1998 BMW E36 323i Saloon Track Car Build
Discussion
Morning 
I sold my last E36 BMW about two years ago when I needed something a little bigger. Since then I’ve had an E39 530i, an E87 116i utter shed and my current Seat Leon FR TDI. None of them particularly exciting and to be honest none as engaging to drive as my old E36 318i Touring.
Recently I’ve been getting the urge for another E36! I have just finished stripping my XR2 race car and selling all the parts so had a bit of cash to spend. I’ve nearly finished recommissioning my Mk2 Golf GTI 20v so the money wasn’t going to be needed there and my Mk2 Caddy VR5 Van project has completely lost my interest at the moment and will be getting moved round to my garage until I build up the enthusiasm to get moving on it again.
With E36’s in mind I started searching eBay, Gumtree, Autotrader and Facebook Marketplace in the hope of finding something half decent. I wanted a six cylinder version this time because I’m probably going to use it for a few track days eventually and will want to eke a bit more power out of it Over the course of two or three weeks the various cars came and went and nothing jumped out at me. All that seemed to be out there were the rusty but expensive cars or the not quite so rusty but extortionate cars. It’s amazed me how much these have jumped up in price over the last couple of years! Anyway I kept an eye out and one morning the car that I ended up buying appeared on Facebook. It was a poorly written advert with only two photos, however it appeared tidy. I got a few more photos from the seller and a bit more information and then arranged to go and have a look at it. We turned up there and it was pretty much as described. A test drive revealed no immediate issues and after a bit of negotiation on price I was on my way with my new purchase
So, it’s a 1998 BMW 323i Saloon. It’s done 89,000 genuine miles, has BMW service history for a decent part of its life and is in a rare colour. Sierra Red. It’s also got completely solid wheel arches, sills and jacking points which was a big selling point. Anyway, enough rambling. Have some pictures.
Now unfortunately pretty much every panel has some scratching or scuffs but when work reopens I’m going to get the body shop to give it a look over and see what they can do. This is the worst of the bodywork. I have no idea how this happened but it’s probably new door territory.
I’ll do another update a bit later with what I’m going to do with it
I sold my last E36 BMW about two years ago when I needed something a little bigger. Since then I’ve had an E39 530i, an E87 116i utter shed and my current Seat Leon FR TDI. None of them particularly exciting and to be honest none as engaging to drive as my old E36 318i Touring.
Recently I’ve been getting the urge for another E36! I have just finished stripping my XR2 race car and selling all the parts so had a bit of cash to spend. I’ve nearly finished recommissioning my Mk2 Golf GTI 20v so the money wasn’t going to be needed there and my Mk2 Caddy VR5 Van project has completely lost my interest at the moment and will be getting moved round to my garage until I build up the enthusiasm to get moving on it again.
With E36’s in mind I started searching eBay, Gumtree, Autotrader and Facebook Marketplace in the hope of finding something half decent. I wanted a six cylinder version this time because I’m probably going to use it for a few track days eventually and will want to eke a bit more power out of it
Over the course of two or three weeks the various cars came and went and nothing jumped out at me. All that seemed to be out there were the rusty but expensive cars or the not quite so rusty but extortionate cars. It’s amazed me how much these have jumped up in price over the last couple of years! Anyway I kept an eye out and one morning the car that I ended up buying appeared on Facebook. It was a poorly written advert with only two photos, however it appeared tidy. I got a few more photos from the seller and a bit more information and then arranged to go and have a look at it. We turned up there and it was pretty much as described. A test drive revealed no immediate issues and after a bit of negotiation on price I was on my way with my new purchase So, it’s a 1998 BMW 323i Saloon. It’s done 89,000 genuine miles, has BMW service history for a decent part of its life and is in a rare colour. Sierra Red. It’s also got completely solid wheel arches, sills and jacking points which was a big selling point. Anyway, enough rambling. Have some pictures.
Now unfortunately pretty much every panel has some scratching or scuffs but when work reopens I’m going to get the body shop to give it a look over and see what they can do. This is the worst of the bodywork. I have no idea how this happened but it’s probably new door territory.
I’ll do another update a bit later with what I’m going to do with it
Anyway, I’ve managed to find a manual gearbox conversion already so I’ll get on with that in the not too distant future. I’ve only ever owned an auto 318i which had no power anyway and an auto 530i which was powerful enough to overcome the crappy auto box. However in the 323i the auto box saps the power like you wouldn’t believe, so the manual conversion is very much needed to free up the power delivery a bit.
I’ll also be doing an M50 inlet manifold swap which will free up some more power from the slightly strangled 2.5L straight six engine.
First things first though. I needed to sort out the radio! The car had this beautiful Sony CD player fitted when I collected it
It worked but it needed to go. Thankfully I’ve got a few different car radios at home. I decided this Blaupunkt would suit the car for now It does but I’m not sure if I like it so I might end up changing it for one of my Alpines instead.
I’ll also be doing an M50 inlet manifold swap which will free up some more power from the slightly strangled 2.5L straight six engine.
First things first though. I needed to sort out the radio! The car had this beautiful Sony CD player fitted when I collected it
It worked but it needed to go. Thankfully I’ve got a few different car radios at home. I decided this Blaupunkt would suit the car for now
It does but I’m not sure if I like it so I might end up changing it for one of my Alpines instead. 
I'd be interested in knowing more about the manual conversion. The best and cheapest E36s seem to be autos, so if the manual swap is relatively straightforward, it might be the best way into E36 ownership now.
I always seem to find BMWs disappointing to drive, but I've not tried an E36 - I wonder if they were the last 3-series to actually drive like a BMW...
I always seem to find BMWs disappointing to drive, but I've not tried an E36 - I wonder if they were the last 3-series to actually drive like a BMW...
NDNDNDND said:
I'd be interested in knowing more about the manual conversion. The best and cheapest E36s seem to be autos, so if the manual swap is relatively straightforward, it might be the best way into E36 ownership now.
I always seem to find BMWs disappointing to drive, but I've not tried an E36 - I wonder if they were the last 3-series to actually drive like a BMW...
I’ve personally never converted one to manual but I’ve done plenty of reading up on the subject and spoken to a friend who owns a BMW tuning and race prep company and I’ve been assured that it’s a really simple job. I think the hardest part is going to be replacing the auto pedal box with the manual pedal box. I always seem to find BMWs disappointing to drive, but I've not tried an E36 - I wonder if they were the last 3-series to actually drive like a BMW...
I’ve driven various E36’s and a few E46’s and I can honestly say the E36 is more engaging to drive. The E46 feels quite cumbersome to me. I haven’t driven any 3 series newer than an E46 so couldn’t comment on how they drive.
Sammo123 said:
I’ve personally never converted one to manual but I’ve done plenty of reading up on the subject and spoken to a friend who owns a BMW tuning and race prep company and I’ve been assured that it’s a really simple job. I think the hardest part is going to be replacing the auto pedal box with the manual pedal box.
I’ve driven various E36’s and a few E46’s and I can honestly say the E36 is more engaging to drive. The E46 feels quite cumbersome to me. I haven’t driven any 3 series newer than an E46 so couldn’t comment on how they drive.
I’ve converted an E46 from auto to manual. The hardest part was routing the slave to master cylinder pipe behind the heater box. The pedals are very straightforward, a few nuts hold them on. I’ve driven various E36’s and a few E46’s and I can honestly say the E36 is more engaging to drive. The E46 feels quite cumbersome to me. I haven’t driven any 3 series newer than an E46 so couldn’t comment on how they drive.
helix402 said:
I’ve converted an E46 from auto to manual. The hardest part was routing the slave to master cylinder pipe behind the heater box. The pedals are very straightforward, a few nuts hold them on.
I’ve been trying to find pictures of where it routes but I’m struggling to find any. Does the pipe route inside the car?
Sammo123 said:
I’ve been trying to find pictures of where it routes but I’m struggling to find any. Does the pipe route inside the car?
On the E46 it routes behind the heater box and then through a bulkhead grommet in the n/s footwell. I’ve not converted an E36. I straightened the pipe to fit it and then re bent it in situ. There is an aftermarket flexible pipe sold for the M3 E46 designed for SMG to manual conversion. It would make the job easier on the E46. May fit the 36 too.helix402 said:
On the E46 it routes behind the heater box and then through a bulkhead grommet in the n/s footwell. I’ve not converted an E36. I straightened the pipe to fit it and then re bent it in situ. There is an aftermarket flexible pipe sold for the M3 E46 designed for SMG to manual conversion. It would make the job easier on the E46. May fit the 36 too.
helix402 said:
On the E46 it routes behind the heater box and then through a bulkhead grommet in the n/s footwell. I’ve not converted an E36. I straightened the pipe to fit it and then re bent it in situ. There is an aftermarket flexible pipe sold for the M3 E46 designed for SMG to manual conversion. It would make the job easier on the E46. May fit the 36 too.
Just spoke to a friend of mine and it turns out the solid clutch line runs off the master cylinder, through the bulkhead, behind the engine and then into a flexi line to the slave. He’s told me it’s easiest to wait until the gearbox is out and fit the pipe from behind the engine so that’s what I’ll be doing. A very quick update on the BMW. The day after I collected the wheels I went out to the car so I could drop them round to my garage to store. I started the car up and nearly had a heart attack at how loud the exhaust was! It took me a few seconds to figure out that the exhaust hadn’t dropped off overnight! I jumped out and stuck my head underneath and my suspicions were confirmed. Some 
has cut the cat off 
Apparently the cats on this model will sell for £600+ so I bet the unscrupulous chap was rubbing his hands together when he saw me park this outside the house!
Thankfully the exhaust was always going to be replaced so apart from the inconvenience of having to drive it really slowly to work when the time comes to fit the replacement it’s not the end of the world. I just laughed when I spotted what they’d done!
has cut the cat off Apparently the cats on this model will sell for £600+ so I bet the unscrupulous chap was rubbing his hands together when he saw me park this outside the house!
Thankfully the exhaust was always going to be replaced so apart from the inconvenience of having to drive it really slowly to work when the time comes to fit the replacement it’s not the end of the world. I just laughed when I spotted what they’d done!
With a distinct lack of enthusiasm for anything car related recently I was advised to just try and do one small job every so often. I figured I’d give that approach a try so popped out to the car to swap the steering wheel today.
The plans have changed slightly with this. I’m going to go all out track car with it and have already bought lots of goodies for it However for something quick and easy to do the steering wheel seemed like a good place to start.
This is the original bus steering wheel that the car came with.
After fiddling around with the two T30 bolts that hold the airbag on I found the 16mm hub nut and then the wheel was ready to come off.
Then I could pop on the MOMO hub adapter.
I did a bit of chopping to the wiring and fitted a resistor to the airbag wiring to keep the light off. Then it was time to fit the new wheel It’s a Motamec semi dish wheel.
A much more acceptable sized wheel
I’m now waiting for one of the techs at work to get a free weekend and then we’ll be getting on with the manual conversion. My mate Bruno at BDS Motorsport sorted me out with a Sachs lightened flywheel (approx 6kg!) and ceramic clutch kit the other day so I’ve now got everything I need for the conversion (apart from the time of course).
The plans have changed slightly with this. I’m going to go all out track car with it and have already bought lots of goodies for it
However for something quick and easy to do the steering wheel seemed like a good place to start. This is the original bus steering wheel that the car came with.
After fiddling around with the two T30 bolts that hold the airbag on I found the 16mm hub nut and then the wheel was ready to come off.
Then I could pop on the MOMO hub adapter.
I did a bit of chopping to the wiring and fitted a resistor to the airbag wiring to keep the light off. Then it was time to fit the new wheel
It’s a Motamec semi dish wheel. A much more acceptable sized wheel
I’m now waiting for one of the techs at work to get a free weekend and then we’ll be getting on with the manual conversion. My mate Bruno at BDS Motorsport sorted me out with a Sachs lightened flywheel (approx 6kg!) and ceramic clutch kit the other day so I’ve now got everything I need for the conversion (apart from the time of course).
Surprised that buying a manual 325/328 doesn’t make more sense from the beginning.
Doesn’t going manual and upgrading performance result in big hassle with time/parts/insurance/cost etc?
Is there a big spread in cost for the base car?? Would be curious to know what the cost difference is between an auto 323 and a manual 328.
Not knocking the project by the way, just genuinely curious. I think there was a time when the cost differentials were not that great. I guess the market gravitates towards to the top end as they get older and the enthusiasts start buying them.
To add, I can see the 328 Sports with the LSD and M kit being a big premium. Baby M3.
Doesn’t going manual and upgrading performance result in big hassle with time/parts/insurance/cost etc?
Is there a big spread in cost for the base car?? Would be curious to know what the cost difference is between an auto 323 and a manual 328.
Not knocking the project by the way, just genuinely curious. I think there was a time when the cost differentials were not that great. I guess the market gravitates towards to the top end as they get older and the enthusiasts start buying them.
To add, I can see the 328 Sports with the LSD and M kit being a big premium. Baby M3.
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