I’ve known Dante now for at least five or six years and after getting to know him over that time I’ve considered him a real “OG” in the car community. Looking at him sporting some cowboy boots you would think, this guy must drive some sort of lifted truck. Well, that’s not the case. He is in fact the proud owner of this beautiful 1998 328ic!
I got with Dante and asked him a few questions about how and why his car came to life and the process along the way.
Josh: What sparked your interest to start working on cars?
Dante: That is an interesting question for me, I honestly can’t really pinpoint the time that got me into cars except for maybe one experience. It had to of been the end of 2000. My parents had bought a brand new 2001 is300 from Lexus. It was a 5 speed, white with tan interior. One of the first times I rode in the car was to the grocery store with my mom, the end of the lot was empty, and my mom drove out to it, I didn’t know what was going on because the grocery store was at the other end of the parking lot! Next thing I knew, she stopped, blipped the throttle a couple times and dumped the clutch! That was my first experience of doing donuts in a vehicle and it was EXHILARATING! After that, cars were insanely intriguing to me. There has always been something that has drawn me to mechanics and modifying literally anything. When I was about 8 maybe 9 years old my dad bought me a ttr90, my first bike. Well, I ended up completely stripped the bike down to its frame. My dad saw me tearing it apart and asked me what the hell I was doing? He was pretty upset with me if I’m being honest. But I just wanted to figure out how it worked and how everything went together! From there it all kind of blew up and I haven’t been able to leave anything alone since.
The BMW wasn't Dante's first car. It just happened to be the car that solidified the journey he is currently on as a car enthusiast. Dante picked up the BMW in early 2016 and immediately knew he had to tear it apart.
We all know with any new build you start, you have to knock out the easiest mods first! Once it starts rolling though, the ups and downs start to show. That obviously never stopped Dante.
Josh: What was the best part of building the BMW?
Dante: The best part of building the car has been the relationships I’ve developed because of it. I met a lot of my best friends because of this car, including yourself!
But I don’t think that’s what you’re really asking me, the best part of physically building this car was the first night I got to drive it home after the 5-speed swap. When I bought this car, it was an automatic and I absolutely hated that about it! That was such an amazing feeling having accomplished the one thing I really hated about the car. It was my first car that wasn’t a manual and it just felt wrong to me, especially in an e36! One of my best friends Kathan over at Anytime auto was able to rent me a lift for a couple days which made doing the swap so easy! With a little bit of help from a couple other friends I was able to finish the swap during the week after work from start to finish in about 12 hours total over two evenings. Thanks again to Kathan, Matt, and Pierre for that!
Josh: What was the worst part about building the BMW?
Dante: Oh, that’s an easy one! The worst part was figuring out the right spring rate in the rear! This is so I would stop hitting the lip of the wheel on my fender, while still keeping the fitment tight and the wheel tucked. I would say I drive the car harder than I should at the height it sits but screw it, I’ll fix it when I break it!
A lot of people would probably immediately start thinking, “I need 50k spring rates!”. That probably would have worked but I didn’t want my car to ride like it was on welded struts. E36s definitely aren’t exactly known for having strong strut towers.
By the end of it all I think I went through four or five different sets of spring and two sets of shock inserts. This was so they would be valved correctly and ride decent. It was starting to get a bit ridiculous, if I’m being honest! Thank you Broadway Suspension!!!
As you can see by this point Dante has already put in a lot of work and even added the hard top to switch up the styling on the car. Perfect suspension and wheel setup along side the vibrant AeroWolf canards really make the car pop!
Josh: Explain the suspension and wheel setup.
Dante: The suspension on the car is hand built by the one and only Broadway Static Suspension. Jaze over at Broadway is an e36 OG and has an insane amount of knowledge on the chassis, so it’s been amazing being able to work with him to obtain my goal.
In the front I’m running e46 control arms which are equivalent to 1” extended lcas if I remember correctly. Shortened E90 inner tie rods and shortened e36 outters keep the toe align-able. Super low spec 500s Broadways with 24k 326 power springs up front seems to be the money spot for me.
In the rear I’m running Godspeed camber arms, slotted upper control arms to help with fitting wider lips, and a set of custom toe brackets my good friend Kathan and I now sell for the e36/e46/z4 community. 34k hypercoil springs.
My wheels are CCW forged LM5T’s. 17x9.5 +19 up front and 17x10.5 +19 in the rear. A 25mm spacer on all 4 corners gives me the fitment I want until I rebuild the wheels to more aggressive specs, I guess you can add that to the to do list. Lol
Josh: What inspired the E36 style?
Dante: It’s hard to say exactly what inspired this car. I just see things that I like, and I want to do it. When I first got it I wanted it to look like the cars I would see in videos from all the German car guys. That quickly changed as I modified it to exactly what I wanted. That doesn’t mean everything has worked out either. There’s been multiple times where I want something, do it, and completely hate the outcome so I have to figure something else out.
With that being said. We have been lead to the Anti-Bimmer's current state! There are many BMWs out there but its obvious how much Dante's Stands out from the rest. A fresh new wrap from Revive Wraps and he is on the way!
The new form is far from stock body. Dante actually bit the bullet and went overfenders! There were a few mishaps but in the end it really filled out the body lines of the car!
Josh: Explain the body work and what took to get the car where you want it.
Dante: The over fender “kit” I am currently running is kind of a Mutt set up. My m3 had a felony form kit on it but the rears were like 10mm difference in width. So I took the fronts and got a rear fitment lab kit. I should have just got a full fitment lab kit but you live and learn, right? I originally had a rear cliq tuning kit and that was by far the worst purchase I had ever made for my car. I actually regretting cutting my quarter panels for them because they fit so badly and looked like the ocean once they were painted. Lots of long nights, cutting and a lot of good friends made it all worth it in the end and I wouldn’t change the way it happened for the world!
The one thing I hated about the over fenders is how it made you cut the corner of the back bumper off horribly. I thought it looked tacky so Kathan and I designed some plates and cut spacers for the bumper shocks on his plasma table. In total I spaced my bumper back 1/2” and it completely changed how the car looked. This allowed me to barely trim my bumper and not have to cut the trim at all!
We all know that this isn't the end for this car or for Dante's "tear it down and build it" attitude!
Josh: Any future plans for the E36?
Dante: I still have a lot in store for the e36! I have a long block s52 sitting in my m3 parts car outside. Yes I have an m3 parts car, but I’m not getting into that. The plan is to give the s52 a full refresh with ARP studs and a metal head gasket to get it ready for boost. I also still need to finish my interior. I’m not going to give any of that away just yet but it is high on the list to finish.
Josh: Do you see yourself building a car you like more than the E36?
Dante: Oh, I do but the e36 chassis is pretty hard to stay away from. I think I will always own an e36 chassis, but I definitely have another car in mind I would like to buy in the next couple years! That’s a story for another day though!
Josh: What about building something beyond the BMW World?
Dante: Honestly, I really want to build a low rider. Growing up in New Mexico I have seen some bad ass low riders. The attention to detail and work that goes into them is mind blowing. The low-low guys are a different bread, that’s for sure!
Dante sure has sent the bar high when it comes to the E36 chassis and even higher in Albuquerque. We can only imagine what his next build will look like and what he has in store for the rest of us!
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From Dante: special thanks to a few of my close friends:
Curtis, Kathan, Passat Matt, Nick, E30 Matt, RickyTanga, Josh, Pierre, Max, Chris, JP, Kalvin, Jaze over at Broadway Suspension, Mike over at Revive Wraps, and last but certainly not least, my beautiful fiancé, Taylor! My car wouldn’t be where it is without help from all of you along the way and I am forever grateful to you all!!
Photos:
Maximum Fotowerk, Stancequarters Ethan, Manny Bravo, Royal Media, Lookatlee, Foreigninferno Photography