Das Shed.

calster17 · July 31, 2016

Yes, I've done it. I've bought a German car. And it's a Classic.

Everyone loves the E36 BMW, a fantastically 90's car and a cracking chassis loved by track day warriors, Back road blasters, Drifters and the like.

So when one came up for sale at a price I could't refuse, it had to be done.

DSCN2476 by C C, on Flickr

So how much did the fine steed cost me? £97.50

5 Months MOT, Fully Service history at both BMW & a respected BMW specialist. Alloys off a 328i with good tyres, a full set of steel wheels with brand new Toyo Proxies, a DAB radio and all the original tool kit & torch!

Okay, it actually cost me £195 as it's a joint by with Me™.

TIMELESS · July 31, 2016

Looks like a fun purchase! For that price, would you even care if it blows up or the gearbox falls out? Probably not!

Is this gonna' be a project car or track car?

RobikV3 · July 31, 2016

Polish rednecks favourite car lol

looks quite decent for that price i have to say though

The Compensator · July 31, 2016

Polish rednecks favourite car lol

Haha, true. And if you look at cal's plate, it says "Eastern BMW". How fitting.

Why 316 only? Must be slow af.

calster17 · July 31, 2016

It's been bought to be lightly restored. Why? For starters it's actually rare than the M3 in the UK and it's 'poverty spec'. Arctic white & unpainted bumpers for the win. :nuts:

And yes, it'll be at classic shows and such once we tidy it up and such.

For being a 316i, it's not rapid by any means, but it's faster than we expected. And handles bloody fantastic! :)

As for it being a Polish 'Rednecks' car, it'd fall into the same category here in the UK I guess but under the "Chav" name. That or a "drift missile" after it had a 6-pot dropped in...

Good news is:

- We knew it was full service history, but this has every bit of paperwork going back to 1998! Looked after by a BMW dealership in central London (Car was near Kensington for 18 years!) for everything from brakes to wiper blades & bulbs being fitted, last BMW paperwork was in 2011, and from then on it was looked after by a BMW specialist until June this year, when it ended up in Southern Scotland. (Last owner had it just a month & a half!)

- The alloys on it are getting sold, although wider (205/15's) were not a fan of it, and it's not in fitting with the 'Poverty spec' of the car. Can make up around half the price we paid on these alone! She's sitting on the original steel wheels & wheel-trims just now. :) (185/15's)

- Sadly, no original BMW radio (we are looking) but does have a fancy & newish looking DAB radio, which likely cost around £100.

- Bodywork is in good condition for a car of it's age, and considering it spent it's life in central London! But...

Bad News:

- We knew there was some surface rust on some of the wings, easy enough to sort. We also knew of a bit of rot on the drivers side sill, which is a welding job! Asking around as know a few folk who''l do the work but of course then need to see it first to see just how bad it is.(Should be savable, I had A Cappuccino saved dammit...) I reckon £200 max for the work.

- Knew there was a "Slight blowing" on the backbox. It turns out that half the backbox has rusted away. And onto of that there's no pipe actually connected to the back box. :lol: Simple fix that, a hours work and £40 for the parts.

- Drivers side front brake's, disc is worse for wear and pads rather low. Guessing the caliper slider pins could do with replacing as well considering how the pads are worn more on one side than the other. But overall serviceable.

Work on the exhaust & brakes will be done once we know the rot is actually okay and can be saved.

Worst comes to worst, we sell the car for what we paid and it becomes a 'drift slag'. We'd be in profit anyways.

SPYFAN · July 31, 2016

you doesnt make half things... respect. i would help you...if i wasnt so far away from you :)

by the way...

better: Ive hat ein Deutsches Auto gekauft

greets Tom

CarMadMike · July 31, 2016

For starters it's actually rare than the M3 in the UK and it's 'poverty spec'. Arctic white & unpainted bumpers for the win. :nuts:

Rarer than an M3 for a reason though :p Unsure if you could really say this was a positive thing haha, you should be a political spin doctor in how you manage to turn the oddest of negative things into a positive :cheeky:

All in all i'm rather fond of it, sounds like a great project for you both and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses. You should upload more pics of it to the Gallery and keep us/it updated as progress is made :)

me™ · August 9, 2016

Ohai!

Time for my side of the story, yes?

We picked this up back on the 30th of July, and driving it 120 miles home with only half of an exhaust system was... amusing, actually! Proper pops and bangs on gearchanges!

However, we got the exhaust sorted on the Saturday just past after a few hours of faffing about, and borrowing an angle grinder. Very over-engineered exhaust brackets rusted in place!

The speedometer seems to be a bit 'sticky' in that it won't move up from 0 sometimes. However, a gentle tap with just two fingers on top of the dashboard fixes that!

It also had a very erratic idle, but we put a full tank of fuel and a bottle of injector cleaner in after sorting the exhaust, and I went out for a drive on Sunday. I did about 90 miles between visiting a classic car show and dropping past my parents' farm.

I then parked it up for a couple of days, and drove it to work today. It idles PERFECTLY now, and the speedometer sprung to life without any tapping required. I'm dropping it off for the welding work on the sill this afternoon.

As Calster said, it's not quick, but it's a lot of fun to drive. I tightened up the throttle cable, and after watching a bit too much Initial D I've been driving it everywhere heel-toeing it into corners and trying to carry as much speed as possible around them, due to not having the power to speed up quickly again afterwards! Don't get me wrong though, it doesn't feel underpowered. It still revs freely and it feels like BMW have got the gearing just right for the engine.

Hopefully the welding on the sill goes well tomorrow, then we can do some more work on it at some point. Not this weekend though. I'm giving my Xantia some love on Saturday, then we're going to watch the BTCC at Knockhill on Sunday. :D

Well, I think Calster mentioned to me he might do some work himself. I may play a game and just park it in a random street 'somewhere' near my house on Saturday morning...

Other items of note:

Gearchange - It's difficult to get into 1st while cold and stationary, but while moving, it's fine. From about 5 minutes of googling earlier, it seems "they all do that, sir" is the general consensus. Gearbox oil change is probably on the cards though.

Gearknob - (oo-er). It's a bit loose. I think it just needs one in better condition out of a scrap car. Again, from about 5 minutes of googling, it seems any manual BMW gearknob from the 90s-early 2000s will fit.

calster17 · August 18, 2016

Quick update.

I did say about the condition of the driver's sill, but never showed how it was.. .

Oh Bollocks... by C C, on Flickr

Thankfully, threw connections and being with one of Aberdeen's general car clubs we quickly sourced a guy who did the work, as well as give the underside a quick once over in case of any more rot.

Welded sill. by C C, on Flickr

£160 altogether for the welding, that's for the main bit as shown, as well as another part. So for the time being, we prepped it and then coated it in Waxoyl for the time being to prevent the rot again.

Waxoyled sill. by C C, on Flickr

It'll be getting properly sorted out when we get the chance, filler, smooth it, paint, etc. Will also do the bit's of bubbling on the rear arches at the same time. :)

Another problem was the drivers side brake light, would fit it fine but as soon as you moved it'd stop working. A simple reason why...

Problems... by C C, on Flickr

The hole for putting the bulb/holder in was broke, meaning it'd stay secure but no connection would be made. As well as that the bulb holder had melted a small part in the past, marking the contact.

The fix was a new tail light from the scrappy (£7) and it works good as new.

Will hopefully get some pictures of the car if the weather is nice this weekend. :)

calster17 · December 17, 2016

Been a little while since I've posted here, I know how much you guys wait in anticipation and all...

Since the last post, gotten alot of the big job's ticked off the list meaning she is much much better to drive, including:

- Front brakes, new disc's and pad's were fitted adding some much needed bite.

- Felt something was amiss with the front suspension when driving, figured out the problem in a rather odd way...I pushed the front of the off-side front wheel and the whole wheel moved back arbout an intch! Instantly knew it was one of two things, front wishbone bush's were exceedingly worn as you'd expect from a car of this age. New ones acquired and fitted.

- Me™ managed to get some wheel trim's off an E36 Compact that were in much better condition that the original ones with the car!

New shoes. by C C, on Flickr

- I got a copy of the 3 series saloon sales brochure from 1995! Bit pointless but feel it add's to the history of the car. :)

- Had the MOT at the start of the month, as expected failed thanks to the exhaust.

Although we fitted a new rear section/backbox, the flange fitting for the two sections was wrong, meaning we used a U-Clamp, exhaust tape and some industrial spec exhaust sealant to secure and seal it...

That'll fix it... by C C, on Flickr

Top job as you can see, the result of "Cant be bothered".

That worked a tiny bit, but was still blowing, causing it to have weak readings and set of a sensor...failing on emissions.

As well as failing on that, the rear brake's had some corroded pipes. (Personally think that was a 50/50 case of it being an advisory or fail)

Was given a quote for work to fix it and decided to bite the bullet and get the work done.

The good news is the brakes have been bled as a result, and feel 10 times better, and the damm blowing from the exhaust has gone. :D

Not bad for a car that's 2 months away from being 22!

Next year is where the fun begins, when the show season starts! At the start of the 'season' she'll be getting a proper wash & detail by a friend of ours. Different from his normal clients cars of Audi RS's, Range Rovers, GTR's and the like which is why he'll be doing it for a massively reduced cost to have as a sort of "I can turn this to this" sort of thing. Why is he offering this?

Because we will be having the car on show at the local classic car events, having a bit of history about it, and how it's earned it's place at the shows. :)