R3's E36 328i rescue mission

Hey guys!
Super excited to join the community, and show off my build.

I'm from Latvia (the same country Kristaps Blušs is from, You may have heard of him)

The story begins in early 2020, I had recently sold my old drifter, and was looking for a new mistake.
Since I knew I want to do it properly, the only thing I cared about when looking for a car was a healthy engine.
My wife found an ad for original 328i touring, priced at 1350eur, a great price for Latvia.

Went to look at the car, it was spray painted black, the rear was hit pretty hard, and repaired with the best method - 10 kilograms of putty.

The underneath was severely rusted, with the subframe mounting points cracked, and all the other things You'd expect to see on a clapped out E36.

The previous owner had sawed off half of the exhaust, which gave the car a sound of 1000 dead horses, screaming in an ear-piercing symphony.

It was missing 5 wheel bolts, with the rest of them being finger tight.

Me, being the reasonable adult I am, jumped on the deal, at a stunning price of 950 European pesos, making this perhaps the cheapest running 328i in Latvia.

Here are some pictures of the car when I got it:

A quick video of the thing:

Since the car had a welded diff, a hydro (one that didn't work even on wet asphalt), and valid MOT for a month, I did what any other responsible adult would do, and took it to the track.

To my surprise, apart from sounding absolutely ridiculous, the car did not fall apart, and was willing to spin up 3rd (2.93 diff) on a wet track.

Here's a video of the day:

I will continue writing up the story, as there's about 7 months of progress left to document.

You can find me on Instagram and YouTube : CrewTDG

More later!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

After the trashcan had proven itself worthy, I decided to check what exactly I was working with, and took it to get dyno tested.

I had still done nothing to the car, it still had no exhaust, the oil that it had when I bought it, so I was not expecting much. Needless to say: It kept on surprising.

What's the best way to treat a car that has proven itself to be unexpectedly reliable? Beat on it some more. But now I'll let You enjoy the video.

If You want to follow the build, I'll appreciate a quick sub on the channel.

More coming soon.

 

Hey hey! Hopefully the year has started good for You.

Time for our next throwback update

The car had rusted out pretty badly, and I had forced a buddy of mine to Weld it up for me, as I don't have a welder, or the skills to use one yet.

Here's a list of things that were done:
X Reinforced all 4 subframe mounts
X New "boxes" for rear trailing arms
X Welded up the holes in the floor, under sills and trunk.
X New rear fenders
X Rear right corner welded in from a donor
X Back of the car straightened, as it was warped from a previous crash
X Trunk from a donor
X Polybushed rear subframe installed
X 188mm 3.23 opendiff (for now) installed





Also, here's a video of me tearing the car apart:

At this point the car has returned back home, has been welded up and in theory, things list rust or broken subframe mounts should not worry me anymore.

Thank You for spending the time to read this.

Update coming soon.

 

Another update coming up!

The touring had returned home, all welded up, but since the filler absorbs moisture like a sponge, and I wasn't into the idea of letting the biggest financial mistake of my life to just rot away like that, I had to get it painted.


Now, when I say painted, I mean a couple cheap cans of paint, one clueless idiot, and a few hours of work. How did it go? Well it's single color now. That's about it.

I also tried starting the car for the first time in a few months.

As always, Your feedback and support is appreciated. Every like helps getting myself closer to that sweet sweet YouTube moolah, that would allow me to do more dumb stuff to this absolute flagship.

Bought a seat for it, not sure what it is tho. The brand seems to say UNP, which means nothing to me. Got it for 60eur, so can't complain. Came out of an s13

Also picked up some vinyl for the livery.

I also tried on the first wheel option. Those are MIM Juventus 16" 8.5j et10, how do You like them? Got another set to show you, perhaps a bit more interesting.

Looking for livery ideas. I want the car to be black/gray base, with some accents to pick up attention, but can't decide which way to go yet.

 

Boom. Got some time to write up the next update.

This is actually the first time the car got into my garage, which is no easy task, as there is a massive slope that leads into the garage.
Also, I had just installed 8x36w chingchong shiny boys, so I could actually see what I'm doing.


As most dirtbag e36's, the valve cover was leaking.
This may seem like an easy job to most people, but I'm an absolute monkey when It comes to fixing stuff. (I'm waaay better at breaking things)

This was my 1st time changing the cover gasket, I live in the middle of nowhere, so when at about 3AM I realised that I had received the wrong gasket, I had to stop, wait for tommorow, do a store run, and continue.

After getting the correct parts, everything seemed a good bit easier.



As always, there is a video version of the process.

It really helps if You press "like" on the video, maybe even subscribe if You want to see more of the stuff. It really helps the channel.


Edit:
Forgot to post that my wheel addiction has taken another bite out of my wallet.

Guess how much these 16" 8&9j et11 RIAL's + polishing cost me.
Before:
After:

 

Next update!

The brakes on the car were absolute toast (just like the rest of the car), removed the old trashy rotors and calipers.
To my surprise, managed to undo all of the bleeding screws, as well as brake hoses.

The car had a hydro, which had to be removed in order to pass Latvian version of MOT. (it's rather strict here. Forget about MOT if You have any of these: welded diff, hydro, angle kit, bucket seat, exhaust exceeds 85db, e46 control arms, etc. You can't pass it without full interior either.)

All the hydro lines were removed, any remains of the setup have been hidden.

Cleaned up the headlights, got them working again.

As always, here's a video of the process :

This thread is now only 3 updates away from real-time, will write them up whenever I get the time.

I know most of the things I do here are rather basic/simple, but this is the first build I'm doing mostly by myself, so these things ain't as straightforward for me. Being an absolute monkey with tools doesn't help either.


Thank You for reading, next update coming soon!

 

... Aaaaand the journey continues.
Events pictured in this post took place in the middle of December, so I spent 3 whole minutes decorating the turd.

The time had come for me to lose my handbrake virginity.

Given that the handbrake parts are quite cheap, I decided to go with new cables, new expanding locks, new adjusters and new shoes.

After searching for a while, I couldn't find new expanding locks for E36, but a friend suggested that E46's use the same parts. (spoiler alert - they don't.)

Was forced to clean up the old locks, which is a perfectly acceptable solution.
Also, one of the cable locking pins mysteriously dissappeared, but I hacked up a new one.

A lot of cursing later, the assembly came together and seems to be functioning properly. Atleast for now.

I was also able to install my new Brembo MAX rotors for the first time, which certainly got my spirits up.


As always, here's a video version of the process:

This is also the last episode with shit audio, so If I haven't pierced Your ears yet, consider subscribing.

 

Double update!

Decided to be cheap, and instead of sandblasting and powdercoat, gave the calipers a quick cleanup (should've put more time into this), and got them sprayed.

Lemme know what You think of the outcome. Saved like 80eur by doing this.

Also - the audio part of my videos so far was straight sh*t, so spent some cash and upgraded my setup. Hopefully the difference is noticeable.


Next part was getting the calipers rebuilt. In typical fashion for this build - my first time doing it. Certainly a bit of a hassle, but nothing impossible.

Haven't gotten around testing the calipers yet, but they seem to be fine.

This leads us to a point where I can say - THE BRAKES ARE DONE!

Realistically, one full day of work left (so probably 2-3 days), to get the car ready for an MOT attempt.

Super stoked. The only issue - there's about 50cm of snow everyehere, so even if the car was ready, I wouldn't be able to get it inspected atm. Please bring us spring.


By the way - we're back to real time! Once the next episode will be filmed, I will immediately make a post here.

Super stoked to see the car coming together.

I also ordered 70 Sunfull Sf888 195/50/15 tyres for this year's championship, really hoping that's going to be enough.

 

BIG UPDATE!


After the previous episode, life happened, the basement of my house got flooded, and I was not able to do much on the car,
HOWEVER - I managed to free up a couple days, and spend them getting the shitbox done.

I really advise watching the video (it really shows the highs and lows of learning to work on cars).

But for those of You, that prefer reading these write-ups, here we go.

The list of things that needed to be done:

Charge the battery X--- easy peasy

Fuses X--- easy even for a monkey like myself

Passanger seat X--- I don't think I've ever had a e36/46 where the rear mounting bolts haven't shat themselves. This, sadly, was not an exception.

Missing interior trim X--- Couple hours of digging through MULTIPLE garbage bags of interior pieces gathered over the years, and it's done.

Wheels X--- Borrowed some winter wheels from a friend, as by Latvian Law, You must have winter or all-season tyres from
December-March

Adjust the handbrake X--- It works.

Door mechanism X--- F*ck me. Just watch the video. No. Just never again. I get why people rather swap out the door, than go through this ball ache.

Door card X--- Yes. A wooden screw, and some OEM clips get the job done.

Window regulator X--- Originally this wasn't a part of the list, but then the door mechanism happened.

Number plates X--- Easy. Even the numberplate lights work. Proud.

Oil change X--- Threw in some Motul 10w60. Barely got the oil filter cap open, the old filter reminded my of some gore adult videos I had seen as a teenager. Eew.

Heatshield X--- Zipties, ofcourse. It's on.

Horn button X--- Wanted to put the OEM wheel on, couldn't figure out how to get OEM horn working, so drilled a hole in the console, fitted a tiny button, routed some wires, and managed not to set my garage on fire. Yay.

Surface rust X--- Yes. A wire brush and black primer. The poor man's way.



Then it was time to get to the technical inspection station, where I failed tech for:
Turn signal bulbs not orange enough. (how orange is orange enough remains to be specified, I guess)
The absolute nut-job previous owner had installed LED light bulbs. (illegal). Guess where? The darn brake lights. Why? I don't know.

Anyways, there's a repair shop just around the corner, drove there, and passed tech 5 minutes later.


This was huge.

I don't love this car, and it clearly doesn't love me, but if this is a Love/hate relationship You'd enjoy spectating, sub to the channel.

 

Heyo! Back with another update!
Now that the car had passed tech, the smart thing to do would've been parking it up, and getting it drift ready.

I had already installed my new coilovers (Koni struts, with Plaza sport shocks, and PMC motosports top mounts). I don't know the brand of front springs, but as per my calculations there 10-12k hard.
Since I had an itch that I couldn't resist, I ended up quickly making some coilover covers out of 2.5mm thick neoprene, threw some 8k Maxpeedingrods springs in the back, and hit the track.


I don't want to spoil the video, but my car failed me. Or did I fail my car? You decide.


As always, here's a video of the shenanigans we went through.

 

Hey!

After boiling the sh*tbox up in the last video, the time had come to fix it.
We were quite sure that the waterpump was at fault. Weeeeeell - not the case.

Here's the list of things we did:

Replace the waterpump (HEPA unit with metal blades)
Replace the thermostat (87° instead of 92°)
Replace thermostat housing
Replace the coolant radiator (one of the previous owners had installed a small rad, meant for 4 cyl engines, as well as lawnmowers. F. Him. Installed a proper unit made for the m52b28)
Install eccentric poly LCA bushings
Install Adjustable rear control arms
Replace the accessory belt + pulley
Install Bilstein B12 rear shock absorbers, and poly top mounts
Delete the clutch line restrictor
New rear anti roll bar links
Did some magic with the AC fan.
New fuel pump


This is probably my favorite episode so far, let me know what You think.

No pictures this time, as this episode was filmed after a nightshift, and I simply didn't have it in me.

Looks like I'll be attending a drift practice on 11.04. 10/10 excited!

 

Big update!
After 14 episodes this trashcan finally starts bringing positive emotions!

Last technical bits done to the car:
Mounted a reclinable racing seat
Installed and modified one of the most ghetto hydraulic handbrakes I've seen
Installed angle spacers
Mounted the tyres on the hotboi wheels
Installed the hotboi wheels
First alignment done


Aaand most importantly - got to thrash this thing around a racetrack!

 

Howdy, people!

The car has been through 2 practice days already, without skipping a beat. I think I'm starting to fall in love with this shitbox.
I've also thrown in a new battery, as jump starting the shitbox got old real quick.

Anyways, even tho it's ready to skid, it still looked just like the day I bought it, except a bit straighter. The time had come to change that.

Since this 4 wheeled nightmare has eaten all the money I have, and then some, fancy custom graphics, or bodykits were not an option. Here's what we came up with:

And nooow, allow me to spam some mad shots from the last practice:

 

As the car is finally ready to shred, I went ahead and compiled the total cost of this build. Ouch. Also, a couple pictures of the finished product.

 

Update time!

During the past weeks I've taken the slut to a couple drift events, obtained a couple of battle scars, and gotten plenty of seat time.
I must commend the car, as it has been REALLY reliable so far.

The first race of the season keeps on getting rescheduled, and pushed further back, so our event organizers have come up with a gread idea - during our practice days, we run a Top32 format. Winners of battles move on, losers get put in the losers bracket, and keep on practicing.

This makes everyone push hard, even if it's just for bragging rights.

In this update I sort out some of the damage I have caused to the car, as well as do a couple quick mods to prepare the car for competition tech.

And ofcourse, some pictures from the last weeks.


A video from the latest practice is dropping soon, and it's a fun one, as I got to battle some pro-am an pro cars, so sub to the channel.

 

Woah, boys.
A busy couple of months have passed, and it looks like I've forgotten to update the thread. Time to make it right!

First up, I had promised a video of my trying to stay together with the semi-pro/pro cars.


We had a practice at Racetrack 333, which is probably the best shot my car has against the big boys.

Here's the video:

This was definitely quite the experience, as You can tell by my emotions in the video. Feeling my car rumble, while a massive LS engine roars right next to my door is unforgettable.

As the first race of the season was coming close, my and my teammates were finally able to book a private practice day, to truly give our cars and ourselves a proper shakedown.
Sh*t went wild.

Here are a couple pictures:



More updates coming later!

 

Oh my, I haven't been here in a while...
The competition season has started, and I've been cought up between competition days, practice days, my full time night-shift job, and all the other grown up people problems, but here we are.

Me and my team have went through 3 stages of the Latvian Drifting Cup, and man, this has been a roller-coaster.

Let me start with race one - a track with 12 ( yeah, you heard me right - TWELVE transitions).

The track is only 15 minutes away from my house, so I've spent a lot of time there, allowing me to go into competition relatively confident. The car was also behaving well, and had went through 5 practice days without skipping a beat.
On my way to the track the car randomly died on me, I quickly diagnosed a burnt fuel pump fuse, which I replaced, only for it to burn again literally 10 meters later. Put a bigger fuse in, and sent it.

It was super hot, the temperature reached +35° at one point, so that put a lot of pressure on both the drivers, as well as the cars.

During practice water temps were climbing, and during transitions the car would bog down a little bit at times.

Due to this, I finished practice early, and waited for the qualification.

1st q run was decent, and I managed to improve my result on run 2. This was enough to qualify me somewhere mid pack, and allowed me to go into top64.

Top64 takes place late in the evening, we have went over the car, and found the issue - both battery cables were loose, so an easy fix.

I gear up, and go to the battle, heat me tyres and the car is running beautifully... Until the start lights go off.

Here's the movie from our 1st race:
My top64 run starts at 16:00, But I advise You to grab something to drink and watch the full video, it's quite a fun one.

Ofcourse, here are some pictures

 

Race two.

Me and the boys are headed on a bit of a road trip, as the comp takes place about 250km from where we live. Being the degenerates we are, we drive there in our drift cars.

It actually wasn't near as bad as I thought, and we made it there without any surprises.

Doing our practice runs my car starts misbehaving again, but I made the decision to push it until it dies, hoping that then we can diagnose it, and possibly repair it before qualification.

Hope You guys enjoy the video, and if You do, please leave a like under it, as it truly helps me feed the YouTube algorithm.

Some pictures: