e36 m3 evo saloon update

[harry_p]

7 months on, 14,000 miles, two oil services, one set of front tyres, one set of front brake pads.

total mileage now 171,900. Passed it's mot yesterday with nothing to note other than that the rear pads will need doing within the next 6 months.

a fresh pic to celebrate

[glenn]

hello harry,
one of the evo's i have breaking is an estoril blue 4 dr, give me a shout if you need anything.

[Blitz]

Thats the highest mileage M3 I've seen.

[harry_p]

it still goes well though

a couple of weeks ago i did the balance a coin on the cam cover trick, i previously thought it was just a rumour...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lr6XGQ8OQc

[harry_p]

a year in the life,

mileage when bought, approx 155,000 miles.

costs this year
insurance - £500 ish
road tax - £205
1 pair of 225 45 17 front tyres - £150
1 set oe textar front brake pads - £45
two oil, filter, vanos filter and bolts changes - £150
e36 coupe black plastic trim set to replace wood - £10
fuel = £lots

current mileage 177,100miles

finally sourced a non spoiler boot lid that wasnt a million miles away, never liked the standard wing, too big to be subtle, too small to actually do anything usefull. was pretty tempting to put the 318i badge back on it after it was painted too

[Jhonno]

Much prefer them de-spoilered..

[leeparkes]

Much prefer them de-spoilered..

+1

Looks so much cleaner

[jay696]

a year in the life,

mileage when bought, approx 155,000 miles.

costs this year
insurance - £500 ish
road tax - £205
1 pair of 225 45 17 front tyres - £150
1 set oe textar front brake pads - £45
two oil, filter, vanos filter and bolts changes - £150
e36 coupe black plastic trim set to replace wood - £10
fuel = £lots

current mileage 177,100miles

finally sourced a non spoiler boot lid that wasnt a million miles away, never liked the standard wing, too big to be subtle, too small to actually do anything usefull. was pretty tempting to put the 318i badge back on it after it was painted too

The red one please

[German-Whips]

a year in the life,

mileage when bought, approx 155,000 miles.

costs this year
insurance - £500 ish
road tax - £205
1 pair of 225 45 17 front tyres - £150
1 set oe textar front brake pads - £45
two oil, filter, vanos filter and bolts changes - £150
e36 coupe black plastic trim set to replace wood - £10
fuel = £lots

current mileage 177,100miles

finally sourced a non spoiler boot lid that wasnt a million miles away, never liked the standard wing, too big to be subtle, too small to actually do anything usefull. was pretty tempting to put the 318i badge back on it after it was painted too

The red one please

[harry_p]

[jay696]

OH YES

[bpowell555]

Excellent move ditching the spoiler - they always seem to dip in the middle on the e36 and look like aftermarket sh1te

[bridgemond]

Red E30 m3 looks savage

[oomz1975]

Much nicer without the spoiler, red one looks mean.

[harry_p]

Excellent move ditching the spoiler - they always seem to dip in the middle on the e36 and look like aftermarket sh1te

yeah, the shape doesnt help.

there are also a lot of aftermarket copies around which do sag, 99% of the chaaveed up horribly looking e36s have an mtech (or replica) spoiler.

plus mine didnt have a brakelight, just an odd looking blank with yet another random ///M badge on it.

[harry_p]

ticked over to 180,000 miles last weekend

i have also been messing with x-braces.

for those that don't know, theyre a standard bmw part fitted to e36 cabrios which replace the standard straight tube torsion bar fitted between the main chassis rails just behind the front wishbone lollipop bushes. the x-brace extends forwards under the sump to the front subframe, stopping the whole lot twisting or rotating relative to the shell.

like so...


sourced one, fitted it, only to find it won't clear the m3 undertray, in all the reading about the braces i'd done i had not found a single instance on them not fitting, i can only assume there are a lot of m3 evos around without their undertray!

as you can see it doesnt fit in the recessed cross moulded into the tray, it also blocks the two holes where it mounts to the subframe.


it's a big old lump of plastic, and it's obviously there for a reason so i wasnt happy running without it.


fitted the brace anyway to run it for a couple of days and see whether i could notice any difference, to decide whether to bother trying to source the later offset type.
it was, so i did!

i'm not going to pretend it makes it handle like an f1 car, but it noticably sharpened things up, somehow manages to loose a lot of the 'heavy' feeling on intitial turn in, makes it feel a lot more tight and taugh, a bit more 'e30' in fact. definately worth doing if you intend driving your e36 hard.

as a bonus, it will also act as a sump guard, although the e36 layout means it's already fairly well protected.

the two types side by side,


fits perfectly to the undertray


as a bonus, fitting took approx 30 mins, would have been even less without messing with the undertray! (i think ) all m3s have the threaded inserts in the subframe so it bolts straight on, i believe all other e36s have the holes in the subframe they just need opening up a touch and four m8 rivnuts putting in

[TheHeap]

it still goes well though

a couple of weeks ago i did the balance a coin on the cam cover trick, i previously thought it was just a rumour...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lr6XGQ8OQc

You're suppose to redline it