Chip

iTrader: (3)

Right, me and Jim and Rich were talking about maybe getting a spare trackday car between us to use when 1 or all of our own cars are off the road or not trackday ready or whatever for any reason.

Basically rules that MUST be stuck to.

1500 quid budget
must be ultra relaible
can throw some time at it, but would prefer not to be changing engines
will be stripped out
rwd

Bits we have for free already:
some bucket seats


I was thinking 325/328 E36 for about 800, stripped, weld diff, buy some better suspension and some aggressive brake pads and a set of tyres

anyone got any better suggestions?

would like to avoid turbos really, as would be too tempting to tune them and end up making them unreliable!

Munch

SD1? lol

KnoxyGtt

How about an old carlton or senator

Charlie Chalk

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Sierra 2.0
Carlton 3.0
Cortina Mk3
Capri 2.0
Volvo 340 1.7

Chip

iTrader: (3)

none of those really strike me as being as capable round a track as a 328 e36 TBH

Charlie Chalk

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328i E36 it is then

JonnyBravo

Why a E36 ?

I'd of thought the E30 was far lighter or have you had your fun with those.

328 suffer from a cylinder head problem iirc so I'd steer clear of those, they do go well though

Ollie.

Westfield type car needing work done?

Ginge

Old (late 80's)MR2?

Model After that MR2?

2.0 16 158bhp from the "factoru" so it says.

Though to be fair Chip, I think your money would be better off spent on a BMW as there are so many between £1k and £1.5k.

Other than that i would say if you can find one within your price range, an MX5 has all the qualities you are looking for.....[Edit, just had a better look, you would need to stretch the budget to £2000 just to buy the car [/edit]

Ginge

JonnyBravo

Another option as I knew someone with one is a E30 with a 535 engine in it, CHEAP to do, very straight forward and with a shot of gas he had himself a 11 sec E30 for less than £1500

Obviously not quite as simple as buying something ready to go but not really hard work and you can buy a E30 and a 535 engine for feck all so it should maybe be considered

Chip

iTrader: (3)

E30's dont come with a decent engine, and as it will probablyl ive at rich's where there are no facilities for working on cars, I cant really be arsed with changing engines on the road, for something thats meant to be just a bit of quick and easy fun.

You thinking of the nikasil liner problem, most should have had it corrected by now IIRC, although im also hazy on the details!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

quite simply cant be arsed with an engine transplant

Benni

Westfields are gay and not a real car. Look like a bigger version of something out of a kider egg surpise. Well, in my eyes anyway. You can't go wrong with BMW. Sort the handling as that is more important I reckon.

Benni.

JonnyBravo

I can't remember exactly what the fault was, I thought it was a porous head but then I may have my wires crossed.

E36 325 is really slow and dull IMO

MX5 is a drivers car and possibly not a bad idea if you can fit in one

Chip

iTrader: (3)

for 1500 quid finished? not really realistic IMHO unless you are basically building a lowcost from scratch, we want to just buy something, make some very minor changes like losing all the weight, and trackday it, and want something ultra relaible, cheap westfield type cars dont really fit any of that.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Lose a fair bit of weight and it should live it up, can probably get the weight down to less than a stock e30

SteveH

I had a Mk1 MR2 (80s one) picked i up for 600 notes. It had stood for a year so we jumped it, checked the oil and water and drove it to the ring and back. Did 10 laps too
Drove it for ages after that, loved it to bits. Never missed a beat

Rab

MK2 MR2 n/a. Utterly reliable, RWD and easliy bought for less than 1500 quid.

Easy to strip out as there isn't much to them. Get yourself an import tintop if you can.

If you're very shrewd, you'd get a turbo for your budget. But it won't be as reliable.

Ollie.

yeh i know the money is too low for them hence why i said needing work.... only thing i could think of that would be decent apart from the 325 or 328 option.

Ginge

Some random info on Nikasil Liner problems and what models were affected.

Only the M60 and the European M52 are affected.


The M60 is easy – it was fitted to all the E34 530i and 540i V8 cars. It was not fitted to the earlier E28 5-series or the later E39 5-series. Also the early E34 3.0 cars (pre-1991) were M30 6-cylinder cars and were not affected.


The M52 is not as easy. The E36s (3-series), E34s (5-series) and E39 (5-series) are affected. E30s, E46s, E28s are not. But not all the 6-cylinder cars are affected either. The early ones had the M50 (no VANOS) engine, and late ones had the M54 (double VANOS) motor.



It is only the single VANOS M52 units that were affected (and then not even all of them). The effect of VANOS is to lower the revs at which peak torque is produced. On the M50, peak torque is produced at 4,700 rpm (2.0 and 2.5 litre). On the M52, maximum torque is produced at 4,200 rpm (2.0 litre) or 3,950 rpm (2.5 and 2.8 litre).



On the M54, peak torque is produced at 3,500 rpm (2.0, 2.5 and 2.8 litre). Look at the peak torque figures in the Owner’s Handbook and your question is answered.


Once one has established that the engine is an M52, the next stage is to work out whether it has Nikasil liners or not.



Steel liners were introduced into production at Week 10 in 1998, i.e. March 1998. Cars built before then will have Nikasil liners; but that is not the same thing as saying that cars sold after then will have steel liners - cars can sit around for a while, and it is the build date that is critical, not the date on which the vehicle is put into service.


Contrary to certain information, the engine code change from "S6 3" to "S6 4" did not coincide with the move to steel liners and therefore not all "S6 3" cars are Nikasil.



Whilst it is probably safe to assume that any car sold during 1999 or later is safe from the Nikasil issue, advice (to be on the safe side) has to be to be very wary of any M52 and check the block material with BMW before buying it.
Also affected are the 7-series with the M52 and M60 engines, and the 8-series with the M60 engine. The Z8 with the M52 engine is not affected as all these cars received the "American" iron block (because they were built in the USA).

Ginge

wirralphil

What about an Xr4i http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1984-FORD-SIER...d=p3286.c0.m14

then fit this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-2-9i-COSW...d=p3286.c0.m14

Maria.

Im sure i can strike a deal on a yellow westfield for ya on the sly?

JHS

iTrader: (1)

pa_sjo

2L (or whatever) Sierra with an AB beam?

wirralphil

rog

iTrader: (2)

As said above, either your BMW choice(which i think is the best idea), an XR4 IF you can find a decent one, or if you can bring yourself to go FWD a V-tec of some description. Thinking of getting a track car for shits and giggles next year, was actually pondering about an 850 T5 Volvo estate like the original touring cars Lol.

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

honda crx?

JHS

iTrader: (1)

Since when were they rwd then?

wirralphil

as the 205's are fun how about it's big bro, 309 gti

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1989-PEUGEOT-3...d=p3286.c0.m14

snOOpy86

iTrader: (1)

180/200 sx?? bmw is a good choice tho.

Alex_86

iTrader: (2)

oh yeah forgott

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

After shooting down to brands on Tuesday evening, my brother and I were having the exact same conversation...We'd love to have a cheap track toy to play with, but came to the conclusion that you'll always want to do things slightly more in depth that you're going to originally plan for.... - Think we worked out you'd ideally want a cage, half sensible brakes and suspension, buckets and harnesses as the minimum (as you've said)... and then there's the case of always wanting more power etc...
Would just be the start of another slippery slope for me!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

not reliable enough

not rwd

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

MX5! I still cannot believe the speed that Dale's could carry through the Carroussel . All it had was a cage, suspension, cheap discs and hard pads and Kuhmo Ectsa V70 tyres!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I did suggest that myself to them actually, but the problem with them is that you cant chuck spare wheels etc in them, and in an ideal world we'd prefer something that the 3 of us can all go up in, to save doubling up on petrol costs to and from events.

wirralphil

300zx non turbo?? http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/631099.htm

200sx http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/654654.htm

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Other than the above reason, it is ideal - parts are cheap, suspension design is the best it can be, it has to be considered . I would have thought Jim could bring all the bits in his Nazi Staff car (TM SJ ).

A complete set of discs and pads were £100 .

wirralphil

e30 325 http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/672041.htm cheap thing to mess with?

jb fletch

iTrader: (1)

MX5's are pukka handling little cars, Chip you know that !?!? Remember Andy's old MX5 ?? Followed him round Coombe in my old Cossie & was really shocked wit it !! Then went out in it & passed EVERYTHING !!

Only prob you gonna have is fitting in it !! Not too sure bout you, but I know Rich wouldn't fit - too tall. Jim would be okay tho !!

jb

P.s. Bm sounding best bet to be honest !!

CossieRich

iTrader: (1)

Chip,

have you spent the budget already my friend

JB: Tonight - the mile - yes or no