Best track chassis of the 90's?

for $10k you can buy your dad's 318is and do a 2.5 turbo swap if you know your stuff
reliable 500hp easy

Probably a miata or a s13 desu. Case could be !a
Made for the rx7 vs chassis

Nissan Silvia S14 (JDM) is really stiff and pretty much designed for competing on tracks

I have a US E36 M3

Good:
Very predictable/friendly chassis and suspension
Tons of race parts and aftermarket (often, OEM parts are actually good enough for most things)
240hp is enough to be quick for most touge/racetracks (similar power/weight as S2000/RX8)
Engine/Transmission is reliable, has tons of torque and short gearing, great brakes
Good paint unless repainted at some point from a accident

Bad:
Everything made out of rubber/glue/plastic will fall apart or be ready to fall apart (balljoints, mounts, bushings, seals, etc)

First BMW made using AutoCAD (bad) so BMW decided it wouldn't need a few welds/extra metal in critical suspension parts (this means you'll have to weld in reinforcements in places like rear swaybar attachment points, rear trailing arm pockets, rear subframes if its not a M chassis, and bolt in additional parts like front strut cap reinforcements, and also deal with cracked rear strut towers that can rust out, trunk latch cracking, battery box rust, etc).

Oil Pump Nut likes to spin off at high RPMs on six cylinders

Expensive aftermarket parts because its still a BMW
(OEM ones are actually reasonably cheap)

Fragile wiring (thin/brittle) that can give stupid electrical issues and parasitic drain (trunk harness was big one on mine).

I'd honestly just buy a E30 and make it light as possible. Moreso if you're in Europe. If not a 318Ti and swap it over. If not Miata/Civic/S13 or S14/Turbo RX7, maybe a used Evo/STi if you can afford it and find one. E36s are great cars but personally I wouldn't bother with any BMW if it wasn't a M3 or a E30 (maybe a 135i/M2 if I could afford it). Or whatever French Hot Hatch you could afford.

Don't worry about power worry more about refreshing 20-30 year old suspension parts (rubber and joints) and getting a reasonably stiff yet still soft set of coilovers, then wide sticky tires.

thanks man, appreciate it.

I forgot to mention, OEM parts are very cheap for E36s through internet parts shops. Its cheaper than most Japanese cars (except Subaru in my experience) because you can get reboxed dealer parts from the original manufacturer (for example most rubber/plastic parts are Lemforder, Rein/Continental, or Febi/Bilstein, Water Pumps are by Saleri Italy, Seals are Elring or Victor Reinz, motor mounts are Corteco, clutch hydraulics are FTE, brake parts are ATE, and so on) from online websites (like FCPEuro or RMEuropean if you're American).

BMWs seem to also be one of the few cars you have to go out of your way to weld in additional reinforcement plates to avoid critical suspension parts tear out. My M3 has from the factory rear subframe and front strut tower reinforcements (which you'd have to add on a 318is) but I've also reinforced the front subframe motor mount tabs and rear strut towers (bolt in plate). I'm doing rear trailing arm pockets soon.

Mine has a rusty battery box that has to get cleaned up and cracked strut towers that I have to get replaced (BMW still sells new strut caps) and a patch plate welded in (was done previously at some point, old cracks were just welded together by PO and started rusting below cap). After I do that I'll track it.

I like my US M3, every internet shitposter likes saying its not a real M car because it doesn't have the 286/321hp ITB'd motor, but the gearing is shorter on the US market cars (taller final drive) and the US motor is more reliable being just a bored/stroked M52. The Euro motors also have more bearing issues and parts no longer available from BMW.

Different US E36 M3 owner here

I honestly wouldn't buy an E30. The Z-axel the on the E36 is worth the price of admission.

user is right about everything else he said though.

thats a nice m3 man. Yeah I've read about e46 falling apart and needing extra plates welded too. Actually only 5 series seems to be built tough out of factory.
Good luck with all the mods man!

E30 was my dream car for many years. But now they arent to be found in good condition under 4 k. Price is rising cuz meme status. So I let them go.

z axel?

Oh, and the vast majority of these parts have been made in Western/Central Europe in some way or form, except for bullshit ones that aren't super critical (I think my exhaust mounts were made in India).

The interiors are horrible too. Everything held in with glue will fall apart. I had to take my door cards off and use 3M Window Weld (windshield adhesive) to reglue it to the plastic mounts. My headliner is falling. My rear deck is purple and not black. My seat won't recline because the gear in the motor broke. My driver's window won't automatically go up because the regulator is probably ready to shit itself.

They're fun cars long story short, but just get something newer, simpler, and Japanese unless you want a project and are super passionate about it. I left mine on jackstands for the last year after giving up and feeling overwhelmed after a front end rebuild (rack, control arms and bushings, motor mounts, oil pump nut and oil pan baffle, reinforced oil pickup) but just got it out a few days ago after some help from a friend of mine. Again, I wouldn't bother with a BMW unless its a E30 or a ///M Car.

The trailing arms aren't as bad as people make them out to be. People actually prefer them (why they like Z3M Coupes) in some cases. You can still go very fast on them. Interestingly enough I've heard the Z4M's rear suspension is almost identical to ours.

I like the E30s only because they're simpler, smaller, lighter, and less electrical stuff going on. Personally feel the E36s were a low point in BMW build quality (due to new early 90s environmental laws in the EU requiring a certain % of the car being biodegradable). Its why you look at E46s and E92s not having as much issues too (better plastics, rubber, etc)

Dont ruin your dad mint 318 to make it a track toy, a non rice/sandnigger e36 gets harder to find each day. If you only need the chassis, just buy a random e36 for 1k max. These things are dirtcheap

>The trailing arms aren't as bad as people make them out to be. People actually prefer them (why they like Z3M Coupes) in some cases. You can still go very fast on them. Interestingly enough I've heard the Z4M's rear suspension is almost identical to ours.
>I like the E30s only because they're simpler, smaller, lighter, and less electrical stuff going on. Personally feel the E36s were a low point in BMW build quality (due to new early 90s environmental laws in the EU requiring a certain % of the car being biodegradable). Its why you look at E46s and E92s not having as much issues too (better plastics, rubber, etc)

Lots of people prefer shit that makes cars slower. Most 'driving enthusiasts' aren't terribly good at driving. The Z-axel does a much better job putting power down over bumps and while cornering. You talk to most track fags and they will prefer a stiffer car over a softer car, even if the softer car is easier to drive and putting down better lap times.

E36s are a low point in build quality partially because of what you stated and partially because BMW was attempting to use CAD to cost engineer the car into having a 50k mile lifetime.

Get the E36