Suj's Nimbus Clio 197 and E36 328i Trackcar

Looks like you had a really good time mate. Sounds like you're loving the car at the minute too! Tripod in one of the photos in Wales? Looks like it?

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Looks like you had a really good time mate. Sounds like you're loving the car at the minute too! Tripod in one of the photos in Wales? Looks like it?

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Yeah it was great and yep you're right I'm really enjoying the car, when you use it for just commuting doing 75miles a day, any car loses it's spark, it's just a tool for a job, I think I'm enjoying it more with it being used less and then the roadtrip.
The cambelt change which was annoying as it was a lot of money for no gain...but it actually gained so much it's the best money I've spent in a while lol.

Is that the last shot? Yeah that was Lake District but it did tripod many times due to camber of the road (some cheating haha) but it did also in the dry too in Wales.

Not jelly [emoji19]

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Oh look, it's the div who made me buy the PBS ProRace pads...haha nah best recommendation from you babes :kissingheart:
 
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Oopsie

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I'm great at this "I'm selling the car soon" malarky....

They came up for a really good price, with adjustable top mounts (I think they are the first Compbrake ones, if anyone can confirm, I'll get some pics).

They popped up when I was on the roadtrip but never seen them, then I noticed them and I assumed they would have sold for the price, but to my surprise they did not! Because he was after collection only.

A quick call to Mark who owns Octane Run asking how far it is from him....9mins! What a winner.

He went to collect, the owner of them owns CarbonWurks and has upgraded to Nitrons (worth more than my car lol) for racing, Mark said he was a top lad and even sent me the C-Spanners as he forgot them.

Gonna try and get them on soon when I get a long weekend, first thing I need to do is MOT on the car, due to 6month extension I totally forgot!
 
Just caught up Suj. You’ve been busy mate!

car looks decent. Long may the “I’m thinking of selling” continue:grinning:
 
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[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]

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I was waiting for you to read it haha!

Just caught up Suj. You’ve been busy mate!

car looks decent. Long may the “I’m thinking of selling” continue:grinning:

Thanks Ben, haha I hope not as it gets expensive haha.

:sunglasses: Lovely little find

Yeah I had to buy them at that price, could sell them on for more when I come to sell them.
 
I was waiting for you to read it haha!



Thanks Ben, haha I hope not as it gets expensive haha.



Yeah I had to buy them at that price, could sell them on for more when I come to sell them.
You're worse than me

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I have some good news and some bad news....

Bad news the Clio won't be used on track :disappointed:

The good news, the Clio won't be going any time soon :grimacing:

In other good news....I bought an E36 328i track car in Boston Green....YAY! :german:
Feels like deja vu, as I owned one in 2012 that I turned into a track car, but I didn't get to use it on many tracks before I lost my unit and at that point in life I could have done with the money, so I broke it for bits and sold the car to a mate, who put interior back in and then sold it on to someone....who then sold it onto DannyDC2 (some of you may know of Dan from youtube and the like, small world as we knew each other on VW forums from back in the day when I was at uni).

Here's the old one

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Enough about reminiscing....

So the new car and why I bought it, I have missed it since I sold it, I regretted it for a very long time and I have been seeing prices go up loads (E30s have gone through the roof so they were off, E36 M3s have gone super high now, so that meant E36 followed suit), I really wanted Boston Green as I think it's genuinely one of the nicest colours for an E36, I really loved the M52B28 engine too, it also is a strong engine with hardly any work needing to be done compared to the S50B30 or B32 in the M3s (also I think the M52 sound better).
I have kept an eye out, but nothing had really done it for me, I was originally looking for a standard one then I wanted to do the work, but nothing had popped up and many others now wanted the Boston Green ones, so they were in high demand!

Then this popped up, it had many of the mods I would have wanted to do, so here is the spec list from the sale ad:

Engine and Gearbox:
-BMW Motorsport LSD with 3.91 Crown Wheel and Pinion
-K&N Filter
-Scorpion Exhaust
-BMW M3 Radiator and Header Tank
-Recent Prop Donut/Centre Support Bearing Replacement and Prop Shaft Balanced

Suspension and Handling:
-HSD MonoPro Coilovers 10kg/12kg Spring Rates
-VAC Rear Camber Arms
-BMW Z3 Steering Rack (claimed)
-Polybushed Eibach Front and Rear Anti Roll Bars /w Polybushes
-Polybushed BMW M3 Front Lower Arms
-Polybushed Rear Suspension Arms
-Powerflex Black Diff Bushes (19.09.20)
-Full Alignment (BM Wizard 19.09.20)
-Motul GEAR Competition 75w-140 LSD Oil (27.09.20)
Brakes and Wheels:
-17x9 TD 1.2 ET42
-Federal RS-RR 255/40
-Pagid RS-29 /w Pagid Discs all round
-Braided Brake Lines

Interior:
-Laycock Engineering "Half-Cage" with Cross-Brace and Harness Bar
-Bimcaro Bucket Seats
-Schroth Harness/OMP Harness
-Driftworks "Low" Seat Rails
-Suede OMP Steering Wheel
-Quick shift /w Weighted Gearknob

Notable recent work includes;
-Reinforced Trailing Arms
-Full Geo
-Front and Rear Diff Bushes
-Front Track Rod Ends
-Diff Oil Change
-Jacking Points have been plated by a previous owner
-Prop Shaft and Centre Support replaced and balanced
-Window Regulators Replaced.

As you can see, it's quite a comprehensive list of mods and not cheap to do them all then on top of that the price of a BG 328i Manual on top, so I contacted the guy and I had a few questions regarding the mods / condition etc. We then setup a phone call and just chatted, he's a proper car guy (has owned a Clio 182 and Megane RS250 just before this), he didn't own it long (~6months) but has spent £4k on it in that time, this put me off at first, but then after speaking to him he is looking to buy a house and as it's a second car and he used it on 2 trackdays where it was faultless, it will now sit dormant for the next 3ish months until tracks open again in new year, so he was hoping to free up cash to put into a house, made me feel more comfortable.

Now the car, mechanically it is brilliant, engine pulls perfect, gearbox is great and smooth, LSD is great and locks well. The underside is clean with all rust spots that normally go have been rectified, this is a big bonus and costs saved.

Then of course the long list of mods, I would have went for the same HSDs (if you look above at the pic of my old on decked, that was on HSDs with their (at the time it was named) "Nurburging Spec Springs", I was the first person to have them, they wanted me to get them on and deck it to see how low it can go....as apparently that was a requirement for their customers.....that wasn't even all the way down haha).

Then things like the Eibach ARBs I had before, everything is polybushed (not expensive, but takes the piss to change them all), the half cage looks really well made too, tied into the rear struts.

Now the things I don't like / want to do:
* The metal plates in the interior dash are horrible, they will be rectified!
* The bodywork needs some attention, mainly front bumper (it was a non Msport like my old one, so has Msport bumpers put on, front one was red so can see it through) also I don't like the bonnet pins in it, so look at removing them

* I am even considering fitting carpet, to make it a bit nicer inside (won't add that much weight)
* Gearstick / shifter, it is so loose and crap for feel, even in a gear the bush has worn so much it has so much movement
* The rack is slightly weeping from seals, previous-previous owner told him it's a Z3 1.9 rack (quickest of all retrofit ones), these cannot be rebuilt, but I will go for a "purple rack" 067 from E46, these are second quickest racks (I did a post years ago measuring them all, how much the pinion displaces per rotation of the input)
* Sunroof blanking plate is slightly leaking (I was told) but I drove it home in torrential rain and nothing leaked...so i'll keep eye on it
* Has a three point passenger Sabelt harness, I want to get a matching Schroth (4pt minimum, 5pt ideally)
* Steering column sits high, so need to look at lowering that
* Set of road tyres (or wet road tyres)
* M3 underbody brace aka X-brace from a convertible (ties the engine subframe to the chassis rails, also adds some protection to the sump)

I've got a few things in the attic from my last one, I got some Turner Motorsport solid slider pins for the calipers, I have 6x R888s (4x 225, 2x 255) so I might buy some wheels to throw them on to use up on track (they've been dry stored, but I wouldn't use them on the road).

Overall I am very chuffed with it, rough round the edges but drives so good, the throttle response just gets me every time, the joys of cabled throttle cars!

So should see many of you lovely people on track soon, please don't overtake me too quickly to make me feel better about myself :tearsofjoy: (not done a trackday in like 6 years!)

Here's some pics, most stolen from previous owners pics, will do more as I come along.

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I've bought a few bits already (currently on the way, some BF deals):
* TD centre caps
* Bonnet badge (common faded one on there)
* New solid short shifter
* Bonnet gas struts
* Rear top mount reinforcement plates
* Fog light blanks
* Aerocatches


So regarding Clio, it will remain as my daily, so I might sell the Bilstein B14s (as I was planning to put them on, to get it out on track), I also have a Rear ARB and few bits I had been hogging I will put up for sale soon.
 
Nice looking beemer but not tracking the Clio! How dare you sir

Haha, well no point tracking both, but at least I have a back up with the 197!

When are you taking me out in that then :sunglasses:

It's currently SORN etc as I want to sort out the niggles, then I'll definitely take you out! We can also rock up to trackdays, a few of my mates want to come too.

Smart that. I would love to get something rwd for track! It would definitely end up in tears though :tearsofjoy:

Thanks Nath, haha yeah it can be scary but also so rewarding, I remember back in the day I bought my 200sx and it was my first RWD, 2 weeks later I was on my way to Ring with mates....it was totally standard with worn out bushes etc, near the old pits I nearly spun....but then I learnt how to drive it.

I just missed my E36 and wanted one again, it had to be Boston Green though!

It's gonna be a shock to my system too, as I've had Clio for nearly 4 years, you got to drive them so different to RWD etc.
 
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So it's been a long time since updates, not much has happened with the Clio really, the alternator died so I got that rebuilt and it was fine for ages (I hardly do any miles, as we're all working from home, so went from 350miles/week to zero for work).

It was around end of Jan when it died, when we had the lovely snow, so didn't really need to use the car, so waited for it to stop snowing.

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I had moved the plug out the way, but during wiggling it out I didn't realise it had fell and got squashed and broke....DOH!
Luckily the legend that is Christopher @ Beanie Sport sent me one out, he didn't want anything for it, but I sent him some beer tokens as he saved me.

I dropped it off at a place that my friends have been using for years, typical old school shop front looks all messy but guy is great and turned it round very quickly (F & S Auto Electrics in Sparkhill Birmingham if anyone is in need in future).
They cleaned it all up, gave it a lick of paint, all new bearings and new anything that was gone.

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Then got it all back together and soldered the new plug on and all back together and making 14+v

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Like I said i've hardly done miles, especially as it was lockdown, then I started doing more when gyms open etc, I then got a "LOW BATTERY" pop up.
I plugged in my bluetooth OBD2 reader and Torque App and logged voltage, it was getting 13.5v max, sometimes dipping and hitting high 12v (that's when it was flagging the warning) it wouldn't come on during short journey's.

I was scratching my head trying to work out what has happened, checked for any bad earths etc, nothing.

Then after 1 journey I looked and the battery was all the way to the right and the red cable was being pulled a lot, I started it and measured voltage it was high 12v, so the clamp for the battery to stop it moving wasn't done tight (I swear I did) and it was causing a short somewhere from the pulling, but sod's law when I looked at the battery the first time it had flagged up low battery warning, it was in the correct place lol.

So since I sorted that she's been running spot on (still paranoid and constantly checking if it is reading the correct volts on journey's haha).

That's about as fun as it has been with the Clio, I will post about the E36 very soon.
 
Just out of interest, what voltage should it be making when running? Mine sometimes goes as high as 14.8v, not sure if that's good or bad? Admittedly I recorded the voltage using one of those cheap cigarette>USB plugs with the voltage reader built in.... Not sure if these are super accurate but surely can't be that off?

Anyway, never had any issues but always worth checking! Awesome write-up yet again Suj, well documented with plenty of quality photos for reference, thanks!
 
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Just out of interest, what voltage should it be making when running? Mine sometimes goes as high as 14.8v, not sure if that's good or bad? Admittedly I recorded the voltage using one of those cheap cigarette>USB plugs with the voltage reader built in.... Not sure if these are super accurate but surely can't be that off?

Anyway, never had any issues but always worth checking! Awesome write-up yet again Suj, well documented with plenty of quality photos for reference, thanks!

At idle there are fluctuations (especially on start up) but as long as it doesn't go too high constantly that's not a problem Frank (I'm no electrical genius...I hate electrics haha, but from research I've done that's what I've read).
Mine when I started the other day was around that to start with, but then dropped to like 14.3ish and just stayed there (+-0.1v).

Also to add, some people said I could take off the inlets to get to it, but I went with the method above as it wasn't that hard (as use Clio owners can get bumpers off in minutes lol) then I had to take bumper bar off to get the plastic that directs airflow towards the radiator (headlight had to come off to get these bolts out).
Then drivers archliner off to take the aux belt off, I did it in about 30-35mins all in, first time doing it, just looks to most people "omg look how much you had to do" it's really not that bad.
Just don't damage the plug like I did, as it's not easy to find a replacement! (Most people only were selling full looms!)
 
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So not really updated the E36 and got told off haha.

First thing was to remove the god awful metal plates....to then discover it was "wired" by a toddler!

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There was one here too, but I was too busy taking it out to take a pic.

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I have no idea why, but they decided to put the horn on here this shit panel...when there is a centre button on the OMP wheel....makes no sense!
Also a toggle switch for hazards....again no idea why.

I then seen their "wiring" attempts!

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Yes that is wrapped around the connector....and just taped....but the tape wasn't even on the bloody wire!!!

I then seen a guy breaking 2x E36 Saloons in Bolton (not far from my sister's), people don't realise the carpets for Coupes and Saloons/Tourings are the same for the front part, I had some quotes of just £100 for the carpet....too Indian for that shit.

I wanted all the plastic bits I was missing (glovebox, vents above glovebox, centre console bits, handbrake covers etc), guy said £65 for the lot including carpet if I take it out myself....YES PLEASE!

The guy was lovely, just breaking them to keep busy while being furloughed, I had the lot out in like an hour, then I gave him a hand to remove things he had sold for a bit, I ended up with a few extra bits while I was there, but still wasn't the £100 I got quoted for "coupe carpet". Also a bonus all the bits were black, not the old looking grey they normally are!

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I rented a Rug Doctor, to do the house and also the carpet I took out, perfect time to do it before it goes in.

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It came out really well (PS in first pic, the mud was me by accident when I was going in and out of the car to get tools).

The guy breaking the car was lovely and even let me take some wiring / connectors / cut them from loom, this helped me massively for the next bits.
I set about rewiring the hazard switch in

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Hazard switch was done...another worrying thing is the hazard switch has 2 pairs on wires, one for when cars running and one for always live (so if you breakdown)....they had only wired the one when running! So if I brokedown I would have had no hazards, so this was rectified.