RE: Shed of the Week: BMW 328
Discussion
323ti said:
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BMW does not make many engines as special and smooth or certainly as over-engineered as these anymore!
Nowadays they're only tuned for low emissions and fuel consumption and then to fall apart two days after the warranty expires.
No, they make better ones, Go and try a 2013 M135i, five years old and going strong whilst making twice the power and just as smooth, the warranty having expired two years ago.BMW does not make many engines as special and smooth or certainly as over-engineered as these anymore!
Nowadays they're only tuned for low emissions and fuel consumption and then to fall apart two days after the warranty expires.
Great cars, strangled by a restrictive inlet manifold for some German tax law from new. An M50 325/525 inlet manifold fits with some plumbing modifications. That and a Simota induction kit bumps them up to well over 200bhp and sticks another usable 1000rpm on top. Mine had a new short engine with iron liners fitted by BMW at around 60k. I wouldn't take a chance on a Nikasil engine even today. A nicer engine than the 3.0 in the Porsche S2/968 too.
Not everyone knew the 525 one was the same when I found one in a scrappy, was a long time ago though. A guy called Alpina 527 used to sell everything needed to fit the manifold. I wouldn't take much notice of stories about a 328 staying with a fit M3 though.
Edited by blade7 on Friday 12th October 21:29
sutts said:
diathermy said:
I bought this car last week. It’s great!
Will work on it a bit for some track days but will keep it fairly basic and original looking. Will be a daily. I will not be stripping it etc.
Well played. Any issues apparent with it?Will work on it a bit for some track days but will keep it fairly basic and original looking. Will be a daily. I will not be stripping it etc.
We also had the PH long termer from a few years ago. Think it was quote handy on the 'Ring.
https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-fleet/bmw-...
https://www.pistonheads.com/regulars/ph-fleet/bmw-...
BlueHave said:
...........the interior on the other hand looked like an explosion at the sperm donor clinic.
I didn't know whether to laugh or gag........ maybe choosing the word "gag" wasn't the best decision either Edited by BlueHave on Friday 12th October 19:02
Edited by humphra on Saturday 13th October 08:02
I’ve had a few E36 6 cylinder sports years ago and quite enjoyed them (they were ok) but this is over priced and undesirable spec.
To put this into context of just how over priced and under-spec’d this old E36 SE saloon is I just sold a really nice 2002 E46’ 330i Sport coupe’ - manual black 3 owners full history 120k Miles no rust was a cracking good example new mot had very little interest and in the end it went for a similar price to this (less than £1500).
This old E36 is an SE which gives you horrible flat seats plain Jane styling and bouncy suspension - zero desirability apart from the engine and Manual box.
And as for ‘just’ throwing in an LSD it will be a horrible job due to being all rusted up and even just finding a good used e36 lsd now is difficult and also expensive (lucky to get one delivered for less than £500).
To put this into context of just how over priced and under-spec’d this old E36 SE saloon is I just sold a really nice 2002 E46’ 330i Sport coupe’ - manual black 3 owners full history 120k Miles no rust was a cracking good example new mot had very little interest and in the end it went for a similar price to this (less than £1500).
This old E36 is an SE which gives you horrible flat seats plain Jane styling and bouncy suspension - zero desirability apart from the engine and Manual box.
And as for ‘just’ throwing in an LSD it will be a horrible job due to being all rusted up and even just finding a good used e36 lsd now is difficult and also expensive (lucky to get one delivered for less than £500).
J4CKO said:
323ti said:
.
BMW does not make many engines as special and smooth or certainly as over-engineered as these anymore!
Nowadays they're only tuned for low emissions and fuel consumption and then to fall apart two days after the warranty expires.
No, they make better ones, Go and try a 2013 M135i, five years old and going strong whilst making twice the power and just as smooth, the warranty having expired two years ago.BMW does not make many engines as special and smooth or certainly as over-engineered as these anymore!
Nowadays they're only tuned for low emissions and fuel consumption and then to fall apart two days after the warranty expires.
The engine that succeeded the one in this E36 was named 'best engine in the world" for two consecutive years. Something the M52 never achieved.
Why can't people here just call something "good" without resorting to baseless hyperbole?
carinaman said:
The Boston green 323i Auto Coupe being run by Practical Classics that was up for £2400 on eBay seems to have gone.
I bought a Boston Green 328i SE saloon as a cheap runaround back in 2006. Had an E46 330 saloon prior to that It had a few handy options on that I liked - cool leather for summer weather, climate control, electric sunroof, 18button OBC, folding rear seats and it had the sports suspension option 704 so had the thicker ARBS and uprated springs. It had done a 6 figure mileage when I got it and dampers and bushes felt shot so tackled those first - it was cheap to buy but could tell underneath it was a decent one owner car with FBMWSH so had a good wodge of cash left over to update it. Got the Avus spec Sport Bilstein shocks, Sport wishbone bushes for the extra caster and the wobble bolts for a smidge more negative camber. Did the RTABs, sourced a 2.93 LSD (which were cheap back then and not too worn out).
Also got a 2nd hand Xbrace and Z3 rack - Curtis at Powerstation set all the geo up on it once it was fitted and it felt 200% better to steer and handling-wise. With leather and sunroof and half a tank it tipped,the scales at 1420kg
Mine came on the Streamline alloys like SOTW but went to the later Edition Sport 16"-ers with a square 225/50 set up.
Was a great old car, quick, economical for the performance and room and the 4-doors handy with small kids. Lots of runs to Cornwall, South of France, Italy on holiday. Only thing that ever broke abroad was the fuel gauge wiring under the back seat, fixed at a back street garage in Annecy. Used it at Bruntingthorpe and had good fun with an Alfa 75 V6, 968 and E30 M3
Got hold of a lower mileage 3.07 LSD partway through my 7 years with the car which pepped up the performance low down without going to the early M3/325i 3.15 ratio and also went to the stiffer Eibach adjustable ARBs
Had it for 7 years but sold it for a grand when it had just tipped over 200k miles. It was still going great but felt like a change and bought a lighter E46 ti when they were cheap for the age and mileage
Edited by s m on Saturday 13th October 15:26
SidewaysSi said:
My E36 is more fun and a fair bit quicker than my old Integra DC2.
I haven't figured it but it certainly feels a 6 and a bit to 60 car. I would think with a few mods, it could be in the 5s.
But all I really care about is that it is a very exploitable car on road. You can use all the performance and on 205 section rears, it is very throttle adjustable indeed
.
For £5k or so (this Sow plus a few grand chucked at it), is there a more fun, sorted practical car out there?
I think it was TRD off here with the MR2 that managed a 5 point nine in his old one. Then again I think PC mag managed similar ...and also with a DC2I haven't figured it but it certainly feels a 6 and a bit to 60 car. I would think with a few mods, it could be in the 5s.
But all I really care about is that it is a very exploitable car on road. You can use all the performance and on 205 section rears, it is very throttle adjustable indeed
.For £5k or so (this Sow plus a few grand chucked at it), is there a more fun, sorted practical car out there?
It never matters with someone else's clutch I guess!
They do launch well, especially with the skinny 205s on so they don't 'bog'
SidewaysSi said:
What are the options for M50 manifolds? They are very rare now so any other options out there?
Nothing that's any less rare or expensive than the OEM M50 manifold. I've seen some pretty suspect custom welded stainless steel ones online but regardless of how shonky they look they're still about double the going rate for a second hand M50B25 manifold.
diathermy said:
No issues yet. Just front bushings need doing. It’s lowered and a bit too low for daily driving so may adjust that slightly once shocks changed. Looking forward to shorter shift - z3 shifter from what I hear and then new rubber and onto the track.
Z3M is the best shifter if you want a short shifter for E36. It's the shortest but is also weighted better for shift feel. Regular Z3 one isn't that much different when it comes to the point. A little shorter but hardly worth going to the expense & effort. vsonix said:
diathermy said:
No issues yet. Just front bushings need doing. It’s lowered and a bit too low for daily driving so may adjust that slightly once shocks changed. Looking forward to shorter shift - z3 shifter from what I hear and then new rubber and onto the track.
Z3M is the best shifter if you want a short shifter for E36. It's the shortest but is also weighted better for shift feel. Regular Z3 one isn't that much different when it comes to the point. A little shorter but hardly worth going to the expense & effort. As for tuning upgrades, there seem to be lots of rubbish on eBay. I will sort something soon as I fancy spending a few grand on my car next year.
I think the E46 us a lot less fun than the '36 but that is personal preference. The newer car seems a lot more grown up and to be honest I have heard of too many cracked subframes on them to take the risk.
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