The official E36 OT Thread!!

There's some guy that rolls around my area with a giant "ALPHA-MALE" sticker plated across the back window. I'll bet his wife wears the pants.


And if you guys are talking about the freeway meters they do help. Noticed quite a big difference when they put them here in Sac. You still go nice and slow but it eliminates the stop and go.

Anybody in SoCal/NorCal know how to do an auto to manual swap on an M3?

Within a day or 2?

So ever since I did my cooling overhaul and got a new serpentine belt, Maddie's been a whiny bitch. Whenever the ambient temp is cold out she whines in low RPM's. I think it's the alternator since it was in pretty shiit condition when I bought it. What do you guys think?

The whine is only up to 3k...after that it just disappears. And it's not all the time. Sometimes when cold it doesn't whine. It basically comes and goes whenever it pleases...

The only sticker that'll be on my truck



For good reason

Originally Posted by Brad31late

Anybody in SoCal/NorCal know how to do an auto to manual swap on an M3?

Within a day or 2?

We did mine in a night (ish)

Originally Posted by Gooby

So ever since I did my cooling overhaul and got a new serpentine belt, Maddie's been a whiny bitch. Whenever the ambient temp is cold out she whines in low RPM's. I think it's the alternator since it was in pretty shiit condition when I bought it. What do you guys think?

The whine is only up to 3k...after that it just disappears. And it's not all the time. Sometimes when cold it doesn't whine. It basically comes and goes whenever it pleases...

Is everything aligned right that is belt related? Could be alternator but it's a little weird that it happened right with all that work done.

Could be the tensioner too. That's what'd I guess.

Randy, try spraying water on the serp belt when its whining. If it goes away, then its the belt either not tensioned correctly or bad belt. I dont think its that though.

One way to tell if its the alternator bearing starting to go is drain the battery slightly. Headlights on for a few minutes, blower motor on high. Keep lights on, turn blower off so you can hear, and when you start it throttle it to ~2k. Usually they'll squeal under increased load if the bearings are starting to go

Chad's got a point. On my other BMW it would whine a little when I turned the fog lights on. Few months later I was stranded with no power to my car.

Well that or just take a mechanics stethoscope and listen to figure out what is loudest.

No need. If my test doesnt provide any results, next would be remove idler/tensioner pulley. Spin it with your finger in the middle. If it sings and freewheels for a long time, its likely bad. A good bearing wont make a "mmmmmmmmmm" noise at all, and will have a little bit of rolling resistance. It should spin, but not for a super long time. Its difficult to say when its intermittent.

Originally Posted by drive by72

Big truck =\= tiny penis.

Faggy plate = tiny penis. Also ford = tiny penis

You're right, big truck =\= tiny penis.

Big truck = short guy. Faggy plate = tiny penis.

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I'd say that motorcycle = short guy. 95% of motorcycle riders I see are probably 5'6" or under.

My brother is pretty short, and he drives a big truck and used to ride motorcycles.

Originally Posted by E36 Phantom

You're right, big truck =\= tiny penis.

Big truck = short guy. Faggy plate = tiny penis.

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I'm 6' and drive one of the largest light duty trucks you can buy :shifty

See, unlike most people though, I use my truck for truck things... Ditched the class 3 1 7/8" ball and 2" walmart drop hitch for a class 4 2 5/8" ball 4" drop load dist hitch. Nothing like a 100 lb hitch hanging off the back

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

I'd say that motorcycle = short guy. 95% of motorcycle riders I see are probably 5'6" or under.

My brother is pretty short, and he drives a big truck and used to ride motorcycles.

Except that I ride and am 6' 1". Chad is what? 6' 8" or so?

faggy plate?


what does lower it classify as?

cause i have proof.

Originally Posted by jonesin

Except that I ride and am 6' 1". Chad is what? 6' 8" or so?

You guys are the 5%.

Lower it isn't bad.

HAUWISH. That classfies as faggy to me.

Or the dually that drives around me with 24" rims. 24S SON

I like very few vanity/personalized plates, but some are pretty good. I was always a fan of this:



And my friend wants to get one which reads "NOPANTS". Would be pretty awesome just to confuse and perplex the hell out of people.

Who here knows about a carbon fiber GTR hood for an e36 coupe?

Apparently its expensive and rare...

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Originally Posted by jonesin

Except that I ride and am 6' 1". Chad is what? 6' 8" or so?

I'm 5 1O and ride

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I wish....

You wish you had your high beams on?



Hell, just grab an ice cube then.

:P

Originally Posted by FenderBender

Joey, why are you worried about power so much? It's just a dd right?

16O HP is more than enough to do ANYTHING a dd will do.

Just find a nice cheapish car with good gas mileage and a non hateful interior and exterior.

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Yeah, very good point. Now I'm back to thinking about an MKV GTI with the DSG trans if I could get it for the right price, or going full eco-box and getting a Mazda3 hatch. What I really dream about is doing crazy stuff with the M3, if I want to make that happen I should make the daily as cheap as possible.

I did a really rough total of my dream list of mods and repairs to the M3. $8200. Without boost.

Originally Posted by jonesin

Joey, have you considered something like the W208 Merc's? My roommate has one, (a '00 CLK430) bought it 4 years ago (in our inflated prices) for $13.5k, and has had to put nothing else at all into it. It is reasonable on gas, actually pretty fun to drive, has nearly identical power to weight ratio's to your M3, and are quite comfortable.

http://tinyurl.com/b727oph

(Auto Trader link) there are several around your area in your price range ~ish.

Those are pretty nice. My friend's dad had a Black on Black one and I used to think it was SO COOL back then. I'd think about it but its certainly going to rack up the gas and parts bills faster than a newer FWD 4-cylinder.


I've never seen a metered ramp, at least not on my drive. My commute is really unpredictable, I drive away from the city to go to work so I'm out of the worst of the fray. I'm usually in heavy traffic but it keeps moving, and at least once a week I hit some godawful jam that doubles the time I'm in the car.

Last night on 28 South leaving work, an 18 wheeler was completely stopped with his hazards on in the right lane, causing a massive bottleneck while everyone tried to get into the left two lanes to get around him. Took me at least 20 minutes to get about 200 yards.


EDIT: Interdasting. http://easternshore.craigslist.org/cto/3435120119.html I wonder what's broken on it...

I do like those wheels and R32 exhaust, doesn't look like stock ride height though.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

I'd say that motorcycle = short guy. 95% of motorcycle riders I see are probably 5'6" or under.

My brother is pretty short, and he drives a big truck and used to ride motorcycles.

Maybe a Washington thing? 95% of lifted trucks I've
seen are short dudes, but motorcycles are about average here.

Originally Posted by drive by72

I'm 6' and drive one of the largest light duty trucks you can buy :shifty

So if you're not compensating for being short, you must be compensating for......

Originally Posted by jonesin

Except that I ride and am 6' 1". Chad is what? 6' 8" or so?

This....and @ 6'8

Originally Posted by jonesin

You wish you had your high beams on?

Except that high beams are top middle of the cluster. Those are front fogs.


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