59. Fixing electrics on a 325i

Well, It's been a while since I wrote my last post. To be honest, due to a lack of finances, my project paused. I believe it'll start again soon. Until then, I was keeping myself busy with my friends 325 limo. He bought a crashed E36, and he is rebuilding it. And he has made some amazing progress. He painted the whole driver's side of the car (since he had black doors and fender), painted the hood black (it was dark red - just like my first E36 project car), fixed the engine, and so on... Since the previous owner cut almost all wires for the lights, side markers, fog lights, and some other stuff, I decided to help with that. I learned about the E36 electrics the hard way - I pulled excess wires out of my green BMW, and then had to find the one wire I pulled too many ... :o)


P.S.

I'm happy to say that my adventure with this car is successful... :) The only thing I still have to fix is the rear driver's side light. But that may be just a broken bulb... :) Hopefully we'll see this car in action in a couple of weeks. :)

P.P.S.

Don't you just LOVE that RED? =)

P.P.P.S.

Oh yea, I almost forgot - A couple of pictures:

Notice the snow? Fun sideways action... :)

Not so fun working in a cold garage...

Well, that's when I don't want to take my 318is out of the heated one.

 

 

We still need to confirm that this is really 325 :)

Want to know why? Read my 'That stupid M50 engine' post. :-P

 

 

When you paint your car - do cover up your air compressor: ;c)

 

58. Rear wing, and more rims :)

Since Christmas is coming, I bought my BMW a present.

A GT/Lightweight rear wing:

Don't ask where did I get the green one from...

This is my friends car... I was too lazy to take mine out of the garage.

This is the best angle:

Ok, And a picture of my 'new' 17" rims:
(Haha, they look almost exactly as my style 45 16"s)

 I guess they are Style 44.

57. Some modifications for my start-button and kill-switch pannel

If you remember, I wrote a couple of DIY articles on how to put a start button and a kill switch in your E36. Then, I wrote an article about constructing your own panel that will hold the buttons... Well, I have to admit, that panel was just too ugly for me to put it in my new E36. And it was eliminating half of my dashboard controls (including my new gauges).

After a long brainstorming session, I decided to go with the flow. I've put my on/off switches on the center console, in front of the shifter - where the cigarette lighter used to be. That came out nicely, but left me with a 'small' problem... Where to put the kill switch? Ha! And I found the perfect solution... Scroll down, you'll see it :)

Yea! I even kept the illumination of the cigarette lighter!

And now, ladies and gentleman... The one and only...

Clock Switch! um... no, wait... that's not right...
The one and only...
KILL SWITCH!
:)

I know I'm over-exited, but, hey, I didn't have to buy a new panel. (I must admit, they look so damn' good!)

A couple of cool things...

Start button for $33.11!


Kill switch for $14.95!

56. New toys - gauges

I bought a couple of toys for my BMW.

• 52 mm Water temperature gauge
• 52 mm Oil pressure gauge
• 52 mm Oil temperature gauge
• 1 DIN gauge holder for three 52 mm gauges

Ordered them from Germany. :) I know they're not VDO, but, I have a very limited budget.

Assembled the holder and gauges:

This is how they look on the dashboard. Did you really think I'll keep a stereo system in a Drift car?

This is how they look in the dark:

Red/orange color matches the rest of the instruments:

 And the best thing is the price. Got them for 150$, including shipping. :)

55. Third time's the charm

After two massive failures with E36 #1 and E36 #2, I've finally managed to buy a decent base car for my project. Well, It's a 316 body with a 318is engine. And, it's in a good condition. See for yourself:

Now you see it:

Now you don't:

We installed electric windows all-round:

Not many kilometers on the clock (for a BMW)... The engine has even less kilometers:

318is:

Finally, a picture of  the car:

Picture from the rear:

16" Rims that I bought a couple of days ago: (Style 45)

Hey, look at that - a spare wheel! :)

I like shiny things:

I bought the exhaust manifold a couple of days ago. Obviously, I plan to install a bigger engine :)

Just playing with the kill switch - I have to figure out where to put it... :
My last panel was kind of sloppy, and I don't want anything sloppy in my car...

And, I started collecting tires...

So, this is it for now. I'm still working on my project as you can see. In the next month or two, I'll buy a M3 body kit and a lightweight hood and trunk :) So, stay tuned! :)

54. BMW M3 Brochure

Here's something that will take you back in time. An original BMW promotional brochure that was used by BMW dealerships for the promotion of the 'new' M3 3.2 E36. Click on the PDF icon to access the file.