my avus blue bmw 318is ex-automatic
Discussion
This right here is my e36 318is ex-automatic money pit. I’ve owned it pretty much bang on a year and recently decided to sell it. Then the sun came out and I cant stop looking at it and thinking how cool it is so its staying.
IMG_5079 by peter moore, on Flickr
So around this time last year a friend messaged me and asked if I wanted to buy a low mileage avus blue e36 coupe for not a lot of money, the only catch was that it was missing a clutch pedal.
After telling him to bring the car over to my workshop for me to have a look at, he turned up the next day with a box full of beer, promptly got me drunk and then left the car behind so I had no choice but to buy it. The car was completely rust free however it has had a slightly hard life and was covered in parking dents and small scratches, nothing to worry about really.
The major problem for me was the fact it was an automatic and as gearboxes go the box found in the 318is is absolutely garbage. It was never in the correct gear and decided to change gear at the worst possible moment when trying to drive spiritedly.
I hatched a plan to convert the car to manual and luckily I had recently broke a 318ti that was destined to be built into a compact cup car until I found out that it was far too rotten to be worth building. The gearbox, prop, pedal box and clutch line and brackets were removed from the ti ready to be fit into the 318is so that it’s as if it left the factory as a manual. While I had the gearbox out I stole an m20 flywheel off a friend. He had already lightened and balanced it so once a new 325 clutch had been ordered I managed to get the gearbox all bolted into place. I had heard conflicting reports about whether or not you had to fit an e21 323 slave cylinder to make the m20 flywheel work, my experience however was that this is a load of bollards, the clutch feels perfect with the standard slave cylinder.
IMG_4374 by peter moore, on Flickr
While I was at a local Vauxhall breakers picking an engine up with a lad from work I spotted a set of bucket seats that I thought would be perfect for this car. They are from a Vauxhall vx220 and have quite a small seat base, this is good for an e36 because normal bucket seats foul the centre console when you get them centralised with the steering wheel and pedals. I also sourced a leather rear bench and some extended leather door cards which luckily match the vx220 leather perfectly.
IMG_4754 by peter moore, on Flickr
This pretty much meant the body work was the only thing letting the car down, I regularly use a bodyshop that’s behind my workshop for cars at work so I booked the car in for a freshen up. I ordered a replica gt spoiler off ebay as the car was originally spoilerless and I think the back end looks empty with nothing out back.
IMG_4471 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_4473 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_4487 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_4751 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_4753 by peter moore, on Flickr
The car came with a cheap set of coilovers when I bought it that were set at around the standard height. I decided to have a play with the ride height so I threw on the wet weather wheels off my track car for a change.
IMG_5189 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_4984 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_5081 by peter moore, on Flickr
That pretty much brings us up to my decision to sell the car. The problem is that being a 318is the car isn’t very fast and although I still have the original auto 4.4 diff fitted which makes it a lot of fun I’m starting to grow bored, especially after bringing the 328 track car out of winter hibernation for this years track day season this means my only option is sell or fit another engine and after washing the car and the sun shining on it an engine seems to be the answer.
E36 track car and daily by peter moore, on Flickr
E36 track car and daily by peter moore, on Flickr
An m52b28 seems too easy, an s54 is too expensive so I have been thinking that an m54b30 could be interesting along with the retrofitting the DSC. I need to look into the ins and outs of the different options before making a decision but watch this space.
You can follow whats going on with this and my other projects on instagram @gasracinguk.
Thanks for reading.
IMG_5079 by peter moore, on FlickrSo around this time last year a friend messaged me and asked if I wanted to buy a low mileage avus blue e36 coupe for not a lot of money, the only catch was that it was missing a clutch pedal.
After telling him to bring the car over to my workshop for me to have a look at, he turned up the next day with a box full of beer, promptly got me drunk and then left the car behind so I had no choice but to buy it. The car was completely rust free however it has had a slightly hard life and was covered in parking dents and small scratches, nothing to worry about really.
The major problem for me was the fact it was an automatic and as gearboxes go the box found in the 318is is absolutely garbage. It was never in the correct gear and decided to change gear at the worst possible moment when trying to drive spiritedly.
I hatched a plan to convert the car to manual and luckily I had recently broke a 318ti that was destined to be built into a compact cup car until I found out that it was far too rotten to be worth building. The gearbox, prop, pedal box and clutch line and brackets were removed from the ti ready to be fit into the 318is so that it’s as if it left the factory as a manual. While I had the gearbox out I stole an m20 flywheel off a friend. He had already lightened and balanced it so once a new 325 clutch had been ordered I managed to get the gearbox all bolted into place. I had heard conflicting reports about whether or not you had to fit an e21 323 slave cylinder to make the m20 flywheel work, my experience however was that this is a load of bollards, the clutch feels perfect with the standard slave cylinder.
IMG_4374 by peter moore, on FlickrWhile I was at a local Vauxhall breakers picking an engine up with a lad from work I spotted a set of bucket seats that I thought would be perfect for this car. They are from a Vauxhall vx220 and have quite a small seat base, this is good for an e36 because normal bucket seats foul the centre console when you get them centralised with the steering wheel and pedals. I also sourced a leather rear bench and some extended leather door cards which luckily match the vx220 leather perfectly.
IMG_4754 by peter moore, on FlickrThis pretty much meant the body work was the only thing letting the car down, I regularly use a bodyshop that’s behind my workshop for cars at work so I booked the car in for a freshen up. I ordered a replica gt spoiler off ebay as the car was originally spoilerless and I think the back end looks empty with nothing out back.
IMG_4471 by peter moore, on Flickr IMG_4473 by peter moore, on Flickr IMG_4487 by peter moore, on Flickr IMG_4751 by peter moore, on Flickr IMG_4753 by peter moore, on FlickrThe car came with a cheap set of coilovers when I bought it that were set at around the standard height. I decided to have a play with the ride height so I threw on the wet weather wheels off my track car for a change.
IMG_5189 by peter moore, on Flickr IMG_4984 by peter moore, on Flickr
IMG_5081 by peter moore, on FlickrThat pretty much brings us up to my decision to sell the car. The problem is that being a 318is the car isn’t very fast and although I still have the original auto 4.4 diff fitted which makes it a lot of fun I’m starting to grow bored, especially after bringing the 328 track car out of winter hibernation for this years track day season this means my only option is sell or fit another engine and after washing the car and the sun shining on it an engine seems to be the answer.
E36 track car and daily by peter moore, on Flickr E36 track car and daily by peter moore, on FlickrAn m52b28 seems too easy, an s54 is too expensive so I have been thinking that an m54b30 could be interesting along with the retrofitting the DSC. I need to look into the ins and outs of the different options before making a decision but watch this space.
You can follow whats going on with this and my other projects on instagram @gasracinguk.
Thanks for reading.
Edited by peter.moore on Saturday 8th April 19:00
The lad I got the m20 flywheel off had a downing Atlanta supercharger kit on his 318is track car which uses an eaton m62 supercharger and I have to be honest it was underwhelming. We ended up taking it out and replacing it with an m52b28 the night before a track day and the car is so much quicker now. The old supercharger setup is currently sat under the bench in our workshop waiting for a Dakar yellow compact to come up for sale in decent condition. As much as I would love to do something special with this I really don't think there is anything better than a big old 6 pot!
Freegs said:
Looks nice. Will be interested to see what you do with it.
What's the M42 like? Mileage/History etc. May be interested if you are selling.
its the later m44 in this. its on 88k and runs sweet, originally an auto so hasn't had a hard life until I changed it to a manual. What's the M42 like? Mileage/History etc. May be interested if you are selling.
I'll let you know when i pull it out if you're interested?
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