drift missile e36 328i basic mods?

4

4x4

New Member
Hello drift community! I need some tips from you guys regarding the bare minimum mods needed to drift this successfully.

Its only my second bmw, my first was a e46 setup more for road racing, this is just a rusted out shell with a 2.8 from a e39 automatic now mated with a m20 flywheel to a 5 speed. Welded diff and lowering springs, retarded square steering wheel and a dying ps pump.

My budget is close to zero when I factor in tires and fuel, but I want to get good seat time to develop my skills...

I was thinking at least some camber and caster (redrill towers) and maybe some extra lock. Any thought how I could get this performing better without spending much? Also can I remove power steering?
 
A seat and some 15" tyres don't mess around with steering/suspension until you have had some seat time. Have a go and change what you think needs improving
 
Take off all unnecessary stuff from car. Weight reduction costs you nothing except your time and gives you noticeable results. 15'' on rear axle is good idea, fronts you can leave 16 or 17.
Cheers and good luck.
 
I'd like to add that having swapped my wider style 32's for 7J 15's it has made a much, much bigger difference than I anticipated.

The scuffing from the welded diff also now no longer rocks the full car, with the thinner wheel dailying the welded diff is so much better. So if you have aftermarket or wider BMW wheels on it sell them and get some 15's for £100
 
Definitely more caster, or you will struggle through transitions. So get camber plates that can do camber AND caster (or get the cheaper ones that only do camber and see if you can mount them in a way so you can change both, like I did). Also look for eccentric control arm bushings. I can't speak for E36, but on my E46 I used the bushings from the Z4M Coupé. They are fairly cheap and work perfectly.

Camber plates, turned 120° so I can get more caster aswell:
gSn2ZG5.jpg


Eccentric control arm bushings from the Z4M Coupe:
2D0pqID.jpg


A stiffer rear helps aswell, any cheap coilover kit will probably do.
Extra lock isn't important IMO, and cheap lock kits make the car behave like garbage...
 
Last edited:
What I would do is the following
Good Racing Seat
3.91 welded diff
Coilovers even if they the cheapies
M3 rear swaybar
Weight reduction
Electric Fan mod
Cat delete
Camber plates or you could do the washers mod

I wouldn't suggest doing any mods to the motor as gains will be minimal unless you do F. I. or motorswap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
4x4 said:
Hello drift community! I need some tips from you guys regarding the bare minimum mods needed to drift this successfully.

Its only my second bmw, my first was a e46 setup more for road racing, this is just a rusted out shell with a 2.8 from a e39 automatic now mated with a m20 flywheel to a 5 speed. Welded diff and lowering springs, retarded square steering wheel and a dying ps pump.

My budget is close to zero when I factor in tires and fuel, but I want to get good seat time to develop my skills...

I was thinking at least some camber and caster (redrill towers) and maybe some extra lock. Any thought how I could get this performing better without spending much? Also can I remove power steering?
Click to expand...

Fix the power steering pump. Fit a round steering wheel. The standard one is good for that.

Get some skid wheel's.

Book a practice day
.Have fun

Fix the car when it brakes.

Do 5 more practice days.

Now think about mods
 
Its been a while :) But I have read carefully all your advice, and decided to ditch the rotten e36 shell. Right now Im in the process of trying to mount the m52b28 in my old e46. That one is already fully gutted, has bucket seats, seatbelts and harness bar, as well as some basic lock washers, I got offset LCAB and m3 topmounts for caster and camber and thicker rear anti roll bar. Welded diff of course.

So I would like to thank you all for the input.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top