I was looking for a new daily - something more interesting than the mega-dull (but mega-reliable) Nissan Almera that I'd been trudging round in for a year. Something a little bit retro and more engaging, however it mustn't turn into a project - I have two of them on the go and I can't afford the time or money on another.
I found an e36 BMW coupe for sale on RR. It was an auto which I wasn't particularly looking for, and a 2.0 so no road-burner, but it was a nice spec with leather interior and a fairly unusual colour, so me and a mate went to see it. It was about 100 miles away so unless it was a total dog I was bringing it home! Fortunately JohnK had done a great job of describing it in the ad and it was as nice as he said it was.
I had a couple of weeks of running the Almera around, so I figured I'd tidy up the rear arches and dented front panel while the BMW was sat at the garage. This was the start of the slippery slope...
Now, I'm not good at paint-spraying, I'll freely admit that. But fortunately I know someone who is, so with plenty of help and guidance the arches looked pretty good. I applied the primer and basecoat, and I left the clearcoat to the expert as I didn't want to balls it up at the last hurdle. I'm learning though, and hoping to be spraying more in the future.
This was a quick job (this car isn't a project, remember) but it looks good. There are about 5 different shades of Champagne on the car so matching the new paint was always going to be tricky.
I ran the car for a few weeks, and it was great. I couldn't help but wish for a bit more power and a manual box, but as a nice reliable daily I couldn't fault it. I had noticed that it got a bit hot in traffic. It'd had a new waterpump a couple of years ago so it wouldn't be that. I tested the viscous fan and found it to be not working so put a new one on, but it still got hot. I thought there might be air in the system (the cooling systems on these cars are a bit susceptible) so figured I'd try bleeding it - it was free and may solve the problem.
I'll admit being to blame for what happened next - I took my eye off the ball for a bit while the car was ticking over at the garage and the engine overheated. Not just "got a bit hot" but proper temp gauge in the red, engine dying due to massive overheating type hot. I did feel a little silly.
Sticking thermostat seemed to be the likely suspect, so I ran it around for a bit without one while next weekend came around and I could get on it again and put a new one in, at which point two things happened: 1) Taking the thermostat housing off, I found a load of mayo in the cooling system. Balls. 2) I decided to put it all back together and pretend the head gasket wasn't blown while I thought about what to do, and then the plastic thermostat housing cracked. At 6pm on Sunday evening. AAARGH! Despite lashing a load of chemical metal on the thing, it coolant was still gushing out. There was no way this car was going to do a week's commuting. Or even get me home from the garage.
I apologise for the lack of photos, but I was in a bit of a crisis, and this car isn't really a project, remember!
Fortunately I was able to borrow this!
...while I worked on what on earth to do with the Beemer. I figured the best thing to do was to find an engine donor and do a swap as it'd be quicker than doing the head gasket. I also figured that whilst I was doing that, I might as well put in a bigger engine to give me a bit more poke. I also figured that while I was doing all that I might as well put in a manual gearbox...
Ideally I was looking for a 325i or a 328i, but time was short (this car is my daily - not a project, remember!) and both of those models tend to fetch a premium as even ropey ones are GR8 4 DRIFTN.
After searching all the usual places I managed to find a crashed late model 323i convertible. This has the 2.5 litre M52B25 engine, so basically the alloy version of the 325i M50. It was 240 miles away but it was fairly cheap and I could maybe claw back some money breaking the thing.
I booked a day off work, rented a trailer and we went all the way down to Essex (where all the e36s seem to be) to fetch the thing. It was a long old day. We had a go at firing it up when we got it back but it wasn't trying and we were knackered. After a kip and fresh enthusiasm we managed to get it to spark into life though!
As I REALLY had to get this thing done, I have few photos of what happened next, but in any case it went from this:
To this:
I had to send the ECU away to get the EWS immobiliser taken off, and also stop it from going into limp mode as it wouldn't be getting the right signal from the ABS system any longer.
The wiring loom is plug-and-play despite my car being a fairly early one and the engine donor a very late one. There was the odd issue with things like the starter inhibitor, and getting the fuel lines crossed (happens a lot, apparently). The whole swap took two weekends and a few late nights after work, but it's now running and driving!
It's certainly a lot livelier with the M52 engine, particularly as it still has the 3.45:1 diff from the 320i. The donor car also came with an M-Sport bodykit and stainless cat back exhaust which I'll be fitting at some point. I've also lined up an M50 inlet manifold which takes the 2.5 engine up to 190-odd bhp, and a remap is on the cards which should mean over 200. But this car isn't a project, remember!
Ironically, after all that the thermostat in the new engine was stuck open, so things came full circle last weekend when I changed that and fitted the metal thermostat housing I'd bought for the old engine.
I promise more pictures in future, now that I've conceded that this car is, in fact, another project...
I found an e36 BMW coupe for sale on RR. It was an auto which I wasn't particularly looking for, and a 2.0 so no road-burner, but it was a nice spec with leather interior and a fairly unusual colour, so me and a mate went to see it. It was about 100 miles away so unless it was a total dog I was bringing it home! Fortunately JohnK had done a great job of describing it in the ad and it was as nice as he said it was.
I had a couple of weeks of running the Almera around, so I figured I'd tidy up the rear arches and dented front panel while the BMW was sat at the garage. This was the start of the slippery slope...
Now, I'm not good at paint-spraying, I'll freely admit that. But fortunately I know someone who is, so with plenty of help and guidance the arches looked pretty good. I applied the primer and basecoat, and I left the clearcoat to the expert as I didn't want to balls it up at the last hurdle. I'm learning though, and hoping to be spraying more in the future.
This was a quick job (this car isn't a project, remember) but it looks good. There are about 5 different shades of Champagne on the car so matching the new paint was always going to be tricky.
I ran the car for a few weeks, and it was great. I couldn't help but wish for a bit more power and a manual box, but as a nice reliable daily I couldn't fault it. I had noticed that it got a bit hot in traffic. It'd had a new waterpump a couple of years ago so it wouldn't be that. I tested the viscous fan and found it to be not working so put a new one on, but it still got hot. I thought there might be air in the system (the cooling systems on these cars are a bit susceptible) so figured I'd try bleeding it - it was free and may solve the problem.
I'll admit being to blame for what happened next - I took my eye off the ball for a bit while the car was ticking over at the garage and the engine overheated. Not just "got a bit hot" but proper temp gauge in the red, engine dying due to massive overheating type hot. I did feel a little silly.
Sticking thermostat seemed to be the likely suspect, so I ran it around for a bit without one while next weekend came around and I could get on it again and put a new one in, at which point two things happened: 1) Taking the thermostat housing off, I found a load of mayo in the cooling system. Balls. 2) I decided to put it all back together and pretend the head gasket wasn't blown while I thought about what to do, and then the plastic thermostat housing cracked. At 6pm on Sunday evening. AAARGH! Despite lashing a load of chemical metal on the thing, it coolant was still gushing out. There was no way this car was going to do a week's commuting. Or even get me home from the garage.
I apologise for the lack of photos, but I was in a bit of a crisis, and this car isn't really a project, remember!
Fortunately I was able to borrow this!
...while I worked on what on earth to do with the Beemer. I figured the best thing to do was to find an engine donor and do a swap as it'd be quicker than doing the head gasket. I also figured that whilst I was doing that, I might as well put in a bigger engine to give me a bit more poke. I also figured that while I was doing all that I might as well put in a manual gearbox...
Ideally I was looking for a 325i or a 328i, but time was short (this car is my daily - not a project, remember!) and both of those models tend to fetch a premium as even ropey ones are GR8 4 DRIFTN.
After searching all the usual places I managed to find a crashed late model 323i convertible. This has the 2.5 litre M52B25 engine, so basically the alloy version of the 325i M50. It was 240 miles away but it was fairly cheap and I could maybe claw back some money breaking the thing.
I booked a day off work, rented a trailer and we went all the way down to Essex (where all the e36s seem to be) to fetch the thing. It was a long old day. We had a go at firing it up when we got it back but it wasn't trying and we were knackered. After a kip and fresh enthusiasm we managed to get it to spark into life though!
As I REALLY had to get this thing done, I have few photos of what happened next, but in any case it went from this:
To this:
I had to send the ECU away to get the EWS immobiliser taken off, and also stop it from going into limp mode as it wouldn't be getting the right signal from the ABS system any longer.
The wiring loom is plug-and-play despite my car being a fairly early one and the engine donor a very late one. There was the odd issue with things like the starter inhibitor, and getting the fuel lines crossed (happens a lot, apparently). The whole swap took two weekends and a few late nights after work, but it's now running and driving!
It's certainly a lot livelier with the M52 engine, particularly as it still has the 3.45:1 diff from the 320i. The donor car also came with an M-Sport bodykit and stainless cat back exhaust which I'll be fitting at some point. I've also lined up an M50 inlet manifold which takes the 2.5 engine up to 190-odd bhp, and a remap is on the cards which should mean over 200. But this car isn't a project, remember!
Ironically, after all that the thermostat in the new engine was stuck open, so things came full circle last weekend when I changed that and fitted the metal thermostat housing I'd bought for the old engine.
I promise more pictures in future, now that I've conceded that this car is, in fact, another project...
.
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