Project cars are great. If you love to work on your vehicle, or are looking to start and learn how to work on them, then you have got to have a project car. They also offer a great value as a second car that you can practice your tuning on. The variety of project cars available in the US is outstanding.
Vehicles like the Mazda Miata, Nissan 350z, Golf GTI, all definitely make it to the best project cars available in the US market. But it would be criminal to sleep on the BMW E36. There are two main reasons to consider the BMW E36 for your project. The first is the engine and the second is the chassis. BMW made the E36 for ten years from 1990 to 2000, and they have offered ten types of engines in total between these cars, so it all can get a little confusing. But this article is here to help you guys find the perfect project car for you.
What's Under The Hood Of This Project Car?
BMW has been developing its inline-6 engines since the 1930s. That puts them ahead of the curve in making some of the best six bangers in the world. The I-6 engine comes with a DOHC(Dual Overhead Camshaft) technology. The DOHC allows the engine to have four valves per cylinder(two valves per camshaft). This arrangement is typical in today's cars but not when the beemer first arrived. As a result, there is a wider gap between the inlet and outlet valves of a cylinder. This gap meant a reduced valve noise, and it gave more room for the ignitor to be in an optimal position. Add all of these up, and you get more power out of the engine. The wonders don't stop here, though.
The beemer also comes with what BMW calls a VANOS system. Translated in English, it stands for variable cam timing. Like Honda's legendary VTEC system, the VANOS enables the valves to open and close at flexible timing. At lower RPMs, the timing of inlet and outlet valves overlap, causing the exhaust gas to mix with the intake air. It prevents the heat from building up, and you get better efficiency. While at higher RPMs, the valves' timing gets synchronized, giving a power boost when putting your foot down. Ten engines like the M50, M52, S50, S52, M50 US, S50 TU, and more exist in the market. For the best value for money, get any E36 with an I-6 engine in it, and this would be one thing checked off the list. With the 320i, you will get a 2.0-Liter I6 that makes 148 HP and 140 lb-ft of torque. With the M3, you get a 3-Liter I6 with 240 HP and around 230 lb-ft of torque. The rest of the I6 variants fall in between these two.
The BMW E36 Has A Reliable Chassis
These six-cylinder engines are longer than Inline-4 or V8 engines, so instead of putting them horizontally(going from the left to the right of the hood), we have to place the engine vertically(going from the driver to the front bumper). The placement results in making both the car's hood and the wheelbase longer. This longer wheelbase (approximately 5 inches longer than the E30) gives the driver more control over the E36 while turning. The car's longer wheelbase meant that it required a greater centripetal force to turn it sideways, which means that the E36 did not suffer from frequent oversteering when cornering. The extra legroom and trunk space are a plus point too.
BMW aimed for more comfort with the E36 equipped with a Z-Axle Multilink suspension, which mitigates many drawbacks found in a traditional semi-trailing arms suspension. In the E36, the tires get better contact with the ground on uneven surfaces, reducing the noise and vibrations, and you can adjust it to your preference. These days, there are many aftermarket mods like coil overs, camber adjustment, toe angle adjustment, stiff rear springs, and poly bushings(to replace the old rubber bushings) available for the Z-Link suspension in the E36. The BMW E36 drove great when it came out, but the E36 will surely drive like a dream after some fiddling with the suspensions! Then there are the usual options like wings, canards, fenders, splitters, exhausts, catalytic converters, bigger brakes, and wheels that you can find in most shops. Motorjunkies have tuned and modded the E36 as soon as it came out. It is another good sign of it being a fantastic project car.
The Perfect First Project Car
A great engine and a solid platform make the E36 arguably one of the most customizable cars in the US. Plenty of BMW E36s made their way to the US, so they are cheap and readily available, another sign of a good project car. They even made a Miata-like version of the E36, called the Z3. Speaking of the Miata, another great project car, both these vehicles offer exceptional value for money, have an ocean of aftermarket parts to choose from, and are great all-around cars. Depending on where you live in the States, you can get one of these for cheaper than the other, so you can buy any one of these two and start working on your car without the slightest worry.