Convince Me- e36 as a Rally Car

My search for a Stage Rally Car has me considering an e36 with a cage, and stock everything else- obviously a bunch of work to be done, but at least the cage is out of the way. Is it just me or are these a really terrible choice for a budget rally car? Suspension and diff mounts that need reinforcement, a million bushings, limited travel, expensive parts, what else? I'm well aware that Brakim is running one of these successfully, but they've also spent a berkeleyton of money on upgrades.

Convince me I don't need to keep holding out for something old and Japanese.

In my first rallyx ever, I placed second fastest RWD time overall in a nearly stock e36 on snows, including the prepared and modified cars. I wrote a column for our local BMW club mag on the event. (beating out a v6-swapped 2nd gen MR2, gutted camaro, RX7, etc).

Also, this:

I think this guy is at or near FTD at most of their events.

I'm not concerned about fast- I'm concerned about reliable, and cheap. RallyX can beat up a car, but stage rally is a whole different level of abuse.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: I'm not concerned about fast- I'm concerned about reliable, and cheap. RallyX can beat up a car, but stage rally is a whole different level of abuse.

Well, buy a few 500 beaters now and have parts for a long time! No part on an e36 should cost more than 500 right now.

I think they are very reliable, and the cheap thing... they're probably about as cheap as they will ever be. I feel like they are cheaper than 15-20 y.o. civics right now.

Find that YouTube video of the Estonian rally driver doing the epic launch of his E36. Then see if you can find pictures of the aftermath - it sure seemed to take it like a champ.

I see lots of E36 rally cars on all the European rallies on YouTube. They must have something going for them.

DeadSkunk wrote: I see lots of E36 rally cars on all the European rallies on YouTube. They must have something going for them.

Cheap, readily available, with lots of aftermarket support does that for any car in rallying.

At the end of the day, what are your goals? If it is to simply hang the ass-end out in a rallycar, you could do worse than a E36.

If it is to become a good driver, that's a completely different goal. Note, just because BMW's have done WELL in rally in North America is not a testament to their ability, but a credit to the people driving them (big fish small pond syndrome).

I know I'm a Japanese car advocate- but there are CHEAPER vehicles to campaign.

I'd go with something old and Japanese. If RWD, I'd suggest an RX7.

I can't imagine one of those is more reliable than an E36...

...or has more readily available parts at this point.

There is a M3 Swapped E 36 that runs the Oregon trail Rally every year. It looks awesome going Sideways around the Course, and seems fairly fast

Is it a caged E36 or is it a rally-caged E36???

Unless it meets RA, NASA, or CARS (which uses FIA), you may never get it on stage.

I would advise against an E36 as a stage rally car because I have spent a small fortune repairing my E36. I drive a lot, so I probably just had to fix stuff more often than every other E36 owner. They're unreliable, so you will have to fix it more often than a Japanese sports car/coupe. At least the rear shock mount reinforcements are easy and quick to do.

If you decide to just say "berkeley it" and get one, buy a Stage Rally E36 so all the upgrades are already done.

There are some folks in Colorado that will build you a caged rally E36 for dirt cheap, they have shells ready to go.

http://rally.build/contact/

HiTempguy wrote: There are some folks in Colorado that will build you a caged rally E36 for dirt cheap, they have shells ready to go. http://rally.build/contact/

wat. that is so close to where I grew up. I might have to swing by when I'm visiting next time.

The car in question is actually a rally.build car- FIA legal rally cage, but otherwise bone stock. Mostly considering it because I'm getting frustrated looking for a rwd rally car. It's not quite cheap enough to justify the amount of suspension/protection/safety stuff it needs though, so for now I think I'll keep looking.

having owned an E36.. the basic mechnanical bits are pretty robust. It's all the little E36 M3 that will drive you crazy.. the same stuff you would toss into the nearest dumpster if building a car for racing.

mad_machine wrote: having owned an E36.. the basic mechnanical bits are pretty robust. It's all the little E36 M3 that will drive you crazy.. the same stuff you would toss into the nearest dumpster if building a car for racing.

Agreed. E36s stripped down to the bare essentials are very reliable and very capable.

Agreed. Though I love e30s and don't particularly love e36s, other than the few issues you already know about there isn't any reason an e36 should be any less reliable than much anything else RWD that would be a capable rally car. The drivetrain is solid and we watch e36s finishing 12-24 hour enduro races all the time. Issues will be the suspension weak spots which are mostly pretty easy to fix and reinforce. Parts are cheap. Junkyard e36s are plentiful for replacement stuff. Take to a few of the guys on our FB page from Germany. The RG318 series also runs e36s (M42/44 cars only though, but the sixes shoudl be just as robust).

Let's see if you can get this done by the time I get my e30 caged and logbooked ;)

If it is a logbooked cage already, for a decent price, jump on it and replace what breaks. Just drive within the parts limit. I have been really looking into stage Rally with either 3-- BMW or a foxbody moosetang. I do believe, in my limited BMW experience, that a race prepped chassis-drivetrain would be fairly bombproof.

Any chance you passed on the cassis and it is still available?

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: I would advise against an E36 as a stage rally car because I have spent a small fortune repairing my E36. I drive a lot, so I probably just had to fix stuff more often than every other E36 owner. They're unreliable, so you will have to fix it more often than a Japanese sports car/coupe.

Your experience with one car is not a useful barometer of the E36 population.

Sounds like a find choice to me. Back when SCCA still ran US rallying and before it became popular I sort-of knew a guy who campaigned a then-new E36. He did pretty well with it, and breaking stuff didn't seem to be a common occurrence. RWD cars were already falling from favor but it did far better than 5.0 Mustangs or one particularly piggish Toyota Supra. We get slews of E36s at the track days I instruct and the only things I've noticed about these cars are the interiors are falling apart. The stuff that makes them go and stop never really breaks.

In reply to Ross413:

No, it sold a long time ago. A build thread for the car (not an e36) I settled on is coming soon though!

RWD rally cars are the best, they might not be the fastest but are certainly the most entertaining!

I say go for it.

Hit up Matt and the guys from Brakim about it. Tons of fun.