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Thread: New car to build!!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Beaver Co. PA
    Posts
    70
    My Cars
    e46 325i Touring M54B30

    New car to build!!

    Hello everybody. New member here. Merry day after Christmas if you celebrate that. I'm a long time car guy, I've been mostly building period (1946-1955) hot rods, a few Japanese cars (RX-7, 240z and such) have found homes in my stable. A few British cars and a few from Germany and Sweden as well.

    Right now I'm considering adding a BMW to the mix. Now I want to be upfront and say that I will not be leaving it stock, as in the BMW powerplant will be removed quickly in favor of an LS engine. I've been lurking on this board for awhile and I've not seen a lot of backlash for swapping General Motors into these cars so I feel safe announcing that straight away.

    I went and looked at a chassis today. It is, 1995 325i 4 door sedan (saloon for the Brits on here) with an automatic transmission. The engine has a warped head and has been severely overheated, as per the owner. The interior is pretty ragged and dirty. however, the only major issue is the sagging headliner and a few small plastics missing. The body is really solid and rust free, but it does have a few dents and dings. The rear wheel arches being the worst, very wavy in this area. The car spent most of its life in Alabama. It does have a pair of cheap lowering springs on it, and a massive amount of rear negative camber. The hood is also wavy. and the filler panel between the headlamps is pretty mangled. Driver side door handle is also broken. It is missing the rear bumper skin and it is sitting on a set of e46 wheels (covered in black Plasti-Dip), the head lights are VERY yellowed and need to be replaced. The switchgear all seems to work. That is the bad. The good is it is VERY cheap. The owner has an asking price of $400. I can't see any cut or mangled wiring in the engine bay, and it looks like most of the cooling system was replaced to deal with the overheating issue.

    What does bimmerforums think of this chassis as a starting point?

    As for the swap, I have an LQ4 sitting here that needs a home. I have a few lines on a T-56 to handle gear changes. The local breakers have a few e36 sedans for me to pilfer parts from.
    Looking forward to your thoughts, Thanks for reading thus far. Keith

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    VA
    Posts
    306
    My Cars
    16' STI DD, 97' M3 Track
    For $400 you can't really complain. Sounds like you have a good starting point with no rust. You should check the F/R subframe and add reinforcements as needed. Also plan on upgrading all the bushings to either new OEM or a harder aftermarket style. Inc the front control arm, rear subframe, rear trailing arm (RTA) and diff. You also may want to upgrade to an M3 diff or one with LSD.

    What is your overall plan for the car? A track/drift car or more of a weekend toy?

    I plan on swapping an LS into my E36 M when the motor goes... A lot of companies make motor/trans swap kits.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2017
    Location
    Beaver Co. PA
    Posts
    70
    My Cars
    e46 325i Touring M54B30
    Well, I did not pick up that chassis. I passed on it for a few reasons. Mainly the body damage to the rear wheel arches. I found a 1992 318i sedan, looks to be pretty rust free. This one is a manual transmission. It, however, has a few issues as well. Missing drivers front inner door panel (why are these always removed??) I've looked at a handful of cars, a lot of them had missing or removed inner panels. Also has a sagging headliner. The drivers front window does not operate. The owner says there is a rod missing.

    The engine has a bad miss in it, again according to the owner. 240,000 miles on the clock. I'd like to go and look at it, however, it is about 100 miles away, and I've got about 12" of snow in my driveway. The asking price on this one is $500. It, however, does have new (or at least clear) headlamps fitted to it.

    I'm trying to find somebody with a truck and trailer to haul it, should I buy it.

    The overall plan for the car is that it will be my daily. Yep, my every day, back and forth to work, grocery store, take the kids' places kind of car. This is not the first time I've used a hot rod as a DD. I ran a bridgeported RX-7 on a ground control suspension. That car, I later swapped a 350 Chevy into and continued using it as a DD. It would be safe to assume that it will get driven fairly hard, and will see a few auto-X events over its life. I'm pretty much sold on the Vorshlag kit. I would like to know why they went with a one-piece driveshaft and eliminated the carrier bearing.

    Thanks for the tip about replacing all the suspension rubbers, that was on my list of required maintenance along with the obligatory fluid changes, and re-gasketing of the differential, regreasing the CV's and such.

    I'm pretty certain an LSD center is in the future for the car, its just not a priority. My main goal is a reliable and consistent car. One that everything works on, all the electronics, all the gauges, HVAC, and the SRS system.

    As to the extra reinforcements to the subframes, are there any guides as to what and where people are making these modifications? I've seen the kits (spendy) but I'm more of a DIY kind of guy.
    Last edited by LQ4 E36; 01-02-2018 at 03:10 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    fayettville nc
    Posts
    29
    My Cars
    97 bmw m3 coupe

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