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As soon as i saw my old one drive off, I instantly regretted selling it. Bought an A4 Avant but that didn't satisfy my needs, so bought another E36! That little child in me is happy again! :lol:
This is how my old one finished up...
And so onto my new one. This is how i got it
Horrific headlights! :lol:
Remus back box all wonky
And here's all the bits i've collected for it. Got an M3 bumper, new grill surround and black kidney's, smoked side reps and corner lamps, standard headlights with angel eye's (courtesy of Mexican) a set of coilies and a set of 9j Z3M wheels (again courtesy of Mexican)
The first task was to set about lowering it and getting those horrendous headlights out!
Started on the rear which involved removing the carpet and sound deadening right back to gain access to the Rear shocks
Got the shocks and built up the new ones.
Put the new shorter springs in. Rear end complete
Would've been rude not to trial a wheel
That's gonna need some camber and some hefty arch rolling/flaring. Need to borrow some space in mates workshop and his buzz gun to loosen some bolts to achieve the rear camber.
Set about the front. Simple job really as i had adjustable top mounts, so built them up and took out the old suspension to compare
Action shot :lol:
Trialed a wheel again, and guess what!? Its gonna need hefty arch rolling/flaring and camber too!
Dropped it off the axle stands and stood back to admire how undriveable it is! :lol:
After a nice cold glass of Coke it was onto those headlights. Ripped off the bumper and got the headlights out. Couple of bolts still to remove for the grill to come off. This is how it stood till i could get to work on it again the following day.
The following day came i managed to get the front back on with the new parts
Threw the wheels on once the Audi sold and rolled it out the driveway to get a look.
Quick pic. Its far from finished, but you get the idea
Got busy with a wheel re-furb after driving the car round a week or so wondering what to do with the wheels. Was just gonna paint them, then i noticed under the flaking paint that the finish was semi polished. So, i bought some paint stripper and set about them.
Some of the main tools used...
Applied to the wheel...
Paint stripper from Wickes is not as good as Nitromorse as i had to apply it a couple more times. The result of that was this finish under the wheel
Then i set about with my polishing kit, and this was the result so far. Got another 3 wheels to do then paint the centres.
Got the rear wheel finished. Just need to start the other side then paint all the centres.
Need to get rear camber dialled in as the fronts running more at the moment. Want it equal all round.
Went out to get a few more bits for my car. Got some M3 rear lights, m3 side mouldings and some new headlights as the ones that i recently put on point at the floor and won't adjust due to broken adjusters.
Collected those bits in morning from kennySRI, then when i got back i set about getting the other two wheels polished.
Bits collected
Chucked a load of paint stripper on the wheel and let it melt the old paint
While i was letting the paint melt away i set about getting the rear lights swapped over and the side mouldings swapped over. Everything is nice and easy to work on with these cars which makes it much more enjoyable!
Forgot to get pics of side mouldings! :facepalm: Got back to the wheels and wiped away the stripper/melted paint which left me with this nice finish
With it being such a good finish to start with it was easier to polish. Half way through the polishing
And finished
Decided to try swapping the black kidneys back to chrome ones.
Looked better with the chrome ones so went with them
Also removed the rear spoiler while i was at it
Jobs i had to do so it was nice for Edition Show:
New number plates
Straighten up exhaust
De-badge
Wash/clay/polish
So my list of things to do never got done due to other commitments so the car is as it was for that moment. Had enough time to get it cleaned. Also enough time for pics as there isn't really any good ones.
Had to go back to the original rear lights for the time being due to a fault with the M3 lights/wiring loom
In the end i wasn't able to make it to edition 38 Show. Needed to get some o/t in at work!
A quick pic of it lurking...
Not much change but decided to go for amber's all round after failing to get the M3 rear lights to work (rear wiring loom is different for whatever reason on mine). Also bought a US number plate blank. Cleans up the front no end, but it remains to be seen how long before i'm pulled for plate not being on the front! :lol:
Haven't painted the centres of the wheels as all its done is rain when i've had time!
So i've recently been having water temp issues. Rush hour traffic and steam pissing out everywhere. Great! Diagnosed it as thermostat stuck closed, so changed it which was a twat to do with the the viscous fan being there. BUT, the plastic thermostat housing had a couple of cracks in where its previously been over tightened, so i blathered a load of Loctite sealant on it which solved that problem, but the housing itself didn't seal so today i took it off again.
The offending housing
Took it off and cleaned up the mounting faces and re-assmbled
Re-filled the system by filling up through the top hose. This pushes water round the system and back in to the expansion tank on the rad. Helps reduce air locking as they're a git to bleed.
Action shot! everyone loves em! :lol:
So once that was sorted i set about washing the '99 E36 318 cab i bought at the same time i bought the 323. I was gonna use the Cab but i prefer the 6 pot engine so the Cab kind of got forgotten about. Bought some coilies for it, fixed the window motor (what a c**t to do!) and got it MOT'd. Its for sale so hit me with your offers around £1600!
A few pics of it and with mine
And this leads us up to present. Not much has happened! Two weeks ago i crashed my bike at Mallory Park on a trackday, broke my collar bone, broke my shoulder blade, bruised ribs lung and liver and heavily bruised top of my leg/hip. So been out of action of any form! But i was bored of watching daytime tv, and feeling a little better managed to get out and give the car a winter clean. Washed, clay barred and polished all with 1 arm! :lol:
Got round to removing the '323i' badge. Still need to get exhaust sorted and new number plates though! :unsure:
This is how my old one finished up...
And so onto my new one. This is how i got it
Horrific headlights! :lol:
Remus back box all wonky
And here's all the bits i've collected for it. Got an M3 bumper, new grill surround and black kidney's, smoked side reps and corner lamps, standard headlights with angel eye's (courtesy of Mexican) a set of coilies and a set of 9j Z3M wheels (again courtesy of Mexican)
The first task was to set about lowering it and getting those horrendous headlights out!
Started on the rear which involved removing the carpet and sound deadening right back to gain access to the Rear shocks
Got the shocks and built up the new ones.
Put the new shorter springs in. Rear end complete
Would've been rude not to trial a wheel
That's gonna need some camber and some hefty arch rolling/flaring. Need to borrow some space in mates workshop and his buzz gun to loosen some bolts to achieve the rear camber.
Set about the front. Simple job really as i had adjustable top mounts, so built them up and took out the old suspension to compare
Action shot :lol:
Trialed a wheel again, and guess what!? Its gonna need hefty arch rolling/flaring and camber too!
Dropped it off the axle stands and stood back to admire how undriveable it is! :lol:
After a nice cold glass of Coke it was onto those headlights. Ripped off the bumper and got the headlights out. Couple of bolts still to remove for the grill to come off. This is how it stood till i could get to work on it again the following day.
The following day came i managed to get the front back on with the new parts
Threw the wheels on once the Audi sold and rolled it out the driveway to get a look.
Quick pic. Its far from finished, but you get the idea
Got busy with a wheel re-furb after driving the car round a week or so wondering what to do with the wheels. Was just gonna paint them, then i noticed under the flaking paint that the finish was semi polished. So, i bought some paint stripper and set about them.
Some of the main tools used...
Applied to the wheel...
Paint stripper from Wickes is not as good as Nitromorse as i had to apply it a couple more times. The result of that was this finish under the wheel
Then i set about with my polishing kit, and this was the result so far. Got another 3 wheels to do then paint the centres.
Got the rear wheel finished. Just need to start the other side then paint all the centres.
Need to get rear camber dialled in as the fronts running more at the moment. Want it equal all round.
Went out to get a few more bits for my car. Got some M3 rear lights, m3 side mouldings and some new headlights as the ones that i recently put on point at the floor and won't adjust due to broken adjusters.
Collected those bits in morning from kennySRI, then when i got back i set about getting the other two wheels polished.
Bits collected
Chucked a load of paint stripper on the wheel and let it melt the old paint
While i was letting the paint melt away i set about getting the rear lights swapped over and the side mouldings swapped over. Everything is nice and easy to work on with these cars which makes it much more enjoyable!
Forgot to get pics of side mouldings! :facepalm: Got back to the wheels and wiped away the stripper/melted paint which left me with this nice finish
With it being such a good finish to start with it was easier to polish. Half way through the polishing
And finished
Decided to try swapping the black kidneys back to chrome ones.
Looked better with the chrome ones so went with them
Also removed the rear spoiler while i was at it
Jobs i had to do so it was nice for Edition Show:
New number plates
Straighten up exhaust
De-badge
Wash/clay/polish
So my list of things to do never got done due to other commitments so the car is as it was for that moment. Had enough time to get it cleaned. Also enough time for pics as there isn't really any good ones.
Had to go back to the original rear lights for the time being due to a fault with the M3 lights/wiring loom
In the end i wasn't able to make it to edition 38 Show. Needed to get some o/t in at work!
A quick pic of it lurking...
Not much change but decided to go for amber's all round after failing to get the M3 rear lights to work (rear wiring loom is different for whatever reason on mine). Also bought a US number plate blank. Cleans up the front no end, but it remains to be seen how long before i'm pulled for plate not being on the front! :lol:
Haven't painted the centres of the wheels as all its done is rain when i've had time!
So i've recently been having water temp issues. Rush hour traffic and steam pissing out everywhere. Great! Diagnosed it as thermostat stuck closed, so changed it which was a twat to do with the the viscous fan being there. BUT, the plastic thermostat housing had a couple of cracks in where its previously been over tightened, so i blathered a load of Loctite sealant on it which solved that problem, but the housing itself didn't seal so today i took it off again.
The offending housing
Took it off and cleaned up the mounting faces and re-assmbled
Re-filled the system by filling up through the top hose. This pushes water round the system and back in to the expansion tank on the rad. Helps reduce air locking as they're a git to bleed.
Action shot! everyone loves em! :lol:
So once that was sorted i set about washing the '99 E36 318 cab i bought at the same time i bought the 323. I was gonna use the Cab but i prefer the 6 pot engine so the Cab kind of got forgotten about. Bought some coilies for it, fixed the window motor (what a c**t to do!) and got it MOT'd. Its for sale so hit me with your offers around £1600!
A few pics of it and with mine
And this leads us up to present. Not much has happened! Two weeks ago i crashed my bike at Mallory Park on a trackday, broke my collar bone, broke my shoulder blade, bruised ribs lung and liver and heavily bruised top of my leg/hip. So been out of action of any form! But i was bored of watching daytime tv, and feeling a little better managed to get out and give the car a winter clean. Washed, clay barred and polished all with 1 arm! :lol:
Got round to removing the '323i' badge. Still need to get exhaust sorted and new number plates though! :unsure:
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