Forums Forums Enthusiast Forums A - Z Autowirral BMWJoe: BMW E36 316i

Was ment to ask the other day were did you get your camara matey wouldnt mind one (with sound) for driftdays

looks fantastic mate well done

Cheers Ste.

Tony, my one is without sound, £15 off eBay

Went for it's MOT today even though its far from finished and it failed, as expected.

The headlights totally failed being American imports so I'll have to put the old ones in until I get UK ones or sort the ones I have.

One of the things I didn't know is that even though I have side repeaters on the wing, as there is the side repeaters on my mirrors too, they also have to be working. I just forgot to wire them up after painting the mirrors.

The only major problem was the exhaust system. I didn't realise how low the car is and one of the clamps was too close to the floor and got caught and knocked the exhaust loose, so it failed on that, but on the way back to the garage, it was rattling like mad and just around the corner from my garage.....



Anyway, although it's a fairly big list, I'm pretty pleased with it as apart from the suspension, the rest are simple to fix.


It failed on:

- Nearside Front headlamp aim too low (1.6)
- Offside Front headlamp aim too low (1.6)
- Nearside Front headlamp aim beam image kick up to the offside (1.6)
- Offside Front headlamp aim beam image kick up to the offside (1.6)
- Nearside Front direction indicator incorrect colour (1.5.A1d)
- Offside Front direction indicator incorrect colour (1.5.A1d)
- Nearside Front door side repeater not in good working order (not working) (1.5.A1b)
- Offside Front door side repeater not in good working order (not working) (1.5.A1b)
- Offside Front front suspension joint has excessive play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)
- Parts insercure exhaust system has part of the system excessively deteriorated (7.1.1a)
- Front wheels brakes imbalanced (3.7.A.2e)

Advisory Notice issued
- Nearside Front front suspension joint has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush (2.5.A.1c)
- Exhaust system has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2a) Minor leak? It fell apart
- Front and rear number plates only just met requirments


Also, the steering wheel as much as I like it, it too impractical as I cant see the dials and the wire to the horn keep coming loose after wrapping around the steering because of the boss. So I'm going to try and get an M3 steering wheel instead.


I have 2 weeks to sort it, so I should be on the road for the next meet

that not to bad mate you got to be happy with that

At least it passed with the new battery.

I would be gutted with a list like that.
But chip away at it joe and we know you will get there

Shame about the exhaust lol

At least its mainly fiddly bits

Cant remember if you can buy the lower ball joints and press them in, or wether you need to replace the whole arm on the E36s.

...they can be a right bugger to get out of the rear mounting bush as well - its generally a good idea to replace these with the bottom arms though as they are prone to knocking.

Arms where £40-ish each for pattern parts (Inc pre fitted ball joint), and the bushes £15-ish the pair - again, pattern parts.

Should be ready at the weekend to go back in for it's MOT next week.

I've removed the new headlights, wired the mirror indicators back up, bought a new offside lower arm with both inner and outer ball joints fitted for just over £30, also bought some new wishbone bushes for a tenner - not poly ones, but might upgrade to them later.

Also fitted the exhaust as high up as possible and moved the clamps out the way.

Does anyone have a set of axle stands I can borrow at the weekend as mine are underneath the car. I need them to hold the wheel hub up to replace the lower arm.

good work mate is that everything you needed to do for mot now

yeah, just gotta bleed the brakes too.

I'm hoping it'll be taxed and on the road for April's meet even though as it's far from finished I'm just sick of having no car

dont blame you mate would pee me off as well atleast you can nearly see the end

dont worry joe, it'll be worth it when its on the road... cos its all your own work...

nearly there matey

just read all 54 pages, took me forever, lol.

got to say joe, u have done well, u have lernt alot since i use to hang out with you and the crew

Cheers mate.

Yeah, even though it's cost me a lot, I've also learnt a lot too