'Upping my Green Credentials' - Meergrün E36 328i Trio

[vsonix]

it's like a rubberised spray paint that sets into a nice protective finish that is durable (much more so than plastic wrap) yet can be easily peeled off when necessary. It's pretty awesome stuff, you can either use it clear/matt or you can mix it with metallic/pearl pigments as per conventional paint, and best of all, it's relatively cheap and doesn't require any specialist equipment. Have a flick through these vids, you'll see how versatile it is...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvkq-qyY9aY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNgoIbf9xio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE8EV2IkcA0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fjaWtduAV0

I've already seen people painting on plasti-dip as a kind of bonnet bra to ward of stone chips, which after seeing the state of the bonnet of the vert after an M5 jaunt up to Bracknell and back, also is starting to seem like a good idea! I like the idea of paint on/peel off protection, especially once I've had the cars in to the body shop...

Edited by vsonix on Tuesday 8th October 00:43

[vsonix]

thanks for reading it before I'd finished editing it with an addendum

[vsonix]

Got some bits for the coupé today. I've long been after Sport seats for the front since they are considerably more comfy and supportive. I've also been toying with the idea of ditching the black leather in favour of silver grey - partly because it will match the convertible and partly because I think it makes the inside a slightly nicer place to be, especially when it's hot weather. I managed to pick up a very clean heated silver grey interior, and as an added bonus (although a bit of a mission to retrofit), heated seats, and as a bonus bonus, a mint black headlining. However, I want to retain the black plastic door cards and dash, but with the silver leather panels, so I will have to do a fair bit of fiddling around. Hopefully the end result will be along the lines of an E46 M3 I once saw which looked very classy, and a non-typical combination for an E36 but should look great against the exterior colour.

Edited by vsonix on Tuesday 29th October 14:43

[vsonix]

2thumbs said:

I've always liked silver leather but hated the grey plastics usually found with it. I had a silver 328 sport like it & never did get used to it. It looked so dull. I like your plans to keep the black dash & cards, it will give a lovely contrast similar to my champagne & black

Edited by 2thumbs on Tuesday 29th October 01:06

yup, thats's very much the kind of thing I'm going for!

[vsonix]

DanielJames said:

I've got Silver/Grey in my 'coupe.

Although I very nearly bagged some alcantara vaders the other day...

I want your wood bits! Give them to me!

I'm not sure about Alcantara vaders, a friend had some and they reminded me of the seats in my old Vectra with flashy headrests. I didn't like the design on the fabric.

[vsonix]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

That's as may be but they're still a whole load better than the normal 'SE' leather seats. My first two E36s had sport seats and I find I got very used to a driving position which I just can't duplicate with the SE seats because they don't tilt the same way. Also they have better upper back support which is evident on longer journeys. The standard seats feel more like benches by comparison and feel quite slippery! Honestly, I totally agree that they are 'Sport' seats in name only; when compared to the Recaros in my mate's Integra they are like sofas! However, they are definitely a nicer place to sit, and as has already been said, they are enough for a road car used predominantly for long journeys.

[vsonix]

Paul S4 said:

Also, if I wanted to get the complete M50 conversion done on my 1997 E36 328 auto, is there a specialist who would supply the correct parts, fit and do the remap in one visit ?
I am interested in the mpg gains for everyday use, and of course the performance improvement for the odd track day.

Distance may be a factor as I live near Newcastle, but I would be prepared to travel...but not too far.

Look for 'BMWs Enthusiast' on Facebook, they're based round Norfolk somewhere; they will do the whole shebang for around 250 all in. They supplied my mapped ECU and several months in I am still really happy with it.

[vsonix]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Supply and fit everything for 250?

Ish. I think. Maybe it was 250 for supply and fit the manifold, and anther 100 for the remap. Certainly not much more than that. They'll sell you a pre-mapped ECU that you can swap in (EWS deleted) for something like £150 posted, and if you send back the old one they'll knock a few quid off in addition.

[vsonix]

I feel bad because I haven't really updated this thread very much recently, there's been a bit bubbling away with the cars since I last updated - mainly bodywork. The coupe had all its rust removed, and the convertible had its rusty arch fixed, as well as a proper arch roll/tuck so I could run lower offset wheels.





The convertible's had a couple of wheel changes - 17x8J ET15 Beyern Rapp running 205/40 all round for mega lows... although I couldn't live with scraping the x-brace everywhere so I had to wind the coils up an inch or two:



...and I also decided the harsh ride from the skinny rubber wasn't right for a cruiser of a BMW and that more meat was needed on the wheels. Some late night eBay trawling saw me pick up a set of Style 71s in the slightly less common 17x8 ET20 fitment from the E39, so I decided to experiment with some bigger tyres. 225/45 is a little bit too much for the back so I'm dropping to 215/45. The front currently has 205/45 but I will probably either upgrade to 215/45 or run a 5mm spacer just to close the arch gap a bit - we will see what happens.

Here are the twins at this year's South West Autosport Show, which was this Sunday.

[vsonix]

carpetsoiler said:

They're looking good. Still love that colour.

The Clubsport wheels also look great on an E36. I'm not a fan of them on the E46, but they suit your cabby well.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks! These E39 ones are way nicer than the 18" dishless ET40-something that came fitted to the 330ci - the modest dish on these makes all the difference. I do wish there were 9" available so I could run a proper staggered setup. The cream of the crop are the 18" ET20 as they have the best proportions but they rarely seem to pop up in the UK - almost every set I have seen for sale has been in the US. They're originally made by Cromodora of Italy, it's nice to have an OEM wheel made by a decent manufacturer; a quality alternative to the usual BBS split rim designs.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I put the heated Sport seats into the convertible, so now the interior looks nice ad fresh to match the outside... and I bought another interior to go in the coupe, which will happen v. soon.

I figure this thread will be like service history for these cars, if I ever come to sell. Which I do not want to do!

Edited by vsonix on Wednesday 21st May 11:33

[vsonix]

oh st *runs off to check the bank balance*

thanks for the heads-up! Dunno if I could hack another auto, it's tolerable in the cabrio but I'd want a manual in a wagon really, not sure if I could attempt a transmission swap myself!

Edited by vsonix on Wednesday 21st May 14:21

[vsonix]

The cab already has the wiring in there for the heated fronts, hence me deciding to use them in there instead of the original plan of putting them in the coupe. I didn't manage to rescue the wiring loom from the donor car and the thought of stripping the coupe back to the point where I would be able to start fitting the loom seemed like a lot of effort for something I wouldn't use so much. It's great in the cabrio but less use in the coupe I reckon.

[vsonix]

If it was a case of just buying the car I'd already be on the way to collect it. It's the other bits on top - another car's worth of insurance premium, road tax etc. Although, I might just buy it, keep it for like 3 months, take a few pics of the it with the other two just to say I owned three in the same colour, then sell it again

Also, I can't get another resident's parking permit and would have to convert my living room into a garage.

so flippin' tempting though

[vsonix]

wergus said:

vsonix said:

If it was a case of just buying the car I'd already be on the way to collect it.

Its been dropped to 750, you really should take it

I think it's probably gone, the vendor's not returning my calls/texts

but like I said, it's not just the buying the car, it's the insurance on top that makes it difficult, plus the fact it will no doubt need tax and ticket before too long as well.

[vsonix]

You guys have got a lot to answer for. After a fairly long silence, I got a message saying the car was still available. So I hopped into the family 330d with my mum in tow (to drive it back, obvs) and went for a gentle thrash up the A303 then hung a right headed for West Sussex to inspect this beast. The sun was out and the traffic light, making the journey a real pleasure. I haven't really driven the roads round there and some of the scenery round places like Petworth was an absolute joy, incredibly picturesque.

Anyway, I digress, back to the matter in hand. In a nutshell, I bought the car for somewhat less than the asking price. The engine is solid, although my diagnostics box showed codes for the throttle position sensor and oxygen sensor for cyls 1-3. The bodywork is a little more sheddy than the pictures imply with signs of use as a family car (greater than average number of car park dings, slightly caved in nose cone/slam panel and a few little scrapes here and there, although not a huge amount of work to put right. The cloth interior is clean but a bit frayed in places - not a problem as I will be chucking leathers in there eventually. The interior is in good shape with no rattles, no sign of any water ingress, slight problem with a connection to the climate control unit meaning HVAC is intermittent (easy fix). Electric sunroof works. Window regulators all seem OK. And there's bags of history meticulously kept by the two previous owners.

Generally the car is pretty straight although the fly in the ointment is the auto box - despite not throwing any codes, I suspect a fluid top up/change at the very least is needed, as it is reluctant to shift, especially into higher gears, when in 'D' mode, meaning the car either revs hard and doesn't move when pulling away (stuck in a high gear) or slows down drastically every time the throttle is released (doesn't change up. However, the car is still driveable when selecting gears manually, so I felt confident enough to drive it the 180-odd miles home. Which I did.

Normally with a problem like that I'd walk, but since we've already mentioned the prospect of a manual swap.... Who wants to help?!

I'll get on it with some pics tomorrow. Already considering wheel choices

[vsonix]

carpetsoiler said:

*snigger* nicely done!

One of my best mates has a manual 'box. They usually go for around £75 or so, make sure you get the ZF one.

Oh.. and... PICS!

It's not just the box I need though, is it, there are all the ancillaries to think about as well. In fact I'll probably have to buy ANOTHER one as a donor to get bits off. And that's before I admit to myself that I barely know where to start with something like a transmission swap, and will need to start begging people to HALP PLZ!

[vsonix]

pfft. I have three matching E36s; nobody can call me that any more!

[vsonix]

but I am cack-handed and impatient...

Anyway, here's a pic of the fleet... in case anyone doubted I was actually crazy enough to have three very similar cars. The neighbours are a bit astounded I think.



I'm gonna start with the easy stuff I know I can sort first. Already located a new nose cone/slam panel in Meergrun from a 318is breaking in Cornwall. New lambda sensors on order from Euro Car Parts. I'm not really ready to start trying to do a manual conversion on my driveway so I think initially the thing will be to try and get the auto box working properly. It mostly works fine but sometimes needs a hand shifting from first into second or from a higher gear into a low one. This can be done with the manual selector. I've noticed if I leave the selector in '4' or '3' the car is mostly driveable as normal. The worst of it seems to be when the car is left in 'D'. Actually it's amazing how much lighter the Touring feels than the cabrio, the auto box actually feels like it's less of a hinderance to performance than it is in the 'vert - reluctance to shift notwithstanding.

I'm actually starting to think that leaving the Tourer as a daily driver with auto box is a good idea, and that it will probably benefit more from the M50 manifold I have knocking around than the convertible would. Seen some custom stainless headers on the 'bay for a decent price so might pick up a set of those.

[vsonix]

yeah I have gone a bit mental with the old E36s. Can't bear to part with any of them either, which is gonna make it really difficult when I have to move out of here to somewhere without a driveway...

[vsonix]

Quhet said:

So when are you getting the saloon?

To the best of my knowledge there isn't an E36 Saloon in this shade as it was a launch colour for the E46 saloon, but made it onto a few (I've heard as little as 150 but I dunno how to check the truth of that) of the late E36 that were sold alongside.

I don't believe there is a Compact or a Z3 either. Which is a shame, but probably just as well for the sake of my bank balance. The neighbors already seem to be getting the hump about it; typical. Oh well sod it I'm moving soon anyway.