tds4lt21's '98 e36 M3 project

L///MU Andr3w · #1 03-02-2012, 12:40 PM

Click here for Ch.2 - MFEST VI through December 2012
Click here for Ch.3 - 2013

Ever since I was a little kid, I dreamed of driving/owning 2 cars – a twin turbo 2JZ Toyota Supra and an E36 BMW M3. Since the Supra is becoming more and more a collector’s car, the M3 seamed the most feasible. The only thing that I was looking for was a clean-title, which is damn near impossible nowadays for E36’s…

After a few weeks, I found a steal of a deal. A little old Chinese woman was selling hers for FAR less than KBB value, so I went to go check it out. Arctic Sliver, completely stock, automatic tranny unfortunately, but that’ll do (especially in bumper to bumper traffic). However, when I first saw the car, I almost contemplated turning around and going home. The car had the expected dings and minor scratches on the outside, but the interior was a completely different story. The woman owned a golden retriever and took it with her absolutely everywhere. As a result, the seats were torn, trim pieces were chewed off, and the entire interior in general was beat to hell. What a shame for a great car. The price she was asking for was too good and she already had other offers and trades on the table, so I negotiated a bit and took the dive. I was finally an M3 owner!

Pictures of when I first got the car (June 6, 2011):

Front plate is bacon-bent and had some paint chips

As well as this bad boy…

It has ZHP wheels from the 2004 330ci on it. Don’t really know how that happened…

Ah, the stock stage. Remember when your engine bay was like this?

Interior time, brace yourselves:

Front Seats

Back Seats

How’s that for a fix? Can’t believe she actually did that to leather…

Just one of many pieces the dog chewed off

This was really annoying to drive around with…constantly falling off

So this was what I was dealing with. How was the car mechanically? Absolute s***. I felt like I was in way over my head. The name and badge soon lost its luster to me. Here’s what needed to be replaced right out the blocks:

Brakes – Pads and rotors, front and rear
Oil change desperately needed
Driver side window will not roll down
Driver side rear wheel was the spare. She had a flat and never bothered to patch it.
Power steering hoses leaking.
New belts needed.
New alternator needed.

A big bill later, and the car ran much better. The biggest problem was the wheel. Apparently, the previous owner drove around on the flat for awhile without noticing, so the wheel grinded into the tire beyond repair. Consequently, I am running on mismatching tires on the front and rear…wonderful.

July 2011
Windows tinted, much better to drive around in the summer months. I wasn’t able to move forward with the car as I planned because I was still fixing it mechanically. Everything that could be replaced basically needed to be, and my starting budget was drying up. I did some minor work here and there with trim pieces. The look of the car changed very little.

August 2011
Birthday month! The parents helped me finance the complete overhaul of my interior. I know the rule is that you leave the interior for last, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I took the car over to California Upholstery in Bell Gardens after recommendation from a family friend. The owner, Joe, is very reputable and has sent a number of high quality cars like Bentleys and classic low riders to SEMA every year. I highly recommend him and he has the best price in town with quality workmanship. I kept the dove grey base, but added a charcoal color for two tone seats. He was nice enough to redo the ///M stripes as well. Suede charcoal colored headliner and pillars completes the interior. Joe was nice enough to vacuum the inside for me and clean some of the side panels. In his words, “Your interior was absolutely gross. Now it’s 10 times better.”

Here’s the final product, and I am very proud to call it mine!

Front Seats

Back Seats

Now I was feeling good about the buy! The car was finally starting to take shape. Unfortunately, school started at the end of the month, so I had to put modifying the car on the backburner for awhile.

October 2011
Big month for the exterior of the car. I was thinking about what direction to go, and I decided to go with a darker tone to match my darker interior. I bought clear, Euro corners and side markers and smoked tails. MFEST bradah Chris hooked me up with the MFEST trunk badge, and I bought black/white carbon fiber roundels. Also repainted the front lip/splitter. Big changes, I must say. It took a little getting used to:

Looks a little better in the front

But the back looks sweeeet! And soooo much better. Still need to get clear bulbs though…

November 2011
Not much happened cosmetically or mechanically, but I got a new head unit! It’s an older Pioneer unit, but it’s flip out and has sat-nav. Definitely improves sound quality as well. Shout-out to Steve at Magic Auto/Sound in Norwalk! Steve and the guys did my tint as well.

Before:

After:

December 2011
Disaster. I started to hear a pinging noise from my left rear side. That pinging turned into a rattling, which was especially prevalent at city-speeds. I jacked the car up and found this nasty surprise:

The left rear shock housing sheared off from the frame and was loose. I was basically running on only my springs for a few days…very very scary. This was caused by the shocks being 100% dead. I could compress them with my pinky. In addition, I developed an oil leak and my power steering hoses we beginning to crack as well. The car was vibrating at idle as well because of busted motor mounts. I also assumed that if my rear shocks were dead, my front struts were probably gone as well. I figured the M3 had a stiff ride, but not that stiff. At the time I was looking into buying a new catback. All that money and then some went to repairs. Awful month…

L///MU Andr3w · #2 03-02-2012, 12:40 PM

January 2012
With my car no longer a death trap, I was able to make it out to the FMY at Savini. I took part in the West LA caravan and let me say that that was one hell of an experience! Never before had I seen so many ///M cars at one time. I was ahead of the pack with BMWPRINCE and we waited on the shoulder for Chris and the rest of the crew to catch up. Seeing Chris with Sabine in my rearview leading the charge of Bimmers was bone chilling – definitely one of those sights that stick with you. We made it to Anaheim without incident. It was great to meet a lot of you! I never really felt I was part of the MFEST fam before this.

February 2012
I read MFEST bradah JeremyM3’s for sale ad and saw a number of enticing items. First was an ECIS cold air intake. I have been looking for something to add power or sound, and this thing would definitely add both! He also had some racing UUC motor mounts and tranny mounts for sale as well. I sent the PM, and the rest is history. He’s a great guy to do business with and gave phenomenal deals. We talked for probably 30-45 minutes about cars and he gave me suggestions on what direction to go next. I installed the CAI myself. Here’s the before and after:

Before:

My air box filter was black as asphalt. Absolutely disgusting and probably sapping power from the engine.

After:

The ECIS unit is absolutely massive! I don’t know how I’ll fit Euro headlights now, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Time to finish off the rest of my mechanical woes. I had the UUC motor and tranny mounts installed, as well as the power steering hoses, front struts, and a number of other small things replaced. I also discovered that the “coolant” I was using was pure water. Someone was doing a half-a** job during routine maintenance checks

…

Transmission mounts

I installed the mounts with the original intention of getting rid of vibrations. These being race/track mounts, I actually created even more violent vibrations. Not that that’s a bad thing, the car has become much more responsive and I love being able to feel the engine work as I put the hammer down! Definitely a great investment, much better after the break-in period.

March 2012

Part of the fam now!