My Imola Ti...Sport Limited =-)

[MikeDE]

I would like to introduce my new daily, '00 323Ti. The E28 was fantastic but i'm getting too old and it was much too nice to use as a DD. The new owner bought it for weekend duty, and he's thrilled with it.

So onto the TI, Imola Red/Black, Sport Limited Edition, built sometime in 2000 it was one of the last one's off the line. The PO was a very good guy, drove it as he bought it from the PPO, who made some of the questionable changes to it. I plan to 'restore' it to it's original condition, with the normal mods on top of it. I have an M50 mani & a SPAL/Low-temp fan switch/fresh t-stat & alu housing sitting around, that'll be first once I start getting bored.

She's dropped on H&R's on the factory M-Tech dampers, rides actually VERY well even on the 225/40-18's, the wheels i'm sure are quite heavy. I'm going to swap on the winter wheels(Style 32, 16") and do a toe adjustment, she's ALL over the place on uneven pavement and there is visible toe-out on the drivers side.

There's a monster stereo in it, I plan to remove the sub-box, and keep the rest. I'm car-audio-retarded so i'll need help from you guys when the time comes.

The PO installed a Reuter/Eisenmann $$ catback, a very nice piece. I think i'll leave it on there. It's boomy, and non-intrusive while cruising above 2500.

Besides that, it goes like stink(compared to the 520i). These guys over here are pushing over 200whp with the M50 mani & a tune. I also have an new m20 clutch & M20 FW lying around, i'll see about throwing those in. the original FW is crazy heavy, and hangs between shifts, no doubt an emissions thing.

These are pice from the FS ad:








More to come soon...after it's reg'd and the Wifey cools down:hitler:

[Nai]

Think I saw this one on Mobile.de (I had layed my eyes on a cheap 323ti, and wanted to check how much 323ti's go these days).

Nice color! And with that engine it's gonna be a nice driver as well.

[MikeDE]

Think I saw this one on Mobile.de (I had layed my eyes on a cheap 323ti, and wanted to check how much 323ti's go these days).

Nice color! And with that engine it's gonna be a nice driver as well.

^Yeah I was looking at cheap Ti's also, BUT they were all beat. I have to do some rust repair on the rear arches & jack points, and a bit on the top corners of the windshield, pretty standard for an E36. But for these options/color, I can't complain.

It also looks as if the motor was done fairly recently, it's damn clean.

[M-technik-3]

Here comes the slippery path...S54/6 speed combo.

[MikeDE]

^ Nah...unless I had enough loot to get the rockers redone, and get it at least partly resprayed, I wouldn't put that much into it.

So, made some progress the last week, mostly just 'little' stuff, but there was alot of it.

Here the summary first, from top right:


Pep boys/ebay Depo crystal clear blinkers...put o the originals even though the rubber trim is lacking. Also had to replace all of the orange blinker bulbs in the car as they were white/nearly white.

Those tiny things under the blinkers are blue LED's for the high beam reflector illumination/parking lights. Swapped in favor for standard 5W wedge's.

The PPO GLUED the shift know on and under it, some crappy looking baggy shift boot. In the process he got what looks like crazy glue all over the center console and original boot. Had to cut the old knob, along with the boot.

De-tinted the rear 1/4 window's and the rear hatch...glue removal sucked on the hatch, easy on the sides. The pics from the side/front down below are from before I removed the glue.

Under that, the airbox silencer.....but you can't hear the difference with this thing bolted to it:


Reuter/Eisenmann half-back(from resonator to bumper). Polished the tips a bit as well, and new hangers.

Then the old 91/99c fan switch & plug. Had to swap to the old style plug for this switch. The 16"SPAL from my E30T & E34T made it to this one. The original electric fan still works as designed, lo-speed with AC & hi-speed. Tapped into the hi-speed wire to the original fan, wired in a relay to pull power directly form the (+) when it's triggered. So both run on 100% when needed.


Both ACC belts swapped, the main was really bad, as you can see. That pile of crud to the left is the red and black Folie/Vinyl from the kidneys. And naturally, had to make a clutch-stop. CDV will come out next time i'm under there.

Then there were these:


And what persuaded them out:



Got sucker punched when the jack stand went thru the LR jack point, surprise surprise. Im gonna clean it up, weld a plate over and done. I'll jack it from the diff or the Subframe bushing bolt.

Also threw in some fresh 10mm spring pads, may need more but i'm still deciding on wheels. Leaning towards, BBS RK/RX/RN....

As it sits after the bushings & pads:


And here's the next round:


The LF sway bracket is rusted thru, i'll do both if the other isn't a complete whore. Also on the lookout for an 18.5mm Z3 M Coupe/Roadster rear sway. Mine is 16mm, so I think an extra 2.5mm would be fun...since it's the same rear subframe, it should fit right??

And some quick shot's as of this morning, yeah it's dirty. The Town's getting way lazy, they haven't cleaned any leaves or anything for about a year.










BTW, need help with this mess....anyway to remove maybe just the sub and keep the rest of the setup?? Help, ICE isn't my thing at all.

[rcsoundn1]

I suspect there may be another amp somewhere for just the sub. You can just disconnect the sub, and take the box out. Do you have a spare tire, or is the ICE filling it all up, and PO removed the spare?

[2mAn]

That looks great, Ive always had a weird attraction to them, but here we only got them with the M44 so Ive avoided them

[MikeDE]

Ok, a bit more progress on this piece:

Threw on an M3 lip, sorry no pics. Swapped the plugs to the Bosch 4-prong thingy's I had leftover from the other M52, and the coils to known-good low-mi units. I thought maybe I was getting a slight miss at tip-in(maybe the TPS also), but we'll see what happens.

Thursday AM/PM I was driving around and it took WAY long to come to temperature, didn't want to think anything of it really;). Same night on the way home from work, it started losing temp on the hwy. I suppose a stuck open t-stat is better than the alternative. Luckily still had a 1yr old T-stat and housing from the E34. Picked up a new profile gasket/)-ring, threw those in Friday morning, and A-OK.

Decided to tackle the rotted out front Swaybar brackets. The left was obviously shot, the bushing shot up to the chassis. As I started hammering on that one to loosen it/rid it of the rust, and the Right side fell apart at the same time. But anyway, the left one which appeared to be falling off took twice as much time to cut off as the right side, which looked way more solid.

Anyway, a day and a half later(did it on my back, on stands in my parking spot) of grinding/cutting/drilling/welding, the Ti was back on the ground. Threw on new bushings & u-brackets at the same time. Having a FSB actually attached to the chassis makes a big difference....btw, I ordered a 19mm(16mm on there atm) rear sway bar from a Z3M Roadster/Coupe. Curious to see how it changes handling characteristics.

BTW, if anyone has to do this, and want even a prayer of having enough room to get in there you'll have to remove the all splash guards(fender wells can be bent out of the way), the alternator has to go, along with the AC comp & bracket.

Here's some quick pics of the carnage:














And one pic from a couple days ago:


^See the spare sticking out...

More to come soon, like wheels & (proper) suspension. Clutch isn't healthy, i'll be going M20-setup. Shifter rebuild also on the way, and still have to remove that goddamn CDV:hitler:

I'm swapping the loud-ass Reuter axle-back out on Tuesday for a full SS AC Schnitzer catback...

I suspect there may be another amp somewhere for just the sub. You can just disconnect the sub, and take the box out. Do you have a spare tire, or is the ICE filling it all up, and PO removed the spare?

Actually, I just yanked the wires from the sub -> amp. I'm going to chop the sub side of the box off. The spares on the Ti's hang underneath, unfortunately they're painfully visible from behind SO i'm going to relocate the spare where the sub now sits, and remove the 'cage' from underneath.

That looks great, Ive always had a weird attraction to them, but here we only got them with the M44 so Ive avoided them

I here ya...

[Petebee]

Early years got the M42 here in the US...

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

[MikeDE]

Pulled the old sub box/platform out...


...and cut a new floor/platform from some plywood like stuff I had in lying around. Quick and dirty but it came out alright. Squeezed the Amp and stuff over so the spare would fit inside, takes up the same amount of space as the Sub did.

I have to get a good size carriage bolt to mount the spare though...


Also did this:

Now it has clutch feel....the wife helped me bleed it, she has no patience.

[e30onBBSs]

cool car

[MikeDE]

I swapped the axle-back Rueter 'S' for an full SS AC Schnitzer catback on Tuesday...

As it sat Tuesday night with new hangers:


BUT the flange to the cat was cracked, on the inboard edge. I decided to 'band-aid' it for the time being:



Did the same to the other side as well, just incase. Then Zinc-sprayed the entire thing:


Then painted the can black:


Then decided the tip would look better with the innards also in black:

(paint's still wet)

Also, ordered an H&R Cup Kit 60/40mm. It's a hair low for daily duty, for me anyway, but I already have the 10mm spring pads in the rear, and I ordered the 9mm pads for the front. My HD E46 RSM's with reinforcement plates also came in today. New bumpstops and dust boots are on the way.

Went to BMW and ordered a Z3 2.8/3.0 shift lever & cup, bushings F&R. F or the M20 FW/clutch swap, had to order the FW bolts, spring clip, TOB and pilot bearing. I think I have a M20 starter lying around somewhere...

She needs wheels, since i'm rather partial the the Style 32's, I bought a set in E90 fitment: 17x8, et34:

They're curbed a bit, but for the price, couldn't say no. They MIGHT go into service as winter wheels(need 17's for E46 330d brakes) when/if I find a set of BBS RK's.

[MikeDE]

Been busy(spending money) the past week or two:


H&R Cup Kit 60/40(or 60/30 according to the TÜV Paperwork...)
HD RSM's with Z3 reinforcement plates
New bumpstops/dust shields
Front sway endlinks
Rear sway links(1yr old from my E34)
9mm Spring Pads


One of these are factory tweeter pods, with Blaupunkt tweeters....I have some original A-Pillar covers on the way. I 'll take pics of the POS's that are currently on the car before I set them on fire.


Druvetrain stuff: New M20 Clutch(disc is elsewhere), M20 FW, New FW & PP bolts, Elring rear main, Febi CSB, Flex disc(1yr old from E34, 520i has the G250/small disc), new pilot bearing/spring clip/pivot and the TOB is on the way. Also have some lightly used exhaust gaskets in there just incase I can'r get the DS out without removing the cat section. Got new shift rail bushings F&R, I already installed the Z3 2,8 shift lever. Had to tweak it a bit so it sits straight up(doesn't help that my POS trans has a '5th gear lean'-like condition. Sits MAYBE 1/4" lower than stock, but the bottom is quite a bit longer. I have to add some weight so it smooths out.

There's a 50k mi G250 sitting in my basement that'll go in as well. And have to get new M6 bolts for the oilpan after it's shaved for the M20 FW.

Front rotors are shot, looks like someone pad-slapped them for the 2nd time. The ATE's were a steal @ €55/pr. Got some Zimmerman pads off of Ebay for €25.


Decided to try some new tires after reading a couple(hundred) reviews: Falken Ziex Ze914. I need a 91W minimum, according to the reg papers SO I didn't have many choice's in my price range. These have a 94W XL, so they have stiffer sidewalls and a higher rating....yay...b/c I can cram so much stuff into the Ti's massive cargo area.



And this pos M52 manifold will be donating it's oil separator/icv/vacuum plate to be grafted onto an M50 manifold currently collecting dust in the basement. I wanna keep everything as factory looking as possible. I'll be installing that after I make an appt at SGS Tuning just up the road from me in Mainz. I had talked with Dave @ Markert Motorwerks quite a bit about tuning it, but Sven/SGS is here if I have any issues, and he has a heck of a rep. Dave was very helpful though, I would recommend hitting him up if you're thinking about a tune.

The fuel rail has some low-mi OBD2 2.5l injectors with fresh o-rings, they'll be going into an OBD1 rail so I can use the proper cover.


Suspension/brakes install commences tomorrow....i'll start the Trans/clutch/DS work if all goes well.

[Coyote_ar]

Really nice car u got there.

E36/5 323ti are the last cars BMW made that feel like an E30. 1 series just dont, size is similar but weight is way off. On the other hand 323ti is barely heavier than a 325i E30, but it still feels raw.
Yet its extremely more civilized than an E30 when you are not fooling around.

[reelizmpro]

Nice looking car. I always wondered why they didn't use the standard E36 dash.