Zen and the Art of E36 Maintenance

[bimma360]

​This thread is really just a place for me to post pictures of my M3/4/5, and anything related to it.

2023 will mark 10 years of ownership. The car was my daily driver for the first 7 years. I bought it from the original owner with 150k miles, and it is now sitting at 242k miles. I have damn near rebuilt everything in my time of ownership, but it is due for a bit of a refresh so this is where I’ll start.

For now I’ll just post some photos I already have on Instagram.



I started sewing seat skins in MCross and Alcantara 5 years ago. Got 1 Vader done… haha. But in the last few months I’ve got back into it and finished the rear seat.



Ordered a “Rough Leather” shift knob off BMW’s individual catalogue. And some leather from Relicate to match to sew my own shift boot (w/ red stitching). Channeling e34 M5 20 Jahre.





I refreshed a low mileage ZF 5 speed and while I was in there installed an Auto Solutions Autocross SSK w/ 15% reduction.



A few more on deck.





And about a month ago a pair of SR2’s arrived from Japan. They too will get the MCross and Alcantara treatment. As mentioned, I do already have vaders, and I even went through the trouble of fitting them to the sedan seat rails to be as factory as possible. But these Recaro’s are just on another level.




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[pbonsalb]

Rear seats look good! Impressive you did that yourself. I, too, would take the Recaros over the Vaders.

[muddycharles]

Looks awesome! Congrats

[bimma360]

Thanks guys!

[Charlemango]

Beautiful, love to see a high miler getting love. Got a same spec 97 this summer, figure I will wrap the interior in cloth someday too. Hopefully you are still around here when I get to it.

Really love the shifter and boot. Not a common choice for our cars and it looks great in yours.

[MauiM3Mania]

The AutoSolutions shifter is awesome. I've had a AS in my E36 M3 since 2002 and it was adapted to work the 420G six speed when we did the euro swap.

Mahalo forum rock BMWDirtRacer for the fine work!

[bimma360]

Thanks guys. That AS shifter is a work of art really. Ronald knows what he’s doing for sure!

[bimma360]

After lots of tweaking I got the driver seat test fitted. I am using the factory bmw sliders modified to work with Recaro e30 brackets. I’ll dive deeper on the brackets in another post.



The upper shoulder bolster is justtttt touching the b-pillar.



The seat reclining knob is also pretty close to the b-pillar. Using it while sitting in the seat is a bit difficult, but not impossible.



Clears installed. The outside needs love, but I’ll get there.

[E85STI]

Looking great!

[knickfan5745]

Do the Recaros sit any higher or lower than the Vaders?

[bimma360]

Lower. It’s hard to measure, but about 1-2” lower I would guess vs my power vaders. I am actually in the process of retrofitting the factory steering wheel tilt column to really dial in the driving position.

[knickfan5745]

Awesome, thank you for the info. I'm looking to replace my seats but really don't want to sit any lower, even though my head is touching the liner right now. Maybe I'll drive to Philly and buy and reupholster your Vaders.

[bimma360]

I was planning on just throwing the vaders in the attic just in case, but I suppose anything is for sale for the right price haha.