Project Holly - a live tale of my 1996 E36 M3 Evo

[enthused]

come... photoshoot time!

Sure thing. Happy to do Sepang again!

Very nice details. I am really glad you choose the pre-facelift. I like the pre-facelift also. It is almost there, think about driving & enjoy it when it is all done. Especially done right.

There's many more bits and bobs to do - as with all restoration projects. I'm loving this one...
===
The car has been seeing much more time on the road since the respray. One thing I'm getting quite used to is the sight of this!

Consumption is pretty poor. 60 liters or so will take you 350km. LOL.

The spec of this car is pretty good - in that it has, amongst other things, twin airbags, sunroof and also electric vaders. My wife grumbled about the electric vaders as the reclining function was inconsistently working. Cue some disassembly to figure out what was wrong with them by ///M specialist Freddie @ Obermaier along jalan Ipoh. Freddie is a great guy to work with for me - straight up, knowledgable and extremely resourceful.

Team Freddie quickly got onto the job. The seats themselves are relatively easy to remove from the car, although I soon came to realise just how heavy they are, and probably not suited for an all out race car! :D

Once we removed the seats, the motor under where your bum is turns out to be the one which actuates the reclining function. The reclining function made the motor turn, but the seat back didn't move unless you "helped" it by pushing it just so. As it turns out upon disassembly one of the gears inside was split.

A little googling later I found that this was a relatively common problem - and that a solution was available. 4 days later and a Fedex parcel arrived containing these:

I love this car as a restoration platform! Ease of parts availability is A1!.

Cue some reassembly...

And we have working electric seats!

Thanks for reading guys. Keep the feedback coming.

 

[leonl]

Wow. Looking good. Glad to see it on the road so soon. Very nice color. I think mine M3 was getting about 20 city & 25 hwy mpg. Which is a lot more that my SUV averaging 12 mpg. Those seats are heavy but firm & comfy. The seats & door panels are "hot" items here in US.

 

[BLaCkHoWLiNG]

Enthused- please... no more Sepang photoshoots... I got so freaking tanned the other day... let's go car park ...at night.... u are supplying the chicks....

 

[enthused]

Wow. Looking good. Glad to see it on the road so soon. Very nice color. I think mine M3 was getting about 20 city & 25 hwy mpg. Which is a lot more that my SUV averaging 12 mpg. Those seats are heavy but firm & comfy. The seats & door panels are "hot" items here in US.

I'm having the door cards redone as the plastic trim up top has cracked.

Enthused- please... no more Sepang photoshoots... I got so freaking tanned the other day... let's go car park ...at night.... u are supplying the chicks....

I can supply the car. Chicks we'll buy from the Cold Storage in Ikano...

 

[maxxsp]

Hi enthused!

I have been following your thread with great interest, you are obviously a genuine car nut.
Would like to ask you a favor. Can you tell me where you bought the tire pressure stickers?
My brother is driving a E36 M3 Evo as well and has been collecting parts for restoration for some time now. He has most of the other stickers but cannot get hold of the tire pressure one.

It's even in the same color as yours!

Hope to be able to see this car in the flesh one day. We have a small group of M3 owners that sometimes meet up for DIY sessions (2 E36 M3 Evo Coupes, 1 E36 M3 Evo Sedan & 1 E46 M3). Maybe we could arrange to meetup some day!

 

[enthused]

Hi enthused!

I have been following your thread with great interest, you are obviously a genuine car nut.
Would like to ask you a favor. Can you tell me where you bought the tire pressure stickers?
My brother is driving a E36 M3 Evo as well and has been collecting parts for restoration for some time now. He has most of the other stickers but cannot get hold of the tire pressure one.

It's even in the same color as yours!

Hope to be able to see this car in the flesh one day. We have a small group of M3 owners that sometimes meet up for DIY sessions (2 E36 M3 Evo Coupes, 1 E36 M3 Evo Sedan & 1 E46 M3). Maybe we could arrange to meetup some day!

Stickers not available from bmw can be ordered from Pukar Designs. Let me know anything else I can help with!

 

[enthused]

Hi guys,
Quick update - no pictures this time... The car has been seeing alot more time on the road. Alot of little things have been fixed.
1) The after market angel eyes the car came with were removed and new lenses were fitted on the headlamps.
2) The door cards which had brittle plastic up top along the window rail were rebuilt with new PVC guides to clip onto the door. This was a time consuming and tedious job
3) The rear c pillar trim has been retrimmed, as it was coming away from the body a little.
4) The power windows have been greased, but still prove to the a little sticky coming up and triggering the anti-pinch mechanism... :(
5) A new battery has been fitted, as the old one was a DIN55 that didn't bolt onto the car well. It has been replaced with a Panasonic DIN66

The oil is due to be changed soon! Too much fun driving it. Pics soon!

Keep the feedback coming guys...

 

[145fan]

Congrats on the restoration....very nicely done.

Where did u do rebuild the doorcard? Mine too has broken brackets and missing clips....hence it doesnt fit properly and leaving a gap which makes wind noise at speed.

Appreciate if u cud share the contact

 

[yehlai]

Dear TS,
Can you PM me the cost of the paint job for your car? How long it took?

I'm looking for a good paint shop for my car too.

Thanks

 

[stupidcar]

Where's TS?!


Sent from my Lumia 925 using Tapatalk.

 

[Izso]

He's busy. I think he's travelling.

I'm not sure if I can reveal the cost - but I'll give a ball park figure. Prepare about 9k total cuz he had a lot of body work done and used glasurit paint or clear.. I can't remember.

 

[Lorddy]

reading this from page 1 was so pleasurable...but sad to see that the last update was so many months ago..

 

[Izso]

He's already terrorizing the streets with the car. What updates you want?

 

[leonl]

He's already terrorizing the streets with the car. What updates you want?

Ha ha. That is true. At least some story on what other cars he has "killed" would be nice

After a few months, I am getting my M3 back. Pretty exciting about it. Time for some track action

 

[Lorddy]

He's already terrorizing the streets with the car. What updates you want?

If you ask me, a car project never dies and there is always some update :)

---------- Post added at 11:26 AM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 11:25 AM ----------

Ha ha. That is true. At least some story on what other cars he has "killed" would be nice

After a few months, I am getting my M3 back. Pretty exciting about it. Time for some track action

Yes i am very sure he tearing up tarmac now...all the best with your M3...