Small Block Chevy E36. Built In Six Short Weeks.

[Fazda]

Mine is only a 305 until my cheap ass comes across something better at a great price...its pretty slow for all of the work i've done but it's definitely fun to cruise around in.

[Fazda]

recent pictures...







driving it to work tomorrow, woo!

[Chuckdee]

Finally got the hood painted! looks like a total sleeper!

[Fazda]

That's still the old hood. I haven't had time for paint yet so I tossed the matching hood on for now to please my OCD.

[sLOW5]

that looks so amazing! love the style 5's. howd you get the hood to clear everything?

[Fazda]

There was a carb spacer on there, removing that and trimming my filter housing down gave me just enough room.

It's a high rise intake as well, so a lower intake manifold would make things a ton easier

[Fazda]

Well guys, sorry for the lack of updates, photos, videos etc....

I have been driving the car at least one day a week since my last updates. It's proving to be reliable, fairly comfortable and a blast to drive this time around.

The power department is still lacking thanks to the boat anchor of a 305, but i'm working on that.

I've switched directions as far as my intentions to gain more power.

I picked up a 383 stroker block with rotating assembly from a friend a few weeks ago. I'm currently in the process of teaching myself more about the small block so that I can match a prop set of heads and cam to the block and my trans/ gearing to get the most out of my money.

As I'm sure you've all noticed I am extremely thrifty, and I **** to spend money so I'm trying to figure out what's best on a budget. 400ish HP should be sufficient for me so I'm looking into a Vortec head setup as that is affordable and capable of what I'm looking for. I just want to be sure that It's not possible to make a ton more power by opening my wallet just a little bit more.


I still lack in the photography department but here's a few random pictures from the past few months that I pulled from my iphone....












....tuning issues left me very unhappy one day.











Rain doesn't hold me back...



Got the car to the track once so far. 14.7.....not very impressive, but with only three passes and the crappiest nearly stock small block in existence I've been told that's a decent pass. And, It was great to legally beat on the car and do some burnouts!




I've taken a new job, something more career oriented in recent months and that has really taken a toll on my free time. I find myself only really having time to work on anything when I decide to stay up all night and go the following day on no sleep.

With that, I decided that it was not sensible to continue renting the larger shop you saw throughout the initial build of the car.

We have a modest oversized 1 car garage at home, as well as a 10x10 shed with workbench, tire machine etc so I reorganized some things and seem to have plenty of room to work in the downsized area. While it is smaller there is much less clutter and I know where everything is since there aren't a bunch of my friends in and out of this place regularly.

I intend on building larger, or renting another space down the road but with little free time, this gets the job done for now.





We recently celebrated my daughter's second birthday and of course I had to get her something awesome....The 12V z4/e90 lookalike gets the job done just fine!





My Brother go the itch to build a fun e36 for himself this winter so he threw this obdI swapped m52, rollbarred 93' vert together with spare pennies and parts. I must say driving it is just pure fun. The top is up only when it's a downpour.

[LFZ]

Nice build! I am on my second 383 stroker in my 69 Vette. Very strong motors and very capable of producing some power....my latest has comp cams XR288 Hydraulic Roller custom billet gind on a 112lsa. Combined with AFR195 heads and a high rise air gap intake..it made 500+hp consistantly on the engine dyno and is very streetable. Just wanted to throw that combo out there, because I knew it worked for me.

[Fazda]

Nice build! I am on my second 383 stroker in my 69 Vette. Very strong motors and very capable of producing some power....my latest has comp cams XR288 Hydraulic Roller custom billet gind on a 112lsa. Combined with AFR195 heads and a high rise air gap intake..it made 500+hp consistantly on the engine dyno and is very streetable. Just wanted to throw that combo out there, because I knew it worked for me.

I've read that the AFR 195's are the best bet for a 383, however from a quick search i'd be spending a 1/3 as much on heads a lone as I have the entire rest of the car.

While i'd love to dig deep and just go for it, the cheap side of me says don't do it haha.

I'm running a t5 trans with a bmw 3:91 lsd.

I'd really like to find some setups from people running the t5 with a similar gearing and see what they have to say. What trans and gearing were you using?

[LFZ]

I've read that the AFR 195's are the best bet for a 383, however from a quick search i'd be spending a 1/3 as much on heads a lone as I have the entire rest of the car.

While i'd love to dig deep and just go for it, the cheap side of me says don't do it haha.

I'm running a t5 trans with a bmw 3:91 lsd.

I'd really like to find some setups from people running the t5 with a similar gearing and see what they have to say. What trans and gearing were you using?

Well...the motor is in a 69 vette, so I kept the stock M20 close ratio 4 speed.....

With a T5 and that rear ratio, you should do well. AFR heads are pricey, but damn they flow.

[Lt. Dangle]

Yeah AFR heads make badass power.

Im not sure of what kind of deal you got on the 383, but the LQ9 Iron block 6.0 motors make good power, and you can basically stuff any off the shelf LSx stuff in them, use ls2/3/6/7 heads etc...

[PunkboySL2]

Looking great. I caught it at the big TST meet last month and I was showing my friends. They were all stoked on it.

[nvrlft]

Great build! Love how clean the engine bay is.

[Fazda]

I got an amazing deal on the 383 block. So really if I spend a decent amount on heads it's okay, I'd just rather not. I'll just look for a deal on some pre-loved afrs!

[LFZ]

What kind of equipment in the block? Pistons, rods, crank, cam?