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Hi everyone! I've been a long time Bimmersport member, but hardly ever post. As the title suggests, this thread is about my almost finished E36 Felony Form Widebody project, and I figured I'd share it with whoever might be interested. While the widebody project only commenced in late 2015, I figured I'd also use this as an opportunity to illustrate the changes and transformation of the car from when I first got her, to the beginnings of the project. Writing this out retrospectively, has made me realise how much I've learnt about working with cars, and also appreciate all those who have given me their time and helped me with the car. Without further delay, let's start from the beginning! The car is a 1997 E36 328i 5 speed manual, with full motorsport trim. I bought this car in March 2014 from another Bimmersport member. And this is how she looked the day I got her. She was sitting on 18" style 32s on motorsport suspension. Certainly styled in a way that many people would have no complaints about, but for me, it was a canvas waiting for me to make my mark on! Literally the day I got her, I put on my BBS wheels as I prefer 17" size, and was looking to have her sitting a bit lower too The BBS wheels were the set I put together for my last E36. They are a staggered set of 17x8 et20 and 17x9 et19. Here she is sitting next to my old 318ti when I took her home. SO much more power in the 328 after driving a 1.8L for years haha XD The compact didn't look too bad with the style 32s I thought! Shortly afterwards, I sold the compact. With coilover suspension ordered on the way, I figured I start a little home project to build a cold air box/heat shield around the intake, as she had a mushroom pod filter when I bought her. This was the first time I've ever attempted making/fabricating something on my own, and I have no background in anything car/engineering related. It wasn't pretty, but at the end of the day it was functional, and reduced the hot air reaching the intake, so I was happy with that. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of a dark dangerous path of learning to tinker with everything to do with cars hahaha After that next project was to tackle the coilover suspension. I ordered an XYZ set up from our forum sponsors Speedfactor. I dealt with Evan at the time, and I can't recommend his services enough. He helped me out really well and was patient with my low level of knowledge when it comes to this stuff. I've been running his suspension ever since, and it's been nothing but flawless - thanks Evan! For those interested, the specs were: 10kg fronts (linear) 12kg rears (progressive), with full front adjustable camber, and I also fitted HardRace adjustable rear camber arms. Evan had supplied me with custom shortened rear shocks, with a rear spring height of 110mm. In the following pictures of it being installed, the rear adjusters were on their highest setting. It was an all nighter to get it all installed, and it was only possible with the help of my very good mates (who are also here on Bimmersport). Can't thank Jibreel and Marcus enough for the assist that night! I recall we were up to about 5am to get it done. Owe them big time. How she looked with the new suspension! Obviously, with driving a stiff and lowered car, came many low car problems ... which I slowly learnt to fix/deal with over time haha .. The driveway at work was a nightmare, and decided to remove my front bumper many times. Next was just to install some LED angel eyes which I like. Not everyone's cup of tea, but is for me. It was good to be able to learn-by-doing when it came to many of these mini-projects/mods. Unfortunately this car also had a number of issues in the engine bay during this time too, and once again, it was always my outstanding mates who would assist and teach me on how to fix these issues. Can't say enough about these guys! So after rolling around on the BBS's for a fair while, I decided it was time for a change. I got my hands on some AC Schnitzer Type 2 wheels for a very good deal from a friend. They were in rough condition, so I did some DIY refurbishing with the help of my girlfriend. She suggested to have them finished in something unique, so we ended up coating them in a 'stone' finish, which resembles concrete, essentially. At the same time, I decided to drop the front a little lower on the car too ... I love the way E36s sit on these wheels, so very pleased with the outcome of the new front drop and new wheel fitment. The AC Schnitzers are 17x8.5 et13 all round. I was very happy with how she was, so took her to Mother's Chrome Show and Shine event last year to give her some exposure Here she is sitting next to my friend Roni's incredibly clean and classic Merc. I loved the way she looked, but still had to drive her around as my daily ... which eventually was just too impractical. So the girlfriend talked me in to buying a new daily, and then retiring this to weekend car haha. I bought an E30 318i which was amazing. However my time with her was short-lived, as I was unfortunately T-boned one night at an intersection, when a lady failed to give way to me. Luckily nobody was injured, but the E30 was written off I have since purchased another daily. another E30. A 323i manual, and she's going strong. Being upgraded to 'weekend car' status and having a daily runabout car on the side - talk started regarding doing more, crazy, outrageous things with the E36. Ideas were thrown around making it a drift car, track car, show car etc. I had done some research, and was very interested in acquiring the Felony Form Widebody Overfender kit, and building it in to a show vehicle. At the time, logistics and cost were a limiting factor, however, one morning there was an opportunity to purchase (what I understand to be) the first and only current kit in New Zealand. I snapped it up immediately, and from there, there was no turning back First, mocked up the kit fitment ... It didn't take long before we started marking, and cutting the fenders ... Gotta love my girlfriend for being so incredibly talented with car body work, teaching me and showing me how it's done! You'll notice she will feature in many photos doing the hard work, I just stand back and look pretty apparently But really though, I learn so much from this girl. I'm very lucky. Of course, with the new body, I would need new wheels. I have something secret ordered from overseas, a nice, wide, 3piece wheel. The idea was to build the car to be ready for 4 and Rotary show 2016, however, the wheel manufacturer found a defect in the wheels when they made them, so they have been delayed, likely to arrive sometime Feb/March 2016 With things not looking promising for 4nR 2016, another friend of mine (also Bimmersporter) had a set of wheels that would suit as a temporary set! They were not as aggressive as the wheels I had intended, but certainly better than nothing! Have to thank my mates Jasjot and Jasmit for allowing me to run these beautiful wheels. As a result, the work continues! The wheels, as seen in the corner of the pic above, are Hamann PG-1s, manufactured by O.Z. wheels. They are 18x9 et6 all round, and I will be spacing them out between 20-25mm to make them fit the way I need them to. We also decided it was appropriate to change the colour of the car too, just to go with the big transformation I wanted. Colour is to be revealed later, or at 4nR! And currently this is where I'm at! 2 weeks away from the show, and the car is *almost* done. Quite a lot of time pressure, as I was away all of December last year on holiday overseas, but I'm confident it will be done on time. Even though the project isn't finished, just a big thank you to every person who has helped me out with the build of this car from beginning to present. This project would not be where it is without all of you guys. I'll leave you all with this one last pic, the most recent one I have of this build. If you guys are on social media, you are welcome to follow the progress on my media channels with my photography work: FB: JW Photography NZ Instagram: jw.photography.nz And the car group myself and my girlfriend are part of if you are interested: StanceMob Thanks for reading! I'll update here when I can! Hopefully see you all at 4 and Rotary 2016! Peace, Jeff UPDATES ON PAGE 2! 25.01.2016

*Warning Picture Heavy* Some wicked shots of the two sisters before the Schnitzer headed off to Wellington

Is your girlfriend single? Awesome work so far, excited to see the finished result.

Wish my girl helped me on my cars. She just yells at me when I bring another home. Looking forward to the finished project

I don't mind, enjoyed the read and I'm not the slightest offended. As I tell my kids everyone is entitled to an opinion just understand mine is always correct P.S. I'm joking re my opinion, I was incorrect once and according to my wife all the time!

www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1016479030.htm

great shots, the exposure and processing really captures the urban environment well. Cars and driver look good too

Let the lady drive what the lady wants. A happy wife is a happy life.....

Swedish drivers are strictly advised to not drive with any alcohol in their bloodstream. You can be imprisoned for up to 6 months for having up to 0.02% alcohol in your blood; over 0.02% and up to 0.10% can see a 3 year sentence. Repeat offenders (who typically, worldwide, make up the majority of drink-drivers) are treated more harshly. Less than 0.25% of drivers breathalysed in Sweden return a positive result. Sweden has a population more than double that of NZ, yet has around the same number of road deaths. In 2012, just one person under the age of 7 died in road traffic accidents. The Swedish toll is dropping. Take into account the weather over there, and this becomes even more remarkable. However, driving standards are immeasurably higher than in NZ, and road construction carries a safety first, convenience second approach. Speed limits in Sweden are determined by a number of (sensible) factors. Main arterial multi-carriageway roads are 110 or 120km/h, and speed limits for other roads are assigned on a case by case basis, not arbitrarily as over here, and can be as low as 30km/h in populated areas. That said, there's not much attention to speed limits on motorways and police turn a blind eye provided you're not being dangerous, so you're unlikely to be stopped for 126 at 3 in the morning, for example. However, exceed a 30km/h limit and you will be stopped and fined. The speed limit and punishment fit the circumstances.

Saw a beaut E34 M5 on Hobson Street this morning, very nice. Think the plate was M IIIII Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wait till she's gone for a weekend, pack all your worldly possessions into a shipping container and stick it on a ship to Sweden. Get flight to Sweden. Done.

Yeah I've got one and matching 6 speed box, saving for a rainy day (unless someone wants to put up a decent offer, then I'll let it go)

Every car I sell to BS members seems to then go on to get the full treatment! Looks good mate.

have a good spare m62b44 non vanos if you need. both my e34's I had with the m62b44 conversions made way more power than the m60b40. I run the m62b44 on the old m60b40 loom and ecu etc with a remap. went from 150rwkw to 180-190rwkw torque upto 480-490Nm

Good work bro, you've come a long way man! :thumb:

so you are taking the passenger seat in the E30 this weekend then?

ditch her. you dont need that sort of negativity in your life.

to be fair, i do tell people dont judge a BMW on the 318i you drive, maybe i am a bit harsh on the 190E when i am doing the same thing the other way round. oh yeah now you mention the system thats right, my one conked out at the far end of the VTNZ inspection lane, it got its sticker but couldnt get home. Helpful guy in the diesel trucks lane came over he was a Merc guy back home in Ukraine or Russia or something, just happened to have a spare fuel electro whachamadoodle in his car plugged it in got home and ordered one off a croud called Startech who were very helpfull.

Glenn has said it all their is no cheap certain way out of your problem. Their are two ways I can see of tackling this retain the n46 motor (shudder) remove the radiator and get it professionally flushed clean. Then get some access to the cooling channels in the block and flush them check the condition of your water pump, thermostat, expansion tank, heater core basically the whole cooling system needs to be inspected as it could course the rubber parts to loose their integrate. Then you can start on the transmission head ach as Glenn pointed out the clutch packs, brake bands even some rubber components may have dissolved. A complete strip down and clean will be needed then a rebuild undertaken $$$$$$ will be spent. A bit of research of a rebuild versus a second hand box with warranty might give you an idea nothing certain. Oh don't forget to get the torque converter checked or replaced. Finally you can look at a different system for cooling the trans oil so you don't get a repeat of your current situation. Also you mentioned you had more work to do on the motor as well. Factor that in and other work you will do on the motor in the future a sure thing. The second as I understand is you have a parts car bring that in to play and see what you can use from it to help you out. Even if it meant an engine and gearbox swap you would then know what condition the items used were in and be able to compare this against that to see which would be the most cost effect way to go. Long winded I know but you are not going to solve this one with a snap of you're fingers sorry.

Totally agree with you Ron, the diesel option and the savings you get doing high annual mileage make sense. Fuel calculations seem pretty spot on. For the record, we drove Wellington to Turangi and back over the New Year period with the final mileage on the clock being 745km when we got home. I filled up in Wellington initially with premium at $1.93 per liter. Whilst the car told me I did bang on 15ltr/100km when we got home, I calculated we used approx 114 litres at $1.93 (220.02) for the trip at approx consumption of 15.3ltr/100km. I topped the tank in Turangi when we left and put in for the total trip $254.62. There was just under half a tank left when we got home. It never once felt underpowered or stressed and we definitely don't need to rev it to 4500rpm for it to move or keep up. It generally chugs along at 2000 - 3500rpm with the boat on. Neal, if was daily driving one, we would not go the V8 route, in fact, we'd likely buy a newer model diesel as I prefer the e70 but personally I prefer driving a smaller car day to day. The diesels are generally more expensive but will hold resale. We bought ours as the depreciation has almost all been lost and we don't use it a lot... But when we do, it safely gets us around with close to 2ton of boat and camping gear a few times a year. We chose it over a station wagon because most big wagons tow ratings came too close to the boat/trailer weight (I like to build in a little redundancy). We also bought it because it has AWD and that is always helpful on a slippery boat ramp.

is this the car sitting in Marcus's garage?

why not go to M62b44?

Bring it to the coffee meet on Sunday and you will get a dozen different opinions!

Water/coolant in a late model transmission / torque converter is eventually terminal with out a rebuild, be it immediately or a months time. The clutch fibre plates adhesive compound that hold the linings onto the plates degrades very quickly with hot water & steam. This releases the fibre material and the transmission sh*t's it self. No if's or but's. It also requires complete flushing of cooler lines and coolers. If metallic material is also present it's best to replace the cooler and all rubber cooler hoses after rebuilding the transmission

Exactly this, and tbh not a hell of a lot of hope for a trans thats had oil run through it thats contaminated with coolant. You wouldnt be able to flush it with a bottle, it would need to actually pump the oil through it (causing more damage in the process), or be stripped down and cleaned (and rebuilt since itll be stuffed).

Seen a ///M 318Ti today, looked more legit than this stuff...

I had a 3.91 with ZF 5 speed on my E30 race car with S50b32. 2nd gear launches weren't a problem but top speed was 220km/h @ 7400rpm, this became a problem when I got more power as I started running out of revs in 5th. Now I have 3.91 with Getrag 6 speed I can idle at 3000rpm at 100km/h on the motorway, top speed 260km/h. The best thing is it's like having a close ratio dog leg 5 speed as 2,3,4,5,6 are all used on the track with the most used gears being in a H pattern.

Reading your post it sounds like you have not removed a trans before correct /incorrect? As you have found the exhaust needs to come off then the main heat shield a few 8mm speed screws from memory. This will give you access to the drive shaft centre bearing and greater ease to remove the drive shaft end from the diff.These torex bolts can be bloody tight make sure the socket or spanner you use is a good fit and square on to them before applying pressure. It might even require one to place a bar or such in the universal joint and get it so it locks against the car floor to assist with the loosing of these bolts. Once you have the trans and torque converter out what was your plan to get these flushed out properly first time round?.

have good cheap low km trans here if needed

I have, for the most part, found Ron's posts to be very knowledgeable and helpful, as opposed to your pointless and misguided opinions scattered all over this poor forum. If you have no first hand experience with the the X5 then pipe down and have some respect for the OP and the people who know what they're talking about.

i use photo bucket, has a very good iphone app, i presume one for android too, upload them using that on the phone, type out a post on bimmersport and by the time i have finished what i want to say the pictures are ready to link into the comment. can see how some people that arent good on the computer would struggle with this though, there are a few steps. would be good if a later update did alow for direct posting of photos to here though.

NZTA data only has overall colour, in this case blue, which would also show all other shades of blue of which I would take it there were a few. So sorry can't narrow it down to Topaz M3s

Fair call! I genuinely hope you enjoyed your break and I'm pretty sure it was well deserved. Don't take my criticism too personally - I'm sure you don't, my guess is you have thick skin! I'll stand by my criticism all day, every day though. Sometimes your 'contributions' seem to be intended to deliberately obfuscate practical, meaningful information. And that's not cool for an enthusiasts' forum. Glad you're back, I enjoy the banter.

/rant

I'm also led to believe Swedish girls are much better looking. They also have many crazy turbo bmws.

There are a bunch of you that really need to get a life.. You sit around like a bunch of old menopausal spinster women in a retirement home desperately seeking things/people to criticise despite knowing NOTHING of the circumstances. One starts it off (like in this topic) and the rest are in like a pack of dogs. Is it that you are not getting it at home??? Maybe you all should invest in an inflatable lady/man which you can pass around to remove the source of your frustration???

Ended up going okay in the end- Andy I have split folding rear seats so access was good. Chucked the stupid moronic retarded piece of junk imperial bolts and associated crap in the bin and went with some much stronger 8.8 grade metric ones.

Did something break ??