E30 Zone

Bought this on the weekend, as my e36318is clutch has just died.

Pretty solid car 2 owners, last one since 2001. It was a part exchange so had been tarted up a bit but I'm still pleased

the good, 100k well serviced and cared for, interiors immaculate, not many options but has 6 disc changer, side airbags, parking sensors and non sunroof which i thinks fairly rare? and i like the colour

the bad - the alloys style 39 i think, i will swap as soon as possible to the spare which is the 0041 bbs alloys, i really like them

the ugly rust is minimal but the lower wing drivers side needs fixing its low down so won't need paint but the kit needs coming off at some point. Any tips I've read you push out the rear pins and then ping it off?

Dings there are 5 tiny dings in passenger door all grouped so i think its from hitting something in the garage. I am hoping they will pop out - rest off the body is completely scratch and dent free


i will give it a good clean and get some descent pictures soon but a local willow is spewing out fluff so not worth it yet

Looks lovely .mine is the same colour non sunroof aswell. Mine doesn't have the boot spoiler.ditch them ghastly wheels for the original bbs and your away.ivehad mine nearly 5 years and apart from routine maintenance it's been absolutely fine.

they really are ugly, due to this there not common - so hopefully someone on ebay likes them

i hope it turns out to be as reliable as yours, its a late 98 so should be nikasil free and even had the 3 year warranty extended so all should be fine there.

just been looking up the spec online to see if it has the avus suspension package because both the front struts are bilstein yellow. Seems its just mtech

Code Sonderausstattung Optional Equipment
S243A Airbag for front passenger
S255A Sports leather steering wheel
S260A Side airbag for driver/passenger
P337A M Sports package
S428A Warning triangle and first aid kit
S431A Interior mirror with automatic-dip
S441A Smoker package
S481A Sports seat
S498A Headrests, rear, mechanically adjustable
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S534A Automatic air conditioning
S669A Radio BMW Business RDS
S694A Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
S704A M Sports suspension
S767A Performance Package
S785A White direction indicator lights
S786A Action pack for 17" wheels
L812A NATIONAL VERSION GREAT BRITAIN
S850A Additional Export tank filling Retailer Directory Europe
S880A On-board vehicle literature English
S962A licence plate support front


the bmwclassic.de website didn't work but this one did

http://www.bmwarchiv.de/vin/bmw-vin-decoder.html

Good car, on the BBS will look great. And I'd despoiler it and then drive the hell out of it for years to come;)

nice i like the colour

this is mine

The wheels may be rare, but they're not worth a lot.

The official bmw eBay shop was selling them off at £50 each not long back!

Still, at least they're an easy fix. If you have space you'd be better off hiding them in a corner for another 15 years and see what happens. It wasn't long ago you could pick up m5 turbines for a couple of hundred quid, you see people asking a grand a set now

@boxclever - i would never order a spoiler on one but i don't mind it now, i think it gives it a more defined wedged look by raising the rear profile

@dmw - looks good, what are the vaders like ?

@ harry p , hopefully they will go up - anything that ugly can't have that much aesthetic value yet- is that £50 for a brand new one?



have done some work on the car too, mainly a rust hunt in the arches - sadly some dusch has fitted crappy anschler rear shocks at the back will change as soon as i can afford to, some pictures next




this was the problem area - the lower wings flat base was completely gone and rust had set in to the lower edges- glass blasted all the rust form the car and fitted a section of lower wing from my old e36 i scrapped, high zinced then polyurethaned then some paint - blasted the screws and bit of zinc to slow the rust all waxoyled afterward



rust areas addressed - note the towers very crusty



down the body few tiny rust patches along a seam , the usual belly scuff patched up and also those rear floor pan caps that always rust - blasted etc



wasn't planning on painting any external areas but treated some rust on the wing lip and then painted with rattle cans - the colour was fine but the clear went on to thick and didn't blend well, even with soft masking.
So luckily i had a small touch up stick off paint i got free from halfords because the machine that transfers the mixed paint into the can was broken. Diluted with good thinners and there was just enough paint to do a free hand coat and descent 1k clear on top - picture is not polished out but i am very pleased with final results and a good match from halfords! you can see the dry clear overspray after the arches raised section






the rear arches - both had a small section of rust by the bung to the right of the picture There was a small amount of corrosion behind the filler pipe and also the pipes leading to the tank. I did the best i could with the expansion tubes but it will be a tank out job to do properly - will wait till i have to do the rear brake lines as they look inaccessible





bungs rusting again with some extra rust on the inner edge and a section not photoed where the body joins the bumper at the rear all blasted and treated

also swapped the bonnet release spring with a spare unit, it had less corrosion but i blasted it and zinc sprayed and then covered lubed with lithium for protection

next is a alloys when i find a set am looking to buy a few 041 which are spares and use the bolts and centres to make a clean set with out too much respraying/bolt cleaning

does anyone know if the rc041 centres are the same size as rc042's ?

jimmyspeed wrote:
@dmw - looks good, what are the vaders like

when i boghut the car it had a mint black vader interior witch i sold for 650 to someone who wanted to fit to a mk 2 golf.

then picked this gray set for 250 is ok just the drivers seat bolster is getting bad

fair profit then - how comfortable are they ?

also have you done the m50 manifold mod?

they are very comfortable hold you in nice when going fast round corners.


have 2 m50 manifolds which iv had for a while now, am in the process of fitting to my black 328i e36 cab at this time will do the silver one after

I have steadily been getting the car ready for the MOT and begun with e30 wishbones and eccentrics as they were an advisory - cheap febi eccentrics on ebay search part number 26080 will fit e36 and e30

Whilst fitting the drivers side wishbone i could not get the taper out despite hitting it, cutting of the arm and stilsoning the ball joint so i eventually unbolted the hub. This allowed me to see the damage on the lower strut and meant id have to replace the suspension sooner than hoped - i knew it was rusty but didnt want the hub to come off !



I always like the boxes of shiny parts pre assembly, so here it is - new washers , arb links and rubbers, top mounts b12 kit so a complete re fresh - sadly out of focus




the difference in spring length for the fronts



a fully rebuilt strut, i blasted and sprayed the top hat and gave it some tectyl for luck so should last. On the other side i managed to snap one of the front hub bolts off, not my brightest moment and made alot of hassle removing the snapped stud and searching for a suitable replacement. luckily i had some 12.9's 40mm bolts i bought for my turbo project so disaster adverted.


installed


there wasn't such a difference in the rears but its already starting to sit lower so maybe just needs some squishing



rears on, i did make up some nice 316 stainless reinforcing brackets for the rear but sadly didn't allow enough room to clear the raised lip on the car body work. The rear arb links were on solid so ended up hacksawing them off and apart- fun



Very pleased with the results, the biggest difference i think comes for the front arb being less slack and having the correct shocks on the rear. Turns so much flatter with barely any difference in comfort.
I think there is slighty too much toe out though as its really active and turns nice up to 70 but from then on is getting a bit twitchy.

Will get the tracking done after i fit the re- furbed alloys which are on the go, also going to source an x brace to stiffen it up some more

I do have a tyre question is it standard to run higher tyres on the front as the current set has 55's front and 50 rear - this was also the same for the alloys i bought to refurb?

E36s always look like they have more room for dropping on the front to me. Rears always look like they are starting to hide under the arches anyway