We installed also the hydraulic steering gear from the E36 M3 S50B30, because it has the least turns from left max to right max. This one has 2.7 turns, while the E36 325i one has 3.5 turns.
Several drifting pictures:
Taken during a track day in winter:
Now a few warmer ones:
My younger brother looking at you
I changing a wheel (The inscription on the hood tells "I love my parents")
Let’s drive a bit
… and 4 photos from a rainy season:
On 23rd of May I took part in the ¼ mile tournament just for fun. I did the ¼ mile in “amazing” 15.6s.
Before the start
Racing against Honda Civic Type-R
Following parts of the story coming in the future.
Michael.
Looks like a lot of fun. One question though,
Why do you have those HUGE flares but then runny skinny tires. I understand it is easier to break loose but it looks a little ridiculous.
Sweet pics.
The Golden Rule of Wheels: Strong, cheap, light... pick two.
M Texture - MOTON - Recaro - FIKSE - Vorshlag - SWIFT - Lightwerkz - Rogue
i like, you are right on with e36 havent shitty ebrakes. i never use mine drifting ever. i would like too .. lol
Ugh. The stock E36 handbrake is fine! Just needs maintenance. Just one time of forgetting to put it down while driving will glaze the shit out of the pads/drum. Just pop the rear rotor off and sand down all the friction surfaces, adjust it, and it should be able to easily lock up any tires you can throw at it.
looks nice, i also agree with the tire/wheel situation. If youre worried about not being able to spin em' since your car is still N/A, have your dad throw a turbo on that thing!
While practicing on an old military airport I destroyed the differential drive flange’ shaft. Had to buy next differential, weld it and assembly in the car.
In June I took part in the drifting tournament. I was 34th. The tournament was held on a carting track. It was very exacting one. It was easy to “fall overboard” which often finished having a suspension failure – the trackside was in bad condition. A few pictures from the tournament:
The movie filmed during one practise day on a local track:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ciySisDHs[/ame]
Fenders are widened, because we placed wheels outside. They cannot stick out from the chassis in order to obey road traffic regulations. Pulling wheels outside improves driving; such a car becomes more reliable and stable. I know it looks funny while I’m drifting, but it is really difficult to drift on greater wheel rims and wider tires. That is why, I drift on 15” rims and usually 195mm tires. In my opinion that’s the best wheel setup for naturally aspirated M50B25 engines.
We removed the ABS system completely. Hydraulic brake pipes goes from the brake pump directly to calipers. The ABS system interferes with drifting.
I have already talked to my dad . We’re going to supercharge the engine in July. We need to manage to do it by next drifting tournament which will be taken in August.
Best regards!
Awesome job man, keep up the good work. So you are using a welded differential?
What part of Poland?
Looks like fun.
_________USMC 2003-07 0811 & 0814_________
We supercharged my engine. Now the M50B25 NV engine is boosted by the Eaton M62. Taking stock compression ratio into consideration we boost only 0.5bar. Yesterday I was testing the car on an old military airport and everything worked well. Next weekend I have a drifting tournament so then the car will have the first real test.
I tuned the car by myself using 315cc/min.@3.0bar injectors and Polish piggyback unit. The engine on 10.7:1 AFR and conservative spark ignition timing has 212rwhp and 291rwnm.
Here is a short movie filmed during yesterday's tests. Nothing special, but you can hear the new sound of the engine .
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy06Rgx-KqY[/ame]
Yes, I use welded differential.
I live in the West part of Poland - in city called Poznan in Wielkopolska.
Very nice car...Good luck with it
Cheif Senior Hitman Engineer 1st Class
BfcOT Mafia
Looks good, Keep it up.
How do you like the hydraulic e-brake? Personally hated mine.
I was going to ask about that e-brake. I wanted to switch my set-up if not dump the e-brake. Only problem is since being daily driven i'd like to have it for just in case.
No need to have it for drifting, power does that.
I think your strut brace is on backwards
Took part in next drifting tournament. I was 17th. 1 point more and I would be in the TOP16.
The movie filmed during training session:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whAmhkAd9wo[/ame]
nice drifting!
keep it up. ill be building up a mx5 for drifting soon.
nice car.
if you dont mind me asking, where in poland are there tracks that are open to the public for track days?
I was in poland (katowice) for 3 months last year and couldnt find many.
(course not knowing polish well doesnt help either)
thanks
nice!
Whats the name of the tuning software that you were using?
--Shwartz II 325is--Go: Bilstein Sport Shocks/Bav Auto Coils, KMAC adjustable camber plates, Eibach Lowering springs, TMS Aluminum RSMs w/ TMS reinforment plates, M3 sunflowers
Show: ZHP shift knob, M3 floor mats, Pioneer Heady
Coming soon/wanted: 3.23 tabs of LSD, Black Vaders, s50.
I still did not manage to get to the TOP16. I’m after next tournament which was taken on a carting track, very technical one. The tournament was unlucky for me, but all failures we fixed up on time, so I could drive in qualification runs. On Saturday during a training session the front left wishbone cut off. Next day before the qualification runs during drift taxi the right output shaft dropped out of the differential.
Thank you and good luck with your drifting project.
In Poland there are a few tracks, majority of them are carting tracks. However, it is not open for a private customer. You cannot pay for a ticket and have a drive on a track like it is organized for example in Germany. But yet, it is not so bad. It is easier to drive on a track if you have a large group of people paying for the whole day. There are companies who arrange track or practice days on tracks in which everybody is allowed to take part in. Near Katowice you have 2 nice tracks: in Wroclaw and Kielce, and one old military airport in Kamien Slaski near Opole.
I use a Polish piggyback called Digital Ecu Tuner 2, the name of the company is Ecumaster. When using the DET2 you have full control of fuel, ignition maps, you can also control boost valve, additional injectors, water injection etc.
Unfortunately, I lost. I was 4th in N/A group in that 1/4 mile tournament.
September was unlucky for us. At first many failures during the tournament I took part in on 5th and 6th of the month. Later, while driving to a track for a training an unpleasant adventure came across.
We lost the wheel
Me trying to find the jack in our baggage consisted mainly of wheels and all kind of tools
Working on resuscitation of the vehicle
The brake disc after the accident
Despite of the problem we managed to get to the track
... but could not avoid next problems
The whole weekend was one big adventure .
At the last weekend of September I took part in the last tournament in the 2009 drifting season, but to be continued...
As I mentioned above at the end of September I took part in last drifting tournament in the season. The tournament was organized on my favourite track, which is located in my city. So I can safely say that I was going to drift at home. Since last tournament during which I had problems with front wishbone and rear output shaft I re-tightened all screws in the suspension and the drive system. Where I can I put new, more durable screws or studs.
I know the track very well, so when the training session began, I immediately started practicing heavily. Everything was going well until last 1 hour of the training session. Coolant started getting extremely hot; we bled the coolant system a few times. While I was drifting my 2nd qualification run, the head gasket blew up. Even during 1st run the car didn't have the power it produces usually and because of that I had problems with acceleration to the proper speed at 1st corner. That is why, I could not reach the 1st clipping point. For my the only one run I got just 52/100 points. It was such a sad end of the season for me…
The movie from the 1st qualification run:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS-4QI3dY4I[/ame]
In this year, the car will not take part in any drifting trainings. The plan is to put together all parts properly and 1st time during my adventure with drifting do everything not in a hurry. Do properly, not quickly. I hope that in next season we’ll manage to avoid any failures.
Going to rebuild the engine using M52B28 crankshaft and pistons. Will remain M50B25 con rods. Next season starts in a few months so I have all winter to tidy the car up. I started with electric harness.
If you’re interested in, I can post all pictures I take during the rebuild and “winter” work at the car.
Best regards,
Michael.
good idea to post those pictures, sorry to hear that shes down for so long.
-Andrew Mensah
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