work in progress history of the car

just a little write up about what i have done to the car

been looking for 9 months for the right car

then i seen this on auto trader website

3 owners, first one was bmw as it was they demo car

66k fsh, m3 kit, tints and m3 reps

fitted a few mods over the 2 year i have had the car

first was m gear knob, bmw motorsport kick plates, door moulding badges and glove box badge

had a problem

car was leaking water all over the place

turned out it was the timing profile gasket

common problem on car built before september 93

mine was built in feb 93

so out came half the engine to change a part which cost £1.60

the problem


setting the cam timing

when it was out, i thought i would clean up some of the metel parts

after a day cleaning all the bits, it now looks like this

how it looks before

next the noise i had when i got it got worse

so i had to fit a new manifold

also the rear box was getting noisy, so changed that for a new one

rear wheel bearing was getting worse so a new one was fitted

also rear trailing arm bush was knocking, so changed this too

seen everyone was fitting this so got a set from teddy

ccfl gen 2 angel eyes

also fitted some hids

really good, cant believe how bad the old lights was

did not like the wheels which came with it
so got a set of 15" to run on while i was trying to sell the reps

could not sell the reps, so used themfor the track

then got a set of mint 328i sport bbs alloys

had these on for a while

then got these

sold the reps and now going to use the bbs wheels for the track

got some leather bits made up

centre console in black nappa leather

also some gaitors with the stiching done in the m colours

also got hold of a leather handbrake lever
got it from a 7 series in a scrap yard

got a black leather interior for £340

 and a arm rest

found on the etk a cup holder so got one of thses too

decided to overhaul my suspension

eibach springs
eibach roll bars
koni adjustable shocks
x brace
e46 m3 rear top mounts
front top mounts
ball joints with arms
wishbone arm bush
reinforcement plates front and rear
springs pads
bump stops

x brace fitted

m3 gt corner splitters

took the car out on the track

castle combe

track wheels

out on the aston martin test track

at rockingham
waiting to go out on track

changed the twin slates in the front bumper to the mesh, which is found on the m3s

before

after

seen everyone was getting the german plates surrounds

when i was on holiday in italy, i seen that the bmws had these

so after talking to the parts chap got one for free

got a m tech 2 steering wheel from fab direct

also fitted this

very handy

got in one day and had no clucth

checked the fluid and it was low

turned out to be the slave cylinder

changed the rear lights to m3 clear/red

much better looking

like the car looking clean

heard great things about zymol, so use they vintage glaze

dad saw this on a a6, so ordered a set for the car

stops the shopping going everywhere

a few of us from e36coupe forum went to a rolling road

got 154.3 bhp the first time 134bhp the second

nothing flash but it does me

pioneer headunit
u2 ipod
kenwood 10" sub
kenwood 2 channel amp
kenwood 5.1/2" 2 way rear speakers

Mike

I'm typically not a modding fan but the quality of the work seems to be top notch and tasteful.  Clearly a lot of thought went in to making them.  The car looks really well.  Be proud!

track pics

castle combe april 06

my bbs track wheels

thanks

i paid £250 in parts, changed a couple of bits at the same time

new amp

also my dad fitted not long after i got the car
auto dimming rear view mirror, which i got for £10
and map reading lights

and i fitted another netting to the drivers sde

thanks

fitting the splitters was easily really, i know some people take the bumper off but i just jaxed the car up

i would not and did not pay £6000 for that wax

i use the cheaper one which is £1500, but again i did not pay that

fitting the net is a little bit hard as you got to make a hole through the carpet to fit the clips on. You got to be careful aswell not to go through a wire

for the past month i have had a knock through the steering over bumps

thought it could be either the top mounts, but these was only replaced about 1 1/2 year ago
or thought it could have been the ball joints, but these was replaced about a year ago

turned out to be the intermediate steering shaft

45 minutes later all fixed and now the car feels a lot more direct and postive through the corners

and only cost £40, was £120 but for some reason was reduced

here is the part number 32 30 6 756 055

thanks

should have a couple of more bits coming in the next week or so

maybe some different track wheels

some more fine tuning on the suspension, with different bushes, drop links, sturt braces and maybe a quicker rack

then maybe new seats with a retrim at some point