Our poor E36-Chassis BMW M3. It never asked for this sort of abuse.
During the $2014 Challenge’s fun runs, our M3 suffered a catastrophic failure at the drag strip. The combination of a sticky track, 4000 rpm launch and healthy dose of wheel-hop caused our driveshaft to twist itself in two. The usually sturdy metal shaft underneath our BMW now …
Have you reinforced the subframe mounting points yet?
M3's have factory reinforced subframe mounting points. At least by 1997 they did. I think the 95's didn't but I'm not positive on that one. In any case, they are in good shape.
Sorry for your troubles on the road.
I don't think of a full bushing swap job on these cars as a massive effort. I think of it as inevitable routine maintenance. But it is a tedious bit.
I'm betting the E36 chassis will become a popular grassroots platform for the next several years. It's cheap, it handles well, and there's plenty of available info on what they can do for you once you "do for them." If you publish an overview of the process, I think it will do the community a service. We see a lot of this type of question popping up here, every other week.
Thanks Jamey--- I'll be heading down to Redline BMW in mid-September to do the bushing install with help from longtime GRM friend Rennie Bryant. I plan on detailing the entire process to give other E36 owners (or prospective owners) an idea of what is involved. These wonderful cars are getting older now.....so most will need this done--- sooner rather than later. I'm looking forward to driving the car again....it's been too long!
You'll need to log in to post.
