I owned a 96 Black on Black E36 M3 and loved it. I traded it in back in 2006 for an 01.5 Audi S4. As much as I loved the Audi I have always missed the E36.

I recently decided to sell my VW Jetta Wagon daily driver and started to shop for an E36 M3. I came across a guy locally selling a 99 Silver on Dove Grey M3 convertible. Long story short, I am buying it on Monday the Feb 28th and I can't wait.

It has a Dinan Supercharger, Dinan exhaust, Dinan ECU software, Dinan Transmission software and Dinan suspension. To me the only flaw the car has is that it is an automatic but because I will be driving here in DC in traffic I thought about it and got over that.

The car currently has just over 71K, a new top, and fairly new tires. I will be the 3rd owner and I will receive all the paperwork covering the complete history on the car.

I will post pictures later but from the outside she looks stock.

My E60 M5 is also silver so these two will look great together in the garage

 

Congratulations. E36 M3's are a blast. We picked one up a few months back too since I've always loved that model, and it too was auto but we jumped on it since it was such a great deal. The auto --> manual sway is not that bad, in case you decide to go that route. We did it pretty easily, dropping in the 5sp.

Here's a pic of ours after a restore, and a few next to my M5 so this will be similar to what you will have...





Good luck and enjoy it....

 

That is a beautiful E36! I love them in white. I really like the wheels too, what brand and model are they?

The front lip looks larger than factory as well, is that an aftermarket piece?

I thought about doing a conversion down the road on the transmission. Did you do it yourself? If so, how long did it take you?

Thanks

 

What would you estimate it to cost doing this? Both in labor and parts?


OP, congrats! Any plans for more mods?

 

They are Apex ARC-8. Very strong, light weight, and with minor fender work, we made the concave 18x9.5 rears fit.

The front lip is a MaxVelocity lip we got from Bimmerworld. Stock-like fit, but slightly lower and more aggressive.

My old man has a shop so the tranny work was done there. It is a side project that we work on in spare time, so it took a few weekends simply because it wasn't something we completely focused on. I'd say it would be something any decent mechanic can handle.

Biggest expense was the actual tranny, but you can find them on ebay for a few hundred dollars. Cost can probably be under $1000 in parts if you shop around and buy some used parts, but can go up significantly if you buy new and have to pay labor. We did a lightenend flywheel and upgraded clutch, so cost went up...

 

is that m5 in silverstone?

 

If you're asking about mine, yes it is.

TMAC, enjoy the new car. It sounds like it has great mods already. Feel free to email or PM me if you have any specific questions on the swap.

 

I picked up a 97 Sedan a few months back as well. I was planning on doing a 5 sp conversion and turning it into a track car once I dont need it as a DD. I was quoted 800 for labor plus tranny to do the swap. Does that sound reasonable?

 

Yes my M5 is also Silverstone, thanks Hyboost, I will look you up down the road.

Thanks for the info on the parts, I do really like that lip so I need to look for it. I haven't decided what wheels I want but for now I will enjoy the Contours a bit. These are my favorite E36 wheel.

 

I picked up the car tonight but it is raining so these are the only pictures I could take.
I will get more soon once the weather gets better and I have a chance to really clean up the car.

 

That looks to be in excellent shape. Nice pickup!

 

Nice looking car....

I picked up my first M3 last week.. I've only driven it 1/4 mile around my race shop but will put it to the test this weekend.. I hear they are a blast!!

 

What race shop do you own in Atl? Im in Atl as well ...

 

I don't. I use J3. They store my trailer, M3 and my GT3 (occasionally) there. Albeit I've probably bought at least part of the store by now.
I highly reccomend them!!

 

and in a future photoshoot