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96 E36 328i resoration project

36K views 228 replies 22 participants last post by  jkmeisl 
#1 ·
So a few of you have seen my car already as i was thinkibg of just getting rid of it and starting fresh but ive decided to do a extensive restoration on the car as its rust and must have been in a front end collision of some kind. (see pictures) so im going to be slowly working on it through the next few months and hopefully have a finished car early next year. I had thoughts of changing the color because ill be painting every panel... But havent decided yet. Anyone done that job before please reply with how big of a job it is to make it look factory. Anyways just making a thread so i can keep everyone updated on how the project is coming along . Land vehicle Vehicle Car Alloy wheel Sedan

Here it is when i first got it to my shop.
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Sedan Bumper

First time into the shop ill get started Land vehicle Vehicle Car Compact car Family car

Front bumper cover off and lights out. Vehicle Automotive tire Automotive exterior Bumper Tire

And thats how it sits after day one
Bumper Automotive exterior Headlamp Automotive lighting Auto part

Thats all i could get done today but it went pretty fast im useing 320 grit and wet sanding. Ill go over it with 800 and then 1000 after primer.
Sent from my SGH-T989D using Bimmer App
 
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#185 ·
Nice! Love the wheels.
 
#190 ·
friday I tackled a bit of the dash wiring and the steering column.and I got a set of winter tires on some 15" bmw rims. heres some pictures.
 

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#192 ·
That is insane. How much time per week do you put into this project?
 
#210 · (Edited)
heres the work I did on Saturday. removed some rust and removed the front end completely which was satisfying to say the least.
 

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#211 · (Edited)
just a note, if anyone wants me to take some pictures of any particular area of this car before it gets thrown back together, please feel free to ask, I would gladly do so.

due to the awesome 2 wheel burn outs this 328i was capable of before I pulled it all apart, I was convinced it had an LSD. turns out its not the case. its just an open 2.93 as I found out when I wire brushed the rust off the tag.

The Eibach sway bars are probably the best surprise that I've found on this car. both front and back have greaseable bushings which is awesome and the links are all in great shape.

the worst thing i found is when I pulled the Eibach lowering springs and found that my Koni Shocks had a pretty shabby recoil rate. I could press them in with just my arms. no good. looks like thats yet one more thing to add to the list of items I need before shes back on the road.

I found yet more work to do on the rocker panels. the lift point actually pushed up into the door sill. looks like I'll be using all of that repair panel I bought.

the battery box is going to have to be rebuilt as well.

and the seem leading up to the shock tower is pretty bad. so I've got my work cut out for me. anyways theres an update from last week. enjoy.

one more note. the car has been sold! but the work will still continue. a friend of mine bought it from me but nothing has changed for the moment. I will still be restoring the car but with a little help from the owner now. maybe it will get done quicker!
 

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#212 · (Edited)
finally got cutting out the rusty rocker panel. this is what the inside of a rocker panel looks like, I've marked out what I need to cut and I'm going to be using most of the repair panel I bought. got a picture of the rotisserie from my buddys shop. should be up next week fingers crossed. just need to go pick up for 1/4 in plates and 1 3/4 in pipe to mount the car to the rotisserie and that will be that! then I need to blast that nasty bmw undercoating off so I can see the spot welds holding the rocker panels to the bottom of the car and hopefully that will be that! I'm also going to pull the lift points out and take them for a fabrication shop and get 4 new ones made and rubber coat them when they are in place before I box this rocker back in.

i posted a picture of what the car looked like when I first brought it to the shop. my buddy said we need to paint it yellow because its such a lemon haha. pretty much everyone who has seen the car in this state has told me to just throw it out but I cant I'm to attached! i need to finish this car before I can start anything else! if I cant deal with a rust then I would never be able to move forward from this car and tackle a older car like a 2002 that I hope to one day restore. well theres my rant I 'm done now.

to finish off this post the last picture is the hottest white e36
I want your opinion
-black roof or white roof
-painted m3 trim or non painted (black)
-painted door handles or non painted
-window tint? black or that browny color
 

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#214 ·
got the brake booster out yesterday. also I cut a bit more of the rocker panel out where it was bent up by the lift point, got to use my spot weld cutters again and they work amazing, highly recommend for anyone doing this kinda work. anyways doing some more work tonight so I'll post more tomorrow if winter doesnt stop me. burr its cold out here today
 

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#217 ·
The second white E36 look best imo.
Keep up the good work!
thanks guys! at first i liked the look of the painted trim but the front and rear bumper just look gay with painted trim so whatever I'm not doin it. i do want some kind of tint though.

so last night I got into the removal of the brake booster, peddles, abs, fuse box and MORE wiring. everything went really smooth until it came to taking out the abs sensors in which case they both snapped off in the hub. so that will be fun for when I start putting it all back together. anyways heres some pictures
 

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#219 ·
got the wires out, it was a pain... dont know how I will get them back in to be honest. pulled them all through the fuse box hole. but very satisfied that I almost have my shell.
 

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#220 ·
got the front rotisserie mounts welded up and a bit of that nasty sound deadener scraped off. hope to have it on the rotisserie tonight! just have the rear mounts to fab up. we've had good weather the last 2 days so hopefully it stays that way long enough to get it up on there.

off topic a little but I was thinking of replacing all my bushings with poly ones as well as poly engine and transmission mounts, anyone know of a good kit for a good price that contains everything? and can anyone tell me how they felt about how it changes the ride of the car on the road? this car probably wount make it to the track but it would be nice to be more stable.

thanks in advance
 

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#222 ·
off topic a little but I was thinking of replacing all my bushings with poly ones as well as poly engine and transmission mounts, anyone know of a good kit for a good price that contains everything? and can anyone tell me how they felt about how it changes the ride of the car on the road? this car probably wount make it to the track but it would be nice to be more stable.

thanks in advance
Powerflex sells comprehensive kits, but I'm not so sure you really would like to have poly bushings throughout the entire car. I'd definitely not use poly for the engine mounts. Probably wouldn't recommend poly for the trans or differential, either. I have poly RTABs (Rogue Engineering black), and solid-mount FCABs (BimmerWorld TrackCAB), and my RSMs (Rogue Engineering black) are rubber, but considerably stiffer than OEM without being as stiff as poly. My car certainly reads the road like a blind person reads braille - very tactile. Don't think I'd want to go beyond that for a street car. Matt/FenderBender has poly rear sub-frame bushings, so he might be able to offer some insight on how they feel.
 
#221 ·
I never knew those things were called rotisserie mounts! Nice progress.
 
#223 · (Edited)
done. Went pretty smooth. The only pain in the ass now is i had to move the car to a different posision in the shop which means less room to work on it. But it is on wheels at least. Going to drop whats left on the rear end tomorrow,all thats left is the gas tank, diff, trailer arms, axles, hubs and the rear sub frame. Should be fun! Then i can get that car flipping around.
 

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