Chris P Lewis

You need to go to Bimmerforums you will find the folks there hopeful. YOU NEED TO REINFORCE THE TRAILING ARM BUCKETS AND THE SUB FRAME MOUNT POINTS. REPEAT THIS BACK TO ME.

Chris P Lewis

YOU NEED TO REINFORCE THE TRAILING ARM BUCKETS AND THE SUB FRAME MOUNT POINTS. REPEAT THIS BACK TO ME.
YOU NEED TO REINFORCE THE TRAILING ARM BUCKETS AND THE SUB FRAME MOUNT POINTS. REPEAT THIS BACK TO ME.
YOU NEED TO REINFORCE THE TRAILING ARM BUCKETS AND THE SUB FRAME MOUNT POINTS. REPEAT THIS BACK TO ME.
ETC.

Chris P Lewis

Did I tell you about the stuff to reinforce?

wintershade

I will reinforce the trailing arm buckets and sub-frame mounts!

Will this get the job done?
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-4...ement-package/

And this?
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...cement/?pdk=Ag

Or is there something else I should do? How difficult is that and what tools are required? Or does this require a cage builder?

I'm thinking about adding a weld-in rear 1/2 cage. Is that totally overkill for HPDE?

alexaqui

I was told you do NOT need to reinforce the rear subframe of an E36 M3; it is already reinforced. You DO have to do that in an E46 though. There are two areas that need reinforcement no matter what you do: the rear sway bar mounts and the rear trailing arm bracket mounts.

You need to reinforce the front subframe if you run solid engine/transmission mounts. Most people do not recommend solid mounts for a non track only car that does not get a regular tear down to inspect for damage.

I would strongly suggest you get the AKG reinforcement kit. There is a ton of prep work to do this and to get to bare metal. It is also not the easiest welding job. If you have never welded, find someone who has or pay a shop to do it. The cost for a shop to do it is pretty expensive given the time to remove everything, prep the area, weld it, grind it down, then clean/paint the work, and finally put it all back together.

Skip the camber arm reinforcements and go with adjustable camber arms. Rear shock mount reinforcement is a good idea. That kit does not have the RTAB reinforcements in it. The x-brace you linked is a good idea for stiffening up the chassis. It bolts right in as it is a BMW part. Only early model M3s do not have the nutserts.

Olemiss540

You will LOVE the new car on track! Start with reliability and SAFETY and everything else can wait!

A BEAUTIFUL Estroil blue sedan was at the BMW event this weekend at NCM for 16K INCLUDING trailer. was completely track prepared including full $4K cage, fire suppression, suspension, etc etc. That would be THE WAY to go, but you do get a lot of satisfaction from building your own, and they can be extremely reliable with minor modifications.

kgorman

Bmw e36 hands down.i have raced both.

Chris P Lewis

RTAB kit

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspensio...ement-Kit.html

Subframe

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspensio...ement-Kit.html

Sway bar rear

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspensio...ement-Kit.html

Front sway bar

http://www.bimmerworld.com/Suspensio...ent-Kit_2.html

The camber arm piece is good too if you don't go with a real track camber arm. Shock tower stuff may be optional. The front mounts do crack and the RTABuckets rip out sending you into something. Does it ALWAYS happen, no. Will it happen to you? Maybe. If it DOES happen will it be a good day? No.

Some of these are the same as the Turner stuff some are not. Call Bimmerworld or Turner and have them talk you through it. I have a professional level shop so I tend to think of these things as "easy". There is a lot of dis-assembly, prep and welding and you my not be able to do that. Spend some time on Bimmerforums, read a lot and develop an action plan of must dos and like to dos. For instance if you upgrade the diff, "might as well" pull the sub-frame and reinforce. Reinforcing the front subframe requires hanging the engine and while you are doing that, you should safety wire or weld the oil pump nut. It just kind of keeps going. None of this has to be done right now before tracking the car, but if the loads go up and the sticky tires go on, the design limits are exceeded and metal starts fatiguing. I know 4 guys that have crashed because if RTAB failures.

Final note: Using a company like Turner or Bimmerworld is the first step in developing a relationship with a broad range supplier, one that can help you with every aspect of your E36, not just a specific type of part. Start saving the moola!

alexaqui

Good advice in the post, except for the rear subframe. Again, NOT necessary on an M3 car. From the link and Bimmerworld: "E36 M3s have reinforcement plates welded in from the factory, but BMW didn’t see fit to add these much-needed structural supports to Non-M E36s."

Also, most shops I have spoken with, including Turner de-emphasize the front subframe reinforcements unless you are running solid engine mounts.

To do any of the welding work, you pretty much have to disassemble quite a bit of the car. A lot of "while you are in there" items will pop up. Also, make sure to apply a fix to the power steering return line.

Good luck.

docwyte

I believe these are such good track cars that I literally just bought one 20 minutes ago.

Completely track prepped with all the welded reinforcements done, oil pump nut welded, oil pan baffles installed, dual fuel pick ups, suspension, intake, exhaust, M50 manifold, OEM ltw rear wing and front splitter. Can't wait!

wintershade

Thanks Chris and Alexaqui. So I think the place for me to start is with 1) fluid overhaul, and 2) the chassis reinforcement. Then I'll move on to safety gear. To your point about once you're doing the chassis, a lot of other stuff will reveal itself. You mentioned oil pump nut, safety wire, power steering. Anything else that I should do in that go?

How difficult is the welding work for the chassis reinforcement. There are some weekend welding courses near me. Could I do this after that. I watched some youTube videos last night and seems like welding ain't easy and requires investing in a lot of tools I'm not likely to use often. Am I better served have a shop do this job...

noturavgm

Depends if you have a desire to do it.

I bought my current track car almost as an excuse to buy a welder I knew it needed the full rear shock tower plates going in, and made the decision to buy a welder and do it myself. So I just bought metal on McMaster and/or found scrap and practiced the welds and settings until I was confident I wasn't going to burn a hole through my car.

Additional uses/projects for the welder will find you Since doing the rear shock towers last spring I have done the RTAB reinforcements, made my own front subframe reinforcements, built myself a huge firewood rack for the patio, made my Mustang buddy some front brake duct backing plates, fixed some underbody rust on my DD, fixed the exhaust on my dad's car, made my mom a pretty badass menorah this past holiday season, and probably a "custom" tool here or there I'm forgetting.

If it's something you're interested in learning, go for it! Hobart 140 is a great little machine.

TXE36

Buying a welder is like buying your first Dremel. It takes your capabilities up a notch and you never go back. Welding opens up a whole new world for making stuff and fixing stuff.

The simplest way to think of a welder is it is a hot melt glue gun that shoots metal.

-Mike

TXE36

Looks very nice. You even got the upgraded headlights.

When I first got the race car, the feeling was I'd sell the street car, but I just can't do it. It's a nice commuter car and finding another one if I change my mind later sounds like an exercise in frustration. I've even had people come up to me and offer to buy it.

-Mike

Seth Thomas

You were faster than me on this one.

With the E36 M3 find a good parts source like BimmerWorld (I am biased but for good reasons) and stick with them. Buy every part you can from them. If you see a cheaper price somewhere else then mention it to them to see what they say. The knowledge one source has in helping you diagnose problems or tuning the car will be worth every cent you pay for the parts. I know BimmerWorld has a good upgrade path with the E36 M3 to help you turn it into a racecar over a period of time. Parts aren't sold just to sell parts to a customer.