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The... E36

10K views 78 replies 27 participants last post by  Jose 
#1 · (Edited)
Well as all my cars I like to make a thread to document everything I've done to the car.

Story:
I sold my E39, 540I 6 Speed/Sport and was daily driving my E30 325is when it
started leaking oil out of the tranny weep hole. I got on craigslist looking for anything that ran/drove and just happen to come across an e36.
Many many texts thought out the night and the next morning I drove 2 hours to purchase this car blind. For the price I wasn't expecting anything but I figured the scrap yard would give me my money back in scrap alone so it was worth it.

Lucky for me I drove it home 2 hours, washed it many many times and got it to clean up a little bit. So here it is.

Purchase Price: $500.

1992 325I, 5 Speed
Burgandy Exterior
Tan Interior
218,xxx miles
Runs/drives with some issues. Windows/sunroof has no power.
2nd gear is gone, rest of great though.
Done dents/dings. Hood is trash, couldn't get it to clean up.

Some quick snap shots I took this evening before it got too dark.
They'll do.




























Alright, I'm going to start keeping tabs on everything here so I have somewhere it's documented.

Purchase Price: $500

Complete Black Leather, 3 obd1 M50 intake manifolds and other misc. $200.
New Clutch Master Cylinder $60
New Clutch Slave Cylinder $40
SOLD: One OBD1 Intake Manifold = +$80
New Bosch O2 Sensor = $15 + $2 S/H( Closeout at Rockauto.com )
New Duralast Gold Battery, free replacement Plus upgrade: $40
 
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13
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Wow... I'll fix it tomm.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
I did back to black. that's why the mirrors/door trim look good. the bumpers are actually painted that gray.... The parts that are black on the bumpers are what has peeled off.

If I get a tranny it would have to be cheap. Like Junkyard cheap. Since it's nothing but a beater that is saving me money I've decided at least until Christmas to leave it alone.
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Headed to a local Junkyard because they cut me a deal I couldn't refuse on a complete
Black e36 Interior.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
Alright so Just got back from the junkyard. Literally took all day because of a damn power seat with a stuck track despite using my battery to tap into the harness to move the pass. one forward to access the rear bolts. the driver side I literally had to take apart. Track and all.

Here's a quick cell phone shot for now until I upload the photos from the 5D.

Still have to go back and get the dash and some small odds and ends....
He said to pay him when I come back for the Dash next week.

 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
Better pics.

My Dog had to test out the new rear seats. :lol: He'll be using them the most anyway.



Door Panels. The 4th wasn't any good. I also got all the accessories, switches etc...


Nasty Carpet. Still it's black. So Cleaning and dying should make it nice....


Some Random Interior pieces. Rear Seat carpet, Front Arm rest, Rearview mirror (mines leaking glue) Kick panels, other pieces. More not pictured.... Oh well/.



Front Power Seats, with belts/trim etc....



Everything together including small odds/ends I didn't take pictures of.



1st trip to junkyard for interior swap successful!
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Update:
I'm going back Saturday to grab the dash and a few other things including some interior wire harness.
I gave them $100 for eveything you see pictured. I'm hoping only to have to give them $50 for the dash/wiring. We'll see.
It's a deal because the owner saw me in my uniform, and on my side job I stopped by just to look at the car and I was in the ambulance so I'm assuming he dropped the price for me. Either way it's a hell of a deal and I should have no problem selling my tan interior for the same or more. Which would be fuking awesome! lol

So, Plans.
Once I get everything else I need interior wise from the junkyard I'll order some other stuff.

Between swapping the interior I'm going to be laying down sound deadening material through out the entire interior.
I'm also looking for other materials to make the interior quite and sealed up.

After laying all that down I will be running new wire for the stereo equipment.
Just from a new head unit to each individual speaker so the stereo equipment is independent from the factory harness.

Then, Once all of that is done I can put in the new black interior.

This isn't a race car, It's my daily driver and I want to get into a car and drive something that feels comfortable, nice and enjoyable.

It's not my old Audi, I'm not trying to turn it into one. But If I can make the car a little nicer and more comfortable for me as the driver and owner I will enjoy the car much more.

So that's what I'm thinking about right now about the car.

I'm not using dynamat, It's stupid priced. So I'm researching for the best value material.

I look forward to having a head unit with aux input, bluetooth and some other modern features.
 
Discussion starter · #19 · (Edited)
Yeah I'm doing a lot of research to find the most value in a product. I'd like to keep the
sound deadening material around $100. It looks like I'll be able to recoup the cost when I sell my current tan interior since it's pretty mint and that's after recouping the cost of the new intr itself. I'm pretty stoked about that. Until I pay off the credit cards I'm trying to live poor. Even then, having the smallest amount possible into this car is my goal. I picked up 3 OBD1 M50 intake manifolds I hope to make a couple hundred between the 3 and some Green top injectors I got from the yard for 20bucks.
Which will go back towards the car and come off from either a head unit or whatever else I buy. I would REALLY like some new glass projector headlights.... A lot.

It's one of my pet peeves/picky things is having good headlights for the best possible Night driving experience. Yet another reason I miss my old Audi.

Thanks, I'll check it out along with everything else.

It wont be this week, Maybe next week. But I'll be making a timelapse of the whole swap of course just like I did working on the 540i valleypan...
 
Discussion starter · #21 ·
PMed
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Update:

Went to the junkyard this morning and picked up more stuff.
Dash, A set of Fold Down rear black seats ( Just to resell )
Some small pieces here and there, the rear deck lid, rear speakers ( Aftermarket, why not it's included in the package price.... )
driver air bag ( Just to resell ) OBD1 M50 Intake mani (Just to resell )
I also cut out a pretty large section of body harness to transplant into mine since mine
seems to have had a wire get hot and melt.

All in all, for 100% of everything I've gotten this trip and the last couple I payed $200.
I'm going back to grab a few small things but they'll be free because the deal I made with the junkyard was 100% of the intr for $200. I left everying under the dash and what not. I didn't think it was worth trying to take and resell. I didn't need it.

Pictures tonight
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
So I'm spending some time tracing down the Viper alarm system that was installed by
seriously a first timer.... Lucky for me the wires aren't tapped, their stripped a 1/4 inch and
the Viper alarm wires are just wrapped around the oe wiring. So that part of it is good.
Problem is something somewhere burnt up and caused one or two oe wires to melt all the way to the trunk.

I'm assuming it's the trunk latch wires. I grabbed a good harness from the junkyard but I'm just trying to remove the alarm system and get the oe wires covered back up.
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
So I got the viper alarm system pulled out, along with the last stereo/disk changer that was all shit







Looks so much better

 
Discussion starter · #27 ·
Thanks. I'll feel lost when it sells... :( ( The Camera )
 
Discussion starter · #28 · (Edited)
Well, It looks like the clutch masker cylinder went out on me.
Driving fine, then the clutch pedal went to the floor and wouldn't return.
It also wouldn't disengage so I could shift gears...

First real repair since buying it. I'll look at prices tomm.

Here's what it's doing.... Pedal to the floor.




The fix was the Clutch Master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder!
 
Discussion starter · #29 ·
Update: I replaced the Clutch Master Cylinder and the Clutch Slave cylinder.
She was up and running after a fluid bleed and the clutch felt better than ever!
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
So, the car wouldn't start earlier today after an hour of trying at a new local walmart in spring hill. Last resort was calling a tow truck. I got the car towed home, Luckily Insurance covered the $50 tow bill and I took this video to try and record the issue it had
and it started right up. lol, I uploaded the video anyway because it made me laugh...

 
Discussion starter · #31 · (Edited)
Alright guys I need to get on this thread and keep it up.

The plan is to document everything I buy/sell for the car.
I Bought a Clutch Master Cylinder and Slave Cylinder so I'll add that to the first post,
It cost about $107 all together.

I just sold an OBD1 M50 Intake Manifold for $80.
On the way home I stopped by Oreilly's and ordered a $76 Bosch Exact fit Upstreat Oxygen Sensor since It's throwing a code and the car feels like it's compensating for not having a working o2 sensor. So we'll see.

I hope to sell a few more things and make my money back plus some of the original 500 purchase price. At the same time, there's plenty more I need to purchase so It'll be tough to stay at the $500 purchase price of the car. That's the goal though!


Also, I had some issues with the brake lights and trunk lights. I came across a thread on a bmw forum where they found that the point where the harness enters the trunk bends, and over time
inside the sleeve it will fray wires so I decided to take a look at mine.

Here is what I found inside the harness sleeve going from the back body to the trunk....

Little spot opened up already reveals issues,


All opened up. Yeah, I would say this is my issue.


Their all just melted together....
 
Discussion starter · #33 ·
Don't know, I do know I'm getting code 1221 which is Oxygen sensor #1
and when cruising or accelerating It loses power, gets it back, and repeats.
It feels like a bad 02 sensor and it's compensating like it's in a limp mode.
So, I'm starting with that.
I'm also going to purchase Spark plugs and a fuel filter today, to make sure it's not a clogged filter or something.

Either way I'm doing normal maintence I would have needed to do anyway with 220k miles so we'll see.

I suspect a possible relay problem, maybe. If so I have a bag of extra relays from the local yard so if it happens again I'll swap out the 4 possible relays one at a time and see if that does anything.
 
Discussion starter · #35 · (Edited)
I will for sure.

I picked up a new Bosch O2 Sensor from Rock Auto for a close out of
$15... Hell Yeah! I installed it, car seems to run better but I think
I have a vacuum leak somewhere I need to attend to.

So with the madness of the Holidays over ( Thanksgiving and Christmas ) and we move into the new year I've been working on getting out of debt and as I get closer I am starting to list everything I need to do to this E36.

I have almost everything I need for the interior swap.

I'll be wiring in Powered Seats, where my currents are manual.
I would like to source out some Heated seats from a junkyard E36, Remove the heating elements/switches and install them in the seats I have for the swap...

I really look forward to going from Manual seats to Powered, Heated Seats. I'd love to get this done in the next few weeks, and be able to enjoy it the rest of this winter.

I'm doing some research, While I have the dash/interior out I was considering installing a new Heater core. At a cost of $100 that money could be better spent somewhere else I think... There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with mine. So I guess I should spend that money elseware.

I would still like to install some ccf sound deadening in the middle of the swap.
So that is something else I need to purchase. It's not the sticky asphalt type deadening, it's closed cell foam to help with the higher freq. like tire/road noise.

Since I'm trying to make this my long term daily beater, I want it to be really comfortable inside, From the interior materials, the feel, the sound and the features.

Also while the intr is out, I'm wiring in new wiring for all speakers/stereo.

I would also like to wire in some interior accent led lighting.
We all know in older cars at night you drop something and can't find shit because the factory cabin lights aren't that great. I haven't thought this one out too much, it's not a concern right now, it's just something I would like to do at some point. Like a couple led's in the door pockets, floor boards etc....

In the mist of this interior job I'm looking at the blower motor and resistor. Mine works, But it has a loud knock like it's hitting something.
But, with 220K miles I would guess the brush motor is on it's way out....

I'm still searching for a upgraded replacement ( Higher CFM output ) but it looks like it's not really an option. So, oh well.

Also while the intr is out I'm going to clean, and lube all the window motor tracks, joints etc... Get that working the way it needs to.

I'm taking care of the intr first because it's what I'm going to see and feel.... I def want to take care of some stuff with the exterior but it's coming second. Headlights being first when I get to start on the exterior.

That it kind of the ideas and plans I have for the month of Jan....

And to add to the list of stuff I want, I'd like to find some heated mirrors, wire them up with the rear defrost wiring. Would be nice.
 
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