E36 328i Touring. When it breaks, upgrade it...
Discussion
Like the car very much. E36 tourings still look good, especially with the mods you've made.
I had the same misted up headlights with an old E36 of mine. Ended up taking them off, drying them out thoroughly, then drilling a vent hole in the back to allow them to 'breathe'. Did the job nicely and it never came back.
I had the same misted up headlights with an old E36 of mine. Ended up taking them off, drying them out thoroughly, then drilling a vent hole in the back to allow them to 'breathe'. Did the job nicely and it never came back.
The DIY time is beginning to take over...
Following a recent haemorrhage of money from my bank account (which has absolutely nothing to do with fuelling her, strangely), I've decided on a few things...
1) to take routine maintenance upon myself, as I'm unlikely to sell the car and it's at the age/mileage where people won't give a s
t anyway.
2) to buy one 'big' item (£50+) for the car each month, as opposed to the many millions I did before.
3) to walk around more, and save some petrol in the process. I did it today.
Number 1 has already started coming into effect. Last night, I finally replaced the fuel pump/sender with one that had a working float. This was something I'd neglected to do because a) I've been busy b) I'm lazy and c) I'd not run out of fuel. Item 'c' reared its head with an ugly vengeance last night, therefore I had to replace it. Surprisingly simple- removed rear bench, uncovered the fuel pump (4 screws), released the fuel pump (one very large catch), replaced pump & O-ring seal. Took all of half an hour. Plus a further half an hour to evaporate the spilt petrols.
Next up- coolant flush, oil change and fuel filter change. The oil's sitting on the passenger seat along with some engine flush and a new filter, just need a 36mm socket, some patience and an ice cream tub (these are lacking in the House of Sam currently, I think I'm one of the few people who lost weight over Christmas...)
Oh, and to treat her today... yellowed up my foglights (you may think it's chavvy, I just like to break up the silver/black) and finally put some mesh in the basking shark-esque mouth that was giving everyone a lovely look at the cooling fan.
I've had a quote for some spray work- the bumper, rusty bits on nosecone, peeling lacquer and rusty bonnet will set me back a whopping £300 or so. Got to plan carefully, as there's also a guitar potentially on the way...
Anyhoo, pics. Opinions welcome... expecting to get nuked for the yellow tint.
December's mod: M50 manifold, as soon as someone here gets back to me.
January's mod (already secured, eager beaver that I am): convertible x-brace for the underside.
February: going to be front suspension, I reckon. Not looking forward to changing that though.
Following a recent haemorrhage of money from my bank account (which has absolutely nothing to do with fuelling her, strangely), I've decided on a few things...
1) to take routine maintenance upon myself, as I'm unlikely to sell the car and it's at the age/mileage where people won't give a s
t anyway.2) to buy one 'big' item (£50+) for the car each month, as opposed to the many millions I did before.
3) to walk around more, and save some petrol in the process. I did it today.
Number 1 has already started coming into effect. Last night, I finally replaced the fuel pump/sender with one that had a working float. This was something I'd neglected to do because a) I've been busy b) I'm lazy and c) I'd not run out of fuel. Item 'c' reared its head with an ugly vengeance last night, therefore I had to replace it. Surprisingly simple- removed rear bench, uncovered the fuel pump (4 screws), released the fuel pump (one very large catch), replaced pump & O-ring seal. Took all of half an hour. Plus a further half an hour to evaporate the spilt petrols.
Next up- coolant flush, oil change and fuel filter change. The oil's sitting on the passenger seat along with some engine flush and a new filter, just need a 36mm socket, some patience and an ice cream tub (these are lacking in the House of Sam currently, I think I'm one of the few people who lost weight over Christmas...)
Oh, and to treat her today... yellowed up my foglights (you may think it's chavvy, I just like to break up the silver/black) and finally put some mesh in the basking shark-esque mouth that was giving everyone a lovely look at the cooling fan.
I've had a quote for some spray work- the bumper, rusty bits on nosecone, peeling lacquer and rusty bonnet will set me back a whopping £300 or so. Got to plan carefully, as there's also a guitar potentially on the way...
Anyhoo, pics. Opinions welcome... expecting to get nuked for the yellow tint.
December's mod: M50 manifold, as soon as someone here gets back to me.
January's mod (already secured, eager beaver that I am): convertible x-brace for the underside.
February: going to be front suspension, I reckon. Not looking forward to changing that though.
I do really like e36's and the touring in particular. I had my (much modified) 328i Sport for 8 years until I broke it and I've had my 323i Sport touring 18 moths. It started out on 18" Style 32's and they really do suit the car. I went back to the standard 16's though as I didn't want to have a modified car.
pstruck said:
No nuking for the yellow fogs, but it's funny that you say you did it to break up the black and silver, yet you changed the orange indicators to remove the colour. Not criticising, as I'd do (well did) the same (smoked indicators, not yellow fogs).
Ha! Oh, the obvious, unnoticed irony. I hate ginger indicators, and secretly lust after yellow fogs. You got me. 
I might have to try ambers with the yella...
Looking forward to the next bits of 'Ring prep. Should be a doozy!
Clutch delay valve ripped out today.
Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
Very nice OP, and love the style 32s on it. We'll hit a time in the not too distant future when the E36 will be a protected species, so a 328i Tourer will be right up there near the top of the list
Not a huge fan of the yellow fogs myself on silver cars, but each to their own of course
Not a huge fan of the yellow fogs myself on silver cars, but each to their own of course
sc4589 said:
Clutch delay valve ripped out today.
Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
I didn't know they fitted a CDV to models that old? I removed this from my Z4, made a huge difference in general driving around.Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
P.S. the yellow foggies look naff
I know Liam, it's fine, chill.
Leins- I'd be interested to see if that happens. If I get a windfall I might stockpile a few- they really are a great all-rounder.
Regarding the CDV- the M52 was the first BMW engine to have it, I think. Probably the best drivetrain mod I've done yet!
I was waiting for the yellow fogs to come under attack- they're still 50/50 for me, and the effect on the light is much easier on the eye. Time will tell on this one!
Leins- I'd be interested to see if that happens. If I get a windfall I might stockpile a few- they really are a great all-rounder.
Regarding the CDV- the M52 was the first BMW engine to have it, I think. Probably the best drivetrain mod I've done yet!
I was waiting for the yellow fogs to come under attack- they're still 50/50 for me, and the effect on the light is much easier on the eye. Time will tell on this one!
sc4589 said:
Clutch delay valve ripped out today.
Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
I've been sitting on the fence about it for a while partly because since I have only driven E36s with them fitted since I passed my test therefore I am worried I might start driving like a mong and stalling all the time... but you make a good case! I've always found the clutch kinda vague when pulling away and driving at slow speeds... am I right in thinking you don't need to let the clutch out as gradually/tentatively when pulling away as it becomes clearer what it's actually doing most of the time? Brystone near Totton performed the act (as I didn't really fancy bleeding the clutch system), and managed the feat for the princely sum of £40 and about an hour of my time.
What a difference- it turns out the E36 has a bite point and clutch feel and everything! Wow! Can also make fast gearchanges without them getting slurred into oblivion. Thusly, the car sprints through the gears quicker and it's a damn sight safer overtaking.
Well worth it, if anyone wants it done.
vsonix said:
I've been sitting on the fence about it for a while partly because since I have only driven E36s with them fitted since I passed my test therefore I am worried I might start driving like a mong and stalling all the time... but you make a good case! I've always found the clutch kinda vague when pulling away and driving at slow speeds... am I right in thinking you don't need to let the clutch out as gradually/tentatively when pulling away as it becomes clearer what it's actually doing most of the time?
Exactly that. You can feel what the car's doing and actually make fast gearchanges without the car slurring.Right, finally, some good progress.
Spent a lot of time ripping apart various parts of the car the last couple of weeks, and I'm pleased to say that Claudia has even more of a bite to match her bark. Best mate came over and we decided to tackle the job of installing an M50 manifold. Took a couple of hours to get the standard manifold off, and then the fun and games truly began. The M50 manifold has about half the spaces on it that the M52 manifold does! We ended up leaving out a metal cylinder because it 'clearly isn't that important, it just feeds air between the manifold and the intake'.
The rest of it was fairly simple- the vac line from the fuel rail and the charcoal canister (?) were condensed into an identically-sized pipe using a T-piece, drilled a hole for the purge valve to breathe into, the oil separator slotted into an existing hole and the temp sensor was the same (although different in resistance due to OBD1 & OBD2 compatibility).
Got it all back together, and she roared into life... then died promptly.
stballs.
Remember that metal cylinder? One incorrectly identified Idle Control Valve later...
So I dragged a thoroughly pissed off car up to Camberley the following day, with no idle. That was fun. Only lost her 5 times, but it was still irritating and I've probably cooked my starter motor a bit. We refitted everything, and built a neat little T-piece junction for the oil separator & ICV (they share the same size pipe) to feed into. Started, idled, ran like a dream, idled a little low. Didn't think too much of it. You can really feel the torque loss at low revs, but once you get up the rev range she simply flies. The noise is a lot more characterful and open now, too.
Still had trouble with the occasional stall and, as mentioned, a very low idle. Got a can of carb cleaner and sprayed it all round where the manifold met the head, waiting for a change in engine note (temporary seal). Nothing. MAF sensor was fine. No leaks there. Throttle body and T-piece turned out to be the areas of issue, wasn't sure why until I took it all apart again!
Throttle body gasket was horribly smushed in and wasn't sealing, and the T-piece... well...
So I rejigged my crappy attempt at vac pipework, ended up removing about 12" of it in total (less is more), started her up and she ran. Properly. Right idle, smooth, clean, sprayed all the connections again to check for leaks... job done.
Today I finally changed the oil like I'd been meaning to, which was fun- the stuff that came out was a hideous colour. Also fixed a leak in the coolant system that saw the car eat through her entire complement in 6 days. Including 2 days of not being driven.
Other gratuitous shots...
The black BBS are back on for now- going to run the tyres down to the canvas, get them sandblasted back to bare metal and refurb them in a nice, light anthracite with polished bolts. The '32s are in hiding for now- I've already worn the rears down to the canvas. No idea how.
Other news- she passed her MOT with flying colours, but will need a couple of lower arms soon. Going to get Powerflex bushes on there at the same time, and I'm building my own new front struts with some secondhand 328i struts (£30 delivered!) and Eibach springs/Bilstein B4 shocks. All in good time!
Spent a lot of time ripping apart various parts of the car the last couple of weeks, and I'm pleased to say that Claudia has even more of a bite to match her bark. Best mate came over and we decided to tackle the job of installing an M50 manifold. Took a couple of hours to get the standard manifold off, and then the fun and games truly began. The M50 manifold has about half the spaces on it that the M52 manifold does! We ended up leaving out a metal cylinder because it 'clearly isn't that important, it just feeds air between the manifold and the intake'.
The rest of it was fairly simple- the vac line from the fuel rail and the charcoal canister (?) were condensed into an identically-sized pipe using a T-piece, drilled a hole for the purge valve to breathe into, the oil separator slotted into an existing hole and the temp sensor was the same (although different in resistance due to OBD1 & OBD2 compatibility).
Got it all back together, and she roared into life... then died promptly.
s
tballs.Remember that metal cylinder? One incorrectly identified Idle Control Valve later...
So I dragged a thoroughly pissed off car up to Camberley the following day, with no idle. That was fun. Only lost her 5 times, but it was still irritating and I've probably cooked my starter motor a bit. We refitted everything, and built a neat little T-piece junction for the oil separator & ICV (they share the same size pipe) to feed into. Started, idled, ran like a dream, idled a little low. Didn't think too much of it. You can really feel the torque loss at low revs, but once you get up the rev range she simply flies. The noise is a lot more characterful and open now, too.
Still had trouble with the occasional stall and, as mentioned, a very low idle. Got a can of carb cleaner and sprayed it all round where the manifold met the head, waiting for a change in engine note (temporary seal). Nothing. MAF sensor was fine. No leaks there. Throttle body and T-piece turned out to be the areas of issue, wasn't sure why until I took it all apart again!
Throttle body gasket was horribly smushed in and wasn't sealing, and the T-piece... well...
So I rejigged my crappy attempt at vac pipework, ended up removing about 12" of it in total (less is more), started her up and she ran. Properly. Right idle, smooth, clean, sprayed all the connections again to check for leaks... job done.
Today I finally changed the oil like I'd been meaning to, which was fun- the stuff that came out was a hideous colour. Also fixed a leak in the coolant system that saw the car eat through her entire complement in 6 days. Including 2 days of not being driven.
Other gratuitous shots...
The black BBS are back on for now- going to run the tyres down to the canvas, get them sandblasted back to bare metal and refurb them in a nice, light anthracite with polished bolts. The '32s are in hiding for now- I've already worn the rears down to the canvas. No idea how.
Other news- she passed her MOT with flying colours, but will need a couple of lower arms soon. Going to get Powerflex bushes on there at the same time, and I'm building my own new front struts with some secondhand 328i struts (£30 delivered!) and Eibach springs/Bilstein B4 shocks. All in good time!
Nice, M50 manifold's my next project too! Funny, most people say they don't really notice the loss of low-down grunt all that much - do you think it might have something to do with the other issues you had? Apparently the BBTB helps offset the torque loss a bit although from what I've read the gain appears to be fairly negligible so I dunno if I'm going to bother considering the cost to gain ratio. You going for a remap as well?
sc4589 said:
vsonix said:
I've been sitting on the fence about it for a while partly because since I have only driven E36s with them fitted since I passed my test therefore I am worried I might start driving like a mong and stalling all the time... but you make a good case! I've always found the clutch kinda vague when pulling away and driving at slow speeds... am I right in thinking you don't need to let the clutch out as gradually/tentatively when pulling away as it becomes clearer what it's actually doing most of the time?
Exactly that. You can feel what the car's doing and actually make fast gearchanges without the car slurring.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff