E36 328i Touring. When it breaks, upgrade it...

E36 328i Touring. When it breaks, upgrade it...

Author
Discussion

BlimeyCharlie

901 posts

141 months

Saturday 25th January 2014
quotequote all
Don't hang around too long without buying a ticket at Southampton waterfront…

I got a fine sent to me in the post for when I stopped there for too long. Camera reads your numberplate and times you.
Lashing down with rain but needed a break from post-football match traffic. My fault should have read notices...

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
quotequote all
Cheers NCOT. She be gettin' there!

Charlie- I'm in the process of getting the ticket I got for that photoshoot quashed... bad times!

seismic22

643 posts

168 months

Tuesday 28th January 2014
quotequote all
We will have to meet up again in Soton soon so I can remind you to put those bump strips back to black and get rid of those stickers! wink


Seriously though, Sam was good enough to let me have a go in this a while back and it is certainly far more rapid than a 328i has a right to be! Great mix of old skool fun, a bit of modern comfort and plenty of practicality. She's good for some predictable sideways action and prior to the standard set up howled like a 6 cylinder should!

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Sunday 2nd February 2014
quotequote all
seismic22 said:
We will have to meet up again in Soton soon so I can remind you to put those bump strips back to black and get rid of those stickers! wink


Seriously though, Sam was good enough to let me have a go in this a while back and it is certainly far more rapid than a 328i has a right to be! Great mix of old skool fun, a bit of modern comfort and plenty of practicality. She's good for some predictable sideways action and prior to the standard set up howled like a 6 cylinder should!
Rory! I thought you were dead! hehe WhatsApp me back, you fker!

She's better now mate. wink on some subtle winters, with new wishbones since you tried her, uprated bushes most of the way round... but the bump strips and stickers are staying. For now. wink

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Tuesday 4th February 2014
quotequote all
Also... taking delivery of this shortly.





White 328i manual convertible, tax and test, full electric roof, £300.

It's being broken for bits (again). Engine is going in an E30 that's been stripped out and with rebuilt everything- going to Nürburgring with us this August. smile the rest of it is going to be harvested to keep Claudia alive, and other bits sold to get back purchase price. Diff will be removed and stripped down, then rebuilt as an LSD (if that's possible). X-brace will be finding its way onto Claudia, for that extra bit of cornering fun. And whatever else can be removed, will be removed...

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Thursday 3rd April 2014
quotequote all
  • blows dust off thread*
It's been a while!

The white 328i convertible, as seen previously, has gone to the great scrapyard in the sky, leaving behind some nice parts for me- including something I've never seen before. In place of an x-brace, it has a truly massive and truly hardcore sump guard that attaches in the same way the x-brace does, and has a drain hole for the oil. Very thoughtful. It's also a genuine BMW part. So that'll be applied soon.

I've also been on a small buying spree for other parts. My lovely steering wheel has inspired a small influx of carbon fibre elsewhere- namely, AC Schnitzer clocks and AC Schnitzer mirrors.







Both are little resto projects- the mirrors are very yellow and delaminating somewhat. So the plan is to relacquer, then apply a subtle silver clearcoat- thus allowing for them to look 'normal' from 10 feet away, but clearly carbon up close. The clocks had a smashed face, so I need to transfer over some clock glass and get an oil temp sensor- luckily I've found one that screws straight into the sump. Job done.

Finally finished my BBS project too...





A glass and a half of joy. They've had a lot of attention in the few hours they've been on. I polished the lips myself, bought gold bolts, bought new BMW badges for them, then the centres were powdercoated with a base coat of Ultra Chrome, then Lollipop Purple laid over the top.

Next plans: I've sourced some fairly mental cams with proven 17whp gains from the good ol' US of A, at an attractive price. Those are booked for July. I also still have the AC Schnitzer short shifter to fit, but all in good time.

Slowly slowly catchy monkey. smile


jmflare

413 posts

140 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
Lovely mate. Not really a fan of colour coding the trim to the car colour on E36's but your car seems to pull it off really well, oh and the wheels are ace smile

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Friday 4th April 2014
quotequote all
jmflare said:
Lovely mate. Not really a fan of colour coding the trim to the car colour on E36's but your car seems to pull it off really well, oh and the wheels are ace smile
Cheers. smile I think on a non-obnoxious colour like silver you can get away with it, and Tourings seem to like being colour coded more than coupés/saloons.

I'm so happy with the wheels! As are most of the neighbourhood, had a couple of people (pensioners, nonetheless!) actually come on the driveway to have a look at them... hehe

The local kids have been warned upon pain of death to not try to nick them.

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Thursday 24th April 2014
quotequote all
Few little bits and pieces sorted...

Finally fitted the AC Schnitzer short shift kit. My God... what a difference. It was the full linkage kit, so basically a case of getting the car up on a lift, dropping the gearbox, removing the exhaust for ease of access and then popping two circlips off to remove the shagged one. Then, as Haynes say, refitting is the reverse of removal... it's probably one of the easiest jobs I've done to the car. Changed the gearknob for the statutory Schnitzer one too.

I also changed the gearbox oil when I was under there- the old oil was the colour of coffee. Lifetime oil my arse.

The ridiculous exhaust has reappeared, and I have missed it... I won't lie!

Today I've cleaned up the interior, which mean removing some dribbled lithium grease off the passenger seat (looked like a cumstain, had to go) and generally vaccing... before I cannibalised two/three different sets of clocks to create my little masterpiece.









Took some pre-facelift clocks (they go to 160mph instead of 155), took the Schnitzer 'carbon' backing out of the M3 clocks, removed my clocks and then put them all together. Result: very happy. The interior's come together really nicely. The only thing I really want for the interior now is a carbon insert for above the glovebox.

Next up... I appear to have broken something.



That's one of my engine mount brackets. I appear to have torn it. No idea how, but there we go. A new one has turned up... time to get that fitted!



Rainy indulgent shot.

ManicMunky

525 posts

119 months

Friday 25th April 2014
quotequote all
Hey hey, it's Babs from Brisky - just signed up as I lurk quite a lot but have never posted!

The touring is looking really good mate, keep it up biggrin

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Saturday 26th April 2014
quotequote all
Good to see you here! Glad you like the progress, I've not updated the Brisky thread for a while now... there's been a lot to update. hehe

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Sunday 27th April 2014
quotequote all
It's nice to see friends. It's even nicer to drive their cars.





















They say you should never meet your heroes. In the case of the B8, go right ahead. It's a monster. Giggly-good levels of fun and fast. Even LHD feels normal after a short period of time. That's settled it- Claudia will either have to be converted to a V8, or I'll have to buy one of these brutes. There are worse ways to spend £12,000.

Engine mount to be fixed this week, thank God. £8 saw me sourcing the mounting bracket. Still no idea how I broke it...

dazz1871part2

234 posts

130 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
quotequote all
Love ur car mate, by any luck have you got any pics of the hardcore sump guard? And a part number? Need something to look after my sump as I'm low.

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Tuesday 29th April 2014
quotequote all
dazz1871part2 said:
Love ur car mate, by any luck have you got any pics of the hardcore sump guard? And a part number? Need something to look after my sump as I'm low.
Hello mate- cheers for the kind words- she's certainly been a labour of love! smile

Here's a picture, I will need to dig the damn thing out from under the house and under a mountain of other E36 parts before I can get you a part number- it is genuine BMW though. Also works with some mentally massive bracing- you know the regular 2-point bar that links the chassis rails? The sump guard has a huge one that replaces the original two-point one, it's about 2" thick... nuts



Also, here's today's efforts before the pub.





Basically, my engine had been bouncing freely about in the bay. This certainly explained a lot of weird occurrences and horrid noises. Car feels incredible now that she's had the remedial work done. Mounts were fun- got the car up on the lift, jacked the engine up, unbolted the shagged bracket, popped the new mounts in, away we went. Didn't take too long and has massively improved the feel of the car.



Gratuitous shot from the pub club tonight. So nice to have her fighting fit. Everything blends together really nice now- short shift, fresh gearbox oil, new engine mounts/brackets, steering and general noise/feel/acceleration is just brilliant again. Strange that, at 180,000 miles, this is the best she's ever felt. smile

ManicMunky

525 posts

119 months

Wednesday 30th April 2014
quotequote all
It's always good when cheap fixes have such a massive effect!

Hamster69

747 posts

145 months

Thursday 1st May 2014
quotequote all
An estate, nice. I was very tempted by one of them to match the track toy. But I decided to funnel some more money into my S class for another year. These cams you bought, US M spec or did you go with catcams in the end?

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Friday 2nd May 2014
quotequote all
Hamster69 said:
An estate, nice. I was very tempted by one of them to match the track toy. But I decided to funnel some more money into my S class for another year. These cams you bought, US M spec or did you go with catcams in the end?
They're not as stiff as either the saloon or coupé, so you probably made the right choice. I'm a sucker for an estate though... think this is one of the nicest Touring designs BMW have done.

The cams are a work in progress, but a company called Riot Racing will sort you out regrinds for $450+$90 shipping, providing you can get a set of M52 cams to them. They're a proven 17whp gain, which sounds like a very nice idea in my book. Of course, the temptation is to get some S52 cams and send them off to Riot, because the regrinds of the S52 cams are nuts! All in good time though. I have to sort out tax and insurance first. All other niggles have been attended to for now. smile

147lusso

172 posts

141 months

Wednesday 14th May 2014
quotequote all
Saw this at Japfest, lovely example! Given me some good inspiration for my TDS.

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Wednesday 14th May 2014
quotequote all
147lusso said:
Saw this at Japfest, lovely example! Given me some good inspiration for my TDS.
I have been inundated with texts, forum messages and Facebook messages from various people who've seen the bloody thing at Japfest- I only went on the stand because two of our Hondas broke down getting there and they needed to fill up numbers! hehe

Glad you liked it. smile got a thread for your TDS? They can be monstrous if done right, I know a guy who did a massive top-mount turbo and huge intercooler... puts out some fairly insane numbers (for a TDS). I think they safely map to 170-180bhp, I'll check with my Luxembourish source...

carpetsoiler

Original Poster:

1,958 posts

164 months

Friday 23rd May 2014
quotequote all
Been busy playing with other people's E36s.

First of all, went up to Kent and installed an M50 manifold & electric Vaders in a friend's convertible 328i... then photos commenced.









The M50 only took a few hours this time around, as we had a fitting kit ready for it. Quite simple once you're used to it. It's also far easier doing a vert/coup as the bonnet is longer on them. The Vaders went in fine too- they're my old Vaders, freshly refurbed and looking absolutely lovely.

Also went to view a very tidy 328i saloon in manual for one of my best mates. Amazing spec- originally a Sytner car, serviced by BMW Chelsea, 81,000 on the clock, 1997 model, heated seats, full black leather, Sports seats, black headlining, split rear seats (insanely rare on the saloon), genuine Alpina wheels, M50 manifold already fitted, E46 330 big brake upgrade already done with EBC Redstuffs and braided lines all round, uprated hifi with 10-12 speakers or whatever it is. A deposit has been laid. Pretty soon we should have the full set- anyone with a coup or compact who wants to join our gang, please make yourself known. hehe



Tonight, finally fitted a little mood lifter for the interior:



Bought an E39 interior light, ripped the LEDs out of it, drilled holes in my E36 light housing, cut everything down to size, pushed it all together, fed the wiring down the A-pillar and to where my old MTech illuminated gearknob was done for the lighting... hey presto. Mood lighting. This was something I fitted to my old Octavia, and I actually really missed it. Nice to have it back.