E36 323Ti Project

[Financial_Ruins 25]

After lurking in the shadows for the last two years and checking daily to see if my favorite build threads had any updates I thought id give this a go myself!

Now before I start rambling I would like to acknowledge the public hatred towards compact's, Yes they are hideous and this one is defiantly not the coolest one In NZ but its my ugly duckling and it has provided me with connections to the most amazing people in this community and wealth's of knowledge that can not learnt from YouTube..... So we begin   

How It Began:

While Making a quick trip to Weitz industries to grab a few bits for my 130 I noticed a small little compact sitting in the corner waiting to be harvested before turning into a coke can, At the time gas prices were at an all time High and the thought of a small economical German Rear wheel drive sounded like the perfect solution!  Despite being warned by Nick that the condition was unknown and it was sold strictly as a parts car I already had my heart set on It and turned a blind eye to all the negatives while convincing my partner with the positives! While not entirely convinced she said yes and I was able to drive it home😀 

After making a quick stop at the gas station I drove the short 4km home loving every second of it, Despite owning multiple Bmw's and having the 130i as a daily driver I couldn't help but notice how nimble and zippy it was! For a car that was sold as a entry level 90's Bmw the quality and handling already outdid much more expensive Toyota hatchbacks 10 years Newer! 

 

Unfortunately that's pretty much the last time I got to enjoy the Efficient 1.8L. While I was to busy admiring the absolute bargain I had scored the car was pouring white smoke the entire way home, after a quick investigation it was obvious that the 257,000km M44 blew its head gasket while I was gutted this finally gave me the opportunity to do what I had been scheming since I saw the car.. A 328ti 

[Financial_Ruins 25]

The Engine Removal:

It took me a while to fully convince myself to not swap in another M44, The M52 market seemed cold and there were a handful of cheap M44's Available however after a long discussion with a few long time friends it was decided to go ahead and put the b28 in it and rive off into the sunset! 

I Began pulling the old tired engine out of it, While I am no better than a monkey with a spanner, I did have a lot of experience with the e46 chassis thanks to my high school days! It was a relatively straight forward process that took place over two evenings. keeping in mind this compact had 257,000kms I was incredibly shocked as to how rust and oil free everything was! The car was obviously looked after for majority of its life which made things way easier for me😀

 

The Suspension:

After Removing the engine I got a bit carried away, While I didn't exactly have a budget for this project I was still a university student. I went in with the mindset that I wanted problem free Wofs for at least the next 4 years and the decision to replace majority of the suspension and bushes was made. since I was replacing Tie Rods and Rack Ends, I looked around and managed to score an absolute steal on a purple tag rack which is what started my OE+ Spending spree (We get into that later)

Both front control arms, Tie rods, Rack ends, Rotors, Pads, Abs sensors, Lollipops, sway bar bushes, engine mount, caliper seals and maybe a bit more were replaced in the front end!

A 6 Cylinder M sport sway bar was also installed to clear the M52 sump. Some will notice the second hand shocks, While I wanted to do Coil overs at some point I don't want to cheap out, It was decided that this was not a high priority item so some second hand 6 Cylinder Monroe shocks and springs were purchased 

In the back both Subframe bushes, Trailing arm, Caliper seals, rotors, pads were replaced, While wanting to do diff bushes I hadn't quite figured out the diff yet so decided not to touch it.  

[Financial_Ruins 25]

The Drivetrain:

Now I know many of you will be reading this rather confused, The title says 323Ti project but I'm talking about a 328Ti. I was lucky enough that the person who grabbed my old M44 had a few engine laying around, A deal was made was for a b28 however life happened and it turned out the engine was a 2.5. Despite being given the option to grab a refund or let him pull the b28 out of his own vehicle for me (If your reading this your are an absolute legend!)  I decided to go with one of these b25's. Initially there was no real reason, Maybe I'm just impatient or maybe the b25 was priced incredibly well however after collecting the engine and opening it up I was incredibly glad I choose this path! 

The engine was immaculate and quite possibly the best condition I've ever seen! Since I had the engine out it was the perfect opportunity to do some preventive work. The water pump and thermostat housing were both switched for aluminum units, The Sump, Valve cover gasket and oil filter housing gaskets were changed along side of all the intake gaskets and lines. the throttle body warmer was blocked with a customer Part thanks to a fellow member, All Belts and pulleys were replaced as well as the usual plugs, filters and oil. 

 

A g220 was selected for the transmission as mated up to the M52 along with a new Single Mass fly Wheel and clutch From NZAD (Good time to replace your rear main!) And to top everything off the shifter was rebuilt. As mentioned before I wasn't certain what to do with the diff as the Ti shares the same style as an e30 and z3 making decent ratios hard to find and when you do they are Very well priced! I was lucky enough to score a diff from a factory manual 318ti and while this isn't perfect it is good enough for what I need! Obviously all fluids were flushed and changed 

[Financial_Ruins 25]

The Interior And Rare Bits:

When I first got this car the interior wasn't awful but it wasn't to far from it! I started with the usual deep clean and wet Vac, This bought it up and came to show that just because something is High kms means everything has to be worn! My first Item I tackled was the seats, While I really wanted M rain seats these are often ruined and sold in a heartbeat. Since all of my seats but my driver's were in fairly good condition I decided to stick with the style I had and refurbish them! A full interior from another Ti was purchased however the drivers seat was also worn. I was able to swap the bases over from the passenger seat to the drivers side making one good condition seat from the two! 

While I played with Idea of using a e46 M sport wheel, Getting the airbag and horn to work was to much of a mission so the standard Evo wheel was returned.

A custom M3 cluster was made using the 6 Cylinder cluster and not only looks the part but has a functioning MPG gauge, Cool for a compact!  

I am very big on my music, I'm not an audiophile but I do like having decent sounds. everything single speaker in the car was replaced with some JVC 4.5" purchased from Supercheap Auto, including the rears with custom 3d printed brackets! While these were good they did lack the lows, A sub and alpine amp were installed and dialed in to ever so slightly pick up the lows the speakers lacked (I did the whole big bass thing through high school so grateful its not coming back in this car) As I started to like the early Bmw styling I wanted everything to be factory, The car still retains its factory head unit and Cd stacker which will soon also have Aux capability!

Every single globe in the car was replaced and returned to its original working order (I say this like it was easy, Hundreds and dollars and hours of time went into building and finding discontinued globes)

A factory leather Arm rest was installed and a good condition parcel tray and OEM First aid box was found!

Oem Bonnet Light 

Probably the coolest part that's yet to be installed as I'm still awaiting for the wiring loom from Germany is my factory OBC unit that will replace the clock. The will show a very basic run down of Consumption, Outdoor temp and range! I believe relatively rare and super cool!

A very rare M spoiler was also acquired and installed making the rather ugly behind kind of less ugly? 

Exhaust:

I wont get into to much deal as this was just a nightmare, Factory 318ti exhaust up to the Cat, Cat has been replaced with a resonator and 323i downpipes were used. I really do not want to relive this nightmare (Try transport an exhaust in a Toyota corolla) 

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Financial_Ruins

[Financial_Ruins 25]

Today:

As of today the cars not far from completion, just awaiting a wheel alignment and then will be getting ready for cert! 

Hopefully I can answer questions for anyone wanting to do this swap or at least bring some reading to kill some time! Please let me know If I've done my thread correctly as Im normally only a reader and have tried my best to make this one as readable as all of yours!

A huge thank you to everyone in the community, While there is so much more to this story with so many great people involved that If I had to type it we would all be here for weeks!

 

Cheers Guys!

Edited January 15, 2023 by Financial_Ruins

[Palazzo 476]

Great work and write up. You make it sound so simple, I’m tempted to go out to the garage and start pulling something apart. I think I’ll resist and have a beer instead though.

[Financial_Ruins 25]

Appreciated man! Definitely think a beer would be the go to😉

[Eagle 1661]

Purple tag rack feels so good in these

[Financial_Ruins 25]

Update!

After attempting to bring back to life another Avus blue e36… I have learned my lesson and realised that god only ever wanted me to have one project and that’s a power I’m not willing to argue with.

 

As a resultant of this I got an absolute Boat load of parts for my compact including a complete standard e36 dashboard with electric modules and OBD computer😁

While I am aware it has been done to a few Ti’s around the country I am also aware that the quality of work on the smaller things were far from factory resulting in a rather unpleasant experience.
 

Once I remove the failed project from the garage I will resume this rather funky conversion with the Ti Including the Dual zone climate conversion.

This conversion has been poorly documented from what I can tell so I will do my best to make a decent step by step write up for any of the Ti friends lurking😃

[Financial_Ruins 25]

Been a while since I’ve updated so here’s a bit of an update! 
 

dash swap is 80% complete, decided to try and skip swapping the heater panel however I have yet again changed my mind so the dash will have to come back out. 
 

As a resultant of the dash swap there is no longer space to shift into any of the top gears so a short throw shifter has been ordered to combat this! Various smaller things have also been done such as putting the larger 6 cylinder radiator along side of all the factory protective covers! 
 

Hopefully once I get my hands on an electric heater core I can fully complete the dash swap and look at running the car through compliance! 

[KwS 2424]

Dash swap looks good, much better than the billy basic compact dash. 

With the shifting thing, did you use 6 cylinder shift linkage? The 4 pot linkages cause weird issues like that because theyre a different length.  

[Financial_Ruins 25]

1 hour ago, KwS said:

Dash swap looks good, much better than the billy basic compact dash. 

With the shifting thing, did you use 6 cylinder shift linkage? The 4 pot linkages cause weird issues like that because theyre a different length.  

Cheers man! Have a factory 6 cylinder linkage that worked with compact dash but smacks into the console with the current set up. 
 

I did get a coupe lower dash with the 2 window switch cut outs instead of the the sedan style so will try that and update if that solves it!

[Neil McCauley 394]

Cracking project! Love that it's a parts bin special - it's like Lego for big kids.