BMW Generations 

Good to know! We've been running the E30 for decades but now have a couple E46 cars, we'll take a closer look at the cooling systems and make sure they're sorted out. Thanks!

When drifting began a little over a decade ago in our country, these were the only cars that never, ever broke down. Which was funny because all the spectators were hyped up with the fast & furious movies and were rooting for the Skylines, which had a pretty high fail rate mechanically. What else is funny is that I'm not a BMW guy at all though I respect these cars, but I'm only now learning the differences between models a bit more in depth... From Americans hahahaha

I thought the biggest problem with e46's was subframe cracking. Fixing coolant stuff is easy compared to that. Yes, they do have a weakness in their cooling systems (water pump fails routinely at 120k miles cause the impeller is plastic).

Usually the waterpump breaks on E36's. Don't know much about E46's, but i'm guessing it's pretty similar. Also try and get an engine without vanos, they're more durable.

My e46 325 ben runing whit out coolant all summer and still running strong.

*WRX build auto correct strikes again...

More is coming Joe! Say Hello to Dave for me!

Rally rules don't allow you to start with a convertible, otherwise Miata would be a great choice.

Yes they're a great option for a modern RWD car, people have been pretty successful with them in the last year or two! You'll want a good rear diff and some suspension but that's about it.

This will serve you far better than a long-winded explanation here: drive4corners.com/allrad-e30-part-1/ But yes the right front driveshaft does go through the oil pan...

@@Teamoneilrally Thank you very much for that link :)

M eta IX spring all around.

Just reached out a BRZ rally expert (also Technical Director at ARA) for info. I know they are good stock but not that fast... and the transmissions might not hold up if you WRX or STI swap the engine. The drift guys throw the Subaru stuff out and use Toyota engines and running gear for the most part (OK with rules because BRZ is same as Toyota 86). Not an expert but will add more info when I hear back this afternoon. And the new Fiat 124 is really a Miata so probably great BUT the rules state pretty clearly that convertibles of any kind are not allowed for safety reasons, the removable hard top thing won't probably cut it. Some exceptions have been made when people weld on full steel roof panels and that sort of thing, but it's case-by-case getting through the red tape. Also I just looked for a used BMW 135i coupe and it looks like you can get a 2009 or so around 100k miles for under $10k which is not a bad deal at all. That's 300hp out of the box so you'd be way ahead of the other options in that regard...

BRZ is a great Limited 2WD Class car and competitive, if you go Open 2WD Class you'll have some work to do to compete but there are tons of parts available.

poland most popular drift car is polonez

They end up about the same rally-ready as they would be on the street, everything you can remove gets offset by the weight of the rollcage, skid plates, etc. You CAN end up a little lighter, but that's spending $$$ on carbon and extensive chassis prep. BUT here's the breakdown: E30 318i: 2400-2600lbs E30 325 e, es: 2650-2750 E30 325i, is: 2800-2900lbs E36 325i, is and 328i, is: 3100lbs E46 325i: 3250lbs These are ballpark, keep in mind 4 door cars are about 100lbs heavier than 2 door cars...

Alright, gotcha. Thanks for the information!

Dan could not care less about that.

It's seen tremendously worse...

No

E36 with a s52 or 330ci swap ;)

The M3 was the only one with an LSD, so keeping an eye out for a wrecked/junkyard M3 to get the rear end out of would be the ticket. Also car-part.com is a good site that searches junkyards, and autobahn parts.com has a lot of salvage BMW stuff.

Thanks

We didn't get a 325ti e46 in the US.

Craigslist for sure, or recently the Marketplace section of Facebook has been decent for getting deals. The nice thing there is you get to actually see who you're buying the car from and whatnot in case that influences your decision.

People from europe watching this video shouldn't get their hopes up. No way in hell you're going to find a 3000$ E36 M3 on this side of the pond. The ones I see for sale right now are more in the 10 to 14k euro range. I went for a 323i sedan for 2200 euro to modify for track use.

I haven't seen M3/M5's for sale less than $10k, no matter how old

yea- the cheapest one listed in Germany is 12k€...

US e36 M3 have been going up in value quickly. Nice ones use to be $12k, now they are $25k. High mileage clapped out ones were $1000 cars, now they are $5k. The best place to get a good deal on one is to buy an auto, they haven't appreciated like the manuals.

It really depends on your driving style. I know a guy that's like 20 and went with an old Volvo 240 (rwd and basically no original stuff except chassis) and beat some of the best rally drivers in Sweden.

Driving FWD and getting really good will give you a big advantage if/when you switch to AWD, just because it's much more similar and the skills translate over. If you want to fast-track to successful AWD rallying, spending a season or two FWD first is definitely the way to go, no question, every single time. As far as the RWD/FWD competition, they do get put in the same classes racing against each other, FWD usually wins... at least here in the US with the cars and drivers we have running here. Keep in mind we have teams running brand new turbocharged Fiestas with sequential transmissions and Reiger suspension, and most of the RWD cars are much lower budget and almost vintage-spec in many cases. That said, a real RWD car with a real driver can definitely win, every once in a while somebody from Europe will come over with a Mk2 Escort or something and be much faster than anyone here. Don't let any of what we've said scare you away from a hot rod Volvo 240 or something, just because nobody is doing it here now doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't happen.

Team O'Neil Rally School So why aren't there more low budget FWD cars? Just because they tend to be newer (than the RWD cars) or...

FWD LOL

Not all of them do, but it was a pretty common option.

Team O'Neil Rally School Well, I'm planning to buy and e36, so I'll try to find one with the lsd, here in Italy there are planty of e36 with open differentials... Thanks for the answer!

The easy way would be to jack up the back end of the car and turn one wheel by hand. If the other wheel turns backwards, it's an open diff, if it turns the same way, it's a LSD.

Team O'Neil Rally School Never heard of this thing before, great tip, I will surely do that!!

There's a specific code on each diff case (little metal tag) and stamped on top of case. If it starts with an S its an LSD if you dont have a jack. And if I remember correctly the three numbers following the S at the start is the ratio, ie S293... S345..... blog.garagistic.com/e30-differential-how-to-for-beginners/

Varpem nope, got one and it doesn’t

For E46 only M3 came with LSD from factory.