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E91 6MT RWD - A "pre-LCI Unicorn"
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02-10-2021, 06:16 PM | #1 |
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E91 6MT RWD - A "pre-LCI Unicorn"
Hey E9X folks. I posted this on another forum, but will cross-post here. The content is intended for a more general car forum, based in the UK, so please excuse the Britishisms and probably obvious points to those reading here.
===== The first BMW I remember riding in was an E36 M3 Touring conversion in techno violet purple. It was lowered on BBS style 5’s, and I fell head-over-heels in love with it. In 2015, I moved from Manchester (UK) to San Francisco and had the opportunity to buy my first BMW. I ended up in an E36 M3 coupe in hellrot (red) with about 190k miles. I loved this car, and made some really good improvements to it over the 2.5 years I owned it, in fact, it was in far better condition when I sold it than when I got it. BMW E36 M3 by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr I sold it in early 2018 because our son was due in June 2018 and it was deemed that a 20 year old BMW coupe was not an appropriate vessel to transport an infant around in. So I needed a sensible family car; for that, I ordered a brand new Alfa Romeo Giulia. I ordered the Giulia in TI Sport spec, RWD with the optional performance pack, which among a couple of other things, bagged me an LSD. So a 280hp, RWD performance saloon/sedan with brilliant dynamics, brilliant looking and my first brand new car! Pretty cool car to bring your son home from the hospital in, if I do say so myself! Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr I did decide at the last minute to lease the Alfa for 2 years, and as timing worked out, at the start of 2020 we decided (just before COVID hit sadly) that we would move to Michigan to be closer to family. So I decided to give the Alfa back and move on (this turned out to be harder than expected with the pandemic, but that’s another tale). So we moved from California to Michigan, and I had the opportunity to get another car! I wanted something fairly practical, and ever since that E36 Touring, I’ve loved the idea of a wagon. I’ve ticked off the E36 M3 part, time to tick off the Touring part! Which brings me to the point of this thread. I bought this BMW E91 328i back in July. BMW E91 6MT RWD by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 6MT RWD by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr This is 1 of 429 RWD, 6-speed manual E91 wagons that were ever brought to the USA (most are autos and/or AWD). Furthermore, it has the sport pack, a black interior (w/ manual sport seats), and no idrive, which makes it pretty rare, and very desirable; well, in some very specific circles I suppose. It’s also got <100k miles too, so low-ish mileage. I should note, the 328i was the only engine available as a wagon here; we didn’t get the diesels or 335i wagons here (sedans were available with those engines though). For some, especially those of you reading in the UK, a BMW wagon might not seem like much, but my thinking is this is the last of a breed. * Last BMW NA inline 6 (this has the N52). * Last 3 series wagon available (in the US at least) with a manual. * I believe it’s the last 3 series wagon available in RWD. * Last 3 series with hydraulic power steering. I got it with a cracked windscreen and a badly slipping clutch, which netted me a decent percentage off the asking price, so those were among the first jobs that got done. Plans with this are TBD, but I’ve done a few things to spruce it up already. |
02-10-2021, 06:17 PM | #2 |
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It started here. Very much a 10ft car, a little sorry for itself, but apart from the knowns (clutch + windshield), I’d describe this as an ‘honest’ car. The engine bay had never been cleaned, and there were daily usage marks all over it; no ones trying to hide anything here!
BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr We don’t require a front plate here in Michigan, which is nice, although sadly the bumper has already suffered from a plate holder install. I got some color coded bumper plugs to make the best of it. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr A little better... BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Next, let’s have a go at those headlights; they’ve seen better days, hazy, ugly. I used the Meguiars kit for this, and initially was impressed, but honestly, I wasn’t happy with the outcome in the end, something more aggressive was needed. That’ll come later. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Well, a wagon is all business up front and party out back. So I did a bit of work cleaning up the back. I was initially missing a badge: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Fixed: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Then whipped off the model badges, oddly, something I’ve wanted to do to a lot of cars I’ve owned but never have. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Much better. Some other little fixes. This is the kind of stuff that makes the difference for me. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr I also got the clutch done. As I said, it was slipping when I bought the car, which was a major money-off situation, so I was happy to have accounted for this; with the windscreen, it was expensive to get everything corrected. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr I didn’t do many mods to my M3 sadly, but one of the best things I did was add the ZHP gear knob. It’s weighted and OEM, so a brilliant upgrade; I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with a manual BMW. Before: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr After: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr After all that, I spent some time driving it rather than fixing stuff: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr |
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02-10-2021, 06:19 PM | #3 |
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After that, we moved from an apartment to a house, and I finally had the garage space I’d been wanting for so long! I actually moved the majority of the apartment over the course of a couple of weeks in the wagon! It also coincided with the start of my first winter living here in Michigan.
I have a RWD wagon with summer tyres, so I was pretty safe to lean in to a bit of work on it, so I decided to have a go at some machine polishing. I took my time, over the space of a couple of weeks at xmas, I stole an hour here or there to go over the whole car. First of all though, let’s tackle those lights again. This time, I used 800->1000->2000 wet and dry, in alternate motions on the headlights and foglights, and finished with the Meguiars kit again. The results were much better this time: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr Then moved on to the rest of the car. The back boot, where I’d removed the ‘328i’ badge was showing some evidence (not a great pic, sorry. It wasn’t very obvious): BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr There were lot’s of marks all over it. There still are honestly, but it presents pretty well now, and has a good layer of protection on it. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr |
02-10-2021, 06:20 PM | #4 |
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Trouble is, when you clean a car like that, it shows up other parts that are less loved!
I’m not completely sure which of the E9X cars came with these, but I got some OEM-style painted splitters for the front, which I think lifts it to where a ‘sport pack’ car should be. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr ...and at the party end, the pipes were really letting it down too. BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr So I got some cheap tips to brighten it up a bit. In lieu of a proper exhaust, I at least think it makes a big difference visually: BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr That’s it for now! BMW E91 328i 6MT by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr |
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02-10-2021, 08:46 PM | #5 |
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Great job!! Great car! Very rare combo.
If you ever change the front bumper, would love to see the m-tech bumper. I haven’t seen pre lci E91 M-Tech if any in the States. |
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02-12-2021, 01:40 PM | #6 |
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Love the car 😊
You've done a great job on it. The headlights look amazing now they've been cleared up. May be worth thinking about getting some white LEDs for the halos, slightly modernise the front end. Would love to get myself one of 6pot petrols, but I'll make do with my 6pot derv for now 😁 |
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02-12-2021, 02:17 PM | #7 |
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Looks great. I've done most of the exact same things as you since picking up my wagon even down to the manual gearbox preservation society sticker haha.
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02-12-2021, 04:16 PM | #8 |
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Nice wagon love .... PS love the E36 ///M
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2009 E90 M3 DCT Space Grey current
2005 E53 X5 3.0 Alpine white sold 2008 E90 M3 6-speed Jerez Black sold 2008 E90 335I 6 Speed Black Sapphire M-sport sold 2006 E53 X5 Black Sapphire sold 2011 E91 Silver Automatic sold 2006 E91 Silver Automatic sold 2007 E91 Black sapphire 6 Speed Manuel current |
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02-12-2021, 05:44 PM | #9 |
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Great slate to start with, look forward to the updates!
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Build thread: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1453866
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02-12-2021, 06:40 PM | #10 |
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Drives: E91 RWD 6MT, X3, Ducati S4R
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Garage List 2011 E91 6MT RWD &q ... [0.00]
2005 Ducati S4R 996 [0.00] 2000 Ducati M750 [0.00] RIP - 2011 E91 328i ... [10.00] |
Great work, she looks beautiful. And welcome to the club!
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2011 6MT RWD ClubSport Wagon | 3,185lbs | 1 of 149 ZSPs delivered in North America
Outside: BMW M-Aero, Euro region lighting, Seibon | Inside: M3 cockpit, Recaro SPG, Prototipo, AutoSolutions SSK, UCP | Stop: M3 ST-40R, PFC | Grip: Solid-mounted subframes, rear coilover conversion, M3 Nitron R3, Hyperco, SPL, AKG, ARC8 | Go: StageFP, CF snorkel, 3IM, MILVs, SuperSprint headers, Dundon Motorsports Inconel exhaust, VoltPhreaks | Cool: CSF | PCA #2018100384 | BMW CCA #505794 |
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02-13-2021, 09:02 AM | #11 | |||
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Thanks, you can read about it HERE if you'd like. Thanks. There's another one coming soon. Thank you very much. I've taken a lot of inspiration from your build. Did you ever get the sunroof delete off the ground? I do find all that weight is noticeable up high like that. Although, I doubt I'd be willing to lose the functionality at this stage in all honesty. |
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02-13-2021, 03:12 PM | #12 | |
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Drives: E91 RWD 6MT, X3, Ducati S4R
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Garage List 2011 E91 6MT RWD &q ... [0.00]
2005 Ducati S4R 996 [0.00] 2000 Ducati M750 [0.00] RIP - 2011 E91 328i ... [10.00] |
Yes, the CF long roof is in process.
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2011 6MT RWD ClubSport Wagon | 3,185lbs | 1 of 149 ZSPs delivered in North America
Outside: BMW M-Aero, Euro region lighting, Seibon | Inside: M3 cockpit, Recaro SPG, Prototipo, AutoSolutions SSK, UCP | Stop: M3 ST-40R, PFC | Grip: Solid-mounted subframes, rear coilover conversion, M3 Nitron R3, Hyperco, SPL, AKG, ARC8 | Go: StageFP, CF snorkel, 3IM, MILVs, SuperSprint headers, Dundon Motorsports Inconel exhaust, VoltPhreaks | Cool: CSF | PCA #2018100384 | BMW CCA #505794 |
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02-13-2021, 03:34 PM | #14 |
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Great car and great improvements.
I have a soft spot for the E91 Mine is a pre-LCI 320D Msport 6MT manual RWD, i love this car (minus the crankshaft sensor, i need to replace it, the car turn off over the 3500RPM, but it's a pain in the ass to change, it's behind the starter motor...) |
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02-16-2021, 08:32 AM | #17 |
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Ditto, But if I find a wrecked manual may just grab it for swapping. Nice job of cleaning your car up. I love and hate black just for the amount of work required to keep them looking good.
Look forward to more updates. Oh are you missing the Hellrot? That's a fantastic color mine is a bland Arctic over Black. |
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02-27-2021, 05:44 PM | #18 |
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Thanks all for the nice feedback and comments.
I managed to get the car out for a run today; the weather here in Michigan is pretty rough during the winters, but thankfully, the snow has melted sufficiently over the last week to allow for a jaunt in the winter sun. This is my first winter living here, and today has been the nicest day of the year so far; it’s funny, coming from San Francisco, where good weather is an expectation, you really feel the anticipation of spring here. I’m happy to have taken advantage of it by driving my car. I’m pretty fickle with cars; there’s always something ‘better’ I want, but I have to say, I really love this thing. Every time I drive it, I fall in love with it; I really ought to remember when in the ‘in between’ times. Anyway. Sun out, car out, is a great opportunity to show you my next mod. This one my be a little divisive. I know vinyl wrap has mixed opinions, and particularly carbon-look stuff. Frankly, I’d tend to be wary of it. But sadly, the aluminum trim in my car has seen better days. The door trims are peppered with dings (who knows why), and there was a pretty stand-out scratch on the dash trim that I’d previously covered with a sticker. So I figured I’d try this vinyl-wrapping lark; it’s low-investment, but high gains if I can learn how to do it. Carbon-look is also not my favourite. I tend to err on the side of ‘don’t pretend to be something you’re not’. But my rationale for this is that if I got some of the textured stuff, it’d be more forgiving for a beginner like me, and it should cover up those nicks and dings better. I had piano black trim in a previous Audi I owned, which I really liked, but I imagine it’d show up those dings terribly if I attempted in here. So, with excuses out of the way, here’s the result. I’m happy. A couple of bits took a couple of goes, but generally, it went on well, and I enjoyed the project. I hope you can forgive me E91 BMW 328i by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr E91 BMW 328i by TheDukeGTi, on Flickr |
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02-28-2021, 06:14 PM | #20 |
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Seems well done.
I need to do my steering wheel trim (don't we all?). I can't decide on a finish. Thinking maybe satin black to try to get a factory look. |
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03-01-2021, 10:42 AM | #21 | |
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You noticed mine... yeah, that's on the list. Does anyone know of a good process to restore the rubbery coating on these interior plastics? Or is it a case of stripping it off and leaving it shiny? Thanks for the replies! |
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