Track Day Chronicles - My Progression from E30 to S50 Swapped E36

[CubbyChowder]

Figured I'd start a new thread for this car, hope you guys are ok with a little bit of E36 content.

Quick backstory:
In early 2021 it dawned on me that I need track days in my life and I was ready to take on a new project. I wanted an E30 that I could turn into a daily driver that also could withstand track use - something modest to learn the ropes with and gain experience. I found a $700 rolling shell and hit the ground running. That car has been an awesome journey and it's an ongoing project. I've been daily driving it since mid 2021 and have done 9 track days with it in that time and it has been a blast. If you have any interest in checking out that build, here is the thread: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...o#post10025943






Eventually I felt ready to move on from the "dual purpose" nature of the car and decided it was time to make the E30 a dedicated DD street car and find a new project to turn into my dedicated track car. I was pretty open to options and not in a real rush, I was interested in E30, E36 and E46 cars and figured the right one would present itself eventually. I finally sold an E24 that had taken me months to sell, so I had a little bit of cash to work with and the search got a little more serious.

This E36 had actually been posted on Facebook Marketplace for about 4-5 months locally to me and I had viewed the ad several times in the past. Mildly track prepped with some cool parts. It was never really on my radar though as I wasn't in the market at the time and it was priced pretty high at $9k. Well, it got reposted with a lower price of $7k and I decided it was worth going and checking out. The owner ended up being super cool and was stoked to see the car go to someone who will actually use it. Everything looked great and it was the perfect car for my intended use. We struck a deal at $6000 and I trailered it home.

So here's the scoop on the car, info pulled from his ad:

1992 BMW 325is with an S50B30 swap from a 1995 M3
Alcon front big brakes
E46 rear calipers and vented discs - DTC 60 pads, front brake ducts/backing plates
TC Kline (Koni) adjustable coil overs with camber/caster plates and rear extra adjustable camber links
Solid subframe mounts/welded subframe reinforcement
solid suspension mounts all around
Monoball bushings everywhere
UUC flywheel Short shifter
Power steering stops (to protect the ducts)
Aluminum radiator
Welded oil nut
Head gasket and valve stem seals replaced about 10k miles ago
Diff cooling cover
New wheel bearings front and rear
K1 wheels with Hankook V12 (255/40/R17)

Notable spares: Supercharger kit, 24v Headers, extra 5-speed Getrag and E36 Diff

The car came with a TON of extra good parts, many of which I will be selling off to recoup some funds.




The car runs strong and feels solid. I'm excited to start making it my own, there are definitely some things I want to add/change from here.

First things first, a MOMO Mod .07 steering wheel. I'm actually so happy with this wheel, it feels and looks so much better than the stock airbag wheel:



Next on the list is more of a preventative measure. moatilliatta informed me that original S50 valve spring retainers are known to be weak and can fail at sustained high RPM, dropping a valve and ruining the engine. I don't want that. So, I found a set of new updated retainers and swapped them in last night. Valve cover off - valvetrain looking clean:



With the VANOS and cams removed, I got right to work. I had to get crafty and build a little valve spring compressor tool:





All finished up! That was a lot of work and a miracle that I didn't drop any of the tiny valve keepers. I was super careful and just took my time with it. Just need to start reassembling now. I'm rebuilding the VANOS while I'm in here too, starting on that today.



I already have my first track day coming up on February 4th so I have just under a month to get this thing ready for it's maiden voyage. I have several things I want to address before then and I'll update this thread as I go along. Thanks for looking!

[Panici]

I was waiting for this thread! Subbed for updates.
Should be fun on track with the S50B30.

Jealous that you can do trackdays year-round; I lose half the year to weather.

[moatilliatta]

Looks like it’ll be a great track car! Looking forward to updates!

[OSAH racing]

Perfect upgrade from the E30 IMO. Whats next for the e30? keeping it or selling?

[CubbyChowder]

Thanks guys! So curious to see how it does at this upcoming track day and how it feels compared to the E30.

OSAH racing - Keeping the E30 as my daily! I have a low mileage S50 waiting to be swapped in and I'm going to switch to a softer suspension setup. Just make it a comfortable street car and eventually finish the exterior and get it resprayed. I love that car.

Small update - finished up my top end work. No pics of the VANOS rebuild process, hands were caked in oil the entire time so I didn't stop to take pics but that's all buttoned up. I got the cams back in, got everything timed properly, stuck the VANOS back on, installed a new valve cover gasket set, cleaned and inspected spark plugs and coils and then installed. REALLY took my time with this whole process, it took forever but I feel good knowing that I was thorough with my work.

Even though I won't run these covers, I had to set them on just to see it all back together:



Everything is nice and clean, yet still looks like crap, haha:



Even though it's totally unnecessary (because track car), I am so tempted to remove all this hideous cosmoline off the strut towers. I want a clean, tidy and simple engine bay.

Just waiting on my CSF radiator to show up so I can get the cooling system back together and the car will be ready to run and drive again. Then it needs tires! Plan is to get 255/40r17 Hankook Ventus RS4

[Panici]

Even though it's totally unnecessary (because track car), I am so tempted to remove all this hideous cosmoline off the strut towers. I want a clean, tidy and simple engine bay.

Doesn't have to be necessary, if it brings you joy to see a clean engine bay then take the time to remove the cosmoline.
What products have you used in the past? When I stripped all of mine in the E30 I used engine bay de-greaser and a lot of elbow grease. Ended up using gun cleaner on the toughest spots, but this removed the paint if left on the surface for more then a second or two.

[CubbyChowder]

Doesn't have to be necessary, if it brings you joy to see a clean engine bay then take the time to remove the cosmoline.
What products have you used in the past? When I stripped all of mine in the E30 I used engine bay de-greaser and a lot of elbow grease. Ended up using gun cleaner on the toughest spots, but this removed the paint if left on the surface for more then a second or two.

I was going to start with Goof Off Professional Strength remover and see if that does the trick. I recently used it to remove the baked on adhesive under the hood foam insulation pads on my friends E28, it took a long time but it worked really well and didn't damage the paint underneath at all. I also used it on this valve cover job as the PO used yellow gasket adhesive on both surfaces and it was baked on the head and valve cover pretty good. The Goof Off made quick work of it. So I'll give it a go and report back, but if that doesn't work then I will probably resort to some sort of degreaser, have seen that P21S Total Auto Wash seems to work well for people. We shall see.

[CubbyChowder]

Was excited because my new CSF radiator showed up today:



But the excitement stopped there. I'm gonna complain a little. Things got annoying once it came to installing it, for a few reasons. First, the mounting grommet slots are way too big on the CSF so the grommets fit super loosely:



So I ended up having to squeeze the aluminum tabs closer together with pliers and it looks kinda janky. But once the grommets fit ok, the standard plastic mounting clips held the radiator too far off the core support so the fan was hitting the shroud and the expansion tank was touching the valve cover, so I ended up ditching the plastic tabs and building my own brackets:



Drilled and installed some rivnuts:



Now it mounts up close to the core support and nothing interferes anymore. Brackets got painted black after this final test fit:



But then I went to connect the radiator hoses and the CSF hose barbs seemed too small! Both top and bottom hoses slid on with no effort and fit pretty loosely:



I measured the barbs on the old radiator and sure enough they were bigger. I also have two extra aluminum thermostat housings around and they both fit nice and snug on the end of the coolant hose, and holding them up to the CSF barb it was visibly smaller - not by much but enough to feel uneasy about it. I know I could just crank down on the hose clamp and probably be fine, but I'd rather the hose just fit nicely. I know the hose could be old and expanded, but it's a newer hose and it fit great on the thermostat housings I tried, so I'm leaning towards them not being too out of spec.

ANYWAYS - enough bitching, sorry guys. I ordered new radiator hoses, I'm gonna call CSF tomorrow to see what they say. I'm debating whether I want to run this radiator or not.

I got tires on order at my local tire shop, should have them installed early next week. Ordered 255/40r17 Hankook Ventus RS4 so that'll be sweet.

[moatilliatta]

I usually double stuff the rubber inserts. I do agree it’s absurd how they get away with that fitment. Less noticeable on the E30 while I cut those off.. At least I think the quality and core efficiency is better than the mishimoto ones.

[CubbyChowder]

I usually double stuff the rubber inserts. I do agree it’s absurd how they get away with that fitment. Less noticeable on the E30 while I cut those off.. At least I think the quality and core efficiency is better than the mishimoto ones.

Yeah I didn't notice any of this when I installed the same radiator in my E30 since it mounts differently. I don't remember the small hose barbs being an issue then either. I guess I just don't understand how you can sell something that is so close to fitting proper but just off enough to where you have to address it. You're already putting in all that work to build the product, why not just bend the mounting tabs slightly more narrow so the grommets actually fit and weld them 1/4" over from where they currently are and the fitment would be perfect out of the box. Even the holes to mount the clips for the fan shroud are just barely too small! So those need to be drilled a bit bigger. And spend the $0.05 more on the correct tubing size for the barbs.

In the end I'm sure I can make it all work.

I'd also like to figure out a different expansion tank solution, I'm not really liking the OEM setup with the hoses running through the fan shroud for a track car. It makes for a clean install and I appreciate that, but the process of removing/reinstalling everything is a bit cumbersome.

[Joeyz31]

Looking good dude!

i have been tempted to do the retainers on my car but have a ton apart right now and want to wait for it to be back together. It seems straight forward but still an overwhelming job to take on.
looks like yours went smoothly, which is awesome and now great piece of mind!

it looks like you got yourself an awesome car that’s going to be pretty quick and can’t wait to see more progress.

[CubbyChowder]

Tires are mounted! My local tire store had me at $700 out the door mounted and balanced for this setup which was a really good deal. Gonna give them a good cleaning before they go back on the car.

255/40ZR17 Hankook Ventus R-S4

[Panici]

Wheels look pretty light. Kosei K1?

[CubbyChowder]

Wheels look pretty light. Kosei K1?

Yessir. They are 16.8lbs a piece according to Kosei. I'll weigh them today with the tire installed and report back.

[Fraser]

Wow that bad fitment on the radiator is pretty surprising to me. I always sort of considered CSF to be the higher end option- I've been using Mishimotos on two different cars with good success for what it's worth, though people tend to say Mishimoto is poor quality.