Eva! My Journey With An E36

[Octanehead]

My story starts long ages ago, when I was yay high! I was lucky enough to have an Uncle who was a BMW fanatic! Walking into his house I saw what lay in his garage. At the time I did not know all the model codes but I knew they were BMW's. Not one but two fantastic looking E39's parked side by side. The image was seared clearly into my memory and from that moment on my love for them only grew stronger. Years passed by and then I met another person (known as Esdeez over here) who was passionate about the Bavarian brand as much as I was (Actually more). Becoming very close friends was imminent! Soon after he got his first Beemer, I had to have one too. So after much persuasion I managed to get Dad into saying yes.

But there was a problem I wanted an E34 but Dad wanted a E36. A compromise was made, so yes Dad had his way. But there was another issue now. Money was there but finding a good car was an even harder task. As always I wanted a proper six pot E36. Rare as they were I came across a 320 in my colour of choice BLACK! Sadly Dad wasn't interested as it needed quite a bit of attention. Had to let it go, something I deeply deeply regret even as I write this. All good things take time I guess, nevertheless I came across this 1992 316i. Dont be fooled by the number plate though, its not a 318 (at least for now) Seemed okay on the outside. I was looking for a project car nevertheless and Dad was satisfied with the motor. So with my impatience to taste Bavaria we slapped some cash on the desk and drove her away. Decided to name her Eva.....

The above shot was taken by Esdeez at one of the first BMW Meet's I had attended. It looks pretty good here actually (maybe it was because of the photographer?) But as the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover seemed true as Dad and I made a bit of hasty decision. The paint was well, intact but sections of it were turning grey. Supposedly someone had tried to buff it too much. It had silly looking number plates which I changed to the nice clean black ones (as seen above) and boring alloys and a FART CANNON! More than that, the AC conversion on this UK spec car was pretty crappy but managed to sort the whole thing out as well. To be honest soon after I bought the car, I only had it for a couple of days. It was in the workshop for over a week! Then with me leaving to Malaysia for higher studies, time for Eva ran short. So it was put aside for a couple of months. But while I was away, Dad's was busy getting the car touched up.

At last Eva was presentable to the general public! By then I managed to install some Angel eye's. A must have add on for any BMW owner! And the previous owner had gone to the extent of performing a facelift to the front end too. Sure does make a difference.

By the way the paint hasn't been cut and polished as yet. I will be claying the whole car once I am back in December(2013) and laying down some good polish to get it up to my standards. But a full back to bare metal respray is on the cards! More on that later. Sadly though I wasn't satisfied with the car! Well main reason been the puny 1600cc engine pushing this thing along was just stupidly underpowered! But it hadn't even done 100,000km's when I got it so the engine was pretty smooth. The silly fart cannon was thrown away for a brand new OEM 318 Exhaust ( cost me a pretty penny that). Why stock you ask? Its a 316 no point spending a lot on something nice, plus the 318 exhaust improves performance slightly! It just needs a better tip at the rear.

This is Eva's resting grounds! With dear Cera parked in front. Once I removed the fart cannon though I found out another issue. The noise that exhaust made hid something even worse. All of my wheel bearings were Kaput! They made this nail biting drone over 50kph. Ah the frivolities of owning a German! This thing managed to burn quite a big hole in both my Dad's pocket and mine. Add to that when I took the car for inspection, my oil pressure switch was leaking oil badly! So once again the car went into hibernation till we sourced the finances.

Dad managed to fix the front wheel bearings, replaced the pressure switch, new air filter and put in new oil and filter! And again we were broke. Didn't have enough dosh to put in the rears! Studying abroad was slowing down progress sadly. Remember I said I wasn't happy with my purchase and lost all hope in the car and the brand itself. Well that was all about to change! Been a young lad I had never got the chance to drive long distance. In other words take an epic road trip. I wasn't too interested in taking Eva cos of the evil drone, but the Ceres was under the knife at the time and my Uncle from Aussie had made plans to go to Udawalawe. So Eva it was. It was on this trip that I really understood what it was all about. Hell I couldn't keep up with my Uncle's Allion, but wind in my hair (I had the sunroof open most of the way ) and no parents to tell me what to do, the drive was epic. Even with the annoying drone, The E36 managed to make me smile all along the way. And never gave me any problems at all. Everything was fine for a 21 year old car!

She faired really well on the trip to Udawalawe. So was the trip from there, down south. Stopped by the side of the road cos the views were pretty amazing! I was really happy though for another reason. At last this car managed to made me smile! I was considering giving it away even though I would loose a lot of cash, but that trip changed my mind!

Edited July 6, 2013 by Octanehead

[Octanehead]

This was her dirty as ever at the Heritance Car Park. Managed to get a good spot with shade and parked her up like a BOSS!

So on the drive back home all my inital plans for Eva came rushing back into my head. To keep things short, what I wanted to do was a 6 pot swap ( I wouldn't mind a 318is swap even), show car paint job and interior re trim. Some slick wheels and the M3 body kit. And a few other performance oriented modifications. First thing I managed to sort out were the wheels. They are just a temporary mod as my dream wheel is the original M Contour wheel which came on the E36 M3! Nevertheless managed to find a used set of alloys through a friend for a good pric and got some tires too( I needed them as the ones on the old set were pretty shot plus I went up one size). Here's a shot of Eva with her new shoes.

Keeping the OEM theme, original Style 16 BMW 16 inch alloys were the choice. I really like the look they give. Gives it quite the stance. The car needs to be lower though in my eyes!

Dad's daily in the background....

The new wheels were wrapped in Dunlop Sport Maxx tires. Quite a good tire for the price!

Edited July 6, 2013 by Octanehead

[Octanehead]

So what's the current status with Eva? Well the brakes are shot! Never ending problems, ah but when you love something it doesn't bother you! Eva is in hibernation mode for now since Dad got a new toy to play with ( more details on that later) but while he was busy with his new project I have been busy finding bits for Eva. Which includes a sweet small diameter M3 MTecII Steering wheel, eye lids and new door tweeter covers! Going to get some Xenon for the low beams and get some yellow fog lamps to give a little bit of contrast. Once I get back, I will be getting the front grille's painted in Black ( Still undecided between Matt or gloss! Your thoughts guys?)

A shot of the interior as it is.....

[maheshw]

Thanks for sharing OH..i really enjoyed reading...

btw is that the stock gear knob on the 316 ??

[Octanehead]

Thanks for sharing OH..i really enjoyed reading...

btw is that the stock gear knob on the 316 ??

Thanks Mahesh! Actually no, its a Chrome M Item. But donated it to Esdeez for his E30, using a Stock brand new gear knob now !

[H.C]

Nice way to start the Sunday morning and really enjoyed reading your story!. All the very best to rest of the project!

[MkX]

Thanks for sharing. Keep updating on things.. I am kind of like previous wheels.

[Octanehead]

Thanks guys, means a lot! Talking about Sunday mornings it was lovely to wake up to a sight like this!

[Jaliya48]

Looks good and love that manual transmission. Is it a five speed or six speed?

[Komisiripala]

Finally. About bloody time! Let's drop a 2.5 6 pot in there

[Octanehead]

Looks good and love that manual transmission. Is it a five speed or six speed?

The E36 only came with 5 speed, not sure about the M3! And I love Manual's, nothing else would do!

[The Don]

The late E36 M3 has a 6 speed transmission I believe.

[MasterDon]

Nice write up.Although being a more a Mercedes man I've always had a soft spot for the E36.

And speaking of wheels,I spotted these knock-offs recently.18s I believe...If any bavarian enthusiast is interested shoot me a PM,I'll give the contact details.

[Crazy Life]

Awesome write up Charith! still remember the ride we took at Milly's love this car to bits!

[NZer]

Is her surname Mendes by anychance? Nice car Machan

[Simplelife]

Awesome stuff mate! Love reading it. Btw wasn't this up for sale recently in A/L?

[Octanehead]

This is actually my second set of alloys. used to have these before. 17 inch alloys

But they were replica's, so the offset was wrong which made my steering wheel wobble like mad over 50kph. That's the issue with European cars, if you are changing the wheels you need to get the correct specifications. Thanks Crazy Life, that was an epic day haha! Yes as I mentioned before I wasn't satisfied with the car so wanted to sell at a loss. But changed my mind later on. And LOL her surname isn't Mendes!

[dreamracer]

cant help myself from getting seduced by Eva's angel eyes nice write up and good shots bro

btw,u are away from sl till december,does this mean no new blogs @OH

[Octanehead]

cant help myself from getting seduced by Eva's angel eyes nice write up and good shots bro

btw,u are away from sl till december,does this mean no new blogs @OH

I have so many shoots planned up for December, that its giving me a headache. I dunno how imma go about planning out everything!

[NZer]

Ohhhhh

[pug306xsi]

Car looks fabulous. I think the plate is asking for a 1.8 as well !

any plans for a 18 button OBC?

also is it possible to retro fit climate control on this?

Good luck and looking forward to seeing more of Eva.

[iRage]

I have so many shoots planned up for December, that its giving me a headache. I dunno how imma go about planning out everything!

An apprentice ?

[Octanehead]

Car looks fabulous. I think the plate is asking for a 1.8 as well !

any plans for a 18 button OBC?

also is it possible to retro fit climate control on this?

Good luck and looking forward to seeing more of Eva.

Yes all my friends think its a 318! Yes yes all coming soon, I am going to fit the complete Climate control system into this. Need to find the cash only. But it will be the manual system not the push button one as the latter used electronic motors and is quite a bitch when it goes wrong!

[Octanehead]

An apprentice ?

Haha, never thought of that....

[k9master]

Yes all my friends think its a 318! Yes yes all coming soon.

Hey, try to find a M44B19 and go on the 318is path. I know its difficult find and all but if you can, many say that the best handling combination after M3. I've read the 6 pots make the car a bit heavy on the nose and with the power It becomes a bit tricky to handle.

Think it will give a better P2W than a 325i as well.

Cheers,

K9M