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Its getting colder here in Wisconsin and I did some fall cleaning this year. I sold my 87 TII RX7 and my 92 S10 and found myself with some cash and a need to buy another car. I have an 03 GTI 20ae for a daily and so I looked around for some snow tires and realized that I didn't want to run a FWD Volkswagen in the snow.
So I ran through a couple ideas before settling on the idea of another E36. I had a lot of fun with my last one and met a ton of cool people along the way.
I started searching craigslist and found a ton of junk... Lots of people thinking their rusty BMWs were gold. I had a few things that I was specifically looking for. I wanted a white one. I have always loved white cars better. It had to be a manual. (who would want to play in the snow in an auto?) and it had to be either black or grey interior. It had to be a 6 cyl. The sound, the power, the aftermarket... It was just a given.
Well naturally after spending way to much time trying to meet all my requirements I realized that it wasn't going to happen. I started to decide what I could and couldn't live without...
Just when I was about to give up on the idea, I found one.....
Hardly any info, rough pictures, but it was in my price range and only about an hour away. I called him about 2 hours after it was posted and set up a meeting for that weekend.
I grabbed some money and ran up to see him, or them. It ended up being a guy selling the car for another guy that didn't speak great English.... After jump starting it, filling a flat tire, and limping it to a gas station on fumes.... I was not impressed..
It had tan interior
, some cancer , in desperate need of a clean, and..... automatic
but it was white and ran and drove great!
We haggled for a bit, we exchanged some paper work and I made my way to the nearest parts store for a battery because that one was beyond saving.
I drove it for about a week while waiting for parts to start showing up... Coils were ordered before I even got the car all the way home lol along with strut reinforcements and fluids.
I installed the coils and found that the stock balloon tires were not going to clear so picked up an extra set of wheels quick so I could keep driving it.
Rocked that setup for a couple weeks while I tended to some of the little issues that come with a new car (light bulbs, leaks) I started thinking about what I wanted to do for wheels and decided I wanted to stay with an OEM wheel.... After a few days of forum hunting and Google searches I started looking for Style32s
I found a set in rough shape about 3 hours away. Coincidently in the same town as a set of black sport leather seats. OUT OF MY OLD CAR! lol So I gassed up the car and ran to pick everything up.
I got home and immediately picked up a set up used tires to test fit and figure out what sizes I wanted to go with
You can see the big dumb grin on my face to have the wheels I wanted finally on my car. What you cant see is that the rear tires are both about to blow their beads when I set the back of the car on the ground
But with that all out of the way and a different set of rear tires on, I give you a really shitty cell picture in a walmart parking lot on the test drive after installing the wheels lol
Which brings us pretty much up to current day, still don't have all the parts I need for the trans swap but hopefully I can change that this weekend.
So I ran through a couple ideas before settling on the idea of another E36. I had a lot of fun with my last one and met a ton of cool people along the way.
I started searching craigslist and found a ton of junk... Lots of people thinking their rusty BMWs were gold. I had a few things that I was specifically looking for. I wanted a white one. I have always loved white cars better. It had to be a manual. (who would want to play in the snow in an auto?) and it had to be either black or grey interior. It had to be a 6 cyl. The sound, the power, the aftermarket... It was just a given.
Well naturally after spending way to much time trying to meet all my requirements I realized that it wasn't going to happen. I started to decide what I could and couldn't live without...
Just when I was about to give up on the idea, I found one.....
Hardly any info, rough pictures, but it was in my price range and only about an hour away. I called him about 2 hours after it was posted and set up a meeting for that weekend.
I grabbed some money and ran up to see him, or them. It ended up being a guy selling the car for another guy that didn't speak great English.... After jump starting it, filling a flat tire, and limping it to a gas station on fumes.... I was not impressed..
It had tan interior
, some cancer , in desperate need of a clean, and..... automatic but it was white and ran and drove great!
We haggled for a bit, we exchanged some paper work and I made my way to the nearest parts store for a battery because that one was beyond saving.
I drove it for about a week while waiting for parts to start showing up... Coils were ordered before I even got the car all the way home lol along with strut reinforcements and fluids.
I installed the coils and found that the stock balloon tires were not going to clear so picked up an extra set of wheels quick so I could keep driving it.
Rocked that setup for a couple weeks while I tended to some of the little issues that come with a new car (light bulbs, leaks) I started thinking about what I wanted to do for wheels and decided I wanted to stay with an OEM wheel.... After a few days of forum hunting and Google searches I started looking for Style32s
I found a set in rough shape about 3 hours away. Coincidently in the same town as a set of black sport leather seats. OUT OF MY OLD CAR! lol So I gassed up the car and ran to pick everything up.
I got home and immediately picked up a set up used tires to test fit and figure out what sizes I wanted to go with
You can see the big dumb grin on my face to have the wheels I wanted finally on my car. What you cant see is that the rear tires are both about to blow their beads when I set the back of the car on the ground
But with that all out of the way and a different set of rear tires on, I give you a really shitty cell picture in a walmart parking lot on the test drive after installing the wheels lol
Which brings us pretty much up to current day, still don't have all the parts I need for the trans swap but hopefully I can change that this weekend.
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