My 318iS

Soldato
Joined
19 May 2005
Posts
7,049
Well I realised that I hadn't done a thread on this car this year yet, so for those who are vaguely interested, here it is - for those who are not interested in 16yr old BMWs, my apologies :p.

Anyway, for those who don't know I picked this up off a fellow forum member at the start of 2008 for just shy of £1,000. It was totally stock and was my intention to use it as a cheap track car.

As the months and years passed, I did a few cosmetics, fitted larger BBS wheels (so that I could get some Michelin PS2s on), fitted the sport interior (firmer seats) then stripped most of it out :p, tidied up some rubbers/plastics/mechanicals that had worn with age, fitted an Eisenmann exhaust, fitted Spax RSX coilovers, chipped it, along with various other bits and pieces.

Back in 2008 it looked like this:
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I fitted some new top mounts today, so thought I'd take it out for a drive to test them and take some pics...

IMG_4153.jpg

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Looks good. Howcome you went for PS2's instead of a semi-slick tyre if it's a track day toy?

At the time I only had one set of wheels so wanted a tyre that was good in the wet and the dry rather than something amazing in the dry.

I've now got another set of 16s which I'll probably fit Michelin PE2s to as an emergency set of wheels on very wet days and will fit R888s or the Kumho equivalent to the 17s next.

Just need to wear the PS2s out now.
 
At the time I only had one set of wheels so wanted a tyre that was good in the wet and the dry rather than something amazing in the dry.

I've now got another set of 16s which I'll probably fit Michelin PE2s to as an emergency set of wheels on very wet days and will fit R888s or the Kumho equivalent to the 17s next.

Just need to wear the PS2s out now.

Fair answer. Your top mounts those camber + caster adjustable ones I've seen floating around for BMW's?
 
You should try and get some more extreme Geo done Nick if it's only a track car, seems to be pretty standard and this will sharpen it up no end I suspect.
 
I'm not poking fun or anything this is just a serious question (I love the 318is both e30 and e36)but don't these cars do 0 - 60 in 10.2 secs and so as a result are they any good for the track? Obviously tte car is chipped and I know this engine can be chipped well but surely the 0-60 can't decrease by more than 1.5 secs?
 
Oh I thought that the e30 was 9.1 but the e36 was slower due to weight or something? Guess not then. I'm now offically re interested in them then
that's what my figures were based on
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_E36
according to wiki a 318 takes 11.3
granted it's wikipedia but I've nver encounted a wiki fail before
edit: carfolio says 10 secs dead I'm now more confused
 
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[TW]Fox;16382577 said:
No, they dont do 0-60 in 10.2 seconds. It is a 318iS not a 318i.

The 318i is even slower. Mine feels about as quick (or as slow :) ) as my Mondeo.

As far as fitting more grippy rubber I personally can't see the point. Track days are about having fun rather than getting the fastest possible lap time so I'd rather have less grip, especially as an e36 318is is a bit lardy and not overly powerful. From taking the seats out of mine to clean it properly I can certainly see that it shouldn't be to hard to reduce the weight though.
 
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You should try and get some more extreme Geo done Nick if it's only a track car, seems to be pretty standard and this will sharpen it up no end I suspect.

Yeah, it's pretty neutral atm - I do actually have it booked in at Wheels In Motion for Weds next week to do exactly that, but look like I will be in London unfortunately, so will have to postpone (got a track day booked for next Sat too :().

Clarkey said:
Fair answer. Your top mounts those camber + caster adjustable ones I've seen floating around for BMW's?

Yup :D - they seem brilliant and looks like I can get loads of -ve camber off them. Much better than the crappy ECP 'Q-tec' budget stopgap ones that I threw in the bin today. I look forward to getting it set up properly.

I'm not poking fun or anything this is just a serious question (I love the 318is both e30 and e36)but don't these cars do 0 - 60 in 10.2 secs and so as a result are they any good for the track? Obviously tte car is chipped and I know this engine can be chipped well but surely the 0-60 can't decrease by more than 1.5 secs?

On the road I find it just about acceptable, but it is slow. On the track it's a different story though - it's a fair bit lighter than it was out of the factory, but critically handles and brakes well. It keeps up well with the traffic on the track with not many cars cornering convincingly quicker - it gets behind on the longer straights (stuff really catches up when speeds get above 80mph), but I've never found it a problem. It's good fun sticking to the behinds of old hatchbacks and big powerful saloons and it's also easy to exploit the car's full potential.

One of my most memorable track days sessions was when I followed a stock e36 M3 around for 3 laps and he followed me for a further 3. Neither of us could get away from the other for any decent length of time - we both had a huge amount of fun trying, but it shows that power isn't necessarily everything.

Little video of Conanius' S2000 following me and Silent Bob's 265bhp LCR (this was pre-coilover and pre-chip!):
 
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The 318i is even slower. Mine feels about as quick (or as slow :) ) as my Mondeo.

As far as fitting more grippy rubber I personally can't see the point. Track days are about having fun rather than getting the fastest possible lap time so I'd rather have less grip, especially as an e36 318is is a bit lardy and not overly powerful. From taking the seats out of mine to clean it properly I can certainly see that it shouldn't be to hard to reduce the weight though.

The biggest thrill is corner speed, late braking and nailing the perfect line for me though. The better the rubber, the more dramatic all of this gets.
 
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