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Thread: Matt's 1999 Estoril Blue Coupe

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    72
    My Cars
    1999 BMW M3 Estoril Blue

    Matt's 1999 Estoril Blue Coupe

    I miss build threads on forums so I'm on here to relive the glory days. This isn't necessarily a build thread as it is one to keep my progress of the car.
    I have a thread started on Stanceworks but figured I should have on an actual BMW/M3 forum too.


    Back ground of my E36:
    In April 1st 2017 I purchased my 1999 BMW M3 at 165k miles from New Jersey. I am the 4th owner and hoping to be its last. I bought this to replace my 2001 Honda S2000. Some of you reading this may be wondering "wtf is wrong with you why would you get rid of an S2000 for an E36?" Valid question indeed, but I had many plans for the S2000 to make it a dual purpose track and street car including a full interior with cage, bucket seats and harness, a J's Racing half front bumper, AP2 rear end, J's Racing wing, HKS Supercharger, Cadillac CTS-V Brembos and many more. After I had everything listed out, I sat back and had a reflection on whether this is worth the financial irresponsibility. By now you probably figured out that I decided it wasn't and I decided to let the car go.


    So why the E36?
    In 1994 (or 95?) my father took me to an auto show in Seoul, South Korea which we were living in at the time. What I remember from that day was that my dad brought me out of the house without telling me where we were going, got on the subway and next thing I know I was surrounded by a whole selection of cars I had never seen before. However, only one stuck with me from that night, and it was a silver 4 door E36 M3. I knew nothing about foreign cars, but for some reason this exact one had me captivated enough to live inside my memories for years to come. It wasn't until I came to the states in 1999 that I learned what that car was. From then on I made it my goal to own one of these.


    After selling the S2000 I had looked for a few different E36s, one of which happened to be 4 door M3/4/5. However, with the amount of rust that was on the car and a wonky clutch pedal, I decided against it. One day this particular M3 popped up for sale in the armpit of America, New Jersey. Talked to the owner over the phone for a solid half hour, drove down to see it, after weeks of haggling with the seller, we struck a deal. It wasn't the silver sedan I had always wanted since I was a kid (I H A T E silver cars btw), but given the amount of maintenance the car had received and the good condition it was in, it was hard to turn it down.

    The purpose of my car is going to be a track-ready setup that is comfortable to drive on the street. I do plan on taking this out to a few drift events as well as track days but won't be a full blown race car.


    So without further ado, I present to you my Estoril Blue E36 M3:








    I kept the regamasters I had on my S2000 and they will eventually be going on the M3, some shots of the test fits I did.








    The car stayed fairly stock for the first few months of my ownership until I was approached by my buddy Bear to see if I was interested in testing a set of coilovers for a vendor. I soon purchased a set of Open Road Tuning coilovers thereafter, 12k/10k spring rates. Big shout out to Andrew at ORT for working with me on these. Pic of the car with them installed:





    Early March I got the car back on the road and decided I hated how the car looked on the stock DS2s and decided to do something about it. I had bought a set of Forgeline RS's from a buddy of mine last year after he sold his E36. I loved the wheels and even though I planned on going 5x114 I still wanted them so I decided what the hell i'll take them.


    17x9 +42 squared





    I took the tires I had off the Regamasters and put them on these. The stock lug bolts were too long for the rears so I got studs for the hub so I can run the one set of wheels I have. 75mm Bimmerworld studs.
    225/45 front
    255/40 rear











    Full shot of the car morning after





    Next thing to do was get that UUC exhaust I had purchased earlier in the year on. This was a major struggle considering the car is a 19 year old BMW that's spent all of its life in the northeast, you can imagine there was a good amount of rust under the car (nothing structural thank god). BMW exhaust flanges are stupid and are a separate unit from the exhaust piping itself, unfortunately mine had rusted really badly and so I had to dremel them out.








    In the meantime I picked up an authentic Bride reclinable seat from a buddy of mine for a price I couldn't refuse. The seat has since been sold as I had a different look planned for the interior and the red simply wasn't going to work with my color scheme.





    Took me what should have been a maximum one hour took me 2 weeks as I had looked for different options. Part of the reason why it took so long was for shipping on some parts I was looking for, specifically these handy split flanges. Without these I'd probably be running the car without an exhaust still.





    Back on the road with shiny tips




    - - - Updated - - -

    I was finally able to enjoy the car again so decided to take some pictures with an actual camera











    After the car was down for 2 weeks, I was very much enjoying the car, but that all came to a halt when the front diff bolt decided to delete itself. The daily also needed some love so the car sat in my garage for approximately 2 months before I finally got the money to buy all the parts I needed and had it sent up to my buddy Bear's shop who was going to give the entire rear end a nice freshening up.





    Rear subframe dropped for new AKG diff bushings, AKG subframe bushings, rear subframe reinforcements and Condor Speed Shop rear trailing arm bearings.





    Finally had gotten the car back after a few setbacks and took it out to Fieldwerks





    And a mock up of what's to come over the winter (hopefully sooner)




    - - - Updated - - -

    Winter updates:


    After I threw the car into storage mode for the winter aka in my underground garage with a Wal-mart car cover on I quickly got to sourcing a spare trunk for the LTW wing. Luckily my painter already had a trunk ready to go for me and I just needed to drop the wing off for paint. A month or so later finally got everything back in my possession ready to be installed. Considering the wing was an ebay replica, as you can imagine fit like absolute garbage, but it looks good and I bought it full knowing it was going to be temporary so can't complain too much. The trunk and wing are on, still have some bits and pieces left to finish like the latches and stuff which as I write this, my buddy Garrett will be helping me tomorrow. Stoked to have the trunk completely on.





    Next on the agenda was to get a new driver seat. Last year my driver side vader motor died and the seat was reclined like a degenerate and I couldn't get it back up (yes I know sounds like a personal problem). The power seat motor seemed to be done so rather than replacing the motor, I thought why not replace the entire seat? I spent a couple of months searching for a used Recaro SPG XL because I'm a fat sack of sh*t. Having no luck, I turned to my buddy who works with Ravspec and got me a brand new Bride Zeta III XL.





    Had to open it up because I had waited 3 weeks for this to get to me. I get all my stuff shipped to my office because I have trust issues with getting stuff shipped to my house. One of my colleagues saw the word "Bride" on the box and thought I ordered a mail order bride





    Old Vader out (damn this ****er was heavy)





    Took this opportunity to vacuum underneath the driver seat because who knows if/when the seat was last taken out.





    Some delicious moldy old coins





    I first picked up a set of brackets from a local buddy and SW member Fackingsteve. Unfortunately my seat was wider than the seats the brackets were intended for. Luckily I already had someone else inquire me about selling his VAC motorsports floor adapter and Sparco side mounts and was able to get the seat installed today.








    This was a major PITA to install. This was the first time I've ever installed aftermarket seats into any of my cars and goddamn was it an experience. Not sure if anyone else has experience using VAC stuff but if you do please share the method and steps you took to install your seat(s) because mine definitely didn't go the way I thought it would. Anyways, the seats in, just have to pick up a couple of additional hardware for my OEM seatbelt buckle. I couldn't be happier with what was done so far in the winter. I'm one major maintenance item away (rotors and pads all around) from having the car road ready for the spring.


    Still have a bunch of stuff I want to get done with the car for 2019, praying nothing stupid goes wrong with the car like it did last year.
    Last edited by RuhRohh; 02-22-2019 at 10:21 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    somers,ny
    Posts
    4,040
    I would get rid of an s2000 for a nice e36M3 in a heartbeat...every day all day

    btw, the cooling system..do it

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    CT
    Posts
    72
    My Cars
    1999 BMW M3 Estoril Blue
    Quote Originally Posted by jrkoupe View Post
    I would get rid of an s2000 for a nice e36M3 in a heartbeat...every day all day

    btw, the cooling system..do it
    Luckily for me the cooling system was already done right before I got the car with paperwork. New fan clutch, Z3M radiator, new water pump, etc.

    I loved the S2000 there is certainly no other car like it, but I wanted an E36 M3 since I was 3 years old so I had to make it happen haha

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