Suj's Nimbus Clio 197 and E36 328i Trackcar
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- Start date
suj
Paid Member
Ha same Iain, I got my Bora TDI on 110k, sold it on 220k to my best mates brother, he finally scrapped it on 385k lmao.
My 740iL I got it on 95k, sold it on 197k.
My 200sx I bought on 145k (1 owner from new)! That thing was sooo clean and I took it to Ring 5 times it was so good.
Like you said, maintained well things can last!
burrellbloke
Paid Member
I had an E ref Ford Fiesta that I put about 70,000 miles on - I got it when I was 17. There was nothing that could save that car, even preventative maintenance. By the time I scrapped the car the electrics were knackered, the brakes were failing, the engine drank oil. The only thing that worked properly was the accelerator but that was no good when the car couldn’t stop!
suj
Paid Member
Ok yes some cars are unsalvageable, it's funny as I've had BMWs and they're some of the most plagued cars but have a massive following.
When we went to get my mates 350z 7years ago, the list of major things to check...3...my E36 was like those film scrolls haha.
suj
Paid Member
Yeah I been following that, such an epic build, I love his attention to detail!
Last edited:
suj
Paid Member
I've not updated this in a long time, not really done much to the car, been so busy with stuff in life not done much.
I have been hoarding loads of bits to do and fit!
First off was a big order from Autodoc, it included the following:
* New SKF driveshafts
* Bosch fuel filter
* Valeo handbrake shoes
* Lemforder handbrake fitting kit
* Febi front wheel bearings
* Moog rear wheel bearings
* Meyle rear uniball bushes
I then ordered a DSSR (double shear selector rod) linkage from America in BF discounts, shockingly it was so cheap and no customs or anything, so was like half the price from equivalent from UK!
So I am going to be redoing the selector rod bush anyways so I will be in that area, so I thought I would change this too.
For people who don't know why this is a mod, i'll explain below.
OEM it has a single shear selector rod:
But the DSSR removes this play:
So all movement is actually transmitted to the selector rod.
Another thing that annoyed me was the scuttle panel, it was broken, weathered and rubber all perished, people were asking for £50 for a used one....called my fave BMW dealer and it was only £44 new lol
I have been hoarding loads of bits to do and fit!
First off was a big order from Autodoc, it included the following:
* New SKF driveshafts
* Bosch fuel filter
* Valeo handbrake shoes
* Lemforder handbrake fitting kit
* Febi front wheel bearings
* Moog rear wheel bearings
* Meyle rear uniball bushes
I then ordered a DSSR (double shear selector rod) linkage from America in BF discounts, shockingly it was so cheap and no customs or anything, so was like half the price from equivalent from UK!
So I am going to be redoing the selector rod bush anyways so I will be in that area, so I thought I would change this too.
For people who don't know why this is a mod, i'll explain below.
OEM it has a single shear selector rod:
But the DSSR removes this play:
So all movement is actually transmitted to the selector rod.
Another thing that annoyed me was the scuttle panel, it was broken, weathered and rubber all perished, people were asking for £50 for a used one....called my fave BMW dealer and it was only £44 new lol
Last edited:
suj
Paid Member
I also took advantage of a BF discount (my excuses for buying stuff) and bought some Geoff Steel carbon fibre doorcards, i've always wanted these and the prices aren't terrible before discount (the £65 delivery was) so I ordered and collected them, quality is great and they wrap around properly, not like the "trackday door cards".
I also managed to bag 2 doors in the right colour (no pics), as mine have rust and dents, so easier to buy these are they were so cheap it was silly not to.
Something that pissed me off when I bought the car the electric mirrors never worked, there was no adjuster plugged in, so I got one off ebay and still no worky, didn't matter "that" much...I found out why they didn't work when I took both off....some div cut the plug...not just on the mirror...but door side too FFS, so the doors I mentioned above have correct plugs, so I could have bought new mirrors and swapped over the coloured coded covers, but I wanted to try the DTM style mirrors, especially for £31 delivered lol (they're manual)
Sometimes I love them, sometimes I don't, they're staying on for now, see how I feel to get them painted.
I bought new OEM uniball inner arm bushes I mentioned above (non-M3s only have 1 of these at the top, but M3s have both with same uniball, so a common upgrade), also whilst I was there I got PMC trailing arm outer uniball bushes, I managed to get a cleaned and painted trailing arm for quite cheap, means I can then do all the pressing in and just swap the arms over for ease (when I do true rear coilover conversion and then the PMC uniball upper spring arm replacement).
I bought a strut brace i've wanted for a while now, but the company stopped making them, but one came up for sale so I bagged it
Unfortunately when I went to take it off....so the HSD Monopro coilovers have caster adjustment, it has a studded slider on each side, well someone ruined a stud and used an allen head bolt + nut....I hate bodges so I paid a visit to driftworks and got a new slider (the guys are sound if no ones ever used them / local)...got back and went to undo the nuts to fit the strut brace....the passenger side same stud was bent to fuckery! So back to Driftworks I go to get the other side, they laughed and said I should just live here lol.
Now the big update! Brakes on the E36 from factory are crappy (well most BMWs of this era are) and especially how amazing the Clio brakes are from factory! So I wanted a BBK, but AP Racing kits are just ridiculous money (£2k+ just for fronts).
Instead I wanted to do the 996 Porsche homebrew kit (I actually bought this kit for my old one, but never got it on before I broke the car for bits). If I went just fronts, I would need M3 rear calipers to get correct brake bias, but as M3 prices hold ridiculous tax, the price wasn't far off just getting rear 996 brakes too!
So the kit is:
* 996.351.421 / 996.351.422 front calipers
* 996.352.425 / 996.352.426 rear calipers
* E46 M3 front and rear discs
* Creations Motorsport adapters
* Creations Motorsport Braided lines (E36 > Porsche)
There are 2 options for front discs:
1) as the calipers are + adapters = E46 M3 CSL discs (345mm, but don't fit behind all 17" wheels and really expensive)
2) 12mm machined off calipers + adapters = E46 M3 discs (325mm)
Rears there is so called only 1 option:
E46 M3 rear discs (328mm).
Problem with these are, the handbrake shoes are a pain to get right / really expensive for some options.
I am too Indian to pay £600 for discs every time, so Zimmermann in Germany do E46 M3 front discs but not semi-floating like OEM, but then nearly a 1/3rd the price (£320 vs £120).
Rears after some research, BMW E31 850csi has exact same top-hat dimensions and everything, this was nearly a 1/6th the price (£230 vs £40 for TRW ones) and better still, if you use E36 M3 handbrake shoes they are same dimensions as the E31 850csi so no modding or expensive option.
So overall I have saved a shit tonne of money with some research, which means for a fraction of front AP Racing calipers I have a full kit (and cheaper consumables too).
I got calipers stripped and sent to Central Wheels in Coleshill to get Cerakote painted, I opted for this due to it's properties and also how cheap it is compared to quotes I got from Big Redd, I also gave them the DSSR to get done.
As you might know I am kinda boring with colour choices, I was going to go for gunmetal type colour, then I wanted a nice green if it matched the car, but couldn't find any, it was way too neon for me, so I opted for Burnt Bronze and I am glad I did!
Cerakote is very thin and no lacquer on it, so drawbacks are finish isn't smooth like powdercoating, as it takes the contours of the surface finish, but it's super durable, very good temperature resistance and also chemical resistance.
Because of this you cannot use stickers on them, so I gave an idea to the company if I gave them a stencil, can they paint cerakote on top of another cerakote layer, they said yes this can be done, so the lovely @adam thomas cut me some stencils and they've come out soooo good!
Here's a pic of my amazing template to see what sizes I needed haha.
Luckily from my old build I had 2x M3 Evo brake master cylinders (I paid £40 for both), I sold one, but other I kept in shed, thank god I did as they now sell for £290!!!!
They have like a pearlescent effect too which is cool
That's "all" for now hahahaha.
I also managed to bag 2 doors in the right colour (no pics), as mine have rust and dents, so easier to buy these are they were so cheap it was silly not to.
Something that pissed me off when I bought the car the electric mirrors never worked, there was no adjuster plugged in, so I got one off ebay and still no worky, didn't matter "that" much...I found out why they didn't work when I took both off....some div cut the plug...not just on the mirror...but door side too FFS, so the doors I mentioned above have correct plugs, so I could have bought new mirrors and swapped over the coloured coded covers, but I wanted to try the DTM style mirrors, especially for £31 delivered lol (they're manual)
Sometimes I love them, sometimes I don't, they're staying on for now, see how I feel to get them painted.
I bought new OEM uniball inner arm bushes I mentioned above (non-M3s only have 1 of these at the top, but M3s have both with same uniball, so a common upgrade), also whilst I was there I got PMC trailing arm outer uniball bushes, I managed to get a cleaned and painted trailing arm for quite cheap, means I can then do all the pressing in and just swap the arms over for ease (when I do true rear coilover conversion and then the PMC uniball upper spring arm replacement).
I bought a strut brace i've wanted for a while now, but the company stopped making them, but one came up for sale so I bagged it
Unfortunately when I went to take it off....so the HSD Monopro coilovers have caster adjustment, it has a studded slider on each side, well someone ruined a stud and used an allen head bolt + nut....I hate bodges so I paid a visit to driftworks and got a new slider (the guys are sound if no ones ever used them / local)...got back and went to undo the nuts to fit the strut brace....the passenger side same stud was bent to fuckery! So back to Driftworks I go to get the other side, they laughed and said I should just live here lol.
Now the big update! Brakes on the E36 from factory are crappy (well most BMWs of this era are) and especially how amazing the Clio brakes are from factory! So I wanted a BBK, but AP Racing kits are just ridiculous money (£2k+ just for fronts).
Instead I wanted to do the 996 Porsche homebrew kit (I actually bought this kit for my old one, but never got it on before I broke the car for bits). If I went just fronts, I would need M3 rear calipers to get correct brake bias, but as M3 prices hold ridiculous tax, the price wasn't far off just getting rear 996 brakes too!
So the kit is:
* 996.351.421 / 996.351.422 front calipers
* 996.352.425 / 996.352.426 rear calipers
* E46 M3 front and rear discs
* Creations Motorsport adapters
* Creations Motorsport Braided lines (E36 > Porsche)
There are 2 options for front discs:
1) as the calipers are + adapters = E46 M3 CSL discs (345mm, but don't fit behind all 17" wheels and really expensive)
2) 12mm machined off calipers + adapters = E46 M3 discs (325mm)
Rears there is so called only 1 option:
E46 M3 rear discs (328mm).
Problem with these are, the handbrake shoes are a pain to get right / really expensive for some options.
I am too Indian to pay £600 for discs every time, so Zimmermann in Germany do E46 M3 front discs but not semi-floating like OEM, but then nearly a 1/3rd the price (£320 vs £120).
Rears after some research, BMW E31 850csi has exact same top-hat dimensions and everything, this was nearly a 1/6th the price (£230 vs £40 for TRW ones) and better still, if you use E36 M3 handbrake shoes they are same dimensions as the E31 850csi so no modding or expensive option.
So overall I have saved a shit tonne of money with some research, which means for a fraction of front AP Racing calipers I have a full kit (and cheaper consumables too).
I got calipers stripped and sent to Central Wheels in Coleshill to get Cerakote painted, I opted for this due to it's properties and also how cheap it is compared to quotes I got from Big Redd, I also gave them the DSSR to get done.
As you might know I am kinda boring with colour choices, I was going to go for gunmetal type colour, then I wanted a nice green if it matched the car, but couldn't find any, it was way too neon for me, so I opted for Burnt Bronze and I am glad I did!
Cerakote is very thin and no lacquer on it, so drawbacks are finish isn't smooth like powdercoating, as it takes the contours of the surface finish, but it's super durable, very good temperature resistance and also chemical resistance.
Because of this you cannot use stickers on them, so I gave an idea to the company if I gave them a stencil, can they paint cerakote on top of another cerakote layer, they said yes this can be done, so the lovely @adam thomas cut me some stencils and they've come out soooo good!
Here's a pic of my amazing template to see what sizes I needed haha.
Luckily from my old build I had 2x M3 Evo brake master cylinders (I paid £40 for both), I sold one, but other I kept in shed, thank god I did as they now sell for £290!!!!
They have like a pearlescent effect too which is cool
That's "all" for now hahahaha.
Last edited:
adam thomas
Paid Member
suj
Paid Member
Shit, must have been autocorrect, who's swapped "twat" for "lovely" in my phone?!
adam thomas
Paid Member
Helpimonfire
Paid Member
suj
Paid Member
Those callipers look awesome, was a bit concerned when reading that your stencil was going to be used
You've seen my nose...it wouldn't fit on a caliper, it would just about fit on the side of a car
Yeah turned out really well, like I said it isn't as smooth as powdercoat but i'm not after concourse lol
It was £50/caliper (£45 for the caliper + £5 for each link pipe) but I think I didn't need to remove the link pipe like they suggested for the future (as 1 was fooked and rounded and added an extra complexity).
I had to strip the caliper myself of pistons etc, but that's fine as Big Redd wanted more than 3x to rebuild too....which seals and dust shields only costed me £35 for all 4 calipers.
suj
Paid Member
Met up with a mate on weekend to take advantage of the amazing weather, he brought down his Defender (that he actually uses greenlaning) I then took him out in the E36....he got back and was on eBay and Autotrader looking for one hahahaa.
Also we don't know the MR2 owner but he came up to us in the Farm restaurant and was asking about our cars which was lovely, made me miss my old MR2!
Also we don't know the MR2 owner but he came up to us in the Farm restaurant and was asking about our cars which was lovely, made me miss my old MR2!
suj
Paid Member
suj
Paid Member
The HSDs have inverted monotube front dampers, so the adjustment is under the damper....as in you cannot bloody get to it haha, I set it to full hard for track and haven't changed it since, I got hit by COVID so was in jail until saturday when I got a negative, so I got out and quickly added adjuster extenders and sorted the drivers side caster studs I didn't get chance to change before.
So now I can now adjust the fronts by turning the wheels and getting to the adjusters which is lovely.
So now I can now adjust the fronts by turning the wheels and getting to the adjusters which is lovely.
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