Powered by a straight-six BMW S50 engine the E36 was the first M3 to sport such an engine and coupled with its sleek, modern design it’s no wonder the praise it recieved featuring a max output of 286-321 horse power. Originally the car was booked in for various mechanical upgrades, but it quickly became apparent there were a number of areas of corrosion that needed attention. Of course, when we start the works, it’s always worse than you first imagine…
Upon closer inspection we found extreme corrosion on the front wheelarches, previous poor repairs had caused corrosion under panels and especially the poor welding on the break line had caused severe corrosion
We quickly got to work fabricating and welding on replacement panels for the horrifically corroded underside panels as seen in the previous pictures.
We also dealt with heavy corrosion above and around both springs which were replaced and painted over promptly as seen above.
more updates to follow with the final finish being Gravitex paint…
BMW E36 RESTORATION WORKS – PART 2 – updated 18th August
Picking up when we left off in July work continued on the E36 M3 Saloon. We finished off the wheel well repair, and then used Gravitex to finally seal the work for a long life. Repair work this time was focused on the front Strut Towers. This was a particularly complicated piece of work as we will see from the pictures. The biggest challenge was trying to remove the fuse box to permit the welding work from below and in addition corrosion protection on top of the strut tower. Get ready for a lot of pictures..
The M3 is on the road and attended Radwood, We had some very kind words from the customer about the way the car drives, with the new B12 suspension fitted. Another blog post will detail the rear end work which will commence in 2023.
Really happy to have had Balance Motor Works sort out my e36 M3.
The photos show just how bad it was, none of which was flagged in any of the previous MOTs.
Craig has done a fantastic job with very some intricate work needed in places.
Julian also convinced me to stick with a new Bilstein B12 suspension kit instead of going with Sachs – so glad I took his advice as it’s perfect for my road use.
High standards of prep and finish applied, together with fair pricing; just as importantly, they are a pair of decent chaps who are passionate about what they do.
Will be back next year to get the rear end done, which is the best endorsement of any business – parts collection has begun in anticipation!
Thanks Shirish – Happy New Year ! I thought we had acknowledged this post. You’ve been a pleasure to do business with and we look forward to helping you do the rest of the bits to the M3. Can I also suggest we remove the viscous fan and replace with electric? It really doesn’t help the noise of the engine.
Hello Julian and Happy New Year too.
Happy to go with electric if it helps, I hadn’t thought of that. The noisy Vanos seems to drown everything out
Will hopefully have the Karbonius fitted next time I see you, look forward to your feedback!
Hello I have a bmw e 36 m3 evo which has body damage. Can I send some pictures so you can give an estimate a time scale and price to repair. Thank you . Regards. David .
HI David – sure please send us an email https://balancemotorworks.co.uk/contact-us/, unfortunately with any work like this until you start you don’t know what kind of work awaits. So any quote would be very much an estimate, however we can work in stages and work to your budget. Look forward to seeing your email come through.