Marcus_E36
Member
Hello,
First off this isn't some ground breaking stuff, I will lay down my story as it unfolds so if this is not your thing then you may wanna find something more interesting. If you fancy a read then grab a cuppa or a beer and read on my friends.
I have dabbled in E36's and an MX5 for a while and did some questionable things I won't mention on here
. Fast forward and I got to pick up this absolute pile of crap. All for £200. It had no brakes, no M.O.T and smelt like a abandoned drug den but it was a start, so what did I get for that wholesome sum of £200 ? See below.
Not sure what happened but obviously my potato wasn't functioning that well. You get the Idea.
It was horrible. However it was clean(ish), rust free(ish) and did not overheat. One issue - It's a 1.8i, yup this baby has all of 115bhp - 20 odd years ago, great start.
Decided I will stick with the 4 banger as in my mind man foot and speed can cure all. I am also a firm believer in starting off with low power and progressing my skill before I worry about horsepower. It's RWD, it will do. Fast forward a while and I saved up some cash. Then I went out and got the following.
Yes, they're cheap, yes they are crap but they will do the job.
I figure if I sort the chassis out I can drop in a bigger engine at a later date. Least the rest of the car will be up to some form of standard and a good base for a much needed heart transplant. Service bits were also bought but I wont bore you with pics of them. New filters throughout, fresh oil, coolant etc.
So got the parts fitted, some of the bolts put up a fight but I got her low. Now...... I know I have some wheels somewhere.
Some old ACS Reps from a previous 36. Bolted them on to see what they looked like, also painted the front bumper, mirrors and grills black because sceneshit yo !
Drag stance - I did not realise the top mounts also lower the car and had set the coil overs at a height I ran my other E36 with stock top mounts on, adjustment needed but it will do for now. Set the Camber plates on max just to see how they looked. Much adjustment required and I knew it couldn't stay like that but always fun to play about.
So with the lows sorted, a service done to the engine, it was time to look at the brakes. Shock horror the rear lines were shot.
Pretty sure "they all do that sir" couldn't be more correct. So I need to redo the lines. I always wanted a car with a Hydro. Plan formulated I came up with the following.
So I bolted up the Hydro, ran the lines and ripped out all the old lines from the underside from midway back. Tidied up some wires, removed the airbag sensor and secured all these down, used grommets etc. Followed some MSA type guidelines for fixing spaces. It is in no way pretty but it is functional. I also stripped the rear. Left the sound deadening as basically I couldn't be assed to battle with it.
I can revise the set up and remove it at a later date. I left all the creature comforts up front. I plan to hit up some static shows etc as a few mates are into that sort of thing and long journeys to those and skid days in relative comfort would be nice. 
So browsing the bay of E and this popped up. It was local, cheap and clean enough.
So I have a seat, what else do I need ? Well obviously my first port of call was mounting the thing. Had a few discussions with friends within the drift community and they all suggested the Driftworks
side mounts. I wanted something strong and that would bolt in easily. I also received feedback these are offset so centre the seat as best as possible. I feel safer with these holding the seat down over some others - Thanks for the Haribo lads.
Okay cool, that fits. My fat ass just snugs in and the position is bang on. E36's bolt the seat belt clip to the seat mount as stock. I didn't fancy making up any sort of frame or bolting it to somewhere it shouldn't be so made my way online for the following.
So this took a few days to arrive and then I looked at getting it bolted up. Looked online and asked a few Friends and came up with a solution.
Pic above was from when I first mounted it but upon talking to some reputable people and getting a
I came up with a better solution. I will be honest, it's touching on that 45° angle going to the rear but for now it is the only solution I have. Original seat was stanky and sagging. I will revise it at a later date but I have been assured it should not pose any issues (unfortunately no pics)
Surprise, surprise the Ebay Hydro Cylinder was a piece of crap, I had however planned for this so had one of these ready to swap in.
Got that fitted and had a play, being a 318i it uses drums on the rear, did this set up as inline (Master to hydro and out to the rear brakes) Drums lock up a treat ! I should now be able to do some Hydro type things. I know in reality I will barely touch it as they scrub off speed and it is not the best habit to start relying on them however the whole set up was cheap enough and it provided an easy solution (and excuse) to route the line to the rear internally.
To me Drifting is about having fun, meeting people and improving both myself and the car as and when I see fit. I know some will see the bucket/harness as a potential danger due to no cage in event of a roll over but it provides me with great support and I don't have to worry about keeping myself in the seat, besides the events I plan to do - I would have to be REALLY unlucky to ever roll it. Looking back I could of done some things different but I am so far happy with it
Updates to come shortly. May of exceeded the 10,000 character limit on my first attempt
Thanks for reading
First off this isn't some ground breaking stuff, I will lay down my story as it unfolds so if this is not your thing then you may wanna find something more interesting. If you fancy a read then grab a cuppa or a beer and read on my friends.
I have dabbled in E36's and an MX5 for a while and did some questionable things I won't mention on here
. Fast forward and I got to pick up this absolute pile of crap. All for £200. It had no brakes, no M.O.T and smelt like a abandoned drug den but it was a start, so what did I get for that wholesome sum of £200 ? See below.Not sure what happened but obviously my potato wasn't functioning that well. You get the Idea.
It was horrible. However it was clean(ish), rust free(ish) and did not overheat. One issue - It's a 1.8i, yup this baby has all of 115bhp - 20 odd years ago, great start.
Decided I will stick with the 4 banger as in my mind man foot and speed can cure all. I am also a firm believer in starting off with low power and progressing my skill before I worry about horsepower. It's RWD, it will do. Fast forward a while and I saved up some cash. Then I went out and got the following.
Yes, they're cheap, yes they are crap but they will do the job.
I figure if I sort the chassis out I can drop in a bigger engine at a later date. Least the rest of the car will be up to some form of standard and a good base for a much needed heart transplant. Service bits were also bought but I wont bore you with pics of them. New filters throughout, fresh oil, coolant etc.
So got the parts fitted, some of the bolts put up a fight but I got her low. Now...... I know I have some wheels somewhere.
Some old ACS Reps from a previous 36. Bolted them on to see what they looked like, also painted the front bumper, mirrors and grills black because sceneshit yo !
Drag stance - I did not realise the top mounts also lower the car and had set the coil overs at a height I ran my other E36 with stock top mounts on, adjustment needed but it will do for now. Set the Camber plates on max just to see how they looked. Much adjustment required and I knew it couldn't stay like that but always fun to play about.So with the lows sorted, a service done to the engine, it was time to look at the brakes. Shock horror the rear lines were shot.
Pretty sure "they all do that sir" couldn't be more correct. So I need to redo the lines. I always wanted a car with a Hydro. Plan formulated I came up with the following.So I bolted up the Hydro, ran the lines and ripped out all the old lines from the underside from midway back. Tidied up some wires, removed the airbag sensor and secured all these down, used grommets etc. Followed some MSA type guidelines for fixing spaces. It is in no way pretty but it is functional. I also stripped the rear. Left the sound deadening as basically I couldn't be assed to battle with it.
I can revise the set up and remove it at a later date. I left all the creature comforts up front. I plan to hit up some static shows etc as a few mates are into that sort of thing and long journeys to those and skid days in relative comfort would be nice. So browsing the bay of E and this popped up. It was local, cheap and clean enough.
So I have a seat, what else do I need ? Well obviously my first port of call was mounting the thing. Had a few discussions with friends within the drift community and they all suggested the Driftworks
side mounts. I wanted something strong and that would bolt in easily. I also received feedback these are offset so centre the seat as best as possible. I feel safer with these holding the seat down over some others - Thanks for the Haribo lads.Okay cool, that fits. My fat ass just snugs in and the position is bang on. E36's bolt the seat belt clip to the seat mount as stock. I didn't fancy making up any sort of frame or bolting it to somewhere it shouldn't be so made my way online for the following.
So this took a few days to arrive and then I looked at getting it bolted up. Looked online and asked a few Friends and came up with a solution.
Pic above was from when I first mounted it but upon talking to some reputable people and getting a
I came up with a better solution. I will be honest, it's touching on that 45° angle going to the rear but for now it is the only solution I have. Original seat was stanky and sagging. I will revise it at a later date but I have been assured it should not pose any issues (unfortunately no pics)Surprise, surprise the Ebay Hydro Cylinder was a piece of crap, I had however planned for this so had one of these ready to swap in.
Got that fitted and had a play, being a 318i it uses drums on the rear, did this set up as inline (Master to hydro and out to the rear brakes) Drums lock up a treat !
I should now be able to do some Hydro type things. I know in reality I will barely touch it as they scrub off speed and it is not the best habit to start relying on them however the whole set up was cheap enough and it provided an easy solution (and excuse) to route the line to the rear internally.To me Drifting is about having fun, meeting people and improving both myself and the car as and when I see fit. I know some will see the bucket/harness as a potential danger due to no cage in event of a roll over but it provides me with great support and I don't have to worry about keeping myself in the seat, besides the events I plan to do - I would have to be REALLY unlucky to ever roll it. Looking back I could of done some things different but I am so far happy with it
Updates to come shortly. May of exceeded the 10,000 character limit on my first attempt
Thanks for reading
but I wanted to build a half decent looking E36. Too many bashed up ones about, so a browse online, a trip "oop north" and these appeared.
...... meh) and it required a new front LCA. By this point I wasn't in the mood for more mods/work so just went with a set of Lemforders and got the garage to fit, the result? PASSED 
