BMW E36 318ti Compact se Steel Blue - BBS Content!

[Steven_318ti]

List of Rare Parts I should never have sold!!!

Fantastic littile motor man, do you know much about the 1.6? I'm going to have the oppertunity to upgrade from my Polo and I doubt I'll be able to afford insurance on a nice 1.6 coupe/saloon/touring, and theres a few compacts around here which get me thinking.

I'm also very keen as to know what rare bits you regret selling from your previous cars

How's it going mate, as far as I know the later compact with the 1.6 engine was to be avoided, possibly a HG (head gasket) issue, also severe lack in power, just over 100bhp, but listen a nice one with a good service history etc should give no trouble and be nice upgrade to your Polo

As for the parts I regret parting with here we go...

I had a 2.0 Z3 Quaiffe drift LSD (medium case).
A Max Velocity front M splitter.
Genuine 323ti M sport rear diffuser (double exhaust - ordered from Germany).
A genuine Supersprint Z3 2.0 exhaust from manifold back.
Stainless 3 litre Euro M3 exhaust manifolds.
A Dave F custom cold air inlet heat shield and cone filter (so rare).
Z3 M coupe shorter gear lever.
M3 GT strut brace.
M50 manifold and BBTB.
Bilstein Coilovers.
Genuine AC Schnitzer roof spoiler.
Rare E36 325i coupe sport Nardi steering wheel.
Black leather M3 Vader headrests!

A good few years worth of gathering up alot of that stuff, sad when I see it all down in front of me! But onwards and upwards and all that!

[Steven_318ti]

Engine Bay Tidy up, replace missing trims and detailing!

Todays antics was spent cleaning wee nook's n cranny's that normally go ignored, removing window and door seals etc and cleaning out grime that he as dried in and built up over the years! First job I tackled was my door hinges!



Both sides came out really well, i will take a dremel to the surface rust on the 2 bolts then touch up after its done I mentioned in the last part I replaced a few items missing in the cabin, both the passengers and drivers side seat belt bolt covers fitted and that's the 4 now complete!



Pics a bit dark but it's the top cover! I picked up an electric window blank plate as the rear one was all scratched and looked awful! Below is the old one and new one in place. I'll replace the gator when I find one in good condition, honestly though how does someone put a hole in a gearstick gator without trying!!!



I removed both of the bonnet latches, sanded both down to the bare metal and then touched up with silver paint, very happy I did this as it tidies up an already clean engine bay



The M44 engine from factory is coated with a wax, over years of the engine heating up and cooling down this wax changes colour from clear to a horrible yellowy colour, I sanded down the block and inlet, then I touched everything up with heat proof silver, I think anyone will agree this has sharpened up the bay really well!



Then a light detailed pic of the engine bay, the 2 rusty screws on the radiator cover will be replaced with new ones ordered from BMW, be replaced later in the week.



Also a daylight shot showing my effort at darkening my light grey roof cloth, it's not black/black but more a nice dark charcoal colour and after my earlier doubts I'm now very happy with the outcome



More updates later in the week

[whacka]

Nice man can't wait to start on my E32

[Earl]

Looking great��

[Mehowski]

Thank you for the heads up! I'll stop letting the devil tempt me then and save up for a few more months so I can get the insurance I reckon.

I feel bad for asking for the list of parts haha, appologies man! but like you said, upwards and onwards

If you've done it once you can do it twice

Also really glad to see you're replacing a lot of the shoddy interior and engine bay bits, really make the car what it is!

[Steven_318ti]

Nice man can't wait to start on my E32

Looking great��

Thank you for the heads up! I'll stop letting the devil tempt me then and save up for a few more months so I can get the insurance I reckon.

I feel bad for asking for the list of parts haha, appologies man! but like you said, upwards and onwards

If you've done it once you can do it twice

Also really glad to see you're replacing a lot of the shoddy interior and engine bay bits, really make the car what it is!

Yeah dude some E32 love, can't wait to see the build!

@Earl, man it will never be to the level you've went to with your own TI, but we'll see how it goes

The small interior trims make a world of difference, first things I noticed when I got into the car for the test drive, didn't put me off as I know their easy enough to pick up.

[Benwalsh91]

good work man, but what on earth are you taking these photos with!?

i am very sorry to hear your loss of that Dave F filter. its a sad sad day for you.

[Steven_318ti]

good work man, but what on earth are you taking these photos with!?

i am very sorry to hear your loss of that Dave F filter. its a sad sad day for you.

Ben tell me about it mate, would you believe I actually had 4 of them over the years lol 3 for non M3 and 1 M3!

I'm using the camera on my tablet, there's some auto filter thing on it, they look ok on this but horrendous on my laptop and computer at work!!!

[Steven_318ti]

Few New Small Items Added, nothing major.

Picked these up this morning, love me some new stuff



This is my 4 footwell net fixings (need 1 more) and my new screws and washers to hold on my radiator cover (need 2 more).



Pic showing the old horrid looking rusty screws ops: I'm going to replace the 2 lower ones aswell.



And the new ones fitted, much better also sanded down and painted the area around the 2 bonnet release holes, I'll maybe do these black as the silver might be a bit too in your face!

This shot showing the passenger side footwell pre net fitment, apologies for the mats and carpet, I plan on giving the interior a full valet very soon.



And that's it fitted, easy lined up, just need the holes made with a fine screwdriver then these twist in, then clip them on, I require one more for the middle



And one last pic just because I like it lol



Probably be the weekend before I have a proper update, evenings are spent removing and checking and cleaning seals etc checking behind everything in case there are a few nasty surprises but so far so good, everything's solid

[C2_mad]

love what your doing.... keep it up, car is mint. please, check your settings for the camera, or get a better app, the pictures are painfull to look at...

[Steven_318ti]

love what your doing.... keep it up, car is mint. please, check your settings for the camera, or get a better app, the pictures are painfull to look at...

Thought those recent pics looked better, on my tablet they look spot on been into settings and everything seems fine, I resize them to the 800/600 limit, maybe the resize affects the quality!

[Steven_318ti]

Door cards, interior trim + camber bolts and washers 10/9/16

Headed off this morning to pick up my complete sports interior, I made a mish mash of my current seats with good parts from these new ones, switched bits over to make a great interior, although the door cards were key to completing the set!

As you can see below they are all in fantastic condition so I'm very pleased with these



I'm going to replace the mounting pins so they fit perfectly, I also have to glue on a few of the rear mounts, I've heard that if you mix caramel food colouring with the glue it keeps the finish the same as the glue BMW used from factory lol well see if I go that far

I also replaced part of my centre console, the section that holds the front ashtray and lighter in mine was all scored!!! Replaced this with a fresh one with no marks from the TI I got my new interior from



Old one on the left, replacement on the right! Much better!

I've also been considering going for more camber on my front wheels due to the et12 Pininfarina's, I looked at adjustable top mounts but came across a thread online of a guy who added shims to space the hub at the bottom, doing this using longer bolts than the ones BMW use and fitting washers to receive the desired clearance when running wide wheels on lowered suspension!



I seen a company online selling similar bolts to these for £99 along with 12 washers, umm no thanks :? Hardware store and some 10.9 grade steel 25mm bolts (OEM are 20mm) with the same thread size as my current bolts plus 12 matching washers, £8.50!!!! Let's be having you, il post up later in the week to show how well this goes...

Also let me know if these pics are any better?

[Steven_318ti]

23/09/2016 - Grip Royal Wheel & New Lows

Update 23/09/2016

I've wanted one of these wheels for ages now, I was tempted by a wooden and chrome wheel but decided to go for this perforated black leather and black centred wheel as it will tie in better with my interior, it came with the GR horn button



This is only parts I'm accumulating, I'll get my boss kit at a later date. A friend also provided me with some Loooooooooowwwwwww rear springs lol



New FK on the left, old (new) Jom's on the right. And pic below showing the new lows look the same height but the blues are alot stiffer!!!



Rear arches seriously need rolled, their resting on the tyres on both sides, don't want to go for any more stretch on the tyres as 195/45s are brand for 8j wheels, problem is these springs are very soft in comparison to the Jom springs, their almost completely compressed!!! I'm looking into get a shorter but stiffer spring, maybe raise it a few mm!



And I just love this pic, in black and white as I wanted one with the boot spoiler (still needs painted) and stance! Few things to collect from my BMW local in the morning.

[Steven_318ti]

Update 9/10/16 - M3 Headrests + interior update, plus other stuff

Long overdue update, I broke the screen on my tablet 10 days ago

About 3 weeks ago I put up an absolutely absurd request on the Facebook E36 items for sale/swap page asking if anyone had a pair of black leather M3 Vader headrests for sale lol :lol: i put the chance of this up there with finding unicorn horns, hens teeth and fairy dust! Couldn't believe it when a guy Raj came on within 5 minutes saying he had a pair that used to be in his E30 convertible, only thing is they had red stitching and velvet backs.



Didn't care I wanted them, heard of issues with them not fitting sports seats properly but il get onto that.



The rails take a bit of manoeuvering and bending to put the required pressure on the upper bolsters so they sit right, you can see from the above pic how neat the driver's rest is sitting compared to the passengers side!



This pic showing them from a better angle, passengers rest still needs adjusted!

On removing the old door cards I found out the insulation/sound deadening foam on the driver's side door was all torn up!!! 3 bits remained, cut of with a stanley knife leaving the black bond there to stick the replacement foam to.



Comparison pic showing the perfect passengers side



So into my local BMW garage to order a replacement, plus my 30 brand new door clips, 2 x radiator cover screws plus, 2 pop screws for my foot well speaker covers.



New foam in place and ready to clip the door cards into place at long last lol



Driver's side fitted



Passengers side.



And both the rear cards fitted!





Just a pic showing the radiator cover with the 4 new screws.



Another 2 items I forgot I had, my Z3 stainless steel rear top mount reinforcement plates



Also mentioned that I replaced the foot well speaker cover screws, I noticed these were missing when replacing my standard speakers for upgraded Alpine ones.



New plastic screws.



And fitted, passengers side only but you get the idea.



Big update I know, I'm taking the headrests to a guy over here in NI who does interior retrims, he's going to cover the backs of the rests in black leather from a spare set of rear leather bolsters I have plus restitching them with white thread to match the rest of the seats. More updates soon!

[Earl]

Anything new?