Claptrap Compact

[Marcus_E36]

Hello,

Not sure if many people do the whole "forum" thing these days but thought I'd throw up a brief thread for another little build I have just completed. Been into drifting for a number of years but mostly as a form of entertainment on a weekend rather than anything hardcore.

So sit back, make a cuppa and grab some biscuits.

Take yourself back to Xmas 2022 - we've all made it through Covid, we are on the brink of financial ruin, electric costs £235.00 an hour and nobody can get into see their Doctors. I was further saddened by the fact I had recently broken up my old E46 drift car and decided to hang up my drifting hat. Wanting instead to concentrate on other things in life like Money, My Relationship & Family, you know - the normal stuff.

Roll on a bleak Tuesday and I'm off work for the holidays, chores completed I sat and was scrolling Marketplace. Low and behold a little Nugget of a compact pops up local to me. Now bear in mind E36's are not what they used to be, on no, in fact they have gotten more shit and more expensive so to see a M52B25 swapped compact with some goodies for not horrendous money was a surprise.

I causally mentioned to the missus how much I hate compacts and just how bad this particular example was, so obviously once she headed out for work I bought it right away.

After discussing with the seller the actual ins and outs of said vehicle, I took a punt.

Supposedly the head gasket was gone but it did run.
Had some modded hubs, hydro plumbed in & some laser cut arms.

That was about all I had to go off, my own words to the seller were "how f*cked is it underneath"? to which he replied "Not that bad" and a deal was made.

Cue one hour later and look what got dropped off in my yard...................

 

[Marcus_E36]

So, as you can see. It's an interesting choice, but I was delighted to be with another E36, I'd be lying if I said I also didn't have a little bit of buyers remorse. First things first lets have a proper look around this thing.

It had the following:

Bad bits first:
M52B25 which did indeed run but also wasn't exactly healthy sounding.
A strange hack up of a BMX grip and an eBay shifter.
eBay Hydro.
Cheap wheel and boss.
No carpet.
Mismatched seats that were ripped.
Most of the interior missing.
Full of water.
No headliner.

Good bits:
Laser cut arms.
Modded hubs.
Uprated brakes (believed to be off an E46 325I)
Welded small case diff.
New wheel bearing up front.
A supposed MOT (I'm not judging)
M sport mouldings albeit tek screwed into the body
M sport rear lights
Complete headlights that work.
Poly bush lollipops.
Mini rear shocks with short springs.
Electric power steering pump conversion (Astra)

Okay so, I can break it and make my money back and more if I want.

First things first lets get some wheels on there - thankfully I'm a bit of a hoarder and with 3 other E36's in the family I had plenty of parts/wheels already on the shelf.

On go some Style 32's

You will also notice I vaguely threw some paint over the arches where it had obviously had some bin lids fitted.

Wheels on, I liked it more - lets do some interior pieces. I managed to find door cards, Fitted a spare PMC Shifter I had, standard seats that aren't buggered, standard steering wheel and other trim.

This led to sourcing any other parts and I now have a pretty full interior (Much nicer place to be)

Honestly - unless you are going full comp car, I will never understand taking out all the creature comforts, it makes it miserable. The standard seats may get swapped out for bucket seats but for now, its much improved (Needs a good clean though).

So, the elephant in the room. Engine, was it a case of mistaken diagnosis ? Did I score lucky and get it fixed and running for 30p ? Oh no my friends, the saga that is about to unfold involves 3 x M52's 2 x dead engines and a terrible first test drive.

 

[Marcus_E36]

Interior mostly complete, my attention turned to the M52 currently fitted to the vehicle. I topped it up with coolant, let it run and straight away it was pretty obvious that the head is cracked. Effectively I had a giant 6 cylinder water pump. Not to worry, a few messages with a contact later and I was on the way to pick up an M52B28.

Set myself a challenge - 2 days and I'd have it running. Challenge succeeded. The new to me 2.8 was in and purring away. Brilliant. whats next ?

Paint. You see. while I admire the enthusiasm for a 2 tone E36 it just wasn't for me, this car is due to be a fun car where friends can rub doors and if it gets put in a hedge, I can laugh about it. I needed something I could touch up easily and could mask any blemishes with the flick of a wrist.

So I need paint. I am not a painter, not do I know any painters whom owe me a favour.

Rattle can time. I know what you're thinking "Oh god, that will look worse than it did" but bare with me friends, I spent an entire £60 on some gloss black enamel paint and I did it outside in the rain after vaguely running some 120 grit sandpaper over it, and while painting the car itself I also decided to refresh the style 32's with a very special shade of "Aluminium Silver" from B&M of all places.

Well, the result was actually better than expected:

Don't get me wrong its no show pony, but it's leap and bounds from what it was.

You may notice I had also removed the unsightly bare headed bolt head style tek screws holding the side trim on and replaced them with Phillips self tappers and number plate caps to mask their appearance. Now I can have people run the door, not lose a trim and maintain some subtlety.

Anyways, it had a fresh engine, it was painted, new tyres, I mean - for a budget build and all things considered - I was chuffed.

So I insured it, taxed it and went out for a run...…..

Drove well, wasn't blow your socks off quick but I did a few pulls and all seemed well. I did 100 skid days without fault and I sold it for 10k.

Did I fuck, it literally lasted 5 miles, and Mr Rod bearing went knock knock knocking. Yes folks, that's right. After all that I drove it to the petrol station and back, then as I went down the road for some enthusiastic pulls a gigantic cloud of blue smoke billowed form the exhaust, it went TING TING TING and then cut out, never to restart...…..Bugger.

So while I was "waiting for a mate" so I could tow the stricken claptrap home. I started souring another Engine..........

 

[Marcus_E36]

Not wanting to be defeated, nor wanting to admit that I had probably spent way too much time and money on this shit box, I promptly sourced another M52, this time a M52B25. I know, its a downgrade but my experience of 2.8 E36's over the years have never been good, and this most recent escapade left me feeling a bit peeved. I also just might happen to have an M50 Mani, Pink injectors and suitably remapped ECU sitting around as well, so what the hell eh ?

So one week after the 2.8 let go, I had sourced and paid for a 2.5. collected it on the Friday night and had the old engine out and new one in by Saturday.

Yes am outside, no I couldn't be arsed to try get a non running car inside the workshop on my tod and yes, I did use an engine crane on that surface.

Anyway, standard procedure, Engine out, swap everything over the new engine, engine back in.

Sunday I had it started and went out on several successful test drives !

So there we go, bought sight unseen, built up, broken and fixed again. Got a day booked up for late may to try it out on track and will see how it gets on !

If you made it this far, thanks for staying with me. As a treat I will run down a few things specific to M52 swapping a EWS3 Compact.

Wiring plugs straight in.
Pin 20 on the X20 to the back of the cluster gets the Rev counter working (X20= 20 to 21 blue plug)
I could never get the stock temp gauge to work so I made a thing. Z3 6 pot cluster and an aftermarket temp gauge. This temp gauge is independent from the ECU one and its sensor is mounted in the Radiator. Probably not the perfect solution but it works.