It's nice to own the E36 M3 again!

The real deal, 2nd one I've owned. I sold my LS swapped 951 and paid for the M3 today. Ironically this is the exact car I wanted to buy 6 years ago (but it wasn't for sale then) when I bought the 951. Then the owner listed the M3 the next year but I'd already done the LS swap.

Happy to finally get it, it's completely track prepped. Rollbar, suspension, intake, exhaust, welded reinforcements, welded oil pump nut, welded oil pan baffles, dual fuel pump pickups, OEM real E36 M3 lightweight rear wing with risers, etc...

Thats a whole lot of peace of mind. You pay extra for cars that are that well prepped, but its definitely worth it! I've been looking for another E36 M3 as well. I was an idiot to sell mine...

Lookin good!

I got it for a pretty decent price actually. We worked out a deal where he'd keep the existing race seats/harnesses and take some off the price as I have my own race seats/harnesses I'm going to install.

It also needs a little paintless dent/ding help to remove some hail damage, so that got factored into the price as well...

What great cars. Have owned two. Loved both.

Yeah, I think they're one of the best track cars around. Plus they've gotten pretty inexpensive now. Easy to work on, parts aren't too expensive, good knowledge base out there.

docwyte wrote: I sold my LS swapped 951 and paid for the M3 today.

You have got to share some thoughts comparing these cars.

Wait...Is that my car??

That's exactly the list of stuff done to mine, and a lot is the hard stuff - the weld in reinforcements, oil pump nut and sump baffle (usually done w/ rod bearings :)) big cooling system...

I do like mine better as a street car since I went back to the stock interior and took the roll bar out. My race car has that stuff and it's a lot faster...

This is currently in a quasi track car status. It still has A/C, stereo, carpeting, but the rear half of the car is gutted and there's a BimmerHaus/TC Kline rollbar installed.

I'll most likely trailer it to events so I can just swap wheels/tires on my lift at home...

Ok, had a chance to drive the car to work today. Mostly got stuck in traffic but here are my preliminary thoughts in comparison to my old LS 951.

The chassis on this car is stiff. Much stiffer than the 951. Turn in is right now. The suspension feels stiffer, there's less bump travel. Mechanical grip is good, car has the M3 lightweight rear wing with risers, once I get the front splitter on I think it'll have a little aero working.

Power is obviously much less, almost 200rwhp less. That said, the M3 motor is really snappy, it has a ltw flywheel and it likes to rev. It's very smooth, gotta like the inline 6 for that. Makes good noises too. Doesn't pound the pavement into submission like the LS did though.

The M3 is very competitively classed with NASA, it'll run in TTC. The 951 had to run in TT2 and wasn't all that competitive.

I'm taking it to Pueblo Motorsports Park in 2 weeks, I'll post a more detailed analysis at that point.

Exellent cars and they make great track cars.

It looks like a 97-99 with 95 wheels (7.5" wide)?

Those are the street wheels, track wheels are a set of 17x8.5 OEM DS2's. Car is a '98.

Pretty sure they put those wheels on all the years. I think those were the base rims.

Congrats! Looks like a nicely prepared car!

Thanks Joe! I got my Momo steering wheel in it this past Monday. My recaro spg xl seats and schroth harnesses are going in this weekend. Then I have to mount the Motion Motorsports front splitter and bleed the brakes and it should be ready to hit the track.

Plans after that are getting the hail damage fixed with PDR and having the headliner redone. Then replacing the cooling system and maybe the starter...

Looks great! And sounds like it has all the right work done to it.

What suspension?

Ground Control coilovers, UUC swaybars. Welded reinforcements for the swaybar mounts, Ground control front camber plates.

Well, went down to the track yesterday in preparation of a track day today. Woke up down there to rain/sleet/blowing hard. My wife called and said we had a foot of snow at home.

Great! Loaded up and headed back home, Monument Hill (7400ft) was an ice rink. Got home ok but have to wait for the snow to clear before I can unload the car and take the trailer back to storage...

One of the few non-exotics that I would be truly scared of in a track prepped RX-7 or 240SX.

Car has another 10" of snow on it from sitting overnight. Sigh. May be a few days before I can get it into my garage.

I was watching the weather on TV last night - crazy weather in Denver, meanwhile it's about 20 degrees above normal in Minneapolis.

It feels pretty warm out and the sun is trying to break through. I may try and snow blow the street behind the trailer. If I can get that clear I may be able to get the car off the trailer and into my garage today...