***Editors Note: I've had this car on my watch list since it began and when I saw the amount of rust, I thought it was going to get crapped, but I live in CA and he lives in BFE so he carried on. It has gone through a significant restoration and its almost "done" but I couldnt wait to feature it.
Knowing it was about to get tucked away for this thing called "winter" I wanted to get the feature completed. Congrats Brandon!
1984 320i
Factory options:
Power steering
Color:
Zobelbraun metallic
Interior color:
Multi color until Alpina interior gets finished.
Engine modifications:
M30B34 swap with 1.3 motronic rebuilt with a semi built head, 284 cam, SSSquid custom chip and AEM wideband
Exhaust:
Custom 2.5" exhaust straight pipe to a single in dual out Vibrant muffler
Transmission:
Getrag 260/6 with a euro M10 fly wheel lightened to 13 lbs and an new sachs clutch. Z3 1.9 short shifter. Shortened selector rod and arm.
Differential:
Rebuilt 3.25LSD with upgraded clutches
Suspension:
Suspension is a Full ground control coil over kit with Koni sport dampers, Powerflex control arm bushings. Rear disc brake conversion with poly RTAB and eccentric adjusters. Porsche 944 brake booster. Stainless steel brake and clutch lines with rebuilt calipers and brembo blank rotors and stock pads.
Wheels:
Refinished OZ turbos with custom gold hardware wrapped in Cooper zeon zpt tires ( they wont last long ;) )
Exterior modifications:
Alpina type 147 front air dam and Zender evo rear spoiler along with (Stock) European bumpers
Interior modifications:
It has Flo fit seats, Alpina steering wheel and shift knob. Racing Dynamics pedals. It will also be getting a fully refinished alpina interior with my fabric in the summer or winter of 2018
Story behind the car:
Back in my senior year of high school I had became bored with my automatic e36 328i. I was cruising craigslist in class instead of paying attention looking for something to scratch my itch of finally getting a manual transmission car. My search actually started with 240sx and as I was scrolling through all the different cities I decided to try South Dakota. Low and behold this car popped up, worn down and in need of help in Spearfish South Dakota. I thought it needed less work then it actually did but I was already down the rabbit hole when that was figured out. I messaged to seller within 8 hours after it was posted and we struck a deal. I almost lost the car to a guy from the UK who saw the car and offer the seller his asking price. However, he called me to make sure I was still interested in the car and would be coming to get it, like promised. I told him I was and he said okay I will honor your dibs.
The car is a grey market or “euro spec” 320i, it was sold to a lieutenant in the Army stationed in Germany. He brought it over at the end of deployment in 1987 and drove it for a few years before passing it on to his son who drove it for a few years but gave it back to his dad to buy something newer. It was then sold to a family friend in Sundance, Wyoming who drove it for 12 years back and forth to the coal mine 25 miles away every day. He parked it hoping to repair it but fell sick and had to pass it on to the guy I bought it from in Spearfish.
Oddly enough, most of the parts on the car were already there when I bought it. The car came with Oz turbo wheels, very rare ACS strut bar, rare oil reserve tank, Flo fit seats, mt1 370mm wheel, racing dynamic pedals, and Zender wing.
On New years day 2014 I picked up the car and drove it to my Grandparents in Rapid city about 20 miles from Spearfish. Two days later we towed it the 8.5 hours home to Omaha and the tear down began. 4 years later and I have finally gotten to the point I can enjoy the car and will have some final touches to do to like get the interior refinished and add some other finishing touches. The car should be “completed” by 2019
The build thread can be found here , but sadly Phjotobucket has killed most of the pics.
Hopefully they will get fixed someday
posted by 2mAn
pass_side by 2mAn
booty by 2mAn
interior by 2mAn
seats by 2mAn
dash by 2mAn
alpina by 2mAn
OZ by 2mAn
M30 by 2mAn
driver_side by 2mAn
leno by 2mAn
Knowing it was about to get tucked away for this thing called "winter" I wanted to get the feature completed. Congrats Brandon!
1984 320i
Factory options:
Power steering
Color:
Zobelbraun metallic
Interior color:
Multi color until Alpina interior gets finished.
Engine modifications:
M30B34 swap with 1.3 motronic rebuilt with a semi built head, 284 cam, SSSquid custom chip and AEM wideband
Exhaust:
Custom 2.5" exhaust straight pipe to a single in dual out Vibrant muffler
Transmission:
Getrag 260/6 with a euro M10 fly wheel lightened to 13 lbs and an new sachs clutch. Z3 1.9 short shifter. Shortened selector rod and arm.
Differential:
Rebuilt 3.25LSD with upgraded clutches
Suspension:
Suspension is a Full ground control coil over kit with Koni sport dampers, Powerflex control arm bushings. Rear disc brake conversion with poly RTAB and eccentric adjusters. Porsche 944 brake booster. Stainless steel brake and clutch lines with rebuilt calipers and brembo blank rotors and stock pads.
Wheels:
Refinished OZ turbos with custom gold hardware wrapped in Cooper zeon zpt tires ( they wont last long ;) )
Exterior modifications:
Alpina type 147 front air dam and Zender evo rear spoiler along with (Stock) European bumpers
Interior modifications:
It has Flo fit seats, Alpina steering wheel and shift knob. Racing Dynamics pedals. It will also be getting a fully refinished alpina interior with my fabric in the summer or winter of 2018
Story behind the car:
Back in my senior year of high school I had became bored with my automatic e36 328i. I was cruising craigslist in class instead of paying attention looking for something to scratch my itch of finally getting a manual transmission car. My search actually started with 240sx and as I was scrolling through all the different cities I decided to try South Dakota. Low and behold this car popped up, worn down and in need of help in Spearfish South Dakota. I thought it needed less work then it actually did but I was already down the rabbit hole when that was figured out. I messaged to seller within 8 hours after it was posted and we struck a deal. I almost lost the car to a guy from the UK who saw the car and offer the seller his asking price. However, he called me to make sure I was still interested in the car and would be coming to get it, like promised. I told him I was and he said okay I will honor your dibs.
The car is a grey market or “euro spec” 320i, it was sold to a lieutenant in the Army stationed in Germany. He brought it over at the end of deployment in 1987 and drove it for a few years before passing it on to his son who drove it for a few years but gave it back to his dad to buy something newer. It was then sold to a family friend in Sundance, Wyoming who drove it for 12 years back and forth to the coal mine 25 miles away every day. He parked it hoping to repair it but fell sick and had to pass it on to the guy I bought it from in Spearfish.
Oddly enough, most of the parts on the car were already there when I bought it. The car came with Oz turbo wheels, very rare ACS strut bar, rare oil reserve tank, Flo fit seats, mt1 370mm wheel, racing dynamic pedals, and Zender wing.
On New years day 2014 I picked up the car and drove it to my Grandparents in Rapid city about 20 miles from Spearfish. Two days later we towed it the 8.5 hours home to Omaha and the tear down began. 4 years later and I have finally gotten to the point I can enjoy the car and will have some final touches to do to like get the interior refinished and add some other finishing touches. The car should be “completed” by 2019
The build thread can be found here , but sadly Phjotobucket has killed most of the pics.
Hopefully they will get fixed someday











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