Advice for new E36 M3 owner please

[Travis Mcgee]

All. I hope to secure my first M3 Non EVO next week, just doing a bit of negotiating. All in all in ticks most of the boxes. full service history, looks like it has been looked after, grey leather is a bit dirty, so i hope it will clean up. Reasonably low miles for a 96. Brake discs seem to have a bit of lip on them, so i thought first job would be to change discs and pads etc. Possibly rear shocks. The car wont see too much mileage, and i dont intend to go track daying with it. So, where is the best place to buy the bits at reasonble prices? Any recommendations? I will probably carry out these changes myself, any particular tools/ skills needed?
Thanks for any advice given.

[teabagger]

96000 miles?

you should start with:

brake discs and pads all round
suspension dampers all round
gear box and engine mounts
suspension bushes
full oil, coolant and brake fluid service

brake lines should also be looked at along with track rod ends and wishbone ball joints.

[R5GTTGAZ]

Do the M cars rust as bad as the normal E36?

[Neil.D]

R5GTTGAZ said:

Do the M cars rust as bad as the normal E36?

Somewhat ambiguous.

[Travis Mcgee]

teabagger said:

96000 miles?

sorry meant 1996. Got just under 74K in the clock.

[MarkwG]

First thing? Check the history & see what's already been done & when. Find a good local indie, if you're not doing the work yourself. By 74k, mine had a few new suspension bushes & all around shocks, + service stuff. Clutch always bites low, not neccesarily a cause for concern. At that age, seals may start to drip, mine's due diff seals soon. Work on from there. Good luck, great car no doubt!

[naetype]

Travis Mcgee said:

........... Brake discs seem to have a bit of lip on them, so i thought first job would be to change discs and pads etc. Possibly rear shocks. The car wont see too much mileage, and i dont intend to go track daying with it. So, where is the best place to buy the bits at reasonble prices? Any recommendations? I will probably carry out these changes myself, any particular tools/ skills needed?
Thanks for any advice given.

If you're replacing discs then get the M3 Evo ones (floating, so resist heat better). As for pads - I got a set of Performance Friction Z rated pads and cannot recommend them highly enough.

I'd probably replace all the shocks for consistency rather than just the rear. I use Bilsteins and Eibach springs and I like them as a road setup.

Buy your bits from German, Swedish & French (GSF) or Euro Car Parts (ECP) though you'd be surprised how much you can find down your local decent scrappy. No particular tools required, outside the norm', apart from a good set of Torx sockets/bits.

As for special skills?, well common sense seems in short supply nowadays ..... You'll be fine

As for your dirty seats than use this: http://www.bespokeleathering.com/leather_care.html Again, highly recommended.

Edited by naetype on Thursday 23 April 23:06

[AngryApples]

Always worth chucking part the Reg up here, see if fols on here know the car?

[torquenstein]

Error: '96 model year and S50B30 does not compute.

[French]

Unless its a 3.0 that stoood in the showroom for a long time ?

1996 would be a Evo twin vanos model & 6 speed box so which do you have ?

[Travis Mcgee]

French said:

Unless its a 3.0 that stoood in the showroom for a long time ?

1996 would be a Evo twin vanos model & 6 speed box so which do you have ?

its definitely a 3.0 5 speed, on an N plate, but now you have highlighted it, i will recheck paperwork.

[Travis Mcgee]

torquenstein said:

Error: '96 model year and S50B30 does not compute.

could be that I have confused two cars. This isnt the one i am after, but the ad definitely says 1996. www.pistonheads.com/sales/891633.htm Is the guy wrong, or is it one of the last 3.0 off the line?

[cosworth330]

Its deffo a 3.0 & not an evo. Didn't think you could get 1996 ones though.

[dan101smith]

The first Evos were '96 cars, is that DY one a '96 build or registered date?

[Slurms]

Non-evo production ended in July 1995

N - Reg covered from august 1995 - july 1996

So it's possible that it was a last of the line model that didn't get sold until 6 months after it's build date..

[Travis Mcgee]

dan101smith said:

The first Evos were '96 cars, is that DY one a '96 build or registered date?

I havent seen this car, so I would guess that its a very early 96 registered car.
I may go and take a look, as it looks OK to me. Other car fell through.

[ves-sportni]

AngryApples said:

Always worth chucking part the Reg up here, see if fols on here know the car?

Were do I get a set of Friction z pads for a 98 m3 evo...? What brake fluid would you recomend using ?? Is there a performance bush kit you can buy..? Thanks

[dan101smith]

ves-sportni said:

Were do I get a set of Friction z pads for a 98 m3 evo...? What brake fluid would you recomend using ?? Is there a performance bush kit you can buy..? Thanks

Fluid - any dot5.1 fluid should do.

Bushes - Powerflex blacks are what you want.

PF pads - not sure, Google it or ask over on bmwowner.com as there was a group-buy on there not too long ago.

Edit: I think it was through ASP - ::clicky::

Edited by dan101smith on Tuesday 28th April 20:40