bmwe21.net forums

Hey race fans,
I am new to this sight, but I am trying to get some ideas and in regards to all the safety aspects of creating a race car.
we are starting with a 1979 320i
what needs to be installed is:
roll cage
fuel cell
disk brake upgrades
suspension upgrades

any and all advice would fantastic.
I am new to the BMW world, but have build autocross mustangs for years.
But I am thrilled to have my first BMW

great car to go racing with
bilstein HD shocks and nice upgraded springs work well. Go for the biggest brakes you can fit then you wont need to upgrade again later. e36 rear hats redrilled for the four stud work well they retain the same size drum for the handbrake and are slightly bigger diameter, then i use a nissan rear caliper with adapter plate.
cage is a cage.. not much to comment
no need for a fuel cell.
2.7 m20 with 288 cam 11:1 comp and 40mm itb is best bang for buck.. you will have a ball with that

ps dont get fooled into thinking a bigger ITB will be better stick to max 40mm trust me!!!

I guess it depends how far you want to go?

Jack is on here with my old M42 powered track car and he's auto testing in it. It has Wilwood 4 pot brake calipers up front but still had OE drums on the rear. I did lots of laps around Brands Hatch with no problems. Rear discs would be nice, but not crucial.

What suspension do you want? Uprated standard type or coilovers? The latter obviously give you way more options and springs are pretty cheap to change.

A decent seat and harness are money well spent.

If you're sticking with your old engine, get the car as light as possible. Fibreglass panels and poly windows will lose a lot of weight for you.

There are a few people on here who compete in e21 but I guess you need to decide exactly how far you want to take things?

As I just have built a track day e21 and have raced for a season I could give some advice on what things to take look first.

Leave original engine as 4 cylinder is always better for handling.

To tune up your m10 you would need these things:
[*] Sporty camshaft. I would go with some 306 degrees or even more sporty depending on what tracks will you be going
[*] Electronic fuel injection
[*] New ECU. Something like MegaSquirt or even VEMS
[*] Custom exhaust header along with specially for your setup built exhaust system. This gives a lot of power increase if correctly built
[*] Higher compresion

Through everything out of car. Lighten as much as you can.
Proper rollcage + spots seat + sports 5/6 point harneses.
Bigger brakes in front. You can use Volvo brake upgrade combained with New Mini brake discs Or you can go some custom way. Just simply keep in mind that larger wheels then 15" is no good. Rear brakes can be upgraded to 323 brakes. Nothing bigger is really necessary.
On suspension use hard poly bushes + coilovers with quite stiff springs. Don't use simple setup: lowered springs and some sporty shock. They are worth only if you use this car as every day car. They are way too soft even if you think that they are not.

Regarding fuel cell. No need for it as you only can lift with it gravity point of car. Simply take off one side (drivers) of original fuel tank. It still contains 30L of fuel which is more then enough for regular track day sessions. And also your car will be better balanced. Also for fuel system use either foam in tank or fuel catchtank, so you don't run out of fuel when cornering.

Limited slip diff is also a very good thing if track contains narrow corners.

And at last but not least you will have to have good luck!