Hi there
So yesterday I collected this:
What is it?
1995 BMW M3 E36 Saloon which 426 units were produced in RHD Saloon.
3.0l Straight 6 single vanos, producing 286HP at 7000rpm.
115,000 miles
Getting its first £115 worth of Vpower.
Dry stored by current owner for 6-7 years, a track project that never started.
Previous owner used as a daily for 5 years
Then 6 owners previous to them, thankfully it seems to not have had a chavtastic owner hence originality.
Full service history though a lot at specialist and mainly oil changes.
The car needs good paint correction with some scratches and chips filling in. The interior needs a deep cleaning and the leather treating or replacing.
The main thing is the car is totally original, un-modified apart from the Alarm siren been remove and the exhaust not sure if that is original or not, I suspect not on a 27yr car.
The following items from driving it I have discovered need attention:
- Rear number plate bulb is out according to the onboard computer
- Remote central locking does not work, but central locking works when you turn the key, maybe something to do with the alarm been removed from under bonnet.
- Stiff / firm accelerator pedal
- Secondary air pump is noisy on a cold start, last for about 45-60s
- Maybe a very minor oil leak from engine or power steering, but not enough to drip or its a past leak, need to investigate.
- Small patch of corrosion on rear quarter, no other rust found so far.
- All the plastic black trims and handles need restoration work or painting
- Scuttle panel is faded and cracked
- Parts of rear rubber window trim missing in top corners
- Exhaust seems lose at rear, suspect no hangars in use.
- Wheels have some corrosion and not premium tyres
- Washer bottled has a minor leak, no doubt a seal.
Quite a list to crack on with plus whatever else I find, as to how it drives well it makes a whiring loud bus type noise at cold start which I suspect is the secondary air pump as it goes away after a minute, the car drives absolutely fine, it is amazing that the interior does not have one single rattle, suspension has no clunks or knocks and it rides a rough badly surface road so well, all gears and clutch are easy and it revs all the way out, power is poor low down which was a feature of the 3.0 but also a service to the vanos could help this, pulls to 7000rpm with ease, no smoke is emitted, Steering is light but tight and it seems to drive fine, very small car on the road compared to modern cars and really comfortable with an amazing view out, lots of glass and very small pillars so no view obstructions. £295 tax for the year and in 13 years time, tax free, economy so far seems to be 22-26mpg on A/B roads, it is a 5 speed been a 3.0 litre. Brakes work well and surprisingly with zero judder, so seems disc and pads are in good order. Original radio/CD player still works, all electric windows work, electric mirrors, everything still works, though the clock seems to keep losing the time whenever car is turned off, yet the battery is clearly fine.
Jobs to action immediately:
- New throttle cable and throttle pedal, not going to try and re-grease the old ones as they are a safety concern and these old cars had a habit of snapping the cables or staying wide open throttle, I believe they are like £40 each, so should be sub £100 to replace and will hopefully make the pedal less firm/sticky.
- Rear windscreen seals to prevent any water ingression.
Jobs to do soon:
- Clean entire under-side, then try and locate any potential fluid leaks and repair.
- Remove all trim, restore / paint.
- Polish and paint correct - Going to make this my first car I take a DA polisher too and learn, if I mess up then off to the body shop it goes, but I will start with the rear spoiler.
- New gas struts for boot lid.
- Strip intake system down, clean the throttle bodies, change spark plugs, air filter etc.
- Interior cleanse and replace parts of trim that cannot be restored.
Distant future jobs:
- Wheels refurbished and new matching tyres.
- Rear quarter rust and any new rust located on underside, brake lines if not previous done.
It will be an ongoing project, it is also my only car with 4 doors so will be used for taking my Ma to places and it is also probably the comfiest car.
I doubt it will lose any more, they were the unloved M3's because they looked little to no different than a regular 3 series, but over time they seem to have become now much loved M3, maybe because they have far less issues, particular the 3.0 compared to the later 3.2 and E46 generation.
However it is not an investment, it is a project car and see where I go with it and having friends who have also fully restored E36 before I know people who can do work on it I cannot complete, should the worse happen a replacement second hand engine is 5k, gearbox £500 and a differential £500-1000, so in short apart from engine popping replacement major parts are not a whole lot of money.
Insurance was crazy, CHEAP, £186 for myself, Briony and my Mother on the insurance. Only the Corvette is cheaper at like £110 !
So yesterday I collected this:
What is it?
1995 BMW M3 E36 Saloon which 426 units were produced in RHD Saloon.
3.0l Straight 6 single vanos, producing 286HP at 7000rpm.
115,000 miles
Getting its first £115 worth of Vpower.
Dry stored by current owner for 6-7 years, a track project that never started.
Previous owner used as a daily for 5 years
Then 6 owners previous to them, thankfully it seems to not have had a chavtastic owner hence originality.
Full service history though a lot at specialist and mainly oil changes.
The car needs good paint correction with some scratches and chips filling in. The interior needs a deep cleaning and the leather treating or replacing.
The main thing is the car is totally original, un-modified apart from the Alarm siren been remove and the exhaust not sure if that is original or not, I suspect not on a 27yr car.
The following items from driving it I have discovered need attention:
- Rear number plate bulb is out according to the onboard computer
- Remote central locking does not work, but central locking works when you turn the key, maybe something to do with the alarm been removed from under bonnet.
- Stiff / firm accelerator pedal
- Secondary air pump is noisy on a cold start, last for about 45-60s
- Maybe a very minor oil leak from engine or power steering, but not enough to drip or its a past leak, need to investigate.
- Small patch of corrosion on rear quarter, no other rust found so far.
- All the plastic black trims and handles need restoration work or painting
- Scuttle panel is faded and cracked
- Parts of rear rubber window trim missing in top corners
- Exhaust seems lose at rear, suspect no hangars in use.
- Wheels have some corrosion and not premium tyres
- Washer bottled has a minor leak, no doubt a seal.
Quite a list to crack on with plus whatever else I find, as to how it drives well it makes a whiring loud bus type noise at cold start which I suspect is the secondary air pump as it goes away after a minute, the car drives absolutely fine, it is amazing that the interior does not have one single rattle, suspension has no clunks or knocks and it rides a rough badly surface road so well, all gears and clutch are easy and it revs all the way out, power is poor low down which was a feature of the 3.0 but also a service to the vanos could help this, pulls to 7000rpm with ease, no smoke is emitted, Steering is light but tight and it seems to drive fine, very small car on the road compared to modern cars and really comfortable with an amazing view out, lots of glass and very small pillars so no view obstructions. £295 tax for the year and in 13 years time, tax free, economy so far seems to be 22-26mpg on A/B roads, it is a 5 speed been a 3.0 litre. Brakes work well and surprisingly with zero judder, so seems disc and pads are in good order. Original radio/CD player still works, all electric windows work, electric mirrors, everything still works, though the clock seems to keep losing the time whenever car is turned off, yet the battery is clearly fine.
Jobs to action immediately:
- New throttle cable and throttle pedal, not going to try and re-grease the old ones as they are a safety concern and these old cars had a habit of snapping the cables or staying wide open throttle, I believe they are like £40 each, so should be sub £100 to replace and will hopefully make the pedal less firm/sticky.
- Rear windscreen seals to prevent any water ingression.
Jobs to do soon:
- Clean entire under-side, then try and locate any potential fluid leaks and repair.
- Remove all trim, restore / paint.
- Polish and paint correct - Going to make this my first car I take a DA polisher too and learn, if I mess up then off to the body shop it goes, but I will start with the rear spoiler.
- New gas struts for boot lid.
- Strip intake system down, clean the throttle bodies, change spark plugs, air filter etc.
- Interior cleanse and replace parts of trim that cannot be restored.
Distant future jobs:
- Wheels refurbished and new matching tyres.
- Rear quarter rust and any new rust located on underside, brake lines if not previous done.
It will be an ongoing project, it is also my only car with 4 doors so will be used for taking my Ma to places and it is also probably the comfiest car.
I doubt it will lose any more, they were the unloved M3's because they looked little to no different than a regular 3 series, but over time they seem to have become now much loved M3, maybe because they have far less issues, particular the 3.0 compared to the later 3.2 and E46 generation.
However it is not an investment, it is a project car and see where I go with it and having friends who have also fully restored E36 before I know people who can do work on it I cannot complete, should the worse happen a replacement second hand engine is 5k, gearbox £500 and a differential £500-1000, so in short apart from engine popping replacement major parts are not a whole lot of money.
Insurance was crazy, CHEAP, £186 for myself, Briony and my Mother on the insurance. Only the Corvette is cheaper at like £110 !
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so I will stick with just lifting the boot for now and rear number plate bulbs were £40, LOL. New exhaust hangers £140 ! Will wait until I've inspected before buying as may not need and I've seen ones in good condition on Ebay for £35
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