- When you think about the BMW 3 series,
your mind probably goes straight to the E30,
the E46 or maybe even the E90.
Those are some of the most legendary cars
that BMW has ever made.
(ululating)
But there's one BMW that has been overlooked for decades.
And that's the E36.
(dramatic music)
So today, I'm gonna talk about
some of the German engineering that makes the E36
such a great platform for enthusiasts like yourself,
and specifically, we're gonna look at the engine
and the chassis.
So buckle up Bimmer boys and gals,
'cause we're going to B2B on this BMV
while you're probably on the toilet taking a BM.
(upbeat music)
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We love you.
Now, inline sixes are exactly what they sound like.
They're six cylinders arranged in a line,
and compared to smaller four bangers, for example,
six cylinders are pretty long.
And generally, they're too long to be mounted transversely.
That's this way.
So they need to be placed longitudinally.
That's the length of the car,
which requires a much longer hood line.
Now that might be a great look for sports cars,
but most manufacturers tend to use the same engines
across the various platforms.
And a super long block just isn't very practical
in other cars like a minivan or an SUV,
or I don't know, a very small front hood car.
Now let's get back to the E36
and what makes its six-cylinder engine so good.
And by six-cylinder engine,
I really mean six-cylinder engines.
Because in the 10 or so years that BMW produced the E36,
they offered 10 gasoline powered
straight six engine options.
It's a lot of engines.
If looking at all 10 of those engines
makes your brain just turning to mush a little bit,
you're not alone, my friend.
But it's not that confusing
when you break down those engine codes.
Me and you were gonna be the Alan Turing
of deciphering engine codes right now.
Let's get into it, okay?
So the first digit tells you the engine family.
So M means it was the standard engine produced until 2001
and the S designates that it's a performance engine.
So they used S engines in M cars like the M3
but the M engines in non M cars,
like the 330ci.
Off to a totally non-confusing start.
Thank you, BMW engineers.
I told you, I keep telling you guys,
engineers don't know how to name stuff.
Now, the second digit tells you
which cylinder configuration it uses.
And in this case, five indicates
it's an inline six cylinder.
And you might think, Hey,
you should probably use number six to designate this.
But apparently BMW decided six should represent V8 cars.
I'm telling you right now,
an engineer did this and he was bad.
Now the third digit represents the variation of the engine.
Now these engines evolved over the years.
So the zero in M50 means it is the original design.
M51 would have been the first variation.
That's the diesel one I was talking about.
And M52 is the second variation.
Now most E36s are either gonna have an M50 or an M52.
Now, moving on to the fourth digit.
In this case, B tells us that it's a gasoline engine.
Why didn't BMW used a letter G
to designate their gas engine?
Well, because the German word for gas is benzin.
- [Announcer] Benzin.
- How did I pronounce that, my German friends?
I hope I did good.
Now the next two digits are pretty easy.
They tell you the displacement.
So 30 means it is a 3.0 liter engine.
And lastly, TU is BMW's special designation
to let you know there was a technical update.
Or in German (speaking foreign language).
(speaking foreign language)
Nailed that.
And finally, the US means it was only sold
in the United States.
Pretty simple.
Now, all this confusing jargon aside,
these engines all share the same basic architecture.
A dual overhead cam shaft with four valves per cylinder.
That's 24 valves total,
which is double what you got in the E30's
single cam six-cylinder engine.
So what's the benefit of having twin cams?
Well, you're more efficient and you get more power.
Now, one cam regulates the engine's intake valves
and the other regulates the exhaust valves.
And the distance between those two cams
means that the valves can be placed further apart,
which is great because that improves
the flow of exhaust gases through the engine.
And this extra valve distance also means
the spark plug can be placed in a more ideal position
for sparking up all that free flowing air fuel mixture
to get sucking in your intake belt.
Now, a cool benefit to dual overhead cams
is less valve noise.
Have you ever heard a BMW E30 before?
Here's actually a clip of one of our editors' Max's E30.
Listen to this sucker tick away.
(car engine growling)
- [Max] Real stinky.
- But the 24-valve engines on other hand,
they're quiet as a little mouse.
So compared to the E30, the E36 engines are more efficient,
they're more powerful and they are lighter,
but that's not the only thing they've got cooking.
It's time we talk about real meat and potatoes
of the E36's sexy sixes.
That's right.
I'm talking about BMWs legendary VANOS.
And VANOS stands for Variable Nockenwellen Steuerung.
I hope that...
And that word is German for Variable Cam Timing.
And it's the same principle as Honda's VTEC,
Toyota's VVT-i, or Nissan's VTC
that we talked about in the 300ZX episode.
Now, if you wanna learn more about variable timing,
I'll slip the link in the description below,
but in a nutshell, the engine's timing,
which is when the valves open and close,
it can change dynamically depending on driving conditions.
You get the benefit of having
a very sensible economical engine at lower RPMs,
but at higher RPMs, the timing is advanced
to allow more air and fuel into the combustion chamber.
Now say it with me now, kids,
you got more air, you got more fuel, and James,
what do we have?
- Are you serious, dude?
Nah, come on.
- Now, VANOS isn't exactly like variable cam timing
used in other cars.
And in typical BMW fashion,
it's slightly more complicated
because it wouldn't be a BMW
if it wasn't just a little bit more complicated.
I'm gonna compare it to VTEC which changes
the engine's valve timing by hydraulically switching
between a high lift and a low lift cam lobe.
Now the load lift profile gives you higher efficiency
at lower RPMs, and the high profile gives you
a little squirt of power in the high RPM range.
VANOS, on the other hand, does what's called cam phasing,
where the cam shaft itself is rotated
to adjust the lobe angle.
Now, depending on the engine's load,
the ECU will send a signal to the solenoid,
that sends pressurized oil to a helical gear.
And that pushes into the camshaft.
and that's what causes the camshaft to rotate.
And that rotation either advances or retards
the timing of when the valves open.
Now, most E36s had a single VANOS,
meaning it only affects the intake cam.
So when that helical gear engages to advance the timing,
you get a slight overlap between the intake
and exhaust valves.
Now this allows for exhaust gas recirculation, or EGR.
Now because of that slight overlap,
not all of the exhaust gases
are allowed to escape through the valves.
So some of it gets sucked back into the cylinder,
and the recycled exhaust gas dilutes the oxygen in the air
coming into the cylinder,
which helps absorb some of that heat from combustion.
Now less heat means less pollutants into the atmosphere.
So a big part of EGR has to do with emission.
And I know, Jerry, what the heck?
That sounds kind of counterintuitive.
Why would you want less oxygen in your combustion chamber?
But when you're just cruising around town,
EGR helps keep your engine running more efficiently.
And efficiency is something those German engineers
happen to absolutely love.
But hold up, okay, you're in a BMW.
You're late for your latte appointment
and you need to get across town fast
without using any blinkers
in typical BMW fashion.
So you put the pedal to the floor and your E36 brain decides
it's VANOS time.
The helical gear retracts back into its little hole
and your intake cam pivots back in place.
No more stinky exhaust gas in the chamber now.
We need more air so we can get more boom, boom,
so we can get more power.
so we can get to our latte appointment.
'cause you know, if you show up late,
Dylan's gonna order your latte with oat milk
and then you're gonna wanna punch him in the face,
'cause you don't like oat milk, you like almond milk,
but you call it almond juice
because how the heck can almonds have milk?
(laughing)
It should be called almond juice, I stand by that.
So today in 2020, you can find a running
and driving E36 that uses this fancy schmancy technology
for like $4,000.
And that's one of the reasons why this car
is so common with the drifters and other enthusiasts
who like to get their knuckles a little greasy.
I'm talking to you, D List fans.
You greasy, fricking knuckle freaks.
So now that we've got the basics of how these engines work
out of the way, it's time to talk about the chassis.
The chassis.
But why am I Italian?
Doesn't make sense.
The chassis.
There you go.
(upbeat music)
When the E36 debuted in 1990,
it had a lot to live up to.
I mean it's older bro, the E30,
is supposedly the most successful touring car platform
of all time.
So how do you take something that's already the best
and make it better?
Well, just like when Taco Bell released
the Nacho Cheese Doritos Loco Taco Supreme,
the E36 was beefier, it's stronger
and it's packed full of delicious crunchy flavor.
And that all starts at the chassis.
And yes, our sponsor for this episode is not Taco Bell,
but if you work at Taco Bell and you wanna sponsor us,
we would love that.
Now for one, the wheel base is five inches longer
than the E30.
That's about this long.
And what that five inches meant for BMW owners in the '90s
was more leg room and more trunk space.
But what does that five inches mean for you?
The dollar store drift frat in the year 2020?
Well, it means this boy's easier to get a little sideways.
So let's do a little imagination.
Say you're in your Catfish Camaro.
You got T tops open.
You got CD blasting from your six CD changer.
And all of a sudden the road gets a little twisty.
So naturally you give the steering wheel
a really nice little yank, you dump the clutch
and you start to oversteer
or as the youngsters call it entering a hectic skid.
Now there is a lot of physics going on while this happens.
But what we care about right now is rotational inertia.
And more specifically the force required
to rotate the vehicle.
Now, a longer wheel base means a longer distribution
of a vehicle's mass.
And longer distribution means it takes
a lot more centripetal force to rotate the vehicle.
And in a shorter car, the vehicle's mass is condensed.
So it has less rotational inertia,
meaning not as much force is needed to rotate it.
You wanna see how you can put rotational inertia
to the test?
Well, come on.
Let's hop in the old Jerry bus
and let's take a trip over to my sports lab.
Come on, let's go.
(gentle music)
So I wanna talk about polar moment of inertia
and that's how difficult it is
to get an object to rotate around its axis.
So to demonstrate this,
I have a basketball and I have a broom pole.
And they weigh roughly the same.
Let's just say they have the exact same mass.
Now, if I wanna go and I wanna rotate this basketball
around its center of mass, it's pretty easy to do that.
It has a low polar moment of inertia.
Now, if I take this broom pole
and I try to get it to rotate around its center of axis,
it's a lot harder.
It takes a lot more effort to get it to spin
just as fast as that basketball and as many times.
it has a high polar moment of inertia.
So just like a car,
this has a higher polar moment of inertia.
It's harder to get it to rotate around its axis.
Imagine this being a long front end car,
and this being a little smart car.
There you go.
But if a longer wheel base needs more force to go sideways,
why would anyone prefer that in motor sports?
Well, mainly because it gives the driver
more control over the car.
Sure, a shorter car will rotate faster,
but it'll also be a lot more squirrely.
I mean, think about what would happen
if you yanked the wheel in a smart car.
I mean, you'd probably flip it,
but you'd also probably have a real hard time
keeping it under control if it wasn't flipping,
and it would be extremely difficult
to link your drifts together
if you were trying to drift your smart car.
But what a longer wheelbase does,
is the juris will be more smooth and predictable.
The E36's wheelbase is a good compromise
between short and squirrely and long and slow.
Now, like I said before,
there are a ton of other factors
that are going to affect how a car behaves
when it's getting sideways.
But this is the main reason longer cars
are generally preferred in drifting.
Now, aside from having a slightly longer wheelbase,
the E36's suspension also makes it favorable
to modern day car moderates.
So just like the E30, the E36 uses
an independent MacPherson strut front end.
And this is the same type of front suspension
found in most modern cars today.
You have a telescopic strut that is mounted vertically
between the top of the wheel hub
and the lower strut tower.
This is your classic coil over shock absorber,
AKA a coilover.
And this technology has been around since the '50s
and it's still used today, because one, it's simple.
Two, it's beefy and three, it is cheap to produce.
But unlike it's elder brethren,
the E36 came equipped with a Z-axle
multi-link rear suspension.
And what is a Z-axle multi-link rear suspension, Jerry?
Well, to put simply, the rear suspension uses multiple links
and it looks like a Z.
Now, BMW used multiple rear control arms
that allow suspension geometry to stay the same
even under heavy cornering.
See, before multi-link rear ends,
BMW used what's called a rear semi trailing arm suspension,
where each wheel connects to a single A-arm
that pivots at the body.
And semi-trailing arms are not horrible,
but they don't allow you to adjust toe or camber.
And that's (bleep).
Should I get a wheel?
I'll get a wheel.
Here, I got a tire.
I got a tire from my dirt bike here.
So camber is this.
That's this angle.
That's how much the tires rotated this way
and toe is this.
How much it toes.
And on a track car, you want all the suspension
fine tuning that you can get.
So this can be a pretty major drawback
when you're trying to tune your suspension.
Now, another problem with rear trailing arms
is that as the wheels travel under suspension load
camber changes, which affects the car's handling
totally throws off your balance,
like a ballerina with the wrong shoes.
And drifters are actually just like ballerinas.
They're precise and delicate, but they're full of power.
So the E36's multi link suspension
eliminates most of the drawbacks from a trailing arm setup.
Your wheels make better contact with the ground,
you get more adjustability
and there's less noise and vibration
traveling to the body.
Again, BMW was going for comfort here,
but what's the main benefit nowadays?
Well, you get lots of aftermarket opportunities.
You could throw some nasty coilovers on the front,
stiff rear springs and shocks
and maybe some poly bushings
to replace your old, worn out multi-link rubbers.
I love aftermarket people.
Aftermarket is what makes the business go round and round.
Now, between the easily customizable suspension
and the beefy, yet reliable engine options,
the E36 chassis is set up really well
for people who want a cheap entry point into motor sports.
It might not have the cold status of the E30
or the fancy technology of the newer cars,
but it's a great value when you consider the engineering
that went into these things.
Thank you guys so much for watching this episode of B2B.
I love making this show.
I thank you guys for watching.
I hope you learned some stuff.
Hope you laughed a little bit.
You wanna know more about the E30?
James breaks it down.
Follow me @JeremiahBurton.
Hit me up.
Send me and DM. I'll try to get back to you.
I try to get through all of 'em. So bye for now.