318 Ti Competitive in GS
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,824
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here's my take, short and sweet. (I'm not known for either, so bear with me) Given your apparent status as a driver, and your situation with the car:
1. Shocks. 10 year old shocks with 90k miles on them need to be replaced, or at least refreshed. Bilsteins are better than good.
2. Alignment. Get it right.
3. Driver. With the above, you're going to have to relearn the car a little bit.
4. Tires. Then you'll be ready for the grip.
1. Shocks. 10 year old shocks with 90k miles on them need to be replaced, or at least refreshed. Bilsteins are better than good.
2. Alignment. Get it right.
3. Driver. With the above, you're going to have to relearn the car a little bit.
4. Tires. Then you'll be ready for the grip.
__________________
Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 82
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
318ti will be a fun local GS car.
A good fun economical car to compete in.
Best advice - leave stock - just freshen shocks and bushings up - get the best tires you can afford and go to as many events as yoy can.
Practice - practice - practice.
On a bigger competition level 0 the 318ti can not run even close to the MINI Cooper S in SCCA GS.
Fix it up and come out and get sme seat time,
Keith R
JFF Racing
SCCA BS BMW M3 / HS BMW 318i / GS MINI Cooper S
A good fun economical car to compete in.
Best advice - leave stock - just freshen shocks and bushings up - get the best tires you can afford and go to as many events as yoy can.
Practice - practice - practice.
On a bigger competition level 0 the 318ti can not run even close to the MINI Cooper S in SCCA GS.
Fix it up and come out and get sme seat time,
Keith R
JFF Racing
SCCA BS BMW M3 / HS BMW 318i / GS MINI Cooper S
GS Cone Killer
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Anyone care to make recommendations to how the alignment should be set up with the stock suspension? I'm leaning towards the Bilsteins, but not until I have several other "kinks" worked out.
__________________
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
GS Cone Killer
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh, and Loren, one of the first cars I looked at some - we won't say how many - years ago, was a Triumph Spitfire. I ran into a guy up here a few years back that had swapped out the TR7 front end and dropped a rather large Chevy v8 in his. It was, quite frankly, a thing of beauty.
__________________
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
legend behind the cowl
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 1,841
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I'll back up Loren, The Bilsteins are GREAT for this application, the Koni's the adjust ability is nice but I never liked the way koni's feel, some people swear by them but I think they feel muddy. when your just starting out the adjustment is just one more thing to mess up.
one thing is you MAY have to buy front Bilsteins sports for the E36 M3 as for some unknown reason 10 years ago bilstein only issued there awesome single tube dampers to the E36 M3 the rest of the E36 line got low pressure twin tube fronts.. I don't know if this has changed but that was the deal in 99. as I recall it was a bolt up affair, but I drank a lot since then. Call Bilstein and get the correct part numbers for the monotube. the front of the car might sit slightly higher with the monotubes because it raises the effective front spring rate. but The Z3 needed a little boot in the front since it sat like a 70's dragster in stock form.
As for Allignment there are 2 ways to go, I love people that tell me their E36's are non adjustable. one is the "crash bolt" BMW P/N 07-11-9-900-587 nut P/N 07-12-9-964-661 (these part numbers are old see if they still apply)
I've know of many competitors that used these back in the day on the national level to dial in an extra .5-.75 of negative camber, also while not a part availble when I was racing the MZ3 Strut top mounts have a bit of camber built into them too. I assume this would apply to the E36 M3 parts in your case.
The other is to add a 1/16" or 1/8" washer between the two bottom holes of the strut and the spindle, I used to use both of these back in the day to tuck 245 tires under the fenders of my little Z3 and run with a full -2.5 degrees camber. for the Street I recommend no more then 2 deg and Zero toe in the front. rear, I don't know I don't think I ever touched mine, once I got the front correct. the car was perfect and did not need anything else. I never had to touch the sway bar (I did once but it only slowed me down). but if once you get the car really grippy up front if the rear starts to become unruly a nice fat swaybay on the front will Re-Plant the Rear.
one thing is you MAY have to buy front Bilsteins sports for the E36 M3 as for some unknown reason 10 years ago bilstein only issued there awesome single tube dampers to the E36 M3 the rest of the E36 line got low pressure twin tube fronts.. I don't know if this has changed but that was the deal in 99. as I recall it was a bolt up affair, but I drank a lot since then. Call Bilstein and get the correct part numbers for the monotube. the front of the car might sit slightly higher with the monotubes because it raises the effective front spring rate. but The Z3 needed a little boot in the front since it sat like a 70's dragster in stock form.
As for Allignment there are 2 ways to go, I love people that tell me their E36's are non adjustable. one is the "crash bolt" BMW P/N 07-11-9-900-587 nut P/N 07-12-9-964-661 (these part numbers are old see if they still apply)
I've know of many competitors that used these back in the day on the national level to dial in an extra .5-.75 of negative camber, also while not a part availble when I was racing the MZ3 Strut top mounts have a bit of camber built into them too. I assume this would apply to the E36 M3 parts in your case.
The other is to add a 1/16" or 1/8" washer between the two bottom holes of the strut and the spindle, I used to use both of these back in the day to tuck 245 tires under the fenders of my little Z3 and run with a full -2.5 degrees camber. for the Street I recommend no more then 2 deg and Zero toe in the front. rear, I don't know I don't think I ever touched mine, once I got the front correct. the car was perfect and did not need anything else. I never had to touch the sway bar (I did once but it only slowed me down). but if once you get the car really grippy up front if the rear starts to become unruly a nice fat swaybay on the front will Re-Plant the Rear.
Last edited by treekiller; 01-28-2008 at 05:25 PM.
GS Cone Killer
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Alright, well if I move or get stuck up here it seems like either way the answer is pretty straightforward. . .
1.) Clean up the existing suspension with the Bilsteins that I was looking at.
2.) Adjust the alignment (well, have someone do it since I don't know anything about it yet, other than that it hasn't been done in over 40k.)
3.) Drive the car for another 10k, get more seat time with the new suspension and re-learn the feel of the car. (ie: where is it going to push, etc.)
4.) EVENTUALLY get the R-Compounds. . . Not anything I'm looking to do just yet. With other changes being made to the setup I figure I'll be re-learning the breaking points on several things.
Oh, and I've been looking at the "heavy duty" shocks which are a monotube design. . .
1.) Clean up the existing suspension with the Bilsteins that I was looking at.
2.) Adjust the alignment (well, have someone do it since I don't know anything about it yet, other than that it hasn't been done in over 40k.)
3.) Drive the car for another 10k, get more seat time with the new suspension and re-learn the feel of the car. (ie: where is it going to push, etc.)
4.) EVENTUALLY get the R-Compounds. . . Not anything I'm looking to do just yet. With other changes being made to the setup I figure I'll be re-learning the breaking points on several things.
Oh, and I've been looking at the "heavy duty" shocks which are a monotube design. . .
__________________
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
Breaking foglights, one cone at a time.
conekiller
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think I would opt for the "sport" over the "heavy duty"
