Just bought an E36. My first drift car. I have a few questions about it. The car is very well specced for a starter skid car. The engine is from a 323 and I’ve been told it has the 323 (2.93) diff in it. From what I’ve read online this is probably the worse choice of diff for drifting. The car feels really sluggish and needs a good few clutch kicks to get the revs up and keep the wheels spinning. The car will not drift in the dry in 2nd for love nor money. Even with 60psi in the rears. From the go it’s very sluggish until Vanos kicks in later in the Rev range. Is this due to the diff or should I be looking elsewhere? Second issue I’ve had, the battery keeps going flat, last night I noticed a constant buzzing from the rear bench which makes it vibrate; even with the key out the ignition. The Snap on Machine shows Oxygen Sensor Heater fault and I’ve read online someone with the same problem (constant buzzing under bench and oxygen sensor fault) but as usual the thread doesn’t get updated. Has anyone had this problem before? Thanks in advance {}
you may have an issue with the motor , should be doing 2nd gear skids no problem what so ever ( what size tyres are you trying to skid on?) , diagnostics seems to point out to lambdas which is oxygen sensor , these quite common to go. It may also be MAF in my experience. I would start with checking compression on cylinders if no issue there you got a good indication motor is fine and fault is around it , check maf check lambdas Battery drainage just look on youtube on vids how to check it , first of all check if your battery is good and if alternator is charging it , simple things first
Im not sure about i my diff ratio but recently purchased an e36 320i and it will definately drift in 2nd without and issue whatsoever at 55 psi (3.5 bars)(at rear and stock at the front). I did have a few issues at first because of my lack of knowledge at the time. First make sure your diff is definately welded, make sure you have decent tread on your front tyres and that they are warmed up to have extra grip. If all of this is as it should then you should definately check that your engine is healthy as magic said above. By the way i thought the same thing about my 320i and thought its underpowered but all the small things make a big difference. Hope that helps!
Diff after inspection is 3.15 ratio (325 diff) it’s certainly welded (the looks I get when doing sharp turns clarify this) drifting on 185/55/15s at 60psi, it will only drift 2nd gear in the wet, needs to have an almighty clutch kick too to get up into the top of the Rev range, car doesn’t use any oil or water and the temperature never exceeds the half way point. Compression test I will do, what sort of psi range should the cylinders be within? Only way it will drift in the dry is 1st gear, 2!| is doable but you need to be at killer speeds for it to happen. Simple clutch kick on a roundabout in Mexico in the dry in 2nd it just catches grip and straightens up
yeah personally I think something's not right , bottom figures be 160 - 150 psi on a used 2.5 m52 you should be seeing if I m not wrong , think if you see like 180 ish psi across the board that is a very good compression , best if all cyls are within 10psi of each other min max too
No worry’s mate will have a check of compression then see what comes back. Starts fine, runs fine, no misfires or oil/water useage etc so would like to compression should be okay just slow as shit!
very good , worth have a look at aux maybe , MAF , check for splits in intake elbow boot and pipes coming of it quite common going , lambdas worth having a look as well althought I ve heard people say if you got a dodgy lambda it will still go well just overfuel silly question its not clutch not putting power to wheels you think? 323 on 3.15 welder on 185/55/15s at 60 psi that should be shredding in 2nd gear no problems
Intake elbow is brand new BMW Item. Clutch doesn’t slip and is strong, very snappy on clutch kicks. Brought up a code for dodgy maf, changed the maf to a known good one and it went even slower like a 1 litre. Put my maf back on and it went back to normal. Yeah 2nd gear clutch kick it will just ping straight again unless your right up in the top of the gear before clutch kicking. Low end torque is just not there at all. If your going round a roundabout for arguements sake and keep the throttle on once it steps you can keep it going but that’s only because it’s up there in the revs. Bottom end it’s gutless. Needs a good clutch beating to keep it going
....I ve run out of ideas .... other than keep it pinned obviously lol well m50 and remap does increase overall bhp but it kills bit of low down torque what isnt what you need by the sound of it LOL
Last thing I need is to do is loose bottom end torque lol! Even keeping it pinned it dies. In the wet it’s alright just in the dry, even 60psi there’s no hope. Not very bmw like lol.
