328...the NEW number of the beast

Some of you know, some of you dont.

I've turned to rear wheel drive and upped the ante a bit

picked her up from Dan's on sunday morning gone, tanked up and had a very boaty ride down to trimsaran where QMF (Quentin Motor Factors ) set to work

On went 2 bilstine shocks on the back, K&N panel filter up front, instantly transforming drivability.
You can actually show it a bend and you know it's not gonna do anything untoward

Away i went a happy man.


A couple of days past and Quentin give me a call after work. "I've got the tool for removing locking wheel nuts" he says
back to trimsaran we go and the nuts were off in no time.
I did cock things up a bit thinking i could release the locking nut from the tool by clamping it in a vice...it simply twisted, so i had to file a flat spot in one side to give the vice something more substancial to grip on to. Needless to say i left Quentin to his own devices for the last one lol

It was at this point, while we wern't concentrating....a set of 17" Alpina wheels fell onto the tourer

they look friggin awesome! and she drives even better than before but a trip to the dealers is in order for a steering lock adjustment kit. I think i'm starting to be converted
pics to come soon..

got a few more things on my list..
drop the front by about 15mm, just to level the whole car out
tidy up a few bits here n there
M50 inlet manifold
I'm also keeping half an eye out to retro-fit BMW's own cruise control

Well happy so far

rwd is the way my friend welcome to the dark side lol

It grips surprisingly well, i thought with a good hoof of the throttle and a bit of lock it'd spin up, but all it does is grip n go

I think a bit more effort is required lol

Riding on the Alpina's

drivers side is a touch low on the back due to a snapped coil spring

tidy, nice start, now get ur arse down to pembrey and learn to slide

or dont, it was nearly tidy when dan had it, a few bits and pieces that russ is probably doing and itl be nice.

Alpinas look goood too, nice one russ.

I'm trying to sort a lot of the little problems that it's got,
lower arm bushes are shot to sh!t, so she wanders when you show it speeds north of 60mph, but thats common on these
back brakes need an overhaul, but i suspect thats partially my fault. due to checking where the biting point of the handbrake was, BANG!!! something went from the back...a day or two later my NSR wheel kept randomly locking and playing silly buggers. Me an Quentin whipped the back brakes apart and found i'd bent and destroyed the pins and springs holding the handbrake shoes into place, so that were ratttling around in the drum, jamming it all up...bang goes £50 odd quid to do both sides


tinkering with the A/C system, be nice o have it working if i can get it going without major surgery
back box baffles are gone (wear and tear), unfortunately this will be replaced with a 2.5 back box, which is the same, except it wont have the cool little valve in the right pipe

once i'm done there (my deadline is Oct - MOT) i'll see where things go from there

Updates:

Polybushes will be going into the front end at the end fo the month, along with replacement shocks and springs, dropping the front end approx 30mm, and the posibility of a stiffer anti-roll bar for the back end

Then to get it tracked and geometry done

After that it's time to turn the attention to brakes, steel braided lines, check and clean the copper lines all the back to the servo

Oh if anyone has a gear knob (5spd) and steering wheel
let me know....

Really nice looking car. Is this going to get drifted? Exacly what I want to get funds are abit better and I have somewhere to store one!

Currently i have no intention of showing it the track at pembrey, or anywhere else for that matter.

Crease was telling me the other day about welding the diff, as i think the diff is open at present.

I'd just like to enjoy it a bit first tbh and as it's also my daily, i need it to be ready to go at the drop of a hat...bent panels from me cocking things up isn't really an option

Quentin's guiding me through the BMW world at the moment, so it's in good hands.

I'd be more inclined to hammer the feck out of a 2.5 instead of my 2.8...not sure why, maybe cos the 2.5's are everywhere...pop an engine? pfft, just drop another one in it

"Crease was telling me the other day about welding the diff, as i think the diff is open at present." lolled hard. DO it properly or don't bother imo.

also polybushes and lowering?

Do it properly?

aye, fit a proper lsd.

Sith wrote:

lolled hard. DO it properly or don't bother imo.

why's that funny?

what i meant was how it'd change the characteristics of the car and how it drives....

first car i've had on the road being RWD, I'm just trying to find my way through something which i know very little about.
It's a world of difference from a 3.5ton rwd van

If someone's got some advice/opinion/info, i'll listen of course

Fully locked rear will usually increase understeer in the dry and be more liable to oversteer in the wet.
Decreased turning circle
Along with lots more stress on rear shafts and any diff parts,
Low speed ride comfort will be affected and parking will be a bit more strenuous and a lot more noisy.
Will go through tyres quicker too.

on the plus side you could lay number 11s and get it sideways easier. depends if the tradeoff is worth it

surely lsd's for yours are fairly common?

tbh i wouldn't know where to begin looking for one...one from an M3 perhaps?

plenty on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E36-328-Diff-LSD-slipper-/200774879181?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2ebf1d87cd#ht_500wt_1413

Sith wrote:

aye, fit a proper lsd.

I wouldn't say that a welded diff to take it on pembrey isn't doing it properly though. A welded diff would be more predictable than an LSD. But obvs for everyday use, its OTT

Ollie - price is a bit out of my league atm, i'm concentrating on getting the car up to a standard first,

i had thought of perhaps having several diff's for different purposes, open diff for the road, and a welded one for if i ever decided to show it a drift track....only a few bolts to whip one off and chuck another one on...

Don't you have to change the oil when you swap the diff?

didnt think so.
then again, might be wrong

No need to change the oil, just unclip this two plastic clips and loosen the jubilee clip...

That's what I thought, unbolt the prop', pop out the driveshafts.
drop the diff away from the body, and reverse to fit the replacement....

i <3 my welded diff

silentdice wrote:

Sith wrote:

aye, fit a proper lsd.

I wouldn't say that a welded diff to take it on pembrey isn't doing it properly though. A welded diff would be more predictable than an LSD. But obvs for everyday use, its OTT

I know pleanty of people who run welded diffs on the road, and aslong as your not being silly, its perfectly fine.