Ok after much pressure from Nathan, I put up my car here. Not sure to post here or in the M3 subforum. I guess either goes.
As you can see it's a copy paste from my Syndikat Fotostorie, so I don't have to type everything twice. Enjoy.

BMW M3 3.2 SMG CABRIOLET

Modellbezeichnung: M3
Ausführung: Europa
Typschlüssel: BK91
Lenkung: links
Türen: 2
Motor: S50B32
Antrieb: Heckantrieb
Getriebe: manuell (SMG)
Außenfarbe: Alpinweiss 3 (300)
Innenraum: Teilleder W.n./schwarz (N5SW)
Produktionsdatum: 05.03.1998
Werk: Regensburg

Code Serienausstattung
S209A Sperrdifferenzial 25%
S246A Lenksäulenverstellung
S314A Aussenspiegel / Fahrerschloss beheizt
S411A Fensterheber elektrisch vorne/hinten
S481A Sportsitz
S520A Nebelscheinwerfer
S542A Check-Control
S548A Kilometertacho
S710A M Lederlenkrad
S783A BMW LM Rad M Doppelspeiche geschm.

Code Sonderausstattung
S243A Airbag Beifahrer
S260A Seitenairbag für Fahrer/Beifahrer
S302A Alarmanlage
S354A Frontscheibe grün Grünkeil
S380A Hardtop-Vorbereitung
S388A Verdeck schwarz
S395A Überrollschutzsystem
S399A Verdeck EM vollautomatisch
S423A Fussmatten Velours
S428A Warndreieck und Verbandstasche Warning triangle and first aid kit
S431A Innenspiegel automatisch abblendend Interior mirror with automatic-dip
S441A Raucherpaket Smoker package
S464A Skisack Ski bag
S473A Armlehne vorne
S494A Sitzheizung Fahrer/Beifahrer
S498A Kopfstützen im Fond
S502A Scheinwerferreinigungsanlage (SRA)
S508A Park Distance Control (PDC)
S510A Leuchtweitenregulierung
S528A Automatische-Umluft-Control (AUC)
S534A Klimaautomatik
S540A Geschwindigkeitsregelung
S554A Bordcomputer V mit Fernbedienung
S773A Edelholzausführung
S793* Sequentielles M-Getriebe
L801A Länderausführung Deutschland
S863A Händlerverzeichnis Europa
S879A Bordliteratur deutsch On-board
S915A Entfall Aussenhautkonservierung

Kilometerstand when bought: 78.500
Kilometerstand currently: 83.400

MODIFICATIONS

OEM
Harman/Kardon sound system (planned, taken from 328i)
Lordoses stütze (planned, taken from 328i)
Erweitertes leder ausstattung (partial)
M3 GT kohlefaser shift console + handschuhfach blende
BMW Professional RDS radio
US zentralverieglung schalter
M3 GT domstrebe
Autotelefon mit freisprachanlage (planned, taken from 328i)

OEM+
MFL
Kompass/dwa/autodimm innenspiegel (planned)
E46 M footrest
Z3 reinforcement plates

NON OEM
Bilstein PSS9 gewindefahrwerk
BBS RS302 felgen
Bosch Aero wipers

TO DO
Replace wooden handbrake lever for (new) black leather one
H&R stabi's.
Fit the planned stuff listed above.

INTRO

Here's my second fotostorie after I stopped modding the 328i OEM+ cabrio. That car is almost back to stock and is now my daily driver/shopping kart.

Why? Because of this new car. I couldn't be more happy. After 8 years of 328i ownership, I really wanted to scratch the M3 itch. But a good E36 M3 is harder and harder to find. And I am extremely picky when it comes to what I want.

But I always new that someday I had to have an M3. As nice as the 328i is, you always know thee is that little M badge that is missing.

I still love the 328i for daily cruising, but the M3 is in a league of its own. It drives and sounds fantasic.

In the end, I was just either lucky or this car was meant to be mine. I can't think of any other E36 I would rather want to own.

I found this car in March 2013 on Mobile.de. Contacted the owner and went on a visit and testdrive. Two months later, it was at my home.

Yes I could have gone for an E46 M3 as well. But I just have a very soft spot for the E36. To me the ultimate mix in 80's boxiness and 90's roundness. And I never like the E46 (M3) cabrio for numerous reasons. And any E46 M3, would have had at least double the milage on it.

I've always dreamed of owning a new E36, which has now come true. This car is as close to factory fresh as you can expect from a 16 year old car. This one is a keeper.

So here I present to you my

BMW E36 M3 3.2 SMG cabriolet

Alpinweiss auf Schwarz

One of 15 LHD M3 3.2 cabrio's made in this color. And 10 of these with black nappa leather (NS5W)

Imported from the motherland (Germany) in May 2013.

-> Notice there is no radio antenna on the back. This car was ordered without a radio/soundsystem. So it's factory without an antenna, which makes it a bit extra special.

Why would someone order it without a radio? Well guess what, the original buyer was a man of 73 years old. He is now my hero.

First time we met

This is what it looked like when I arrived at the previous owners house.

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Engine was a little dirty, but luckely it was just dusty and no oil or grease. So nothing that can't be corrected.

Guess the previous owner wasn't much of a "pflegen" fan.

But everything inside looked and felt like new. And smelled new.

After I got home that day I did a photoshop to give myself an idea how it would look with the old wheels from my 328i and the amber indicators.

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One word: fantastic! Now I was totally in love. I had to have it!

Fast forward to today. This is how it currently sits:

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Looks like Syndikat.de has its coding right

Will upload pics later on.

Ok maybe time for a little update. Much time has past since. Still need to rework the original post.

Did some major work.

Completely rebuilt the Vanos unit with Beisan seals and E39 M5 solenoid seals. The stupid screen filters on the solenoids have been removed. Fresh vanos filter. So it's better than it ever was "ab Werk".

Complete fresh all, since I don't know what the previous owner used and how old it was. Just going of a card doesn't give 100% insurance. So all oil was removed. More than you can drain with a regular oil change (5.5L). I put in a total of 7L of Fuchs Titan Pro S 5w40 (10w60 is a no-go for this engine).

New drive belts. New power steering hard line. New power steering fluid.

All boring stuff of course, so now for some pics.

After searching for a couple of years(!) thanks to a tip of member Hardliner, I finally managed to get hold of the unobtainable small Telfon bracket that goes on top of the big one.

So now I could finally fit the Telefon Module the proper way, without drilling holes in the roof compartment(!)

Got bew bolts for the M Domstrebe as the bolts I had lost their special coating.

Old

New

Added the OEM Kohlefaser Aschenbecher

So interior is now as good as complete.

Oh yes, also fitted the rest of the carphone system and Harman/Kardon sound system, pulled from the 328i.

Zitat von customizer

OMP?

No idea what that means. Is that about the Domstrebe? I'm sure you know it's the oem BMW Motorsport version.

Haha like the S/E Modul Halter? So do I. Man that was a tough find! Now I need another one for the 328i lol.

Yes the 328i was very nice thank you. This is just the next step. Everything I did to the 328i is now in the M3. WIth the M3 of course being the icing on the cake and with 1/3rd the mileage of the 328i.

About SMG. In short: totally love it.

Longer story: it's a completely misunderstood system. BMW was the first offering such a system in a production car. It was totally new tech.

Even BMW dealers had no clue on how to work on them and many have been transformed to manual shifters for all the wrong reasons.

Believe me, I like shifting in my 328i, but I would not want to trade the SMG for manual. You think you're going to miss the 3rd pedal, but not for a single moment. It was simply the most technical version of the whole E36 lineup. With unique styling elements like the console under the OBC and the gear indicator in the Kombi is just awesome.

I have 2 friends, who also own E36 M3 SMG cabrio's. Together we have a lot of knowledge built up and we are not afraid of it. Having my own GT1 system does help.

What you read on the internet are old horror stories from years back when people and BMW Werkstats had no clue and when something was wrong they just swapped complete gearboxes and hydraulic pumps. With huge bills on top. So people dismissed it as a bad system.

It's actually very well designed. Of coure you only read the stories when something breaks down. People are not going to post that their's is just fine.

Also, you need to learn to drive it. Buyers do a 30 minute testdrive, don't know how it works and think it sucks. You need to learn driving all over again. This takes time. But when you eventually learn how to work with it, it's lots of fun.

Auto mode can be tricky, but I only use this in Stau. Then it's great to have. Rest of the time I'm always in manual mode.

There is no shiftspeed button like on SMG2, so you can't have it shift fast while driving slowly. But take it from me. Use the M3's powerband and shift up when the shiftlight comes on and be surprised how fast this thing shifts. Keep in mind this is nearly 20 year old technology!

One of the 2 friends is an engineer and learned me the kickdown switch is not just for automatic mode, but it the 'true' full throttle setting. From what they have learned so far by reverse engineering the MSS50 DME, it looks like with the kickdown applied, this makes the DME shift to a separate "full throttle" map.

So even while not shifting at the shiftlight, shift up with the kickdown pressed and it's fast!

I would happily take you for a testdrive if we would ever meet.

Some random pics

Klima refilled last September. Now also rocking the BMW logo BBS caps.

As mentioned before, this car has a unique feature. Or to be correct, a special 'Entfell' option:

Factory aerial delete. Because this car was ordered without a radio/radio preparation, there was no need to install an aerial. So this car has no hole in the body where the aerial normally sits. I absolutely love this!

Here's a pic of where normally the Aerial base/amp sits. As you can see, the screw is there, untouched.

No radio, so since there were no speakers fitted in the footwells, extra factory insulation:

In the meantime I installed the Harman/Kardon system that I first had built into the 328i.

Some previous owner had installed the basic system.

Doing some cleaning at Ferienpark Heilbachsee / Center Parcs Eifel when I was there back in September for my annual 2 week stay (15 minutes from The Ring)

Older pic I really love

More to come

Zitat von M3-Atze

Die Domstrebe, ich liebe Die

Ich auch.

The only option for me. It was either this one, or nothing.

Took me some time to find, but someone I know from another forum offered it to me, for a very fair price. So couldn't pass that one up.

Zitat von Hardliner

Vergy great , that you are here Folkert.

It´s a great fun to read your story, we have not much guys like you, who improve the E36 so much in an precision like no other.

Everything looks great on Aw3 e36 M3 Cab, I like it, and whould do everything exactly like you , only wheels were other ones from BBS.

As i saw the telephone holder, i thought only one should have this now.

I hope we read more from the cab in future here.

Alles anzeigen

Hey Tim,

Thank you. I've been around for some time and had opened a thread for the M3, but tried linking directly from Syndikat but they have their coding right

Funny that of all people you say there are not much guys like me who improve the E36 in dusch precision. You are one of those people as well
Your 328i coupe journal proves this. So did your old car. Now I want an Alpinweiss Touring for my grocery car, but I have never seen one. But as long as my 328i which is now my groceries car is still there, I can't have a 3rd car.
And it's nice to have a "spare" car I can steal parts from if I need to, or use it as a testbed for new functions, before I risk it on my M3 (I still need a second Jalt.de Komfortblinkern module, but that site has been dead for too long).

There are many nice wheels around. I love old school 3-piece wheels and BBS RS wheels have always been my favorite and the E36 is still old enough to look good. I also love the old Hartge 3 piece wheels, but I can't affort multiple sets of such wheels. There is a set on ebay but it's like €3450(!). Only thing is I can't run some nice BMW Performance brake calipers without using spacers. I really wish the E36 had a much lower ET an Werk.
But for streetuse the stock M3 brakes are more than powerful enough.

Thanks again for the Telefon Halter. I still haven't seen another one for sale anywhere. Of course I had made a simple bracket myself already, but as you know, OEM is best. I was very surprised how complicated that little bracket is. I thought it was a simple bracket. But it even has these 2 little "hooks" that fold around of the front of the Modul.

Only shame is the E38/E39 Ejectbox is so different and has the extra gold/brown GSM module you need to hide. I have a complete system laying around here, including the SES module and SES wiring (Sprachecontrol) which would be very cool since I also have the MFL Tasten mit Sprache symbol.
I recently aquired a new old stock MFL left side button pod, with the little horn symbol on it. This better matches the cars equipment. Call me crazy
Which is nice as the P/N is the same, but the newer ones just come with the voice control symbol; there is no separate P/N for them. Otherwise I would have bought a second hand one and switch the single button.

With the M3, I notice I have changed a bit in my modding. The 328i was all about having everything. In the M3 I am a bit more picky in what I do and what not. For example, I like the Tachoringen, but in the M3 I want to keep the factory look, so no Tachoringen will be added. I also could but the electric seats in the M3, but I'm keeping the manual seats. Changing car all the time, I noticed the electric seats sit a little bit higher.

Maybe in the future, who knows.

I would also love the put in a Tempomat light in the Kombi, the E36 never had a cruise control-on light. Shame. But I am definitely not going to cut in the symbol strip of my M3. No option. With the e38/E39 GR2 module to have MFL control, there is an output to turn on a light. I could use an unused light, but it would look wrong.

Yes I am aware of the lower and higher seat cushion. But both my cars have the same seat cushion. One is manual, other electric seats and when I step in one car, and into the other and so fort, you notice the difference right away.

She's turned 18 this weekend. 18 years and 87.000km.

Finally grown up.

Born 5 March 1998, at 6:20 in the morning

Zitat von jake328i

Nice ride buddy!

you are just needin' some styling 37 on that M3 or maybe a different color for your BBS-Wheels but these are just my 2 cents.

Have fun!

Thanks.

Not a fan of styling 37 wheels on an E36. I prefer 17" wheels. And the BBS RS are the all-time classic BBS wheel, which I have always loved and which looks fantastic under the E36.

The color are BMW Nogaro Silber, which gives a nicer contrast between the Alpinweiss body color and the polish alu parts of the wheel itself.

I could always play around with plasti-dip, but I really like this color.

What color do you have in mind?

centes are not black. As mentioned "Nogaro silber". Official BMW color. I didn't want them to be black, as this would make all the little details invisible.

IRL it's quite light. Not a fan of fancy bright colors.

And BBS RS is a forged wheel, I believe the Mparallel's are cast, but not 100% sure.

Don't worry, I'm not offended.

Apart from the wheels, I didn't do any modifications. Only fit original parts.