Joined the dark side

[Roland H]

You have to pull the head?

I thought you could get away with just pulling the front timing cover?

You can, but to do it properly, you might as well just pull the head. Gotta make sure there's nothing jamming up your oil galleys or anything. Good time to do a valve job and vanos.

[tehwickerman]

You have to pull the head?

I thought you could get away with just pulling the front timing cover?

[fsmtnbiker]

Have fun, that's an awful job. To do it properly, you have to pull the head and the oil pan.

I'll look for some fog lights, I think I've thrown away all the ones I had.

[tehwickerman]

so got the oil pan off and found this



The remains of the driver side chain guide. No wonder I could hear a metallic clicking sound! I thought it was the lifters at first but obviously not.

I proceeded to panic about the top end and ripped the valve cover off



Thankfully everything up here looks excellent. Extremely clean and the chains aren't worn at all.

So from what was FUCK OIL PUMP NUT is now basically a front end refresh including water pump, chain guides, gaskets, and whatever else I feel like doing while I'm in there. Probably better to just get it all done anyway.

Also going to pull the entire front sub frame, do a bit of welding that needs to be done. CLEAN the shit out of everything. Winter break project status has been achieved weeeee good times.

[Bimmerman325i]

Mine arent on CL as far as Im aware.

The cars are roughly identical in accel and top speed mod for mod also, until you do the m50 manifold on the s52. That really wakes up the engine. 95s just have more quirks than the later cars is all.

[tehwickerman]

Awesome thanks! Ill be sure to let you know if I need anything which I'm sure I will.

[fsmtnbiker]

96+ all have ASC.

All M3's had an LSD. '95 had a 3.15 (5-sp), 96+ are the 3.23.

Stock for stock they are almost identical on acceleration. Once you swap an M50 manifold on the S52 it starts to pick up speed and then will outperform the 3.0 as you add similar parts to both engines.

Let me know if there are any specific parts you're looking for, I've got a garage full of E36 parts that need to find a new home.

[tehwickerman]

Thanks a lot for the advice/input dudes.

I'll definitely take care of all the maintenance before thinking about modifications, standard procedure for all cars I've owned.

I never thought I'd be much of a fan of the e36 M3 but after owning a couple 328s e36s grew on me and I thought the M couldn't be that bad.

How much slower is the 95? I mean I know this is a big debate across the forums but I can never find actual figures. I know the 96+ had a different diff which made the most difference in the 0-60 time but other than a bit more torque I thought the s52 was about the same?

Also, did 96+ have ACS or LSDs? This car has a LSD so I'm pretty stoked about that.

Bimmerman, are your contours the ones on CL?

[downforce22]

nice. I really like the 300e, thats too bad you're parting it

[blefevre]

Congrats!

[Bimmerman325i]

Maintenance and repairs before modification. You'll thank me later.

This.

Great car, I have a set of winter wheels (contours) if you're interested for snow tires or track tires or whatever tires.

I love my 95, but the 96+ are faster and a little better thought out. I totally agree on the climate controls though, much nicer on the 95 IMO.

[Roland H]

Yeah it definitely got smacked. No under body damage I can see but the tail light fixtures are kinda fucked.

I'm just going to see how much $ I can build up by summer. Then I'll make decisions on what to do...

Maintenance and repairs before modification. You'll thank me later.

[tehwickerman]

Got smacked pretty hard in the back, from the looks of it.

As mentioned, early E46 sport package wheels.

I'll have a nice 11:1 S52 for sale sometime soon, but it won't be cheap.

Yeah it definitely got smacked. No under body damage I can see but the tail light fixtures are kinda fucked.

I'm just going to see how much $ I can build up by summer. Then I'll make decisions on what to do...

[Roland H]

I will probably be keeping the wheels as long as I keep the car they definitely fit it very well.

Lame. Buy my DSIs and then sell your wheels to Alex. Everyone will win, and your car will look so much better.

do agree for DD it's pretty hard to beat... looks good, comfortable, good sound system, etc. I think I did really well considering what I payed for it and all the goodies it came with.

They are amazing DDs, that can hold their own on track in stock form too.

Anything I should jump on immediately maintenance wise except for the oil pump nut? It has low oil pressure and came with a brand new OEM pump/everything else needed to replace it so I'm knocking that out first. It has 122k on the clock.

While you're doing the oil pump nut, make sure to do a Z3 oil pickup tube and bracket.

Cooling system is a must if it hasn't been done. Make sure your motor mounts are intact without cracks and your front subframe doesn't have cracks/tears around/under the motor mount locations. You can reinforce this area if you have a welder.

I kinda like the 95 because of the analog climate controls.... it may seem "low tech" but I definitely prefer the more simple electrics. I've owned a couple 96+ e36s and shit always seemed to be wrong with the climate control/pixels/blower motor(which I suppose doesn't really have much to do with the digital display).

Analog is definitely better, but not enough for me to take a 95 over a later model. The digital display definitely fits the E36 a lot better especially if you have an 18 button obc and a stock radio.

[tehwickerman]

I will probably be keeping the wheels as long as I keep the car they definitely fit it very well.

I do agree for DD it's pretty hard to beat... looks good, comfortable, good sound system, etc. I think I did really well considering what I payed for it and all the goodies it came with.

Anything I should jump on immediately maintenance wise except for the oil pump nut? It has low oil pressure and came with a brand new OEM pump/everything else needed to replace it so I'm knocking that out first. It has 122k on the clock.

Sadly it has the luxury package so no vaders :( but the interior is in awesome shape apart from one tiny hole on the driver side bolster. It also has a badass center console gauge setup with volts/oil pressure/oil temp.

I kinda like the 95 because of the analog climate controls.... it may seem "low tech" but I definitely prefer the more simple electrics. I've owned a couple 96+ e36s and shit always seemed to be wrong with the climate control/pixels/blower motor(which I suppose doesn't really have much to do with the digital display).

I'm thinking to get me through college this will be a perfect fit. Fun, fast, reliable. Can't go wrong.... I'll just slowly build up funds to get the 318IS swapped/5 lugged the way I want it.

Then onto the E30 M3 :D.

So many projects... so little monies.....