New member something " a little" different
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JustTouge said:
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone.
So far my first impressions of the E36 are....
1. Might be the worst handling car I have owned, Its a big sloppy boat. I was told the shocks are new-ish, but who knows if thats accurate. There not leaking but damn does this thing just lean into everything. I have odd tire wear on my inside front drivers tire, Tie rod ends? Who knows. To be honest I am most likely going to throw some racelands on it and call it a day. Its just going to be a DD so racelands should suffice. Along with the racelands, new tie rod ends and ball joints will be installed also. You guys experience wheel hop? This car has it bad, going to replace the RTAB's and shocks and see if it helps this problem while sliding.
2. The E36 is remarkably faster then my E30 was. Going from my last Miata with about 98whp to this makes it seem like a supercar. I'm very suprised to say the least. I'm so suprised at how it pulls that when I have the time I am going to pull the ECU and see if its chipped. Car sounds killer at 6k with the rigged up exhuast it has.
3. I have to get rid of this cars ricer blacked out theme, I just hate it.
4. Car has a few odd quirks that need attention.
- Gauges have shut off randomly on me now on two occasions, they come back on right away its very odd. Bad ground?
- Car sounds supercharged at times, coming from the alternator/belt. Needs replacing.
- The interior needs a complete overhaul, the door panels are riveted on,headliner has staples in it, there is glue on the doors, power windows don't work....WTF this car is haggard inside.
- Lastly the big concern of mine, the car smells like coolant to me at times. I'm worried its the headgasket. Car never overheats, or actually looses any coolant from the overflow. But at times I can smell a faint sweet smell. I hope its nothing major. I can't see any leaks, or see any lost coolant from the overflow.
You probably need new suspension bushings. E36 bushings arent known for lasting a long time (set aside 500 bucks for FCABs, control arms, end links, diff carrier bushings, RSMs, RCABs, diff bushings, etc.)
M50>M20
You need new headlights and some Euro clear corners
Most likely bad connections on the back of the cluster, pull and check (two screws at the top and some wiggling to get it out)
Supercharger noise is the belt tensioner bearing going. 30 bucks from pelican parts
I have window motors and switches if you need em. E36 interiors arent known for interior greatness either
Hows your heat? Im guessing you just have green coolant and not BMW Blue? Obvious could be heater core, but could also be leaking pipes. Trust me, this one isnt fun.
Im the resident E36 guru. Where are you located? I'm in waukesha, just west of Milwaukee. If you're near, lemme know
Ryan is a post whore
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Chadley said:
You probably need new suspension bushings. E36 bushings arent known for lasting a long time (set aside 500 bucks for FCABs, control arms, end links, diff carrier bushings, RSMs, RCABs, diff bushings, etc.)
M50>M20
You need new headlights and some Euro clear corners
Most likely bad connections on the back of the cluster, pull and check (two screws at the top and some wiggling to get it out)
Supercharger noise is the belt tensioner bearing going. 30 bucks from pelican parts
I have window motors and switches if you need em. E36 interiors arent known for interior greatness either
Hows your heat? Im guessing you just have green coolant and not BMW Blue? Obvious could be heater core, but could also be leaking pipes. Trust me, this one isnt fun.
Im the resident E36 guru. Where are you located? I'm in waukesha, just west of Milwaukee. If you're near, lemme know
IMHO clears just look out of place on a clean black car. I'd get aftermarket ambers due to them being a darker shade of orange=) But do whatever you'd like.
If you get new headlights, I recommend DJ Auto's. They're available at ddmtuning.com for a very tiny price for what you get=P I love mine and have had
absolutely zero problems. Glass quality is good, plastic is nice and rigid, aiming the lights is quick and easy. Only problem I had was that I had to remove
the horn for my alarm because the new headlights were deeper due to the HID projector housing.
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Chadley said:
You probably need new suspension bushings. E36 bushings arent known for lasting a long time (set aside 500 bucks for FCABs, control arms, end links, diff carrier bushings, RSMs, RCABs, diff bushings, etc.)
M50>M20
You need new headlights and some Euro clear corners
Most likely bad connections on the back of the cluster, pull and check (two screws at the top and some wiggling to get it out)
Supercharger noise is the belt tensioner bearing going. 30 bucks from pelican parts
I have window motors and switches if you need em. E36 interiors arent known for interior greatness either
Hows your heat? Im guessing you just have green coolant and not BMW Blue? Obvious could be heater core, but could also be leaking pipes. Trust me, this one isnt fun.
Im the resident E36 guru. Where are you located? I'm in waukesha, just west of Milwaukee. If you're near, lemme know
Awesome information, thanks. I figured that the wheel hop, and overall suspension sloppyness might be due to bad bushings throughout the whole car.
I like the idea of headlights with clear corners. I have looked into the DJ auto lights on DDM, I will order a set eventually. Tailights also need to go, not 100% sure what I am going to replace them with yet. Altezza's yo! ( I keeeed I keeed).
How much you want for the window motors/switches?
Heat works great, I'm worried the blower motor is going though. Heat only works on low and high, I believe there is some sort of relay I can replace near my gas pedal to fix this, but if I read correctly online, it will most likely break again becuase my blower motor is going. I can't think of whats that called right now...
Coolant is Green.... Should I flush that out?
I'm in Oshkosh WI, but I am in Milwaukee visiting friends from time to time.
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Tony. Go die.
+1 to the DDM DJ auto lights. I rock those too and love em (although if I remember correctly DDM is trying to stop selling bmw stuffs, so you might wanna get em while they last. Also, DDM has the worst customer service in the world)
Clear corners vs amber is a personal taste thing, I'm gonna get clears because of my frenched fogs, and I'm bored of the blacked out look.
Make sure that your cooling system is in good shape. As in, if you dont know when its been replaced, make that in the top 3 of to do. One overheat kills M5x engines. ECStuning.com has an overhaul kit for 220 bucks which has everything except the radiator and an extra gallon of coolant. I got my kit from them and so far, so good!
What color is the bottom of your switch? I have green bottom switches, so you'd need those in order for the switches to work (BMW used like 4 different window switches in E36s). I'll get it all together and quote you a price
I see you're OBD1, so you dont have a FSU (unless swapped the digital climate control panel into your car). I'd check out the heater control valves as well, those are under the intake mani, kind of a PITA to get but not too expensive/hard.
If you wanted to go back to blue, I'd wait till you have the new cooling system parts. I did that, and have been running blue ever since. The whole debate is green coolant conducts electricity and causes hydroelectric charges to go through the cooling ports in the engine, which wears on aluminum parts. Some people say only BMW blue (G-05 formula I think) will work, others think its a ploy for more money, and some dont care. Its your call. Personally, I'd go with BMW blue though
Let me know if you're ever around. Im always up for a photoshoot or wrench day
Ryan is a post whore
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Again, thanks for the awesome info.
I'll look into ordering headlights soon, but I think the cooling system is a bit more important.
Not sure on what color switch I have, I can look later, its pouring out right now.
The car developed a issue over the past few days, but today it seems worse. The car clunks up front while hitting certain bumps it seems. At first I thought it was ball joints or bushings, it wasn't that big of an issue. The clunk was quiet. Today though it seems worse, clunks alot while turning right, but much less clunking while turning left if any. Its a pretty loud clunk now, I'm concerned. It seems to be coming from the middle of the car to me, could my guibo bolts have came loose? I wish I had a nice warm lighted stocked with tools garage to use.
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JustTouge said:
Again, thanks for the awesome info.
I'll look into ordering headlights soon, but I think the cooling system is a bit more important.
Not sure on what color switch I have, I can look later, its pouring out right now.
The car developed a issue over the past few days, but today it seems worse. The car clunks up front while hitting certain bumps it seems. At first I thought it was ball joints or bushings, it wasn't that big of an issue. The clunk was quiet. Today though it seems worse, clunks alot while turning right, but much less clunking while turning left if any. Its a pretty loud clunk now, I'm concerned. It seems to be coming from the middle of the car to me, could my guibo bolts have came loose? I wish I had a nice warm lighted stocked with tools garage to use.
Jack car up and feel the suspension parts (you know, check for play and such). It sounds like the nut on the top of your strut has come loose, allowing the whole strut to move up and down inside the mounting plate on the top of the housing. Pop the covers off and see. This has happened to me numerous times and drives me bonkers
Ryan is a post whore
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Are you talking about the 3 bolts on the top, in the engine bay? Mine seem nice and tight...
Spent 4 hours washing, waxing, and cleaning it. Helped alot, but some areas still look like they were buffed with a steel wool pad. Here are some pictures.....
11 by Touge Photo, on Flickr
10 by Touge Photo, on Flickr
9 by Touge Photo, on Flickr
Also ordered a set of Rokkors today, Hoping to diagnose the odd clunk while I install them later this week. Also might have a line on some 7 series wheels too.
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No they are not style 5's, I wish. They look kinda similar, they are a 16x8 BBS wheel. A guy offered to trade them in my ad listing my Kosei's for sale. Seen here... http://hondamarketplace.com/showthread.php?t=2996367 He posted some pictures in there...
318t'ILL lets see some pictures of your car!
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You can buy plate deletes=P I actually took my OEM molded plate strip and cut it down to be the same width as the rest of the trim. I lightly sanded it and then dyed it with trim black and have my own ghetto plate delete;)
And it is faily low=P The bottom of the front fender is about a keys length off the ground. The frame railgs are faily close and I cannot go over even the slightest speedbumps=)
My wheels are sunk so bad that it embarrases me=( I need to figure out what wheels I want to run and I have to get my other sets of wheels sold to be able to buy more wheels=) lol
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someone said:
You can buy plate deletes=P I actually took my OEM molded plate strip and cut it down to be the same width as the rest of the trim. I lightly sanded it and then dyed it with trim black and have my own ghetto plate delete;)
Thanks for the tip, I will do this tomorrow if I find the time. I had thought that peice was molded into the bumper until now.
A set of style 5's would look tits magee on your car.
I hope that those wheels from hondamarketplace look decent oon my car after I lower it.
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Those wheels will look perty good on your car=P And I just noticed this, but did the PO put one piece headlights on your car? I absolutely hate those=P lol
And a set of style 5's or BBS RS would look wonderful on my car, but sadly they're too played out and I like being original=) lol
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someone said:
Those wheels will look perty good on your car=P And I just noticed this, but did the PO put one piece headlights on your car? I absolutely hate those=P lol
And a set of style 5's or BBS RS would look wonderful on my car, but sadly they're too played out and I like being original=) lol
Hope they look okay, I have been trying to find a similar set online so I know how much they are worth. I am trading the guy my kosei's that I listed for 400$ (which is pretty cheap for the wheels). I just want to make sure I am getting a good deal.
Yes I have these fancy one piece headlights on my car, they NEED to go. Look like balls, and one side doesn't have working Halo's. Next paycheck I will order new headlights and taillights(not sure what tails I want though).
I agree with the being unique statement, I try to add a little personal flare to my cars. I really want to pick these wheels up, but its a bit of a drive for me and I don't exactly have the funds for them. I should put that money into some suspension maitenace. I think you will like these.... Something cheap and different.
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