My BMW E36 M3 Saloon
Discussion
Had a yearning for one of these since I was about 14 so thought I would finally take the plunge. I spent 3 months trying to find one in decent condition and this was the best I could find (although it's not perfect!)
The car is a 07/97 model with 132,000 miles a full BMWSH. I spoke to Cooper Teeside who looked after it since 2001 and they confirmed they original owner had spent over £18500 since then maintaining it, £8000 alone in 2009! The bodywork is spotless and I really mean spotless! No laquer peel or rust!!
As a late model this unfortunately does not have the Contour wheels but it does seem to be well specced otherwise. Having a rear sunblind, heated seats, sunroof and a factory fit Blaupunkt Cassette player with 10 disc minichanger...very 90's I must say! As you can see it is Techno violet and has the spoiler de-specced. Looks much nicer in my opinion.
The car had hesitation at idle when I bought it from Leeds and the alarm also wouldn't stop going off due to the battery going flat. These two issues were to cause me much grief later. The siren was disabled but I had to drive 5 hours non-stop home as the indicators would continously flash for 15 minutes after the ignition was switched off. Very confusing for other motorists on the M1!
By the time I had got home the idle was much worse and the car was literally rocking from side to side. After some google'ing and some advice from M3Cutters I went to work on the inlet manifold to check for air leaks. I found the crankcase breather hoses completely perished, a 50p bung missing from a T-piece and a split ITG hose which had previously been overtightened by a BMW Tech.
To put my mind at rest Mr Vanos will be popping over in early August to fit a new Vanos and gears.
This is how the car sits at the moment waiting for the bung and ITG hose to finish it off;
Spent £750 at the dealer in the 4 days i've owned it. Mainly on consumables and bits of trim I want to replace at a later date. The front trims had a few scuffs on them and had been holed by number plate screws so whilst I had 15 minutes popped them on this evening;
More updates tomorrow
The car is a 07/97 model with 132,000 miles a full BMWSH. I spoke to Cooper Teeside who looked after it since 2001 and they confirmed they original owner had spent over £18500 since then maintaining it, £8000 alone in 2009! The bodywork is spotless and I really mean spotless! No laquer peel or rust!!
As a late model this unfortunately does not have the Contour wheels but it does seem to be well specced otherwise. Having a rear sunblind, heated seats, sunroof and a factory fit Blaupunkt Cassette player with 10 disc minichanger...very 90's I must say! As you can see it is Techno violet and has the spoiler de-specced. Looks much nicer in my opinion.
The car had hesitation at idle when I bought it from Leeds and the alarm also wouldn't stop going off due to the battery going flat. These two issues were to cause me much grief later. The siren was disabled but I had to drive 5 hours non-stop home as the indicators would continously flash for 15 minutes after the ignition was switched off. Very confusing for other motorists on the M1!
By the time I had got home the idle was much worse and the car was literally rocking from side to side. After some google'ing and some advice from M3Cutters I went to work on the inlet manifold to check for air leaks. I found the crankcase breather hoses completely perished, a 50p bung missing from a T-piece and a split ITG hose which had previously been overtightened by a BMW Tech.
To put my mind at rest Mr Vanos will be popping over in early August to fit a new Vanos and gears.
This is how the car sits at the moment waiting for the bung and ITG hose to finish it off;
Spent £750 at the dealer in the 4 days i've owned it. Mainly on consumables and bits of trim I want to replace at a later date. The front trims had a few scuffs on them and had been holed by number plate screws so whilst I had 15 minutes popped them on this evening;
More updates tomorrow
NelsonR32 said:
VinceFox said:
NelsonR32 said:
ISV. Bloody autocorrect! :
i don't know what that is either i only ask as ive got an erratic idle on my evo and i know i've got to have hoses out and check them over. just wanted to check there isn't something in there i don't already know about!
ICV or ISV - same thing, usually just a compensation for the idle to allow for extra load on engine for things such as headlights, a/c, fans, etc.
To the OP - lovely, threads about the E36 M3, especially saloons, aren't helping me. I had settled on an S4 avant for practicality and fun, but I'm still very tempted by an E36 M3. I think they're starting to fall into the modern classic phase now that the chavs have moved on...
To the OP - lovely, threads about the E36 M3, especially saloons, aren't helping me. I had settled on an S4 avant for practicality and fun, but I'm still very tempted by an E36 M3. I think they're starting to fall into the modern classic phase now that the chavs have moved on...
AMH82 said:
ICV or ISV - same thing, usually just a compensation for the idle to allow for extra load on engine for things such as headlights, a/c, fans, etc.
To the OP - lovely, threads about the E36 M3, especially saloons, aren't helping me. I had settled on an S4 avant for practicality and fun, but I'm still very tempted by an E36 M3. I think they're starting to fall into the modern classic phase now that the chavs have moved on...
We had an S4 Avant before we got our current Evo saloon. The M3 is much better to drive fast, the Audi is nicer to cruise around in, a 7/10ths car.To the OP - lovely, threads about the E36 M3, especially saloons, aren't helping me. I had settled on an S4 avant for practicality and fun, but I'm still very tempted by an E36 M3. I think they're starting to fall into the modern classic phase now that the chavs have moved on...
Quick Update;
Got inlet side of things back together. All in all I replaced the ISV hose, throttle position sensor, crankcase breather and hoses, cruise control blank and the vanos filter. After an initial intermittent stutter (air mass meter jubilee not tightened!) its now running pretty sweet. There vanos noise but that will be sorted soon
Popped to the dealer this morning to order some new transmission bushes. The previous owned fitted polyurethane ones which makes the transmission jolt rather horribly at town speeds. I then started to fit a few bits of trim which I had previously ordered. One common item which perishes on the E36 saloon is the rear window seal. I removed the old one very carefully and used my VW sunroof grease from my Corrado days to slip the new one in. I was expecting hassle getting it to go in properly but the grease made it slip in like a dream
I then set about cleaning the car for the Pistonheads stand at Cressing Temple tomorrow that my mate Nick has organised. No finished pictures as it got too late but here is half way through;
Got inlet side of things back together. All in all I replaced the ISV hose, throttle position sensor, crankcase breather and hoses, cruise control blank and the vanos filter. After an initial intermittent stutter (air mass meter jubilee not tightened!) its now running pretty sweet. There vanos noise but that will be sorted soon
Popped to the dealer this morning to order some new transmission bushes. The previous owned fitted polyurethane ones which makes the transmission jolt rather horribly at town speeds. I then started to fit a few bits of trim which I had previously ordered. One common item which perishes on the E36 saloon is the rear window seal. I removed the old one very carefully and used my VW sunroof grease from my Corrado days to slip the new one in. I was expecting hassle getting it to go in properly but the grease made it slip in like a dream
I then set about cleaning the car for the Pistonheads stand at Cressing Temple tomorrow that my mate Nick has organised. No finished pictures as it got too late but here is half way through;
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