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About a year ago i sold my old my last e36 to my buddy after i took it about as far i could.
5735284539_fa660f5c91_o by Majend, on Flickr
It had some problems and i got an AWESOME deal on a super low miles 5th gen prelude, for a time i was happy but in the back of my mind i wanted another one. So a couple of weeks ago i just couldn't take it anymore, the prelude was starting to need some work and i just didn't like the car enough to start dumping money into it so i sold it to a 16 year old and started to hunt for another e36.
Living in Minnesota there is a real lack of CLEAN e36s for sale as the rust fairy tends to visit everyone so i knew i would be looking south. I probably looked at hundreds of craigslist adds (thanks auto tempest!) but everything was either way over priced or SUPER high miles. That was until i found a car down in Miami. It had the suspension i wanted and documented cooling system work and was rust free so after to talking with the owner for a while we agreed on a price, i cashed in some of the delta miles i have been hoarding and on thursday i hopped on a plane to the coast.
The owner picked my up from the airport and this is what was waiting for me
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
A black on tan 1997 328is 5 speed with just a tan over 130k on the clock. All that was really done to her was a hot air intake, ultimos (they seriously make the regular racelands on my 325is feel like week old pudding...) staggered DSIIs, Recaro seats (don't know if they are real) and VAC Motorsports seat mounts.
Drove her around for a while with the owner and talked about it, i handed him a stack of cash (way way way under budget) he signed over the clean title and i hit the road.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
i don't know what was more impressive, the temperature or the fact that the OBC looked brand new lol.
I didn't get on the road till about six pm so i drove to the north boarder of Florida and called it a night. In the morning i hit up my favorite southern breakfast spot and hit the road again.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
I got about 300 miles into the day and i started hearing a slight hum from the rear. My buddy had a e30 with a whiny diff and this sounded more like a worn tire so i put it out of my mind.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
got to Tennessee (holy crap i forgot just how beautiful this state is) and the noise started getting louder and sounded more like a rear wheel bearing. the previous owner had mentioned that he thought one might be on its way out but i couldn't feel anything on the test drive and on the first day so i didn't think much of it but after it got louder i started to get a little worried.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
By the end of the day I was getting kind of worried so i stopped near St. Louis since it was going to be the last major city i was going to hit before home. This morning i went to the independent repair chain near my hotel to see if they could take care of it. They wanted $1200 dollars for each side and wouldn't guarantee that they would finish that day so i said screw that and hit the road. I had looked the night before and found a number of people that wrote that it was booked at 3.5 hours for the passenger side and 4 hours for the driver side because of the exhaust and since it would have cost me as much as one side to toe the car home i figured it was an appropriate gamble to make.
The sound didn't get any worse today so i just pushed on and what do you know the car made it home after 1800 miles.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
So glad to be out of that seat...
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
It is my brother's birthday tomorrow (hence why i left on thursday) so i am going to tackle both wheel bearings on Monday and then i have some plans for the car. I do custom wheel refinishing as a side job and i am going to be using the car as a demo vehicle for that as well as a daily driver (I drove my last e36 as a daily at that ride height, even in the snow lol
)
All in all i am so happy to be back in a BMW, it just feels like home. When i get the car all cleaned up and a few little details worked out i'll put up a build thread but i wanted to share the tale of the trip with all of you!
5735284539_fa660f5c91_o by Majend, on Flickr
It had some problems and i got an AWESOME deal on a super low miles 5th gen prelude, for a time i was happy but in the back of my mind i wanted another one. So a couple of weeks ago i just couldn't take it anymore, the prelude was starting to need some work and i just didn't like the car enough to start dumping money into it so i sold it to a 16 year old and started to hunt for another e36.
Living in Minnesota there is a real lack of CLEAN e36s for sale as the rust fairy tends to visit everyone so i knew i would be looking south. I probably looked at hundreds of craigslist adds (thanks auto tempest!) but everything was either way over priced or SUPER high miles. That was until i found a car down in Miami. It had the suspension i wanted and documented cooling system work and was rust free so after to talking with the owner for a while we agreed on a price, i cashed in some of the delta miles i have been hoarding and on thursday i hopped on a plane to the coast.
The owner picked my up from the airport and this is what was waiting for me
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
A black on tan 1997 328is 5 speed with just a tan over 130k on the clock. All that was really done to her was a hot air intake, ultimos (they seriously make the regular racelands on my 325is feel like week old pudding...) staggered DSIIs, Recaro seats (don't know if they are real) and VAC Motorsports seat mounts.
Drove her around for a while with the owner and talked about it, i handed him a stack of cash (way way way under budget) he signed over the clean title and i hit the road.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
i don't know what was more impressive, the temperature or the fact that the OBC looked brand new lol.
I didn't get on the road till about six pm so i drove to the north boarder of Florida and called it a night. In the morning i hit up my favorite southern breakfast spot and hit the road again.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
I got about 300 miles into the day and i started hearing a slight hum from the rear. My buddy had a e30 with a whiny diff and this sounded more like a worn tire so i put it out of my mind.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
got to Tennessee (holy crap i forgot just how beautiful this state is) and the noise started getting louder and sounded more like a rear wheel bearing. the previous owner had mentioned that he thought one might be on its way out but i couldn't feel anything on the test drive and on the first day so i didn't think much of it but after it got louder i started to get a little worried.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
By the end of the day I was getting kind of worried so i stopped near St. Louis since it was going to be the last major city i was going to hit before home. This morning i went to the independent repair chain near my hotel to see if they could take care of it. They wanted $1200 dollars for each side and wouldn't guarantee that they would finish that day so i said screw that and hit the road. I had looked the night before and found a number of people that wrote that it was booked at 3.5 hours for the passenger side and 4 hours for the driver side because of the exhaust and since it would have cost me as much as one side to toe the car home i figured it was an appropriate gamble to make.
The sound didn't get any worse today so i just pushed on and what do you know the car made it home after 1800 miles.
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
So glad to be out of that seat...
Untitled by Majend, on Flickr
It is my brother's birthday tomorrow (hence why i left on thursday) so i am going to tackle both wheel bearings on Monday and then i have some plans for the car. I do custom wheel refinishing as a side job and i am going to be using the car as a demo vehicle for that as well as a daily driver (I drove my last e36 as a daily at that ride height, even in the snow lol
) All in all i am so happy to be back in a BMW, it just feels like home. When i get the car all cleaned up and a few little details worked out i'll put up a build thread but i wanted to share the tale of the trip with all of you!
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