Advice on my first car? 1996 328i alpine white.

[Skitty]

Hopefully this forum isn’t dead?

I have a 1996 bmw 328i (e36). It is my first car and here’s a list of what I’ve done to it so far.

First off, context, the car was $3400 and is quite rusty at the jack points, it also came with the sport suspension package from the factory, along with traction control instead of a lsd. I mostly daily this car do some autocross and plan on a few track days.

Suspension:

Oe sport springs
Bilstein b4 shocks
New shock mounts
New swaybar endlinks
Rear shock z3 reinforcement plates
Bushings not new but felt good

Drivetrain:
New sachs clutch
New clutch pilot bearing/throw out bearing
New guibo
New transmission mounts

Brakes:

Rebuilt brake calipers
Stainless steel brake lines

Interior:

Momo prototipo wheel
Garagistic solid mount short shifter
Electric seats swapped to manual
Not a mod but a/c is broken

I’m sure I’m forgetting some stuff, but what should be next on the list?

[Tbonem3]

Congrats. My first car was a 94 325i. My best advice is to use it to get from point a to point b and to learn on. Don't spend too much $ yet, even if you find yourself loving the car.

[Skitty]

Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind, and yeah, I do love that car lol.

[Skitty]

Btw, thinking about brake pads as I wanna go to VIR this year, should I do them or save the money? Open to suggestions from anyone.

[George Hill]

What should you do next in what context?

Is the maintenance all up to date?

Is the rust mitigated?

What are your goals for the car, long or short term?

[Skitty]

What should you do next in what context?

Is the maintenance all up to date?

Is the rust mitigated?

What are your goals for the car, long or short term?

Maintenance is up to date yes, all fluids changed, everything concerning replaced. Rust is only at the jack points and honestly the car was cheap so I’m not too worried about it. My goal is to have a reliable and fun daily driver that I can take to the track. Thanks for the reply.

[George Hill]

Seat time
Weight Reduction
LSD

[Skitty]

Seat time
Weight Reduction
LSD

Thanks for the reply, where do you find cheap lsds? I’m in VA. And I’ve been doing autocross for seat time, I’m placing 1st-2nd in g street out of around 5 people on average

[George Hill]

eBay, FB, forums, maybe even your CCA group.

Buy a used diff with some gear (3.64? if you don't mind the shorter gears) and refresh the clutches.

***Edit if you are going to keep the car or stay with the E36 platform, spend the money to do it right even if its a budget. Saving money on race car stuff can be a double edged sword because if it fails at an event, did you actually save any money?

[Skitty]

eBay, FB, forums, maybe even your CCA group.

Buy a used diff with some gear (3.64? if you don't mind the shorter gears) and refresh the clutches.

***Edit if you are going to keep the car or stay with the E36 platform, spend the money to do it right even if it’s a budget. Saving money on race car stuff can be a double edged sword because if it fails at an event, did you actually save any money?

Thanks for the reply

[Skitty]

It sounds kinda ridiculous but I’ve been really looking at exhaust options too, I’m 17 what can you expect. The car used to be straight piped (Previous owner not me!) and I put an m3 muffler on it, how can I get a noticeable sporty tone out of it on the cheaper side?

[Slideways]

It sounds kinda ridiculous but I’ve been really looking at exhaust options too, I’m 17 what can you expect. The car used to be straight piped (Previous owner not me!) and I put an m3 muffler on it, how can I get a noticeable sporty tone out of it on the cheaper side?

It might be possible to debaffle part of the factory muffler similar to what people do to E46 M3 and E9X M3 mufflers.

[Skitty]

It might be possible to debaffle part of the factory muffler similar to what people do to E46 M3 and E9X M3 mufflers.

I did think about that, a friend has an e46 328 with catless headers and a muffler he said is slightly louder than stock and I love the sound of that thing, would removing the cats on my car do the same thing? It had metallic burbles on decel and a nice tone in the mid to high rpm with no drone

[Slideways]

I did think about that, a friend has an e46 328 with catless headers and a muffler he said is slightly louder than stock and I love the sound of that thing, would removing the cats on my car do the same thing? It had metallic burbles on decel and a nice tone in the mid to high rpm with no drone

Catless is never the answer. The car will smell of unburnt fuel like a boat all the time, not just on cold start.

Debaffling the muffler is best option for a cheap solution. That is unless you find a deal on a used Eisenmann or Supersprint muffler where is does not make sense to spend time modifying and welding the factory muffler.

[Skitty]

Catless is never the answer. The car will smell of unburnt fuel like a boat all the time, not just on cold start.

Debaffling the muffler is best option for a cheap solution. That is unless you find a deal on a used Eisenmann or Supersprint muffler where is does not make sense to spend time modifying and welding the factory muffler.

Makes sense but how expensive is debaffling the muffler and wouldn’t it drone on the highway?