There was some rubbing alright with the 245's on the rear with a full load. The lip was rolled slightly by a mechanic when the car was in my dad's possession - fixed it fine. Although he did chip some paint on it at the time - the respray sorted that out anyway.
Decided to pay a bit of attention to this again - only some minor bits until the E30 is done. Put through an order with BMW Classic for some small bits - storage nets for the passenger and driver, a new cover for the rear view mirror and a new intake boot to try and resolve some hot idling issues.
I do love having a bundle of parts to unwrap although in this case it was slight overkill given how few parts were enclosed.
New mirror cover - the exists one had a tab broken and kept falling off after ten minutes of driving.
Before and after -
Car also has a hot idling issue - holds idle fine when cold, but once its warm the idle level hops around a bit. I'd already replaced O2 sensor and MAF (which got it past the NCT) and curing the same idling problem when the engine was cold. Thought there might be a vacuum leak, so just bought a new boot and stuck it on. Won't have a chance to test it, but the old one was fine with no cracks, so am not expecting a resolution.
There was a small bit of oil in the throttle body too, which depending on what you read is or is not an issue. Will have it looked into anyway. Ultimately, I think the engine has had a hard life - so might need to do something more drastic than just chasing some of these problems.
Collected this from Pro-Parts this evening - the lads had it in storage for me and fitted the new clutch, flywheel and a set of Eagle F1's. After driving the 118i everywhere for the last few months,the E36 feels very rough and ready in comparison - will take some getting used to again.
Have reached out for a few smart repair quotes on the damage I mentioned before - thank you Red Bin company!
Truth be told, I escaped lightly with the damage - no dents at all, just needs paint.
Clutch biting point is still low despite the new clutch - so think it needs a new slave cylinder too. Engine also runs a bit noisy and the idle isn't as smooth as it should be - so thats next up. Half tempted to drop it down to DaveG - but I'm not sure he wants two of my cars taking up space on him
Picked up an unbranded CD43 for this relatively cheaply - a BMW branded one was three times the cost, and this ended up being more or less the same as a Rover labelled one, so happy with the purchase.
Old one was fine - sound wasn't super, but the OEM nerdness factor was the main thing I wanted. This wasn't compatible with the multifunction steering wheel controls I'm going to fit, so had to make way.
New one in place -
I want to source the genuine stereo cage for this, so fitment isn't quite perfect at the moment. Also want to get a new cover for the heating controls - its a kammerer unit though, and its not available in Europe. ECS tuning seem to have them in stock though.
Plus point with the new stereo is that the sound quality is far superior to the old unit.
Also had the damage repaired by Carcraft - the SMART repair places said they couldn't do it because of the damage being right on the quarter panel. Was very happy with the results, collected it and dropped it straight off for a days detailing. Turned out well - just need to try and maintain it now. Old age means I'm getting lazy with car care!
I sold my Saab on a Friday evening - meaning the E36 would be my daily for a few weeks. In a typical stroke of bad luck, it wouldn't start on the Saturday morning. Was cranking but not starting - I suspected a fuel pump issue, but after some investigation by Coolmine Motors (proper investigation - as opposed to my method of buying brand new parts and keep replacing until the problem is fixed) - it was a crankshaft sensor at fault. Had this replaced, and while they had the car I got a few other jobs done. New blower motor (old one was close to death), flush of the power steering fluid - steering was slightly heavy, and a quick oil change. Car is back now and is driving superbly. And the Saab has been replaced
Had a change of heart regarding the interior - so kicked off an upgrade of sorts. Picked up a black leather interior from a low mileage car - mainly for the door cards. My own door cards had the mounting points glued back on, and they never quite fitted as good as factory fresh ones one. Unfortunately - when I got these door cars, the top mounting points were completely missing, which kind of put me back to square one. This time round though, I had the benefit of gallons of Tec7 - so figured I could do a better job refitting the mounting points.
With the old door cards off, it was an opportune moment to put new OEM weatherproofing onto the doors. Carcraft put some plastic over the doors when they did the respray - the old weatherproofing was long gone by the time the car went into them.
Once the weatherproofing came off, it was apparent that the interior door handle was moving around pretty freely. It was screwed in, but a piece of the handle which holds it secure to the door had broken off.
Had these spare - which were in perfect condition, so in they went. It was only when I went to do the drivers side that I realised I had two passenger side versions! Had to order a drivers side off eBay which arrived within a day or two.
Bought these new weatherproofing panels from BMW Classics along with a few other parts - liberal application of Tec7 to hold them on
Last time I fitted the doorcards I didn't have a soldering iron - so took the opportunity to do them properly
Always need to have plenty of clips to hand when fitting the doorcards
One door card fitted - had to buy repair mounting points for the other door card from the US, still waiting on them to arrive before I can mount the other side.
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