My Hellrot E36 328i

Major

Active member
It's with great joy that I can (finally!) say I'm back in the BMW owner's circle with this E36 328i Individual, which some of you will recognise as Kobus328i's. :rollsmile: If anyone wants to know what happened to the previous E30, a hole opened up in the Earth's crust and it fell straight into hell.

I was looking at E36's in Cape Town, and in chatting with Coisman he pointed out Kobus' for sale thread. Car was still available, and so after much deliberating with him, flying up to Joburg last Saturday, I viewed the car on Sunday, and bought it that Wednesday. I wasn't a fan of red before I saw this thing, I had seen the pictures and they just don't do it justice. I drove it down to Cape Town in one trip yesterday, and it was awesome! Managed to squeeze out 7.6l/100km.

There are a few issues with the car, which mostly became apparent during the drive down.

  • Thermostat stuck open. Suspected this during the test drive, very much confirmed when I drove through -4 degree weather.
  • HVAC fan spinning but no air coming out, most likely filter. Flaps are active.
  • HVAC climate control temperature sensor fan went from noisy to dead after I hit it with some Q20, looking to replace it as it's screwing with the AUTO stuff
  • RTAB's need replacing, car has quite a wiggle around the back
  • Couple of exterior seals need replacing
  • Rubber surrounding the gearknob assembly was ripped apart for the service on the gearbox I assume, going to replace it as a hot/cold breeze comes out the centre console depending on conditions.
  • Small power steering and also gearbox leak

Considering that's the worst I can say about a 16-year old car, I'm thrilled with my purchase. I already got a metal thermostat housing from Masterparts today, thermostat from BMW (not cheaping out there!), cabin filter, and gearlever surround.

 

///MALCOLM325

///Member
Finally someone got this!
This is a gem, I considered it a few times but didn't have the cash.

Congrats on the purchase, you've bought a collectors item. With all the crap out there, this car is proof that good E36's still exist.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Thunder

///Member
Must say I was very sad to hear that Kobus sold the car after only buying it just over a year ago.
But glad to see it went to a good owner and fellow fanatic so we all know she will be taken good care of.

:thumbs:
 

AshG108

///Member
WOW!
Kobus keeps his cars like gems!

Congrats on a brilliant purchase!!

Kudos to Kobus!!!:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:
 

v1p3r

Well-known member
Welcome back to the fold Major, remember you and your E30 from the E30clubsa. Good luck and many safe miles with your new car
 

Prev

Administrator
Staff member
Congrats on your acquisition :bravo:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Gizmo

Banned
Another individual saved. Congrats mang! Is it a cast iron block or aluminium block? Future mods or are you keeping her virginity intact?


The only place these gearboxes leak is on the selector shaft seal but the box has to come out to fix it, while its out do the 5th gear detent repair too.
A new selector shaft seal from the agents is cheap!
 

Major

Active member
Thanks a lot guys! :rollsmile:

Iron block Warren. :rollsmile: Definitely future mods but for now I want to get all of the running issues out the way, suspension refresh, brakes, then up and onwards to engine.

Kobus mentioned a repair that was done because the box would shift to 5th instead of 3rd (not the other way thankfully), but wasn't sure of the exact repair. Apparently they replaced fluids in the box at the same time, but the PO had used loctite on the drain plug so they kinda had to mess it up to get it out. I had it on a lift to take a look and it looks to be the drain plug that's leaking, but didn't check selector seal, will put it up again.
 

Gizmo

Banned
Major said:
Kobus mentioned a repair that was done because the box would shift to 5th instead of 3rd (not the other way thankfully), but wasn't sure of the exact repair.
ZF 5spd 5th gear detent repair, the piston slides inside a sleeve coated in teflon, over time the teflon coating starts coming off and clumping up causing resistance on the piston and sometimes the piston gets stuck leaving the 5th gear gate open and free of resistance, thats why you accidently shift to 5th instead of 3rd. Its a very common issue and I do the repair to all zf 5spd boxes that have any sort of resistance going into 5th or 5th gear gate stays stuck open.
 

UpNcOmiNg!

Events Organiser
:praise:
What an absolute beaut!
Congrats man, awesome purchase. Also kept looking at that thread, pulling myself away all too often!
Glad its in the fold still! :thumbs:
 
Top