BMW e36 318 tds - modding thread

[AndrzejM]

Yesterday I've managed to make some mods to Berta. Maybe not the most spectacular ones but for now they will do

First I've made an upper grill block.



Unfortunately it's behind the actual grill. I want to modify the whole front of Berta, so I don't want to spend too much $$, because I'll destroy it anyway.

It's made of waterproof cloth, supported with styrofoam from the back.

Then I've decided to canalise air flow from lower grill to radiator and most of all to IC. So I started with insulation to stop air from leaking to the sides, top and bottom of radiator and IC, then I've made an air tunnel from the opening of lower grill to IC and partially to radiator. And I've decided to close 1/2 of lower grill for better aerodynamics.



A sheet of plastic cut to the shape of the inlet and wrapped with black power tape.

So for now I have blocked ~4/5 of whole airflow trough upper and lower grill inlets.



Marked in blue

[AndrzejM]

Quick fitting of the airdam.






It is lowered to the level of the lowest point of the body, and it's stretched a bit to the sides to hide wheels from the airflow.

[Piwoslaw]

Quite aggresive. I see you are prepping for snow season?

[AndrzejM]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Quite aggresive. I see you are prepping for snow season?

It's only like 5-6cm lower than the stock bumper, but to have a snowplough at home can be additional benefit

[AndrzejM]

I wanted to seal the gaps in front of Berta, and I've decided to not use duct tape, so I went to local scrapyard and brought back home a seal from a car door. Then it was just a matter of some time to take out the bumper, and putting the seal in between body panel and the bumper.


Here are the results






That's not all I've made today. Since I've found an interesting piece of some plastic cover. So I've decided to use it as an air dam. A temporary one, since I want to change the whole front of Berta, but since material was for free I couldn't miss this opportunity. For now it will do a job, I hope.
Some cutting and few screws:




Another piece of that cover mounted to the bottom of front Bumper.

I know it should stick out a bit more but remember that's a temporary solution for a tire spats.

Mounted spat

Mounting points

With the bumper mounted



And since bumper was out I could take a pic of my air duct for cooling. Described somewhere above.





Sorry for all those photos

[Otto]

I also have a BMW E36, a '95 325is.

A few thoughts on grill block:

You could remove the chrome plastic surrounding the upper kidney-shaped holes, put black Coroplast between the existing black plastic grills and the metal, for a nearly flush fit. If the flutes in the black Coroplast are vertical, it looks more like a stock BMW.

Black Coroplast also makes a good single piece cover for the lower grill opening. Use the existing black plastic grill to mount it to.

Belly pan of 6mm Coroplast tucks under the bottom of the front bumper cover. Zip tie its trailing edge to the cross bar under the engine. Coroplast sheet could be heated and formed to include wheel spats in the belly pan. Or, make airfoil-shaped spats and wheel fairings out of plastic foam, spray paint black.

Some E36 guys use black plastic lawn or garden edging from Home Depot or other home improvement stores to make chin spoilers that look like stock. This lowers the bottom edge of the bumper cover by ~1.5". Rather than make a new air dam, maybe you could use a heat gun and heat the sides of the existing bumper cover and reshape them by pulling outward so they are as far out as the front tires. This, plus the 1.5" chin spoiler, would give you about the same aerodynamic improvement as a new air dam. Go on Bimmerforums.com in the E36 section for pictures of the plastic chin spoiler.

[AndrzejM]

Originally Posted by Otto

I also BMW E36, a '95 325is.

A few thoughts on grill block:

You could remove the chrome plastic surrounding the upper kidney-shaped holes, put black Coroplast between the existing black plastic grills and the metal, for a nearly flush fit. If the flutes in the black Coroplast are vertical, it looks more like a stock BMW.

Good idea, but it's very hard to get black coro here in Poland, I know I could paint any coro with a black spray though. I'll think of that.

Black Coroplast also makes a good single piece cover for the lower grill opening. Use the existing black plastic grill to mount it to.

As above...

Belly pan of 6mm Coroplast tucks under the bottom of the front bumper cover. Zip tie its trailing edge to the cross bar under the engine. Coroplast sheet could be heated and formed to include wheel spats in the belly pan. Or, make airfoil-shaped spats and wheel fairings out of plastic foam, spray paint black.

That's my plan for a belly pan, but first I want to modify the whole front of Berta to fit a bellypan.

Some E36 guys use black plastic lawn or garden edging from Home Depot or other home improvement stores to make chin spoilers that look like stock. This lowers the bottom edge of the bumper cover by ~1.5". Rather than make a new air dam, maybe you could use a heat gun and heat the sides of the existing bumper cover and reshape them by pulling outward so they are as far out as the front tires. This, plus the 1.5" chin spoiler, would give you about the same aerodynamic improvement as a new air dam. Go on Bimmerforums.com in the E36 section for pictures of the plastic chin spoiler.

Thanks for the tip. I'll think of that.

[AndrzejM]

[Otto]

The plastic bumper cover is flexible: You can pull it outward an inch or so with your hand so that it is flush with the outer tire surface.

Also, you can lower the car by cutting some of the front springs. On E34 BMW cars, cutting one turn off the bottom of the spring will lower the car by ~25-40mm.

If you pull the plastic bumper cover outwards and heat treat it to stay out or used a simple strut to hold it out, and also lowered the car by cutting the springs, you would not need the air dam.

You could also make an air curtain like the latest BMW 3 series cars have, by ducting ram air from the nose to a vent at the upper forward section of the wheel arch.

[AndrzejM]

Originally Posted by Otto

The plastic bumper cover is flexible: You can pull it outward an inch or so with your hand so that it is flush with the outer tire surface.

I'll try to do that and see what i can do with original bumper cover. Thanks.

Also, you can lower the car by cutting some of the front springs. On E34 BMW cars, cutting one turn off the bottom of the spring will lower the car by ~25-40mm.

I don't want to lower Berta, she's low enough for polish roads

If you pull the plastic bumper cover outwards and heat treat it to stay out or used a simple strut to hold it out, and also lowered the car by cutting the springs, you would not need the air dam.

I think I'll go into the air dam direction with belly pan, because I want to flatten the belly of Berta. You can see here Three levels of Berta's belly that there are few things that can be improved.

You could also make an air curtain like the latest BMW 3 series cars have, by ducting ram air from the nose to a vent at the upper forward section of the wheel arch.

I'll try to find some details. But I have ducts from the front to the wheel arches, but those are for cooling the breaks.