320is into track machine

[ItalianM3]

Okay, well as work has picked up and the winter is coming my way very quickly, I have decided to get another car for the daily work grind! I also do alot of driving in my work, and the 320is has been very enjoyable and reliable to use for this. I donot however like to use the car in the winter, and therfore it will be turning into a track/road legal car over the winter.

My first objective will be to sort out the suspension. I know that the most favoured route would be the M3 suspension swap, but as this is very dear and not easy to find the parts I want to try and achive the best I can with the setup I have at the moment. This also rules out Coilovers UNLESS someone can point me in a good direction.
Another catagory that will come under fire first are the brakes. I know of a few solutions (e.g. Ireland enginering).

I think the best thing is to start taking out the parts that I will not need and after they are sold I will have a budget to get things started.

Just wanted to share with everyone my cars future.
I will be speaking to Wayne at German cars in Norfolk UK about his 320is track car for advise and options.

So in the meanwhile if anybody has and imput or links, advice etc..... please let them be known, all options will be gratefuly recived.

I am a sponge for car knowledge, and hope to soak up alot of information, this I suppose is half the reason to turn the car into a track machine!

I will also be looking at the options of intergrating an EVO III style gurney flap into the MTech II rear wing and front splitter.

Quick recap, any and all info, views, recomendations, experiance etc... gratefully received.

Thanks

regards

Luke

[Jeroen]

Hey Luke,

Been too busy on other forums ey?

Anyway... yep for a good track car you first need to sort out brakes and suspension. And a few more horses from the engine won't make the big difference, weight reduction does! Then a cage and definitely -if not fitted yet- a front strut brace.

Some ideas to start with:
-if you're building a 100% track car, converting to E30 M3 suspension would be no prob. The wider track of the M3 might require some mods to the front wings. I wouldn't do that to a road car, but on a track car that works out fine (see Wayne's trackcar)
-because of the cost I can imagine you'd want to do something that is less costly. With the right springs or coil over kit you can achieve quite some improvement already.
-combine that with stiffer suspension bushes and engine and gearbox bushes as well, use the offset rear bushes for the M3. But... all this requires reinforcement of the front subframe where the engine bushes go. Wayne also knows well about this but also Turner Motorsport and alikes sell stuff for jobs like these
-offset or adjustable front strut top mounts... please keep in mind that might required modding the strut bar as well.
-many brake upgrades possible like from Ireland Engineering, and Wilwood is a good alternative. At least do the front, rebuild the rear, maybe fit a larger brake master, steel braided lines and the right pads and fluid

[Jeroen]

OK 1 thing on the engine: fit Uwe's world famous oil pan baffle!

[Jeroen]

Hmmm spamming on my own forum

Saw all the negative responses on S14.net hahaha well on one side I have to agree that you should preserve a beautiful 320iS and that's what I'm doing, that's also the reason why I bought a 325i and I'm now busy converting it to a track car.

But I'd rather buy a knackered 320iS for track use. But prices for these babies have gone up quite a bit the past few years (maybe websites dedicated to these cars and all the magazine articles have something to do with that )

And, those Italians aren't stupid either, they use all the less-than-good 320iS's for the track themselves.

Oh well, I'll keep my 320iS pretty much stock and I guess after a few years most good examples are gone, prices have to go up. Wouldn't be surprised if they would reach stock 195 hp M3 level.

[bruvs1]

we,ve been building one for a while now, going to be using it for rallying and track fun, check out my site see what you think?

[Jeroen]

Did a serious job there mate!

[bruvs1]

thanks for that, took me and my brother two years ( weekends only)to do but its been worth it, drives really well and so well behaved at speed, probably going to change the cams eventually, as you know you can tune these cars to death !!

[Jeroen]

Yep, looks like a lot of work is put into it as well.

And yep again... there's so much more you can do, and all the parts for engine, driveline and suspension are still easy to get, even if you want some nice performance upgrades.

If you have more (more detailed?) pics... please post em here!

And now... where's Luke?

[ItalianM3]

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, have been out of it with a stomach bug the last couple of days, last thing I want to do is throw up over my laptop!

Anyway, Bruvs1 that is a great car you have their, are all the rallys tarmac rallys? Sounds like alot of fun!

Back on the subject of my car, I will be sticking with the 4lug setup for now, but will keep my eyes open incase anything comes up.

Going to start with:

New bilstein sports shocks
Eibach or H&R Springs
Front strut brace
M3 eccentric bushes or the ones that you have Jeroen (are these the only ones that can be M3 eccentric? or are there others on the car)
Poly bushes elsewhere.
Mcoupe Finned diff cover
New stiffer engine mounts
New stiffer gearbox mounts
New Guibo
Front subframe reinforcement
Lose Front for lights
Lose interior (all) plus carpets
Two front seats (undecided)
New gear linkage (undecided)

Thats all I can think of at the moment, I am looking forward to the final outcome, and to get on the track with it by next summer.

If anyone has anything they would like to add, I am all ears.

Luke

[Jeroen]

Oops! Better now mate?

The eccentic bushes (88-on M3) either from BMW or Pro-Auto, the are all the same but the ones from Pro Auto were cheaper.

If you want to go for a track suspension: when you've removed the front struts and compress the springs you'll probably find freeplay on the top bearings. Replace them with OEM 30min offset bearings.

Might be even better to fit Koni adjustable dampers and stiffer springs like Apex and alikes... will stiffen up things better since you don't need the more comfy first mm's of the Bilstein/Eibach combo, might be cheaper as well!

[ItalianM3]

Thanks feeling much better now!

So are the Koni's good quality, have not heard a great deal about them.
Also I dont want to end up with boy racer quality suspension, I want quality products.

So if I am getting rid of rear seats I am able to go to stiffer than bilstien eibach combo.

Also, will upgrade to the e36m3 LHD steering rack.

The top strut mounts, that you say will have wear movement, are these the ones that can be offset?

Luke

[bruvs1]

yes, i've got lots of detailed photo's but don't know how to put them on my post, if you send me your email address , i'll be happy to send them. we've done more to the car than shown, probably the best mod was to get rid of all the underseal and soundproofing, you wouldn,t believe the weight of that stuff, also the glass replaced with perspex sides and rear. we are just about to try the 4.4;1 diff on a sprint in a couple of weeks i'll let you know how it is. hello italian m3, nice to see someone else embarking down the righteous path happy to help with info if you need... oh yes only tarmac events planned, don't fancy rebuilding it every five minutes!!!

[bruvs1]

did a sprint yesterday, went well, 1sec off class winner, diff worked well, hope this picture is accessible to you.

[Jeroen]

Made the link work... nice action shot mate!