discussions on new cars can be found elsewhere, this is an e36 thread, old school tdub garage style

I worked on so many of these back in the day, that I actually grew tired of replacing the cooling systems and taught myself to ignore them... but recently began expanding my business to include BMW stuff and one day came across this sad looking little '95 325i at an auction. I honestly have no idea why I bid on the car except for the fact that someone had recently repaced the headlights and tails... it didn't run, had 227,000 miles, horrible paintwork, and was hit HARD in the ass end. But it reminded me of a car someone I knew used to have, and... really there was no good reason.



Unloaded it, charged the battery, and a set of plugs later she was running. I didnt want to put much into it in case it had some major issue and I ended up parting it out, basically if so much as the AC didn't work it was getting stripped, but the little car still has some heart. Fixed some vacuum leaks, and rigged up the rear bumper and it was back on the road. Put together a set of basic e46 style 45 wheels I had laying around...

9/20/2013 12:46:55 PM

i bet it still smells good, like a bmw

9/20/2013 2:49:22 PM

nice job on saving it...want a E36 someday (soon)

what trans?

9/20/2013 2:52:12 PM

oh no you didn't!!
boston green at that!

quite possibly the best car on Earth. 227k is just barely broken in, even though it might be on 8th cooling system lol

great thread.

9/20/2013 4:50:09 PM

boston green is the least desirable color that was available for the e36

9/20/2013 5:12:09 PM

benXJ its a 5 speed of course.

^^ I knew you would dig it, even though its no ///M


I havent really explained how quickly this sickness has grown... Next I bought this:


1997 318i

and another '95 325i:





and I just got home with this:


another '95 325i

9/20/2013 5:28:09 PM

lolz Ahmet just got decrowned big time in edirtysex ownership numbers.

Are you doing all E36 dealership or what? Thats great

9/20/2013 6:36:54 PM

Well I bought the first one (the green one) as a parts car, that's what I do. Think online chop shop. But with a little love it came back to life and I spared it from the machine. The next few ill use to spruce mine up, and sell off the leftover bits. End result will be a decent DD that I've already made money on before I even sell it.

9/21/2013 3:41:28 PM

any of them fit enough to make lemons cars out of?

9/21/2013 7:40:11 PM

Dude! I totally need a bunch of interior stuff for my e36. Any of those have decent seats and door panels?

9/21/2013 9:46:43 PM

what did you pay for each of those?

9/21/2013 10:16:14 PM

Quote :

" Dude! I totally need a bunch of interior stuff for my e36. Any of those have decent seats and door panels? "

"Decent" is such a relevant term, what about you let me know what you are looking for and color preference and let's go from there.

9/21/2013 11:56:43 PM

I suppose I should mention- I also have a couple e46 parts cars, as well as mercedes w210s and as always land rovers

9/22/2013 5:57:51 PM

what you got as far as w210's? any facelift cars or only older ones?

9/22/2013 6:15:10 PM

Current interior is grey. Since I basically need almost the entire interior I'll be happy with what you've got. At the least I need seats (e46 will fit as well with minor modification), door panels, and some trim pieces. Mine is the 4-door sedan. Fabric seats are fine through leather would be better . . . . the current seats are utterly torn to hell.

Could also use a new AC compressor.

9/22/2013 6:20:55 PM

Well I have some nice e46 front seats. Grey. Also some e36 but not as nice. No grey e36 front door panels though. Once I get the next one in you should probably just come look- that will be sometime in the next few days.

Once I get the glass blood and puke cleaned up in the red car I think that whole black interior is going in my green one... But everything's for sale.

9/22/2013 7:59:54 PM

Quote :

"Once I get the glass blood and puke cleaned up"

Holy shit

9/23/2013 10:20:16 AM

Hmm, optmus what's your website? If you're stocking a bunch of pull-apart style E36 parts I might need to give you some business

A few weeks back I took my '97 M3 to SCCA AutoX Nationals in Lincoln, NE. Got my butt kicked thoroughly, but the car is an underdog in the class compared to the Evo's and STI's I race against, and I had a lot of "first time at nationals" nerves too. At least I wasn't dead last, heh. Here's my car on course (haven't purchased the images yet but probably will at some point):


I just replaced the plastic OEM headlights with new glass ones, which look way better. In this picture I have the car in race trim, so I took out the fog lights and used blackout plates, but I have fog lights for when I'm not racing it.

9/23/2013 11:27:19 AM

Our eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/buckhorn-imports but I haven't started processing any of the e36 cars yet.

Tell me more about the setup on that M3. The struts on my 325 are totally shot. It seriously has the ride of a '70s Cadillac.



[Edited on September 23, 2013 at 8:53 PM. Reason : .]

9/23/2013 8:46:33 PM

You don't want my setup for a daily driver...I'm running double adjustable MCS shocks that cost more than the rest of the car did My springs are 650lb front, 800lb rear so it rides super rough too. I have camber plates in front that crash and bang over every bump, and -3.0 degrees of camber in front so it is terrifying in the rain. "Street Touring" is kind of a misnomer hah, although it is street legal and I drive it to most events.

For a street car, I've always heard Bilstein Sport Shocks with lowering springs are the sweet spot:
http://store.bimmerworld.com/bilstein-sport-and-heavy-duty-damper-sets-p1990.aspx

Looks like Bimmerworld likes H&R springs, but Eibach lowering springs are fine too. I'd check out your Front Control Arm Bushings and Rear Trailing Arm Bushings and potentially replace, that's where a lot of the weird handling was coming from in my M3 when I got it. If you're getting lots of clunking noises from the front, I'd highly recommend going with fresh top hats for the front shocks.

9/24/2013 10:18:20 AM

Actually riding a little, or a lot rough, is OK with me. But I have wanted to "build" a eurotrash beater car for a while, and this might shape up perfectly to scratch that itch

9/24/2013 11:34:34 AM

anyone got any stock M3 springs/sway bars for sale?

9/26/2013 11:06:00 AM

I have stock '96 M3 springs laying around in Cary. Will be there 10/11-10/15. I can PM u when im back

9/26/2013 12:03:44 PM

sounds good

9/27/2013 11:17:18 AM

Passed up another convertible yesterday, how many do I need really?

10/17/2013 10:29:44 AM

while you are searching for e36's, let me know if you come across any clean e38's or e32's, I need a clean one for a project I am planning.

10/17/2013 11:24:28 AM

I have begun processing these, if you want a shot at anything contact me soon- once the desirable/valuable stuff starts selling, the value of the remaining lump decreases rapidly and that's when they get moved to the crusher lane.

10/24/2013 7:04:58 PM

Also, noticed the other night driving my green beater that over 80mph that it dosen't take much steering input to either side before the whole front end goes nuts. Shaking BAD. Since its caster that seems to have most effect on stability at speed I am thinking its the "Q" bushings on the lower control arms. Those being on the way to waller'd out would free up the lower control arm and destabilize the position of the lower ball joint at speed effectively changing the caster angle. But I haven't checked them yet, and I drove it again today. The truth is, that the struts are so bad, that you can't tell much else until you go over 80. And because I have not addressed that "potential safety issue", and also because I haven't registered it yet, I really shouldn't be going that fast anyhow. It has been a few years, but I have changed a lot of those bushings, I will just do them whenever I make up my mind on using the struts off another one of these cars or buying some cheap coilovers. I hate to put anything nice on a car thats been hit so hard in the rear end though...

Other than that, the persistant brake lining lamp, and the intermittent airbag fault lamp, only other complaints are the speedo/fuel gauge do not work sometimes- until I smack the top of the dash just right- and I have to cut the dome light off manually or it stays on. I do still need to put the new valve cover gasket on before it catches the damn car on fire, it could stand to have the clutch bled I think, and I may have a u-joint/flex coupling vibration through 1st/2nd/3rd but that doesn't bother me so much.

10/24/2013 7:44:01 PM

^^ The MAF on my M3 went bad shortly after I got it, so I replaced it with a $40 Chinese MAF which has (unsurprisingly) gone bad as well. A new MAF for it is freaking $339, ugh. Are any of the parts cars you have 328's? The MAF seems to be the same for them, part number:
13 62 1 703 275

It's probably hard to guarantee that they're any good on the cars you've got, but if you've got any let me know how much you want for 'em

10/25/2013 1:08:29 AM

Joel, brake lining light is a small switch underneath steering column. $22 part i think. extremely easy to access but you need to be acrobat to change it by twisting your whole body. helps if you have extremely small hands and see well upside down. PITA . leave it alone unless it bothers u.

front end it is probably front control arm bushings (fcab as they like to say on forums). they go bad every 60-80k on most bimmers if not sooner.

^go with OE maf. u can try cleaning it with IPA in the interim.

[Edited on October 25, 2013 at 6:06 PM. Reason : f]

10/25/2013 6:03:15 PM

anyone interested in an e36 beater?

11/18/2013 6:31:23 PM

Ok only two e36 parts cars remain, and they won't be here much longer. Both '95 sedans, one auto, one manual.

Also a couple e46 sedans in at the moment, including a recent arrival with taninrot interior...

[Edited on December 7, 2013 at 9:49 PM. Reason : ....]

12/7/2013 9:49:11 PM

^ That was a quick fad

My E36 has been pretty neglected recently, too busy working on Lemons cars for Barber in February heh.

12/8/2013 11:41:10 AM

Its just business baby. I still have mine but haven't driven it in about a month.

12/9/2013 2:33:50 PM

Ok ive got a bunch of little stuff left but the e36 parts cars are no more.

Side note my green beater is unbelievably fun in the snow, but I hope to take the 01 4matic parts wagon out this time

2/11/2014 10:25:22 AM

I'm on the hunt for an E36 M3. MAKE IT SO.

2/21/2014 9:50:51 AM

somebody buy this for love of e36

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/4940415471.html

watch it trap 130mph in quarter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5xVtNZej0s

and 186mph in 1mile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS2odJ2dk-Q



[Edited on March 23, 2015 at 2:28 AM. Reason : l]

3/23/2015 2:23:50 AM

why would you buy that over an e90?

3/23/2015 9:06:38 AM

5.3L worked to 7.2L, good luck getting real mileage out of that setup. I predict hella piston slap and blow by in < 10k miles

3/23/2015 10:52:59 AM

^^I personally would not, but somebody looking for unique car maybe.

^Right, because owner who has put time and money to do this never considered that. We should rely on your internetz expertise of resleeving LS engines to point us in armchair general direction.

3/23/2015 12:38:16 PM

^ No I'm relying on experience from my builder when I brought up the idea of getting a ERL block months ago.

If the owner had put time and money into it as you say, he wouldn't have went to ERL and started a build with the cheapest core they offer. But yea I know nothing.

Not to mention ERL didn't even build the engine in that car, or that "I'm selling this car for a buddy and I will be answering all the questions. To finally buy it you will deal with him! "

It's like every time I post someones asshole opens up.

3/23/2015 1:24:36 PM

Quote :

"But yea I know nothing."

You got that part right.

3/23/2015 3:39:12 PM

Quote :

"Summitomo tires"

Ooooh rich BMW owner that is sure to have done this build the right way.

3/23/2015 4:01:52 PM

and they gotta be run flats

3/23/2015 4:41:30 PM

yo, does it come with gator boots tho?

3/23/2015 6:40:18 PM

I'm just not a huge fan of the E36 V8 swaps, if I swap my E36 it'll be to an E46 M3 motor. If I want a V8 (and I do at some point), I'd rather just get a Corvette or build a Factory Five kit car or something along those lines. With that said, I do love E36's painted in that Space Grey color from the E92 M3...really tempted to have mine painted that color heh.

Since this thread got bumped...first track day in my "new" '98 M3 track rat this weekend at Barber. Should be fun, car is running well and seems slightly up on power compared to the old one (better tune from Epic Motorsports), and is definitely down 50-100lbs on weight compared to the old one, gutted more interior on this one including a sunroof delete). It survived a 2-driver many 15 run AutoX day, so I think it's good to go, but I can't help but be a little nervous about a breakdown hah.

3/25/2015 9:43:07 AM