Finally, my first car! E36 320i *bad news update*

[stradale]

Originally Posted by Wutputt Your first car is always something special. Enjoy it as much as you can

I am. This afternoon I took her for a spin again. I know some great twisty roads over here and found some new ones as well. It's just a couple of degrees above 0, slightly damp and I don't have winter tyres, so I was keeping it down a little, but I had great fun!

[ae86_16v]

Congratulations on your CAR!!! Having owned two of these, they are definitely great cars! Although I always hated the fact that BMW went a bit cheaper in the material with the E36 series. Nevertheless they are awesome cars to drive.

Best part is that a lot of the parts are interchangable with the M series, so that is always an upgrade route.

Keep it clean looking! I don't want to see any 5' spoilers on there .

[ae86_16v]

Originally Posted by TT Originally Posted by stradale Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 great choice stradale, congrats The only thing i can tell you to look out for is the rear tail light assemblies where the sockets lock into contact strips. The brake light sockets will begin to heat up and melt and pit the contact strips. It will cause an intermittent "one brake light fail" or similar message in the check control. Also, if you get a "Brake Light Circuit" message, the brake light switch is bad. Other than that i don't think you'll have many problems with her Enjoy your new car Thanks, Zfrk! I did have a message about the brake lights in the check control, but they worked fine and check control is not. I heard it's prone to failure and I'm afraid mine is no exception. I always have that message too

Yup, my M3's just failed the other day! Luckly it is just the right driving lamp and not the brake lamp. The contact just fell off completely and now I am holding it down with some electrical tape. Should I just resolder a new contact or buy a new lamp? OE lamps aren't that expensive.

[stradale]

Thanks, ae86! I enjoy driving it every day.

Originally Posted by ae86_16v Keep it clean looking! I don't want to see any 5' spoilers on there .

Will do, captain!

[freddiefish]

mooie auto

[Garretts_turbo]

congrats! my brother just bought a 325i....very nice car

[stradale]

Thanks for your responses!

Originally Posted by brembo Nice car Stradale, Im sure she will threat you nice, and just dont bother with the christmas three warning lights that pop up on them its a part of what they are... But I would considered clear indicator on it as the orange ones stand out to much on such a bright coloured car IMO..... Maybe you will take a vacation around my neck of the woods in the future in this little baby, and not your friends....I`ll keep some beers cool for you...

I'm still in doubt on the indicator issue. On the one hand clear lights look better, on the other hand I like the original look. Fog lights might be higher on my priority list.

I'd really like to take it on holiday this summer. Driving some more exciting roads than we have in my country with this car, would be great. After reading your recommendations on where to go in Norway for my friends last year, I really wanted to go myself. In my current job situation it's a little hard to look ahead for six months, but if everything's under control I might head north in the summer (south is too hot for me anyway). In that case I'll gladly hold you those cold beers, brembo!

[ae86_16v]

Originally Posted by stradale I'm still in doubt on the indicator issue. On the one hand clear lights look better, on the other hand I like the original look. Fog lights might be higher on my priority list.

I like the E36 Foglights, they light up the road fairly good in detrimental weather.

I always liked the amber signal lamps, but I know I am in the minority. On certain cars clears definitely work better. But for me it is more about contrast.

Light colored cars, I would keep the ambers to contrast better. On dark colored cars, definitely go with the clears. On a silver or gray, it is kind of in between.

[ZfrkS62]

i've got the pics of the problm areas of the tail lights. I just need to run it through photoshop and then post them

[stradale]

Great! Thanks a lot for the effort.

[ZfrkS62]

ok here we go. The socket, for clarity purposes is off an X5. The tail lamp assembly is from an E38 but the E36 is the same setup.





Sorry for the cloudy pics. I was using my shitty camera.

[stradale]

Thanks a bunch, Zfrk!

Tomorrow I'm planning on dealing provisionally with a slightly corroded scratch. I'll check out the sockets and contacts as well. Now I know what to look for.

BTW, the pictures are clear enough for me.

:good:

[stradale]

I finally had a chance to check my rear lights today and they look fine. No scoring or burn marks. Good to know. Thanks again for the pointers, Zfrk!

Last week I had great fun with the car! I headed home after a birthday party and a couple of centimeters of snow had fallen in the meantime. It was 1.30 AM and no one was cleaning the roads. Since I have no winter tyres and no traction control, I very carefully made my way to Groningen. But instead of going home I went to a deserted industrial estate with nice broad streets and kerbs far away. The snowy surface had hardly been touched so I had a lot of sideways fun there!!! In second gear, with 2,000 rpm a prod on the throttle will already spin the rear wheels and bring the back end out to play! It was soooooo nice and easily controllable. I was even more pleased with her than I already was!

[stradale]

I took her to Germany this morning to have a go at establishing her top speed.

See http://www.motorworld.net/forum/show...=637068#637068

From 160/170 to 200 she pulls pretty well. Beyond that, acceleration is considerably less.

[cooperluke]

I've got a friend of mine that as one just like yours and at 220km/h the rev limiter kicks in, but if it had a 6th gear, it would go a few km/h faster... lot's of strength!!