The "Euro" 328is Build

[finsky]

Hey! As many of you may have seen, I've been scouring the classifieds, posting WTB ads, and looking on Craigslist for the past year and a half for a black/black manual 328is. The waters were very dry and I only ever saw 2 cars that fit the bill, but both ended up looking like complete money pits. Well just earlier this month, I finally purchased a 1998 328is from a very kind man in North-Eastern Indiana (say hello if you see this!) who had seen my Craigslist want to buy ad. The car is in what I would say is arguably in almost the best condition a 20 year old car can be, and the mods done to it are all mostly OEM+. Here's the car on the day I purchased it.
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To go more in depth about the car and answer some more questions, it's a 1998 BMW 328is Manual 5-speed with 174,000 miles. The mods on it include: Racing Dynamics front strut bar, M3 Cross Brace, Borla Cat-back exhaust, Bilstein Touring Struts, M3 Side moldings, ZKW Glass front headlights w/ Predator chromium angel eyes, Short shift kit, Euro 3-spoke custom steering wheel, Hamann brake handle and pedal covers, mulberry door panels (bubbling tho), and a lot of other little stuff. With the car I also got another set of 4 style 42 wheels, a BavAuto Lip, and 3 boxes of odds and ends, which if I wanted could part out. Let me know in this thread if you need anything, I'll post the stuff I have later. In total I paid $3600, and the car runs like a dream, so I think I got a pretty good deal and I would think others would also agree.

So if you want, feel free to subscribe and follow along. This is my daily, and at that it's my second ever car with me being under 18 years old. Luckily, my dad and uncle have been enthusiasts for 20+ years, so I've learned maintenance on their countless numbers of e36 M3's, e30's, and other e36's. This'll be an OEM plus build, and just because I'm younger than most, it doesn't mean I can make this car even greater. It's gonna ride hard, be fast, and look good

[finsky]

Since I've got some pics of the work I've done to it, I'm going to be putting a lot of it in this second post. A couple weekends ago I did the interior detail, so everything was cleaning out, and 303 aerospace protectant was added to every plastic surface. I also used some 303 leather protectant on the front seats, but not much since I plan to use leatherique in the beginning of summer. I also test fitted the BavAuto lip, I like how it looks but I'm also wondering what you guys think? Along with that, at first I really hated the eyelids, but they seem to be growing on me lol. Remove the lids or not?

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Closer to present time, last weekend I had to fix the minor leaks and put new brake pads and rotors on in the front. The oil stand gasket was letting some oil through, so I had to take apart a good chunk of the engine bay and get a new one put on. While it was free, I also replaced a power steering line and put 4 new clamps on the stop a minor power steering leak. Along with that, I put on new front rotors (e-line, cheap but work well) and some ceramic brake pads. For being cheap, the rotors and brakes actually work very very well and stop on the dime. Although, I know time will only tell if the rotors warp or crack. More updates coming soon and maybe the lip will be install this weekend.

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[Deus Ex Machina]

Nice car. I have the one piece style 42's on my black coupe as well, I think they are nice looking wheels.

I don't care for the add on lips on a stock bumper myself, they seem a little much. The M3 front bumpers are much better if you want to add interest, and are easy to install. I would go OEM instead of aftermarket though, and you might have to watch the ads for a while to find a good one.

You will find most don't care for the eyelids on the forum, including myself. But if you do, that doesn't matter.

I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

[finsky]

Nice car. I have the one piece style 42's on my black coupe as well, I think they are nice looking wheels.

I don't care for the add on lips on a stock bumper myself, they seem a little much. The M3 front bumpers are much better if you want to add interest, and are easy to install. I would go OEM instead of aftermarket though, and you might have to watch the ads for a while to find a good one.

You will find most don't care for the eyelids on the forum, including myself. But if you do, that doesn't matter.

I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

I absolutely love how the M3 front bumper looks, but I might want to try something different just because almost everyone goes for the M bumper. I think the lip is pretty good looking and aggressive, but if I find an M bumper around me for sale for a good price I'll definitely buy it. Eyelids are coming off this weekend, I just put it back a couple weeks because they are put on by some kind of expoxy, but it seems easy to scrape off. I appreciate the compliment!

[pizzaman09]

Very nice car sir! I think people are starting to see that the 328is is a pretty wonderful car itself, e36s aren't just about the M3s. They are usually a steal too.

You have done well with yours. I have a nearly identical spec 1999 328is with the factory M sport suspension and trim. Sadly mine isn't in nearly as nice of shape as yours.

[finsky]

Very nice car sir! I think people are starting to see that the 328is is a pretty wonderful car itself, e36s aren't just about the M3s. They are usually a steal too.

You have done well with yours. I have a nearly identical spec 1999 328is with the factory M sport suspension and trim. Sadly mine isn't in nearly as nice of shape as yours.

Thanks for the kind words! I may have a cleaner car, but I'll never have rotary valves like you

[somebody5788]

So I picked mine up nearer to you and you picked yours up nearer to me. Interesting how that worked....

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[finsky]

So I picked mine up nearer to you and you picked yours up nearer to me. Interesting how that worked....

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Now that's a clean looking ride for sure too. When'd you pick it up?

[MisterM52]

Beautiful pick of a car there, well maintained from the looks of it, nice interior too.

I say ditch the eyelids, the lip looks great!

[somebody5788]

Now that's a clean looking ride for sure too. When'd you pick it up?

4 years ago.

[finsky]

Took the eyelids off and put the lip on. All I can say is that I'm really really digging this look I may need to get some lip support rods though

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Also, I'm planning on doing the M50 manifold swap sometime this year, but in the meantime I've got a Shark Injector laying around. Should I flash the car with it?

[Deus Ex Machina]

It's looking really good, the lip looks better than I expected it to. Removing the eyelids was a good move, much nicer.

Are you going to replace the fogs with some smoked glass units? They are cheap and improve the look of a black E36. Also the M3 mirrors do a lot for one of these in my opinion.

[mikeysentra]

Definitely shark it, also the M50 manifold really wakes the engine up. I just completed the m50 swap on my 98 328i sedan and wow, I also have mine shark tuned. Btw great looking car. Here is my sedan.

[MisterM52]

See told ya to remove them lids, looks so much better. I would not change anything else appearance wise on it, maybe a Msport rear bumper? but other than that, just grab a set of injectors, an m50 manifold, build your own cold air box with the air filter behind and above the foglight/bumper or put in a K&N pan filter. clean the icv and the pcv valves, check for any vac leaks, put in a 3.64 lsd and maybe some exhaust work and thats all you need. as for a tune, grab some k line cables off ebay, read up on rom raider and tune away for next to nothing or hire a professional tuner to give you a tailored off the shelf tune. make sure you change the engine oil, the oil in the diff and the gearbox, this will ensure so many years of ultimate driving experience.

[somebody5788]

It's looking really good, the lip looks better than I expected it to. Removing the eyelids was a good move, much nicer.

Are you going to replace the fogs with some smoked glass units? They are cheap and improve the look of a black E36. Also the M3 mirrors do a lot for one of these in my opinion.

Might as well blank off the fogs at that point. Smoked glass no matter how light it is blocks light output. Even clear glass is said to block up to 10% of the light output.

[CblockM3]

It's looking really good, the lip looks better than I expected it to. Removing the eyelids was a good move, much nicer.

Are you going to replace the fogs with some smoked glass units? They are cheap and improve the look of a black E36. Also the M3 mirrors do a lot for one of these in my opinion.

It’s all ersonal preference. I think anything other than oem clears or ambers, or oem fog lights generally look cheap. Really clean car man, would have killed for a clean E36 like this at your age!

[finsky]

So the lip is definitely staying on, but it sags just a little bit in the middle and its kind of annoying and not so good looking. I was thinking about getting lip support rods, but I feel like they would ruin the whole clean look of the car. Does anyone here have any experience with sagging lips and the best way to fix them? I was thinking to maybe drill through one of the vertical rods in the lower grill section of the bumper and screw though the lower bumper into the rod to pull the whole bottom up. Thoughts?
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[Deus Ex Machina]

So the lip is definitely staying on, but it sags just a little bit in the middle and its kind of annoying and not so good looking. I was thinking about getting lip support rods, but I feel like they would ruin the whole clean look of the car. Does anyone here have any experience with sagging lips and the best way to fix them? I was thinking to maybe drill through one of the vertical rods in the lower grill section of the bumper and screw though the lower bumper into the rod to pull the whole bottom up. Thoughts?
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I would have to look at what was going on personally to offer a solution, but a pair of small holes big enough to circle zip strips through often works wonders as long as you can do it where it isn't visible. Maybe in conjunction with a piece of hidden sheet tin cut to shape to provide structure (Painted Black, and if you can hide it)

Blasphemy I know. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[pizzaman09]

Thanks for the kind words! I may have a cleaner car, but I'll never have rotary valves like you

Hey, yours you can hop in and drive down the street. The rotary valve is cool but it probably isn't yet making stock horsepower and it likes to blow the cooling system up every time I drive it hard.

I am jealous of anyone that gets to daily drive an e36 and am actively shopping for a nice M3 for my future daily.

[MisterM52]

So the lip is definitely staying on, but it sags just a little bit in the middle and its kind of annoying and not so good looking. I was thinking about getting lip support rods, but I feel like they would ruin the whole clean look of the car. Does anyone here have any experience with sagging lips and the best way to fix them? I was thinking to maybe drill through one of the vertical rods in the lower grill section of the bumper and screw though the lower bumper into the rod to pull the whole bottom up. Thoughts?
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I have done that whole drilling through your bumper support and putting some metal rods behind the bumper, it works well but still will have slight sag, unless you put maybe an piece of angle behind it, throughout the entire area then bolt it through and then you bolt a rod to it. that said dont put anything outside, or it will look kinda ricy. That said also watch out, my bumper got stuck and pulled by a rubberized speed bump so yea, it is what it is. you might be the only guy who notices the sag, most people wont even know where to look or what, they will see it for a few seconds and thats that. dont stress it otherwise. all the best.

[ANGST]

Nice , I was hoping to find one like that (as far as being that well sorted) , but the '92 I got sorta fell into my lap , needing much much more work.

[finsky]

So I was looking into upgrades to really get this car as fast as possible while being NA for now Im trying to find the right LSD and I want to know what ratio would be the best to get. Keep in mind though that this is my daily and I would wanna stay low in the RPMs on the highway, which my current dif (2.91 open) does pretty good at. Thanks guys!

[LSxDreamer]

I'm shooting for an M3 3.23 personally...

[woody328is]

My 1996 328is has a 3.45 and it's really quick but downside is 70 mph is over 3000 rpm. 3.23 is more driveable and still improves bottom end torque. That's a good daily driver ratio.

[drstuess]

3.23 LSD and m3 cams are my vote. Those two make the biggest impact I would say.

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