1995 BMW E36 328i Manual Touring
Welcome to our latest project.. a delightfully original 328 Touring. Yes, to celebrate two decades of the masterful design of the E36, we thought it only right and proper that we covered a build of one of the more practical versions over the next few months.
Despite the fact that our corporate CV that suggests that this car will probably ultimately end up with some turbocharged Corvette motor in, or something equally ridiculous, the ethos on this project is a bit more workaday. Although we are very well known for our crazy conversions, a big part of what we do is a bit more everyday than that. Chassis enhancements, breathing mods, disc and pads upgrades, bush kits.. that kind of thing. That’s good news for you blog followers, as each month, our eminently qualified techs will be performing a mod that you may very well be considering yourself.
But first, a little more about the car itself. With 128k miles on the clock, the Touring came at the right kind of money from Pete’s father-in-law, no less. Pete effectively ‘rescued’ it, following a derisory sum being offered from a main dealer looking to take it in as a part exchange. With a folder of bills and history that makes War and 
Peace look like a pizza leaflet, it promises great things, with only a brake pipe and seeping damper preventing it going through a precautionary MOT, and just a few knocks and dings here and there stopping it from being a real stunner. Overall, it’s a level old thing, with an impressively complete service history. This could go some way towards explain the car’s excellent road manners and not-too-shabby 160 wbhp figure recorded during our initial dyno shakedown. With just the two owners on the V5, the first of which being the supplying dealer, this looks like being a very sound foundation for further fettling.
As an aside, despite residing in a very salubrious area, it’s interesting to note the amount of invoices in the history file for paint and glass vandal damage.. tsk.. the disaffected yoof of the late ‘90s eh?? Thankfully all this anti- Munich sentiment seems to have evaporated these days.. it all seems to have headed towards Ingolstadt instead!!
So what’s next? Well, as mentioned, the offside front shock is looking a little tired, so expect that to be replaced as part of a wider springs and dampers package, as well as the cleaning stick coming out in full force over the next few weeks. The demeanour of the whole project will be very OEM+, you’ll be delighted to hear, but expect the quality of brands chosen and level of expertise shown to be up to our usual impeccable standards. If you’ve got an E36 in any flavour, we promise you that we’ll be testing and evaluating the mods that matter.
Join us next month for the first of the mods… Same time, same place!
[...] back to our Project E36 Touring, which is progressing nicely now. After its brief introduction last month, the E36 has been pressed into (very) regular service as our big chief Peter’s daily driver and [...]