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Meet Monty. A neglected E36 wagon who has lived a hard life. Until now as its time he got a make over.
My previous history has been flooded with BMW's. This is my 3rd E36 and have had two e34 540i's and 2 e30 coupes. One m50 powered.
I picked it up off Trademe (New Zealand's Ebay) towards the end of last year and my girlfriend and I drove it down from Auckalnd (other end of the country). It was a bit rougher than I thought but for the price, I couldn't really complain. First thing we noticed as that it handled like a whale due to the fact the front shocks were leaking which made the drive down ever so scary at times, so they where quickly replaced. The right rear had taken a knock from an elderly gentleman in a supermarket and had smashed the tail light. Went brand new as I couldnt find one in NZ and ten days later, one arrived from Scheidemann. Bar a small power steering leak, he fly through a WOF.
First thing was to give it really good clean to see exactly what I was dealing with. The paint has countless scratches and it looks like someone has tried to chew the passengers guard :unsure: not to mention golf ball size dents. Interior is rough in places, yet mint in others like the boot. Roof lining is starting to sag up front so that will be something to tackle in the near future.
Before
Cleaning crew hard at work
After
It looks like a highlighter has exploded on the right hand side so that will need redoing at some point as I couldn't get it all out.
I found half a beach under the rear seats
Under the front seats I found, $13.40, a key, the locknut, a Canadain 10c piece, a dog biscut and a cracker
Inside a much nicer place to be now.
After a solid afternoon cleaning, he comes up looking like this
The plan for him is to put to use the parts I had brought for my coupe
- Coilovers - already have them just need to be installed
- Motorsport kit - just needs to be painted to match.
- Wheels - I have some ACS Type 1 reps but are pretty rough
- Engine Conversion (maybe) and Manual conversion - definitely.
- Dye leather interior. Grey is nice but its a little dated.
Need to do's
- Sort dents and scratches
- Cooling system
- Squeeky steering wheel
- Clean underside
Progress will probabley be rather slow as I am currently saving for a house and a 5 week European Holiday in June but I'm keen on sticking to a plan this time instead of selling it after 6 months which I usually end up doing.
My previous history has been flooded with BMW's. This is my 3rd E36 and have had two e34 540i's and 2 e30 coupes. One m50 powered.
I picked it up off Trademe (New Zealand's Ebay) towards the end of last year and my girlfriend and I drove it down from Auckalnd (other end of the country). It was a bit rougher than I thought but for the price, I couldn't really complain. First thing we noticed as that it handled like a whale due to the fact the front shocks were leaking which made the drive down ever so scary at times, so they where quickly replaced. The right rear had taken a knock from an elderly gentleman in a supermarket and had smashed the tail light. Went brand new as I couldnt find one in NZ and ten days later, one arrived from Scheidemann. Bar a small power steering leak, he fly through a WOF.
First thing was to give it really good clean to see exactly what I was dealing with. The paint has countless scratches and it looks like someone has tried to chew the passengers guard :unsure: not to mention golf ball size dents. Interior is rough in places, yet mint in others like the boot. Roof lining is starting to sag up front so that will be something to tackle in the near future.
Before
Cleaning crew hard at work
After
It looks like a highlighter has exploded on the right hand side so that will need redoing at some point as I couldn't get it all out.
I found half a beach under the rear seats
Under the front seats I found, $13.40, a key, the locknut, a Canadain 10c piece, a dog biscut and a cracker
Inside a much nicer place to be now.
After a solid afternoon cleaning, he comes up looking like this
The plan for him is to put to use the parts I had brought for my coupe
- Coilovers - already have them just need to be installed
- Motorsport kit - just needs to be painted to match.
- Wheels - I have some ACS Type 1 reps but are pretty rough
- Engine Conversion (maybe) and Manual conversion - definitely.
- Dye leather interior. Grey is nice but its a little dated.
Need to do's
- Sort dents and scratches
- Cooling system
- Squeeky steering wheel
- Clean underside
Progress will probabley be rather slow as I am currently saving for a house and a 5 week European Holiday in June but I'm keen on sticking to a plan this time instead of selling it after 6 months which I usually end up doing.
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