My E36...

[RallyePug]

This looks great. Rims fit perfectly.

[Lee30]

I love your touring, looks great!

Whats happening with the smoked rear lights?

Fancy selling them?

[Nagah]

http://www.rarerims.co.uk/wheelshop_...uct=Grid+Drift

Thanks mate!

[BenKoflach]

Right, hopefully my last step to getting the car ready for Saturday, other than a clean. Having said that I think my rear shock mounts might have gone :/

Anyway, gave the Touring some new boots yesterday, namely Dunlop SportMaxx RTs. They're highly rated in every review I've read and look to be a good compromise between track and road performance.





I went for 215/45 and 235/45 this time around - my previous setup was 215/40 and 235/40. My aim was to fill out the arches a bit more and also get a bit more cushioning from the tyres. Also, a bit more give should help with traction on bumpy roads too.

This is the main reason I badly needed new tyres... lol



My local tyre specialists J P Tyres sorted it out for me - they've got loads of experience doing stuff like alignment for classic Porsches and they also fit the tyres for a local BMW racer (they mentioned that 16" wide slicks are interesting to fit!) so I trust them to do a good job, which they did.





Going to try and get a pair of replacement Rogue RSMs to me for tomorrow (help Phil!) so that I can fit them in the evening, then we're good to go.

Also, was quite pleased that the Rotas didn't show signs of any buckling at all, despite 40-odd thousand miles of abuse and crap roads. More pics soon!

[BenKoflach]

Where did you get that 17x8 Rota? I can only find that one in 17x7,5 or 18x8 but no 17x8.

http://www.rarerims.co.uk/wheelshop_products.asp?productid=27&rangeid=2&product=Grid+Drift

[Nagah]

Where did you get that 17x8 Rota? I can only find that one in 17x7,5 or 18x8 but no 17x8.

[stinkinrich]

Looks like Ryan Stantons Merc next to the e46?

Think I prefer the smoked rear clusters man defo.

[BenKoflach]

Picked my car up on Friday from RAW Motorsport and in short... it feels the best it's ever felt! Rear end feels so much tighter, and even on the Nankangs it's on at the back at the moment it has tons of grip. Turn in is much better too - just feels so much better! Rob put some work in on the alignment so that it would be good on track without compromising tyre wear or on-road handling - turns out he knows what he's doing, funnily enough

He also removed my CDV which has made a welcomed improvement. I left my camera with him so hopefully he managed to get a few snaps of the rear axle swap, but I forgot to grab my camera on Friday so we'll have to wait and see. The list of what I did to the axle before dropping it off is as follows:

-SuperPro upper inner control arm bushes
-new Meyle upper and lower outer control arm bushes/ball joints
-Powerflex subframe mount bushes
-Powerflex trailing arm bushes
-Tarox G88 discs
-ATE pads
-UUC braided hoses (all 4 changed)

When it was fitted the Eibach ARB, camber arms and Spax springs/shocks were carried over too - the diff was filled with Royal Purple fluid and ATE SuperBlue brake fluid was used for the brakes and clutch.

The prop used was an M3 prop which I gave a new Meyle coupling and Meyle centre bearing, as well as new bolts. I'll do a full write up of my axle upgrade when I have my camera back.

It's the Forge Action Day on Saturday and I spent most of the weekend in Bath, so had a busy night last night doing a few odds and ends to get the car ready.

First up, as I've ordered some 215/45 and 235/45 Dunlop SportMaxx RTs was to try and get more clearance under my rear arches - they're the same width as the Yokohamas that are on the Rotas at the moment but a profile taller. There was only a very slight rubbing issue at the rear before but with the added tyre height I wanted to give it a going over to ensure it's not a problem on track.



All I really did was to push the inner skin closer to the outer at the top of the arch bulge. The difference from the outside is un-noticeable, but clearance seems a bit better. We'll see how it does once the tyres arrive and are fitted.

I then fitted my amber indicators, which I spotted going pretty cheap on eBay. First up, rears - the new ones are like new so I'm pretty happy with that purchase (and check out the standard 328 exhaust! lol)



While fitting the second one I dropped one of the bolts - I was tempted to leave it but didn't want the lights to leak or for a bolt to be rolling around in the back, so had to strip a lot of the rear to get it! Need to hoover up that filler dust when I have some time.



Before v after.









Fronts, which were nice and easy:





One side:





The the other was a pain. The eBay seller hadn't mentioned that one of the indicators was broken, and that it had clearly been held in with some sort of sealer rather than the clips. What a pain! After a bit of thinking and a hand from my missus to make sure I didn't amputate my own limbs, we used one of the backs from my original indicators with the amber lens, which with a bit of superglue has come out perfect.

Broken indicator:



Separating all the parts:



And all done - you'd never know.

[BenKoflach]

Just got back from dropping my car off down at RAW Motorsport in Southampton, where it'll be having the M3 axle and prop fitted. Rob also had a 328i exhaust spare that he kept a hold of for me, so he'll be fitting that too.

In the meantime, he's leant me his daily driver... Only RAW Motorsport could have this as a courtesy car

[BenKoflach]

Right, update, as promised.

I came back from holiday last Thursday and was lucky enough to come home to a couple of parcels waiting for me, which didn't leave me an awful lot of time to get my car ready for Gaydon.

The parcel that I was mainly excited about was one from a certain Mr. Alpina527, containing one of his renowned BBTBs and also a re-machined mount for my tow-eye, as the supplied one was way too long.

This was the old tb:



Removing it is easy, though the cable is a bit fiddly, but within about 10 minutes I had this.



Lovely machining:







Didn't take me long to have the new part fitted.







I also topped up the coolant and gaves the throttle cable adjustment a tweak while I was at it. I wasn't really expecting the bbtb to make a noticeable difference, was thinking of it more as 'something to tick off the list' but I have to say I'm really impressed. I don't know how much of it is down to the cable adjustment and how much is the tb itself, but throttle response seems much better and the car seems to have a bit more mid-range torque. So I'm happy.

Next up was my tow eye, which Alpina527 machined down to make much shorter. You can't tell what he's done though, it's so neat. What he basically did was re-machine the towhole side much further up the body of the bracket. A very talented chap.



And then fitted.



I then spent the next day cleaning my car, which was a pain as any kind of product I tried to use just baked to the paint, making it a right pain, but managed to get it fairly smear-free and shiny for Gaydon.

I then spent yesterday trying to get my M3 axle all together so that I can drop the Touring off to RAW Motorsport next week. The result? I've somehow lost two bolts and a brake pad. Great! Luckily a call to Cooper BMW in Sevenoaks (2 doors down the road from work) meant that I'll be picking up the missing bolts as well as new prop-diff bolts later on today. I've also just ordered new ATE pads from ECP, while the new discs I'll be using are Tarox G88s again, which is what's on my car at the mo.

I also managed to get my M3 3.0 prop fitted with a new centre bearing and coupling, both easy jobs, using parts from Meyle.

It's getting there!

[BenKoflach]

I'm defo interested in some track time! Currently midway through a head swap on my Mk2 Golf as i cooked it at Combe last month lol.

Ouch. Tickets are now available btw

Fantastic shot of the old girl from yesterday:



Will be some updates tomorrow when I remember to bring my camera in

[stinkinrich]

Ah I see, sorry.

8th of September, Castle Combe. We're doing a huge all-day event in association with Forge, so will include lots of space for static show car type stuff, track time etc etc. And will bring the whole UK modified car scene together, apart from the crap stuff hopefully

I'm defo interested in some track time! Currently midway through a head swap on my Mk2 Golf as i cooked it at Combe last month lol.

[BenKoflach]

Love your Tourer, mate!

Esp. the recent track-stuff... might be going a similar route with mine next year... or more likely a different wagon which I'm planning to buy for daily duties next year, would do that up for a bit of track-ability, as I feel the Nürburgring calling me

Thanks! Yeah do it, so much good fun. I miss being low but being able to drive it hard makes up for it.

The Nürburgring is calling me too at some point

[Dr.AK]

Love your Tourer, mate!

Esp. the recent track-stuff... might be going a similar route with mine next year... or more likely a different wagon which I'm planning to buy for daily duties next year, would do that up for a bit of track-ability, as I feel the Nürburgring calling me

[BenKoflach]

Ah I see, sorry.

8th of September, Castle Combe. We're doing a huge all-day event in association with Forge, so will include lots of space for static show car type stuff, track time etc etc. And will bring the whole UK modified car scene together, apart from the crap stuff hopefully