Ebay E36 Restoration Project

[me-tm]

So... a couple of weeks back me and a friend saw an E36 for sale on ebay, with no reserve.

We put in a cheeky bid... and won it! It was down in Bathgate (just west of Edinburgh) but that's not too bad from Aberdeen.

It's a 1995 model 316i with 110k on the clocks and an MOT until December. Fully stamped service history, and it came with a DAB radio and two sets of wheels.

How much did we win it for? £191!

   

   

   

It had a couple of problem areas...

   

   

However, we fitted a new exhaust back box (£33.50 from Euro Car Parts!) on Saturday...

   


...and I'm picking it up this afternoon from getting the sill welded. 2 patches on the driver's side sill for £160! Not bad. It also has some fairly bad lacquer peel on the boot, but with the car being gloss white you don't notice it from a few feet away. Probably just going to leave that as it is.

We also fitted the proper wheels:

   

So the alloys are up for sale, if anybody wants them...
The alloys have 4 different brands of tyres, but the steelies have a full set of almost new Toyo Proxes on them! Score!

Some may say it's 'only a 316' but it's surprisingly fun to drive! It's properly poverty spec, thus lightweight, and zips along backroads nicely. It'll also comfortably do 'motorway speeds' with ease, and it's still very refined at those speeds too. Our plan is to lightly restore it back to as close to original spec as possible (including a crap cassette player) and take it to shows for a laugh. It's rarer than an E36 M3 though!

Some of you may know me from another forum, under the name Supernaut, we've added the appropriate sticker to the car already.

   

[Eeyore]

interesting choice! D:

[me-tm]

It's a base-spec BMW 3 series. It's the unloved ugly step sister of the range. Basically, the definiton of Autoshite.

Actually, it's not proper base spec. There was one called the 316e, which had keep-fit windows all round!

[mr_fish]

that other rear exhaust is pretty chronic.

Nice to see though.

[Midnightclub]

Could keep it looking stock and swap in a m52b28 with an m50 mani for like £500 - 230hp.. ultimate sleeper lols especially if you keep the 1.6 diff

[procta]

a lot of car that for that money!

[darrenjlobb]

that other rear exhaust is pretty chronic.

Nice to see though.

William would be getting excited at the potential repair techniques he could use on that!

[Danny Wideboy]

Nice to see it on here. I'm Arthur Foxhake on the other forum BTW.

The more threads the better on here, it's dying a death and there is too much information to be lost, especially for XUD lovers.

[me-tm]

On Wednesday I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, brake discs and pads. I also sorted out the exhaust, as the new section we fitted hadn't sealed properly.

I have front wishbone bushes on order, or 'lollipops' as they're known.


I just started it up earlier to show my mate how the exhaust sounds now, and it's bloody blowing again! I'll crawl under after my lunch and attack it with gun gum again.