PROJECT CAR: BMW M3 E36 SALOON - Path to bankruptcy or endless smiles?

[Gibbo]

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 !

 

[Gibbo]

I remember the first time I got taken out in one of these, came from my A4 company car into a customers car and it felt like a rocket ship.

Good car to work on but I’d focus on making it a mint standard car running like a kitten over anything none standard.

That is the plan, restore it, not mod it.

First £250 spent at BMW just, all parts still in production which is good news.
- Throttle cable - £35
- Throttle pedal - £20
- Rear screen rubber seal, complete kit. - £60
- Diff fluid (gonna change diff fluid and fix the leak) - £35
- Front scuttle panel (both parts) - £50
- Air filter - £25
- Side skirt clips as a couple are broken and I need to remove for further rust inspection - £25



Gonna buy plugs online as BMW wanted like £100 for Bosch ones, will see how NGK prices are, rear boot gas struts were £130 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

BMW prices for some items really cheap and fair, other items, HAHA.

Will keep me busy this weekend, will order plugs online if not much cheaper or will call back and add to the order.

 

[Gibbo]

Be a nice car that for day to day duties if you are not hung up on tech.

I am not a big tech user in cars, guess it is because my cars don't have much tech in them and even the ones that have a Satnav built in I still plonk a phone in windscreen and use WAZE.

It has comfy seats, electric windows, sunroof a radio what more could I need.

Ordered the plugs from BMW seems the S50B30 can get funny over traditional plugs and the 4 point electrode plug is what should really be used, so will stick with what is recommended.

 

[Gibbo]

Looks nice. What's the paintwork like, from the picture it looks pretty good but can't really tell. Had a friend who had one of these as well and always liked them

Average, few stone chips, light scratches, lots of swirling and a little corrosion on rear panel, machine polish will sort the swirls and maybe some finer scratches, touch up pen on the rest for now, it is by no means a show car.

 

[Gibbo]

Autodoc might have some parts that are reasonably priced. I'm sure they're oem spec/or oem with badges not on.

Looks great Gibbo, good buy/investment.

Thank you.
Some parts BMW prices seem decent, others not so, the gas struts BMW wanted £130 for, just got some British made to fit items for £39 .

Sounds like a fun project, I do love the look of the E36 and this must be about as good as they got.

Have you considered filming/recording the restoration and putting on YouTube or similar? I'm sure you're busy but that kind of content is pretty popular I think.

I'd love to do this, but I've never been that keen on the whole fuss and stress, I just like to get on with stuff, I will try to take plenty of pictures though and maybe the odd video.

My favourite M3, always loved the subtle aspect of the 4 door e36.

And agree, videoing it for your channel is a good idea.

Great project! I’ll follow this with interest.

I can well imagine it will fill your empty weekends, I mean, it’s not like you already have a fleet to clean and fettle or anything…

Yeah it will keep me busy for sure.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

So I am sure the manual will answer all these questions (I will read it at somepoint).

The door card suggest 235 tyres all round, yet the rear is 235 but front is 225 and 36psi all round, I've set the pressure. I assume the door card at 235 section all round is correct and maybe someone has confused the Saloon and Coupe tyres as I think the Coupe ran staggered sizes?

Second been looking in the engine bay and discovered what seems to be AC with no belt running to it, but at the same time I can't see any hard lines under the bonnet or anything in the cabin which suggest an AC button, rang BMW and they also said it looks like the car has the AC compressor but did not have climate control and so were unsure themselves.

A picture of the what I think is AC:





It is obvious it has not turned in a very long time, will have a closer look later to see if I can see any pipes running from it, but this would be AC I assume?

Were BMW fitting some of the hardware even if option was not ticked back in the day maybe?

 

[Gibbo]

I'd be very surprised if back in 1994 BMW were fitting air conditioning compressors to cars not optioned with air conditioning - it was a rare and expensive option. I'd imagine this car was fitted with it from the factory and at some point it has failed and the owner decided not to repair it.

On a related note, how do you keep up with this many cars? Surely it gets to the point where remembering which one needs a service/MOT on which date etc begins to be a job in itself, let alone finding the time to use each of the cars?

Sometimes. But to make it somewhat easier.

Corvette, M3, Aston I tend to service myself, though the Aston clutch has failed which has cost a whopping £3600 to replace at a specialist.
Lotus Exige - Free servicing until 2025
Ferrari - Annual and no longer free, boo hoo
Yaris - Annual and about £150 a go.
Spyder - every two years
GT3 - every two years and due in August, cost of £1750

So its not too bad as three I do myself, the rest the manufacturers remind you when they are due essentially and none servicing work I will always attempt to do myself like on the Ferrari I fixed the AC issue myself and changed all the brakes myself, likewise the GT3 I will change exhaust myself and the Spyder I will do all the work myself, potentially the servicing too.

Really just Lotus, Yaris and GT3 I leave to dealerships due to warranty, happy to do what I can myself to the rest.

 

[Gibbo]

In the wet the budget tyres certainly show their weakness even gentle throttle input and the backend breaks away, feels amazingly well balanced though.

So regarding tyres the stamp in the door and manual suggest 235/40/17 all round.

It is currently running:
225/45/17 fronts
235/45/17 rears

So very wrong.
But online websites suggest based on the w allows fitted it should run:
225/45/17 fronts
245/40/17 rears

So I guess If the wheels are staggered I can do the above and stick with stock square setup.

So the factory 235/40/17 size their is hardly any tyre availability must be a very rare size and is probably why the car is fitted with wrong size.

So I guess my best bet is to go with 225/45 and 245/40 in 17” which the new PS5 is available in both sizes.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo, you sure motors not been changed and replacement had Aircon pump they just left on it?

Did cross my mind would have to find out where a VIN stamp might or could be on the engine to see if it matches the chassis.

There is definetely no air con controls in the car.

 

[Gibbo]

Secondary air pump, just use cable ties to keep the lid on tighter, think that's what I did, long time ago now.

What is this in response too sorry?

 

[Gibbo]

Did cross my mind would have to find out where a VIN stamp might or could be on the engine to see if it matches the chassis.

There is definetely no air con controls in the car.

Your first post.
- Secondary air pump is noisy on a cold start, last for about 45-60s.

Next cold start put your hand down on it nd see if it goes quiet.

Well this pulley at the bottom of my engine with no belt which I think is AC could actually be the secondary air pump and if so it is obviously no longer running.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

So the M3 continues to drive just fine, done about 100 miles since collecting it, the item with no belt at bottom of engine is a Secondary Air Pump, which is no longer running (no belt), they were known for failing and most owners either removed them or just took the belt off. I shall look to properly remove it and blank of the manifold with a plate.

I reached out to a previous owner who had the car around 2010 who has replied to me:

"
No problem Andrew glad to hear of your new aquisition. I went on to a e39 m5 totally different car but still miss the v6 such great fun. In my time I had the arches cut out and replaced with fresh metal resprayed in that area and blended in and I did regular oil changes coolant changes using the correct oil. I converted the car back to standard oem suspension springs and dampers from a low milegage m3. The car was never fitted in my time with air con and I didnt spot that it had a compressor so good luck with that I cant help there I am afraid. There was no major engine work or anything as it ran fine for me.

Hope that helps and good luck.
Alan"

So some really good news that, especially considering he did so much work on the car himself with restoring it with new dampers and springs, sorting all the arch rust out and keep on top of servicing. He then sold the car in 2016 to the guy I purchased it off who basically dry stored it for 6-7 years and then sold to me.

Also the whole car seems to getting faster and smoother, on a couple of occaisons I have put my foot down black smoke has come out, no doubt from been sat and not used, it has stopped smoking now on heavy acceleration.

Plan to do quite a bit of work soon all been well, new plugs, new filters, won't change the oil as it is very clean and was done less than 1000 miles ago with Fuchs synthetic 5W-40, but will do the other stuff along with cleaning the underside.

If my car has the staggered wheel size I think I shall change over to 225/45 front and 245/40 rear for the tyres in 17"

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

OK so car went to local garage today for a full check over and a list making of all the stuff required, I was expecting quite a long list but the garage has essentially come back saying the car actually needs nothing urgent and just a list of recommendations to do as and when I wish, which are:

- RTAB bushes, adviced solid/poly
- All the jacking points have been repaired and to a good standard apart from one, which needs some minor welding and the jacking point, other than that no rust or rot found
- Front brake flexi hoses would be an advisory on MOT, so action within next 12-24 months
- New exhaust mount required
- Front lower plastic undertray missing
- Rear diff had or maybe still has a very minor leak, suspected to be rear casing seal gasket
- Gear shifter bit sloppy, shifter repair kit adviced but not required.


That was it they said to find an E36 that is standard, supposedly the exhaust is completely factory exhaust too and just the outer skin is rotten on the back box with one of the hangers broken in such clean and honest condition was a great find, especially at the price. So focus on servicing it and essentially fully restoring the interior and getting the exterior looking as good as possible.

Wheels booked for refurb end of next week with Andy from Powder Coating Shropshire.


Also found a Youtube channel which has also just obtained an E36 M3 Coupe which is been restored for anyone interested:

 

[Gibbo]

good news then,
having also watched the video I hadn't appreciated you could take wheel liners out to see the inside of sills and jacking points ..
did they quote you for the jacking point ?

Well will get them to do that along with RTABs they said be about two hours work so £100

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

The car is not an investment but at 11k this was cheapest car on the market and a gamble as it could have been hiding a lot of gremlins. Good condition examples are 15-35k depending on miles.

Anyway tonight I have found a gremlin.

I thought the wheels look odd on one side and then I spotted it the rear on one side has a 7.5” front wheel on the rear. Whereas the other side has the correct 8.5” deeper dish rear wheel.

So I opened the boot and there is the deeper dish 8.5” wide wheel, only catch is that it’s not a genuine wheel.

The other three wheels on the car are genuine or seem so but all the wheels will be removed tomorrow to verify. In the meantime I’ve found an original 8.5” rear on eBay and ordered it so hope the current other three are originals.

Also ordered new centre caps and badges for wheels.

Car booked in next Friday for refurb and fitting of new PS5 tyres.

Also spotted side repeaters were on the wrong sides so swapped those around and my passenger side plastic trim is not the correct M trim so need to source that plastic piece.

Bound to find inconsistencies and gremlins on a 27yr old BMW that has had 8 previous owners at least so far nothing to serious.

 

[Gibbo]

Sounds like it’s in pretty remarkable shape given it’s years and 8 owners, sure a few niggles here and there but nothing that would stop you using and enjoying it pretty much as it stands which is a nice bonus.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had needed much more serious attention than what your garage has flagged up, looks like you really dropped on a good one so far.

Looks that way, all the wheels fitted to the car are original. So the best one will go in the boot as the spare, the remaining originals and the one purchased from Ebay will be refurbed in silver and fitted with new PS5 tyres next week, going staggered considering I am running staggered wheels.

Tyre Details:	2 x Michelin Pilot Sport 5 225/45 R17 Y (94), Reinforced, Asymmetrical 2 x Michelin Pilot Sport 5 245/40 R17 Y (95), Reinforced, Asymmetrical
Price:	£462.70

Inspected the arches and dampers/springs with wheels off, springs look new but previous owner did say they came from a low mileage car and were fitted to my car at 90,000 miles, dampers dry no leaks and arches have no signs of rust or corrosion.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

So did some refreshing of the engine bay, a very quick clean down but the results are impressive, autoglym degreaser and rubber care, spray, scrub, rinse, very easy and good results:


Dirty engine with old scuttle panel and engine prep photos, just cover any potential sensitive items like alternator, air intake with plastic bags:


























Fitted new scuttle panel, also put a new air filter in as well, the old one did not look too bad either

















Happy with those results, engine runs fine so water stayed away from anything important.
I've also fastened down the front cowl and re-aligned the wipers since taking the photos.

Also absolutely no rust or corrosion under the scuttle panel and windscreen area, so winner.

The underside will get similar treatment next week.

 

[Gibbo]

What is that empty bracket (with rusty bolts) for behind the Passenger side headlamp?

Surely everyone knows that one?

Aftermarket alarm sounder ?

Yep alarm / siren.

Manage to fit the throttle cable and new pedal this morning and adjust it. Quite an easy job as don’t need crazy tiny hands on this model.

Pedal is much smoother and adjusted so no dead zone at top of pedal so makes small inputs smoother and easier to drive.

 

[Gibbo]

is the heat shield on left of engine and air box a regular fit , no mildew in washer bottle or condensation in lights - good sign.
Didn't re-use the pedal then - I had full carpet out once, finally ended up cutting at the bulkhead though.

gumifledge on the door seals ? - they're like sponges in freezing weather, or, give squeeks; noise from degradation of rubber at rear shock mount tops took me ages to diagnose.

Looks factory and smart to keep heat away from intake.

Yeah headlights are good but one is missing the dust cap so one on order. Pedals are only £20 so just made sense to get new.

I’m gonna do all the rubber seals with my he shinetsu grease I had from S2000, fantastic stuff.

 

[Gibbo]

The simplicity of changing that air filter is a thing of beauty. Why manufacturers now feel the need to make it necessary to remove half the engine bay to get to regular service components is beyond me!

Yep no tools required, very easy.