Noob Drift Build :) - E36 turbo

[MikeE36]

Hi guys, finally decided a direction with my new build...

little backstory... I'm Mike, I'm a 21 year old architectural engineering student at UT. I love cars and have been around them all my life, and I've been to quite a few local drift events (but NEVER driven any...). I love sliding, with the little I have done at auto-x and track days, but I am looking to jump with both feet in and start doing events.

I have/had build a 500whp turbo M3 that I DD'd that was stripped, tracked, auto-x'd, etc.

I recently bought a prepared E36 chassis, that is fully seam welded, caged, etc. from Oklahoma. I am currently in the process of swapping everything from my street car over to this car, and making it the ultimate E36 track/drift toy.

Here are some pics of the current progress. I started the tear down of my street car on Monday sept 12 at 3:30 PM. (it was still on the ground and running then).



























Little run down of the build so far:

-cage is fully SCCA XP legal (the auto-x class i run)
-tied into front and rear shocktowers, tied into RTAB pockets and rear subframe mounts.
-front subframe reinforced with weld in plates
-rear subframe mount points reinforced with weld in plates
-rtab pocket reinforcements
-jack points on each side built into cage
-84.5mm M52 with S50 crank/cams/head, 8.5 :1 wisecos, eagle rods, .080 MLS, ARP2000s
-ZF 5 speed
-Southbend stage 5 clutch / F1 16 lb steel flywheel
-TRM coilovers
-Sean love full angle kit ( just ordered..) E46 arms, spindle adapters, tie rods.. waiting on that before the front suspension is on
-E32 750 i CES 210mm diff and conversion kit
-turner solid mounts (engine, trans, subframe, diff)
-AKG stage 2 race shifter
-AIM MXL pista dash
-in the group buy for the secondary drift caliper bracket so will have that setup with a hydro as well

I'm really really motivated to get this thing done, and so far have the engine/trans/front subframe/shifter / steering / brake booster swapped over. Need to sort the wiring and thin it out a ton (I never did that on the black car) and then swap it all over and button the engine/front end back up. Then rear subframe mods, fuel tank, fuel lines, rear brake lines, etc. etc. I'll be posting pictures every day of progress, and will get back to the wiring later today when I get off work

Still haven't had a free weekend yet to work on it, so school and work every day doesn't permit as much time as I would like. The weekend (tomorrow) is where the real progress starts

I realize you don't NEED any of this to drift... but I don't do moderation. Everything I've ever done has always been over the top and overbuilt, and I like it that way. So in a month or two you'll see noobs of me learning to drift in this thing, which will be hilarious for the first few events I'm sure

Thanks for looking!

-Mike

[DHutch]

You're gonna cry when you up that shell ... should've mangled the original one first! But I love how the cage is tied into the subframe mounts. Good luck & keep the updates coming.

[bennyfizzle]

This thing will make for a nasty drift toy. Actually, any decent DE setup makes for a perfect drift rat, only thing you might want to change as you progress is rear camber (only reason I say this is I know most grip guys run more than -2* rear camber, ideally you'll want ~-1* as I've found).

I'd recommend sliding around something n/a, or at least lower powered first, but you seem to have a pretty good handle on car control already. You'll just have a steeper learning curve than most others just starting out with the big power, (presumably) big rubber, and knuckles.

Just go easy on initiations first, get a feel for how the car behaves during a slide and on transitions, then start going big on initiations.

Only other thing I can add is if you plan on being competitive, try to get a copy of the Formula D rule book (it's tough) to make sure your cage meets FD specs.

Happy drifting bro! Don't get too attached to the pretty bits on the car (body panels included). This is drifting...it's not a matter of if...it's when.

[canisM3]

hah I love the fact that you overbuild and go over the top, I have always been that way. Better to have it set up for when you do get good, which is clearly always the plan I do the same thing with everything I get too. People usually talk shit at first from my experience, but they get over it :p I am currently preparing my car, not in the same extreme as you of course, but I have gone with the best I can knowing full well that I absolutely love cars and driving them and have a competitive personality so I can't wait to start tracking this thing

[canisM3]

love it hah! I generally overdo anything I get into as well! Can't wait to start auto-x'ing / tracking / drifting my car, your car is amazing though.

[MikeE36]

You're gonna cry when you that shell ... should've mangled the original one first! But I love how the cage is tied into the subframe mounts. Good luck & keep the updates coming.

Yeah, I should've phrased that I don't ever plan to be "competitive" per se, this is mainly a Friday toy / DE toy / auto-x toy / drift toy... It won't be in a bunch of intense tandem battles / danger any time soon. (maybe eventually)

This thing will make for a nasty drift toy. Actually, any decent DE setup makes for a perfect drift rat, only thing you might want to change as you progress is rear camber (only reason I say this is I know most grip guys run more than -2* rear camber, ideally you'll want ~-1* as I've found).

I'd recommend sliding around something n/a, or at least lower powered first, but you seem to have a pretty good handle on car control already. You'll just have a steeper learning curve than most others just starting out with the big power, (presumably) big rubber, and knuckles.

Just go easy on initiations first, get a feel for how the car behaves during a slide and on transitions, then start going big on initiations.

Happy drifting bro! Don't get too attached to the pretty bits on the car (body panels included). This is drifting...it's not a matter of if...it's when.

Oh, and keep an eye on those solid mounts, and the trans crossmember running them. I've heard of a lot of guys breaking the crossmember with solids, also I've seen the studs back out of the mounts. No bueno.

Thanks for the tips! I usually run -2.5 F, -1.5 R. We'll see how much Sean's angle kit changes the front camber though. surely I'll be realigning it as soon as I get it on the ground and under it's own power. Thanks for the tips! Yeah the body is already pretty dinged up (but surely not like a true drift car yet). I decided to not have it painted and such beforehand, accepting the fact that it's a track /drift rat and not a show car It's going to have a lot of power yes, (600+whp) so I'm sure there will be plenty of spins...

Thanks for the tips on the solid mounts, I will be checking over this thing thoroughly after each track day / drift event for sure, as the power and stresses on everything are going to be immense for sure.

hah I love the fact that you overbuild and go over the top, I have always been that way. Better to have it set up for when you do get good, which is clearly always the plan I do the same thing with everything I get too. People usually talk shit at first from my experience, but they get over it :p I am currently preparing my car, not in the same extreme as you of course, but I have gone with the best I can knowing full well that I absolutely love cars and driving them and have a competitive personality so I can't wait to start tracking this thing

Thanks! I just love building something way over the top and every mod encourages me to do more... One little suspension change or improvement, and I want to go all the way in that direction, if that makes sense.


-Mike

[JTe30]

Nice man!

[MikeE36]

Last couple hours:

wiring blah...



engine harness out (the easy part!!)



what's left



-Mike

[SloMaroZ]

Subscribed! Looking forward to videos.

[MartiniFK]

So jelly. Wish I could have this talent.

[MikeE36]

drink break, more wiring bogus







Dropping rear subframe now to get to the rear ABS wheel speed sensor connections, then i'll have the entire chassis harness out and can start thinning it out tomorrow. I'll honestly probably have to speed all weekend on wiring. There is SO much

-Mike

[jeremy5000]

I'm excited to see the final product... should turn out nice.

[dRock13]

looks good. see, nothin to it!

[MikeE36]

Worked on the wiring for quite awhile.... SO tedious.. Thinned it out a fair amount but I need to research on what I need to keep and whatnot a bit more.

I removed the rear subframe and suspension, but I can't pull it all the way out because I forgot how to completely pull out the ebrake cables. Can anyone remember / tell me how to pull them? I disconnected from the ebrake handle, but they are caught in the "tubes" of the chassis and won't slide out the back further. What am I missing?

Plan for tomorrow:

more wiring work.
install solid subframe mounts and solid diff mounts
swap fuel tank and fuel lines
install clutch/brake pedals if I still have any time

-Mike

[MikeE36]

got the rear subframe out and disassembled this morning.... pulled all the powerflex out after 2 years they still look great.

Getting pissed off at these solid mounts though.... it's impossible to press them in straight it seems. Not sure what to do so just temporarily not doing anything. Maybe I need to read more DIYs on them for tips.





















Maybe I'll go work on something else for awhile, like the fuel tank and lines while I figure out a better method to pressing in these bushings. I have a hydraulic press I can use but the bottom edge of the subframe is not parallel to the top edge, so if you rest the bottom of the subframe mount on a board or something and press the bushing in, it is bound to go in crooked. Not sure what to do.

-Mike

[imaiami]

this thing's gonna be sexxxxy.

[Piner]

holy double posts batman, looks like the forum is borked

[bebout]

this thing's gonna be sexxxxy.

This.

[MikeE36]

fuel tank and lines swapped over, and rear brake hard lines







And now I'm at a crossroads... I hate being stuck!!!

1) rear solid subframe bushings, well everything press-in actually... I don't want to damage anything and it seems I may not have the best press for the job. IF anyone has tips on how to make these easier, please let me know! I only see vague installation instructions like "make sure surface is clean, install from bottom of subframe."

2) After thinking about working on the wiring more, I was looking at the front of the car and realized the cage is in the way of where the fuse box mounts Also the previous owner wasn't planning on running ABS, so he cut the mounting tabs off where the BMW ABS pump mounts.. as well as all the grounding locations for the ABS wheel speed sensors in the wheel wells. Do I just make my own aftermarket harness? buy something online? I'm not sure what to do here, or just keep thinning it and relocate the fuse box (which is gigantic) to somewhere behind the dash if I somehow have extra space (was really hoping I could keep the wiring clean enough to not even have to run a dash, but looks like that definitely won't happen)

Time to research a bit I guess. LAME!

-Mike

[bennyfizzle]

Fusebox is pretty unfortunate, but ABS is far from ideal in a drift car. No ABS is ideal just because with brake application sideways you can lock all four wheels pretty easy. Braking with ABS=the car wanting to straighten up=potential to regain traction suddenly=playing in the grass or with a wall.

If you run r-comps/slicks at DE's this might suck because you have a pretty good chance of flat spotting them when they're cold with a good high speed press.

[s50b30]

forget avout the abs, it will kill you if you spin out.
does not work at all backwards...
awsome build btw!

[MikeE36]

Fusebox is pretty unfortunate, but ABS is far from ideal in a drift car. No ABS is ideal just because with brake application sideways you can lock all four wheels pretty easy. Braking with ABS=the car wanting to straighten up=potential to regain traction suddenly=playing in the grass or with a wall.

If you run r-comps/slicks at DE's this might suck because you have a pretty good chance of flat spotting them when they're cold with a good high speed press.

I'm all for deleting the ABS, and will be happy to thin out the wiring harness more without the ABS computer, wheel speed sensors, etc. The question now is, how do I delete it? I have the lines run, but no ABS pump installed, and the brake booster is installed. I've never deleted ABS before, so what is involved?

forget avout the abs, it will kill you if you spin out.
does not work at all backwards...
awsome build btw!

Thanks!


A little more wiring progress tonight:





What i've removed so far:



The forum member building my manifold (GoodnTight) sent me pictures of it all bolted up while he works on the downpipe. It is a Precision 6765 dual ball bearing billet, T4 twin scroll, full 4" downpipe, 4" intake, 3" outlets.









-Mike

[s50b30]

I dont remember exactly how the brakes are plumbed.
but the abs pump has 2(?) inputs or so, so just T the lines and remove the pump.
Not sure, but its something like that...

Also I think the input ports on the abs is marked, so that should make things a little easier.

[Piner]

Seriously this is gonna be hard to learn in, the combination of Huge turbo + Huge Power + Big Steering angle = Steep ass learning curve.

I know it would probably take me 3-6 months to figure out how to drive that car to even 80% of what its capable of and I have been drifting for damn near 7 years.

[mo gun e36]

Seriously this is gonna be hard to learn in, the combination of Huge turbo + Huge Power + Big Steering angle = Steep ass learning curve.

I know it would probably take me 3-6 months to figure out how to drive that car to even 80% of what its capable of and I have been drifting for damn near 7 years.

this is true, i know from experience just going from a stock s50 with just coilovers and no angle mods, and going to a gt35r turbo and basically a full angle kit , even that was a decent learning curve,