Yet another rescued E36 328i M Sport project...

Yet another rescued E36 328i M Sport project...

Author
Discussion

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
bulldong said:
Love this thread.
Good! Keep watching, lots more to come...

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
Starting to loose the plot now...

Think its day '10'...

Anyway, here are 'yet some more' pics after the parts have been painted and the car is starting to come back together...

Look at that 'Ass'



And the refurbed mirrors...

N.B. Didn't actually end up paying for the work on these BTW - OR the front and rear bumpers. The guys said that they couldn't put them back on the car in their 'rough' condition as they would let the car down.





Side on...



Tongue hanging out...

Due to new slam panel being fitted :-)

That's the old one sat on the floor BTW...



Front panels...





Underneath the front arches - not looking too bad, for their age...

Driver's side



Passenger side



They have even treated - wax oil, I believe - the inner front arches



Edited by RickBristol on Sunday 21st February 13:04

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 9th September 2014
quotequote all
RickBristol said:
Day 8 at the body shop...

It will then take around another day the get it all put back together and make sure that everything is working, before I can collect the car.

Can't wait to finally see the finished article!
Stupid boy! Its now day 11!

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Monday 15th September 2014
quotequote all
Have just picked the car up from the body shop - after four weeks!

Although have been massively impressed, for what I have got for the money...







look at this...

AND those rear arches!!!...







Cost: around £1,500 - £500 of which was paid for by the insurance part of the job
Additional costs: £350 for re-badging, refurbing wheels, new slam-pannel work, new bonnet struts etc

Total cost: around £1,850 - very cheap concidering that I didn't pay for work to refurb the bumpers, mirrors, body trim and window seals etc

Edited by RickBristol on Saturday 11th October 17:26

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Monday 15th September 2014
quotequote all
In Two and a half weeks, the next phase of the project begins...

Have managed to sort a genuine M50 manifold, decent conversion kit, large throttle body and cold air induction kit - with heat shield. Will think about 'chipping' the car as I'm not convinced, when looking at the 'cost-benefit' analysis...

Have also sourced a complete set of one and-a-half year-old, second-hand Bilsten shocks for £220!!! Apparently only done a few thousand miles to boot

Happy days... :-)



Edited by RickBristol on Monday 15th September 23:44


Edited by RickBristol on Thursday 18th September 20:19

Joe Sp

33 posts

117 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
The car looks great!

Sir_Dave

1,495 posts

210 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Looking great!!!! But sooooooooooooooo let down by the replica wheels.

Please sort them out before any power mods.

My old one:

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Sir_Dave said:
Looking great!!!! But sooooooooooooooo let down by the replica wheels.

Please sort them out before any power mods.

My old one:
Totally agree, the original wheels look 100% better. Otherwise it just looks like you're trying to copy an e36 M3.

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Sir_Dave said:
Looking great!!!! But sooooooooooooooo let down by the replica wheels.

Please sort them out before any power mods.

My old one:
Totally agree!

As I have no way of knowing what the originals would have been, I really fancy getting some original 'BBS' style BMW wheels, as I think they would suite it really well - after it has been lowered slightly, with the Bilstein shocks... Anyone know of any for sale?...

Either similar to yours, or like these...

LanceRS said:



Edited by RickBristol on Tuesday 16th September 21:47

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
St John Smythe said:
Totally agree, the original wheels look 100% better. Otherwise it just looks like you're trying to copy an e36 M3.
Once again! I feel the same, just what it came with and am working my way through its issues guys... Just going to take a bit of time - and lots of cash!!!

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
olly22n said:
Why are the arch profiles different from side to side?
Can't spot that myself...

jeff666

2,323 posts

191 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
RickBristol said:
olly22n said:
Why are the arch profiles different from side to side?
Can't spot that myself...
The arches look spot on, ignore the bellwandos, nice project, good to see an old beemer being saved.

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
olly22n said:
Why are the arch profiles different from side to side?
Don't compare against where the tyres line-up with the arches. The driver's side shock is knackered, and therefore, the car is slightly lower on one side...

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
jeff666 said:
The arches look spot on, ignore the bellwandos, nice project, good to see an old beemer being saved.
Thank you! Don't mind any constructive criticism. But, there will always be those who may be a little 'over-critical'...
No disrespect to you either...

Doing my best, and probably lot more than most would be prepared to do...


LanceRS

2,172 posts

137 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
RickBristol said:
Sir_Dave said:
Looking great!!!! But sooooooooooooooo let down by the replica wheels.

Please sort them out before any power mods.

My old one:
Totally agree!

As I have no way of knowing what the originals would have been, I really fancy getting some original 'BBS' style BMW wheels, as I think they would suite it really well - after it has been lowered slightly, with the Bilstein shocks... Anyone know of any for sale?...

Either similar to yours, or like these...

LanceRS said:



Edited by RickBristol on Tuesday 16th September 21:47
They are the same wheel but mine are in desperate need of a refurb. They were listed as an option on the spec sheet for mine along with all the other bits that make up the sport. I know that I am biased, but I cannot think of another wheel that will suit it more.

Your's is looking good, wish mine looked that way.

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Power mods and the shocks-upgrade are already booked and good-to-go.

The wheels WILL be next, can try and have a word with someone that MIGHT be able to sort...

Any offers welcome...

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Tuesday 16th September 2014
quotequote all
Have just received the M50 manifold and associated conversion bits... :-)

Manifold:



Large throttle body:



And correct manifold type:



Happy days!!!

Cost: £150

Edited by RickBristol on Saturday 11th October 17:28

ian328

51 posts

115 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
quotequote all
Great turn around, I think it will be a good investment in the long run, there are less and less good 328i sports left that aren't being used for drift days. It might take a few years though until they command decent values like good E30's do. And not being an M3 means that looking after them isn't horrendously expensive.

I have owned mine since 2011, but it hasnt been used since 2012 due to now needing a replacement engine, sits languishing in my garage at the moment. I agree on getting some nice BBS split rims for it though. Mine has slightly different ones to most. Most came with RC041, but mine was a special order with RC040's. Keep it up!



Also they all seem to sit lower on the drivers rear wheel

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Sunday 5th October 2014
quotequote all
Its now been three weeks since I got the car back from the bodyshop - seems much longer, somehow...

Well, this weekend has been a very productive start to the next phase of this project. A friend came up from Southampton with the M50 manifold and large throttle body, to do the conversion work on my engine. He also brought the up-graded suspension parts, mentioned a few posts ago.

As always with these things, although the day went very well, it wasn't without its issues.....

Sam came up to Bristol on Friday evening, so that we could get an early start on Saturday morning. After going for breakfast, we then travelled over to my friends workshop to begin. We decided to start with the rear suspension up-grade.

This is how things looked after removing the wheels:



Shame about the slightly shakey photo.

These are the 'lovely' Bilstein B12 shocks that he brought along, complete with new top-mounts:



And the lovely, lovely Bilstein lowered springs, the original from the car for comparison, on the right:



After a relatively short time, and without too much effort, we had the springs fitted:



We then moved quickly on to the shocks.

Removing the top-mount brackets from inside the boot was the worst part of the job:



We were, however, given the run-around by the nuts that secured the top-mounts to the shocks, as the ones from my original shocks didn't fit the Bilsteins....

After running-around between a number of different car parts/accesory shops, we eventually found the correct size and type of Nylock nuts to finish this part of the job. Blew an hour and a half of our day though....

Still, we got there in the end:



This is the end-result of this part of the job, see how much lower the car now sits, 'tightened' the handling of the rear no-end too...



Cost: £330 with fitting

Edited by RickBristol on Saturday 11th October 17:29

RickBristol

Original Poster:

330 posts

116 months

Sunday 5th October 2014
quotequote all
By around one in the afternoon we were able to turn our attention to the best part - the M50 manifold conversion work...