BMW e36 318is Daily Drifter

[Rafael Ferreira]

The passion of drifting grew on me after I started doing some roundabouts in the wet in my Datsun b310 (my first car) After a few mounths I knew I needed more...

A year ago I was hunting for a car that I could get that "more" and drive everyday and drift whenever I wanted, a lot of cars came to mind, 200sx, AE86, among others... Unfurtunatly they're not cheap to run in my country.
The e36 seemed the right car. It is relativily cheap and easy to maintain, due to the fact that we have a lot of cheap and easy access parts.

So, I bought a 92' BMW e36 318is Coupe around a year ago.

I'll be posting here the little mods I've done and the ones I'll be doing in the future. Stay tuned.

 

[jo_nathon]

welcome to the e36 family

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Bought the car with 184 000 kms.
Engine M42B18.

I like clean and well cared cars, and that was the goal for this one.
The car was in good condition but a bit ruf, so it was time to give it some care.

Bought a few new oem parts for the car:
- windshield wipers
- orange front blinkers
- cowl cover

Thanks jo_nathon.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Not the biggest fan of the wheels the car came with so I bought a set of OEM wheels for that extra stock look

A month after that I bought a set of e34 15 inch wheels.

I had a Sparco steering wheel laying around waiting for a drift car to be mounted.

Also changed a few interior pieces that were damaged.

I started drifting with this car around this period of time (open diff and stock suspension)
Really liked it.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Next thing on the list, exhaust. It was really bad.

I bought a Magnaflow and a new muffler.

New rear bumper and defuser to fit the both stainless steel tips.

After all this I did an oil change, replaced the filters, changed an engine mount and a few other things.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Finnaly! Some coilovers.
Not the best, far from it, but will do.

TA Technix coilovers

Running on stock tire size 205/60r15

Looking so damn fine now.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Been drifting on the street for a while now so it was time to hit the track.

Made it to my first drift event.
The car performed really well, better than I was expecting. Really smooth transitions, even with the open diff.

Realised that tire size is very important in low horse power cars, so I ran 195/50 or 185/50 on the back.

It was time for some major mods.
Hydraulic handbrake and welded diff incoming!

- Willwood 0625
- 3.38 welded diff

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

A few months later the car started to over heat while drifting.
I decided to replace the radiator, the water pump and some water pipes.
Never over heated after that.
Replaced a few other things like the accessory belt.

The car had a massive oil leak that was coming from the o ring at the oil filter. Fixed that as well.

Unfortunatly I had a little accident on the streets so new front end for this bad boy.
The good thing is, the car came better than it was before.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

At this point I was going to my second drift event. So, I got the diff in and made a little banner on the wind shield with the crew logo.

The little 318is performed great once again.
It's not easy, you have to work really hard and push yourself and the car to the limit if you wanna drift with the mighty M42.
But for me, that's the fun part.

 

[ivarandri]

How much easier was drifting it with welded diff?

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

How much easier was drifting it with welded diff?

I liked drifting with open diff but it was a bit restrictive... now I can do a few donuts in 1st gear and transitions are way safer!

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

Time to install the hydraulic handbrake.

Made the support myself.
Grabbed a 4mm thick metal plate and bend it in a "L" shape to fit in front of the passenger seat.



The brake lines are connected to the master brake cylinder an to the ABS

Grabbed a 40cm long metal pipe to do the handle and painted it black.

Still needs some adjustments.

 

[Rafael Ferreira]

The car needed front grip asap for the next drift event. So I got two Pontenza RSR 205/50r15 for the front.



The drift day went really well.
At the end of the day I had a slight issue with the rear brake pumps getting stuck...

You have to go really fast to iniciate drift.
Really fun to drive this car on track now, specially with the little upgrades i've done.
You have to go really fast to iniciate drift

After this I feel that I need more power.
Thinking about swaping the engine to a 28i in the future.
But I'll keep running the M42 for now.