KwS

Interested in refurbing my M3 DS1s as the paint is a bit shabby, but as i dont want the car sitting on stands whilst i do it ill need some spare wheels to use in the mean time. I like the look of the E46 Motorsport wheels, Style 68, and also any of the other style of E36 M3 wheels. Also interested in a set of CSL reps or some BBS wheels (CH, LM, RK etc) or just anything interesting that will fit an E36 M3. Must include tires, and they must be warrantable/usable. Must be 3 series fitment. In or near wellington preferred unless shipping is cheap.

Did you note when stopping during the vibration if one of the wheels was significantly hotter to touch than the others? Thats usually a pretty good indicator if a caliper is sticking as itll created friction, and heat. Missing caliper clip is very unlikely to cause an issue like this, just a horrendous rattling noise over bumps.

Excellent looking car, love the colour. Shame i havent seen it around! Keen for a Welly meet up at some point. Theres a few of us on here now.

Sweet. Are they soldered or socketed?

vid or it didnt happen

WOF passed (only needed head and fog light height adjusted), expires next year some time.

Will have new WOF today. Reg till end of month (will chuck on 3 months when it expires). KM are getting close to 208000 now, its still in regular use. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-785121980.htm $14,000 ONO

Other than it being illegal? Hate to be the next owner when having plates and tags swapped catches up with them.

The more i think about it the less i think it would need a reshell. Most E36s will be missing the under panel plastics, they break and tend not to be replaced. Inlet boots crack, thats normal. Bits being zip tied together, although not great isnt a major. it might just need a new bumper or whatever part is zip tied. If parts arent screwed together properly they will look out of alignment, as even the bumper has a large range of adjustment when the bolts are backed off. You might find that by even just taking the panels off, and reassembling them correctly, they might align OK. The interior sounds like a normal E36 interior that hasnt been refreshed. Most will have the saggy headlining and door trims, and teather wears. There are heaps of leather products that will breathe new life into it. Start a new service history, no big deal. Most NZ cars (especially imports) are missing all the manuals and service history.

Its terrible. Paint it.

Do you remember the fiasco that was the yellow E36 M3 that was reshelled into a 318i shell (and the fact most things that were swapped over needed to be certified)? Value on that was terrible. Its all about matching numbers for something as uncommon as a 3.0 M3. Also, arent M3 shells reinforced for subframe mounts? E36 bits, including panel parts, are a dime a dozen.

Fix it. Low KM original 3.0s are becoming rarer by the day. Reshelling it removes all originality and a lot of value. Do you have any pictures?

Would be surprised if Andy down here didnt have a spare used one in all his V12 spares

FTFY, not just M5 people.

because random speculation is what makes forums tick?

Love the color scheme, i think the interior will look better in person (it looks over saturated in the photos) and the ACS kit looks OK. Doesnt seem like a lot of ACS stuff on the car though? Not going to argue the price is certainly up there though.

yeah cheers, its great to be back behind the wheel. Just cant get enough of the sound and power. As said i think i messed up my diagnosis a little, i think the low battery voltage when i was done cleaning the sensors may have reset the ECU causing it to run rough, tricking me into think the issue remained. What i should have done was take it for a decent drive and it probably would have been fine. Oh well, its running sweet now.

just wasnt cut quite perfectly initially i guess. sh*t it was cheap enough to not be too worried!

Oh, and i did end up cutting a small section off the top of my gear bot so it now sits below the knob.

Long awaited update. Car died on the way home about a month ago, started to misfire badly and couldnt put the engine under any load without it cutting out. Sure made the drive home up hill fun. Got it into the garage and DIS indicated a Cam Position sensor failure. Being that there are 3 cam position sensors i couldnt narrow down which one had given up. I suspected it was the TDC or intake cam sensors. I took all the sensors out early on and gave them a clean. The intake sensor was VERY dirty. I gave it a decent clean and afterwards i noticed the car ran better but still misfired. I then parked the car up and left it for 3 weeks whilst i ordered all 3 new sensors from the dealer. I took the car out over the weekend and used my newly acquired oscilloscope to test the cam sensors, knowing that my new sensors were days away. All sensors tested OK, but i noted that the car was idling better so i took it for a drive up the street. It was running fantastic, no signs of issues at all. The only difference was that i fully charged the battery as it had been getting a real hammering whilst running diagnostics and had run dead a couple of times recently. Since it went up the street OK i took it for a longer run, to upper hutt and back. Ran mint, pulled strong and no signs of issues. On Sunday i did a loop of SH2, SH58, SH1, SH2 to home. Still running perfect, and it almost felt like it was running smoother. I suspect it was a combo of the intake cam sensor being dirty causing the original issue, and a sketchy battery charge causing the issue later on after cleaning. As a matter of course, i got the new sensors anyway as the old ones were 20 years old and starting to fall to bits (strain relief on the cables fallings off etc). Boom, got me some sensors today. Started with the shittiest one to get at, the intake sensor. Limited room means i need an allen key to crack the bolt and then there is only enough room to turn the bolt with the tips of your fingers 1/4 turn at a time. Getting the bolt back in is even worse, no room to move. Old vs New Replaced The next one was the exhaust sensor. Limited room thanks to the AC hose running past it. You can undo it easy enough but the hose stops you removing it. I used a long pry bar to lever against the heatshield and push the pipe away enough to pop the sensor out. Old and new And finally the TDC sensor Took it for a drive, goes very well. Probably a placebo but car feels like its running smoother. Vroom vroom

Its personal preference, but i like the tri colour stitching better. More subtle.

I swear by my Fuller Pro 1/2" socket set. Ive given it hell and nothing has broken, and it has a lifetime warranty. DO NOT buy cheap hex and torx sockets, i made that mistake once and it cost me. The Bahco hex sockets i got are good quality, much tighter fit in the bolt than the cheap SCA ones i had. In terms of my sockets, anything under 12mm is 6 point for me, and any spanner under 8mm is 6 point.

The majority of people wanting an E36 these days want a cheap runabout with some BMW cred, so obviously a well maintained, highly specced car listed at a higher price than the usual cheap shitters wont appeal to them. Good E36s are bit of a niche item now, you have to want one specifically otherwise you'd get the "newer, lower km, better" E46 (even though the E36 imo is a better car).

Ah yes, i think this was the twin of my car (yet i strangely never saw it around in Wellington). Looked real good in the listing. Keen to see more pictures. Welcome to M3 ownership

Fly up and drive it down. Cheaper than freighting it.