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Thread: Project: 'Barn Find' - 1995 Avus Blue M3

  1. #1
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    Project: 'Barn Find' - 1995 Avus Blue M3

    Hello folks,

    I thought I would start a thread to talk about my latest project, a 1995 ‘Barn Find’ E36 M3. This particular 1995 Avus Blue M3 has had a single original owner its entire life, and has spent the last 16 years in a barn somewhere in Central PA. The prior owner was not intentionally neglectful, he simply moved on to other things and wanted to keep this car on the side with the hopes of one day restoring it back to its former glory. As we all know, life can get in the way, thus it was put up for sale after sitting idle for the 16 years since Dave Chapelle made Charlie Murphy a household name (RIP). I was thrilled to grab it! (disclosure: I discovered this vehicle as an eBay listing. It sold within an hour of being listed, but being the persistent type that I am, I messaged the seller and said I would buy it if the deal fell through. Sure enough - the buyer bailed out and a few days later I wired him the money and completed the sale. Score!)

    My goal with this car is to restore it to OEM style as it was originally delivered. This includes getting the interior back to 100%, and ensuring everything is mechanically sound and in good condition.

    OK, enough of the jibber jabber, let's start off with some pics of the M3 in its barn home of 16 years.












    Despite the mess, I was actually encouraged by the overall condition of the vehicle. As I spoke more with the prior owner, my confidence greatly increased that this would be a diamond in the rough. The car has 0 rust, and he stayed on top of all mechanical service prior to it being stored. Plus, the cats that lived in the barn kept all the mice and other rodents far away from the M3 (which I can now attest to now that I have been through it!)

    A little more about me, I have taken on a few older BMW project cars in the past- though nothing to this level. My first one was a e36 318ti, then an e34 525i, followed by an e38 740i years later.

    Aside from the ‘project cars’ I also owned a new 2010 128i, 1998 M Roadster, and 2015 F80 M3. I thought I was done with the BMW brand after I sold my F80, but it looks like I am back again!

    Thread documenting some of the work on my e38 can be found here:
    https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...roject-Freeway

    - - - Updated - - -

    Delivery Day:


    With the sale closed, I tried out uShip via a recommendation and was able to find a single trailer tower with a winch to get the vehicle out of the barn and to my house. The tow was a little over 250 miles and the cost was around $450 which wasn't bad IMHO. I suggest using uShip if anyone needs to move a vehicle - it cuts through lots of the clutter in transport.

    Delivery day was here, and the rainy weather gave the car a nice ‘pre rinse’ before its arrival at my house.

    Click to watch:
    BMW Arrival


    Safely nestled in its temporary parking spot next to the garage, I am keeping it here for a few days while I clean the exterior / engine bay, drain fluids, and get it generally in acceptable shape before putting it in the garage (Speaking from experience, I am trying to keep the mess to a minimum). Think of it as prep before going into surgery.






    Time for a first wash:







    Looks better already! (and yes, I managed to dislocate the passenger mirror while washing, on top of the driver mirror that is already broken. Oops!)

    - - - Updated - - -

    Long Weekend on the interior:

    The next few days of work were rather chaotic. I swiftly started to disassemble the interior (while wearing my respirator). Dealing with copious amounts of mold and other dead bugs kept me from focusing on taking pics (hands are very dirty) . As I began to disassemble the interior bits, that old brittle 1990’s BMW plastic kept coming back to bite me. A lot of stuff broke during disassembly. Between that and the mold, I realized that I will be replacing much if not all of the interior with new and 2nd hand parts.

    First up is the Vaders, I am going to be removing them along with the rear seats, headliner , etc and sending it over to http://prestigeautoleather.com/ out in CT. They are some of the best BMW upholstery specialists around so I know they will get them looking new! Here is a good look at the seats and general interior that I sent over to them.

    Barn Find M3 Interior

    With that underway, the seats came out and the cleaning began.

    `16-year-old potato chips and loose change, anyone?



    1 hour locked up with the ozone machine doing its thing (just so I can work on it more safely)


    Deeper and deeper I go, OK, this is going to be more than a deep clean. This entire interior is coming out.


    That’s more like it...


    The reason for the entire disassembly is due to the fact that as I dug I a) kept finding mold that I wanted gone and b) realized that the interior carpet is 100% toast. I am going to be sourcing an OEM replacement from Germany.

    I had some big difficulty getting the air / heater box out. Due to my own ape-like instincts and waning patience, I managed to break a few pieces on its removal. That said, it was so gunked up with mold and other stuff that I honestly will just replace the whole thing with another part.

    Oh hey, check out that cabin filter.


    - - - Updated - - -

    Getting it into the garage

    With the interior apart I purged the gas tank using my extractor and gas cans. This is a very messy job so I did not get any photos. The process was pretty simple though, I simply removed the fuel pump from its location under the rear seat and sucked all the gas out, repeating the process on the other side as it appears that the fuel sits in two different bladders on each side.

    The gas itself was toast from 16 years of being idle, did not smell bad but definitely had a different property to it from normal gasoline.

    All that said, with the help of my truck to pull it, and help of my significant other to push (thank you honey), the M3 was finally in its proper parking spot.

    When your new roommate is a tad smelly and a little weird



    Now that we are in the garage, it’s time to take a look under the hood. I had already degreased it and given it a proper cleaning, so taking things apart is much less messy!

    Top cover off the block, already looking good


    16 years idle and 25 years old? This thing looks new!


    Bilstein shocks and some sort of spring) Bilstein as well? H&R? The rotors and pads also have very little wear.


    This ‘organization’ system is not going to work. Def in need of a storage unit.



    Intake manifold is going to come off next, but I am very encouraged by what I am seeing at this stage of the ‘tear down’. After the spark plugs and radiator were removed, I turned the crank freely via the crank bolt and a hand wrench. This is def. a good sign!

  2. #2
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    This should be good. Nice work so far.

  3. #3
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    Great progress thus far. Those ozone generators are awesome, I've used mine on many cars with interior mold issues.

  4. #4
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    This is so very cool! Can't wait to see more

  5. #5
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    subscribed!

  6. #6
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    so awesome. Great job saving this car

  7. #7
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    this should be a good thread.
    '98 M3 5spd - '03 540it 6spd M-Sport

  8. #8
    RRSperry's Avatar
    RRSperry is offline Senior Moment Member BMW E36 M3 Expert
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    How many miles are on it? And seriously, you can find a carpet for it?
    No matter where you go, there you are...

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by RRSperry View Post
    How many miles are on it? And seriously, you can find a carpet for it?
    If BMW inventory is to be believed, there are two brand new e36 coupe interior carpets left in Germany. They are anthracite so it will be a bit of a color change.

    Around 160k. Prior owner put a bunch of miles on it in a short period going from Maryland to Ohio and back.

  10. #10
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    are slow.
    Had this on my wishlist on Ebay and missed out on the bid... Goodluck! Looks like a great project to dig into.
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  11. #11
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    Enjoying the way this rebuild is going. Surprised to hear you ordering a new carpet. Have you called around to see if a shop could clean the one you already have? Maybe the upholstery shop can provide a recommendation.

    WTB
    : 94 325is M-Technic

    -----> Pm me if you have or know of one. <-----

  12. #12
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    Order new carpet. Far more worthwhile than cleaning that.

  13. #13
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    Great thread, waiting for updates! I would look for another carpet without hesitation. I think it's basically impossible to get rid of mold once it's set inside the foam. Give the seat cushions a careful look too.

  14. #14
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    Looking forward to the progression of this thread.

    Although a major undertaking, I'd love to have my own barn-find restoration someday.
    Past: '99 Hellrot/Dove M3 | '97 S14 1JZ | '06 Triumph Daytona 675 | '01 330I M-Tech I | '99 Silvia S15 | Current: '96 Estoril/Black M3

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  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by NeonStatus View Post
    Enjoying the way this rebuild is going. Surprised to hear you ordering a new carpet. Have you called around to see if a shop could clean the one you already have? Maybe the upholstery shop can provide a recommendation.
    I thought about it, but the foam padding was properly funked - the windows were cracked the entire time it was in the barn, which was good for circulation but bad for allowing condensation.

    The padding of the OEM carpet is such that a proper replacement is really the only option.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by jaysonx View Post
    I thought about it, but the foam padding was properly funked - the windows were cracked the entire time it was in the barn, which was good for circulation but bad for allowing condensation.

    The padding of the OEM carpet is such that a proper replacement is really the only option.
    Buying the last one is very tempting...

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by gsanvi View Post
    Great thread, waiting for updates! I would look for another carpet without hesitation. I think it's basically impossible to get rid of mold once it's set inside the foam. Give the seat cushions a careful look too.
    For sure. I am sending the seats and headliner out to be recovered by http://prestigeautoleather.com/. They seem to be some of the best in the area.

  18. #18
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    Nothing too exciting going on for this week, been waiting on a bunch of ordered parts to arrive before I continue. Took the opportunity to start cleaning up the rear seats (which came out pretty nice).



    Painted the dash support bars - it always drives me nuts when they are all rusted (even though you never see them).



    A nice 'new' heater box arrived - in much better shape than the one I pulled out of the car. The top seal was a bit of a mess so I pulled it out, not realizing its a $70 part to replace. Argh. , more $$$



    Boneyard of parts going out to be reupholsted - front seats, headliner & sunroof panel, rear tray. I have new F/R A/C piller trim coming from BMW.


    Should have a parts delivery on Monday - will post updates.

  19. #19
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    Waiting on parts to come in, so spent some time getting my heater box back up to spec. The one that came with the car broke in a lot of various places while removing it. The plastics were super brittle (even moreso than the replacement one which I purchased on ebay. Good thing I kept the old one laying around though, because there were a few peices missing from the one that I ordered. Fortunatly, between the two, I was able to get a fully complete 100% operational single box (well, at least it should be!)

    New heater core to replace the old one - peace of mind.



    This old blower has gotta go as well.



    New one installed.



    I buttoned everything back together and have it sitting / waiting to go back in. My carpet from Germany should be arriving in 1-2 weeks, can not wait for it to arrive! Once it gets here the reassembly process can begin.

  20. #20
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    Still waiting on parts to show up, so let's keep ourselves occupied by fixing the ///M badge in the gauge cluster (courtesy of MSportParts).




    Cracking the old cluster open isn't too difficult, just 5 hex bolts on the back and removal of some tape on the top and it comes directly apart.


    Swapping out the old part was simple enough, follow the video instructions. I suggest putting tape over the metal ends of the pick to pry out the 'film' element that gets illuminated to avoid scratches. Also double-check your work by holding up to a light before reassembly. My new logo had a tiny white spec letting light through. I applied some electrical tape to the black backing to remedy the issue (and hold everything in place). The new logo makes a big difference!


    Tools used.

  21. #21
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    Hmmm. I check every logo for illumination issues. There's a 70% defect rate in the batch I ordered (UGH). I'm happy to replace that one.

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Braymond141 View Post
    Hmmm. I check every logo for illumination issues. There's a 70% defect rate in the batch I ordered (UGH). I'm happy to replace that one.
    No worries - This was an easy enough solve.

    Id love to have the full piece so there isn't any cutting at all!

  23. #23
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    Nice find.

    My fingers always get itchy seeing the work that gets done.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
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  24. #24
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    A steady stream of parts continues to arrive. Let's have some fun by installing this brand-new OEM door handle.




    Stripping down the door is quite a good time (not). In the process, I found my window regulators to be woeful from sitting for so long. I disassembled them and re-lubed everything, while also replacing the plastic guides.

    The passenger door is shown here, I also ended up disassembling that side as well. The door latch on this side was barely functional, so I have a new/used part on the way from a salvaged car.


    And sure enough - door works flawlessly (click to play video)


    The original AC condenser looks like it has seen better days, so I swapped that out with a new one.


    Finishing up the new radiator install as well. Parts replaced here were radiator, expansion tank, new fan & fan clutch, new belts, new water pump, new tensioner + pully. Also replaced every heater and vacuum hose. While I am in there, why not do it all?


    Let's not forget those intake and throttle body gaskets as well.



    Everything is proceeding smoothly thus far. I am pretty much ready to begin re-assembling the interior.

    Hrm, what is in the box


    Brand new carpet from BMW Germany anyone?


    So fresh and clean.


    More to come!!
    Last edited by jaysonx; 10-27-2020 at 10:28 AM.

  25. #25
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    Fresh carpet is fresh!
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