FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[Jdesign]

So Ive tried to write a build thread before and im not the greatest at depicting a good story so try and hang in there with me. For those of you who aren’t familiar I have an E30 vert that I more recently swapped a 1JZ into. Now that that car is nearing completion, I realized that I am too worried about actually doing much with the car other than driving it to a fro rather than tracking it (I mean it is a convertible anyways). So this is where I made the terribly unwise decision to buy my new “deathtrap.” Now I got this car ONLY because it seemed like a good idea at the time and the price was more than fair. But it has such a massive list of good and bad I was 90% ready to walk away until I drove it around the block.

It’s a 199X BMW E36 318is with a ford mustang 5.OHHHH with a T5 trans. Pretty common swap and there are write ups all over the net for this conversion. I figured with fullbody coilovers, M3 rear end, aluminum drive shaft, sticky tires, on paper this was recipe for a fun machine. Upon arrival the car obviously looks just as bad as I thought. Rusty quarters, flat black front end, various dents and scratches, it was worn, which I was somewhat hoping for. I didn’t want another clean car that I have to worry about leaving in a parking lot because some soccer mom was too busy dealing with her offspring to realize her cart just rolled 50’ into the side of my car.

We opened the hood and boy what a mess. Looped coolant lines, wires exposed, the coolant overflow was a plastic water bottle, missing blower motor and fuse box covers, a terribly painted intake manifold, the intake was just dangling inches from the exhaust manifold, and man oh man, there was a lot of zip ties. (at this point, any normal person including myself would and should walk away)

But I didn’t.

So getting in, I found 60% of the interior missing, and what was left, was utterly destroyed. The shifter location was under the dash, where the OBC use to be, the headliner was gone but all of the maps lights and buttons were plugged in and dangling, , the door panels were gone, the window switches didn’t work, the drivers side door was held shut with a bungee cord, none of the gauge cluster worked except for the fuel gauge but luckily there was an aftermarket tach, H2O temp, and oil pressure gauges where the HVAC controls use to be.

(Here is where I made the mistake, by not walking away)

I turned the key, and nothing happened. Theres two random switches floating around in the center console where the OBC use to be. That’s how you start it. Ones the starter, the other is…….. a mystery according to the previous owner, but it needs to be on as well. Okay started it up and it sounds just like you would expect, a crowd munching mustang V8.

Driving it around the block, made me complete forget about the 983468397 things I just listed wrong with the car. It was quick, loud, and pretty fun to drive. The suspension was responsive, and the tires gave it great grip and the shifter felt great besides its bad placement. Looking through the shattered glass windshield and gripping the wheel till my knuckles were white to prevent the poor alignment from pulling me into the ditch, I started to picture a futuristic madmax style E36 competing at track events, creating massive burnouts, and carelessly tapping walls, all with a giant grin on my face. So I did what any Day dreaming idiotic man would do.

I bought it.

Here are some pictures of the car followed by some inspiration from KHYZYL SALEEM (If you havent head of this guy I suggest you google his name) of what I plan to make the car look like.

[Jdesign]

[Jdesign]

Right away I got started fixing things.

-I sorted out the starter and the mysterious switch that went to the alternator

-fixed the tail lights and headlights that were not working

-took the door apart to see if I could fix the latch

- fixed the rear diff leak by DUH tightening the drain plug...

I also spent some time painting random parts and pieces here and there. One of the most successful things was the tires. I sanded down the sidewalls of the tires, and printed vinyl decals as stencils and painted the side walls. the end result really transformed the look of the car.

[B C]

As im scrolling my first thought was "those vinyl decals arent going to last a day". Continued scrolling... Im an idiot.

For someone with as much attention to detail as you, it means something that you did not turn this car away.

[YoungCR]

I'm oddly excited about this build, mostly because it will be #nofuckz

[wasnt m3]

Before even opening the thread, I read the title and I was like "please don't be that one..." Sure shit, it was that one. I sincerely wish you luck sorting that one out.

[KaiserRolls]

I remember that car from this area. I'm sure you'll get it sorted, but good luck & im in for progress. I'm sure most of the work will be unfucking it lol.

[Earl]

You already know how I feel

[B C]

One request: Please no external oil cooler.  It is becoming the fedora of the tuner world.

ALTHOUGH after spending hours upon hours trying to get a proper oil cooler to fit on my current setup I can now understand how it came to be.

[GunMetalGrey]

Snap said:

One request: Please no external oil cooler.  It is becoming the fedora of the tuner world.

ALTHOUGH after spending hours upon hours trying to get a proper oil cooler to fit on my current setup I can now understand how it came to be. 

You aren't kidding, that's for sure. Roof mounted oil cooler?!?

I saw this e36 floating around, and I'm impressed to see that someone bought it! I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

[Jdesign]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, Im sure I am going to need it. Its a pretty large mess to tackle, and every time I manage to fix one thing, I find three more issues. 

Snap said:

As im scrolling my first thought was "those vinyl decals arent going to last a day". Continued scrolling... Im an idiot.

For someone with as much attention to detail as you, it means something that you did not turn this car away.

wasnt m3 said:

Before even opening the thread, I read the title and I was like "please don't be that one..." Sure shit, it was that one. I sincerely wish you luck sorting that one out.

GunMetalGrey said:

You aren't kidding, that's for sure. Roof mounted oil cooler?!?

I saw this e36 floating around, and I'm impressed to see that someone bought it! I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

Yeah, im surprised I bought it. Im trying to get out of my comfort zone on this one.

I already have a spare oil cooler, but I dont know where im going to put it. Most likely cut a large hole in the hood and stuff it behind that. Who knows.

If you guys have any cool suggestions to make it look more "mad maxed" feel free, I dont think just a few zip ties and some paint are going to cut it on this one.

I really want to try and find some window louvers, maybe an old mustang in the junk yard? 

[Bassboy3313]

Dont forget the flamethrowers and machine gun out of the sunroof

[Jdesign]

Bassboy3313 said:

Dont forget the flamethrowers and machine gun out of the sunroof 

Not entirely sure I want to deal with answering to the local law enforcement as to why I have a turret mounted on the roof of an old BMW.

[wasnt m3]

Some inspiration for you. This car was at the Appleton meet back in 2012.

[YoungCR]

wasnt m3 said:

Some inspiration for you. This car was at the Appleton meet back in 2012.

[straight6pwr]

you've got a catchy project title, an overly dramatic story, and the IDGAF attitude.  mike burroughs would be proud.

[Daggerty]

Jdesign said:

Thanks for all the feedback guys, Im sure I am going to need it. Its a pretty large mess to tackle, and every time I manage to fix one thing, I find three more issues. 

Yeah, im surprised I bought it. Im trying to get out of my comfort zone on this one.

I already have a spare oil cooler, but I dont know where im going to put it. Most likely cut a large hole in the hood and stuff it behind that. Who knows.

If you guys have any cool suggestions to make it look more "mad maxed" feel free, I dont think just a few zip ties and some paint are going to cut it on this one.

I really want to try and find some window louvers, maybe an old mustang in the junk yard? 

You could make some Louvers out of sheet metal. Cut the scoops out and bend them out, I don't think you could get anything to fit the side windows at the scrap yard. Then rivet it into the body because rivets look rugged!!

[Jdesign]

Daggerty said:

You could make some Louvers out of sheet metal. Cut the scoops out and bend them out, I don't think you could get anything to fit the side windows at the scrap yard. Then rivet it into the body because rivets look rugged!!

Yeah for sure. I was thinking vaccum formed like the ones on that 240. I looked at the salvage yard for stuff today, but couldnt quite find what I was looking for.

[Jdesign]

More updates:

I have yet to shoot myself in the foot but I have come very close.

I found a guy on Facebook parting out a black E36 that was rolled over and drove to the middle of nowhere AKA Belmont Wisconsin. I managed to get a bunch of parts for a good price to help myself justify the headache I got myself into.

- Drivers door

-Heater controls

-Taillights

-fuse box cover

-Taillight switch

With this I fixed the door latch by replacing the entire driver door, fixed the tail lights that didn't work at all with the brake switch and new lights(was much harder than it sounds), and was able to test the heat and blower motor which to my surprise works great!

Feeling successful, I bought a new water pump, and decided to tackle the slightly weeping old pump and clean up some of the crazy noodled coolant lines on the front of the block. This luck of fixing and unbastardizing was coming to a quick end though, as I found out loosening the second bolt to the water pump, that someone already took it upon themselves to replace the water pump once before and was nice enough to cross-thread any bolt they could find into it. Thus the bolt sheared right off at the threads with minimal effort.          Yay. Time to bust out the tap set  

[Jdesign]

You will all be happy to know that I got it all back together last night, and started pouring coolant in it just to watch it all pour out the bottom of the water pump. Turns out I used the wrong gasket. Luckily I have the right gasket still sitting in the package, waiting. Updates soon, hopefully followed by burnouts and more broken parts to replace.

In the meantime, I realized this car was missing something important, which I also ordered.