E36 328i = Bangernomics gone wrong?

[Renn Sport]

So there you are an avid PH browser being drawn in by the regular posters. You think I’ll try a spot of Bangernomics… what could possibly go wrong?

Lets see the rules:

Cheap hack in the best condition you can find.
Only routine servicing allowed.
No money spent.

I started the Bangernomics regieme.

Cheap hack search. PH influenced I decided upon a interesting car. So VW Golf Gti or any BMW car for 1k.

1. Selected car out of 1k budget by £500 BMW 328i coupe in blue with silver leather = Bangernomics FAIL!

2. Routine servicing only – however I choose to include preventative maintence (waterpump replacement) = Bangernomics FAIL!

3. Put 20,000 miles on the car in year with no breakdown and no winter tyres required = Bangernomics WIN!

4. I washed the car = Bangernomics FAIL!

5. I read PH too many times and bought a genuine set of Motorsport M3 alloys and shod them with the ubuiquitous Falken FK 452’s = Bangernomics FAIL!


6. Again PH reading the Readers cars section and add a evo LDS suspension and brakes = Bangernomics FAIL!

7. I washed the car again meaning it matters = Bangernomics FAIL!


So all in all I think the I have failed and I place the blame squarely on Piston Heads. On the other hand the car is bloody brilliant fun and I am thoroughly happy. Still need to get out to the Nurbergring in September.


Anyone else failed to follow the Bangernomic basic rules of ownership?

[S3_Graham]

yep, i bought a 130 as i got bored of old cars!

[WeirdNeville]

Same... With the Same car!

Check my profile for the results.

But I love it, and it drives better now than it did when I bought it. Great cars, but they just whisper "Maintain me - I'm worth it!"

If I was really trying the bangernomics thing I think I'd need a car I actively hate, so that I could just abuse it until it died.

[Renn Sport]

It does help if the car you have doesn't inspire you or reward you in anyway. The old E36 does everything I want exceptionally.

I don't think I am cut out for Bangernomics myself. Next time I'll choose a french Diesel, which will be suitably souless, to not make me feel inclined to get involved.

[neiljohnson]

Well i ended up with an old escort van thats been in the family for 10 years & has done 380,000, miles thought i would smoke around in it till it died then move on.

Well the tyres were mix & match & the alloy wheels were corroded so i bought a set of tyres & another set of wheels.

Then on boxing day the engine finally gave up the ghost but after all the miles & genrel abuse its put up with the things a legend.

So it needs welding for the mot & a new engine plus the dumb ass driver (yes me) reversed it into a post denting the back door so the time has come to scrap it.

I currently have another engine in the back of it waiting to be fitted & keep looking on ebay for a set of bike carbs & a cam so 200bhp+ is possible & have also been in contact with liquadnight about the fitting of focus rear suspension so it will handle better.


Total fail but at least im enjoying myself

[Astra Dan]

Holy crap! I was looking for a BMW 328 for larks and I can't find one under 1k that isn't total crap.

[SuperHangOn]

Wheels are a bangernomics fail but nothing wrong with a bit of preventative maintenance... the other option is letting it eventually go pop and being left stranded (plus risk serious issue like a HG)

Bangernomics logic underestimates the cost/risk of looking for another straight car if you kill the one you have by not looking after it.

Edited by SuperHangOn on Friday 15th July 09:29

[sklar]

The only thing I'd do with a daily driver E36 is stick a metal impeller water pump in it. I've seen too many over the years go, overheat then once replaced the cooling system is never quite the same again.

[Renn Sport]

Good on you guys.. not just me then.

I look at all the expensive machinery in the car park here at work and then look at 'old trusty' my BMW and feel a sense of pride. It just doesn't lose any money.

Astra Dan said:

Holy crap! I was looking for a BMW 328 for larks and I can't find one under 1k that isn't total crap.

Sorry fella I was over 1k by £500 quid hence the failure. A two owner BMW 328i with partial history and all MoT's at 100k on a dealer forecourt... £1500 to you guvnor.

I tried to bid them a couple of £100 less but they wouldn't have it. Fairplay to them really.


Gosh I did think that more Bangernomics practioners would 'fess up.

[MartyPubes]

I was musing on this very subject just last night. I think your bangernomics experiment was always due to fail as you bought a car which you wanted - you didn't want to get from A to B as cheaply as possible, you wanted to drive a 328 as cheaply as possible.

I'm the same as you, you get your old Jag/Mercedes and think 'I'm not going to do anything to this, it'll only break in a month'. Then a month rolls round and you think 'Oh I'll just fix this little thing, the car will be much more enjoyable to drive after this, and nothing else seems to be wrong with it...', and then it starts. You're constantly thinking about another small improvement or fix, telling yourself the car will be 'like new' or whatever having done it, and that you're actually being sensible because your XJ will have only cost you x whereas a fully sorted one would have cost 5x. Then you piss your money into a hole until you scrap it.

So yeah in short, bangernomics only works if you're buying some 90s Toyota or some other Korean stbox of the era, where you've got no attachment or no desire to really drive it, it's just a means to an end. Where lots of people (including myself) go wrong is we buy something we want to drive and just hope we can do it on the cheap!

[BoRED S2upid]

Op you bought the wrong banger. It would take a lot of self control not to get tempted like you did. I had an epic Bangernomics win with a BMW 316 a rusty faded red 316 at that, no temptation to clean it, repair the ripped seats, touch the suspension or engine, ok I treated it to an oil change after its first 20,000 miles as it had used all of its oil. The rust ate it in the end and I weighed it in.

[LuS1fer]

Golf Mk III GTI - £700 - win
Replace 4 old or cracked tyres (£200) - fail
Clutch cable snapped - looks difficult - £70 at a garage - fail
Obstructive gearchange - ebay linkage for £30 - fail! (it was the linkage which needed greasing further back)
Kept stalling - repeated persistence with a £4 can of carb cleaner cured it - win (save the rotor arm and rotor cap I replaced unnecessarily)
Replaced oil/filter/air filter - win
Replaced coolant - win
Broken spring - springs replaced by me - win
Geometry done - £80 - fail!
Clutch arm bracket worn - used a B&Q 1" repair washer modified - win!
Replaced rear rotors and pad with EBC - half-fail as a garage did it because of the bearings which are hard - one still failed so had to go back again.
Touching up rust spots with spare caliper red paint a completely different colour to the car - win!

Overall though, not too bad. Still cheaper to run the 2009 Mondeo (save purchase obviusly) which has cost one service/2 tyres in the same period.

[Carpie]

E30 325i Auto - £520

Tyre air leak fix - £20

Headlight bulbs - £2

I've had it 6 months now, and that's all I can think of that I've spent on it, it's done a few long trips in that time as well.

[Renn Sport]

I thi9nk you guys are right. I know it too... I bought the wrong car. Its too driver rewarding to be left as is. Now I have LSD installed its gotten even worse, tail out roundabout action and the odd attempted drift. (Drifting is harder then it looks)

Also I have started to bond with the damn thing.

LuS1fer said:

Golf Mk III GTI - £700 - win
Replace 4 old or cracked tyres (£200) - fail
Clutch cable snapped - looks difficult - £70 at a garage - fail
Obstructive gearchange - ebay linkage for £30 - fail! (it was the linkage which needed greasing further back)
Kept stalling - repeated persistence with a £4 can of carb cleaner cured it - win (save the rotor arm and rotor cap I replaced unnecessarily)
Replaced oil/filter/air filter - win
Replaced coolant - win
Broken spring - springs replaced by me - win
Geometry done - £80 - fail!
Clutch arm bracket worn - used a B&Q 1" repair washer modified - win!
Replaced rear rotors and pad with EBC - half-fail as a garage did it because of the bearings which are hard - one still failed so had to go back again.
Touching up rust spots with spare caliper red paint a completely different colour to the car - win!

Overall though, not too bad. Still cheaper to run the 2009 Mondeo (save purchase obviusly) which has cost one service/2 tyres in the same period.

I cannot work out if you have failed or not? I think you are still slightly winning as the ownership of Banger continues.

[sim16v]

LuS1fer said:

Golf Mk III GTI - £700 - win
Replace 4 old or cracked tyres (£200) - fail
Clutch cable snapped - looks difficult - £70 at a garage - fail
Obstructive gearchange - ebay linkage for £30 - fail! (it was the linkage which needed greasing further back)
Kept stalling - repeated persistence with a £4 can of carb cleaner cured it - win (save the rotor arm and rotor cap I replaced unnecessarily)
Replaced oil/filter/air filter - win
Replaced coolant - win
Broken spring - springs replaced by me - win
Geometry done - £80 - fail!
Clutch arm bracket worn - used a B&Q 1" repair washer modified - win!
Replaced rear rotors and pad with EBC - half-fail as a garage did it because of the bearings which are hard - one still failed so had to go back again.
Touching up rust spots with spare caliper red paint a completely different colour to the car - win!

Overall though, not too bad. Still cheaper to run the 2009 Mondeo (save purchase obviusly) which has cost one service/2 tyres in the same period.

I think the bangernomics fail is that you don't know how to diagnose the problems and pay too much for the repairs!

The clutch cable should be a less than £10 fix, no bolts to undo easy once you know how to do it...
Gearlinkage as well, should have saved yourself £30.

[LuS1fer]

sim16v said:

LuS1fer said:

Golf Mk III GTI - £700 - win
Replace 4 old or cracked tyres (£200) - fail
Clutch cable snapped - looks difficult - £70 at a garage - fail
Obstructive gearchange - ebay linkage for £30 - fail! (it was the linkage which needed greasing further back)
Kept stalling - repeated persistence with a £4 can of carb cleaner cured it - win (save the rotor arm and rotor cap I replaced unnecessarily)
Replaced oil/filter/air filter - win
Replaced coolant - win
Broken spring - springs replaced by me - win
Geometry done - £80 - fail!
Clutch arm bracket worn - used a B&Q 1" repair washer modified - win!
Replaced rear rotors and pad with EBC - half-fail as a garage did it because of the bearings which are hard - one still failed so had to go back again.
Touching up rust spots with spare caliper red paint a completely different colour to the car - win!

Overall though, not too bad. Still cheaper to run the 2009 Mondeo (save purchase obviusly) which has cost one service/2 tyres in the same period.

I think the bangernomics fail is that you don't know how to diagnose the problems and pay too much for the repairs!

The clutch cable should be a less than £10 fix, no bolts to undo easy once you know how to do it...
Gearlinkage as well, should have saved yourself £30.

I can ordinarily do clutch cable but having looked it up on the internet, I couldn't make head nor tail. In fairness, the cable wasn't cheap and the £70 was inclusive. I think I failed buying Brembo discs and EBC pads though even these weren't expensive. I had those fitted as I have had experience with previous bearings which have seized and it's not a good experience. So safety has to be balanced against cost.

The £30 was actually for one of those fancy linkages that replaces the iron sausage et al. It was a misdiagnosis as it was that funny little nylon ball further back cogged up with stiff grease. However, in fairness to myself, taking it to a garage to get it diagnosed would have ultimately cost more or the same so having eliminated it for £30, it led to a "free" remedy.

I've just paid £200 to have welding done for the MOT so overall, it's still a winner though the main problem with bangernomics is that the fallibility of componenets is an unknown and eventually you keep paying out and cumulatively it becomes harder to just throw it away.

In respect of soulless and "not getting involved", I think that is actually fatal to bangernomics as you need acar to keep you sufficiently engaged that you don't get bored and abandon that money spent on it just to get into a less dull car.

[sim16v]

Regarding the brakes issue on bangernomics cars, I'd recommend the Eicher discs available from Eurocarparts.

On my BMW, they last much better than the more expensive discs, and my BMW is only ever used at the Nurburgring!

[Renn Sport]

Bangernomins is a science.