Craig's 328i Sport - e36 Track Car Build Thread

[CraigMillwardCroft]

As long as you are okay, maybe in time you will rebuild the car as you know you will miss the old girl and all the enjoyment you get from driving the car.

[Craig]

Thanks for all the positive comments, I’ve had chance today to strip off all the damaged parts and asses the state of the inner arch and chassis leg, the results are as follows;









It doesn’t appear to have moved the chassis leg anywhere else other than where the front cross bolts to it, the inner arch is in a bit of a state but nothing structural has been affected. I’m thinking if I could get a body shop to repair the inner arch then the rest could be re-built by me.

I’m even thinking of attempting the spray work myself, kind of a ‘re-built to be driven’ attitude it’s had its photo shoot this time round spend a little less time worrying about the cosmetics then I won’t be so worried about using it properly and it receiving the odd battle scar.

I now need to price up some parts to see if it’s even worth considering, I might sweet talk a few BMW breakers to see if they’ll do me a deal on a bulk lot of parts. I’m hoping I can travel to the breaker and remove all the parts myself, that way I’ll be certain I have everything I need!!

[Bounce]

Bad luck Craig,gutted for you.

[shane@mbtech]

Gutted for you Craig as that was one really nice e36.

But as you say, build it back up and it will be great again.

[sailorbaz]

Really sorry to hear of this Craig, that's some garbage news mate. Now that the damaged parts are removed and you can see the real extent of it, it doesn't look too bad to tell you the truth.

Good luck with it mate, ;-)

[Craig]

Time for quite a positive update;

Mid-week I contacted Chris @ CR M-Tech regarding some bits, he informed me that he had an immaculate ’99 M3 3.2 Evo in ready for breaking, he mentioned that he’d seen the pictures of the my 328’s build and demise and would be more than happy for me to come down and break the car for bits myself as I had previously requested.

So, roll on 05:00 this morning when I fuelled up the trusty Astra Estate steed, purchased purposely for this job at an almighty price of £200.00 (with Tax and MOT!!) and set off on route to Shrewsbury. The journey down was pretty un-eventful as most parts runs are however I arrived in good time at 09:00 just as they’d opened for business.



Next I was greeted by a stunning purple M3, the colour is one I’ve always had a soft spot for and thought it’d make a great track car, I was even more shocked when I found out this was the car to be broken... aside from the fact it was an SMG and had a sun-roof it was very, very tidy.



Work begun and within an hour it was missing most of the front end;



Next I tried the bonnet up for size in the Astra, to my amazement it fit which was a good as I really didn’t want to have to hire a van and hunt locally for a bonnet which would be in nowhere near as good condition as this one.



With the panels off, next it was time for the engine and gearbox. All this had to be removed as I wanted the front corner chassis to aid the repair of my own car. It was only a good few hours into the job and the engine was out ready to be split from the gearbox and cleaned.



Now it was finally time for the car to rest in pieces, what was a beautiful M3 was now banished to the world of scrap in less than a few minutes, all in aid of repairing a lesser 328i.
First up; grinder at the ready!!



Ooooh and arrrr’s at the ready, it was now time to give the garage some light commencing with an array of orange and yellow sparks; sparklers ain’t half got better since I were a lad!






And here it is, one OEM BMW bandage ready to heal the 328’s wounds.



Back to what I mentioned earlier about the engine; cleaning. I couldn’t help but notice everything in Chris’s parts store was spotlessly clean and free from grease and grime usually associated with second hand parts from breakers.

It turns out, even though he doesn’t like to admit it, Chris has a cleaning obsession everything must be cleaned before it leaves the premises. Even though I wasn’t bothered, he insisted he cleaned all the parts before I left so that they were good to use straight away. I also noticed he was very anal about making sure all parts are supplied with the correct nuts and bolts, which was for me, a nice thing to see as I hate receiving parts only to find out I need to go buy a load of fitting hardware to mount the damn thing.

Next the Astra was loaded;



It may not look to bad but in this car there is as follows; bonnet, wings, bumper, crash panel, inner arch section, under trays, arch liners, wishbones, brake ducts, rear control arms, headlights, grill panels, aircon pre-rad, electric fan, a big box of bits and four wheels complete with tyres!



I got home and was able to cross off every single part I required off my list, and more!



I’d highly recommend Chris and CR M-Tech (cr.mtech@btinternet.com) for any of your e36 needs it was nice to deal with someone who also had a passion for the vehicles that were been broken. I liked how everything had to be right, if a part on the car wasn’t 100% it wasn’t allowed to be taken instead a perfect replacement was taken off the shelf, I also liked the fact he trusted me with his own tools and to disassemble the car at my own free will.... so I’d just like to say thanks Chris!!

Now... Let the re-build commence!!

[sailorbaz]

Jesus H mate, that's seriously good going and a stroke of good luck I might add.

Much did he lighten you of for that lot, if you don't mind me asking? See the chassis leg though, forgive me for asking but doesn't it look damaged also?


What was wrong with the car that it was to be broken anyway?
Astra looks tidy enough for £200, I so need one of them!

[mattCSLnut]

Your persistence is admirable Craig Good luck with the rebuild Loving the "Cash Point Special" Racing Red Astra

[Craig]

No, they already have bends like that it as a crumple zone if it didn't have them mine would have caused more terminal damage. It was a good price, but you have to take into account I stripped the car down for him.

[Craig]

Progress... huge thanks to Iain Fitz who came down from the Scottish borders on his weekend off to help with the panel work, I say help he did most of the work whilst showing me the ropes along with way.

Below pictures just shows the panels offered up to the car, nothing has been tightened up or aligned yet. A quick test fit later showed it’d align right and then we called it a day ready for a Sunday roast to warm us up after getting soaked wet through.

Next step is to take everything back off, and re-build it again with all the bolts and clips in their correct locations and of course get some colour shot onto the panels.