Reshell E36 M3 with non M3 LHD shell

[cozmcrae]

Hey guys.
I'm currently living in China and am considering shipping my UK E36 M3 over and reshelling it into a LHD car currently registered here. The big problem I am facing is there are no M3s in this country and the few E36s are automatics and 4 cylinders. Do any of you know if there are any big differences between an M3 shell and the 'lesser' model shells?

[kev b]

Have a look on real oem.

[cozmcrae]

kev b said:

Have a look on real oem.

Just did. It looks like they only have the US M3 which is more like a 328 than a Euro M3

[iSore]

Why would you reshell it when a LHD conversion is 1000 times easier?

[Osinjak]

I'm curious, wouldn't this be hideously expensive and complicated?

[cozmcrae]

I cannot import a used car into China and register it. Literally the only option is to reshell an E36 thats already registered here in China.

[Osinjak]

I believe you but wouldn't it be hideously expensive and complicated?

[MarkwG]

Of all the M3s, the e36 has the least in terms of shell differences: I believe there's some strengthening under the rear floor, & the rear arches are slightly flared on the saloon. But the bigger issue for me, is the RHD 6 cyl to LHD 4 cyl conversion; loom differences for starters, then seats, dashboard etc. - would suggest buying an LHD car in Europe & using that? Or a scrapped LHD car? It'll be a tough slog either way.

[cozmcrae]

That shouldn't be a problem. For the basic non-M stuff I'd have the LHD cars parts but I know I'll have to import a few bits like the steering rack, loom and some other odds and ends but it shouldn't be much. US E36 M3 owners frequently import the euro engines and parts to swap into their cars and they usually get the parts from UK cars because its cheaper. Theres loads of information online about it. I already have a 3.2 evo saloon parked up in the UK just now so it will be cheaper to use that than buy a whole new car. As long as I get a saloon E36 here with a black interior, I should be fine.

When you say strengthening at the rear, do you know much about that? I was more expecting differences between mounting points but as long as they are the same, I could cope.

[TroubledSoul]

cozmcrae said:

That shouldn't be a problem. For the basic non-M stuff I'd have the LHD cars parts but I know I'll have to import a few bits like the steering rack, loom and some other odds and ends but it shouldn't be much. US E36 M3 owners frequently import the euro engines and parts to swap into their cars and they usually get the parts from UK cars because its cheaper. Theres loads of information online about it. I already have a 3.2 evo saloon parked up in the UK just now so it will be cheaper to use that than buy a whole new car. As long as I get a saloon E36 here with a black interior, I should be fine.

When you say strengthening at the rear, do you know much about that? I was more expecting differences between mounting points but as long as they are the same, I could cope.

These are the reinforcement plates:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E36-REAR-SUBFRAME-RE...

The Evo has them as standard. Not sure about the 3.0, but the lesser models sure don't.