joshnz 2 Report post Posted October 21, 2006 Hi all, this is one hell of a great forum! I have just purchased my first car - after test driving many bimmers I settled on a nice and very standard '95 320i, only 79 thousand k's - its a jap import. The car is abosultely mint. Day after I got it I had a rather expesnive immobiliser/alarm etc installed - fully worth it. I plan on getting new springs/shocks all round, inlcuding some nice rims - do you guys have any recommendations? Me and a mate just put a Sony GTX350 headunit in last weekend, tomorrow 6x9s are being put into the rear tray and I plan on using the skihole behind the seat for a sub! Dont laugh at the pics ... its stock at the moment Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yuen 16 Report post Posted October 21, 2006 (edited) Hi all, this is one hell of a great forum! I have just purchased my first car - after test driving many bimmers I settled on a nice and very standard '95 320i, only 79 thousand k's - its a jap import. The car is abosultely mint. Day after I got it I had a rather expesnive immobiliser/alarm etc installed - fully worth it. I plan on getting new springs/shocks all round, inlcuding some nice rims - do you guys have any recommendations? Me and a mate just put a Sony GTX350 headunit in last weekend, tomorrow 6x9s are being put into the rear tray and I plan on using the skihole behind the seat for a sub! Dont laugh at the pics ... its stock at the moment Welcome, Josh! Your car looks exactly like my car when it was still stock, minus the bumper (mine's a 92 so it had a different stock front bumper, and mine didn't have painted mirrors). It's also an E36 320i from Japan. What alarm did you get? I've been looking at the higher end Dynatron and Mongoose. Rims-wise, I would get BBS wheels to suit the car, generally Jap wheels don't suit european cars, but sometimes you can find some that do. The most general advice would be something 5 spoke, you can't go wrong with those. I'm not a fan of chromies either. I would also advise you to watch your wheel weights, so basically don't go bigger than 17" if you don't want to lose significant 'go' in the car. The engine is already underpowered for the body as it is. My 17"s are ~22lbs each, and once they were on, when I stepped the throttle down to the point where the car usually auto-downshifts, it didn't do that. Fuel consumption increased, from 9km/l to 8km/l. The car lost some of its spirit. I would hate to think what would happen if you put 19"s on... unless they're lightweight ones which means they won't come cheap. Are you going to cut the rear tray to install 6x9s? Or are you using adapters of some sort? Good idea on the skihole, I've been wanting to do that, what size sub are you using, and I suppose the ski-hole is still sealed for you so you're going to punch it through? Edited October 21, 2006 by Yuen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nobimmer 694 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 Welcome. Car looks sweet will be cool to see it come alive if you will lol Chur Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hybrid 1043 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 welcome dude .... nice clean looking ride Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joshnz 2 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 Welcome, Josh! Your car looks exactly like my car when it was still stock, minus the bumper (mine's a 92 so it had a different stock front bumper, and mine didn't have painted mirrors). It's also an E36 320i from Japan. What alarm did you get? I've been looking at the higher end Dynatron and Mongoose. Rims-wise, I would get BBS wheels to suit the car, generally Jap wheels don't suit european cars, but sometimes you can find some that do. The most general advice would be something 5 spoke, you can't go wrong with those. I'm not a fan of chromies either. I would also advise you to watch your wheel weights, so basically don't go bigger than 17" if you don't want to lose significant 'go' in the car. The engine is already underpowered for the body as it is. My 17"s are ~22lbs each, and once they were on, when I stepped the throttle down to the point where the car usually auto-downshifts, it didn't do that. Fuel consumption increased, from 9km/l to 8km/l. The car lost some of its spirit. I would hate to think what would happen if you put 19"s on... unless they're lightweight ones which means they won't come cheap. Are you going to cut the rear tray to install 6x9s? Or are you using adapters of some sort? Good idea on the skihole, I've been wanting to do that, what size sub are you using, and I suppose the ski-hole is still sealed for you so you're going to punch it through? Thanks for the warm welcome guys. Today was a long day, mounting 6x9s was not as easy as I thought, took out the rear tray as well as the rear pillars with the lights in them, ended up breaking half the bloody clips on the pillar inserts so I'll have to sort something out this week so they sit in a bit more secure than they are now. We ended up sitting the 6x9s in the factory hole and custom making some risers, it was an extremely tight squeeze, I'll post some pics when they are covered with carpet/felt - when they don't look like utter crap. Thanks for the advice about the wheels, I definitely don't want chromies, I'm not a big fan. And yeah ... the car doesn't have too much "go" at the moment so I would hate to lose much if I put on big wheels, I think 17s and a nice lowering kit would set it off nicely. The alarm I had installed is called and AutoWatch, made in the UK, installed by a local shop (SSS on Rangitikei Street), it has 3 immobilisation points, glass break sensors etc, it seems to work well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joshnz 2 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 Save me starting another thread .. are there any worthwhile additions that can be made to the engine to give a little more power? Cheers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 hey bro welcome, looks like you got a nice car there, one of my best mates picked up a '98 one on friday so hes in the same position as you at the moment, not really a hell of a lot you can do cheaply to make it faster only litle things like a better air filter like a K&N and run it on '96 petrol thats all I can think of, just make it look cool(er). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joshnz 2 Report post Posted October 22, 2006 Yeah, few other bimmer forums Ive been browsing mentioned about K&N, should I make a box for it or can I get one to go where the standard filter is now? Next time I fill up it'll be 96! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BMW POWER 2 Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Willkommen, Nice clean ride. Look forward to some mods in the future. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi535 538 Report post Posted October 23, 2006 wih a K andN it will prolly sound faster,but i dont think you wil get any power improvement Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bimmer boy 21 Report post Posted October 23, 2006 (edited) wih a K andN it will prolly sound faster,but i dont think you wil get any power improvement Shhh let the placebo effect work its magic Edited October 23, 2006 by bimmer boy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bravo 35 Report post Posted October 23, 2006 Hi. Top marks for enthusiasm, and glad you idn't do the usual n00b mistake of cutting your metal parcel tray to put the 6x9's in. Put some decent amped splits in the front. There aren't really any cheap "bolt-on" mods for bimmers. You could try a performance chip etc, but the value for money isn't really there. You get more improvment for your dollar by enjoying the car and then upgrading in due course to a 325 or 328. Welcome, enjoy your ride. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jazzbass 1 Report post Posted October 24, 2006 IMO your first mod should be wheels. They make a huge difference in impact. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
