Finally an E36 manual trans - 1993 325is 5 Speed

[Bimmerick]

For almost 3 years I have been commuting to work (~30 miles each way) in a 1998 323is Automatic. I enjoy driving the car and it has been a faithful commuter, but I have been longing a an E36 with a manual trans. About 7 months ago I saw this 93 325is for sale on the side of the road. I snapped these (crappy) photos but I never called to take a closer look. After a few weeks the car was gone and so i figured it had been sold.










So about two weeks ago the car resurfaced in another location (with a lower asking price). This time I made the call and ended up bringing the car home a few days ago. The car runs and drives quite well. I am currently in the process of cleaning it up and I will likely make it my new DD. Here are few shots of it in the cleanup process.

A new windshield cowling and hood struts should be here tomorrow.




The seats are in fantastic shape. Initially the driver seat looked a little rough but there were no rips and after a few rounds of leather cleaner/conditioner and a bit of leather dye it perked up nicely.


In the process of cleaning the car up "I think" I flooded the driver side footwell; I hope it was me.... I will be checking the sunroof drains and any other potential source of the water intrusion. In the meantime, finally a sunny day to dry things out.


The interior is pretty good, although some of the "leather" trim covering the door panels and rear side panel has come unglued... One thing at a time. The carpet cleaned up pretty easily.


The car is not perfect. I will be looking for some lagoon green metallic touch up paint to help better hide this "repair".

[MisterM52]

The only think I hate is the old grey rock chip protection coat bmw put on the earlier e36's instead of body matching the whole thing, do you plan to paint those to match the body? also do you plan to keep the stock wheels?

great buy by the way, how much was it if I may ask?

[Smoky540i]

Yeah good find. I like the green color. Looks like you're treating it well. I saw a YouTube video awhile back where the owner used some type of solvent to remove the gray on the rockers as there is body-matched paint underneath apparently.

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[Bimmerick]

The only think I hate is the old grey rock chip protection coat bmw put on the earlier e36's instead of body matching the whole thing, do you plan to paint those to match the body? also do you plan to keep the stock wheels?

great buy by the way, how much was it if I may ask?

Yeah, I'm not in love with the grey. At this moment I am inclined to leave it alone. As for the wheels, I like the bottle caps, but I have a decent set of the 16in optional "style whatever" wheels I was saving for the 323. I will probably end up putting those on the 325. And regarding price we settled on $1950.

Yeah good find. I like the green color. Looks like you're treating it well. I saw a YouTube video awhile back where the owner used some type of solvent to remove the gray on the rockers as there is body-matched paint underneath apparently.

Smokey, nice to "see a familiar face". I can't believe its been almost a year since I last posted... Speaking of treating the car well, I probably should just go ahead and do the cooling system rebuild sooner rather than later. I waited too long to do the 323; I did not appreciate having to get towed home.

[Smoky540i]

I've got a decent water pump with a metal impeller if that helps?

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[Bimmerick]

I've got a decent water pump with a metal impeller if that helps?

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Thanks Smokey. Does decent mean new?

The interior took a while to dry out; I'm pretty sure the dry rotted windshield cowling was the culprit. I pulled the cabin air filter out and in addition to being nasty, it was wet. While the seats are out and the carpet is pulled up, I decided I should run amp/subwoofer wiring to the trunk now for a future install. Anything else I should consider before putting the interior back together? FWIW, sometime in the near future I will be pulling and recovering the headliner and rear deck.

I installed the new hood struts and windshield cowling yesterday. The amp wiring won't be here until tomorrow, so in the meantime I gave the car a quick wash and wax this morning and took a few glamour shots...

Initially I wasn't too excited about the color, but Lagoon Green is really growing on me. Maybe I wasn't excited because of all the Oxford Green on Parchment haters on the E34 forum. This color Lagoon Green is (IMO) much nicer than the Oxford Green.


Really disappointed with the bondo and silver paint above the turn signal...


Mr.M52 has got me thinking about the grey paint issue. I think what I'd like to do is leave it and recoat it where it's worn away. Like I said before, I am not in love with the grey, but 1) it does give the car a certain vintage look, 2) the front and rear bumpers are in really good shape, and 3) I feel like the best bet for me to make it look right is to respray in grey. I haven't looked into it yet, but I assume there is a suitable spray product on the market?

[Smoky540i]

No, not new. I just have a few used ones I keep for spares.

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[Mless5]

Like the last picture a lot

[Twistytee]

Mr.M52 has got me thinking about the grey paint issue. I think what I'd like to do is leave it and recoat it where it's worn away. Like I said before, I am not in love with the grey, but 1) it does give the car a certain vintage look, 2) the front and rear bumpers are in really good shape, and 3) I feel like the best bet for me to make it look right is to respray in grey. I haven't looked into it yet, but I assume there is a suitable spray product on the market?

I vote for going body color on the gray lowers. See post #1679 in the Official Show off your E36 thread (page 68). I used Purple Power degreaser to remove the gray and am glad I went that route. It makes the car look more modern.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ghlight=Purple

I kept my original bumpers and masked the original paint on them before shooting body color over the gray lowers. While not a perfect professional paint job, I think it looks good and freshened the look considering the car's age. It also did not cost me a lot in supplies, just some manual labor and patience between coats for the bumpers.

[JEC928]

Nice score! Love a good green coupe.

1. Automotivetouchup dot com will mix up paint according to the paint code and sell it to you in $20 rattlecans.
I didn't have good results but that's more of me sucking at painting plus I tried to match a faded metallic.

2. I tried to remove my faded and cracked grey stone guard with a stripper.... it took off the finish coat down to the metal galvanizing so I stopped and rattlecanned it satin black instead... and now it looks like butt. Not a good butt either.
There was a recent thread with part numbers for the grey stone guard... but they were disputed.

[Bimmerick]

1. Automotivetouchup dot com will mix up paint according to the paint code and sell it to you in $20 rattlecans.
I didn't have good results but that's more of me sucking at painting plus I tried to match a faded metallic.

2. I tried to remove my faded and cracked grey stone guard with a stripper.... it took off the finish coat down to the metal galvanizing so I stopped and rattlecanned it satin black instead... and now it looks like butt. Not a good butt either.
There was a recent thread with part numbers for the grey stone guard... but they were disputed.

Yes, this. I believe personally, based on my skill set that I have a better chance of making the car look "right" (like I didn't do it) if I do the grey.

Speaking of crappy repairs, the glovebox, although previously "repaired", still didn't look right, so here we go:

[jagerking]

Looks like a nice car! Glad good E36' can still be found unmolested. If you haven't found out yet, the new windshield cowl does NOT keep out water; only debris from getting in near the IHKS intake. More than likely, you still have water getting in somewhere, so check those sunroof drains and keep in mind the windshield may need to be resealed itself (seen that happen many times). Lagunagren was the color of my first E36 (also a '93!) 15 years ago, and I loved that color! It'll grow on you in short order if it hasn't already.

[Bimmerick]

If you haven't found out yet, the new windshield cowl does NOT keep out water; only debris from getting in near the IHKS intake. More than likely, you still have water getting in somewhere, so check those sunroof drains and keep in mind the windshield may need to be resealed itself (seen that happen many times).

"IHKS intake" - nice..

I did remove and replace the cabin air filter and it was wet, particularly across the bottom. If it wasn't the windshield cowling, I believe I may have caused the water intrusion. I was pretty aggressive when washing the car, including under the hood, and in and around the aforementioned IHKS intake. As for the sunroof, the PO said it works but I haven't even tried opening it yet; when I do I will definitely check the drains.

[jagerking]

Be careful with letting too much water get into the cowl, like when washing the car. The early E36 suffered from clogged cowl drains also, which when plugged will overflow water into the DME compartment, usually killing it. I don't think that issue was resolved until the 1994 MY. If you washed (especially pressure washed) the car when the IHKS was set to fresh air, it will let water in past the A/C expansion radiator (or whatever the A/C version of the heater core is called) and get the microfilter wet. This still shouldn't let water into the cabin though, as the IKHS unit has it's own drains.

[Beer+Oversteer]

The chassis looks clean! Great buy, especially for that price. You might want to refresh the cooling system sooner rather than later. Is it on the original clutch?

[pizzaman09]

Looks really good. I bet this is a fun upgrade over the 323!

[Bimmerick]

The chassis looks clean! Great buy, especially for that price. You might want to refresh the cooling system sooner rather than later. Is it on the original clutch?

Refresh the cooling system sooner rather than later; good call. I couldn't have said it better myself... Original clutch? I believe so.

...Smokey, nice to "see a familiar face". I can't believe its been almost a year since I last posted... Speaking of treating the car well, I probably should just go ahead and do the cooling system rebuild sooner rather than later. I waited too long to do the 323; I did not appreciate having to get towed home.

Looks really good. I bet this is a fun upgrade over the 323!

It really is a different (better) car than the 323 auto. I am however, contemplating stealing the Tein springs and Koni Streets from my 323; I like it low...

[jmo69]

I know my eyes aren't very good but I don't see a sunroof, unless you shot the pics at such a shallow angle the seams don't show.

[Bimmerick]

I know my eyes aren't very good but I don't see a sunroof, unless you shot the pics at such a shallow angle the seams don't show.

Funny. I wish, but alas it is an optical illusion. It does have a sunroof; a sunroof I haven't even tried opening yet.

[Bimmerick]

Finally got the windows tinted this past week (20% all around); I no longer feel like I'm driving in a fishbowl... I also decided to show some love to the awesome Laguna Green Metallic paint. I am really smitten with this color.

FWIW, here is the process I used:
1) Washed and dried the car
2) Rubbed the car down with a clay bar lubricating with Meguiar's Quik Detailer
3) Polished with Meguiars M01 Medium-Cut Cleaner using orbital polisher with wool pad
4) Polished with Meguiars M07 Show Car Glaze using orbital polisher and black foam pad
5) Applied by hand two coats of Meguiars Ultimate Paste Wax

The pics aren't that great but I am very happy with the results:

[Bimmerick]

Gratuitous glamour shot is purely to test my new Flickr account. RIP Photobucket...

[mnguyen84]

car so clean and so cheap....with low miles.

[Bimmerick]

car so clean and so cheap....with low miles.

Yes thank you. I felt bad when I passed on it the first time it was for sale, so I was very happy I got a second chance to buy it.

[phishy]

looks so good! much better than my 93 325 haha

are you going to remove the grey lowers? it looks like some of the grey stuff is starting to peel off to reveal the paint underneath