RE: Shed of the Week: BMW 323i Coupe

[iguana]

Moose to update-

Dyno stock Vs m5O & map, i cant embed pic via phone but I think link should work.

So i was a tad wrong, yes is in places a tiny dip but very small & more in lower end & obviously more at higher.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/38622912@N07/2967231...

Following is M5O with & without map (enda) massive dip.


https://www.flickr.com/photos/38622912@N07/4173567...


And if you shove full m3 system on, especially manifolds (although rare to do now given silly price of them, not a cheap mod anymore) which is really where the gains are & tried 2 dif maps, the higher power one is same as was on other car at 228.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/38622912@N07/2865645...


Oh & for the avoidance of doubt, no my surname isn't Felchington! Mate at dyno winding me up!

[C70R]

iguana said:

Nah e36 market gone silly like most others, not quite e30 m3 levels of sillyness, but yes mainly e36 m3s have risen lots, where the £3k cars are now £15k & sub £10k cars are now getting £3Ok plus, even a tat box I paid £2k for I spotted sold at £9k.

Good manual 328s are not as cheap as they were either, couple of years back i had a few at £5-600 level, struggle to find now as good condition for much sub £2k. Even a rather undesirable thing like this gutless auto shed of the wk would have struggled to get half its current price a couple of yrs back.

Edited by iguana on Saturday 21st July 07:23

This, so much. The E36 was a nice enough car, but there is some serious rose-tintedness about the prices right now. It can't last...

[iguana]

SidewaysSi said:

Do you know where the best place to go regarding engine tuning is the days? I want an M50 manifold etc but think Alpina501 is no longer doing them?

No, just buy an m5O & enda remap.

[s m]

323ti said:

Nice shed. Pity about the slushbox, but the M52B25 is designed for torque by means of it's 2.0 litre intake manifold. Silky smooth but it means it is a bit strangled over 5000rpm.
If you have a manual, the famous M50 intake mod - if done correctly - gives it back it's reach and top end at the expense of a little bit of pull lower down.
Sort the bushes and dampers on these cars and they are just peachy to drive.
Imagine a bmw with steering feel! Here it is.

And here is mine. Any excuse etc.
Okay, it's a manual 323ti (not sold in UK), but close enough;

Nice

Shame we never got these officially over here and that BMW shied away from putting the biggest engines in the hatches - you have to do the last bit yourself.
They're a great base for making a car to suit your personal driving, just like the old Mk1 and 2 Escorts

[J.R.Slider]

On the topic of making the drive of an e36 more sports car like, without ruining the refinement, what chassis upgrades would be advised? Are reground cams in an m52 a bad idea? Thanks.

[RoverP6B]

g3org3y said:

My Touring is looking rather worse for wear from a body point of view. Rusty arches and boot lid. A few dings from car parks and a cracked front bumper from where my colleague reversed his A6 into it at work. Beyond caring by now and I'm happy to run it into the ground.

However, engine is very decent, lovely and smooth and doesn't half sound good.

I'm quite sure there are others who might be prepared to acquire it. In some respects it would fit my needs quite well...

[SidewaysSi]

C70R said:

iguana said:

Nah e36 market gone silly like most others, not quite e30 m3 levels of sillyness, but yes mainly e36 m3s have risen lots, where the £3k cars are now £15k & sub £10k cars are now getting £3Ok plus, even a tat box I paid £2k for I spotted sold at £9k.

Good manual 328s are not as cheap as they were either, couple of years back i had a few at £5-600 level, struggle to find now as good condition for much sub £2k. Even a rather undesirable thing like this gutless auto shed of the wk would have struggled to get half its current price a couple of yrs back.

Edited by iguana on Saturday 21st July 07:23

This, so much. The E36 was a nice enough car, but there is some serious rose-tintedness about the prices right now. It can't last...

Same as many older cars though? And I am not sure glasses are worn given many of us still own them? And in my case I have access to newer and supposedly better cars.

[vsonix]

J.R.Slider said:

On the topic of making the drive of an e36 more sports car like, without ruining the refinement, what chassis upgrades would be advised? Are reground cams in an m52 a bad idea? Thanks.

No, but you'd need to be mapping them in just like everything else.
I think carpetsoiler on here (if he's still calling himself that) has a connect for hotter cams.
Otherwise the drop in options are cams from a US M3 or Shrick make them as well but to the tune of USD 1k.

[DaveE36]

After running a boring diesel auto E60 for a year, I sold it to my mate and I was looking for an older manual 3. I was likely going down the E46 coupe route, however a clean E36 328 Touring manual came up just at the right time.

The prices have certainly went up but the one I managed to get has very little rust and is undersealed. It goes well with the replacement ecu (raised rev limiter, apparently over 200bhp, and touches 100 in 3rd) but I like the torque of the engine so I'm hesitant to put an M50 inlet manifold on it - the crank and block were replaced under warranty which is a bonus. It handles very well on coilovers with a polybushed front end.

It's not perfect but it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it! Miles are low and it's just a weekend car really so I'll be happy if the values do go up The E36 is certainly the drivers car in comparison to the E46 and it doesn't feel like a car from over 20 years ago.

[Daniel1]

I had a trio of e36s - 318is, 2x 328i mtech, one with the m50 manifold and it was glorious... fast, revvy and tailhappy. Melted in a fire unfortunately.

Id love another 328i mtech but the prices are daft. 3 years ago mine was £500. Now it would be £3k with a 4k asking price. Theyre good but not that good.

[Jimmy2Times]

I had the exact model. Bought one on 89k miles and I took it up to 170k miles with no serious problems and sold it on with plenty of life left. Only thing I changes in 90k miles was an alternator and oil filter and plugs, a cat, two ball joints, a thermostat and window motor. The reliability of this car is legendry. Puts the new natch of BMWs to shames. And mine was registered in 1997, so this article is not accurate.

[Obison]

I've had a few e36s, a 328i and a couple of 323i's, fantastic cars to own and drive, sold my last one 18 months ago, bought for a grand and kept it nearly 4yrs, couple of cam and crank sensors were all it needed, Totally reliable and quicker A to B than you think.
Still miss it now.
Lovely cars to own, easy to look after and cheap to run, replaced last one with an E46 330ci and that's proving the same, not a thing needed in 18months, driven everyday.
Got to love the older BMW quality.

[MercedesClassic]

kainedog said:

E36s future classic especially the amount the drifting boys are destroying , gonna get rare

[vsonix]

DaveE36 said:

After running a boring diesel auto E60 for a year, I sold it to my mate and I was looking for an older manual 3. I was likely going down the E46 coupe route, however a clean E36 328 Touring manual came up just at the right time.

The prices have certainly went up but the one I managed to get has very little rust and is undersealed. It goes well with the replacement ecu (raised rev limiter, apparently over 200bhp, and touches 100 in 3rd) but I like the torque of the engine so I'm hesitant to put an M50 inlet manifold on it - the crank and block were replaced under warranty which is a bonus. It handles very well on coilovers with a polybushed front end.

It's not perfect but it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it! Miles are low and it's just a weekend car really so I'll be happy if the values do go up The E36 is certainly the drivers car in comparison to the E46 and it doesn't feel like a car from over 20 years ago.

That looks lovely other than the Jag wheels
Really, your worries about torque loss are unfounded. A manual 328i will come alive with M50 mani and remap. All of a sudden the gear ratios will feel *perfect* for the engine's power delivery.
Unfortunately I don't have my manual coupe with M50 anymore or I'd have offered to let you try it out to see the night-and-day difference. My Z3 2.8s both have M509 manifold conversions but the gear ratios are quite different on the Z3 so it isn't really a fair comparison.

[MiggyA]

vsonix said:

J.R.Slider said:

On the topic of making the drive of an e36 more sports car like, without ruining the refinement, what chassis upgrades would be advised? Are reground cams in an m52 a bad idea? Thanks.

No, but you'd need to be mapping them in just like everything else.
I think carpetsoiler on here (if he's still calling himself that) has a connect for hotter cams.
Otherwise the drop in options are cams from a US M3 or Shrick make them as well but to the tune of USD 1k.

If you're feeling ambitious, some people have successfully swapped in the rotating assembly from 3 litres M54s to make a 3 litre M52 or M50. This would work for both 2.5 and 2.8 as they have the same bore. The cams from the M54 can also be used and are slightly hotter. That plus the manifold should get you into the 230-250hp area.

[J4CKO]

Will be only the undesirable for drift duty specs like this one left. the rest are getting this treatment,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTCD5nndjGs&t=...

[WJNB]

Not Barried,not in your face, doesn't shout "look at me & my BMW I'm a rich flash git", won't attract the envious & keying brigade, no worries if it picks up the odd car park ding, nice enough to drive as an appliance, so cheap that MPG is largely irrelevant (after all nobody is going to buy it as a mile-muncher).
I normally hate BMW's & all they stand for but this one amuses me & if needing a shed that wouldn't lower the tone too much of my neighbourhood I'd enjoy the reverse snobbery it represents. .

[J.R.Slider]

MiggyA said:

vsonix said:

J.R.Slider said:

On the topic of making the drive of an e36 more sports car like, without ruining the refinement, what chassis upgrades would be advised? Are reground cams in an m52 a bad idea? Thanks.

No, but you'd need to be mapping them in just like everything else.
I think carpetsoiler on here (if he's still calling himself that) has a connect for hotter cams.
Otherwise the drop in options are cams from a US M3 or Shrick make them as well but to the tune of USD 1k.

If you're feeling ambitious, some people have successfully swapped in the rotating assembly from 3 litres M54s to make a 3 litre M52 or M50. This would work for both 2.5 and 2.8 as they have the same bore. The cams from the M54 can also be used and are slightly hotter. That plus the manifold should get you into the 230-250hp area.

Thanks. I'll look into that as some more zing in the upper rev range would be lovely. US M3 cams seem pretty rare and Schricks quite aggressive, but awesome all the same.

A 3.0 litre M52 would be nice. Similar in some ways to a US M3 or B3 3.0

Seems I have a few options. Hopefully the suspension would cope with the power and torque increase.

[SidewaysSi]

I think Newman do cams which are very similar to the M3's for a few hundred quid.

[vsonix]

C70R said:

This, so much. The E36 was a nice enough car, but there is some serious rose-tintedness about the prices right now. It can't last...

People said exactly the same thing about regular E30s.
A friend just sold a doom blue 318i with 130k on the clocks for about 4k. Lovely condition, to be fair, and mechanically wanting for nothing, but still, not the most inspiring car.