So I hocked the Octavia (swapped, really!).

As a few of you know, and those who see my signature, it's been changed for something silver, old and pretty quick.

It's a BMW E36 328i Touring SE, on a '99 T plate, with a LOT of extras. According to an ex-BMW dealer, it was the highest spec an SE could have from the factory... yay..!

Only cost £750, so I'm treating it as a rolling restoration/tinkering project. So far I've dropped quite a large chunk of cash on her, but I do a lot of the installation either by myself or with my best mate/personal mechanic.

Now... pictures!

The day I bought her.

Road trip for some new boots...

Those 'orrible wheels had to go. Too small, too fussy, and slightly crappy tyres. This wasn't good, seeing as 1) I've not driven RWD for an extended period of time 2) it's been pretty wet lately and 3) the car's traction control system is broken. Gulp.

So I stayed up late, drank a LOT of cider, and perused eBay. Found a set I wanted, newly refurbed, and sniped them for £50.

Guy I bought them from had a gorgeous convertible in BMW Individual Fern Green. He originally sold the car as a dealer, and it came back to him, tail between exhaust pipes.

Sorry sight I saw on the way back. Felt very sorry for this XJ6. :(

Project Silverline begins...

Lots of boxes began to turn up to the office. Boss was suitably bemused, but interested all the same! The list of parts to fit included...

- new wheels

- new tyres

- illuminated M-Sport gearknob

- new boot struts, as the old ones had lost their verve

- new rear lights

- new side repeaters

- new fuel pump (buggered fuel sender!)

- new side mirror glass (had weirdly magnified side views in the clearly borked aftermarket glass)

- a sticker from a young man on here...

So the fitting began. Hotfooted it up to my best mate's place, stayed up far too late and started work the next morning feeling decidedly stupid and fragile...

Tyre fitters hard at work...

New shoes! How nice!

Sean hard at work breaking/de-griming my car.

One old rear light, one new one. We smoked them ourselves at the top- German eBay sells a LOT of lights, but no red/grey ones. Just red and clear. Some old tint I bought soon put a stop to that!

She's a bit lopsided... issue uncovered. :(

Look at that profile...

All our boxes empty, parts all on.

So... the to do list is somewhat shortened! Got an M50 intake manifold coming in the post, a Dave F induction kit (SNH, you are a tremendous wallet-burner... ) and now... some other slightly more essential bits. The rear suspension is kind of goosed, which was made apparent when the tyres began scrubbing at the slightest turns or acceleration (hugely irritating). Now I have to drive slowly (?) while I wait for new shocks & springs... grump grump. Also going to renew the wishbone bushes all round, as the car's a bit on the shakey side at certain speeds. And probably new brakes.

So... she's not perfect, but a LOT of car for the money. I love it. Definitely feel very at home with it, although the fuel consumption is punishing I just love hearing that straight six roar! Truly lovely!

LIKE

Nice!

Great looking car.

Tidy! Really do regret now getting an old Beemer. Guess there's still time

Thanks guys Martin- you really should! It's a very strange, but great, driving experience.

She's booked in with the mechanic for Wednesday to address the shaky steering at 35mph (either buggered brakes or knackered bushes, it's old, I expect this) and the borked suspension on the rear. It's pretty bad... but I'm keeping driving to a minimum, which my wallet is grateful for!!

M50 manifold and Dave F induction this week. Should howl like a werewolf on full moon night.

Like I said before, it's a very tidy car and a lot of car for the money!

Looks great are you going to replace the front indicators as well to freshen up, did not see it on the list just repeaters ?

I think I'm going for a touring next I think

No doubt a 328 aswell, Depending on whether I get mine back off the ins I'll be stripping it of the good bits to swap over

Babs- buy one! They really are lovely to drive. Just the perfect balance between cosseting and interactive.

Blue- the front end is coming next. New nosecone, new indicator repeaters, fix the rogue washer jet and just generally tidy her up!

Si- *******s. I wanted your parts! New M50 turned up today, just gotta convert it to fit. Induction is hopefully on the way. Some M-Tech springs are coming too! Got them for 21 quid!

An interesting sidenote- since I changed the gearknob, it feels a lot better to shift. I kept missing third before, but clearly the old shifter was just... well... crap! WD40 on the squeaky throttle, some lithium grease on the steering bits under the car and that's some more squeaks cured... now to sort out the arse rubbing and dramatically high nose!

If all goes to plan all my parts will be up for grabs (apart from the seat, harness and steering wheel)

Edited 23 October, 201213 yr by SNH

Ooooooohohoho! Did I mention how much I love you? Not in a gay way... but... yeah... :p

Been a busy week or so...

I found out that the 16s I bought were 1) buckled to feck 2) massively wrong offset, which is weird seeing as they only made them for the E36. Anyhow, action needed to be taken very quickly as the car was shaking like a jelly every time I drove it. Not only that, the rubbing was doing my head in- swapped the rear 225s to the front, and there was less rubbing but even less grip at the back. Plus, the tyres are so bad I'm emailing the manufacturer and telling them to take them back. Literally less than a centimetre of throttle input, and the traction control (now working!) dictated it was losing traction. It's so bad that I can't even put my foot down on the motorway if it's damp without the traction control blowing a silent but very obvious whistle on proceedings. That's in 5th gear, at around 50mph... work that out...

So I got looking... and in the meantime, my new M50 manifold turned up (+20ish bhp), and my noisemaker- a Dave F induction kit, which is regarded as one of the best around for an E36. By Si at least. no pics, but I can tell you now it's really opened up the car and sounds like an utter mentalist. I didn't like it at first, but it really grows on you. Subtle at low revs though. I finally got the time today to open it up well and truly... what a noise! You're probably all a little unimpressed by this, but it's VERY loud under full throttle, and I scared the crap out of some poor gentleman in a Mercedes by opening it up right next to him when he had his window down...

I also have some MTech Touring suspension in the wings, along with some new rear shocks. These will be fitted at a leisurely pace.

But today was a real coup de grace...

Hmmm... what are these..? Black BBS RC041s? Don't mind if I do...

Purchased from another useful E36 character (although more useful than the last one, in that the wheels aren't buckled or crap), who had a lovely example...

Fitting...

Oh, and I nearly forgot- new brakes this week!

And how she sits, finally all good:

Oh, and the illuminated gearknob I fitted at the last update. Finally got a photo or three.

Overall, pretty chuffed. Drove back with no rubbing, no wheel wobble and decent traction the whole way.

No more spending for a couple of months though... got plenty to get on with in my possession, but the account has taken a SERIOUS battering.

Enjoy.

Looking good

The Dave F is rated to be one of the best, think the filter will flow upto 250+ bhp

I didn't like the sound at first- I found it very blaring under full throttle... however, having got the time to properly test it today I can say it's amazing. Engine feels so strong now.

Any news on your car yet Si? I'm after your converted M50!

It's due to go to the assessor's tomorrow mate so hopefully I'll know something this week. It needs to hurry up as the car I'm after wont be around much longer.

Indeed... they never are! If you know the seller, break their arms if they sell it. That's legal, isn't it?

Just made mum drive it... she nearly melted my clutch by setting off in 3rd with a LOT of revs... oops...

One small update... well, it's kinda big for me.

Wasn't totally sure about the BBS wheels, which I think are more suited to the coupés... so I stumbled across some utterly lovely Style 32s on here (thanks Rich!) and arranged a time & date...

They fit a treat and really suit the car. It looks like a miniature 7-Series Touring now.

Next up- secured a new nosecone & grilles. Going to paint the grilles Sapphire Black (well, a good friend is!) and finally have an undented nosecone & working headlight washer. Also secured an M3 front bumper in silver, which I'm swapping for my M50 manifold... but I'm hoping a certain someone here will have a converted M50 available soon...

Haha,

It should be at the assessor's now so hopefully this week I'll know something and maybe have it back ready to start stripping

Just let me know mate, I have a feeling I'll be ordering a pallet of parts haha!

Just let me know mate, I have a feeling I'll be ordering a pallet of parts haha!

Seat, harness, ind kit, strut braces, wheels all got dibbed straight away lol. Had offers on the inlet but only daft ones.

I'm keeping the steering wheel.

I'm sure the other stuff will go without probs aswell

Edited 12 November, 201213 yr by SNH

Finally sorted out the weedy front end:

This process involved: new nosecone, new bumper from an M3 and a set of smoked front indicators.

I basically ripped out the headlight washer system as 1) it's fairly rubbish 2) it looks crap 3) replacement bits were a fortune 4) the new nosecone didn't cater for such frivolous items. That was fun. Managed to finally plug the leak in the washer fluid system where it'd slowly drain out of the apparently plugged missing headlight washer. :wonder:

Then I aligned it slowly and carefully, and spent feckin' ages adjusting the headlights so it fitted snug as a bug with the bonnet & bumper. Tuesday I picked up the M3 bumper with my best mate, then we changed it in his underground garage- bloody lucky, as it was ****ing it down! Finally, the smoked indicators arrived Wednesday and completed the picture quite nicely.

Just got to fit some mesh to the lower grille, best mate is doing a set of kidney grilles Sapphire Black for me, Laminex the fogs yellow and then the front is sorted.

After that, going to slowly (and I mean slowly, my bank account HATES me this month) carry on sorting her out.

To do list:

- M50 manifold (swapped mine for the M3 bumper)

- Vibe BlackAir 12" enclosure (got it in the Fabia, just need to fit it)

- maybe new bonnet- there's a Titanium Silver Touring breaking at a nearby scrappy, so I might rape its bonnet and the driver's side wing

- random little bits of paint

- M3 exhaust manifolds

- remap

- pair of Individual M3 Vaders may be heading my way- suede outers, black leather inners.

Total cost: Just under a grand to get the rest of it done!

Looking good, some good plans to

Looks good buddy, silver cars with yellow laminex front fogs are the tits! Need to sort the springs so not so wonky then will be a right weapon!

Lovely car! i like what you have done. Good move on loosing the BBS`s too imo