My E36 Coupe

[ignacio]

There's no crazy title to this, as this is no crazy build. But despite its basic look, I love my E36 through and through. I've spent more time with my car lately so I figured its only respectable to put together a thread. So here goes...

08/2007: Purchased the car in all its stock glory. It came with a K&N intake, UUC SSK and Brembo rotors.


I was still going through the sticker phase...


10/2007: First order of business - M3 exhaust, Bilstein Sport's and H&R Sport's.


Still in that sticker phase...


11/2007: Semi-better shots...


... and the houndstooth plaid interior. My (now)wife and I did it ourselves, first time ever doing any upholstery.


More to come!

[ignacio]

11-12/2007: Things came to a drastic halt car-wise, due to my layoff. But as a birthday present, my wife bought me a set a Apexcone headlamps (6k HID's) and a new set of fog lights. I also bought myself a front plate delete strip.


From there I went another six months unemployed. That made working on the car close to impossible. I finally found another job May of 2008 so I needed some time to get things back in order. It was also during that time that my A/C developed a MAJOR leak in various hard-to-reach places.

06/2009: A local Euro shop quoted me at $3700 for a new condensor and evaporator coil. I kicked him in the throat and my good friend and I did it ourselves.


I remember people on BF.c complaining about removing the dash... it wasn't that bad.

[ignacio]

08/2009: I proposed to my wife. She said yes. Begin wedding planning. I promised her I would save as much as I can as we were handling a fair amount of the costs... meaning don't spend money on the car.

11/2009: I disliked my H&R Sport's and someone was selling a used set of H&R's locally for $90, so guess what I did...


It's okay though b/c I sold my Sport's right after for about that price.

Almost out of my sticker phase...

[Anonymous User]

nice progress.....and i think we have the same shift knob..haha is yours a momo?

[ignacio]

11/2010: Picked these up locally for $250, hoping to have them repainted in the next couple of weeks. I still have to figure out what tires to run and how much fender work is needed. All in due time though.


BMW Style 32's: 17x8/+20, 17x9/+26

12/2010: This is how she looks right now.


I've added the painted grilles (black) and a Thule roof rack from a friend's now-parted-with E36. I also bought the old-school Thule fairing, I think its the 555, but I'm not sure how I feel about it on my car. I got it from a guy that used it on his E30. If you're interested in it then I may be willing to part with it.

Some items that went unnoticed photo-wise, but worth mentioning:

• K-Sport rear camber kit
• UUC RTAB's
• UUC RK2 knob
• Clutch fan delete replaced with electric fan
• 6k HID's in the fog lights

I still have a long way to go until I am "content", but that's just how it goes...

[ignacio]

nice progress.....and i think we have the same shift knob..haha is yours a momo?

Thanks and unfortunately it was not. It was an Ichibahn. I loathed it but waited until forever to do something about it. I have an RK2 now.

[Anonymous User]

to pull off those rims..i think you would need to do some slight pulling and fender rolling....and you might have to run some 205/40 or 215/40

[T.Reed]

Following this.

[ignacio]

to pull off those rims..i think you would need to do some slight pulling and fender rolling....and you might have to run some 205/40 or 215/40

Definitely some pulling and rolling. As far as tires go, I'm not sure how much stretch I actually want. Not going for anything extreme at the moment... like I said I still need to do more research.

[ignacio]

Following this.

Thanks man, I'll try not to bore you.

[T.Reed]

Haha. Mine is starting to bore people.

[Dr.AK]

11/2010: Picked these up locally for $250, hoping to have them repainted in the next couple of weeks. I still have to figure out what tires to run and how much fender work is needed. All in due time though.


BMW Style 32's: 17x8/+20, 17x9/+26

If you're going to be much higher than that dude from England who ran these on a blue Coupe, I am going to be disappointed.

I have a certain weakness for 32s... get them on, quickly!

As for tires, if you want bigger stretch, then run 195/40 and 205/40, for mild stretch run 205/40 and 215/40. Rolling in the rear will be needed, dependin on how low you go maybe even a slight pull. Fronts should be fine.

[ignacio]

If you're going to be much higher than that dude from England who ran these on a blue Coupe, I am going to be disappointed.

I have a certain weakness for 32s... get them on, quickly!

As for tires, if you want bigger stretch, then run 195/40 and 205/40, for mild stretch run 205/40 and 215/40. Rolling in the rear will be needed, dependin on how low you go maybe even a slight pull. Fronts should be fine.

Don't hold your breath then.

Remember, I'm not even on coilovers. Struts and springs, the ultimate static stance.

I don't really think I want to run a ridiculous amount of stretch though, in my case I think it will look somewhat goofy. Keep in mind that I am not exactly slammed to the ground. I may be tucking tire slightly, but I will more than likely be at that height for a while. Once/during getting the wheels ready, I will be hopefully transitioning to the cosmetic side of things. My car needs a respray badly, along with some dent removal and something to spruce up the front end.

[ignacio]

Alright so yesterday I test fitted the rims before having them repainted.

The front (17x8 +20):










The rear (17x9 +26):




You can see how my rear bumper needs a respray...




I know the rear fenders will need some work, but I'm going to see if I can get away without touching the front's. Now to decide what size tires...

[Zic]

looks good.
195/45 - 195/40 or 205/40 front
and 205/40 or 215/40 rear.

You can get away without touching the front, the rear needs a roll.
i would rather respray the bumper than the wheels, wheels looks to be in good shape.