86. 3 Years!

Well, if you haven't noticed - yesterday this blog celebrated 3 years of existence. :)
So, it's 3 years, since I bought my first BMW. :)

Here are some small thumbs (sorry, don't have any larger images) that show how this blog evolved... :)

Expect a major redesign soon. :)
Stay tuned. :)

85. Taking care of rust... hopefully

Well, good thing is, that this body isn't a complete rust bucket, like my previous ones...

The small rust holes were point-welded, then protected with some Hammerite anti-rust paint, seams were filled with Car System filler (the one that looks OEM, rubbery type), and then painted with some primer. It's coming along nicely, and it'll be ready for final coat of paint in a couple of days. I just have to take care of all them wires. ;)
P.S. The trunk is almost ready. It needs just one more coat of white paint :) Yey!

Here are some pictures.
(I'll try to dig up some 'before' photos later...)
Click on the thumbnails for larger view!



I know. It's not pretty. But, it's strong. :)

This is the anti-rust Hammerite paint that I use: (Great stuff, BTW)

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84. My E36 316 exhaust - muffler trouble

When it rains, it pours - Now, that's just about right. Two days after I fixed my brakes, my muffler almost fell off. :( OK, I did hear that the exhaust had a leak, but all my cars had it... I'm kind of used to the sound. (Where's that 'head bang' smiley when you need it?)

Well, as you'll see from the pictures, my silencer almost fell from my car, since it was completely cut-off from the pipe. It was hanging on the two rubber mounts in the back... Oh boy, imagine what would've happened if it fell off on the highway. :(

Right, so, once again, I found some silencers lying around my garage. Of course, it wasn't from a 316. I took it off my ex 320. I don't have to say that it was completely different from my old one... And then, it was welding time. A lot of welding, teeth grinding, tube bending, and so on. But, thanks to my friends help, we managed to put it on. The car now has a deeper sound, and I kinda like it.



Yea, it looks ugly. (The welds and piping, I mean)...
I probably lost power with this (up?)grade... But It'll stay for now. :)

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83. My E36 316 service and brakes upgrade

Since I like to drive my 316i without worries, I did the regular oil service.
It's 13000 kilometers from the last one, so I thought it was time for some new oil, oil filter, spark plugs... I drove to my friends to do the job. The service was done in matter of minutes... I didn't even get a chance to finish my Red Bull. :o)



Right... A few days after that, my front brakes started producing some horrible tunes... :( I thought I would just replace the pads... but no. The pads were 110% worn, and the discs - well, they were even worse.

One thing always bothered me with the 316. The front discs were single-piece, not vented. Meaning, the brakes would quickly fade after just minutes of spirited driving.

Luckily, I had some 325 discs, calipers and pads lying around the garage, so I decided to go for a upgrade. The job is pretty straight-forward, since everything is plug and play. :)

Here's a picture of the 325 disc mounted on my 316:


If you like, I can make a picture of the old pads and discs... :o)
Just leave a comment. :)

Some stuff that you'll probably need for a oil/brake service:

P.S.
This is the filter that I use - Great stuff:
(make sure that you get the correct one for your engine)

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82. Fiberglass hood and trunk

Like I said, weight is a killer on a track car. So, I managed to get a fiberglass hood and trunk for my car.
The hoods were made by Gagi84 - he drifts a V8 powered E36 GTR. (GMZ Drift Team) Cool!

Here are some pictures:
(click on the thumbs for a larger image)



 You can see that I already made the holes for the BMW roundel, rear wing, and hood pins. I also made the hood-pin holes on the cars shell.

Here's the front hood:



I'll play with it in a day or two... :)


And, I'll need a couple of these: