BMW E36 Turbo Widebody Project: IRL vs Gran Turismo Build

  • Thread starter SMoShine
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New to the forum but long time Gran Turismo fan (since GT4). My bro's and I have been working on this E36 project for a couple of years. Looking back it reminded me of a build-mod from GT. Here are a few pics and a little of the story (nickname SMo). Much more on the car's insta-page...



SMO Transformation v2.jpg



The project started in 2019 with a non-running '93 BMW 325is manual for $1500. The fuel system was gummed up from sitting too long and the brakes were completely siezed up. A couple $hundred later and we had a running car.

Phase-1 was suspension & brakes with widebody, aero and exhaust.


SMO Phase-1 GT7.jpg



Phase-2 was major engine mods. The cams and crank came from an S52 M3. We added in a GT3076 turbo system, forged rods & pistons, and a twin-disk clutch. Sounds easy reading that last sentance...it was a ton of work and we blew up an engine block along the way. Max boost just over 20 psi but we usually run half that. Total parts for both phases were 10X the the original cost of the car but with DIY sweat and bloody knuckles, it was worth it.


SMO Phase-2 GT7.jpg



GT7 Mod's aren't exactly as shown. GT7 doesn't allow turbochargers on the E46 M3 (why???). Luckily I won the Z4 racing motor so I could match the output of SMo at full boost.


SMO Engine and Interior.JPG



We wanted to see how much faster the mod's were making the car so we set up a little-autocross course at an undisclosed location. The original car made a 21 second fastest lap. After the mods we lowered that time to high-17's. Those 3.2 seconds were about a 15% improvement (at low boost).


SMo Slalom Before and After.jpg

SMO Multi-Shot Slalom.jpg

SMo 3-4 Front.jpg


SMo GT7 3-phases w PP.jpg



The cool thing was that this 15% improvement was almost exactly the same as the lap time improvement on the Gran Turismo build. I used an E46 M3 and dumbed it down to stock E36 specs for a baseline (Polyphony: PLEASE ADD THE E36 generation 3-SERIES BMW to GT7!).

The virtual GT-Build was about 15 seconds faster from a 97 second baseline just like the 15% IRL autocross run. This isn't the first time I've used Gran Turismo as a simulator.

GT is the real-deal. More sim than game. It's awesome to take our virtual SMo "E36" to race-tracks all over the world...saves a lot of $$$ on tires too!


SMO Rear 2022 - BavMoneyWasters.jpg
 
That is too sick! I love the GT mod photo edits as well. I'm right there with you on what it costs to put this much work into a project, but you love what you love and it justifies every penny.
 
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Car looks fabulous... It gives me M3 GTR vibes. Personally I wouldn't have gone with turbos and would have been happier with much less HP (like 300-400) from a NA inline-6 or V8 (only BMW engines though) but to each their own :)

What I particularly dig: Einige BMW Teile, that's very funny :)

Obviously, the source of the GTR vibe:
1670364151665.png
 
Car looks fabulous... It gives me M3 GTR vibes. Personally I wouldn't have gone with turbos and would have been happier with much less HP (like 300-400) from a NA inline-6 or V8 (only BMW engines though) but to each their own :)

What I particularly dig: Einige BMW Teile, that's very funny :)

Obviously, the source of the GTR vibe:
View attachment 1213927
The GTR is amazing!

We debated for 6 months on what to do with the motor. High-rev screamer? or Turbo? (Supercharging was never really on the table). I'm actually an N/A guy myself but I don't like LS-swaps except for GM cars and BMW V8s are not the best. The turbo just gives a much broader performance band. We can dial in 350-600hp crank HP for the same amount of $$ as a 350hp high-rev NA motor.

We went with the smallest possible turbo and intercooler for that power range. That helps with spool up. Electronic boost control also helps keeps the lag down. It has very good street drivability too.
 
Sounds good, you guys built an epic car! I also feel the LS-swap is for GM cars, BMWs should have BMW engines. I don't really know anything about BMW V8s, I only saw one cool E36 Compact with a 3L V8 swap on Hungarian YouTube channel. It's not a powerhouse but seems like a good track day toy (there are English subtitles, no idea how enjoyable it is if you don't speak Hungarian, I assume it sounds rather strange :)):

 
Sounds good, you guys built an epic car! I also feel the LS-swap is for GM cars, BMWs should have BMW engines. I don't really know anything about BMW V8s, I only saw one cool E36 Compact with a 3L V8 swap on Hungarian YouTube channel. It's not a powerhouse but seems like a good track day toy (there are English subtitles, no idea how enjoyable it is if you don't speak Hungarian, I assume it sounds rather strange :)):


That is one of the coolest ti's I've ever seen. I love crazy builds like that. Thx for sharing.
 
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