The first event of the season is here for my local autocross club! This event is a practice where time is kept but no points are dished out. The anticipation leading up to the event was pretty large for me but grew even larger as the weather report for the day started to become certain. Rain! …
With the necessary major initial projects at an end, only a few small things remain to be wrapped up before the first autocross event. It's a good feeling to be at this point though a little concerning as well because I start wondering if I've missed anything that may fail in the first run. Plans …
Racing a normal road-going car with stiffer suspension puts more stress onto the chassis than it was originally designed and this can cause cracks to develop near suspension mounting points. I previously took care of one prone area, the rear shock mounts, when I added the complete Ground Control Suspension kit. At least one large …
Continue reading Chassis rear subframe reinforcement in the BMW E36
Getting a car's power to the ground effectively through tight corners is one of the greatest challenges in SCCA Solo autocross (or even racing in general). SCCA rules restricting treadwear ratings and tire widths means that you have to make the most of what's available in mechanical grip. One of the best ways to effectively transmit torque to …
Continue reading Get the power down! Swapping in an E36 M3 LSD.
The newly installed coil springs and shocks need a solid foundation in order to do their job effectively when out on the autocross course. In the BMW E36 platform this means replacing numerous rubber bushings (that have seen better days after 200k+ miles) with new bushings that are stiffer than stock. Bushings are basically the connectors …
Continue reading The quest for a solid foundation – BMW E36 bushings
We've gotten most of the reliability issues taken care of so now it's time to start the performance modifications. As I said in the previous post, the focus of the performance upgrades for the BMW E36 will be in the handling category. Basically, the car needs to change from comfortable to more like a go-kart. It's …
Continue reading Let’s make this BMW E36 handle better with Ground Control suspension!
As I'm sure some of you are a little confused on how I really plan to race the BMW E36 325is in 2017, let's pause on the car build for a minute for an explanation. I'm building up the car to adhere to the rules of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Solo Street Touring …
Continue reading Whoa! What is SCCA STX and the racing really like?
Now that I finally had the car back home (initial picture above), it was time to really dig into it and see where to begin. I knew that the car had a bit of engine vibration and a small oil leak from somewhere so that seemed like a good place to start. After driving up …
Continue reading Let the fixing begin! AKA sealing the leaks in the E36…
So now that I had decided to go racing, what car would be a great budget entry but still be competitive? After a good bit of research, I determined that it would actually be a car model that I had previously owned nearly 10 years ago, a BMW E36 chassis 3-series. They're highly competitive in …
Brent Ford Racing 