E36 325 track prep

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:26 pm

Hi all,

My brother and I are looking to prep his E36 325 3door for a bit of cheap track fun.

Any tips on the best(read cheapest) things to start with?

Not looking at cages and things as of yet but is there anything that really should be done before taking it near a track? Obviously brake fluid change etc but what else? I have not had a chance to get my hands dirty with it yet as it was only brought up from London yesterday and I went out for my second ever game of golf this morning, my first in about ten years

.

Cheers guys

Post by **Stuart** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:49 pm

Many of the E36 bits are pretty much the same thing so radiators, air filters and oil filters are all the same thing. I would delete the viscous fan, i.e. take it off, and spend

Post by **Stuart** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:53 pm

The radiator and fan may seem over the top but spending a bit of money here will enable you to drive the car hard and as something that I presume you are both going to 'spank', it will need all of the help it can get (I remember trying to get you to pit when you drove Betty

)

I still have an exhaust system for Betty, free of charge if you want it

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:54 pm

Ok thanks mate.

Yeah it will be road legal for now as neither of us have a trailer or tow vehicle so we will need to drive it to/from the track. The leather interior is coming out first and a pair of recaros will be going in to save about 3 tonnes of weight being lugged around

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 4:56 pm

That would be great mate, thanks. I will have to come and get it off of you at some point. Is that supercool stuff that Eddy uses in his cooling system any good?

Post by **Stuart** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:00 pm

Only as good as the radiator and waterpump. Back when I was keeping things sensible with track cars (rather than doing nothing with them) I always prioritised keeping it running as cool as possible. Big fan, big rad and big oil cooler when you can and the rest you can keep chipping away at.

I'll keep the system for you but it's one piece from the downpipes back so it's a bit big

Nik · Post by **Nik** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:03 pm

Cool (excuse the pun

)

That's great mate I will probably come and get it in the van then

Cheers

Rob S · Post by **Rob S** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:43 pm

Change the water pump unless you KNOW it's been done.
The plastic ones fail, and if you cook the alloy head its fxcked.
The manifolds are good, as are the exhaust generally, as Stu says, the rad's and coolant system will work quite hard, as will the brakes.
On the one I've done, I poly bushed it and it made a huge difference as did the brakes. They are not that easy to tune so I would nt bother, so I'd do what you've already suggested, strip it down and enjoy the sweet engine and handling.

Fast Eddy · Post by **Fast Eddy** » Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:11 pm

More or less what has been said. Initially just make sure it is well serviced, look at the bushes that go and get some decent brake pads. Lose some weight (the car lol)

Give me a shout if you need any stuff.

Eddy