Das Vert

[stealthbimmer]

Well, figured I'll start one of these.

Purchased a 98' 328ic for a few hundred bucks. Bad trans, top inoperable.....but the body is cleeeeeeeean. Been out of the game for a few years after selling my s52 swapped e34 (which I regret every day). 

Thought about LS swapping it for a second, then decided I just want to make it a nice dependable cruiser for the summer. It probably wont get much use as it is, seeing that I have two young kids with a third on the way. So, I want someone dependable.

Seller was nice enough to tow her right to my shop

Got the top down manually. Tried diagnosing a bit, but in the end couldnt figure out what the problem is. For what I paid for the car, I am not going to put more money than necessary. It will be primarily a nice weather car, so I dont really care about the top working. If I absolutely need to put it up, its easily done manually.

But, for those times she wants to wear a hat....I picked up a hardtop.

I sold my boat, which means more money for car parts (dont tell my wife). I gave her a bit of a facelift with an ill-fitting ebay m3 bumper and some DEPOS.

So, since the trans is shot...I have two options, replace with an automatic or manual swap. Obviously, I am going to take the easy route and replace it with another automatic.

Right....

Manual swap it is. I searched for a couple months trying to find a manual parts car. Finally found this turd

I have a pile of parts that are waiting to go on. I was waiting to find my manual swap parts so I could do everything at once. Plus, my lift is currently occupied by my brothers POS audi. I did my e34 swap all on jackstands, and it wasnt pleasant. 

Yet to come:

Manual swap

AA track pipe

Cat back

Konis w/ H&R sports

Wheels

Maintenance 

Drive it?

[B C]

The french'd lights look good and I love the proportions of the E36 2dr/verts.  Hope to see you and the car at a meet this year.

[Rekpoint]

Style 5s will look good!

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[patsbimmer1]

I love yellow lights on an e36!

[stealthbimmer]

Rekpoint said:

Style 5s will look good!

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I've got a set of those... they will be in the rotation

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[stealthbimmer]

patsbimmer1 said:

I love yellow lights on an e36!

I love em on everything....even my truck

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[YoungCR]

cheap builds are fun to follow too, looking forward to more!

[B C]

️️️ that e34

[stealthbimmer]

YoungCR said:

cheap builds are fun to follow too, looking forward to more!

I'm a fan (maybe because I'm broke). I wasn't even looking for a car but this thing popped up in my fb feed one night. Couldn't pass it up. Happy to be back in the game

Although I'm not sure how "cheap" it is anymore

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[stealthbimmer]

​

[stealthbimmer]

Snap said:

[emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️ that e34

Miss it every day,she was my pride and joy. My first legit "build" [emoji17]

My favorite bimmer I have owned by far,and I've owned many. It was damn quick for being a 5er.... many surprised faces

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[patsbimmer1]

stealthbimmer said:

Miss it every day,she was my pride and joy. My first legit "build"

My favorite bimmer I have owned by far,and I've owned many. It was damn quick for being a 5er.... many surprised faces

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My tired brain read this as "many surprised feces" and it still made sense to me.  Be it a lot more humorous imagining surprised feces!

[stealthbimmer]

Been kind of at a stall with this. Was hoping my brother would put his damn audi back together so I could have access to the lift for my swap. That doesnt look like it is happening in the near future. 

So, I at least decided to get the swap parts together, so when and if I get access to the lift I am ready to go. Soon enough I will just bite the bullet and do it on jack stands. I did it with my e34, I would just rather not do it again. 

I have found this is the easiest way to remove a drivetrain from parts cars. I much prefer working on my feet than on my back under a rusted out hoopdie. 

I picked away at it a bit, but I am going to let most of the bolts soak overnight doused in pb blaster. Half the exhaust bolts snapped, so I would rather be safe than sorry with the axle bolts. I have rounded off enough of those in my day.

[jc43089]

I love it.

[Daggerty]

Excellent

[stealthbimmer]

Had to improvise. With no brakes or wheels on the ground to stop the axles from spinning, how to remove the cv joint bolts was eluding me....took me awhile to figure out something that worked.

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[B C]

How did the spare tire well get so smashed in?

[stealthbimmer]

Snap said:

How did the spare tire well get so smashed in?

Beats me. It's rotted out. Actually the whole car is rotted out...this thing has seen some shit. I may of gotten more smashed when the car fell off the forks when I was flipping it on its side. It's so rotted it was hard to find a solid area to lift.

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[stealthbimmer]

That's normal, right?

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[Jdesign]

Are you referring to the bearing falling out on its own or the milled bolt heads?

Looks good to me.