E36 Sedan Stance Project

[michel3171]

Hello stancers!

This is my BMW E36 316i Sedan, built in 1996.



Quite an old car, and it shows it age in some places. I'm planning on doing alot of work on this car, not to improve its power (I'm trying to keep costs of insurance and taxes as low as possible), but to improve its looks.

I'll make a quick overview of what's wrong and what's planned.

Wrong:
- Front bumper cracked
- Plastic trims faded
- Rims are hideous
- Brakes need replacement
- BMW Badges are worn off
- Driver's seat torn
- Leather on shifter and ebrake bad condition
- Driver's floor carpet thing torn
- The grill holder has a dent

Planned:
- Buy M3 front bumper
- Paint in matching color
- Restore plastic trim (black, carbonfiber?)
- Replace rims (since its winter, im going to stick with 15inch BBS Replica's, with big winter tires, im buying a new pair in spring/summer)
- Replace brakes (on their way)
- Replace all badges with new ones (black&white carbonfiber?)
- New seat(s)
- Buy new shifter and ebrake leather cover
- Remove carpets? New carpets?
- LOWERRR
- Roof and front pillars black/grey? (they are white/yellow now, and everything else inside is black/grey)
- New exhaust, or just a new muffler
- Angel Eye Headlights (smoked) // DONE
- Clear blinkers (smoked) // DONE
- Black grill


Well, thats all I could think off for now. I'm not going to be making alot of progress quickly, mainly because I'm still a student, and short on money. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to make my car go superfast (I'm still a rookie driver anyway), but I want it to look nice.

Thanks, and if you have any suggestions, please tell me!

[SanderZ]

Suggestie, kleiner lettertype gebruiken

[michel3171]

Suggestie, kleiner lettertype gebruiken

Gedaan!

[michel3171]

Update #1

A couple of days ago I ordered some goodies, and they finally arrived. A fresh set of headlights and blinkers. Angel Eyes!

Let me illustrate with some photos.


These are the old, ugly and foggy, headlights.


This is my little brother, who decided he would mount my new candy while I photographed him.


The end result!

Looks quite good! Sadly, the driver's side cornerlight had a broken pin, so I'll be getting a replacement in the next week or so. Also, excuse the big tree supporting the hood, I need to replace the struts.

BUT, I'm very pleased with the outcome. Love the Angel Eye look. Thats one thing I can cross off from my list.

I also tried on some rims I had lying around, but they're from a 7 (or 5) series, so they're alot bigger.


Left: old ones, Right: new ones




I love the way these stick out, but I'm not sure if its good for the car. I still have alot to learn, so this is one of those things. Is it bad for my suspension to have the rims stick out like this?

Well, now lets wait for some more parts to come in, will be continued soon...

[michel3171]

Update #2

Quick update, nothing major.

I replaced my Pads + Rotors, they needed a change pretty bad.



Ofcourse someone helped me, while I took pictures




I also attended a carshow, in Essen (located in Germany).
Saw ALOT of cool cars there, but because of the big crowds didn't manage to snap many nice pictures.








And a random photo I took a while back;



Now all this was not that special, so why did I post ''Update #2''?

WELL....

Look at this image:



Yeah thats right, coilovers! They're gonna (hopefully) look sick on my car.

Since the average temperature right now is 0' C, I'm gonna wait for it to rise a bit. Don't wanna freeze my hands off.

Well thats it, stay tuned!

[Steven_318ti]

Great update man, making nice progress, also some of those pics are stunning, be careful not to drop the car too low when the coilovers are fitted, those tyres are pretty fat, could buckle your arches!

[michel3171]

Thanks alot man! And don't worry, dropping it too low is not an option for me lol. To enter my street I need to go over some bumps, and there's bumps everywhere on the road here lol (Dutch roads ftw).

Still deciding on using these rims, or different/new ones. But that's for after the winter

[michel3171]

Big Update! [Tons 'o photos]

Hello guys! After a long time of not updating, I've finally got some stuff to make an update about :')

As always, lots 'o photos!

So in these cold winter months, we had a ton of snow. To my RWD Delight, and I decided to use this opportunity to practice on my #driftking skills. Me and a couple of friends threw together a quick meet, to discuss the best place for drifting. Also snapped some photos while I was there.


My buddy's E36 Compact


#JDM


Experimented with Long shutter speeds and a flashlight










While we had a lot of fun, and my drifting is not terrible, even if I may say so myself...

I did manage to hit a curb. Wasn't even drifting, just a stupid curb I didnt see. Check out the damage:


I like my camber NEGATIVE not POSITIVE


The reason for my reversed camber:


Rear (swingarm?), looks nice huh

Oh well, thanks to some buddies we managed to put the new arm in. Now im ///stanced again


When you're broke, but still want cool car parts. DIY SnowSpoiler


IceCold


I also replaced my (broken, faded and ugly) logo's. Here are the new ones, installed by my lovely girlfriend:






And the latest news:

NEW RIMS!



After a quick wash and superfast polish, they look like this:



Looks acceptable to me!

I found a cheap pair of M3 Contour rims, wich have no significant damage. Just some curb-rash. My plan is to polish the edges, and coat/paint the heart silver, or white. Thoughts and idea's?

Thanks for reading, and feel free to give opinions on the car!

[VdubMKII]

Hey de 5 serie van Henrico
Nice upgrades

[michel3171]

Finally, an update

Well, I've not written anything on here for a pretty long time. Wich means now that I now have some stuff to tell you.


I threw away my Contours, wich were fake btw, and replaced them with one of my favorite rims of all time! Stepped BORBET A's!

To accomodate the huge 17x10 ET20 rims in the rear, I rolled the rear fenders a tiny bit. Only to make the annoying tyre-rubbing stop. No cracks, everything went pretty smooth!

I've also managed to install the coilovers all around, and adjusted the camber in the rear to the MAX

Replaced a piece of center console trim, removed the inside cloth piece on the hood, and installed a (temporary) fake M3 bumper, untill I find a OEM one. I have one lying around in the right color, just need to find the time to put it on.

A rust patch started to appear on my passengers door, wich was growing as time went by. I did my best to fix it, and being my first paintjob the paint itself was darn good! Only issue was that I taped the edges, making a hard edge out of paint. Will have to redo this whole thing sometime in the future. But for now, the colour is allright, and the door won't rust away. While doing this I also painted my (fake) M3 sideskirts. If it weren't for the dust in my garage (I don't have a paintbooth available), the paint would've been a 100% perfect. Heck, even with the dust particles in it, I'm not complaining!

I also had a slight bump-in with a lamppost, forcing me to replace my entire front end, including the grille-holder. It has since been replaced with one that's in the right colour, and is PRE-facelift (bigger & boxier kidneys), wich I like a bit more.


Here are some pics, the car has been lowered a bit more since these were made.

Also, if someone knows how to make your pictures smaller, instead of uploading a 3400x2400 or so picture, please tell me.

[michel3171]

Oil Service Reset & SUPER RARE SPOILER??

Hey Guys!

Quick fix in between my exams. Annoying "change your oil dummy" and "change your brake fluid dummy" lights were visible on my dash. Fixed them by hotwiring Pin 19 and 7 on the Diagnostic plugin place.




Before




During, thanks to my girlfriend - my new mechanic!




After, did the procedure a second time to remove the Clock indicator (replace brake fluid)


Well, now that that's out of the way - on to some bigger news:




Been waiting on this package for quite a while, as you can see I compared the size to that of a Pineapple. Guess I'm getting artistic.




What's inside of the box?




Eager to find out? Stay tuned! Perhaps I'll reveal my secret when guesses it, or I'll reveal it in a hour or so, when I can't stand waiting anymore LOL

(PS) FOUND OUT HOW TO CHANGE THE PICTURE SIZE, WILL BE ADAPTING THIS ENTIRE POST

[michel3171]

Big Reveal [Spoiler Alert]

Hey!

Well, could'a guessed it:



It's a spoiler!



It's an OEM BMW 318IS MOTORSPORT Class 2 rear wing!



It fits perfectly! It has its chips here and there, also broken corner piece, but that's due to stupid shipping... Pff.


Nothing I won't be able to fix up!

Sadly, the dealers around here don't sell any mounting hardware, so I'll have to McGuyver something myself. No worries!

Next week I'm attending a Dutch BMW E36 Meeting, so I'll be sure to drop some pictures here!



So happy with this spoiler, now my 1.6 4cylinder will finally have enough downforce to keep its massive 1000+bhp planted firmly on the ground.....

Stay tuned!

[LAWLence]

coming along nicely!

[mackiiN]

What tyre size are you running in the rear?

[michel3171]

What tyre size are you running in the rear?

On the 10J rim, im running a 235/40/17 tyre. Its a bit stretched (made for a 8.5 rim) but works nicely. I know that 215/40 also works!