The road less taken, '08 135i rally build

[Dirtye82_814]

I don't know really where to start, so here it goes. It all started with my co-driver and I drinking beer in my garage trying to figure out what we were going to my E36 rally car, were we going to s54 swap it or make a new car? Then he came up with the idea that I should buy his daily and turn that into a rally car. So I bought it and started stripping the car right away, (this is also this first car I ever bought with the sheer intention of turning it into a race car, my other 2 rally cars just happened on accident, daily's that turned into rally cars) Now on to the picture dump, I'll try to explain some of the process, but I also don't like typing

[Dirtye82_814]

While the cage was being installed by a very good rally friend of mine, I started to gather the parts to take care of the brakes, got to be able to run 15" wheels on it and a lsd. For the rear end I went shopping on CL and found a '07 335i rear diff from an automatic, which has 3.46 gears and a bolt on ring gear. Also got a wavetrac helical lsd. I don't really have any pics of the brakes, probably because I don't want to remember any of that nightmare. Lots of forums about putting big ol track brakes on these, not really any for smaller brakes, and the one that is on here is wrong. Well the front brakes are easy, just put 128i rotors and calipers on it, and then clearance the caliper with a grinder. The rear brakes are a little tougher, you need a 335i hub flange, 328ix rotor, 128i caliper, and you also have to clearance the caliper with a grinder. This set up also retains the factory parking brake. Ignore the coilovers in the pics, those come later.

[Dirtye82_814]

Also tried my hand at flocking my dashboard, and it came out pretty good

[Dirtye82_814]

I have to cover the moon roof hole with material made of metal according to ARA rules, so I chose 18ga 4041 sheet aluminum to cover it. I used a roll of blue tape to do the corner radiuses.

[dec.wee]

What a huge project! Thanks for sharing. Keep us posted, really looking forward to see the end result!

[Dirtye82_814]

Had to make the car more reliable, so I did the norm, cooling system, spark plugs, injectors, coil packs, turbos, intercooler, and different oil coolers. The cooling system is a new water pump, hoses, mishimoto radiator, dual empi oil coolers with -an10 lines, vargus oil cooler block, and thermostat. Brand new index 12 injectors, NGK spark plugs, vargus turbos, mishimoto intercooler, vrsf charge pipe, and tial bov.

[Dirtye82_814]

The exhaust consists of Wagner catless dp, a stock modified mid pipe, v-band 3" pipe, to a nameless performance high flow rally cat.

[Dirtye82_814]

The first shake down was a local rally cross. The car did better than I thought, especially since I had $150 ebay suspension on it. Also was zero car for the Gorman ridge rally (zero car is the first car that does the open for the stages to make sure it's safe) I ended up bending the front struts.

[uberschnell]

Dude, I need your back seats for a project. Still got them?

[Dirtye82_814]

Originally Posted by uberschnell

Dude, I need your back seats for a project. Still got them?

Unfortunately I don't, only thing I have left is the infotainment stuff.

[Dirtye82_814]

The suspension is made of rieger gravel coil overs, ground control rear lateral links, front e9x m3 arms with turner motorsports spherical bearing, and turner motorsports tie rod ends.

[niceast]

waiting for more.
like the build

[Dirtye82_814]

Sorry for the delay, been busy racing, did LSPR in Oct,

[Dirtye82_814]

Did Rally Nevada in November, bent a bunch of suspension parts and broke some of the underbody protection, it was a very rough rally, I football punted a large boulder with the back wheel of the car

[Dirtye82_814]

Did Ridge Rally in the beginning of December

[niceast]

That’s so sick
I like the front bumper clearance delete.
Does the backside also have a bumper chopped?

[Suprgnat]

Damn! Racking up the podium finishes!

[Dirtye82_814]

Originally Posted by niceast

That’s so sick
I like the front bumper clearance delete.
Does the backside also have a bumper chopped?

Yes I chopped the wheel liner to match the bumper

[Dirtye82_814]

Originally Posted by Suprgnat

Damn! Racking up the podium finishes!

Trying my hardest

[Yeee82]

Looks like one fun project, got any videos of you sending it? Would love to see it in action.

[Gray_Panther]

Just came across this and wow! Huge props and looks badass!
Would love to see vids of a 1er in some rally action!
This car does it all!

[Dirtye82_814]

Just this past weekend I had the honor of competing in the Oregon trail rally