E36 M3 Evo Rally car

[Sunbmw]

Hi Folks, just a quick update........................

It seems that I may be taking a forced sabbatical from rallying for a short while.

Due to massive delays in starting the house project we are doing, and the need for every spare penny and every spare minute, so the car will have to take a back seat.

Fortunately, for now anyway, she isn't making me sell it, she did want to, but we came to a compromise so I keep the car, but don't spend any (much ) money on it.

So, what I want to do, is strip it back and virtually start again, I was never really happy with the wiring, so a new loom is in the pipeline, and just a general fettle and tidy up, maybe try to lose some more weight and see if any geometry improvements can be made.

I will keep you lot updated, but don't hold your breath for now, nothing will start till the garage is built, that could be a few months away yet.

[bruvs1]

good luck with the projects lee, hope you get back to normality soon!!

[Dav Rally]

I decided following a couple of succesful years in the RWD challenge i wanted to stick with RWD and wanted more power so I have bit the bullet and skinted myself to buy Lee's M3, which has more power than i will need or can probably handle but should be good fun.

It is sat on the trailer at the moment as i am using a borrowed 325 Challenge car on the Kall Kwik so need to get that event out the way first.

My plan is to do one event, probably christmas stages at Croft as its not far from me then while i save up for a few months to pay off the borrowed money i will no doubt make a few adjustments and put a few of my own ideas into what will hopefully be one hell of a toy.

Depending on funds next year i will probably do the tarmac rounds that are included in the 205/RWD Challenge (www.205cup.com) as there is a class for modified cars, perhaps we could get a few of us out so we can see how they compare. Then Mull is a must and the main reason i have gone for a powerful car with big brakes.

I will try and put a few of my changes up here and will no doubt be asking advice along the way.

cheers

Andy

[rearwheelsteercompact]

Well done Andy.

Best of luck.........................It was far too quick for an old bloke like Lee

[slidewaysbmw]

andy is one hell of a driver and i think we will see some top results from him and mike.if anyone can get the full potential from the car these two can ,just hope mikes got a good supply of underware!!!!.

[Dav Rally]

Hi all, just thought i would put a little update on the car

Had a crack at Spring Stages and Jim Clark and had a few problems including
[list=]Diff brace snapped twice
Increased knocking on bottom arms
Subframe snapped rear lugs off (failed on JCMR but i think some damage done on spring)
Engine mount rubber failed
Engine mount bent
Brake line broke[/list]

So the plan is to:
[list=]Bulk up new rear subframe and chassis
New engine mount from steel
Make support to go around engine mount & maybe fit polybush style (later will look to do world cup and pic up 6 bolt holes on engine and tap out to 10mm)
repair brake line including bulk head fitting[/list]

I have already fitted a steel diff brace utilising standard bushes to allow a little movement which did ok at JCMR. The bottom arms mounts have been replaced for polybush (with bearing) mounts from PDL as to reduce the knocking, whilst they are not drilled off centre the car still handles well for a big beast.

With us looking to do events like Mull i am going to go back to standard fuel tank (looking for help on this viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2289 ) so i can get the spare wheel in the boot and remove spare wheel well to make access to diff a bit easier.

I have improved the spot lights by fitting gas discharge bulbs which are a lot better for the night stages, i am also looking to improve the wiring a job which lee had lined up.

Hopefully once we manage to get the drivetrain and engine mount problems sorted we can unlock the true potential of this car because it certainly shifts and has a real nice feel.

Thank you to Russ at m3 spares for supplying kit at short notice and Phil @ PDL for bottom arm mounts.

Next event - Otterburn August 1st (hopefully)

Andy

[bruvs1]

thats the thing with good muti venue rallies, you need to over engineer parts for reliability, our compact will be using standard tank. the combined filter/pump has a bath and fine gauze filter on the pick and (if its true) if kept clean, there's no real issues with them. hockleys and magnum do moulded kevlar/f,glass guards to fit under the straps. we've made steel engine mounts to chassis to take the strain on the compact m54 project.

[ChrisRally]

I had a custom tank made for the boot similiar to Escort ones which still allows spare wheels to be stored in the boot (I think two will just about fit). If you removed the well one wheel would certanly still fit. Have a look at www.m3rally.com and click on New spangly bits, there is a photo near the bottom and various other photos dotted around the site.

[Dav Rally]

Just a bit of an update with the car.

We have made a few improvements having struggled with the car bottoming out to easily i went up to 400lb front springs and raised the car up so we could optimise the max 100mm damper travel we have. On Jim Clark i was really pleased how much difference this made, we were able to push on all but the heaviest of compressions and the car felt more stable. The next step is to try and get around 150mm travels so we can attack a bit more over the jumps.
We corner weighted the car
front left: 352 kg front right: 351 kg rear left: 280kg rear right: 294kg
total: 1277 split % f/r: 78/22
I was amazed having not having to adjust it from set ride height how close the front was.

Other changes include cutting some weight from the rear parcel shelf and fitting a carbon shelf (i had it of another car i got). Before Mull last year we modified the pod to take HID gas discharge bulbs which help a lot in the dark.

The rear end problems are hopefully a thing of the past thanks to lockwire, bulking up of the sub frame and mounts and generally watching it like a hawk on events.

I have had some problems with oil getting into the air box from the breather pipes so these now go to a seperate catch tank, it makes it a bit lumpy when its cold as the idle control valve is not putting the air into the box but once warm it is fine.

next event, rally of the midlands.

[is-si]

Thanks for the update, We've followed your results on Epynt and the JC it looks like you are getting tuned in. . . for sure
Its good to know that you can `up the ante' with more travel and reduce risk on the bumpy roads these events feature, or push harder !
ROTM should be a walk in the park

[Sunbmw]

I reckon I might come and have a watch to see how the old girl performs in a real drivers hands!

[Dav Rally]

A bit of an end of year update:

We started the year (well very end of last year) at Croft in 4 inch of snow/slush/ice and managed having never been in a straight line all day to finish 6th from last, the 1st event i did ever did in this car was at croft we came 6th. dont take a BMW out in the snow

We then did a run at epynt mainly to learn the place and see what improvements we needed on the car. Stiffer springs were the answer on the front and jacked the car up to allow as much travel as we could, Jim Clark this year was ace, bar a trip through a farmers gate in the wet having already killed off the wets on a dry stage before the rain hit. 10th overall on the national made for a good night out in Kelso. (we had a few BMW's on this one but need more )

Then we were off to rally of the midlands, killed off the rear tyres chasing Damien Cole around MIRA with only a space saver to get back and 20+ competition miles to service it was game over.

Then we were on Tyneside Stages on Otterburn, and bar bubbling a couple of tyres we were delighted to come in 3rd in class (behind Mauger and Indri) and 5th overall, picking up drive of the day.

Next event was Epynt for the Mewla, we decided it was not wet enough for wets, it was and we lost loads of time on the 1st loop, later on we pushed a little and continued to learn the ranges but could not repeat last events giant killing antics.

Finally the Cheviot rally in October on Otterburn, we woke up and stepped out the van (or hotel), rain , looks like we would have our work cut out. We set off at a reasonable pace and had some mega 5th gear moments but as others dropped out and it dried a little we managed to get 4th overall and 2nd in class (to Indri in his £££ Darrian) despite a now very smokey engine (see engine section), again well happy.

So what have we learned:
Tyre choice is critical (difficult when running on whatever you can get cheap)
Bulking up the drive train and stiffening the suspension appears to have worked

Planned works:
Check diff/clutch etc
Replace/fix/upgrade ? engine
Try and get more suspension travel (if i can get bilsteins to give me an answer)
Change the tank so we can fit a couple of big wheels in the boot (at least then if i kill off tyres we can change them between services)
Improve the wiring
tidy it up a little (the hay bales are taking there toll )

And next year... more of the same i think, we are very busy fixing up and moving premises at work so it all depends on time. Defo a few Otterburns, jim clark and maybe Mull if i can get the money together and the suspension as i want it.

Andy

[bruvs1]

some great results there andy, i think i drove over one of your mirrors on the tyneside!! i suppose if you want to be at the sharp end of the stick theres no lifting through the bales! thats not for me enjoyed the one tarmac round we did ( even after clean up arkids in car chuck up!!) otterburn is real good, hope to do more up there and more tarmac rounds too. (hopefully in the compact!)

[Sunbmw]

Excellent reading that Andy, so glad that the car has been ok for you, and the items you mention were things that I was always a little unhappy with too.

I hope things continue to improve for you, and it's nice to see her being used properly by a proper driver.

Well done .

Oh yeah, would still be interested in buying the tank back if you so desire, let me know.

[Dav Rally]

Cheers guys, yes need to sacrafice a few mirrors (hence back on standard cheap ones) and front wings to keep up but a couple of scrap yard wings a year is a small price to pay
One of the girls who services for me said at the end of the last event, this was a lovely car until i got it.

Lee with regards to the tank providing i get the one i have lined up to fit in the space then i will give you a buzz, im sure in the new car there is space for the tank and then a full set of tyres.

I think now that we have got to grips with it and know where we want (even if i cant afford) to make further adjustments. For the money its costing to run and buy you would struggle to get any 4x4 or RWD car that can get the results this car can on a good day.