Hi everyone,
I joined the forum a few months ago, around the time I purchased my touring. I haven’t posted much but I figured I would share my progress with everyone.
I have a varied car history, but I have been gravitating towards BMWs in recent years. I bought an e36 325iS in 2018 and immediately fell for the dynamics and overall feel of the car. I tore into the e36 soon after I bought it and it is slowly becoming a dedicated track car. For those that are familiar with the e36 chassis, the car began life with an m50NV, but I have since swapped in an m52b28 with an OBD1 conversion and a whole host of supporting chassis reinforcements and modifications.
Picture of the car before the “new” engine went in.
Since the project is still not running (I know, I know) this left a hole in my garage for the BMW feel that I enjoyed so much. I had originally assumed it would be that way until the e36 was finished…. then my buddy bought an ’04 330Ci. After driving his car, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The e46 chassis was reminiscent of the e36 driving feel but with some more modern/comfort features that made it significantly more appealing as a daily driver. I sold my mk7 GTI soon after and began my search for a RWD, manual touring.
Picture of the previous daily driver. Fun car but never really scratched the itch.
The search was frustrating to say the least. I had multiple occasions where I was ready to fork over cash just for a huge red flag to pop up or the car to sell before I was able to get there. After some time, I opened my search to include automatics and expanded the radius to cover the whole country. I eventually found this Orient Blue on natural brown touring posted on Facebook Marketplace located down in Atlanta, GA. I reached out to the owner and never heard back. I tried to push this car out of my mind, but the color combo paired with the lower mileage was something I just couldn’t get over.
I looked at a few more tourings after this but none seemed worthwhile. After some time, I decided to reach out about the Orient blue touring once again and I laid it on thick. This seemed to do the trick and I was able to buy the car for significantly less than asking price, sight unseen (foreshadowing). I had it shipped up to CT and picking it up from the carrier was like Christmas morning.
The car has the natural brown interior, premium & sport packages. 115k miles when I bought it.
After diving into the car, I realized I had my work cut out for me. It seemed like the previous owner had done the minimal maintenance to keep the car on the road. This was evidenced by mismatched tires, non-functional horn, dirty interior, worn suspension, etc. After some triage, I decided to begin the rehab with a belt service and cooling system refresh.
By the time I buttoned everything up (and threw the project e36 wheels on for laughs), it was dark, and I didn’t realize that I hadn’t clipped the lower radiator hose in completely. The next day, I hopped in the car and started driving to make sure everything was good. The car was maintaining temp at first but as soon as I merged on the highway, the coolant temp started rising. I immediately pulled over and found out about that lower hose clipped that I missed. Luckily, I was keeping a close eye on coolant temp and pulled over before an overheat situation, but I did have the car towed home to be safe.
You live and you learn, I guess.
Soon after, my girlfriend had to move from CT to Seattle for med school, so we made the cross-country road trip. While I was away, I dropped the car off at JG Technik in CT to receive a ZF manual swap, Meyle HD subframe bushings, Meyle HD differential bushings, and M3 engine mounts. Also took advantage of this opportunity to add in the e60 short shifter. The car was fully coded as well and the only function I did not retain was the reverse mirror dip. I feel like I copped out by not tackling this job on my own, but between work and the e36 project, I just did not have the time.
Upon getting back to CT, I picked up the car and any guilt that I felt about not doing the job on my own flew out the window. The driving experience was improved drastically, and it felt good to be rowing my own gears again. The ZF automatic that came in this car was definitely tired and in need of replacement.
Also replaced the center console with a new, armrest delete version. I wasn’t a fan of the armrest and found that it bothered my neck on longer drives.
After that, I continued catching up on the deferred maintenance. I replaced the DISA valve, the upper/lower intake boots, oil level sensor, window regulators, and enjoyed the car for a while. I added little things like an M3 steering wheel, and an Eonon head unit (meh). I also installed Hella horns to replace the nonfunctional stock units and get some road rage power back.
And the obligatory picture with my buddy's 330 that solidified my interest in the touring.
I joined the forum a few months ago, around the time I purchased my touring. I haven’t posted much but I figured I would share my progress with everyone.
I have a varied car history, but I have been gravitating towards BMWs in recent years. I bought an e36 325iS in 2018 and immediately fell for the dynamics and overall feel of the car. I tore into the e36 soon after I bought it and it is slowly becoming a dedicated track car. For those that are familiar with the e36 chassis, the car began life with an m50NV, but I have since swapped in an m52b28 with an OBD1 conversion and a whole host of supporting chassis reinforcements and modifications.
Picture of the car before the “new” engine went in.
Since the project is still not running (I know, I know) this left a hole in my garage for the BMW feel that I enjoyed so much. I had originally assumed it would be that way until the e36 was finished…. then my buddy bought an ’04 330Ci. After driving his car, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The e46 chassis was reminiscent of the e36 driving feel but with some more modern/comfort features that made it significantly more appealing as a daily driver. I sold my mk7 GTI soon after and began my search for a RWD, manual touring.
Picture of the previous daily driver. Fun car but never really scratched the itch.
The search was frustrating to say the least. I had multiple occasions where I was ready to fork over cash just for a huge red flag to pop up or the car to sell before I was able to get there. After some time, I opened my search to include automatics and expanded the radius to cover the whole country. I eventually found this Orient Blue on natural brown touring posted on Facebook Marketplace located down in Atlanta, GA. I reached out to the owner and never heard back. I tried to push this car out of my mind, but the color combo paired with the lower mileage was something I just couldn’t get over.
I looked at a few more tourings after this but none seemed worthwhile. After some time, I decided to reach out about the Orient blue touring once again and I laid it on thick. This seemed to do the trick and I was able to buy the car for significantly less than asking price, sight unseen (foreshadowing). I had it shipped up to CT and picking it up from the carrier was like Christmas morning.
The car has the natural brown interior, premium & sport packages. 115k miles when I bought it.
After diving into the car, I realized I had my work cut out for me. It seemed like the previous owner had done the minimal maintenance to keep the car on the road. This was evidenced by mismatched tires, non-functional horn, dirty interior, worn suspension, etc. After some triage, I decided to begin the rehab with a belt service and cooling system refresh.
By the time I buttoned everything up (and threw the project e36 wheels on for laughs), it was dark, and I didn’t realize that I hadn’t clipped the lower radiator hose in completely. The next day, I hopped in the car and started driving to make sure everything was good. The car was maintaining temp at first but as soon as I merged on the highway, the coolant temp started rising. I immediately pulled over and found out about that lower hose clipped that I missed. Luckily, I was keeping a close eye on coolant temp and pulled over before an overheat situation, but I did have the car towed home to be safe.
You live and you learn, I guess.
Soon after, my girlfriend had to move from CT to Seattle for med school, so we made the cross-country road trip. While I was away, I dropped the car off at JG Technik in CT to receive a ZF manual swap, Meyle HD subframe bushings, Meyle HD differential bushings, and M3 engine mounts. Also took advantage of this opportunity to add in the e60 short shifter. The car was fully coded as well and the only function I did not retain was the reverse mirror dip. I feel like I copped out by not tackling this job on my own, but between work and the e36 project, I just did not have the time.
Upon getting back to CT, I picked up the car and any guilt that I felt about not doing the job on my own flew out the window. The driving experience was improved drastically, and it felt good to be rowing my own gears again. The ZF automatic that came in this car was definitely tired and in need of replacement.
Also replaced the center console with a new, armrest delete version. I wasn’t a fan of the armrest and found that it bothered my neck on longer drives.
After that, I continued catching up on the deferred maintenance. I replaced the DISA valve, the upper/lower intake boots, oil level sensor, window regulators, and enjoyed the car for a while. I added little things like an M3 steering wheel, and an Eonon head unit (meh). I also installed Hella horns to replace the nonfunctional stock units and get some road rage power back.
And the obligatory picture with my buddy's 330 that solidified my interest in the touring.