Az's BMW M3 - Found out only 113 in my Paint/Interior, aww yeah

[homeforsummer]

As for the M3, if I do proper preventive maintenance, it should be bullet proof.

True that. It's amazing how well BMWs seem to last when they're 10, 15, 20 years old, as some of the ones I've looked at have been. The engines and bodywork have been fantastic without fail. It's always impressive too when a car has well over 100k miles on it and still no rattles to be heard.

 

[YSSMAN]

As for the M3, if I do proper preventive maintenance, it should be bullet proof.

Keywords highlighted in bold. Lets hope the ghost of German past doesn't take you down on this one.

 

[Leonidae]

'95? is it late 95r or early one? I was just wondering if the nikasil issue has been dealt with..

 

[Keef]

Did somebody say orange 17x8.5 OZ Allegeritas? Only 17.1 pounds!

No, screw that. These TRMs come in 17x9 all around, and are nearly a pound lighter. What do you think BMW guys, rolled fenders? Oh, and Star Specs (and BFG R1) just happen to come in 235/40-17, which would be about perfect for that wheel...

Cody, I just wrote you a plan for baller rolling stock. Plus, TRMs come in an semi-ugly gray color and don't seem to be anything special, so go ahead and paint them whatever color you want. I recommend a deep metallic blue.

 

[Stevisiov]

Purple car with orange wheels. Yum.

They would look great on a black porche GT3RS though.

 

[Philly]

Sweet new ride! 👍

I've been thinking about how cool it would be to own one lately. More pics wanted!

 

[///M-Spec]

'95? is it late 95r or early one? I was just wondering if the nikasil issue has been dealt with..

What in the holy name of Paul Roche's left testicle are you talking about?

Nikasil = M60 V8s + EU Spec M52 I6s

US Spec 1995 M3 = S50B30US = iron block.


If you don't know what you are talking about, kindly refrain from polluting the thread with nonsense and innuendo.

What do you think BMW guys, rolled fenders?

The E36 M3 will take a 8.5 width, stock ET wheel up front without rolled fenders and no rubbing against the strut, providing certain brand 245/40 tires are used. Some brands will clear, some brands will not. 235s are a safe bet.

9s will probably not fit without rolling and/or a spacer, depending on offset. Not much point going past a 245 anyway since the main problem up front is camber-challenge.

General advice: Do a google search for Bob Tunnell, the autocross god of the E36 M3. Read pretty much anything he has to say. Then read it again.

Cody, I just wrote you a plan for baller rolling stock.

Hush, you. He is going to buy my CSL replicas and tear up some cones.


M

 

[C-ZETA]

sweet new ride! 👍

I've been thinking about how cool it would be to own one lately. More pics wanted!

+1

 

[Beerz]

I've been thinking about how cool it would be to own drive one lately.

Fixed.

 

[Leonidae]

What in the holy name of Paul Roche's left testicle are you talking about?

Nikasil = M60 V8s + EU Spec M52 I6s

US Spec 1995 M3 = S50B30US = iron block.


If you don't know what you are talking about, kindly refrain from polluting the thread with nonsense and innuendo.

M

Stop being such an elitist snob. Most of the sites where I've been gathering information about BMW's have said that most of the BMW engines in US suffered lowered compression from the lower grade fuel due the nikasil linings corroding. It was a fair question and you had NO need to ruffle your feathers in that manner even if it's about your beloved BMWs.

 

[Azuremen]

Stop being such an elitist snob. Most of the sites where I've been gathering information about BMW's have said that most of the BMW engines in US suffered lowered compression from the lower grade fuel due the nikasil linings corroding. It was a fair question and you had NO need to ruffle your feathers in that manner even if it's about your beloved BMWs.

Irony. So very much irony with you saying that. You always look down on everything, such as your first post regarding my E36. Then you talk like you know what is up, but you really don't. Me, having spent not much time even looking at BMW information, new that the nikasil problem pertained to the V8's in the 740 and 540 models during the mid 90's.

You didn't ask a question, you basically stated "oh, watch out for nikasil issues if yours is a bit older." Re-evaluate how you present yourself, might help with the image you have being a complete snob about cars.

On a more fun note, here is a picture of my car with my room mate's...

 

[Tornado]

The E36 M3 will take a 8.5 width, stock ET wheel up front without rolled fenders and no rubbing against the strut, providing certain brand 245/40 tires are used. Some brands will clear, some brands will not. 235s are a safe bet.

9s will probably not fit without rolling and/or a spacer, depending on offset. Not much point going past a 245 anyway since the main problem up front is camber-challenge.

General advice: Do a google search for Bob Tunnell, the autocross god of the E36 M3. Read pretty much anything he has to say. Then read it again

How do you know these things?

 

[homeforsummer]

On a more fun note, here is a picture of my car with my room mate's...

Is that a sedan your roommate has? Hard to tell from that angle.

 

[Azuremen]

Nope, coupe.

Sedans were only available in the states for the 97 and 98 years.

 

[homeforsummer]

Ah right, cool 👍

I reckon yours looks better

 

[bergauk]

Your roomies looks kinda crooked. Funny angle or something. I do love the color of your car, I'd rock it.

 

[eiriksmil]

You always look down on everything, such as your first post regarding my E36. Then you talk like you know what is up, but you really don't.

Re-evaluate how you present yourself, might help with the image you have being a complete snob about cars.

Thank you.
PS: I dig your taste in cars, and that you actually buy cars instead of just look

 

[///M-Spec]

Stop being such an elitist snob.

Woot! E36 M3! oh wait, it's the watered down US spec with 240bhp, isn't it..

That is all. Azure pretty much said everything else that needed to be said.


Moving along....

How do you know these things?

I've had six BMWs. Of those, three were E36s, and two of those were M3s.

This was my '95 coupe.


This was my '98 sedan.


So you might say I've got some seat time in the cars. In fact... I've probably put over 125,000 miles and 5 autocross seasons on my E36s combined.

Back in the Precambrian days, before World Wide Web and vBulletin, there were BMW mailing lists. Richard Welty's list, which eventually became the UUCmotorwerks list was very popular, and later came Suzy's M3 list; they were filled with car nuts, many of whom shagged cones and pounded pavement every chance they got. I had no kids, no serious girlfriends at the time so I pretty much ate, drank and breathed E36 M3 when I wasn't busy working, playing Quake, getting drunk and chasing tail.

Anyway many of these folks were obsessed with getting as much rubber as possible on the front end of an E36 M3 without rolling the fenders. This is because E36 M3s had a bad tendency to plow really bad when you overdrove them. (nowadays, there are camber plates; back then you didn't have many options)

And the conclusion we all came to was 8.5x17 ET38 all the way around with 245/45-17s should fit on a stock suspension E36 M3 (coupe OR sedan) with no issues. Some 245s run wide, though... so you need to be careful which brand you select. This was up front --the rear would take up to 255, no problem at all.

One day, I personally put an 8.5x17 with 255/40 Kumho Victorracers up front (accidentally) and drove half way to the event before I realized what was up. Minor rubbing on the strut tower and fender liner, but only when I turned the wheel and hit a bump. Good thing I had my torque wrench with me. And someone always brings a floor jack to these things...


@Azure: I haven't been active lately and just now found the "Tell me about E36 M3s" thread. Did you get all the info you needed?

Wow, your buddy's car doesn't have a sunroof. Pretty rare. Your photos are much nicer than mine. What's the little bump on your sunroof panel?


M

 

[Azuremen]

Yeah, I've combed over M3Forum.net and Bimmerforums.com pretty well, so I'm decently informed. If anything does come up though, I might turn to you for answers, //M-Spec.

My room mate likes to remind us about how he doesn't have the sunroof. Much to our annoyance and envy. The bump on mine is the receiver for the Sirius Satellite radio that is in the car, probably the only reason I haven't straight up ripped the Sony Xplod hunk of crap out and burnt it.

I'm debating if I want to see how the car feels this weekend at an auto-cross. I may just do a single run with it and then use the MR-S for the rest of the weekend, as I am a bit afraid to break something still. Might just hard park it there, but I am driving it there and letting my friend drive the MR-S, since it is about 11ty times more comfortable on long haul trips (this is a 130 mile one way trip).

As for the picture quality - my room mate and I both are photography people, taken a several courses, and so on. His camera is a Canon 30D and mine is a Canon 400D. We spent the better part of a hour discussing where to take the cars for pictures after washing them.

 

[Joey D]

Great choice in cars Cody, I'm pretty envious to say the least. I wish I could see the colour too (looks black to me, colour-blindness FLT). I know you said it's purple and purple cars are always awesome in their own right because they make enough of a statement about being secure with yourself and chicks always seem to love purple cars. Really it's a win/win because if any guy makes fun of you for own a purple car you can just show them the other 3 seats are filed with women.

Aynways congrats, I hope you have fun with it!

 

[hemisport15]

Sweet car:tup:. I'm really liking the color. Do you have any plans for this one or is it going to stay stock?

 

[Slicks]

Wow...
When I read the thread title, I was expecting to find you with an E30.

I'm now a very deep shade of green (with envy, of course). Looks like a fantastic purchase, congrats. And for a good price too!

Dunno if you're still planning an autocross trip to Vancouver Island this summer, but I do hope to see it in person.



Edit - Keep the stock wheels as is. Buy the wheels from ///M-Spec. Or BBS LM's.
2 Sets > 1.
Scratch that, you need three sets. Track rubber, street rubber, and winter rubber.

 

[Azuremen]

I'm planning to buy ///M-Spec's wheels once I have secured some funding. As for winter rubber, I do plan to keep one of my other remaining cars for winter use. Current plan is looking at keeping the Civic and selling the old Celica to a friend's father that has wanted one forever for a few hundred dollars and putting that towards a transmission.

I could very well be in the Seattle area for a bit during May. I'll see if I can manage to get all the days to work out and autocross with you.

An E30 M3 would have been amazing, but the prices are simply more than I can afford. At this moment I am hesistent to consider any major purchases for the car till I sell the MR-S. Or have a very profitable summer job while I wait for next semester.

 

[Keef]

Scratch that, you need three sets. Track rubber, street rubber, and winter rubber.

How about M's set for track duty, LMs for baller street and show duty, and the stock wheels with some Blizzaks. Sounds like a plan.

Also, Cody, you need to start making calls to Dinan and AC Schnitzer. Now.

EDIT: Or not. Holy god that stuff is expensive. I mean, us Honda guys have it rough getting real parts from Japan, but holy crap.

And about the wheels, BBS is nice, but it'd be neat to have something more "BMW" than that. Like how us Honda guys always fall for a good Mugen or Spoon wheel. Did Alpina or AC Schnitzer make wheels for E36s?

 

[YSSMAN]

Alpina or Hamann would work fine. BBS was semi-sort hijacked by VW in the '90s, but certainly a nice set of classically styled three piece wheels would look great on it.

...Of course, this writes off the rolling stock, which looks absolutely fine otherwise...

 

[Slicks]

How about M's set for track duty, LMs for baller street and show duty, and the stock wheels with some Blizzaks. Sounds like a plan.

No, no.
Far too expensive.

Stock wheels = Summer Rubber
CSL wheels = Race Rubber
Steelies = Snow or A/S.

That said, it's a moot point as there will be a winter car in the picture.


Cody
Autocross -
There's a double header weekend on May 2/3.
One on the 9th (Though I believe I'll be away that weekend).
An event on the 16th.
Another on the 23rd,
And one on the 31st.

 

[Eric.]

That top-down picture looks amazing, Cody. The car is so clean...I'm jealous, I haven't had time off on a nice day to fully detail the Si. For the record, I would keep the kidney outlines chrome.

 

[Keef]

Cody
Autocross -
There's a double header weekend on May 2/3.
One on the 9th (Though I believe I'll be away that weekend).
An event on the 16th.
Another on the 23rd,
And one on the 31st.

You guys have that much racing in the great white north? We don't even have that many between Dayton and Cincinnati!

 

[Eric.]

You guys have that much racing in the great white north? We don't even have that many between Dayton and Cincinnati!

There's essentially zero racing in my area...

 

[Slicks]

I'm fairly lucky as far as racing goes.

There are three active clubs in my immediate area, with one more a three hour drive away. If I choose to take the ferry to Vancouver ($160 round trip later...), I am opened up to at least two more clubs plus everything in the Seattle area.

If I had the budget to support it, I could probably find a race for every weekend between April and September.


[edit] - Cody, if you take the Blackball ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, you should be looking at a $100 round trip, rather than the extortion-like prices that BC Ferries charges from Vancouver. Washington State Ferries from Anacortes costs about the same.