tandino

I work on 3 E36 M3's, one non Evo 3l and two 3.2 Evo's. To me the 3l is a much rawer driving experience, the later 3.2 whilst being supposedly quicker didnt feel as frantic due to the longer ratio'd 6 spd box. Ive fitted Alpha N to my mates 3l with the full Carbon intake, to say it sounds awesome is an understatement. Most Evo's will pull anything between 300 and 315bhp on the dyno, They were never 321bhp as most people thing but 321PS which equates to 317bhp. Most 3 Litre's however exceed the 286bhp book figure. You also do not get the twin Vanos growl on the early engine. Rot can be a problem on all of them,arch lips, floorpans, and the seam above the bumper on the rear quarters are favourite rust traps.....

I would say that with 78000 miles its worth at least 4k if its in good nick. There's cars with 120k+ going for 3k....

Looks okay from the pics. And what i do like to see is good premium matching tyres on a car like this, that one is on Michelin Pilots which to me means its not been scrimped on maintenance wise. I for one hate going to see cars like this running on shit cheap tyres with a different make on each wheel. Please beware that just because its had the clutch done doesnt neccesarily mean it will have had the chains done as only specialists will know to do them, if its been done by VW or a Non VW specialist then there is a big chance its not had the chains done - mine had a new clutch but no chains!!

Alternatively try a torx bit, Hex bits grip on the flats whereas torx will grip on the points.

Out of interst Rick what sort of cash did he charge you to fit? Im going to do mine myself but i want to get some idea of how long it took someone who's reasonably handy to do it?. I reckon a day with the dash out or thereabouts.

best bet would be a E36 325i, The E34's are too big and heavy to throw around and most ofthem by now will have knackered shocks, top mounts and front control arms so plenty of shake rattle and roll under cornering and heavy braking through the steering wheel. When the suspension is in fine fettle they are pretty handy but for your sort of budget i have the feeling you'd be getting more trouble than good out of it!

I find it highly amusing at all the people in this thread referring to the the outside lane as the 'Fast' lane and the inside lane as the 'Slow' lane!! :cuckoo:

I wouldn't necessarily replace the flywheel unless you want a lightweight version, Just a skim is all it will need even at that mileage.

I would say the 1 second or so power to the pump is the priming. To me the pump will only run continuously when the engine fires. Whats the pump doing whilst cranking?. Have you tried bridging the fuel pump relay to see if the pump runs continuously?

John gives very good advice there. Try to get on a half day session somewhere or the Coombe day to do a shakedown of the car as is. I did a CC action day in my 20vt and a full day at Croft which highlighted some things i wanted to sort before i went to Germany. No point spending money on stuff if its perfectly ok on track as is.

Get out there again Jim, I still a bit of a Ring novice, 3rd time out there and probably 30 laps or so total but it get better the second time around, i actually remembered pretty much all of the circuit, now im not saying i new perfect lines,braking or clipping points with such a low lap count but i began to feel i could string together a fairly tidy lap towards the end of our second visit in the 540i we bought between the 3 of us. Car owed us 1200 quid betwen 3 of us, it was a very rare E34 540i/6 spd manual, thats the way to do it if you want a cheap track hack, get a couple of mates to split the cost. In the end one of the three, my mate Luke bought 2 of us out and kept the car. We got 300 quid back each after Germany so cost was 100 quid each, Luke got an absolute stonking car with loads of work done on it (we since done loads more!!). I couldnt have taken my 328 Sport out there for that when you factor in tyre wear etc.... Oh yes it was a beast! Looks like this now:-

The Escort Cosworth wasnt even 250bhp :lol: 224 from memory!

Out to the Ring in mine in August, i guess that counts! :lol: Think ive tracked every car ive owned in the last 15 or so years apart from a couple....

I think thats more a case of not enough power for the chassis, in todays climate where the turbo derv's are putting out those sort of figures with colosal torque to boot 150/170bhp is nothing to write home about in something that weighs 1300+kg in the case of the Focus.

Didnt cosworth develop the Cosworth YB? :scratch: It was a collaboration between Cosworth and Ford, Essentially Cosworth designed head and Ford Pinto'esque bottom end,this was the point i was making,Ford made a strong bottom end on their turbo cars too.......

Whoopsie! Always good to use a bit of ingenuity to get you home!! Best one i had was in my Audi S2 about 100 miles from home when the throttle cable snapped on the M1!!!, Had to use my mates boot laces through the passenger window, he had to operate the throttle with the laces tied round a Biro pen!!, Even burnt off a 330 Bmw on the way home :lol:

The Duratec engines are fantastically efficient units and are pretty much one of the up and coming favourites to be fitted to kit cars ala Westfields and the like. Big power increaes are very easy with induction mods - ie throttle bodies etc. Ive not heard of them needing new pistons until over the 230bhp mark which for a N/A engine leaves a reasonable % increase for tuning scope. As for the 1.8t, well in general Forced induction engines are usally built with higher tolerances in mind and es the 1.8t is no exception. Ford did the same with the Cosworth YB, remember that?possibly one of the greatest engines of recent years....

Just for reference my chains were on 157000 miles, Quiet as you like but the top pad was f**ked, through the polymer and both top rivets were long gone. Only way is visual inspection.

The chains will only make the marble noise when the upper pad is worn through the polymer and is running over the top two rivets, Once the rivet heads are worn through the chain noise will go.

Sounds to me like he was going too fast to stop and took avoiding action. Its a shit whats happened mate and i feel for you and your car but if someone has to swerve to stop then their either going too fast,driving too close or not looking. Hope you get it sorted and by the sounds of things your hopefully going to come out on top with a nice shiny wing and door!!

Surely the drivers who were driving too close to each other to be able to stop are the ones responsible?

Ah well as you say its a recent thing then. Last time i was up there i nearly got collared for it and Jacob Bailey who i was chatting with who runs in the VWDRC had to get helmeted up in his R32 Mk2

Your supposed to wear a helmet over 100 at the Pod.

Thought the stock VR time was 15 secs dead or thereabouts?

Don't really understand what your trying to say is the problem from your post? Have the cooling fans actually stopped working? Are you still running the cabin fan on full blast/hot on your drive to work this morning? - that would explain the low coolant temperature. You need to let the car idle with the cabin fans off to see if the cooling fan is cutting in.