M3AN

If it's such a slight ding, given it's her first car why not just run with it? And if you kept the old springs you can swap them back in before the car goes anywhere. Or pick up a set of 4 cheap ones from Brent?

You should have told him you can get an actual M3 for less than that.

^ Hoped so, thanks.

Do I need to block off the trans cooler holes (or do anything else with them) if I'm using a separate cooler for the transmission?

Saw this car in the flesh last nice and it's friggin' awesome. And I can assure you all that the wheels, tyres, brakes and seat are all bigger and better in real life than they are in the pics. Epic effort Richard!

Keeping it auto for the time being, fine for a commuter. I think you can get full alu radiators here in NZ, check out some of the Trademe suppliers.

Cheers bud, hoping it'll turn out okay for a thrash around auto lol! The rad came from a BS member here Richard. He got it new but wasn't suitable for his (cool) race car build so was just gathering dust in his (cool) workshop. And if you think this is sweet you should see his BBK... lust. 6 pot Wilwoods front and rear. They're absolutely massive and and for only $2k. OMG!!!

NP. $200 including fan cowl, expansion tank, level sender and ancillary hoses. Really good value! Tank and sender are surplus to requirements and available if anyone needs them.

New and with with alu end tanks to boot. Purdy... Thanks to @richard for a good deal and great chat! He even threw in a fan cowl which I needed and some ancillaries I can probably reuse. Now, just gotta get that fan off!

I'm not up on my Fords so I should probably have just said "the quick one".

I'm really digging the red door cards, they match the red flashes on the front seat covers. The fact that the rear cards are actually screwed on just screams lifetime to me. And lifetime is a good thing when it comes to cars I'm sure!

You really need the codes read again then and the light reset and then after it triggers again the codes read again. I don't suppose you have access to a code reader? If your car has a pac-man style connector in the engine bay (second picture: http://www.peakeresearch.com/compatibility.htm) then I can get the codes for you.

A lot will depend on why it's coming on. When you had it previously repaired they will have read the error codes, did they advise you what they were?

lol

You should probably be worried about Focus ST drivers period. Quick and light. They're no laughing matter.

Automatic transmission fluid looked just awful as I removed the trans cooler so once I've done the cooling system I think I'll book it in with Glenn at Botany Motor Worx for a fluid, sump gasket and filter flush and replacement. It doesn't seem too complicated to do this yourself and all I need is an extra set of jack stands which I can get my hands on but it looks like a bit of a pain in the arse so if the price is right I'll outsource it.

Swapped the steering wheel over - 4 spoke replaces 4 spoke. It's not a wheel I like but I had one lying around in pretty reasonable condition from when I swapped that out of my M3 for a 3 spoke in that. The one in the 328 had split leather and felt terrible, my other options weren't that great either. At least this one feels fine. Easy fix. I also fixed the squeaking, creaking sound coming from the steering wheel which was the bearing in the engine bay. I only used CRC so it will come back but I'll do it properly when I have the inclination.

Purchased some vanity items also: 1 x rear lip spoiler as per E39 M5 - it's arrived and looks great, yet to be installed. 1 x set of matt black 'facelift' kidney grills for the pre-facelift front panel. Hopefully they fit well Silly expenditure really but I really do dislike the pre-facelift grills and I've always liked the lip spoilers on a the E36. Less than $100 for the lot, cheap and cheerful.

Second thing I did was blow up the radiator (was already dodgy) so, planning to overhaul the entire cooling system I ordered a new thermostat, aluminium housing for said and water pump which have all arrived from schmiedmann.com (4 days!). I'm still considering my radiator options but will get that locally. Radiator, trans cooler, expansion tank have been removed. Fan is still stuck on. :-/ All the the "coolant" was just rusty water. Need to drain the block next. It already had a newish expansion tank and an aluminium thermostat housing so it might also have a new pump but hey, peace of mind when it comes to e36 cooling right?

I'm sure the showroom isn't the right place to chronicle my endeavours with my new-to-me e36 328i so I'm going to dump my load in this thread instead. I have no grand plans for this, it was cheap and in pretty average condition but it's a good (enough) base for a point-to-point daily driver for me. I was originally thinking of a 318 for cost reasons but when this 6 cylinder popped up for a couple of grand I couldn't say no even though I knew it would need another thousand or so (hopefully not much more!) thrown at it to get it to a serviceable state. It's a Jap import with the glorious Jatco auto. Here she is in her original glory: First thing I did was swap out the wheels with my track ones (and semi slicks, vroom!):

Stamped are forged, non-stamped are cast. http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partgrp?id=BG92-EUR-07-1996-E36-BMW-M3&mg=36

Stamped (forged) ones will command the premium value, the non-stamped ones less so.

^ nice bro, real nice.

Pulled the radiator, expansion tank and hoses out of the 328 today. After work. I love daylight savings! Water pump, thermostat and aluminium housing all turned up as well although I'm stuck until I can get the damn fan off, doesn't want to budge. Soaked it in CRC, will have another go tomorrow.

^ More empirical evidence that the Goodyears are a great tyre. Trust the experts, not the forum junkies.