BMW E91 328i 6MT - USA Euro Wagon

[TheDukeGTi]

The first BMW I remember riding in was an E36 M3 Touring conversion in techno violet purple. It was lowered on BBS style 5’s, and I fell head-over-heels in love with it.

In 2015, I moved from Manchester (UK) to San Francisco and had the opportunity to buy my first BMW. I ended up in an E36 M3 coupe in hellrot (red) with about 190k miles. I loved this car, and made some really good improvements to it over the 2.5 years I owned it, in fact, it was in far better condition when I sold it than when I got it.

CLICK FOR M3 THREAD


BMW E36 M3 by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


I sold it in early 2018 because our son was due in June 2018 and it was deemed that a 20 year old BMW coupe was not an appropriate vessel to transport an infant around in. So I needed a sensible family car; for that, I ordered a brand new Alfa Romeo Giulia.

I ordered the Giulia in TI Sport spec, RWD with the optional performance pack, which among a couple of other things, bagged me an LSD. So a 280hp, RWD performance saloon/sedan with brilliant dynamics, brilliant looking and my first brand new car! Pretty cool car to bring your son home from the hospital in, if I do say so myself!

CLICK FOR ALFA THREAD


Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

I did decide at the last minute to lease the Alfa for 2 years, and as timing worked out, at the start of 2020 we decided (just before COVID hit sadly) that we would move to Michigan to be closer to family. So I decided to give the Alfa back and move on (this turned out to be harder than expected with the pandemic, but that’s another tale).

So we moved from California to Michigan, and I had the opportunity to get another car!

I wanted something fairly practical, and ever since that E36 Touring, I’ve loved the idea of a wagon. I’ve ticked off the E36 M3 part, time to tick off the Touring part! Which brings me to the point of this thread.


I bought this BMW E91 328i back in July.


BMW E91 6MT RWD by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 6MT RWD by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


This is 1 of 429 RWD, 6-speed manual E91 wagons that were ever brought to the USA (most are autos and/or AWD). Furthermore, it has the sport pack, a black interior (w/ manual sport seats), and no idrive, which makes it pretty rare, and very desirable; well, in some very specific circles I suppose. It’s also got <100k miles too, so low-ish mileage.

I should note, the 328i was the only engine available as a wagon here; we didn’t get the diesels or 335i wagons here (sedans were available with those engines though).

For some, especially those of you reading in the UK, a BMW wagon might not seem like much, but my thinking is this is the last of a breed.

• Last BMW NA inline 6 (this has the N52).
• Last 3 series wagon available (in the US at least) with a manual.
• I believe it’s the last 3 series wagon available in RWD.
• Last 3 series with hydraulic power steering.

I got it with a cracked windscreen and a badly slipping clutch, which netted me a decent percentage off the asking price, so those were among the first jobs that got done.

Plans with this are TBD, but I’ve done a few things to spruce it up already.

[TheDukeGTi]

It started here. Very much a 10ft car, a little sorry for itself, but apart from the knowns (clutch + windshield), I’d describe this as an ‘honest’ car. The engine bay had never been cleaned, and there were daily usage marks all over it; no ones trying to hide anything here!


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

We don’t require a front plate here in Michigan, which is nice, although sadly the bumper has already suffered from a plate holder install. I got some color coded bumper plugs to make the best of it.


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

A little better...

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

Next, let’s have a go at those headlights; they’ve seen better days, hazy, ugly. I used the Meguiars kit for this, and initially was impressed, but honestly, I wasn’t happy with the outcome in the end, something more aggressive was needed. That’ll come later.


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


Well, a wagon is all business up front and party out back. So I did a bit of work cleaning up the back. I was initially missing a badge:


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

Fixed:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

Then whipped off the model badges, oddly, something I’ve wanted to do to a lot of cars I’ve owned but never have.

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

Much better.

Some other little fixes. This is the kind of stuff that makes the difference for me.


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

I also got the clutch done. As I said, it was slipping when I bought the car, which was a major money-off situation, so I was happy to have accounted for this; with the windscreen, it was expensive to get everything corrected.

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

I didn’t do many mods to my M3 sadly, but one of the best things I did was add the ZHP gear knob. It’s weighted and OEM, so a brilliant upgrade; I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with a manual BMW.

Before:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

After:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

After all that, I spent some time driving it rather than fixing stuff:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

[TheDukeGTi]

After that, we moved from an apartment to a house, and I finally had the garage space I’d been wanting for so long! I actually moved the majority of the apartment over the course of a couple of weeks in the wagon! It also coincided with the start of my first winter living here in Michigan.
I have a RWD wagon with summer tyres, so I was pretty safe to lean in to a bit of work on it, so I decided to have a go at some machine polishing. I took my time, over the space of a couple of weeks at xmas, I stole an hour here or there to go over the whole car.

First of all though, let’s tackle those lights again. This time, I used 800->1000->2000 wet and dry, in alternate motions on the headlights and foglights, and finished with the Meguiars kit again. The results were much better this time:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

Then moved on to the rest of the car. The back boot, where I’d removed the ‘328i’ badge was showing some evidence (not a great pic, sorry. It wasn’t very obvious):

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

There were lot’s of marks all over it. There still are honestly, but it presents pretty well now, and has a good layer of protection on it.

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

[TheDukeGTi]

Trouble is, when you clean a car like that, it shows up other parts that are less loved!

I’m not completely sure which of the E9X cars came with these, but I got some OEM-style painted splitters for the front, which I think lifts it to where a ‘sport pack’ car should be.


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

...and at the party end, the pipes were really letting it down too.


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

So I got some cheap tips to brighten it up a bit. In lieu of a proper exhaust, I at least think it makes a big difference visually:

BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

That’s it for now!


BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

[helix402]

Looks good. Is it a 3l?

[d_a_n1979]

Great car & project

[Pig benis]

Exquisite taste in cars, OP.

I have always wanted to move to America, literally ever since I was young. May I ask, how did you do it? Was it a work opportunity or a 'fk it lets go' decision?

Anyway, as an ex BMW 91 owner yours looks fantastic. You've also made me hit up Autotrader to look for another.

I am a tiny bit disappointed you didn't choose a dualie pickup truck, I know that's the first thing I'd buy if I moved to the U.S.

Great thread

PB

[JakeT]

Ah yes, the E91 328i. There's a 200-odd page thread on E90post about these cars. Lots of people really love them. Especially the RWD manual and sport pack. They're rare in the U.S. Shame BMWNA neutered them and turned the 330i into the 328i when the 335i was released. The N52 in these cars are reliable though, but I'm sure you've done your research.

The Clubsport (ZHP) gearknob is a lot better than the factory one. I have one in my E91 330i.

[TheDukeGTi]

d_a_n1979 said:

Great car & project

helix402 said:

Looks good. Is it a 3l?

Thanks! Yes, 3L inline 6.

Pig benis said:

Exquisite taste in cars, OP.

I have always wanted to move to America, literally ever since I was young. May I ask, how did you do it? Was it a work opportunity or a 'fk it lets go' decision?

Anyway, as an ex BMW 91 owner yours looks fantastic. You've also made me hit up Autotrader to look for another.

I am a tiny bit disappointed you didn't choose a dualie pickup truck, I know that's the first thing I'd buy if I moved to the U.S.

Great thread

PB

Thanks very much.

Long story short, I married an American. There are a few options open to you for other routes, but it's not an easy path, whichever you take. Feel free to send me a DM, and I can dump what I do know on you through there.

JakeT said:

Ah yes, the E91 328i. There's a 200-odd page thread on E90post about these cars. Lots of people really love them. Especially the RWD manual and sport pack. They're rare in the U.S. Shame BMWNA neutered them and turned the 330i into the 328i when the 335i was released. The N52 in these cars are reliable though, but I'm sure you've done your research.

The Clubsport (ZHP) gearknob is a lot better than the factory one. I have one in my E91 330i.

Thanks, yeah, I've done a decent amount of reading on E90 post. Allegedly, the only difference between my 328 and the 330 is the 3-stage manifold; so getting one of those and the appropriate tune can bag you something daft like 15whp alone. The paved path for these is manifold(+tune), exhaust and headers, which gets you really good gains for an NA car.

We'll see. The list gets longer by the day!

[beambeam1]

Wow. Never been sure on the front corner splitters but they really suit your front end well, much better than on the M Sport bumper. Nice work. Nice to see how the headlights turned out too as that is something I would like to try on my own E91 when it's warmer over here, any additional advice re: Meg's restorer kit?

[TheDukeGTi]

beambeam1 said:

Wow. Never been sure on the front corner splitters but they really suit your front end well, much better than on the M Sport bumper. Nice work. Nice to see how the headlights turned out too as that is something I would like to try on my own E91 when it's warmer over here, any additional advice re: Meg's restorer kit?

Thanks! Yeah, I think they lift the front end a bit.

I've used that restorer kit a couple of times now and been pretty disappointed with it out of the box; I never really got the results I wanted from it. The problem this time was the initial sanding materials weren't aggressive enough.

If your headlights are fairly pitted, like mine were (you can see in some of the first pics I posted), then you'll need some additional materials on top of the kit, if you choose to use that.

The technique I followed:
1. 800 grit, wet, left to right motions.
2. 1000 grit, wet, up and down motions.
3. 2000 grit, wet, let to right motions.

This is aggressive enough to remove the pitting. Then use the kit as directed to polish and seal the lights.

They don't look 'brand new', but as you can hopefully see from the pics, it does a good job cleaning them up.

[JakeT]

TheDukeGTi said:

Thanks, yeah, I've done a decent amount of reading on E90 post. Allegedly, the only difference between my 328 and the 330 is the 3-stage manifold; so getting one of those and the appropriate tune can bag you something daft like 15whp alone. The paved path for these is manifold(+tune), exhaust and headers, which gets you really good gains for an NA car.

We'll see. The list gets longer by the day!

Three stage manifold is a well researched mod now too, so you're not the first to do it.

Off of the top of my head reading about some American owners, the 330i also received a larger clutch too, in addition to bigger brakes.

[TheDukeGTi]

I managed to get the car out for a run today; the weather here in Michigan is pretty rough during the winters, but thankfully, the snow has melted sufficiently over the last week to allow for a jaunt in the winter sun. This is my first winter living here, and today has been the nicest day of the year so far; it’s funny, coming from San Francisco, where good weather is an expectation, you really feel the anticipation of spring here. I’m happy to have taken advantage of it by driving my car. I’m pretty fickle with cars; there’s always something ‘better’ I want, but I have to say, I really love this thing. Every time I drive it, I fall in love with it; I really ought to remember when in the ‘in between’ times.

Anyway. Sun out, car out, is a great opportunity to show you my next mod. This one my be a little divisive.

I know vinyl wrap has mixed opinions, and particularly carbon-look stuff. Frankly, I’d tend to be wary of it. But sadly, the aluminum trim in my car has seen better days. The door trims are peppered with dings (who knows why), and there was a pretty stand-out scratch on the dash trim that I’d previously covered with a sticker. So I figured I’d try this vinyl-wrapping lark; it’s low-investment, but high gains if I can learn how to do it.

Carbon-look is also not my favourite. I tend to err on the side of ‘don’t pretend to be something you’re not’. But my rationale for this is that if I got some of the textured stuff, it’d be more forgiving for a beginner like me, and it should cover up those nicks and dings better. I had piano black trim in a previous Audi I owned, which I really liked, but I imagine it’d show up those dings terribly if I attempted in here.

So, with excuses out of the way, here’s the result. I’m happy. A couple of bits took a couple of goes, but generally, it went on well, and I enjoyed the project. I hope you can forgive me


E91 BMW 328i by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr


E91 BMW 328i by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr

[Mr Tidy]

Great thread OP.

I had an E91 325i for a year but have now had the E90 330i that replaced it for almost 2 years and am still loving it, especially as it has the electric glass sunroof!

And the ZHP gear-knob is a huge improvement over what BMW fitted.

[Roboticarm]

Carbon effect console looks great, I'm about to do the same on my Subaru for the same reasons. If I can get it as smooth as you have I'll be happy

[88LG]

Great looking wagon OP! Look nice without the front plate, and great job on restoring the headlights! Night and day improvement.

New E91 owner myself. Still getting used to the window switch placement. Often putting the rear window down instead of mine and looking a right pleb!

I’ve noticed my side indicator lights looking like yours. Where did you get the replacements from? I’ve only seen some LED ones on Schmiedmann’s website.

[d_a_n1979]

That CF wrap looks really good IMO.

I've been thinking about similar for my E39 Touring (I've a full spare set of inner trim) but I'm also thinking of going down the hydro dipping route too...

Your project is going well

[B'stard Child]

I do like the carbon wrap - looks well done

Nice car with a unusual spec for the USA

[TheDukeGTi]

88LG said:

Still getting used to the window switch placement. Often putting the rear window down instead of mine and looking a right pleb!

I’ve noticed my side indicator lights looking like yours. Where did you get the replacements from? I’ve only seen some LED ones on Schmiedmann’s website.

I do that all the time! Glad to hear it's not just me.

I got these; they're only cheapo aftermarket replacements, but I figured since they were only lenses, and wouldn't throw any codes, they'd do the job.

Thanks for all the replies folks!

[Mr Tidy]

TheDukeGTi said:

I do that all the time! Glad to hear it's not just me.

Definitely not - I keep doing it too!

I don't know why - I never had that problem with my 1 Series that had the same switches.