Hi all! So i've been slowly building this over the last year. 1996 323i e36. Quick spec; m52b25 on about 155k M50 manifold Remapped ecu e46 lower arms e92 track rods cut down e36 track rod ends cut down Modified hubs ebay spec coilovers / adjustable top mounts 3.15 welded diff full poly bush front and back e46 328i front brakes Awesome teal zebra vinyl for all the street cred Rafale 17x8.5 et13 running 205/40 all round - The E46 fronts were borrowed for MOT but look the bollocks Picked it up for £650 a few years back didn't do much to it apart from coil overs and welded the diff. Decided to drive it into a tree on my way home from work one day so took it off the road and started to build it. First was the e46 lower arms and finding out all the other parts i needed to actually get it to fit! So heres the 46 arms with my ebay coilovers and top mounts with an e36 rear poly bush. I had to grind down the arm to make it fit but that wasnt too bad to do. Used e91/92 335i track rods which i had to cut down a bit. No need for spacers as the ball joint were about 4mm thicker! The hubs i made up ruffly but where total shite so got someone who knew what they were doing to make me up a decent set. Got some e46 328i front brakes off a mate for free which was nice so cleaned them up and chucked them on with the new arms hubs ect. After all that was finished had a little test fit see how low I could run it! Turned out pretty good. It did rub a bit but it still rolled freely! Next i started on the back. Removing all the old bushes and replacing them with nice new poly ones! Which was a total ball ache but got there eventually! Cant beat a lick of paint to make everything look tidy again! And definitely wouldn't of got it all finished with out my niece as my extra mechanic! Got it all bolted back up and test fitted the wheels with 20mm spacers Also installed a cheap short shift and removed the center console bit to make a panel for some gauges which i am very please how it turned out That is all for now, updates to come including new engine, m20 fly wheel conversion.
looks good dude, like a home brew project like this, i really want to do one myself. Fitment looks on point, but i would probably check for rubbing when turning the wheels lol, theres no way it wont scrub surely?! Managed to get out in it yet?
He never checks the forums so I'll get him to post an update, but it's back on daily duties and AFAIK no subframe reinforcements as once the new bushes went in all got a lot nicer to drive. Currently looking like this:
Yes, when i first bought the car i stripped the back end down and welded in some rear subframe reinforcement plates, only ebay jobbies but I haven't ripped the mounts out of the chassis yet so they seem to be doing their job!
Thanks bud, yeah it scrubbed a hell of alot, but as you can see from counteracts post we fitted some fenders, get no scrub on the rear and only a little on the fronts under hard cornering or full lock. Ive already rubbed through one of the fronts so going to get rid of the universal ones and get some 30mm proper e36 fenders which will hopefully make it look a bit tidier. Haven't managed to take it anywhere yet as im driving it as a daily for a while and too scared to hit it, but once i get a new daily shes getting abused. Bought a few new bits over the past few weeks, e30 SMF conversion with a stage 1 clutch which ill be putting in next weekend, hopefully.. M50 single vanos I will be building up over winter, possibly run it with a bit of boost. And some second hand Tein Super Streets which have been fitted and what a difference its made already, the back end is alot stiffer and transitions have become alot less twitchy!
Bit of an update. Got the m20 flywheel in with the e30 clutch. It already had 4m skimmed off the back to clear the webbing on the block. Used an e21 323i release bearing as it was 30mm deeper to compensate for the thinner flywheel The box was really easy to get off, all i needed to do to get the top bell housing bolts and jack the engine up a little bit and it gives you more than enough clearance. The only thing, you need about 2 meters of extensions. The main issue i found was changing the starter without taking the mani off, you can get to the starter bolts from under the car but you cant reach the live and earth wire to change the starter to the M20, So off came the manifold and it was sorted 5 minutes later Also replaced the rear crank seal as that was leaking a little bit which was easy enough, just take the carrier bolts out, wiggled it off and tap in the new seal in. After getting the box off and cleaning out all the old clutch and oil thats gathered there over years it all came out fairly nice. Got it all back on gave it a test and it drove so much nicer, only down side the bite point is a little lower on the pedal but that doesn't bother me too much. Bought some new fenders for the front aswell but they sat on the tyre. So bought some fiberglass and had a play at extending the lip and making it fit a bit better. Bare in mind i have no idea what i'm doing. Started trying to get the rough shape and went from there. Thought it came out alright but next time i think id make up some cardboard templates to work off but for a first attempt I think it went okay. Got some tein super streets for it aswell. They are alot stiffer than the old ebay coilovers. Pretty sure the spring rates are 9kg fronts and 9.5kg rears.
All that complaining that taking the manifold off was going to take ages haha. Hurry up and finish your wings so I can get some you peni x
Also after a bit of advice, i have a ZF gear box i was going to put in when i did the clutch, lined it up and the prop is too short. What other running gear bits do i need to change to use the ZF box?
[FONT=&] Thanks mate! Now, for the wheels, I've been wanting to get a new set for sometime now but nothing really took my fancy. These came up for cheap as anything so thought it would be a bit of fun trying to make them fit. The idea was to have a go at making some really wide fenders for them using expanding foam and making a fiber glass mould off that. I have no real experience in body work apart from extending the fenders I bought so they probably won't turn out the best, but it should be a laugh to do with a few friends. [/FONT][FONT=&] The fronts are 17x10 rears are 17x11.5, et-90 all round with 225/45 front 245/40 rears. I know they're way too big for the car and they look a bit dopey but it's only a bit of fun. Even if i don't put them on the car my dog has a use for them haha. [/FONT][FONT=&] I'll add a little update here as well as I rarely check the forum. So I bought a small case 3.38 diff as well as a set of medium case output shafts which I'm going to cut down so I can run the thicker shafts. They are about 5m too long so im going to cut a bit off then tack them in so they cant pull out and then weld the diff. I also have a small case rear prop section so it will line up snug as the diff is about 30mm shorter than a medium case so using a 323/325/328 prop wont reach the flange on the diff.[/FONT][FONT=&] Left is 316/318 and possibly 320(?) small case, right is 323/325/328 medium case. [/FONT][FONT=&] I also bought myself a MIG welder so I can sort out a hydro mount, tidy the rear arches and sort out a few rust spots on the under side. Progress is slow but its getting there. [/FONT]
the small case diff with the medium output shafts is a really good diff conversion! done it on my last 2 and it makes a noticeable difference and seems a lot stronger
I put in a 3.38 when I had a dual mass fly wheel and it made a hell of a difference, then when I converted it to single mass I went back to a 2.93 so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like with the high ratio diff and single mass flywheel without being too worried about snapping a shaft
If you flipped the faces in those wheels they would probably sit pretty good, save you having to make crazy arches.
