Supercharged LS2 BMW E36 Drift Sedan is Everything We Ever Wanted
There is something special about a 20 year old German sedan flying full-lock through a corner with an American V8 singing in harmony.
The BMW E36, 1990-1999, has truly reached the bottom of the barrel when it comes to depreciation. In 2019, you are able to find running and decently driving examples for under $2,000 within the first 10 seconds of your Craigslist search. You might assume that the M3 models, sporting the motorsport-bred S50 and S52 engines, are obviously so different, thus, they must have retained their value. You would be wrong, as you can find running M3 models in the $4,000 price range just as frequently. Considering the price of an M3 was around $40,000 back in the late nineties, that’s a hell of a bargain now a days for something as capable on-track as those old BMW’s.
There is a trend attached to these cars, like any other car: when the value goes down, people buy them to turn them into projects and race them. Thanks to Taylor Ray‘s YouTube channel, we get to see one of these very projects come to life in Jack Davis‘ Pro-Am E36 drift car.
This beast of a vehicle started out its humble life as a entry-level 325i and now its sports a Vortech supercharged LS2 from a Corvette. In order for some of the accessory components to fit, the car features a custom tubed front end that ties in the intercooler, power-steering cooler and oil cooler all into one cohesive package. In order to actually get the motor in the car, Jack used a CXRacing header kit and engine/transmission mount kit for LS1 for the E36. In order to make room for this V8, the heater box needed to be removed to free up the necessary space by the firewall. To help the car get the full-lock it needs to drift at competitive level, Jack decided to run the popular MG Solution angle kit for E36. Helping the meaty fitment of this E36 stay within line is Big Duck Club overfenders. Thanks to the help of E85, this LS makes a healthy 650 WHP. That’s more power than you’d ever need for this level of drifting so you best believe it gets rowdy.
After watching how balanced and easy it looks to drift in the video, we can confidently say that we are thoroughly jealous of Jack Davis and his sweet drift car and we need one just like it in our garage ASAP.
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