Bavarian Motor Works pundits might continue to haggle over which BMW ranks as the top model the German automaker ever built, but there's no doubt that the M3 E36 would place highly on that list. The late Paul Walker of Fast and Furious fame once reportedly declared the E36 as his favorite BMW and, as proof of that endorsement, owned a Lightweight frame edition of that vehicle.
Another fan is Mike Burroughs, editor-in-chief at car enthusiast webzine Stance Works. For the past 17 years, he's been restoring an E36, not an easy task since BMW ceased production of the car in 1999, making parts rather expensive and difficult to come by. But in a video released in mid-March, Burroughs showed off the results, even though he still had a few touch-ups to complete on the interior.
Front Panel Gaps Closed
Getting parts on a limited budget is always an obstacle for anyone who restores vehicles, but Burroughs seems happy that the work is nearly finished. The previous two weeks, however, posed a few interesting challenges for him, at times having to reinvent a few steps to get the job done.
One tricky task involved taking care of gaps in the car's front panels, an eyesore to Burroughs. He initially thought that taking each panel off and tightening it before going on to the next one would remedy the appearance, but soon discovered he had to remove everything on the front end. He improved the realignment, but thought a visit to a body shop would improve the symmetry of those crevices.
He had an easier time with installing the splitter and front lip, a process that only took a couple of hours. A skid plate kit positioned underneath the front of the car took only minutes to install. Burroughs liked how users can move the plate forward and back to accommodate the car on the road or on a track. "It totally transforms the way the E36 looks and this is exactly what this car has been needing for years," noted Burroughs.
Side Skirts And Locks Require Precision
To match the front lip, Burroughs wanted to add side skirts. But BMW built his model before the car could accommodate that feature. That meant he had to carefully and strategically drill holes into the frame, a frightening task, since one slip up might not hamper the alignment of the additional panel, it could also ruin the metallic paint job.
It took a great deal of time to consistently measure how the skirt would fit. "They bring the side of the car down to meet that front lip height and overall this thing is looking better and better with each and every change," said Burroughs once he installed the side skirts.
His precision and patience faced an even more daunting task when he wanted to replace the door handles. The handles he ordered came with lock cylinders that each required a different key, something Burroughs wanted to avoid. He tried to retrofit the handles with the lock cylinders that originally came with the car, but they wouldn't fit into the new handles. That's when he decided to remove the cylinder wafers designed to match the jagged contours and replace them one-by-one with what was on his E36. Several painstaking hours later, it worked.
E36 Slated For More Filtered Intake
One part — OK, make that two parts — of the car he wasn't excited about were the original bulbous mirrors that came with his E36, so he swapped them out for more rectangular ones to match the boxy contours of the car. What he hadn't decided was whether to swap out the rear tail lights for something with a bit more amber in them, to highlight the rear spoiler a bit. He had also rejected the idea of adding a set of rear window louvres, when he found they visually clashed with the wing.
He also improved the engine cooling system by swapping out pieces like the water pump, fan clutch, and the thermostat. But while Burroughs liked the visual appeal of the velocity stacks on the engine, he wants to replace them with a more upgraded intake system. He's planning to put in a Carbon CSL intake manifold to filter the air coming into the cylinder head. "I don't want to worry about sucking things in anymore," he added.
Upholstery Is The Final Task
"There's really not much left, aside from the interior, for us to call this car completely finished," said Burroughs, who plans to release one more video related to his build. That would involve installing the upholstery. Otherwise, he's quite happy with the results.
"If the 17-year-old me could see the way that this e36 has turned out here in 2022, I think he would lose his mind. I'm having a blast building one of my dream cars, no matter how basic that may be." He'll have a blast tackling something else that's in the back of the garage once he completely restores the BMW.