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ABOUT THIS BOOK

I believe a variety of opinions and experiences make a better guide. In the course of my work on this book I’ve talked with folks who know E36s down to the last nut and bolt. This book is the result of extensive consultation with a great many of these subject matter experts. The experts I interviewed are quoted in this book, and the project would have been impossible without them. Most of them sell, install, and maintain the products they talk about, and their contact information is collected in an appendix at the back of the book.

This book is designed to give you necessary information as you consider various performance modifications and products available for your car. I have included step-by-step projects for common performance enhancements that can be performed in a standard garage, but this is not a comprehensive repair or maintenance manual. If that’s what you need, I recommend you get an official E36 factory shop manual for your car. In fact, I recommend that you get one of those no matter what. Also, most aftermarket parts come with installation instructions, and you should always follow those instructions.

This book contains snapshot overviews of a couple of successful custom high-performance E36 BMWs, built for different purposes. These profiles show how all aspects of the car come together to enhance performance for a particular purpose, and to provide a model for you to consider as you plan and build your own ride.

When completely modified, you can coax more than 500 hp out of the E36 platform, but you will want to upgrade suspension, brakes, and driveline to handle that amount of power.

Most E36 buyers simply want more performance out of their street car without making a major investment. This is easy to achieve with a few well-chosen modifications around the car.

This E36 was a 1996 328i sedan. The car came with 112,000 miles showing, and one owner for most of its life. The most important thing is that the car was completely stock and had never been seriously damaged.

This book would not have been possible without the cheerful assistance of many people, including Andy Banta, Ian Clinkinbeard, Nick Bender, Martin Sarukhanyan, Dragan Agatonovic, Valerie Bradley, and Greg Meythaler. Additionally, I would like to thank Ajae Wallace and Laura McShane for their patience with me as I worked on this and many other projects.

Introducing the Project Car

Example cars shown throughout this book illustrate the range of possibilities for performance enhancement, but most of the step-by-step procedures for performance modification and parts installation were performed on just one car, a 1996 328i sedan purchased for the purpose of this project.

This car had 112,000 miles and 18 years on the clock when I found it. Most of those miles and years had come under the care of the original owner. When I found the car, it was absolutely stock in every way, even though many components, such as engine gaskets, shock absorbers, and suspension bushings, were in dire need of replacement. However, everything was in working order. The initial purchase price was $3,000.

The first dyno run with the stock engine expressed over-wheel speed with the car in fourth gear. The max horsepower and torque are listed at the top of the chart. You can see that the torque curve is reasonably flat and the best horsepower is right around 100 mph.

In the course of the project, we’ve enhanced the performance of this car by about 30 hp, and I have improved handling, braking, and interior utility as well. The step-by-step procedures in this book detail the process in every area of the car.

How to Use a Dynamometer and Read a Dyno Chart

If you have a turbocharged or supercharged car, an experienced tuning technician can assist you in fine-tuning the engine programming by using a dynamometer (also known as a dyno) to provide real-time power readings as the technician adjusts the timing and fuel map.

This is the same dyno run expressed over-engine speed, again in fourth gear. Engine torque is increased by 3,500 rpm and falls off after 5,000. Horsepower rises evenly to about 5,250 rpm before falling off sharply.

If you have a naturally aspirated car, including all stock E36 BMWs, dyno tuning is substantially less rewarding in power gains, but still useful in determining how much torque and horsepower are making it to the rear wheels. Some dynos incorporate instant exhaust temperature and composition analysis, so you can be sure the combustion is optimal.

Some bench dynamometers measure the engine’s power before it’s installed in the car, but much more common are chassis dynamometers where you park your car on a set of big rollers and drive. Chassis dynamometers bolt directly to the wheel hubs.

Just for fun, you can also download the Dynolicious software application that works with your smart phone. This software uses the phone’s internal accelerometer to calculate approximate horsepower and torque. It’s cheap, reasonably accurate for the price, and fun to use!

All kinds of dynos operate by measuring the engine’s ability to overcome resistance and do work, and it’s important to remember that every dyno’s readout is adjustable. Given the same car and the same conditions, any particular dyno may read relatively higher or lower than another. This doesn’t matter. What matters is the relative improvement you get on a given dyno when tuning your car. People love to brag on their dyno sheets, and tuning shops obviously want their customers to walk away happy and advance their reputation for getting more power than their competitors out of the same car.

In the course of developing this book, I took the project 328i to a chassis dyno for a baseline reading while it was still completely factory stock. That particular dyno told me that the sturdy little E36 delivered 170 hp and 177 ft-lbs of torque at the rear wheels. At the end of the project, with new intake and cat-back exhaust, an M50 intake manifold, and M3 cams from an S52 engine, the same dyno registered 200 hp and 175 ft-lbs of torque. The best torque was achieved at 184 ft-lbs with just a cold-air intake and cat-back exhaust. The best horsepower rating of 200, on the other hand, came at high revs with the intake, exhaust, M50 manifold, and S52 cams.

The BMW E36 is certainly a capable street car, and it does not take a lot of work to turn into a competitive track-day car. Upgrading to a combination of shocks, struts, brakes, and tires transforms even the base BMW E36 into a capable track car. If you’re looking to compete in autocross, road racing, time attack, or another form of competition, the E36 is an excellent choice.

Yet when you see any dyno sheet, it’s important to remember to not pay too much attention to the peak horsepower and torque, but rather, look at the entire area below the lines. The more total area you have underneath the lines, the better the power throughout the engine’s operating range. After all, how often and for how long do you run your BMW at 6,000 rpm? Most driving takes place from 2,000 to 5,000 rpm. What do you have in that range, and did the work and investment in parts improve the area under the lines in that range? That’s the question at the heart of real-world performance.

Building Your Car Right

Throughout the history of the automobile, we’ve learned a few things about going fast, staying in control, and the need to stop. We’ve also learned a few things about the dangers of modifying or altering the design or components. After all, the manufacturer decided it was good after spending millions of dollars on engineering and testing. Stepping out of the safety zone and modifying your car means taking responsibility for the changes you make and the effect those changes have on performance, safety, and longevity.

There’s an old saying in racing, “Speed, low cost, and longevity: pick any two.” I’ve never seen that saying disproved, but an E36 comes pretty close to picking up all three. Still, stories of blown motors, broken transmissions, and cooked brakes are all around us, and you have to understand that possibility before you start. When you exceed the power and the stress tolerance that the engineers designed into the car, you’re going to break things from time to time. Only a chump tries to blame the original manufacturer when his or her customized car breaks.

You can take some tried-and-true steps to have fun and achieve a good outcome when modifying your car. Read the following and give them careful consideration before you start.

One: Play Safe

Safety must always be a primary concern when you’re working on your car. I knew a guy who died when his car fell on him. He owned a set of jack stands but didn’t use them that day, probably because it was just a quick little job. Get yourself a set of good jack stands and a quality large-size floor jack and use them every time.

Similarly, be smart when you’re making changes to your car. Don’t go out and drive hard on brand new parts or brand new work. Have other people check the work whenever possible. Even professionals make mistakes from time to time; people leave nuts untightened, forget to adjust new parts, and leave fluids unfilled. Any of these mistakes may happen to you, and if you play with cars long enough something will happen to you, probably multiple times. At best these mistakes are embarrassing, usually they are expensive, and at worst they can be dangerous or lethal. Be smart, play safe, and you’ll have a good time.

Two: Learn about Your Car

You need to read and learn before you whip out a wrench or whip out your checkbook. The world is full of people who have spent a lot of money on their cars only to find that they have a ride that is slower and uglier than when they started. The final tragedy is that they’ve cut up so much of the original car that they can’t ever get it back to stock.

It pays to do your homework. Learn what’s available for your car and what fits on your particular model. Also, learn from what others have done before you. You can purchase a full shop manual for your year and model from Bentley for under $100. Your local BMW specialty shop has valuable information and expertise for you. Enthusiast and club publications, such as Roundel and Bimmer, can keep you up to date on new products and developments. You can also use Internet forums, but bear in mind that the quality of information from these sources is highly variable.

Three: Understand What You’re Doing and Why

Before you spend a penny or grab a wrench, sit down and think through what you want your car to do for you. If you’re looking at competition, make sure you have the current rulebook in front of you. The worst thing you can do is show up to race with some minor modification that just landed you into the “unlimited” class in an otherwise stock vehicle.

Do you want to design your E36 for supreme handling for autocross competition? Do you want to enter hill climbs or drive at open track days at a road racing circuit? Maybe you just want to look great, sound great, and hit Cars & Coffee this summer; there’s no shame in that. The point is, when you know what you really want to do, you can start your plan to get there.

Whatever your goals are, your car should be built so that it functions smoothly and comfortably, in harmony with you as the driver. If you overdo one aspect of a car and neglect another, you’ll have problems. Ask anyone who ever built a really fast car and never thought about his brakes! As you consider, plan, and build your car, think about balance and the real-world driving you’re going to do. For example, if you go to one or two track days every year, but you have to drive your car to work every day, a set of track-ready coil-over shocks is probably not the best choice for you.

One of the most common mistakes people make when building a performance car is they try to make a car that’s excellent for two (or more) very different purposes. Trust me, a performance rally car isn’t going to be any good at an autocross, and a really pumped racing car makes a terrible daily driver. If you try to split the difference between two radical applications, you end up with a car that isn’t particularly good at anything. Get your vision and your budget together and build your car to do one thing really well, or build it to everything pretty well.

When you know what you want to do and you understand the rules, you can usually come up with a comprehensive shopping list. That’s where this book is designed to help you, by going over many common modifications people make and the major options on the market. You can read what’s involved in a given modification before you decide to dive in yourself, take it to a pro, or leave that part on the shelf.

Four: Define Goals and Objectives

You need to be realistic about what you can afford and what you plan to do with your car. Diving in and modifying your car always costs more than you expect. You need to double your estimate because it’ll still cost more than you expect. So make an accurate budget and realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your car be done next weekend, or next month. That’s why you see so many people driving around with half-finished cars.

My suggestion is that you start with a notebook. I use a paper notebook for each project car I have. The notebook stays in the car and I use it to log changes I make and results that I notice. Some people prefer a spreadsheet or a blog; use whatever works for you. The point is to get into the habit of logging what you’ve done and the results you saw. The more objective data you have (lap times, dyno sheets, and so on) the better your log is.

For most people, the car they’re modifying is also the car they drive to work every day. There’s usually not a lot of downtime available in the car’s schedule. And some people aren’t handy with a wrench, so take this to heart: if you’ve never done serious work on your car before, upgrading the brakes or installing a turbo on your daily workmobile is a bad way to start.

Divide your shopping list into functional areas: engine, transmission, suspension, brakes, interior, and so on. This book is divided into chapters on that basis to help you. In each functional area, list the things you want to do and the price of each item you need. Don’t forget labor costs, gaskets, and fluids. If you’re doing the work yourself, be sure to account for the cost of tools you need to buy.

With a good shopping list in your hands, and a total budget that will probably surprise you, it’s time to prioritize.

Most new builders start with cosmetics. This is only natural, but I think it’s backward for a performance car. In general I like to improve handling and braking before I put money into the engine, and I leave cosmetics for last. Who wants to scratch or dent an expensive paint job when a wrench slips?

With your itemized and prioritized list of modifications, you should be able to make a budget and a schedule for work that fits your finances and your calendar. Don’t sweat it too much if you get behind on the schedule; everyone does. Right now the trick is to enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

Five: Have Fun and Don’t Overextend Yourself

One key to a successful performance build is to make sure you reward yourself from time to time. There’s nothing as satisfying in a project as being able to tell the difference when you’ve made a change. So schedule your mods to make sure that you get a noticeable goodie from time to time. Maybe that means putting in the racing seat before the urethane bushings, but that’s okay if it keeps your interest in the project.

There’s a trap out there that you have to keep in mind, because it can grab you and cause no end of pain. The trap springs when you become financially overextended in your car and then run into trouble. The world is full of cars for sale where the owner has $25,000 in receipts and is looking for $10,000 or best offer by next weekend because he has to pay the mortgage. Don’t be that unhappy person if you can help it. It’s worse if your car is half-done, because if you can sell it at all, it’s probably worth less than when you started.

The truth about building custom cars is that you’re not going to make a profit building and then selling your car. You’re not even going to recoup your cash expenditures, so don’t view this hobby as an investment. There’s no reason to think that the person who buys your car will even think any of your mods are worth keeping. For your own protection, you should view this process as building yourself a unique car that you customized for your own tastes and no one else’s.

Finding a group of like-minded people in your area can help you keep your project going. The Internet is a nice tool for learning and discussion, but folks on the other side of the country can’t help you change the brakes, or give you a ride to pick up your car from the mechanic. A local club is also a good way to gain access to specialty tools. If one member has an engine hoist, then everyone has an engine hoist, and you can spend your budget on a tool that no one else has yet. Treat your club right, and you’ll always have help when you need it.

The last thing to say about having fun and sticking with the project is that you should make sure that the car stays drivable, registered, and insured as much of the time as possible. Nothing kills your enthusiasm for a project car as fast as spending money that just disappears under a tarp in the garage. Keep yourself behind the wheel to keep the rewards of your project coming back to you, and that will keep your enthusiasm going strong.