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I miss build threads on forums so I'm on here to relive the glory days.
I've been on stanceworks for years always browsing for wheels and looking at the numerous builds that exist on this forum, decided it was time to make one of my own.
Back ground of my E36:
In April 1st 2017 I purchased my 1999 BMW M3 at 165k miles from New Jersey. I am the 4th owner and hoping to be its last. I bought this to replace my 2001 Honda S2000. Some of you reading this may be wondering "wtf is wrong with you why would you get rid of an S2000 for an E36?" Valid question indeed, but I had many plans for the S2000 to make it a dual purpose track and street car including a full interior with cage, bucket seats and harness, a J's Racing half front bumper, AP2 rear end, J's Racing wing, HKS Supercharger, Cadillac CTS-V Brembos and many more. After I had everything listed out, I sat back and had a reflection on whether this is worth the financial irresponsibility. By now you probably figured out that I decided it wasn't and I decided to let the car go.
So why the E36?
In 1994 (or 95?) my father took me to an auto show in Seoul, South Korea which we were living in at the time. What I remember from that day was that my dad brought me out of the house without telling me where we were going, got on the subway and next thing I know I was surrounded by a whole selection of cars I had never seen before. However, only one stuck with me from that night, and it was a silver 4 door E36 M3. I knew nothing about foreign cars, but for some reason this exact one had me captivated enough to live inside my memories for years to come. It wasn't until I came to the states in 1999 that I learned what that car was. From then on I made it my goal to own one of these.
After selling the S2000 I had looked for a few different E36s, one of which happened to be 4 door M3/4/5. However, with the amount of rust that was on the car and a wonky clutch pedal, I decided against it. One day this particular M3 popped up for sale in the armpit of America, New Jersey. Talked to the owner over the phone for a solid half hour, drove down to see it, after weeks of haggling with the seller, we struck a deal. It wasn't the silver sedan I had always wanted since I was a kid (I H A T E silver cars btw), but given the amount of maintenance the car had received and the good condition it was in, it was hard to turn it down.
So without further ado, I present to you my Estoril Blue E36 M3:
I kept the regamasters I had on my S2000 and they will eventually be going on the M3, some shots of the test fits I did.
The car stayed fairly stock for the first few months of my ownership until I was approached by my buddy Bear to see if I was interested in testing a set of coilovers for a vendor. I soon purchased a set of Open Road Tuning coilovers thereafter, 12k/10k spring rates. Big shout out to Andrew at ORT for working with me on these. Pic of the car with them installed:
Early March I got the car back on the road and decided I ***** how the car looked on the stock DS2s and decided to do something about it. I had bought a set of Forgeline RS's from a buddy of mine last year after he sold his E36. I loved the wheels and even though I planned on going 5x114 I still wanted them so I decided what the hell i'll take them.
17x9 +42 squared
I took the tires I had off the Regamasters and put them on these. The stock lug bolts were too long for the rears so I got studs for the hub so I can run the one set of wheels I have. 75mm Bimmerworld studs.
225/45 front
255/40 rear
Full shot of the car morning after
Next thing to do was get that UUC exhaust I had purchased earlier in the year on. This was a major struggle considering the car is a 19 year old BMW that's spent all of its life in the northeast, you can imagine there was a good amount of rust under the car (nothing structural thank god). BMW exhaust flanges are stupid and are a separate unit from the exhaust piping itself, unfortunately mine had rusted really badly and so I had to dremel them out.
In the meantime I picked up an authentic Bride reclinable seat from a buddy of mine for a price I couldn't refuse, but this'll be going into my Lexus I picked up 2 weeks ago instead.
Took me what should have been a maximum one hour took me 2 weeks as I had looked for different options. Part of the reason why it took so long was for shipping on some parts I was looking for, specifically these handy split flanges. Without these I'd probably be running the car without an exhaust still.
Back on the road with shiny tips
I've been on stanceworks for years always browsing for wheels and looking at the numerous builds that exist on this forum, decided it was time to make one of my own.
Back ground of my E36:
In April 1st 2017 I purchased my 1999 BMW M3 at 165k miles from New Jersey. I am the 4th owner and hoping to be its last. I bought this to replace my 2001 Honda S2000. Some of you reading this may be wondering "wtf is wrong with you why would you get rid of an S2000 for an E36?" Valid question indeed, but I had many plans for the S2000 to make it a dual purpose track and street car including a full interior with cage, bucket seats and harness, a J's Racing half front bumper, AP2 rear end, J's Racing wing, HKS Supercharger, Cadillac CTS-V Brembos and many more. After I had everything listed out, I sat back and had a reflection on whether this is worth the financial irresponsibility. By now you probably figured out that I decided it wasn't and I decided to let the car go.
So why the E36?
In 1994 (or 95?) my father took me to an auto show in Seoul, South Korea which we were living in at the time. What I remember from that day was that my dad brought me out of the house without telling me where we were going, got on the subway and next thing I know I was surrounded by a whole selection of cars I had never seen before. However, only one stuck with me from that night, and it was a silver 4 door E36 M3. I knew nothing about foreign cars, but for some reason this exact one had me captivated enough to live inside my memories for years to come. It wasn't until I came to the states in 1999 that I learned what that car was. From then on I made it my goal to own one of these.
After selling the S2000 I had looked for a few different E36s, one of which happened to be 4 door M3/4/5. However, with the amount of rust that was on the car and a wonky clutch pedal, I decided against it. One day this particular M3 popped up for sale in the armpit of America, New Jersey. Talked to the owner over the phone for a solid half hour, drove down to see it, after weeks of haggling with the seller, we struck a deal. It wasn't the silver sedan I had always wanted since I was a kid (I H A T E silver cars btw), but given the amount of maintenance the car had received and the good condition it was in, it was hard to turn it down.
So without further ado, I present to you my Estoril Blue E36 M3:
I kept the regamasters I had on my S2000 and they will eventually be going on the M3, some shots of the test fits I did.
The car stayed fairly stock for the first few months of my ownership until I was approached by my buddy Bear to see if I was interested in testing a set of coilovers for a vendor. I soon purchased a set of Open Road Tuning coilovers thereafter, 12k/10k spring rates. Big shout out to Andrew at ORT for working with me on these. Pic of the car with them installed:
Early March I got the car back on the road and decided I ***** how the car looked on the stock DS2s and decided to do something about it. I had bought a set of Forgeline RS's from a buddy of mine last year after he sold his E36. I loved the wheels and even though I planned on going 5x114 I still wanted them so I decided what the hell i'll take them.
17x9 +42 squared
I took the tires I had off the Regamasters and put them on these. The stock lug bolts were too long for the rears so I got studs for the hub so I can run the one set of wheels I have. 75mm Bimmerworld studs.
225/45 front
255/40 rear
Full shot of the car morning after
Next thing to do was get that UUC exhaust I had purchased earlier in the year on. This was a major struggle considering the car is a 19 year old BMW that's spent all of its life in the northeast, you can imagine there was a good amount of rust under the car (nothing structural thank god). BMW exhaust flanges are stupid and are a separate unit from the exhaust piping itself, unfortunately mine had rusted really badly and so I had to dremel them out.
In the meantime I picked up an authentic Bride reclinable seat from a buddy of mine for a price I couldn't refuse, but this'll be going into my Lexus I picked up 2 weeks ago instead.
Took me what should have been a maximum one hour took me 2 weeks as I had looked for different options. Part of the reason why it took so long was for shipping on some parts I was looking for, specifically these handy split flanges. Without these I'd probably be running the car without an exhaust still.
Back on the road with shiny tips
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