glen.riley.1990 25 Report post Posted July 18, 2015 Hey Guys As i sit here trying to sum up the motivation to go and do some work work on this i though it was about time to start a thread on the 328i. A bit of background on the car, when i was 20 i sold my 318IS manual as i started to want something with a bit more oomph, i still liked the E36 and couldn't quite afford an E39 540. so I decided that a 328I would be the ideal car for me. i was keen on a manual but couldn't find a tidy one within my budget after a few months of looking. i did find a nz new 4 door auto with decent spec, full leather ect for a decent price and in really good nick so i picked it up. Since then i have done quite a bit of the usual maintenance improving on it where i could. The suspension has just about been completely rebuilt with solid rubber bushings, the standard springs, sway bars and shocks have been replaced with factory M-Sport springs and sway bars and Koni Adjusatble shocks. The brakes now sport Brembo blank rotors and EBC red pads. Crank and Cam position sensors have been replaced with genuine new ones. The plugs have just been replaced with the OEM Bosch ones. On the inside i have re-coloured the parcel tray back to black from the purple they all trend to, swapped out the interior lights for LEDs and found an M3 Evo steering wheel for it. The hood linging is falling off more and more by the day now, so will soon be pulled out and re-covered although i am un-decided on something close to the current grey, or to go dark like the M-sport cars. i would love a set of vaders for the front seats too but have not yet found any one willing to part with a set! Now the big one! MANUAL! This weekends mission is the manual conversion. i have been sitting on a ZF box for almost a year and have finaly decided its time to do the swap. at this moment the car is up on axel stands with the interior pulled out and the exhaust and drive shaft spread over the garage! with any luck ill be driving it to work as a manual on monday! but realistically i think ill be done mid next week. once the manual conversion is all done and dusted i have a custom 4 plate LSD center to fit to the current diff. i will likely replace all the diff bearings while i'm at it. ill get some photos of the car once its back on the road, and if there is any thing you want to see while its in pieces ill do my best to get a photo for you! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
glen.riley.1990 25 Report post Posted July 19, 2015 I'm halfway! i now have a BMW thats neither an automatic or manual! Some of the bell housing bolts were insanely tight, mostly the hard to get at ones! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
euroriffic 607 Report post Posted July 21, 2015 Looks much more involved than the e30 manual swap I did almost ten years ago. Started at 5pm Friday and drove out at 7am Saturday. Was a long night! Doing my new touring in a few weeks so that'll be interesting, should be straight forwar enough tho 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
duvey 245 Report post Posted July 22, 2015 Cool that you're using a ZF box. Good luck! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
glen.riley.1990 25 Report post Posted July 28, 2015 Right been a bit of a delay in posting, mostly because i've been working on the car! its all done and dusted now. well nearly, i need to get a hold of a shift boot, but baring that its all good! so since the last post: -Got the 'box torqued to the engine -Shifter installed -Clutch hard line installed and flexi to the slave -Drive shaft in -Heat shield back on -Exhaust on -Bleed brakes and clutch with new fluid -wire neutral safety switch -wire reverse light -Drive! Wow its really a different car with the manual box, there is alot more urge in any gear, especially pulling from low revs The clutch was quite grabby and picked up close to the floor so i re-bled it and got a few small bubbles out. it might have improved a little or maybe i'm just getting used to it ? i took the chance while it was up on stands again to do a quick oil and filter change as well. Besides the fact it looks like your taking photos with a phone from 1999 this is awesome. Always good to see a nice example made even better and great to see it done at home! Nice work Glen, looking forward to hearing about the results. Yeah my Phone camera really didnt cope with the light under the car :s not my greatest work. Thanks! Looks much more involved than the e30 manual swap I did almost ten years ago. Started at 5pm Friday and drove out at 7am Saturday. Was a long night! Doing my new touring in a few weeks so that'll be interesting, should be straight forwar enough tho Its really not too bad, theres a bit of stuff to get out of the way. having a helping hand and a few of the right tools would defiantly go a long way towards speeding things up. a rattle gun is ace for the flywheel and any decent sized bolts, a decent power bar / breaker bar should you find any really tight bolts (read 12mm bell housing ones, two of the big bell housing bolts are longer for the manual btw, 90mm vs 75mm) a can on penetrant works wonders on exhaust studs, guibo bolts, diff bolts ect. if all went to plan i think it could be done inside a day. Cool that you're using a ZF box. Good luck! Thanks! It always seemed right to me to use the gear box that would have come in the car. (also if fits better with some of the future aspirations i have for it compared to the smaller getrag). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
glen.riley.1990 25 Report post Posted October 29, 2015 Its been a little while, but split between 2 cars progress has been a little slow, there has been progress though. The 328I has been driving around as a manual for 3 odd months now with no dramas! success! i have also got a few new bits for the interior, #1 gear shift boot as my conversion came without one #2 handbrake boot to match (maybe a little cheesy, but hey a like it and its mine) and #3 some new front seats also with ///M stripes matching the handbrake and shift boots. so yes, the love it or hate is e36 seats... VADERS FIT A SEDAN. it was one long wait to find some black leather ones in good condition, but it was defiantly worth it. and as a plus the leather stitched door cards from the offending M3 have replaced the haddit ones in my M3, Stoked! also better camera this time around. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
francoisv 466 Report post Posted October 29, 2015 Nice job on the Manual Conversion. Ill be attempting this next weekend when my clutch kit arrives! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
