Not an M; Won't look like an M

[Motoman325]

Thats not bad, you haven't broke any rachets, bolts, and/or sockets.

i seen one pic of an audi timing chain and swore i would never buy an audi

[TeckniX]

So I pried it the rest of the way open and then took an extra long shower and pondered why bad things always happen to me.

When that happens, call any of your vw/audi friends and go help them work on their car. You'll then feel blessed how easy of access/simple some of the bmw stuff was engineered.

[TheTynosaur]

So I went out to replace my headlight switch with one I got for free that was in nicer shape and brake light switch. the headlight switch was super easy and took me like ten minutes.





Then I spent half an hour in different uncomfortable positions on the floor trying to get the brake light switch out. And when I took off the lower dash, I found out that the PO had broken it trying to get it out before so it was plastic welded together and he did a really shitty job and about a third of it broke off. You can't see it now that it's back on the car but I still **** that it happened.

Then I was sweaty from this awful savannah heat, just finished a bottle of water, tried to open a red bull and it barely cracked open and then the tab broke off. So I pried it the rest of the way open and then took an extra long shower and pondered why bad things always happen to me.

[SnazzyQ]

there you go...

It sounds amazing from what I can hear.

[TheTynosaur]

What exhaust do you have on the black one?

It was a custom one put on by the PO. It doesn't have a resonator and I don't know what brand the muffler is.

I've tried to record it going up the ramp at the dorm parking garage, but it turns out it's hard to get a sound clip of it with an iphone.

I do have a gopro clip from when we got to sowo where you can kinda hear it but I'm not running it very hard. Sorry for the other noise, the video I'm making is only going to have music over it so we didn't worry about the music in the car or talking through it.

I can't figure out how to embed the video, so here's the link

https://www.youtube.com/embed/HfeiX-tN76c

[Motoman325]

sad to see the black one go but i woulda went with the vert too

What exhaust do you have on the black one?

[Jay P]

Man your red E36 looks sooooo good! FLip hard tops rock!

[BrokeBallin18]

so sick dude! i love your vert. Id take a vert w/a hardtop anyday. and yours is beautiful in alot of way and ive never seen that color before on a 3 series. Either or your neighbor sounds tight.

[TheTynosaur]

I came home for SoWo weekend so I finally got a decent picture of the new e36



And I really didn't like the shift knob that was in it so I swapped it with the stock knob from the black one



Then I painted the top half black and put it in the black car. It turned out decent but not perfect. It does feel really good now though because I used metal enamel instead of just regular paint.







That was before I cleaned the whole black car for SoWo.

So on Friday we took my friend's car to SoWo so I could film from the passenger seat because I'm doing a SoWo video for one of my classes. But we only got halfway there.







So on Saturday I ended up having to drive to SoWo instead.

Then I also got to see and start up my neighbor's M3 track car. It sounds amazing and he drove it through our neighborhood yesterday and I could feel it through the floor in my house because it's so loud

[MommysLittleMonster]

Ironic that you don't want your black E36 to look like an M3, and then buy a ragtop that does.

Both cars look exceptionally nice. Great score!

[hinrichs]

Both e36 look good, nice snag on the vert looks clean

[TheTynosaur]

I went home for a weekend and my friend got an e46 and we took some super gay pictures.







Then I put the flat diffuser on because I needed the diffuser for something else...





And then I decided one e36 wasn't enough. I knew the guy that owned this car and knew how great of shape it was in, so while I was home for the weekend, my dad and I went to pick this up. It even came with a trunk full of extra parts. It's a 1997 328i vert.









Then I put my diffuser on it.



Bonus pic. My dad doesn't find this nearly as funny as I do. None of us were looking for red cars, but we all ended up with one.



So now I have to sell both the Jetta and the black 328 soon.

[TheTynosaur]

When I was down at school the last couple months, the jetta started ticking and squealing, so after getting it back home, my dad and I considered whether it would be better for me to try to drive the BMW all the way down to school and leave the Jetta in the garage until summer. And that's what we decided to do. So the Jetta is parked at home with a squealing timing belt tensioner and bad lifters, and I had a week to get the BMW ready to drive down to Savannah.

It started the first day with getting the hood release cable put in by a shop because we didn't want to do that ourselves. then I replaced the broken fog lights because the headlights suck so more light couldn't hurt. Then I realized one of the connections is missing on the car. One fog light is better than none I suppose.





The next day I started on a medication that had some strange effects the first couple of days, and I was oddly motivated, so I spent the entire day cleaning every inch of the car and replacing the interior trim pieces and the whole armrest assembly.











Then I went over to a friend's house and rolled the rear fenders with the help of his dad. The kid that owned the car before me fixed a rust spot on the quarter panel and when we rolled that fender, a piece of mesh covered in body filler broke off. He was certainly a master at body work





And then I made the 300 mile drive all the way across the state to Savannah. Without a radio because we didn't have the code. Then the next day my dad texted me to tell me he found the paper with the code on it.



The exhaust is wonderful and absolutely obnoxious at the same time, but mostly obnoxious in town. It makes a glorious sound going up the ramp in the parking garage at one of my classes, maybe I'll get a sound clip one of these days

I have an M3 exhaust to put on it maybe this summer. I have a VW guy that will fix the Jetta when I'm gone now and I'll bring the Jetta back down to school after I go home for Sowo weekend.

But I'm still undecided on whether I'll be keeping either of these cars through the summer, I've been lusting after something else

[TheTynosaur]

Well, due to some problems and some resentment between my dad and me resulting in us not talking just a few days before I leave for college, this build is coming to an end. I may post some updates as we put it together to get it ready for sale, but nothing big will be happening with it anymore

a bit of an update, me going off to college turned out to be the best thing for him and me. We certainly get along better now than ever before, so we are keeping the car and he has picked up a bunch of new parts since I've been gone and hes waiting for me to help put them on.

This car is definitely a lemon though. we still haven't fixed the rust spot, and on top of all the parts that went bad early on, the abs and traction control light came on one day when he started the car and haven't turned off. My personal opinion is that just rip all that stuff out but he isn't as fond of that idea. It sucks not being able to drive the car for ten weeks at a time, but it would never make it the 300 mile drive. Even the jetta had problems with it that have since been addressed. also I get like 20mpg in the jetta here because its all stop and go and never goes faster than 40mph, so the bmw would be really obnoxiously loud and probably get me like 16mpg and be running premium gas. it's just not practical.

[Thate34Guy]

sorry to hear about it man, that thing looked mean!