Simple M3

[bwwaaaa]

Day 3, still no interior photos.

I know, I know haha. Here’s a couple to hold everyone over.

So I’ll call out a few flaws first. The rear seat has some tears in the bottom. I think just sourcing a new black leather base will be the easiest fix. Unfortunately, for a sedan that seems to be a bit of a struggle. The front seats are in good shape, though the driver’s seat has the normal bolster wear. I’ve been on the fence about going to Vaders in this car, I think if I could find a clear powered set, I would go for it.

The Mtech steering wheel is an obvious highlight. Wrapped in suede, M stitching, it’s honestly one of the coolest parts of the car. I ordered some cleaner to see if I can pull out the fade from it a little, but I have no plans on changing steering wheels in that car.

Not picture is the moon roof. The panel fell at some point, so it’s just gross glue residue. I’ll probably have the whole headliner redone at some point, so I’ll address that then. Otherwise everything is just stock and nice. I don’t even want to put another radio in the car, I like having the OEM triple amber screens in there.

Bonus photo, cracked 127k last night. Picked it up just a hair over 126k, so it’s been a fun 1000 miles so far. I got a few parts in, I have a line on some other parts I want, so I’ll hopefully get to refreshing this car soon.

[Benwalsh91]

Day 3, still no interior photos.

[cblock406]

E36 sedans are the best, nice score! Some people **** on silver but it's such an easy color to live with. I had a titanium coupe back in the day and still miss it.

[bwwaaaa]

Nice pick up, will be watching for sure. Nothing wrong with another silver E36 build lol.

Thanks! Always room for another E36 build around here, keeps things interesting haha.

So gorgeous! What a clean and beautifully maintained car. Like others have said, paint's not going to hurt anything mechanically, which is nice. What a great find!

I agree! Honestly the nice part about this car being silver is it hides the clear coat failure well. From a few feet away it just looks hazy instead of peeling. So I can enjoy it without too much concern for now.

Not a sedan fan at all, but I still love to see e36s everywhere paint is the classic hot-climate-fade, I'd leave it as is!

This time you can install one of those fancy seats without worrying about trying to fit in it!
Just needs coilovers and wheels, and maybe front lca lollipops, and pics of the interior in this thread

Funny enough I don't even want to put a bucket seat in this car haha. In the Miata it was an issue to help me fit and for the track, in the M3 I'm feeling like stock is good for now. I'd love to source some clean Vaders from a coupe for an OEM+ look, but I'm in no rush.

And I'll take some pictures of the interior soon, I completely forgot about that all weekend.

[Fruttolo]

Not a sedan fan at all, but I still love to see e36s everywhere paint is the classic hot-climate-fade, I'd leave it as is!

This time you can install one of those fancy seats without worrying about trying to fit in it!
Just needs coilovers and wheels, and maybe front lca lollipops, and pics of the interior in this thread

[Kenz]

So gorgeous! What a clean and beautifully maintained car. Like others have said, paint's not going to hurt anything mechanically, which is nice. What a great find!

[hinrichs]

Nice pick up, will be watching for sure. Nothing wrong with another silver E36 build lol.

[bwwaaaa]

Great pick, congrats. I think you made the better decision, keep it on the road and do small jobs here and there. Paint is not critical to mechanical operation.

Thanks! That's kind of the idea. With my 2002, I miss driving it desperately. I'm sure that it's the right call to restore, but I **** having it down for so long. Rather than go through that with another car, I'm just going to enjoy this one mostly as is.

I am excited for this one and i would be lying if i wasn't jealous and a little bit sad when i saw you was driving it around the LA area and then back to Phoenix.

Thanks! And totally understand that, I know the feeling myself! I wanted to take your suggestion and go up the coast but it was too long a haul for this weekend unfortunately. But given the goal is to put as many miles as I can on this thing, sounds like a visit to Freedom Meat Locker is in order sooner than later haha.

[Benwalsh91]

I am excited for this one and i would be lying if i wasn't jealous and a little bit sad when i saw you was driving it around the LA area and then back to Phoenix.

[gnmzl]

Great pick, congrats. I think you made the better decision, keep it on the road and do small jobs here and there. Paint is not critical to mechanical operation.

[bwwaaaa]

Simple M3

Yeah, yeah I have commitment problems when it comes to cars. The Miata has been sold, and it was sad for a number of reasons. Loved the car, but I simply did not fit. But let’s back up a bit. Before I ever bought the Miata, and in fact before I had the 2002 I think, I have been talking about buying an E36 M3. I had a 318ti a few years back, but that wasn’t quite enough for me. I’ve always loved the E36 body style, and an M3 is just timeless.

A few problems. First, I wanted a sedan. I prefer the body lines, I like the functionality, and for whatever it is worth the chassis is stiffer. I’m not tracking the car, but it’s a nice thing to brag about in a parking lot with your friends. Second, I didn’t want to spend the prices these things are now going for. Does anyone remember a few years ago when E36 M3s were disposable? Finding a not destroyed M3 is nearly impossible, and those that are nice are far too expensive in my opinion.

I got a DM on Instagram one morning about this car. Low miles, manual sedan, decent interior, looked well kept. It just so happens that it also belonged to someone who is pretty well known in these parts. You may know him from his Trans AM build at SEMA last year. I reached out, and arranged to come take a look at the car while I was in LA for the Japanese Classic Car Show.

I wish I took more photos while at Stanceworks headquarters while buying the M3, but I was too excited about the car itself. I managed to snap the one photo after test driving the M3, just before I set off for the rest of my weekend adventure. Special thanks to Riley for making this an easy pick up.

After departing Stanceworks headquarters, I went straight to PCH for a cruise up to our hotel. Thanks to my friend @nhammon for grabbing this quick photo. Needless to say I was about as happy as I could be at that point.

Obligatory first fill up photo. The first day was pretty limited. I took it to Period Correct, took no photos in front of the store front for some reason, and then headed back to the hotel. The following day we went to the Japanese Classic Car Show, so I left the M3 at the hotel and carpooled with friends. But as we got to the evening, I was dying to drive the car again. I suggested we visit Neptune’s Net in Malibu, and take some photos in the canyons. So we all hopped in our cars and hit the PCH once more to cruise to the Malibu hills. I wanted to take some photos at The Snake car park. And it went like this:

Just past that sign was the car park, literally one turn away. I’m guessing the fires probably caused the road closure, but I’m not 100% sure. Either way, I didn’t dare go past the sign. The last thing I wanted was a trespassing ticket on this trip. Bummed, but still happy to have driven that evening, we went to Neptunes Net. We went down another canyon road and I opened up the M3 a little, windows down, sun setting. Then I saw a great little spot to stop.

Followed by a brief drive in Long Beach near my hotel to round out the night.

Sunday was the day I had to drive it from LA back to Phoenix. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t dreading this, I have had a bad history with E36s and this drive. Most notably my 318ti blew up just outside of Phoenix a few years ago. I had almost no history on this car, and really no recourse if anything went majorly wrong. I didn’t even have a spare tire.

It went without incident. The car cruises perfectly at definitely 100% legal speeds. The car was quiet, comfortable and really a joy to drive for such a long distance. After the first hour, all my worries were gone and I just enjoyed the drive back.

I temporarily parked it in the 2002s dedicated spot, since it’s still not back home. I put nearly 500 combined miles on it this weekend, and they were all trouble free.

There are a few catches. Part of why the car was so reasonably priced, was the paint on the driver’s side is torched. It’s gone on the fender, and the doors are starting to go as well. The wing is almost completely shot, and yet somehow the rest of the car is actually fine.

That’s the worst of the damage there, but it gives you an idea of what I’m up against. Otherwise the interior, of which I have no photos of for some reason, is clean. I have a few minor items to clean up, but compared to some of the other E36s I looked at, this interior is in mint condition. The engine pulls strong, and the trans seems healthy. Really hard to complain about any of that.

So now comes the inevitable question of: What is the plan for this M3?

I’ll be honest, I don’t know quite what I want to do with this car yet. Originally I wanted to daily drive an E36, but I have other aspirations of finally replacing my lemon of a Fiesta ST with a truck for that purpose. Which leaves this to a back roads bomber. For now, I want to clean the car up. Fix some of the little issues it has, refresh critical components and just enjoy driving it. Too often my projects end up on jack stands for too long, and I lose interest. I just want to put as many miles as I can on this car.

I do want to address the paint in some way. I’ve been debating wrapping the car, as I’ve never had that done to any of my cars before, and silver was one of my very last choices. I also have a very specific set of wheels I want for this car, so I’ll be on the hunt for those as this goes on.

The dream would be to put an S54 in this car someday, but that requires unnecessary down time. So for now, we focus on keeping things simple. Make it sharper, make it more enjoyable and just enjoy the car as it is. Perhaps that’s a bit boring for a build thread, but I’d like this car to focus on the adventures you can have behind the wheel, instead of the adventures you have behind the wrench.

So there it is. Another E36 build thread in the Stanceworks forums. But this one started at Stanceworks HQ, so that has to count for something?