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vanos engine is the better one but the non-vanos will be simpler to set up timing if doing a rebuild. The non vanos version was only around for a short time so you may have trouble finding one. Hard enough finding an M50 full stop, that's why I ended up getting an auto as a 85% donor
Right, Donor sourced. !!!A 1994 M3!!! 3litre, 5speed, 100k on the clock, that needed work to get it throught it's MOT. Cosmetically and mechanically very good, will be able (hopefully) to claw back the overspend on the donor budget with the sale of the excess parts, leather interior etc.... I apologise in advance to some of you who may think this sacrialige, but it was at a good price and it's hopefully gonna make one hell of a "Sportst3r" (as it may well be christened). Hoping to get the build underway by early/mid April so time to strip and sell the bits unrequired, and get the garage cleared, tools assembled, stock up on tea bags, change for swear box and grecian 2000!!! :-)
Hi Peter, Would do but don't really have any of worth at the mo, the car is in storage at the moment, will be out in the fresh air in a few weeks, ready fror stripping, will post some piccies then if I can work out how to post them on here!
Am really excited that we found an M3, looks like it's been well looked after, after, old Mot's etc, FSH, only a few owners from new. Was in need of some suspension bush replacements, 4 new tyres and a few other fiddly bits for it's Mot, so was too good an opportunity to miss. Forget to mention, it's also a convertible!! So the roof/motors etc alone should fetch a few quid to refill the empty coffers! Hopefully getting the kit from Marlin by early/mid April, then the postings will really begin. I feel I may become the bane of a few of your lives, as I'm a newbie to kit car building, but have plenty of enthusiasm and a Dad who spent his life in engineering. So many ears will be bent by the time the car is reborn I'm sure!
We got back From Crediton tonight with a VVlong wheel base van containing lots of lovely oily engine/gearbox lumps, chassis, body panels, front and rear axles, wheels and many more little nuggets. Me and the old man broke the M3 down @ Marlin, as we stored it with them at the end, Ebay is now my wife/mother/other suitable nagging appendage at the mo. Will try and post some pics soon, but just taking in the enormity of the challenge, first job, clean up the donor bits paint and stroke them and then the real work begins. Garage smells of tranmission fluid/hydraulic oil/petrol/WD40 and many other beautiful things, don't think the wife will agree though, but Hay Ho, gives her a new topic to berate me about! :-)
We got back From Crediton tonight with a VVlong wheel base van containing lots of lovely oily engine/gearbox lumps, chassis, body panels, front and rear axles, wheels and many more little nuggets. Me and the old man broke the M3 down @ Marlin, as we stored it with them at the end, Ebay is now my wife/mother/other suitable nagging appendage at the mo. Will try and post some pics soon, but just taking in the enormity of the challenge, first job, clean up the donor bits paint and stroke them and then the real work begins. Garage smells of tranmission fluid/hydraulic oil/petrol/WD40 and many other beautiful things, don't think the wife will agree though, but Hay Ho, gives her a new topic to berate me about! :-)
Great to hear that your build is now truly underway.
Sounds like you've got lots to sort out if you've bought the chassis and all the body panels. You need to store the body panels somewhere safe and out the way as you won't need them for a few weeks
You can get a free Flickr account up to something like 200 pictures and then it's quite easy to embed a BBCode link into this site.
Great to see another new Sportster build underway!!
I don't want to hi-jack this thread but I've often wondered how to add pics from my Flickr site and I'm not familiar with a BBCode. Is there an explanation somewhere of how to use them.
Or photobucket does the same thing. Seems like unlimited photos.
Goto [url]www.photobucket.com[/url]
Click on sign up in the top right hand corner. Once you have signed up, in future, you will click login next to sign up.
Click the green upload button. Then select the green select photos and videos.
Select you photo
Upload more files or save and continue
The hover the mouse over your picture.
There's a box that says IMG code. It will be something like[IMG]http......
Click on the [IMG]http and it shoud say copied.
Now in you mad about bix where your typing, right click your mouse and select paste.
It will past the [IMG]http.. from earlier.
From here you can click preview post or submit reply.
Sounds complex but I have list every single little step. It's really easy.
I don't want to hi-jack this thread but I've often wondered how to add pics from my Flickr site and I'm not familiar with a BBCode. Is there an explanation somewhere of how to use them.
Hi Nigel, I think there was a green 3 series (325 i think?) behind our M3,and then a dark blue M3 behind that, both L reg if my memory serves me right. Will check any other photos I didnt upload to Flickr for you. The shell your donor's by any chance?? Lol
Nigel, this photo shows the nose of the (325 I think it was) on the right hand side, by looking at the photo I think that one was blue and the othe M3 was green now, hope this helps.
Were still quite a few big bits left on it Nigel, so not a shell yet I'd say. We got very carried away with stripping our one, the only thing left on was the heater.....ran out of time!! Really enjoyed "The strip", gives you a lot of faith in the BMW donor when you see how it's put together, soooo many bolts/clips/extra bolts/clips etc, the footwells were full of them by the end. Have flogged a lot of bits on Fleebay so far, running total is nearly £900 from the shrapnel put up so far, hope to smash the the £1K barrier with a weekend's work conditioning the leather seats and listing a few more nuggets still left in the garage. Feel justified in smashing the donor budget a bit more now, especially after someone paid £17 for the two rubber top mount covers and some other punter paid £12 for the glovebox torch!
Hope the build is this instantly gratifying, but i have my doubts!!! Lol
£900 !!! can you give me some tips on what sells well. I'm struggling to hit the £100 mark. All my light clusters have gone for very little and made about £15 on my 18 button OBC. A bloke walking past gave me 25 for my front lights which is better than they seem to go on ebay so I was happy. fogs seem good sellers but the rear clusters went for 99p each, very disappointing.
I'm going to hunt down a scrappy in my lunch hour tomorrow to see If I can get rid of the body shell and left overs but I need to get a few quid more out of it to help pay for the manual gearbox and all the hubs and bushes I need to replace
Hi Morris, Don't think I've done anything majorly amazing, but I think the "M" and convertible aspects help to shift some bits at a good price, the roof went for £335, the hood motor's now gone for £200 (sorry if I'm annoying you more!!), and the body panels do well, especially the bumpers and anything with an M badge on it, of for an M3 as there are many replicas around (usually powered by a 1.8 petrol!! Lol) Reckon the total will be around £1500 once done (apologie again!), which means we got the M3 running gear for less than £1000, so has made the risky step a lot less risky I feel. Might go into the breaking business if this car building malarkey gets too annoying! Currently prepping the front and rear end suspension/hubs/steering/diff etc bafore beginning the build proper in the next few weeks hopefully!
Nearly finished prepping, painting of engine/suspension/diff etc, then start to bolt stuff on I s'pose!! An M3 E36 based Sportster build is just about to begin!!
That's when you'll see me a lot more on here with posts beginning HEEEEEELP!!!, will be the bain of your collective lives soon!! Lol
