Sir_Dave's car history so far (inc. the current project) ...
Discussion
Well, having been a confirmed petrolhead for most of my life & having posted various project threads on many different owners club forums over the years, I thought it best to stick something up on here as well – that and the fact a couple of my mates have been pestering me for picks of my latest toy and only use PH …
First car was a Daihatsu Charade 1.0 Turbo. No pictures unfortunately, but I was given it by my dad at 16 (saved me from buying a silk violet nova gsi as it happens), needless to say it was a great little first car!! Then for my 18th birthday I treated myself to a fiesta 1.6 si, pretty nippy & different to a vtr which is what every other 18 year old was driving at the time … ended up fully poly bushed and rolling on spax coilovers, bit go-kart like to say the least.
Was going to stick a 2.0 zetec turbo in it, but the rust arrived and I decided to splash out on the car id wanted since I was 15, a 106 gti, so on my 21st birthday I drove down from Cheltenham (uni) to Lands End (home) to pick it up.
Brilliant car, ended up with Bilstein suspension, pugsport grp n exhaust & ramcooler, m3 rear lights & 16” one-off speedline turinis in anthracite with a diamond-cut rim. Was perfect:
Then this happened on a sunny afternoon, at some traffic lights in the middle of a 1 mile long dual carriageway – apparently they didn’t see the bright yellow little fartbox … they got banned for 2 years for driving without due car & attention!
After the slight set-back, I sourced another one in Ireland and drove to Holyhead to collect it, was newer & with much lower mileage, so not all bad. Ended up with the same spec as the first one with the addition of a supersprint 4-2-1 manifold, GE quickshift & morrette twin headlights. Pulled a 14.8 ¼ mile at Santa pod so it was pretty nippy …
But after the crash, the seats hurt my back & I struggled to drive it tbh, so the BMW love started in 2004, at the tender age of 22. My first 328i Sport, a 1995 N reg with only 75k on the clock and full BMWSH
Unfortunately, I had just come from a track ready 106 gti and it really didn’t hit the spot, especially with my housemate having an M3 Evo at the time … 3 months later and it was sold to a mate in the peugeot club to fund a 306 Rallye. Bilsteins, Speedlines, Grp N bits & bobs. Much happier.
A year later, I missed RWD and replaced the Rallye with a Z3M Roadster (here with my then housemates Breadvan – after it replaced the M3). Truly epic performance & a real bargain these days!! Cheap insurance as well, the same as my 306 rallye to be exact, £850 fully comp at 22 with only 2 years no-claims!!
Two cars for a while, ace!!
I then moved to London for my first job out of uni and promptly bought a 6 month old 182 as I was going to be doing a lot more miles (girlfriend still lived in Cheltenham).
After 4 months (& 19k miles), I realised that I would have to get rid & do the sensible thing for a while, hence the purchase of a 206 xsi hdi. After a remap & a few other bits & bobs it was a pretty good car, taking me (& girlfriend Sarah) to various parts of Europe and finally the ‘ring.
Unfortunately, its 4 laps of the ring pretty much killed it & it developed a misfire that £1500 of parts/endless amounts of diagnostic time couldn’t fix. I decided to get rid, so the plans of hybrid turbo/intercooler/big brakes & coilovers went out the window.
At 3 years old and 111k it was traded for a 172 cup at my local Renault garage. Again, I spent a decent amount of money playing with this with k-tech stealth exhaust, espace V6 airbox (DIY maxogen lol), Ferodo DS2500’s, Brembo HC discs, braided lines & dot 4 – perfect road spec I reckon! It was to this day, the best handling/most fun car I have driven & gave a nice, healthy 148bhp@wheels/178bhp@fly at Surrey Rolling Road. Cost naff all to run as well with 35-40mpg a reality … It also went to the ring; immense fun!!
However, with job uncertainty around the corner, I tentatively put it up for sale. It sold within 3 days at a very good price to the 1st chap who contacted me. 10 months & 25k after I bought it … at which point I was carless & had to borrow my bros 1.1 106 …
And now, onto the current stead. As it happens, a chap on Cliosport had just bought a lovely red 328i Sport and as he brought it along to one of the rolling road days, that got me thinking; sport’s were now considerably cheaper than the £8k i paid in 2004 … Then by pure chance, whilst browsing www.northloop.co.uk I found a 328i Sport that seemed like a bit of a bargain. The pics were awful & in all honesty, it looked like a bit of a shed, but I arranged to go and see it anyway, it was a massive amount cheaper than everything on PH/Autotrader at the time as well …. I turned up to be faced with this:
It looked alright tbh, 3 of the wheels were knackered (despite being refurbed 12 months previously) as the lacquer had lifted and water had seaped behind, but it was solid car underneath. The paperwork confirmed a full BMW history, with Munich Legends & the chap that sponsors the technical section of Northloop looking after it for the past 4 years. The chap who was selling it was a pilot, as was the previous owner (his mate), so it had been well looked after over its 125k miles; 90k of which were in the 1st 4 years, with pootling about ever since. My girlfriend proclaimed that it was a shed, but I was blinded by the Avus Blue paintwork, surprisingly high level of spec and, potential …
After some bartering, a deal was done involving 12 months MOT & some cash … so a week later my girlfriend and I went to pick up the beast.
Car: 328i Sport in Avus Blue, R reg with March ’98 build date, 125k & Alusil block.
Purchase Date: 14th February 2009 - my Valentines present to myself.
Specification: Full black leather inc. doorcards, leather armrest, full climate control, 18 button OBC, electric sunroof, anti-dazzle mirror & heated washers/mirrors.
Was a lovely drive home, I think at 26 I now appreciate the Sport more than I did at 21, effortless mile munching ability & a decent turn of speed when needed. In all seriousness, I probably have a bit more driving ability now as well, so the transition to RWD doesn’t faze me as much, after the Z3M I kinda got used to sideways lol. So, a week went by, I gave it a basic clean:
Then the rejuvenation started. Firstly with some lovely ebay front indicators (£17 delivered), not the last word in fitting, & tbh swopping everything over was a pain, but they improved the front end no end.
Next I purchased some new mats from Rossiters (again ebay at £38 delivered) to replace the ‘slightly worn’ originals. After being quoted £95 from BMW for new mats I wasn’t expecting much, but the fit & quality is excellent, even coming with new fixing points – much recommended.
I also took some time to fit my trusty Pioneer headunit (8 years old!) & ipod connector, Parrot handsfree & Pogo Alert speed camera detector; needless to say, it now looks like the starship enterprise at night lol.
Now it was getting somewhere, so definitely time to freshen up the leather. After ‘borrowing’ the Liquid Leather cleaner & condition that Sarah bought for her TT, I got to work. As you can see, theres a pretty marked improvement in colour between the before & after shots, although with black leather the difference is obviously not as marked as when used with silver! The feel of the leather is also far better, but that’s quite difficult to show in a photo, so you’ll just have to trust me lol. In all honesty, I thought I was going to have to use the scuffmaster as well tbh, and whilst it might improve it a bit more, im quite lazy …
The final fix for the interior was the rear boot netting, kindly pilfered from the clio before it was sold, I now have a decent way of stopping all that junk flying around the boot:
Now the interior was up to an acceptable standard, it was time to move onto the outside. As per usual, ebay came to the rescue & a brand new BBS RC041 appeared complete with an unused Michelin Pilot Sport tyre. When no one else bidded on it I was a rather happy bunny tbh. £63 (delivered) later I was the proud owner of a rather mint new wheel. Unfortunately the tyre was 10 years old, so had to go in the bin, but hey, you cant have everything.
As luck would have it, after a quick look in the boot, my own spare wheel was also brand new & unused. Bonus. 2 x new Continentals later & I had 3 perfect BBS wheels on the car & a knackered one in the boot as a spare. So now I just need to sort out the other wider rear that’s a little worse for wear – actually it’s the worst ive ever seen one of these wheels – so it’ll be off to BJV Engineering at some point in the near future for a refurb back to original spec. I might add trying to find a new RC042 on ebay is nigh on impossible, the RC041 is easy as they are provided as spares in the boot… The offending wheel is below, truly naff:
So with most of the little bits sorted on the car & rather a lot of time on my hands – I was made redundant the day before I picked it up – I decided I should go home to Cornwall (near Lands End to be exact) and spend some time with my family. As it happens it was the hottest week of the year so far, so I spent a lazy 4 days out in the sun giving it its first proper clean. Im no detailer, so it consisted of a good pressure wash off, then bucket & sponge (I’ve now purchased a Chemical guys cleaning kit inc. Sheepskin mitt so don’t worry!), followed by Megs Clay/Quick Detailer and 2 coats of Autoglym SRP. Everything was then sealed with Autoglym EGP. Tyres & plastic was then done with Turtle Wax tyre dressing … pikey, but its all I had lol.
To be honest, I think its turned out alright, Avus is such a great colour, changing from light blue to dark blue to purple depending on the angle of the sun. Needless to say, im pretty happy with my ‘shed’ so far.
Unfortunately, whilst I was in Cornwall the windscreen decided to provide itself with an 8” crack overnight, although that was sorted by National Windscreens for my £50 excess, so it wasn’t the end of the world. It also gave me an excuse to buy some funky new flat wiper blades off ebay, £13 delivered.
So whats next?
Firstly a service, after 3k miles in the past month, the inspection light has appeared, so I’ve bought 8 litres of Motul 8100 X-Cess & an oil filter from Opie Oils, along with the necessary fuel filters & other service items – thanks to e36coupe.com for the service schedule print off! After that, well the rear BBS needs refurbing & I want an M3 Evo lip spoiler to finish off the front. Then its just BOGE springs & ill be happy. Eibachs would be nice, but the drop they give seems to be pure pot luck & they’re extra monies. Everyone fitted the BOGE ones when I first joined in 2004, so they must do something right. I’ve also got some Phoenix Gold Components that I bought for the clio (but never fitted) and some Philips 6x9s that I found in my cupboard in Cornwall, so just need to get some 6x9 adapters now I suppose; ebay no doubt lol. Oh and the parcel shelfs purple, no doubt some satin black paint will sort that though …
After that, well there’s always the BBTB, Manifold, remap & Dave F. That would give me 225bhp or so, but I think that extra £700 would be better off put in the M3 fund to be honest. The 328 engine is never going to give the fireworks that truly excite, its too smooth for its own good & tbh my old Z3M had an engine to die for.
Sorry about the long read, but hey, thought I had better do it properly. It’ll be updated as & when required. Thanks for reading. Dave
First car was a Daihatsu Charade 1.0 Turbo. No pictures unfortunately, but I was given it by my dad at 16 (saved me from buying a silk violet nova gsi as it happens), needless to say it was a great little first car!! Then for my 18th birthday I treated myself to a fiesta 1.6 si, pretty nippy & different to a vtr which is what every other 18 year old was driving at the time … ended up fully poly bushed and rolling on spax coilovers, bit go-kart like to say the least.
Was going to stick a 2.0 zetec turbo in it, but the rust arrived and I decided to splash out on the car id wanted since I was 15, a 106 gti, so on my 21st birthday I drove down from Cheltenham (uni) to Lands End (home) to pick it up.
Brilliant car, ended up with Bilstein suspension, pugsport grp n exhaust & ramcooler, m3 rear lights & 16” one-off speedline turinis in anthracite with a diamond-cut rim. Was perfect:
Then this happened on a sunny afternoon, at some traffic lights in the middle of a 1 mile long dual carriageway – apparently they didn’t see the bright yellow little fartbox … they got banned for 2 years for driving without due car & attention!
After the slight set-back, I sourced another one in Ireland and drove to Holyhead to collect it, was newer & with much lower mileage, so not all bad. Ended up with the same spec as the first one with the addition of a supersprint 4-2-1 manifold, GE quickshift & morrette twin headlights. Pulled a 14.8 ¼ mile at Santa pod so it was pretty nippy …
But after the crash, the seats hurt my back & I struggled to drive it tbh, so the BMW love started in 2004, at the tender age of 22. My first 328i Sport, a 1995 N reg with only 75k on the clock and full BMWSH
Unfortunately, I had just come from a track ready 106 gti and it really didn’t hit the spot, especially with my housemate having an M3 Evo at the time … 3 months later and it was sold to a mate in the peugeot club to fund a 306 Rallye. Bilsteins, Speedlines, Grp N bits & bobs. Much happier.
A year later, I missed RWD and replaced the Rallye with a Z3M Roadster (here with my then housemates Breadvan – after it replaced the M3). Truly epic performance & a real bargain these days!! Cheap insurance as well, the same as my 306 rallye to be exact, £850 fully comp at 22 with only 2 years no-claims!!
Two cars for a while, ace!!
I then moved to London for my first job out of uni and promptly bought a 6 month old 182 as I was going to be doing a lot more miles (girlfriend still lived in Cheltenham).
After 4 months (& 19k miles), I realised that I would have to get rid & do the sensible thing for a while, hence the purchase of a 206 xsi hdi. After a remap & a few other bits & bobs it was a pretty good car, taking me (& girlfriend Sarah) to various parts of Europe and finally the ‘ring.
Unfortunately, its 4 laps of the ring pretty much killed it & it developed a misfire that £1500 of parts/endless amounts of diagnostic time couldn’t fix. I decided to get rid, so the plans of hybrid turbo/intercooler/big brakes & coilovers went out the window.
At 3 years old and 111k it was traded for a 172 cup at my local Renault garage. Again, I spent a decent amount of money playing with this with k-tech stealth exhaust, espace V6 airbox (DIY maxogen lol), Ferodo DS2500’s, Brembo HC discs, braided lines & dot 4 – perfect road spec I reckon! It was to this day, the best handling/most fun car I have driven & gave a nice, healthy 148bhp@wheels/178bhp@fly at Surrey Rolling Road. Cost naff all to run as well with 35-40mpg a reality … It also went to the ring; immense fun!!
However, with job uncertainty around the corner, I tentatively put it up for sale. It sold within 3 days at a very good price to the 1st chap who contacted me. 10 months & 25k after I bought it … at which point I was carless & had to borrow my bros 1.1 106 …
And now, onto the current stead. As it happens, a chap on Cliosport had just bought a lovely red 328i Sport and as he brought it along to one of the rolling road days, that got me thinking; sport’s were now considerably cheaper than the £8k i paid in 2004 … Then by pure chance, whilst browsing www.northloop.co.uk I found a 328i Sport that seemed like a bit of a bargain. The pics were awful & in all honesty, it looked like a bit of a shed, but I arranged to go and see it anyway, it was a massive amount cheaper than everything on PH/Autotrader at the time as well …. I turned up to be faced with this:
It looked alright tbh, 3 of the wheels were knackered (despite being refurbed 12 months previously) as the lacquer had lifted and water had seaped behind, but it was solid car underneath. The paperwork confirmed a full BMW history, with Munich Legends & the chap that sponsors the technical section of Northloop looking after it for the past 4 years. The chap who was selling it was a pilot, as was the previous owner (his mate), so it had been well looked after over its 125k miles; 90k of which were in the 1st 4 years, with pootling about ever since. My girlfriend proclaimed that it was a shed, but I was blinded by the Avus Blue paintwork, surprisingly high level of spec and, potential …
After some bartering, a deal was done involving 12 months MOT & some cash … so a week later my girlfriend and I went to pick up the beast.
Car: 328i Sport in Avus Blue, R reg with March ’98 build date, 125k & Alusil block.
Purchase Date: 14th February 2009 - my Valentines present to myself.
Specification: Full black leather inc. doorcards, leather armrest, full climate control, 18 button OBC, electric sunroof, anti-dazzle mirror & heated washers/mirrors.
Was a lovely drive home, I think at 26 I now appreciate the Sport more than I did at 21, effortless mile munching ability & a decent turn of speed when needed. In all seriousness, I probably have a bit more driving ability now as well, so the transition to RWD doesn’t faze me as much, after the Z3M I kinda got used to sideways lol. So, a week went by, I gave it a basic clean:
Then the rejuvenation started. Firstly with some lovely ebay front indicators (£17 delivered), not the last word in fitting, & tbh swopping everything over was a pain, but they improved the front end no end.
Next I purchased some new mats from Rossiters (again ebay at £38 delivered) to replace the ‘slightly worn’ originals. After being quoted £95 from BMW for new mats I wasn’t expecting much, but the fit & quality is excellent, even coming with new fixing points – much recommended.
I also took some time to fit my trusty Pioneer headunit (8 years old!) & ipod connector, Parrot handsfree & Pogo Alert speed camera detector; needless to say, it now looks like the starship enterprise at night lol.
Now it was getting somewhere, so definitely time to freshen up the leather. After ‘borrowing’ the Liquid Leather cleaner & condition that Sarah bought for her TT, I got to work. As you can see, theres a pretty marked improvement in colour between the before & after shots, although with black leather the difference is obviously not as marked as when used with silver! The feel of the leather is also far better, but that’s quite difficult to show in a photo, so you’ll just have to trust me lol. In all honesty, I thought I was going to have to use the scuffmaster as well tbh, and whilst it might improve it a bit more, im quite lazy …
The final fix for the interior was the rear boot netting, kindly pilfered from the clio before it was sold, I now have a decent way of stopping all that junk flying around the boot:
Now the interior was up to an acceptable standard, it was time to move onto the outside. As per usual, ebay came to the rescue & a brand new BBS RC041 appeared complete with an unused Michelin Pilot Sport tyre. When no one else bidded on it I was a rather happy bunny tbh. £63 (delivered) later I was the proud owner of a rather mint new wheel. Unfortunately the tyre was 10 years old, so had to go in the bin, but hey, you cant have everything.
As luck would have it, after a quick look in the boot, my own spare wheel was also brand new & unused. Bonus. 2 x new Continentals later & I had 3 perfect BBS wheels on the car & a knackered one in the boot as a spare. So now I just need to sort out the other wider rear that’s a little worse for wear – actually it’s the worst ive ever seen one of these wheels – so it’ll be off to BJV Engineering at some point in the near future for a refurb back to original spec. I might add trying to find a new RC042 on ebay is nigh on impossible, the RC041 is easy as they are provided as spares in the boot… The offending wheel is below, truly naff:
So with most of the little bits sorted on the car & rather a lot of time on my hands – I was made redundant the day before I picked it up – I decided I should go home to Cornwall (near Lands End to be exact) and spend some time with my family. As it happens it was the hottest week of the year so far, so I spent a lazy 4 days out in the sun giving it its first proper clean. Im no detailer, so it consisted of a good pressure wash off, then bucket & sponge (I’ve now purchased a Chemical guys cleaning kit inc. Sheepskin mitt so don’t worry!), followed by Megs Clay/Quick Detailer and 2 coats of Autoglym SRP. Everything was then sealed with Autoglym EGP. Tyres & plastic was then done with Turtle Wax tyre dressing … pikey, but its all I had lol.
To be honest, I think its turned out alright, Avus is such a great colour, changing from light blue to dark blue to purple depending on the angle of the sun. Needless to say, im pretty happy with my ‘shed’ so far.
Unfortunately, whilst I was in Cornwall the windscreen decided to provide itself with an 8” crack overnight, although that was sorted by National Windscreens for my £50 excess, so it wasn’t the end of the world. It also gave me an excuse to buy some funky new flat wiper blades off ebay, £13 delivered.
So whats next?
Firstly a service, after 3k miles in the past month, the inspection light has appeared, so I’ve bought 8 litres of Motul 8100 X-Cess & an oil filter from Opie Oils, along with the necessary fuel filters & other service items – thanks to e36coupe.com for the service schedule print off! After that, well the rear BBS needs refurbing & I want an M3 Evo lip spoiler to finish off the front. Then its just BOGE springs & ill be happy. Eibachs would be nice, but the drop they give seems to be pure pot luck & they’re extra monies. Everyone fitted the BOGE ones when I first joined in 2004, so they must do something right. I’ve also got some Phoenix Gold Components that I bought for the clio (but never fitted) and some Philips 6x9s that I found in my cupboard in Cornwall, so just need to get some 6x9 adapters now I suppose; ebay no doubt lol. Oh and the parcel shelfs purple, no doubt some satin black paint will sort that though …
After that, well there’s always the BBTB, Manifold, remap & Dave F. That would give me 225bhp or so, but I think that extra £700 would be better off put in the M3 fund to be honest. The 328 engine is never going to give the fireworks that truly excite, its too smooth for its own good & tbh my old Z3M had an engine to die for.
Sorry about the long read, but hey, thought I had better do it properly. It’ll be updated as & when required. Thanks for reading. Dave
Same as the above. I really enjoyed the post. Loving the 328, probably the best colour and wheel combo for my money.
Good Work!
ETA... What leather cleaner did you use (or borrow!) and was it easy to apply? It looks to have done a good job and I could do with a recommendation for mine.
Good Work!
ETA... What leather cleaner did you use (or borrow!) and was it easy to apply? It looks to have done a good job and I could do with a recommendation for mine.
Edited by Charmless man on Friday 17th April 21:41
Tyre_Tread said:
Good write up but please stop saying 'to be honest' as it makes it sound like you're lying 
Apologies, im sure you get various fools coming on here and claiming to own many a different car (although id like to think they claim more than rattly french tin cans & some ancient beemers), 'tbh' if you check the number plates in most of the pictures, they clearly bear my name Charmless man said:
ETA... What leather cleaner did you use (or borrow!) and was it easy to apply? It looks to have done a good job and I could do with a recommendation for mine.
Glipstone Liquid leather cleaner & conditioner - brilliant stuff & approx. £12 delivered off ebay! Although admitedly i do now owe my girlfriend some replacement bottles ...RFN - glad you remember me from PGAC, thats where it all really started, met all my great friends through that site as well ... are you still on there now? I find that wherever i go brand wise, theres always someone i recognise from another forum/club - its such a small & incestuous world
Thanks for all the kind words as well, makes all the hard work saving the 'sheds' worthwhile
Edited by Sir_Dave on Friday 17th April 23:23
Hello mate
Outstanding. You should post back on Northloop with what it looks like now.
Good luck finding the last wheel. Getting it split and refurbed would be much more costly I'd have thought.
Hopefully we'll be able to have a proper look when you next come to Cheltenham. You should try and time it when us South West PH'ers go out for a drive again.
Outstanding. You should post back on Northloop with what it looks like now.
Good luck finding the last wheel. Getting it split and refurbed would be much more costly I'd have thought.
Hopefully we'll be able to have a proper look when you next come to Cheltenham. You should try and time it when us South West PH'ers go out for a drive again.
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