Yet another BMW E36 328i

[BGarside]

This is my moneypit of a '95 328i coupe, purchased last Summer for the far-from bargain price of £4k on the basis that it was a 33k car with one owner for the first 20 years of its life. The car had spent a while standing around then the first owner had died after which it was sold to the second owner, a former threadist on here from whom I bought it.

New tyres and brakes all round were required and purchased, all fluids and service items changed. A leak down test revealed the early stages of nikasil death so a secondhand M52 motor was duly bought (and fitted with new waterpump, 'stat and housing as the originals are made of chocolate) plus a used gearbox as the original 'box's 2nd gear synchro had given up the ghost, and a new clutch assembly. My nice, original car was suddenly no longer quite so nice or original.

After fitting, it transpires that the used gearbox has a knackered and noisy first gear, so was a waste of £220.

Recently, yet another used gearbox ('only' 74k miles) has been acquired and fitted and the first test drive (tonight) suggests it's highly reluctant to go into 5th and pretty obstructive into most of the other gears. Oh joy. I also have a dodgy resprayed front wing to get repainted as the previous paint job (apparently the doddery first owner liked driving into things) is microblistering with rust beneath the paint.

Curently around £3500 into spending on the car and it's still not right, and I'm wishing I'd kept the nice 325i I had previously, instead of selling it to a geezer from the Dudley area who seems to have flipped it for an £800 profit after just 4 months ownership.....

[ajb85]

Oh christ, terrible luck!
On the face of things, a nice early 328. Gotta ask though, what made you part with such an outlandish amount of money? Whilst unabused low mileage E36s are seldom seen these days, they are far from classic and save for the M3, haven't started to appreciate yet.

[BGarside]

I paid good money for it hoping I wouldn't have to spend much more than £1k or so sorting out the usual weaknesses and worn out bits.

However, once the engine and gearbox were replaced I was too committed financially to just sell up. I should really have put it back up for sale when the engine issue came to light. Too late to sell now as I'd take a £5k+ hit...

[M3333]

Great car. Bad luck. Perservere with it, keep it nice and original, enjoy using it. These are fast disappearing from the roads now. The majority of one's left are on borrowed time. I'm sure despite the problems yours will be very solid and appreciate in value long term.

[BGarside]

Maybe, who knows? Not as many E36s on the roads these days. It's quite nice to drive but would be better with a properly working gearbox, if such a thing exists?😞

[SidewaysSi]

Have said before but hang onto it. I do think these are good driver's cars and with a few tweaks and IMO more fun than an M3. They also look good to my eyes.

If the gearbox needs work how about getting someone to rebuild it (e.g.
Road and Race transmissions have a great rep in Caterham circles). Perhaps some shorter ratios, a quickshift, lightweight flywheel and a LSD...

I paid good money for my 70k mile car too. Unfortunately older cars will always need some work...

[vsonix]

Surprised that the engine wasn't repaired/swapped out under warranty. Hardly any Nikasil cars out there on the original lump, you got unlucky! Also quite surprised at the various transmission woes with that low mileage.

[M3333]

SidewaysSi said:

Have said before but hang onto it. I do think these are good driver's cars and with a few tweaks and IMO more fun than an M3. They also look good to my eyes.

If the gearbox needs work how about getting someone to rebuild it (e.g.
Road and Race transmissions have a great rep in Caterham circles). Perhaps some shorter ratios, a quickshift, lightweight flywheel and a LSD...

I paid good money for my 70k mile car too. Unfortunately older cars will always need some work...

Agreed. I grabbed a good one last year. Not as clean as this one mind but it's a 328i manual. Totally original. Have all the history from new. I don't use it much but when I do I really enjoy driving it. I think it's at that era when the technology was sorted and all the mad safety stuff hadn't invaded the looks and weight. They will 'eventually' become classics. I don't worry about any depreciation that is for sure!

[BGarside]

vsonix said:

Surprised that the engine wasn't repaired/swapped out under warranty. Hardly any Nikasil cars out there on the original lump, you got unlucky! Also quite surprised at the various transmission woes with that low mileage.

First owner was an old bloke who seemed to drive the car very little ( and very badly). Compression was still good so I guess no obvious nikasil symptoms. 2nd gear synchro was shagged and an engine mount broken. Also needed a new cam sensor...

Now on my second used gearbox and it's not working properly...

[BGarside]

M3333 said:

Agreed. I grabbed a good one last year. Not as clean as this one mind but it's a 328i manual. Totally original. Have all the history from new. I don't use it much but when I do I really enjoy driving it. I think it's at that era when the technology was sorted and all the mad safety stuff hadn't invaded the looks and weight. They will 'eventually' become classics. I don't worry about any depreciation that is for sure!

The Sport coupe seems to hold its value but not so much the basic and SE models, but maybe as E36 numbers are culled values will stabilise. After what I've spent on mine I'm not going to be making any money on it....

[BGarside]

SidewaysSi said:

Have said before but hang onto it. I do think these are good driver's cars and with a few tweaks and IMO more fun than an M3. They also look good to my eyes.

If the gearbox needs work how about getting someone to rebuild it (e.g.
Road and Race transmissions have a great rep in Caterham circles). Perhaps some shorter ratios, a quickshift, lightweight flywheel and a LSD...

I paid good money for my 70k mile car too. Unfortunately older cars will always need some work...

Buying used 'boxes from salvage yards seems to be a waste of money but my local BMW indie tells me parts for these 'boxes are very expensive so a rebuild would be expensive, plus the labour to swap boxes again. Lightened flywheel would liven things up but I don't think I can stand spending any more cash on the damn thing for a while.....

[JeffreyLebowski]

ajb85 said:

Oh christ, terrible luck!
On the face of things, a nice early 328. Gotta ask though, what made you part with such an outlandish amount of money? Whilst unabused low mileage E36s are seldom seen these days, they are far from classic and save for the M3, haven't started to appreciate yet.

Each to their own and if you're happy then that's all that matters, but blimey £4k for an se spec which has just blown it's low mileage engine and 'box? I wouldn't have thought that an equivalent sport would be worth much more than that in the first place, but now with that originality gone it can't be worth more than a quarter of that now.
Fingers' crossed your luck turns for you

[BGarside]

Wasn't aware of the engine problem when I bought it. Gearbox problem seemed ok on the test drive but no good when changing gear quickly.

Deffo paid over the odds though. My previous 325 was much better value at £2.6k and that was from a dealer...

[MiggyA]

Heh. I remember this car being up for sale about the time I was looking for my own 328. It did look rather appealing with the low miles and originality as you say! Plus I do like the colour, it is so very understated.

Any particular reason you changed from a 325 for this?

[vsonix]

BGarside said:

M3333 said:

Agreed. I grabbed a good one last year. Not as clean as this one mind but it's a 328i manual. Totally original. Have all the history from new. I don't use it much but when I do I really enjoy driving it. I think it's at that era when the technology was sorted and all the mad safety stuff hadn't invaded the looks and weight. They will 'eventually' become classics. I don't worry about any depreciation that is for sure!

The Sport coupe seems to hold its value but not so much the basic and SE models, but maybe as E36 numbers are culled values will stabilise. After what I've spent on mine I'm not going to be making any money on it....

Honestly even SE spec manual 328 coupes are starting to be quite thin on the ground/expensive to buy if you want a nice one. A couple of years ago £500-750 could get a nice one, these days you'd struggle getting a rough one for under 1500 I reckon.

[SidewaysSi]

I would much rather have a good base car/SE than a knackered Sport.

The suspension will probably need refreshing, irrespective of model. And the diff may be worn so what does a Sport really give?

I quite like my non Sport car - quite understated IMO.

[BGarside]

MiggyA said:

Heh. I remember this car being up for sale about the time I was looking for my own 328. It did look rather appealing with the low miles and originality as you say! Plus I do like the colour, it is so very understated.

Any particular reason you changed from a 325 for this?

You dodged a bullet there chum.

I just found the 2.5 motor a bit lacking in low-to-mid range grunt, also difficult to drive smoothly due to the very sudden clutch and the need to keep the revs up and rev match for gearchanging.

I then read a period Autocar road test of the 328i when new which highlighted the greater torque and flexibility of the M52 motor, which appealed to me.

In retrospect I should have just paid for an M52 transplant into the and saved myself a load of money and hassle!

The next owner's already flogged the 325 so it didn't even go to a good home

[BGarside]

SidewaysSi said:

I would much rather have a good base car/SE than a knackered Sport.

The suspension will probably need refreshing, irrespective of model. And the diff may be worn so what does a Sport really give?

I quite like my non Sport car - quite understated IMO.

I couldn't see the point spending a fortune on a Sport, considering the minor and mostly cosmetic changes. I like my Style 13 bottletops! Think I read somewhere that the later sports only have ASC and not even a proper LSD??

My car's on the standard M-Sport suspension with the only change being eccentric front wishbone bushes. Brakes are also standard with new discs and fluid and Greenstuff pads up front. For some reason (servo assistance maybe) they have much more bite than those of my 325 despite identically-sized discs. Also fitted Goodyear EfficientGrips on the 15" Style 13s but they don't give much steering feel at all - the cheaper Nexen 8000s on my 325 were better in that regard. Longer term I might fit some 16" Style 30s, but ride quality matters to me so not planning any serious suspension upgrades, maybe just some Eibach Sportline springs. The M-sport ARBs are already pretty chunky...

[danllama]

Bloody hell this was a sobering read! It makes my e36 323 purchase look very cheap and very lucky! (so far owned since early Feb).

BMW E36 323i by Dan J, on Flickr

The fact the guy who bought your 325 didn't even keep it is a real kick in the bks. I hate that.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing though. I wish I'd converted my first MR2 NA to turbo, would have saved me thousands of coins from owning and shifting several import turbos. And the one I'm in now still needs ££££ spending on it.

[vsonix]

BGarside said:

I couldn't see the point spending a fortune on a Sport, considering the minor and mostly cosmetic changes. I like my Style 13 bottletops! Think I read somewhere that the later sports only have ASC and not even a proper LSD??

More like 'only the early ones' have LSD. So up to 1996.