Tweet
1997 E36 318i Touring – Hellrot Red
172K Miles (will rise slightly)
Mot until Nov ‘17
This is the second Touring I have owned, after getting a little carried away with the work on my first, I figured I would get myself a daily driver and this turned up two years a go. This has been a great little car for me and has never let me down, has done the journey from London to my parents house in Perth, Scotland loads of times without a hitch and would happily jump in it and go, without any worries. The only reason I am selling is because I have found another Touring (surprise, surprise) and I need the money from this to go towards it.
Exterior
For the age of the car, the exterior of the car is great. It’s a very clean shell, there is next to no rust on it, I believe there is just one little crusty bit of paint near a jacking point, but I am positive it is just surface rust. The boot floor and sills are both mint. Unfortunately there is the odd carpark ding and scratch, but that is to be expected on a car of this age. Just recently I had the bonnet and front nose cone re-sprayed. I also retrofitted some SE sidskirts with OEM BMW fixings and clips. The plan was to source an M sport front bumper, but I haven’t got round to it. I have converted the sidelights to “US Style” running lights, which are adapted from the OEM sidelights, but in the indicator instead of the lights – This can be reversed very easily as it just a case of disconnecting a bulb. It also has an HID kit (chavy, I know) but it does have the projector shrouds fitted too, so they actually work. I didn’t want to be “that guy” blinding everyone – Again, very quickly and easily swapped back to OEM lighting. There’s some LED reverse and number plate lights too. OEM clear indicators.
Interior
The interior is in very good condition, the seats and door cars are not the original, the old cloth was swapped for a nice leather interior out of another ’97 Touring. The seats are in great shape with no rips or tears and just the odd sign of wear on the drivers side bolster. It has extended leather door cards too, which are getting very hard to find now, especially for a Touring. It has the more sought after black dash and carpets along with OEM BMW rubber mats. The car isn’t filled to the brim with extra’s, however it does have working dual climate control, electric front windows, electric mirrors, auto dimming rear view mirror, map lights, glovebox torch, footwell lights, leather arm rest, ashtrays front and rear, load cover with boot straps and it also benefits from a good condition M Sport steering wheel, which is the same one found in the M3’s – Little bit smaller with the BMW Tri-Stitching. Upgraded speakers front and rear. New boot lock
The odometer reads around 72k, however there is documentation to prove the cluster was changed at around 100k due to a broken fuel gauge. However, the car could definitely pass for having 72k genuine miles.
Oily bits
Absolutely standard 1.8 8v engine with the exception of a de-cat exhaust (again, I know, a bit chavy) however they didn’t have a cat section available when I went to order. It has recently been serviced with new oil throughout, NGK Plugs, HT leads, Oil Filter, Air Filter and Fuel Filter. Service light re-set.
It has uprated engine mounts and sump guard.
The gentleman that owned it before me was a mechanic, so it seems it has been serviced very regularly. There is a receipt for a new clutch fitted before my ownership; I have a whole folder of service history and receipts to back up the purchases and work carried out.
Suspension
The car has upgraded Coilover suspension, this has been recently fitted, so can’t have more than 1000 miles on it. Along with the coilovers I fitted new rear top mounts with new bumpstops and covers. The rear springs are slightly stiffer being 10kg HSD’s. There are strut tower reinforcement plates front and rear. In the lead up to winter I carried out a lot of preventive maintenance, so it has new lower arms, lollypop bushes, inner and outer track rod ends with new gators, new drop-links.
It drives like a dream, it really does. There’s no nasty knocks or bangs from either end as most of it is brand new, the alignment has recently been done too and gets checked every other month as I am lucky enough to use the machine at work, so it doesn’t pull or crab under braking.
I am more than happy to raise the car to OEM height or higher, should you want it.
Brakes
Have all been replaced in my ownership. There’s a new caliper on the front right as well as new discs and pads. I think I replaced the ABS sensor on that side too. The rears have seen the same treatment, so the discs and pads have plenty life left. There’s new handbrake shoes with a new fitting kit too and the handbrake actually works unlike most E36’s (could almost pass as a rare optional extra!)
Bad points
There is an unfortunate crack in the windscreen, which (luckily) happened just after the MOT. It started as a small chip, but with the recent cold spell, it must just have cracked. Screens are quite readily available and Gavin from Autoglass seems up to the job.
The airbag light is on. I’m fairly sure this is down to the seats being swapped, it just needs re-set I just haven’t had the time to do it. You can even buy the proper tool from eBay and do it yourself.
It will not come with these wheels, the wheels are not for sale. It will be sold on 16” Style 44 E46 wheels with winter tyres and decent tread. Cupholders are not included either.
Bits that I’ve missed
Very long MOT, flew through the last one.
Only thing I can think of that would put people off is the mileage, but I can assure you, the car looks great for having done that amount.
As mentioned before, the shell really is nice and solid and as much as I would **** to see it get bashed into a wall at your local banger track, a good base for a drift car having the small case diff etc.
I’m sure I have a build thread for it somewhere on various forums and I am more than happy to provide a link to that as well as answer any questions you might have.
I have a tonne of pictures of it, they’re all high res and I’m more than happy to email them to anybody interested.
Price
£1,400
172K Miles (will rise slightly)
Mot until Nov ‘17
This is the second Touring I have owned, after getting a little carried away with the work on my first, I figured I would get myself a daily driver and this turned up two years a go. This has been a great little car for me and has never let me down, has done the journey from London to my parents house in Perth, Scotland loads of times without a hitch and would happily jump in it and go, without any worries. The only reason I am selling is because I have found another Touring (surprise, surprise) and I need the money from this to go towards it.
Exterior
For the age of the car, the exterior of the car is great. It’s a very clean shell, there is next to no rust on it, I believe there is just one little crusty bit of paint near a jacking point, but I am positive it is just surface rust. The boot floor and sills are both mint. Unfortunately there is the odd carpark ding and scratch, but that is to be expected on a car of this age. Just recently I had the bonnet and front nose cone re-sprayed. I also retrofitted some SE sidskirts with OEM BMW fixings and clips. The plan was to source an M sport front bumper, but I haven’t got round to it. I have converted the sidelights to “US Style” running lights, which are adapted from the OEM sidelights, but in the indicator instead of the lights – This can be reversed very easily as it just a case of disconnecting a bulb. It also has an HID kit (chavy, I know) but it does have the projector shrouds fitted too, so they actually work. I didn’t want to be “that guy” blinding everyone – Again, very quickly and easily swapped back to OEM lighting. There’s some LED reverse and number plate lights too. OEM clear indicators.
Interior
The interior is in very good condition, the seats and door cars are not the original, the old cloth was swapped for a nice leather interior out of another ’97 Touring. The seats are in great shape with no rips or tears and just the odd sign of wear on the drivers side bolster. It has extended leather door cards too, which are getting very hard to find now, especially for a Touring. It has the more sought after black dash and carpets along with OEM BMW rubber mats. The car isn’t filled to the brim with extra’s, however it does have working dual climate control, electric front windows, electric mirrors, auto dimming rear view mirror, map lights, glovebox torch, footwell lights, leather arm rest, ashtrays front and rear, load cover with boot straps and it also benefits from a good condition M Sport steering wheel, which is the same one found in the M3’s – Little bit smaller with the BMW Tri-Stitching. Upgraded speakers front and rear. New boot lock
The odometer reads around 72k, however there is documentation to prove the cluster was changed at around 100k due to a broken fuel gauge. However, the car could definitely pass for having 72k genuine miles.
Oily bits
Absolutely standard 1.8 8v engine with the exception of a de-cat exhaust (again, I know, a bit chavy) however they didn’t have a cat section available when I went to order. It has recently been serviced with new oil throughout, NGK Plugs, HT leads, Oil Filter, Air Filter and Fuel Filter. Service light re-set.
It has uprated engine mounts and sump guard.
The gentleman that owned it before me was a mechanic, so it seems it has been serviced very regularly. There is a receipt for a new clutch fitted before my ownership; I have a whole folder of service history and receipts to back up the purchases and work carried out.
Suspension
The car has upgraded Coilover suspension, this has been recently fitted, so can’t have more than 1000 miles on it. Along with the coilovers I fitted new rear top mounts with new bumpstops and covers. The rear springs are slightly stiffer being 10kg HSD’s. There are strut tower reinforcement plates front and rear. In the lead up to winter I carried out a lot of preventive maintenance, so it has new lower arms, lollypop bushes, inner and outer track rod ends with new gators, new drop-links.
It drives like a dream, it really does. There’s no nasty knocks or bangs from either end as most of it is brand new, the alignment has recently been done too and gets checked every other month as I am lucky enough to use the machine at work, so it doesn’t pull or crab under braking.
I am more than happy to raise the car to OEM height or higher, should you want it.
Brakes
Have all been replaced in my ownership. There’s a new caliper on the front right as well as new discs and pads. I think I replaced the ABS sensor on that side too. The rears have seen the same treatment, so the discs and pads have plenty life left. There’s new handbrake shoes with a new fitting kit too and the handbrake actually works unlike most E36’s (could almost pass as a rare optional extra!)
Bad points
There is an unfortunate crack in the windscreen, which (luckily) happened just after the MOT. It started as a small chip, but with the recent cold spell, it must just have cracked. Screens are quite readily available and Gavin from Autoglass seems up to the job.
The airbag light is on. I’m fairly sure this is down to the seats being swapped, it just needs re-set I just haven’t had the time to do it. You can even buy the proper tool from eBay and do it yourself.
It will not come with these wheels, the wheels are not for sale. It will be sold on 16” Style 44 E46 wheels with winter tyres and decent tread. Cupholders are not included either.
Bits that I’ve missed
Very long MOT, flew through the last one.
Only thing I can think of that would put people off is the mileage, but I can assure you, the car looks great for having done that amount.
As mentioned before, the shell really is nice and solid and as much as I would **** to see it get bashed into a wall at your local banger track, a good base for a drift car having the small case diff etc.
I’m sure I have a build thread for it somewhere on various forums and I am more than happy to provide a link to that as well as answer any questions you might have.
I have a tonne of pictures of it, they’re all high res and I’m more than happy to email them to anybody interested.
Price
£1,400
