Hi all

I have just bought a BMW 316 as a donor for my locost. This is my first build and was wondering if there was any advice you could give in regards to the the build itself or the car?
I dont know of anyone yet or seen any BMW donored cars and could not see any reason for it so i went ahead and bought it. So please just some input on choice of car and things to look out for Thanks

have a look here

http://www.racetech.ee/a/fh12-index.htm

Estonian built cars. There is a BMW engined car there.

Think Chris Gibbs is going to look at creating some plans to use a BMW donor in his next book or reprint whatever. The BMW is one of the few RWD drive models in large volume production.

I've never opened the a bonnet of a BMW so I'm no help but I have read here before that the engines and drive train are heavy so they aren't popular. Is the engine tilted to one side from the vertical too?

Best of luck with it but you will need to do a lot of modifications to get it all to work and the result probably wont be lightweight.

I have enough trouble trying accomodate a Capri axle in with the original plans

Thanks for tht guys. Ye the engine is tilted but i figured it wouldnt be too much of a problem since the inlet is above nd the exhaust below so im hoping it will slot straight in. Well to be honest im not looking for something majorly quick but wil some mods it will be a poweful engine to make up for the weight
i have looked and the rear diff seems quite big on the beemer so im considering swapping it out for a sierra diff.

Why not go for the bigger engine? It won't cost much more. I think the 320 is still a 4 cilinder.

I did think about it but i jus want to keep it down a bit too start with. As it is my first build i plan to jus make it work realli then once thats done i guess an engine upgrade is a possibilty.
But my next build ideally would be a BEC but sumfin like a mini

I think a 320 is a straight six.

Strangely enough I think a modern 316 has a 1.8 litre engine!!

quote:

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Originally posted by Aico
Why not go for the bigger engine? It won't cost much more. I think the 320 is still a 4 cilinder.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Aico
Why not go for the bigger engine? It won't cost much more. I think the 320 is still a 4 cilinder.

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Go for it. I'm not a BMW person myself, but the more variation on the theme the better for the future in my book.

I was just last week offered a 540 V8 complete car........ for free

Unfortunately it didn't work. The chap getting rid of it was given it with another BMW for spares. Reason for not working unknown. Might have been something minor, might not. Anyway, it was too short notice for me to do anything about, as it went to the scrappy about an hour later.

ATB

Simon

I chickened out and used ford bits. You will need plenty extra thinking and trying time!

Caber

Anybody thought of using the Audi A8?
Just came across this diff on the bay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-1-DIFF-ALTERNATIVE-TO-SIERRA-3-14-DIFFERENTIAL-UNIT_W0QQitemZ220179712685QQihZ012QQcategoryZ100921QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmd ZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m118
Not much use in a cec but might be useful with a bec.

I have a BMW diff (2.28:1) and driveshafts to replace the Sierra diff (that was going to be replaced by a Jag diff)

I'll get one I like one day

ATB

Simon