My first E36 build.

[h82crash]

I sold my 500hp, 5.7l, ITB stack injected, race car. But now I have a 93 325is 5sp coupe to play with. I am seeking encouragement to make the e36 as good (if possible?) as my last project.

Some have seen my other posts and know I received this car with Maxpeedrods coilover suspension. The sport seats it came with from the factory are gone, replaced with standard, manual seats. It has style 5 wheels from a 7 series with the wrong offset. It runs well but has a vibration at 60+mph. Thinking bad center support bearing or guibo.

So, out with the old.....
Stacks_zpsuenb0rw6.jpg

And onto the new project.
Mine frt qtr.jpg

Replacement suspension arrived. Eibach Pro Kit springs and Koni sport shocks with offset strut mounts for increased caster, and adjustable rear lower control arms.
new suspension.jpg

And a staggered set of style 68s.
wheels.jpg

[FiberFast]

Shake above 60 is normally front lower control arm bushings or brakes.

Do all the bushings first. Its a god damn pain in the ass.

[h82crash]

I restored my wheels. Not perfect but, "Looks good from where I'm standing."
Wheels restored.jpg

I finally got under the car. As for the vibration, would a miss-matched bolt with a head twice the thickness of the others, next to a missing bolt in the guibo cause a vibration? This is just a small example of the stuff I found. At least I didn't buy this car.

[h82crash]

Finally got some time to work on the car. Eibach/Koni suspension is in. Nice improvement.
Went to replace the guibo and found a couple of bolts were loose. The shear forces on the bolts created shoulders on the shanks and I could not get them out. What should have taken an hour took 3, but it's done. I also got the wheels on and stud kit installed.

20190629_091412.jpg

[h82crash]

WT&@&#%!F is the matter with people? Parking brake doesn't work, so while servicing the brakes, I'll replace the cable (new one offered by the PO.) Only to discover the true reason for the malfunction.
Something is missing on one side.
No pk brakes.jpg

[h82crash]

Wanted a project but most would recommend junking this car. I made a list.

E36 problems

Rattle can paint everywhere.
Loose fuel tank top locking ring.
Clipped wires to aux fan and fog lights.
Missing fender liners.
Shitty Ebay coil over suspension.
Missing, wrong and loose guibo bolts.
Missing heat shields.
Welded junk exhaust.
Missing sport seats, replaced with standard manual seats.
Missing a/c belt.
Fucked up radiator.
Completely failed water pump.
Broken e brake cable.
All right hub e brake parts missing.
Wrong offset wheels with undersized tires.
Shitty cone air filter.
Passenger door switch not functioning.
Passenger window non operable.
Sunroof malfunction.
Numerous dents to rockers result from not using jack points.
Forced standard bolt into metric threaded fitting for exhaust mount.
Broken/missing upper door panel mounts.
Brakes-120% into useful life.
Missing bushing and plastic washer on shifter.
Main bearing on shifter not locked in carrier.
Cracked oil pan.
Tension spring in e brake handle missing.
Cracked windshield.

It's like the PO intentionally sabotaged this car to haunt the next owner.

[Thrifty S50]

Alot of the listed items above are not too bad. Although the list is long, Most of it can be knocked out in larger chunks, but i think the fate of this car depends on what you want out of it. If your looking to restore it to a clean daily, I would say yeah get the eff outta there and start with a cleaner chassis. If you want something you can beat on and make fun, alot of the above can be corrected when performing most of the necessary upgrades for these cars.

Either way looking forward to what you make of it,

[h82crash]

Alot of the listed items above are not too bad. Although the list is long, Most of it can be knocked out in larger chunks, but i think the fate of this car depends on what you want out of it. If your looking to restore it to a clean daily, I would say yeah get the eff outta there and start with a cleaner chassis. If you want something you can beat on and make fun, alot of the above can be corrected when performing most of the necessary upgrades for these cars.

Either way looking forward to what you make of it,

Thanks for the encouragement. I was hoping to get to "clean daily" status. Not new showroom, but something I wouldn't be embarrassed to be driving. I have the skill, I have the money, and I enjoy restoring/building cars. But I keep thinking this one may not be worth it.

Finally got it to a point where I trusted it to be safe enough for a test drive. New pads/rotors, p-brake now functioning, new guibo with proper bolts, replaced water pump and radiator, Eibach springs and Koni struts/shocks installed. I made a bushing for the shifter (also ebay short shifter) and bought a snap ring to hold it in the carrier. Most of the slop is gone. New tires on the wheels I restored and installed. Ride was way more plush verses the coilovers, vibration is gone, and the exhaust isn't too bad. It's loud when my foot's in it, but cruising, it's pretty quiet. I still want to get a stock mid section so I have a variety of aft sections to use.

What next? I think I'll look at the window problem and then start looking into the A/C.

Muffler.
20190723_082913.jpg

20190723_085114.jpgE46 staggered setup with new rotors and painted calipers.

[gdavid]

In my opinion, the car needs to be rust free or you must be willing to make it rust free before sinking time and effort into. If you have a clean chassis that is pleasing enough to your eyes, there are plenty of parts available to make it as nice as you want and upgrades can come at your own pace. It is depressing when you see a rusted out e36 on craigslist with a bunch of recently added performance parts added by dreamer.

[h82crash]

Agreed. I haven't found any significant signs of rust or collisions, was a southern California car. The only thing, as I mentioned, is denting to the under body rockers from improper jacking. I could pull those dents if it continues to bother me too much, but they're only visible from under the car. As far as clean? There are a few dings and paint issues, overall pretty good. I probably have $1500 invested total at this time including the wheels. It would be less but I don't have any junk yards with E36s near me. Those small parts for the p brake cost me $100.

Oh, even though I said I want a clean daily, I won't be daily driving it. It is just a toy, but I want it to be comfortable and for everything to work.

[h82crash]

Discovered some more BS. Not sure why plugging the speaker wires for the mid and tweeter together helps anything. Door cards were probably replace with ones from a different year. these plugs don't fit the speakers. And does anyone know what these wires are for? There are no unused receptacles in the area of these wires.



spkr wire.jpg

unk wires.jpg

[h82crash]

I'm pretty good. First, I was successful getting both windows to operate properly. The passenger side was jammed and the driver side was doing the inch-by-inch thing. Disassembled, cleaned, new sliders. I removed the driver side motor can, cleaned out the worn motor brush material, and cleaned an lubed the commutator with spray contact cleaner/lube. The regulator was replaced in the past, but the new one had the pivot for the rack gear too tight and it was putting drag on the motor. I used a chisel between the parts and after just a couple of whacks the joint moved freely. Reassembled and voila!(BAM! for the younger folks) it works great.

Second, as I suspected, those plugs, since no one replied, are for the door lock heater that apparently is missing.

So, the sunroof...It only goes back half way. I think there is something in the pocket that is jamming it. It also does not do the lift thing at the rear. Probably the common broken parts.

[h82crash]

Working on the sunroof. While doing so, I broke more parts than was already broken. I found the shuttle, it was pushed back in the cassette. So the shuttle that was in the opening did not belong on this car. I removed the cassette so I could clean the entire track. There was no fabric on my shuttle so I decided to do something different. I filled in the impressions and I will paint it instead. Don't know how it will look but, I can always cover it with fabric. 20190826_172649.jpg20190828_174432.jpg

[h82crash]

Shuttle primered, color sanded and painted with gray satin. It turned out pretty good.
20190829_102300.jpg20190829_160654.jpg

[h82crash]

The sunroof is 100% operational, including the shuttle function on tilt!

[Ctwide3project]

I'm enjoying this thread of bringing another one back to life!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Eric93se]

Nice job on the sunroof! On my ride the cassette had to be replaced, found a local junker that sold it for $150, not cheap but not many options. Instead of re-fabricing the shuttle, I put gray vinyl, didn't fill the voids but pulled the vinyl tight so there are air pockets, used strong contact adhesive.

Your lucky the rear lift position still works on yours, they are notorious for breaking. Someone should make a 3D printable version. I never use the rear tilt up feature because I don't want to every have to work on the sunroof again LOL. Also I wonder if driving fast and using the rear lift feature puts too much stress on them.

[h82crash]

Nice job on the sunroof! On my ride the cassette had to be replaced, found a local junker that sold it for $150, not cheap but not many options. Instead of re-fabricing the shuttle, I put gray vinyl, didn't fill the voids but pulled the vinyl tight so there are air pockets, used strong contact adhesive.

Your lucky the rear lift position still works on yours, they are notorious for breaking. Someone should make a 3D printable version. I never use the rear tilt up feature because I don't want to every have to work on the sunroof again LOL. Also I wonder if driving fast and using the rear lift feature puts too much stress on them.

Thanks! This car was certainly abused.
I don't think down force while in the tilt position will hurt anything. The lift block and arms are metal. The transition to the position may be stressful on the sliders.

[h82crash]

So, I've been stalled on the driver's window, pun intended. Intermittently does the inch-by-inch thing. Link to window discussion: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-window-issues

[Ajcanadian]

Cool stuff

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

[h82crash]

POs have put so many parts from other year models on this car, it's driving me nuts!