Oh E36 M3! I bought a '99!

I've been working full-time at a shop that specializes in track-prepping M3s, and figured it was about time I got one of my own.

A friend had this abandoned track car project, so I snapped it up for pretty cheap. It has a strong drivetrain, a relatively decent shell, and not much else. Not even a driver's seat. The upside of that is that it's already stripped, sound deadening is removed, and everything.

It actually seems to be an OK car, though, and most of what it needs is stuff I'd want to do anyway. The one really stupid thing about it is that the rear trailing arm bushing brackets, which are supposed to go up inside a dimple in the body, are switched left to right and installed upside down, so the RTAB is hanging six inches lower than it should be! If anybody spotted the crazy alignment and ride height at the rear, there's the reason. Should be a simple enough fix though, especially with a whole shop at my disposal.

Congrats! All the driving instructors in my local BMW track club always have lots of love for the e36 M3 as a track car platform.

I'm going a different way. Just scored a 36,000 mile 325is e36 with a perfect shell and a serious motor problem (blown headgasket). I figured, since I want coilovers and a V8 anyway, I was better off picking up an unstressed chassis.

Good luck with the build!

Thanks. I hear amazing things about them as track cars too, a lot of people seem to prefer them to E46s since they're so much lighter. Can't wait to get it up and running, just need to scrape the cash together to do it.

What kind of coilovers are you looking at, by the way? If the budget covers them, MCS are absolutely amazing and I can't recommend them enough. My shop has worked with just about every suspension out there, but the MCS are by far our favorite.

Nice! I just entered the land of M3 ownership today as well.

I have an important question. Did you write "E36 M3" in the title, or did you actually let the word filter do it for you?

series8217 wrote: Nice! I just entered the land of M3 ownership today as well. I have an important question. Did you write "E36 M3" in the title, or did you actually let the word filter do it for you?

Haha I should've tried doing that. I actually wrote "E36 M3"

Entering the land of M3 ownership is weird. I was picking up parts at the dealership today and realized that I can be one of those guys with an "///M" polo or hat or watch or shoes or wallet or umbrella now lol! (I actually know a guy that I've seen with all those things at once, by the way.) Not that I really WANT to be one of those guys... but those BMW Motorsport/M shirts are pretty rad...

Are you going to rallycross this car? I saw in your E30 build thread that you had planned to get into rallycross, but I don't recall seeing your car at any events.

Yeah, I never really got anywhere with the E30 project, just fixes here and there. The shop I work at specializes in road racing and time trial stuff, so that's what this car's being built for.

Max_Archer wrote: Thanks. I hear amazing things about them as track cars too, a lot of people seem to prefer them to E46s since they're so much lighter.

How much lighter are they?

The only E36 M3s ever show up for sale around here all seem to be convertibles. I've often wondered what it would be like to build one of those with a cage and a hardtop.

Woody wrote:

Max_Archer wrote: Thanks. I hear amazing things about them as track cars too, a lot of people seem to prefer them to E46s since they're so much lighter.

How much lighter are they?

About 200lb stock. In track trim, though, it can be a decent-sized difference, especially if it's a no rules trackday car like mine will be. An E46 stripped to the gills with no headlights, doors gutted out and no windows, lexan in the rear, and all that kind of stuff was 2800lb on our scales the other day. A relatively mild E36 track strip, just interior trim and A/C, can be as low as 2600, and they also benefit a lot from lightweight body panels, unlike E46s which already come with pretty light bodywork.

Wow, I guess I picked correctly when I bought my E36 last year instead of an E46(not like I had the money for most E46s).

I drove an E46 that was down to 2920 lbs and still had working AC and lights and was in every way street legal. It had no rear interior, but it still had a headliner and dash. For weight reduction it had lexan rear windows, racing seats, non-xenon headlights, CF fenders, CF trunk, CF hood, and flat aluminum door panels. With 316 whp (stock motor and exhaust except headers and tune), that car was quick. Stock exhaust too... with an aftermarket exhaust it would have been around 2870.

Jelly.
Been lusting after a late E36 M3 myself the last few weeks.

And yes, there are a metric berkeley ton of convertibles around, too bad I'll happily never own another vert.

I have only been lusting for an E36 M3 since they were new, but even then, I wanted to pull as much out as I could and put in a cage and keep it street-legal. Someday...

Took some more pics. Should be able to start work this week, parts are already on the way. I need a rollbar, anybody know somebody who can get me one faster than Autopower? I don't want to wait a month to be able to drive it and it has no seatbelts at all, so I need the bar to attach my harness to.

Gutted interior. Need to clean up wiring:

Supersprint in the trunk:

Reason for the salvage title:

Seems not to have affected anything important, and I have a sideskirt to cover it.

Im blown away that the RTAB carriers were mounted upside down. Is there a reason? I cant think of one...

In reply to spandak:

Most likely a non-specialty mechanic that didn't know how they're supposed to work, took them off, and forgot how they were supposed to go back on.

It seems pretty stupid to me, but googling reveals a decent number of cases of exactly the same issue.

these guys have been pretty great to me in the past. Never used one of the bars, but they say they have them in stock. Might help.

bimmerhaus

Got the seat in and put the RTABs in the right way the other day. Unfortunately, in the process one of the threaded sleeves for the RTAB bolts that should be welded up in the chassis fell right out. It's sitting on two bolts and we'll order reinforcement plates and put everything back together properly before the car gets driven beyond the parking lot.

Also discovered the cause of the insane toe-in that the car had in the rear, a bent trailing arm. Easy enough fix and not insanely expensive.