59. Fixing electrics on a 325i

Well, It's been a while since I wrote my last post. To be honest, due to a lack of finances, my project paused. I believe it'll start again soon. Until then, I was keeping myself busy with my friends 325 limo. He bought a crashed E36, and he is rebuilding it. And he has made some amazing progress. He painted the whole driver's side of the car (since he had black doors and fender), painted the hood black (it was dark red - just like my first E36 project car), fixed the engine, and so on... Since the previous owner cut almost all wires for the lights, side markers, fog lights, and some other stuff, I decided to help with that. I learned about the E36 electrics the hard way - I pulled excess wires out of my green BMW, and then had to find the one wire I pulled too many ... :o)


P.S.

I'm happy to say that my adventure with this car is successful... :) The only thing I still have to fix is the rear driver's side light. But that may be just a broken bulb... :) Hopefully we'll see this car in action in a couple of weeks. :)

P.P.S.

Don't you just LOVE that RED? =)

P.P.P.S.

Oh yea, I almost forgot - A couple of pictures:

Notice the snow? Fun sideways action... :)

Not so fun working in a cold garage...

Well, that's when I don't want to take my 318is out of the heated one.

 

 

We still need to confirm that this is really 325 :)

Want to know why? Read my 'That stupid M50 engine' post. :-P

 

 

When you paint your car - do cover up your air compressor: ;c)

 

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49. E36 and E36 M3 differences

I received a lot of questions about transforming regular BMW E36's into ///M cars. Some of them were about the exterior and interior, and some were about the mechanical stuff...

So, what do you need to convert your regular E36 into a M3?

Exterior:
- Front bumper
- Rear bumper
- Side skirts
- Rims
- Side moldings
- Badges
- Rear Lights

Interior:
- Sport seats
- Shift knob
- Steering wheel
- Instrument cluster
- Upholstery

Mechanical:
- M3 engine and gearbox
- Big 2-way limited slip differential (LSD) with 25% lock
- M3 exhaust
- M3 suspention



 So, basically, you need to change almost everything.
And, in the end, even if you DO change everything, your car's VIN number will still reveal that you don't have a 'proper' M3.

OK, so, I know that most of you want to style your car to look like a real M3... So, this list should be enough.

What do I think about this?
Well, I would rather drive a regular-looking E36 with a M3 power plant and suspension, than a M3 look-a-like with a small 4 cylinder engine... But that's just me.

If you still want to do it, I would recommend this:
Install original M3 bumpers and skirts, seats, rims and the instrument cluster. Go after market with the steering wheel, suspension and the exhaust. Then, change the engine cover plastic with one saying 'M Power', and your air intake manifold with an after market ITBs (Individual Throttle Bodies). Hopefully, you already have a Medium Case LSD installed. If not, Install one. Be careful, your diff is probably connected to your drive shaft with 4 bolts. M units are connected with 6 bolts. (And they don't fit in your standard differential sub frame)... :)
I'll soon write a small article about diff swapping on E36's.
(Yea, I bought a M3 diff)... :)

Here's a couple of things you might like:

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46. That stupid M50 engine...

After a while, I started working on my project E36 again. The plan was to take the engine out of the green BMW, and to rebuild it trough the winter. There's nothing better than playing with your big, strong beemer engine in a nice, warm, cozy garage... :) (that sound's sick, right?) So, I bought an engine crane, a new air compressor, and some new pneumatic tools...

 Without the proper tools, taking out the engine is a real pain...
(remember how I took it out the first time? - Refresh your memory here!)

 

So, after a few hours, the engine was out, and in my  garage. Imediatley, I started to dissasemble it. And than, I found this:

 

Something isn't right here... I checked some engine specs (320 specification vs. 325 specification), and it hit me: My engine IS NOT a M50B25... it's a M50B20! Darn! I'm 40 hp short, to begin with...

The only good thing about this is, that I can aim even higher! So, I decided to buy a Double-Vanos M52TUB28 (or a Single-Vanos M52B28) engine. Come back to see if I managed to find a good engine! I'll write a bragging post the minute I buy one! ;)

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