Charged E36 318is build

[Super4]

Well its a while since I have posted in the projects section as there have not really been any worthy mods being done.....until today as it was coilover day . Seeing as I now supply JOM coilovers I wanted to trial run a set to see what they are like as a low budget entry level coilover. Upon opening the box and pulling everything out and having a good look all over I was impressed even if the rear adjusters felt a little cheap in the hand they are not bad at all once fitted. The height adjustment tool for the coilovers it must be said is pretty poor but more so for when you have to adjust the rear suspension height as the silly pivot setup is slightly frustrating to work with.



Now enough with the moaning after all they are a €250.00 coilover kit, all in all I am very impressed with the quality of this kit for the money, once fitted and adjusted I was out for a drive to see how it all felt, at this point I would also like to mention that I fitted new KYB front suspension mounts as mine were pretty shot and I did not feel like taking out the shocks again to do the mounts. I had previously replaced the rears with Meyle HD items along with the Z3 reinforcement plates.



Before fitting could even start I had to work around the problem of getting off my BMW lock nuts without the lock nut tool as I seemed to have misplaced it , anyway after a couple of minutes pondering and eyeing it up I took my small half inch drive extension and hammered it into the lock nut then proceeded to loosen them with the breaker bar.....each lock nut took 5 mins max to get off. Happy days :thumbsup



LOCK NUT REMOVAL : Weapon of choice











JOM COILOVER KIT :







BEFORE REMOVAL :







DURING :



JOM COILOVER WITH NEW KYB MOUNT BESIDE MY EIBACH PRO DAMPER AND EIBACH SPRING :







At this point i decided to take out one of a set of the BMW wheels I accquired during the previous week and sit it into place, the wheel is 16" x 7.5 with ET19. Needless to say it sits out pretty far but hopefully I can get it to work with some Falken tires and a bit of a stretch (not that I have much to stretch with). Need to look in to tire sizes now and start organising new boots.



NEW WHEELS :











NEW KYB TOP MOUNTS :







COILOVERS FITTED FRONT SHOT :







Sorry there are not more pictures of the fitting process however I shall get up some more over the coming days. I was also changing suspension in another E36 today so time did not permit lots of picture taking. I took the car out for a spin this evening and have to say from what little I have driven it I am fairly impressed. The ride is not overly harsh by any means and the car feels much tighter. Over the coming weeks time shall tell alot once they have settled and at that stage I shall report back with more information on them. Hopefully the rear has settled by then.....not really liking the drag look



QUICK EVENING SNAPS :













Thanks for looking and opinions and comments welcome as always

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Nice work man. Its a nice E36

Amazing work...

Very cool bimmer:

Thank you guys appreciate the comments and the read through



I picked up some company stickers on Friday for the car, however the print shop got the colors wrong on the rear boot stickers and these were originally intended for the side windows one on each. Colors were meant to be Super = pink 4 = black and slogan = grey.....but the made the slogan black also. nevermind they will send out new ones next week and I can get rid of the one on the boot lid as I don't like it there at all....Oh and one in the engine bay too Some pictures of course :



ENGINE BAY STICKER :







NEW WINTER WHEELS :







REAR BUMPER STICKER :







REAR BOOTLID STICKER :







Also managed to finish off the towing strap too, yet again tough black paint comes to the rescue then whilst I was out and about I treated here to a nice washy







Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Well after sitting like this for an hour







And playing lots of this :







The leak finally showed its colors by coming in the passenger side door seal. Had I an interior in this car I never would have noticed this leak as it would have taken an obscene amount of water to come through the uber thick BMW carpets.















Now it's time to order up new seals all round including a new scuttle panel and bonnet seals.



In this weather maybe a good idea for everyone to check their door seals on their 36's.



Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Decided to start tackling the wing mirror plates today, got the passenger side done. It's not my finest work ever but I do plan on changing the mirrors so these shall be going anyway



BEFORE :











DURING :







ALL SANDED DOWN :











SPRAYED WITH HIGH BUILD PRIMER, THEN TOUGH SATIN BLACK :











BACK TOGETHER :



















Driver side one shall be done tomorrow as its the same if now worse.



Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Well when I carbon wrapped the rear boot grab handle I noticed some rust behind it once removed. So yesterday I got half an hour to remove the boot lid and put on my temp lid while I tend to rusty lid.



Weirdly I'm really liking the primered look against Avus Blau!.... Hmmmmm



DAMAGED BOOT LID :











TEMP BOOT LID FITTED :











BOOT LID ALL BACK TOGETHER :







I also managed to get my TRS tow strap fitted in that time and guess what......... It's pink.... . I have done it so that I can have it up when driving and pull it down to show off



SHOW OFF :







WHEN DRIVING :







Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Thanks Enda, it's slowed down a little and I want to focus on the inside now for a while as I'm going the stripped route with it.





I Needed to deliver some parts yesterday and was a bit of drive, so I went the scenic route (over the Gap) and took some snaps with the phone on the way back . I didn't have time to do the whole proper camera shoot but these will do for now



















Hope you like and thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Well yesterday I got cracking on finishing off some machine polishing of the car, seeing as it was such a nice day it would have been rude not to . I pulled the car into the shade under a big tree in the garden and left it for half an hour for the paint to cool somewhat.....great excuse for a nice cuppa Jo Before I got started I realised I was missing my correct backing plate for mounting the Meguiars pads onto so I had to do some forward thinking .......risky but it worked :



MEGS PADS VELCRO'd :











I had washed the car the day before so I just ran over it with a micro fibre to get any dust off (wasn't much on it) then got cracking. First step was Meguiars paint cleaner (retail range) on a dampened Meguiars pad # : WDFF7 to get rid of the heavy swirls and scratches, this did very well although some of the scratches are quite bad and by right I should have 2500 grit wet sanded the car then polished up using Meguiars wool pad # : WWHC7 and then the WDFF7. Anyways I was lazy and skipped a step , I machined a panel at a time and removed with a Meguiars micro fibre cloth and then onto the next panel. Another short cut I took and is by no means recommended was to not mask up the rubbers and plastic mouldings on the car, instead I ran the polisher over them all and they came up a treat.



SOME OF THE SCRATCHES :











Once I had gone over the car with the heavier cutting pad and paint cleaner it was then time to start again using Meguiars polish (retail range) and Meguiars pad # : W-8006, the car got one complete pass using this setup which removed what was left of the finer swirls and light scratches. Again I did panel by panel and used a fresh Meguiars micro fibre cloth to remove any remaining polish. I also ran over the headlights with this pad and polish and it really made a huge difference especially to the driver side lamp which was really bad.



MEGUIARS POLISH AND W-8006 LIGHT PAD : Pad still filthy even after the first pass











DRIVER SIDE H/L BEFORE :







AFTER :







With the machining out of the way I was onto hand waxing, for this I uased Meguiars Hi-tec wax (retail range) and a Meguiars applicator pad.



HAND WAXED USING : After picture







This was also done panel by panel and removal with a Meguiars micro fibre. In total I used 4 Meguiars micro fibres and 2 applicator pads. To top it all off I used some Autoglym Rapid Detailer spray to remove some of the messfrom machine polishing although there was very little really.



WHAT WAS USED TO DO THE CAR :







SOME DURING & AFTER SHOTS :















































I need to do the tires and dress all the trims so might just go and do that now so later this evening if I have time I can take some snaps as always opinions and thoughts welcomed,



and thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Well with the weather by 1430 today being great and not a cloud in the sky I wanted to give the car a washy big time. So I did my usual with a couple of snaps before and then got cleaning



BEFORE :















Once the car got a good wash I decided I wanted to remove some of the scratches on the boot lid as they had been there since I bought it, so out came the variable Sealey polisher and Megs polish pad followed by some Megs retail range paint cleaner.







I only did 1 quick pass on the boot lid as it wasn't in the shade and not a great time to be doing it with the heat on the paint, I also did a quick pass on the wing and was happy to see all the scratches lifting although there is more to be done. So if tomorrow is as nice then I shall be out early with the car in the shade and give it a full machine polish, wax and exterior detail.



BOOT LID BEFORE :











BOOT LID AFTER : One pass











PASSENGER SIDE WING : Never got a before!!!







I also finally put my rear parcel shelf back into the car after spraying a few weeks back, only took 2 minutes as it was as easy in as it was out(:hihi), new service stickers also arrived so I wasted no time in filling it out and putting it in the engine bay......Yes, yes, yes more pink I know



PARCEL SHELF FITTED :















SERVICE STICKER FITTED :







I didn't get shots of the car after it was washed until this evening so they probably will be too dark as I took them with the work mobile, anyway they're uploading now so shall post shortly





Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Got all the ball joints finished up today on the car and fitted the powerflex lollipops also. The tracking is WAAAAAAAY out so the car is driving like a bit of a pig this evening, just didn't have time to do it so I shall attack this tomorrow and hopefully she should feel and drive the way I think it will in y head



POWERFLEX LOLLIPOP :







BALL JOINTS GOING IN :















ARMS BACK ON THE CAR :























LEFT OVER PARTS :







ALL DONE AND BACK ON HER FEET :









Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Got some ramp time late this afternoon so got stuck into the few jobs mentioned above, started with the inner and outer tie rods which were no problem then onto remove the lower front wishbones. The passenger side one came away quite easily but the driver side took a lot of smacking and prying to get it to release. Eventually it gave allowing me to remove them and start pressing out the ball joints etc.



As I suspected my inner tie rods were well shot so really looking forward to driving this when complete and tracked. Few more bits to finish off tomorrow, and may even get the rear wheel bearings done.....but we'll see



BEFORE :











DURING :















NEW INNNER/OUTER TIE RODS :











PRESS TIME :











NEW MEYLE HD SOLID BALL JOINT : Installed







The pictures are a bit scattered as I was trying to get as much done as I could, although my mate said it was okay for the car to be on the ramp I don't want it there any longer than needs to be.





Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Hope you all had nice weekends whether is was crazy parties or quiet tinkering with the cars whilst having a nice cool beer, for me my objective this weekend was to get my airbag light sorted so as I could get back down to the NCT centre first thing Monday morning and collect my NCT pass disc



So I got stuck in, firstly I disconnected my battery seeing as I would be removing the airbag steering wheel. Once this was done it was then onto removing the 3 spoke SRS wheel itself. This is a relatively easy job to do with the centre airbag and horn section only being held in by 2 allen key bolts at the back of the 3 and 9 O'clock spokes.



Once these are undone the airbag should gently wiggle out towards you, when it's out is shall be connected by 2 wires one being the ground and the other being the charge/live wire. Unplug these and remove altogether, place the SRS piece on the ground with the horn facing the sky. This is done so that if it did go off near anyone then they would get the SRS airbag in the face and not the metal housing on the back.



Undo the steering wheel bolt think it was a 14 can't remember now , With the steering wheel removed (3 spoke non height adjustable wheels need to be removed for dash cluter removal) its then on to the dash cluster, this is only held in by 2 torx head screws and once these are removed then the cluster is ready to come out by simply pushing on the bottom edge of the cluster it releases the top edge out towards you allowing you to wiggle it free. At the back there are 3 plugs on them is a slide clip, push in the very subtle "button press" and slide the clips up then pull plug socket out. When all 3 are done the cluster is free to come out of the dash.



THE REMOVAL :







PLACE FACE UP ALWAYS : And outside the car







My plan is to remove my airbag steering wheel altogether once I have the NCT and the whole SRS system and replace it with another steering wheel, so I just needed the light out for the visual re test. So it was time to wire the SRS light upto the ABS+TCS lights at the back of the cluster so when I turned my ignition on all my lights including ABS,TCS and SRS would come on then go out together seeing as the ABS light was now the on off switch for the SRS light After running into very minor issues we got it all working, one of the issues was that even when the SRS airbag light bulb was removed the SRS logo kept lighting up............ :facepalm :facepalm..... we couldn't figure this out until we realised those intelligent and over engineering buffs at BMW had put in a tiny LED bulb above the SRS bulb so that if there was an airbag fault and the SRS bulb were to burn out then the LED would kick in and illuminate the SRS light albeit a bit dimmer.



LED BULB HIDING IN PLASTIC TUBE : Hard to see











With that problem sussed and everything properly wired up correctly and safely it was then time to test it properly to make sure worked as it should..... fingers x'd.........



PERFECT :







Off to collect the cert tomorrow fingers crossed nothing goes a miss on the way down...... gotta love cars and the challenges they give us :thumbsup





Thank you for looking :thumbsup

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

With the car failing the NCT on the bulb being blown in the centre brake light and SRS airbag light being on it was now a good time to do something with the rear parcel shelf as this has faded in the sun light as well as the third brake light as it was bloody filthy.



So after ten minutes the rear parcel shelf was out and getting hoovered, the brake light was washed, compounded and waxed and refitted with a new bulb.



The parcel shelf has already taken 1 can of AG black dye and whilst it looks better it's not as good as i'd like it to be so it shall do for now but a new rear parcel will be done the line I think. It was also a great oppurtunity to clean the back window and get right in to the corners also as this too was manky.



BRAKE LIGHT BEFORE :







BRAKE LIGHT AFTER :







FILTHY REAR WINDOW : (Hard to see)







CLEANED :







HOW THE CAR LOOKED AFTER A FEW MINUTES :







REAR PARCEL SHELF BEFORE :















AFTER :









If anyone has any other ideas about a good way to get the black back some more on the rear parcel shelf I'd be happy hear .





As always thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

When I got back this morning there was a small parcel waiting for my attention. Instantly knowing what it was I opened it up and started to snap away , I went for a Canbus-Pro 6000K set for my car and naturally a H1 fitment. The build quiality of these is excellent with the ballast tanks being very robust indeed and well upto the elements that an engine bay might see. Wiring is also of excellent quality with great tight sealing connections.



The HID bulbs themselves fitted very snug and without any issue at all (JUST NEVER TOUCH THEM), wiring them up took all of about 15-20 minutes if even then another 15 minutes sorting out the back light covers so as I could retain using them. Again this was a very simple and neat process. Even with it not dark yet I am very happy with the color they produce although in the pictures they have a greenie hue to them in real life this is not the case, instead they produce a very enchanting crisp white light with an extremely subtle blue hue around the edges. Well I shall let the pictures do the talking :



FIRST OPENING :



















6000K SET :







FITTING PROCESS : 30 minutes max for a competent diyer. If not leave it to someone hwo knows.







I JUST DID A SOFT WIRE UP TO BEGIN WITH TO MAKE SURE ALL WAS WORKING AS IT SHOULD :











WIRED AND TURNED ON : Very plug & play, driver side light lens is riddled in stone chips so looks a little hazey







WIRING UP PROPERLY & NEATLY TO PROTECT AGAINST THE ELEMENTS :











FINAL CHECK TO MAKE SURE ALL WORKING AS IT SHOULD :









As always you comments, thoughts are welcome and thank you for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Yesterday with the car being soooooo dirty I jack up the arse in the air and got washing the rear arches and underside, all much and crud was removed from inside the rear quarter lip and anywhere it shouldn't be. The car then got a nice wash in lots of lovely smelling Meguiars suds using the Megs grit guard bucket system.



BEFORE :















AFTER :







UNDERSIDE WASHED :











-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



With it being another lovely morning THIS MORNING I took advantage and went out to get stuck into fitting my front fogs which was made possible by Gus247 for very kindly sending me two used front fog light brackets he had spare. Hug thanks to you mate it's much appreciated . My fog lights are very badly stone chipped so I have just ordered new Yellow ones that shall be fitted but for now these ones shall do just fine.



While I had the bumper off I had a good look at the back of it to see could I spot the reason for the bumper not sitting flush on the drivers side, and low and behold there it was. The bumper bar is kinked where it mount to the impact absorber on the driver side. So next on the list is a new bumper bar for sure as this is bugging the crap out of me.



KINKED BUMPER BAR :







FRONT FOG LIGHTS FITTED : Finally









Thanks for looking

https://www.instagram.com/super4bmw

[Super4]

Howdy all,



Yet another bargain found yesterday and collected making me a happy bunny for now, a set of 4 msports replica's with 3 decent tires (215/45/17) and 1 is knackered. They need some work but nothing at all serious so I shall when time permits get cracking on them and see what can be done When I got back yesterday morning I gave them a quick wash then yesterday evening I fitted 2 on the drivers side to see what they would be like on. The car needs to be lowered more and I think i'd prefer a 215/50/17 tire all round just to fill the arches that bit more. They are 7.5 X 17 with et42.



WITH 4 OF THEM IN THE CAR IT HANDLED LIKE ON RAILS :







DAMAGE :











DAMAGE SECOND WHEEL :







WASHED :







OLD WHEEL :







NEW WHEEL :









Thanks for looking, hope you like

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