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PILL - My E36 ///M3 journey
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BLACK MACHINE
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Car is looking HOT Prevan....:thumbs::thumbs:
I'm no expert but I would recommend the following:
Check for body repairs that would indicate accident damage but bear in mind that these are 20 year old machines and the chances of finding an accident free car are slim. Should you find a car that doesn't have any obvious / shoddy body repair signs just evaluate the general condition of the exterior and interior. A lot can be told from how a car is kept in terms of cleanliness and general upkeep eg. Mismatched Tyres or bad tyres would raise questions in my mind.
Next I would suggest getting a full suspension check done and to look for tears in the common weak points such as the rear shock towers and mushrooming of the front shock towers.
Listen to the engine and ascertain whether there are any blatantly bad engine sounds. When the Vanos is in bad shape these cars idle like a car with an aftermarket performance cam/s. If the valve clearances are out of spec they have a distinct ticking noise.
Drive the car and get a feel for the handling, braking etc. Also try to gauge the throttle response through the rev range as this would indicate the condition of the vanos and other critical sensors.
I would also suggest getting the car through a diagnostics evaluation to check for any hidden engine problems.
First decide what you want out of the car eg. A perceived problem free car that you want to drive on the weekends which would typically command a premium or something that has a few known problems that you wouldn't mind putting some work and money into over a period of time. Note the key words that I have used "perceived problem free" and "known problems". A 20 year old ///M car is like a 20ish year old hot woman, temperamental!!! Pleasure to be in when alls good and dangerous as hell when in a bad mood :biglol:
PM me your number if you want any further detailed info :thumbs:
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Check for body repairs that would indicate accident damage but bear in mind that these are 20 year old machines and the chances of finding an accident free car are slim. Should you find a car that doesn't have any obvious / shoddy body repair signs just evaluate the general condition of the exterior and interior. A lot can be told from how a car is kept in terms of cleanliness and general upkeep eg. Mismatched Tyres or bad tyres would raise questions in my mind.
Next I would suggest getting a full suspension check done and to look for tears in the common weak points such as the rear shock towers and mushrooming of the front shock towers.
Listen to the engine and ascertain whether there are any blatantly bad engine sounds. When the Vanos is in bad shape these cars idle like a car with an aftermarket performance cam/s. If the valve clearances are out of spec they have a distinct ticking noise.
Drive the car and get a feel for the handling, braking etc. Also try to gauge the throttle response through the rev range as this would indicate the condition of the vanos and other critical sensors.
I would also suggest getting the car through a diagnostics evaluation to check for any hidden engine problems.
First decide what you want out of the car eg. A perceived problem free car that you want to drive on the weekends which would typically command a premium or something that has a few known problems that you wouldn't mind putting some work and money into over a period of time. Note the key words that I have used "perceived problem free" and "known problems". A 20 year old ///M car is like a 20ish year old hot woman, temperamental!!! Pleasure to be in when alls good and dangerous as hell when in a bad mood :biglol:
PM me your number if you want any further detailed info :thumbs:
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Shweet guys. Tough decisions.
Hows the consumption as adaily driver compared to a 330i e46, many recommend I go for a 330i but an e36 m3 is a classic and a legend. I love the coupe. Its always appealed to me and the tone. Incredible. Im sure u know exactly what I mean.
Anyways leta see how it goes. Cheers
Hows the consumption as adaily driver compared to a 330i e46, many recommend I go for a 330i but an e36 m3 is a classic and a legend. I love the coupe. Its always appealed to me and the tone. Incredible. Im sure u know exactly what I mean.
Anyways leta see how it goes. Cheers
iifunky said:
E46 330i is the better daily driver in all aspects without a shadow of a doubt. So if you looking for a daily driver dont consider the E36 M3.
The coupe is definitely a sexy figure and the ///M tone is a brilliant soundtrack. That being said the E46 is also a beautiful figure and has a lovely soundtrack as well.
:thumbs:
iifunky said:Thanks for the all the advice. i dont drive very far everyday, ido on average a 15km, just weekends i do bit more mileage. I have a little polo so may just keep that and restore the M3 if i can find a could base to start from.
hope to join the ///M stable soon:thumbs:
in my opinion the E36 ///M3's are not really suitable for short drives and especially traffic. The clutch is something that you wont enjoy in heavy traffic. The car is best suited for open road driving and especially when you hit the bends :=):
This weekend I replaced the hooter with a brand new after market unit from the local Midas as the one on the car was stuffed and removed during the engine re-fit process. After confusing myself with the wiring for a bit I finally figured it out and then realized there was also a problem on the actual steering wheel to activate the hooter when pressing on the airbag section. Basically the hooters receive a constant live and is activated when it receives a ground signal from depressing either of the 3 spring loaded contact points on the steering. 2 out of the 3 copper contact points on the steering wheel body were worn out and 1 of the spring loaded contacts on the airbag section where also damaged. The 3 torx bolts holding the airbag section in place also needed adjustment to allow sufficient spring travel between the steering body and airbag contact points. Plastic washers were made up to space the torx bolts out to avoid the hooters blasting away upon ignition. Then stainless steel contact points were "engineered" and carefully glued in place on the ends. Had to add 3 layers of these pieces to get the levels correct. Put everything back after testing and it's working perfectly.
Also replaced a few of the missing / damaged headlight grommets with OEM ones at R50 each :bangdesk:
Also did some adjustment to the RHS of the front bumper which helped but is still not good enough. I am now hunting for a RHS front bumper shock as I suspect mine is bent and hence there is a nasty gap between the bumper and nose panel on the RHS due to the bumper sagging.
If time permits I will be tackling the sound system rewire as I removed the amps and subs during the sabbatical period. I already wired up the head unit which works but is mute :biglol: due to the amps not being connected to the speakers
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Also replaced a few of the missing / damaged headlight grommets with OEM ones at R50 each :bangdesk:
Also did some adjustment to the RHS of the front bumper which helped but is still not good enough. I am now hunting for a RHS front bumper shock as I suspect mine is bent and hence there is a nasty gap between the bumper and nose panel on the RHS due to the bumper sagging.
If time permits I will be tackling the sound system rewire as I removed the amps and subs during the sabbatical period. I already wired up the head unit which works but is mute :biglol: due to the amps not being connected to the speakers
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
DROP IT - ZN
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For sale yet?
