2003 BMW M3 - The New Daily
Discussion
While the M3 now had a set of rear brakes, it still needed the fronts doing!
However, the Saab was now back and this would become a priority. After all, it's my sister's car and if you guys don't recall, the M3 was a daily again and it's Inspection II (y'no, the one with has the dreaded valve clearances again, along with the pricey diff oil, gearbox oil and an oil service, before I get to checking the car over) which I was planning to do over Xmas was very quickly getting closer to being done in the summer. Why didn't I want to do it?
-The clearances are a pain in the backside, with the gaskets alone cost £80, and the risk of dropping the shims (the size of a 5p piece) being very high
-From a dealer, this is now £1.3k (yup, they don't want to do it). From an Indie who actually does it right, it's around £650-800, depending on where you go. If I do it myself, it is still £300 in parts just to do it.
-Trying to buy a house (there is a development on this which I'll come to later) the above is something I don't want to spend now. In all honesty, if I am trying to save and scrap on every penny, I can't spend it. It's that simple.
However, the Saab would have other plans for the above, and well, the M3's mileage would rack up and up and up. So much so that I'll need to do the Inspection next month. >
:'(. There goes my saving strategy. But more on that later.
The Saab issues I'll update on in the Mondeo thread.
Anyway, with that heap out of the way, it was time for me to crack on with the M3. With the rear calipers done, it was time to hit the fronts. Since I built up the calipers as an assembly it wasn't too bad to fit them in the end!
The brake unions were a little stiff to undo. However, with some PlusGas and a blowtorch, they came undone OK. It's the first time I've used a blowtorch on a brake line, and I was a little uneasy about doing so, given that brake fluid is flammable! However, it came undone surprisingly easy using this method!
At the same time I decided to measure the old discs! Ah, that will be why the braking power wasn't quite what it was! 26.4mm is the minimum thickness of the front discs! These were not that! Mind you, it wasn't obvious by exactly just looking at them!
Yup, these discs were done! They were not however, done with me. I came to remove one, and possibly down to the Saab being a pain to work on and source bits for, I ended up snapping the Torx bit! Great!
Clearly, I wasn't going to get the car done, and so I went home, pretty annoyed, and retired back in the chair. Were me and cars done? The rears were a walk in the park in comparison. How could these grub screws be so bad! Heat Cycling and rust buildup were the answer.
However, with some renewed vigour, a Ukranian fellow BMW friend took pity on me and so he gave the car his magic touch. By gently 'pulsing' the spanner and breaking yet another Torx bit on the M3, another bit finally did go in, and eventually it came out. With me giving the similar treatment on the other side, it finally looked like I was back in business!
The eagle eyed of you may have spotted a BMW box on the floor in that pic. Surely, I was using refurbished parts bar the pads! Well, that is exactly what I was expecting you folks to think. In all honesty, it's what I was thinking too! However, the front CSL discs I received were near half worn. Sure, I probably would have been OK normally, but with stickier pads going in, I didn't want to take any chances. This may seem hasty, but the non-CSL factory discs in the above shot had only ever seen one set of pads over the 40,000 miles they covered up front. Yup, the genuine pad went from seeing them from full thickness to no thickness. This doesn't bode well for putting in stickier pads eh? Obviously, with this to think about, going new up front was going to be the right call.
So, after much searching, it seems the CSL discs were not going to be any cheaper than £300 for the pair, and at that price, I'd be waiting weeks for them to arrive. Euro Car Parts? Try £420! European sourced discs were not any better than the ECP price. It's funny, they used to be the cheapest over 4 years ago, but times do change. When Rybrook BMW did them for over £300, it was obvious that they would have the deal! The stealers are terrible people were saying?
With the remains of the old discs and pads (in a CSL configuration) being sold for over £100, it did soften the blow. After all, while the discs may not have been any good for me, they were probably fine for most.
345mm CSL discs don't look much bigger than the 325mm discs, but hopefully, it will make all of the difference.
But why go old when you can go new. Yup, it's still a 345mm vs 325mm shot?
It was then a matter of fitting the HEL lines with the refurbished calipers, complete with brass slider bushes. The HEL lines are great for fitting in comparison to the Goodridge lines, thanks to the spinning unions on the hard line end. This makes it a doddle to fit them and allows for the flexi line to be fitted without being bound etc. far more easily! With stainless ends as well, it's just that bit handier!
After a quick bleed, it was time to hit the road with the new brakes.
On first impressions, they were not too bad! They weren't even bedded in! As I came to approach a junction, I had a dozy Land Cruiser owner pull out without looking! As I went for the brakes I was stunned at how sharp it braked! It hurled me to a stop!
It was then time to find a private road and bed them in properly as per Pagid's guidelines for the RST3 and RSL29 pads. Yup it was time consuming!
The second step of that where you put on full braking power from quite a speed showed a few things!
-The DSC system was beginning to get overwhelmed as the pads were bedding in
-Once it went past that, the car was semi-struggling for grip from the tyre! It really was hurling itself to a stop!
-The brakes absolutely stank!
-The pedal was beginning to now go slightly soft, but not sink. I was still on factory DOT 4, as I was planning on flushing the brake fluid out again for the Motul RBF660.
As it was getting late, I ended up parking the car at home for the night!
The next time I drove the car, I would be in for a surprise!
However, the Saab was now back and this would become a priority. After all, it's my sister's car and if you guys don't recall, the M3 was a daily again and it's Inspection II (y'no, the one with has the dreaded valve clearances again, along with the pricey diff oil, gearbox oil and an oil service, before I get to checking the car over) which I was planning to do over Xmas was very quickly getting closer to being done in the summer. Why didn't I want to do it?
-The clearances are a pain in the backside, with the gaskets alone cost £80, and the risk of dropping the shims (the size of a 5p piece) being very high
-From a dealer, this is now £1.3k (yup, they don't want to do it). From an Indie who actually does it right, it's around £650-800, depending on where you go. If I do it myself, it is still £300 in parts just to do it.
-Trying to buy a house (there is a development on this which I'll come to later) the above is something I don't want to spend now. In all honesty, if I am trying to save and scrap on every penny, I can't spend it. It's that simple.
However, the Saab would have other plans for the above, and well, the M3's mileage would rack up and up and up. So much so that I'll need to do the Inspection next month. >
:'(. There goes my saving strategy. But more on that later.The Saab issues I'll update on in the Mondeo thread.
Anyway, with that heap out of the way, it was time for me to crack on with the M3. With the rear calipers done, it was time to hit the fronts. Since I built up the calipers as an assembly it wasn't too bad to fit them in the end!
The brake unions were a little stiff to undo. However, with some PlusGas and a blowtorch, they came undone OK. It's the first time I've used a blowtorch on a brake line, and I was a little uneasy about doing so, given that brake fluid is flammable! However, it came undone surprisingly easy using this method!
At the same time I decided to measure the old discs! Ah, that will be why the braking power wasn't quite what it was! 26.4mm is the minimum thickness of the front discs! These were not that! Mind you, it wasn't obvious by exactly just looking at them!
Yup, these discs were done! They were not however, done with me. I came to remove one, and possibly down to the Saab being a pain to work on and source bits for, I ended up snapping the Torx bit! Great!
Clearly, I wasn't going to get the car done, and so I went home, pretty annoyed, and retired back in the chair. Were me and cars done? The rears were a walk in the park in comparison. How could these grub screws be so bad! Heat Cycling and rust buildup were the answer.
However, with some renewed vigour, a Ukranian fellow BMW friend took pity on me and so he gave the car his magic touch. By gently 'pulsing' the spanner and breaking yet another Torx bit on the M3, another bit finally did go in, and eventually it came out. With me giving the similar treatment on the other side, it finally looked like I was back in business!
The eagle eyed of you may have spotted a BMW box on the floor in that pic. Surely, I was using refurbished parts bar the pads! Well, that is exactly what I was expecting you folks to think. In all honesty, it's what I was thinking too! However, the front CSL discs I received were near half worn. Sure, I probably would have been OK normally, but with stickier pads going in, I didn't want to take any chances. This may seem hasty, but the non-CSL factory discs in the above shot had only ever seen one set of pads over the 40,000 miles they covered up front. Yup, the genuine pad went from seeing them from full thickness to no thickness. This doesn't bode well for putting in stickier pads eh? Obviously, with this to think about, going new up front was going to be the right call.
So, after much searching, it seems the CSL discs were not going to be any cheaper than £300 for the pair, and at that price, I'd be waiting weeks for them to arrive. Euro Car Parts? Try £420! European sourced discs were not any better than the ECP price. It's funny, they used to be the cheapest over 4 years ago, but times do change. When Rybrook BMW did them for over £300, it was obvious that they would have the deal! The stealers are terrible people were saying?
With the remains of the old discs and pads (in a CSL configuration) being sold for over £100, it did soften the blow. After all, while the discs may not have been any good for me, they were probably fine for most.
345mm CSL discs don't look much bigger than the 325mm discs, but hopefully, it will make all of the difference.
But why go old when you can go new. Yup, it's still a 345mm vs 325mm shot?
It was then a matter of fitting the HEL lines with the refurbished calipers, complete with brass slider bushes. The HEL lines are great for fitting in comparison to the Goodridge lines, thanks to the spinning unions on the hard line end. This makes it a doddle to fit them and allows for the flexi line to be fitted without being bound etc. far more easily! With stainless ends as well, it's just that bit handier!
After a quick bleed, it was time to hit the road with the new brakes.
On first impressions, they were not too bad! They weren't even bedded in! As I came to approach a junction, I had a dozy Land Cruiser owner pull out without looking! As I went for the brakes I was stunned at how sharp it braked! It hurled me to a stop!
It was then time to find a private road and bed them in properly as per Pagid's guidelines for the RST3 and RSL29 pads. Yup it was time consuming!
The second step of that where you put on full braking power from quite a speed showed a few things!
-The DSC system was beginning to get overwhelmed as the pads were bedding in
-Once it went past that, the car was semi-struggling for grip from the tyre! It really was hurling itself to a stop!
-The brakes absolutely stank!
-The pedal was beginning to now go slightly soft, but not sink. I was still on factory DOT 4, as I was planning on flushing the brake fluid out again for the Motul RBF660.
As it was getting late, I ended up parking the car at home for the night!
The next time I drove the car, I would be in for a surprise!
So, I bedded the brakes in, but how did it drive?
Well, in short, while I was impressed, to quote Faithless, I wanted more!
More, did I say! Well, it seems maybe I had more than I bargained for!
Sure, these are fast road pads, but the cold bite is unreal! The pedal is now feathered, not managed! Coming up to corners, I no longer brake before the first coner and then let the car roll on to the next corner and then accellerate upon the exit. Oh no, that is the work of peasants!
Now? I see the roundabout, tap the brakes, scrub off what seems like a small amount of speed and carry on! They really hurl you to that much of a stop! It's addictive! You flow from bend to bend with quite a bit of pace, but it's taken the car to another level! They don't give up either! They just keep on giving and giving! I never really though I needed better brakes, but these are now on another level! Who ever thought you could gain pace through brakes which you love?
Remember the 330Ci I told you about earlier with great brakes? Well, I had a chat with the owner, who now has one of these:
It's fast and it's great! I'm still a little shocked he let me drive the thing You want to talk about mind-boggling power for the road? This certainly gives you an idea of that!
Anyway, we switched the keys with our motors! It's fair to say he walked away with a bit of brake envy! I know people find it strange that I let trusted guys drive my cars, but it's good to see if you are not thinking the wrong way. It seems he walked away with brake envy from my M3. I call that mission accomplished.
Are there downsides? Well, yes, but I'll hit those later. Why?
Well, because I decided to go to this place. It could have gone better, but it could have gone far worse! I ended up going on one of the hottest days of the year! What could possibly go wrong?
Well, in short, while I was impressed, to quote Faithless, I wanted more!
More, did I say! Well, it seems maybe I had more than I bargained for!
Sure, these are fast road pads, but the cold bite is unreal! The pedal is now feathered, not managed! Coming up to corners, I no longer brake before the first coner and then let the car roll on to the next corner and then accellerate upon the exit. Oh no, that is the work of peasants!
Now? I see the roundabout, tap the brakes, scrub off what seems like a small amount of speed and carry on! They really hurl you to that much of a stop! It's addictive! You flow from bend to bend with quite a bit of pace, but it's taken the car to another level! They don't give up either! They just keep on giving and giving! I never really though I needed better brakes, but these are now on another level! Who ever thought you could gain pace through brakes which you love?
Remember the 330Ci I told you about earlier with great brakes? Well, I had a chat with the owner, who now has one of these:
It's fast and it's great! I'm still a little shocked he let me drive the thing You want to talk about mind-boggling power for the road? This certainly gives you an idea of that!
Anyway, we switched the keys with our motors! It's fair to say he walked away with a bit of brake envy! I know people find it strange that I let trusted guys drive my cars, but it's good to see if you are not thinking the wrong way. It seems he walked away with brake envy from my M3. I call that mission accomplished
.Are there downsides? Well, yes, but I'll hit those later. Why?
Well, because I decided to go to this place. It could have gone better, but it could have gone far worse! I ended up going on one of the hottest days of the year! What could possibly go wrong?
I did the clearances on my E46 M3 - it really isn't too bad of a job at all. My cam cover gasket was leaking so it was a good excuse to change it anyway which softened the blow somewhat when it comes to the price of the part!
Just use some blue roll or similar to block the oil drains in the head and you're golden. Also make sure you have a strong magnet for removing the shims. I found it quite an enjoyable job tbh, it only took me a couple of hours at a very leisurely pace.
There is an alternative supplier for shims as well, check on M3 cutters someone is normally selling a partially used box which is all you need as you can swap shims around in the head to get the optimal spacing.
With the brakes have you bought CSL carriers? I ended up going for Porsche calipers in the end as the cost vs CSL carriers wasn't all that different and red calipers look super cool. I'd recommend the upgrade, these worked great on track.
Just use some blue roll or similar to block the oil drains in the head and you're golden. Also make sure you have a strong magnet for removing the shims. I found it quite an enjoyable job tbh, it only took me a couple of hours at a very leisurely pace.
There is an alternative supplier for shims as well, check on M3 cutters someone is normally selling a partially used box which is all you need as you can swap shims around in the head to get the optimal spacing.
With the brakes have you bought CSL carriers? I ended up going for Porsche calipers in the end as the cost vs CSL carriers wasn't all that different and red calipers look super cool. I'd recommend the upgrade, these worked great on track.
shalmaneser said:
I did the clearances on my E46 M3 - it really isn't too bad of a job at all. My cam cover gasket was leaking so it was a good excuse to change it anyway which softened the blow somewhat when it comes to the price of the part!
Just use some blue roll or similar to block the oil drains in the head and you're golden. Also make sure you have a strong magnet for removing the shims. I found it quite an enjoyable job tbh, it only took me a couple of hours at a very leisurely pace.
There is an alternative supplier for shims as well, check on M3 cutters someone is normally selling a partially used box which is all you need as you can swap shims around in the head to get the optimal spacing.
With the brakes have you bought CSL carriers? I ended up going for Porsche calipers in the end as the cost vs CSL carriers wasn't all that different and red calipers look super cool. I'd recommend the upgrade, these worked great on track.
I didn't find it too bad last time, but I found that it doesn't take alot for the shim to jump out of the socket when putting the follower back in ; that's the bit I found a pain. Lubing them up with oil seems to reduce that, and assembly lube was suggested as a more secure way, as it's sticky by nature. I have the factory tool to set it Just use some blue roll or similar to block the oil drains in the head and you're golden. Also make sure you have a strong magnet for removing the shims. I found it quite an enjoyable job tbh, it only took me a couple of hours at a very leisurely pace.
There is an alternative supplier for shims as well, check on M3 cutters someone is normally selling a partially used box which is all you need as you can swap shims around in the head to get the optimal spacing.
With the brakes have you bought CSL carriers? I ended up going for Porsche calipers in the end as the cost vs CSL carriers wasn't all that different and red calipers look super cool. I'd recommend the upgrade, these worked great on track.
. I'm told on good authority that bar the front cylinder due to the chain drive setup being there, it's unlikely they'll go into the engine itself bar the oilways as you say.It's more the fact that I'll be changing all of the fluids as well, in addition to the rocker gaskets. It's £300 I don't really want to spend. The mileage in my M3 got racked up quicker than I bargained for due to my sister's Saab being a pain to work on but also being seriously messed around by a bodyshop during lockdown, which left my M3 as my only daily (a 1 week repair with the paintshop being a 4 week job with excuses about "we've undercharged etc" being made up). This meant I had the Saab under my care for a total of 2 months, instead of 1 week, in addition to a week I took off work which obviously in the end was a waste of a week ; They kept on key/essential project people so moving holidays around was not an option especially with a lack of manpower.
Her car got hit by a fellow teacher during lockdown, and from what the trade were telling me, good cars were near impossible to find, with people only trading in rubbish. That and my sister's budget for a decent car was non-existant, and let's just say her standards for a daily are pickier than mine (i.e looks nice and modern for £2k, but is still reliable).
I normally wouldn't have done the, but with my sister being a key worker, I ended up lending her my Mondeo as a daily driver. I'll update the Saab saga in the Mondeo thread.
I did however last time do the M3's clearances around this time of year over a weekend, so maybe the weather didn't help.
The Wiseco kit is a good shout. I was meant to order one up after Helix402 supplied me a few a good few years back now.
Regarding the brakes, It wasn't quite as cheap as I expected ; the pads are about the most expensive I've ever bought on a car, albeit superb ; The RS range I can really recommend ; I can get EBCs cheap but I wanted to do this setup in one hit. I wanted the rear calipers as well which added a complication. If I went with genuine pads and HEL lines without the brass bushes, which are a mixed blessing potentially, as I'll get to soon.
I bought the carriers but also the rear calipers, where the Z4M, CS/ZCP and CSL use a larger piston caliper. At the same time I did/bought the following:
-Refurbished all of the calipers with the Big Redd kit ; This was not a bad shout ; Some of the pistons had slightly congealed fluid on them, and they were definitely freer with the new seals :
-Pagid RST3 pads up front with RSL29s at the rear :
-Brand new CSL discs up front ; the genuine discs my car came with went from perfect to below minimum wear at the same time the pads did surprisingly and very evenly as you can seeso I didn't want to take any chances this time.
-The CSL setup came with half worn discs up front, but nearly near discs at the back. As a result, I kept the new rear discs and sold the remaining discs to a Cutter, as he was removing his BBK and going to a factory setup.
-New brake shoes ; This is one reason I took the new discs ; the last specialist who changed the discs prior to my ownership didn't clean the backing pads annoyingly. While the car somehow passed the MOT, the handbrake was shocking until now, where it's perfect
-Brass Slider bushes:I do believe rubber ones which came with the Big Redd kit would have been fine
-Motul RBF 660 Fluid : £15 but I have yet to put that in. It's on the list.
-HEL Lines
I did debate the Boxster kit but after suffering from a Wilwood piston mismatch years ago on my Escort RS Turbo it's been something I've kept an eye on with any BBK setup which is suggested. I do see people have had success with the Boxster that said. I recall we both discussed this a while back earlier in this thread
. I guess the 996 calipers are an option .A friend of mine sells the M4 brake setup which I was tempted to do ; the piston sizes are about spot on. However, it would be cheaper to get another used M4 setup rather than the pads and discs which are super pricey. Furthermore, two CSL discs for the price of one M4 disc. That and I still have my 18s where I'm not sure they'll fit.
Was your car on Collecting Cars once?
. Edited by SebringMan on Monday 19th October 21:52
So, the brakes. I gave you folks a brief intro. Sure, the bite was fantastic but it's now time to talk about the downsides.
-Squealing! The Pagid RSL29s at the rear didn't initially squeal. Remember that I fitted them first
. They did begin to squeal a little more. The RST1s? They followed the same pattern. I think they may squeal more to be honest! On the track? They are silent as church mice! They tend to stay that way for around 100 miles after the trackday!
-Rattling. I initially thought a balljoint had gone However, you can hear the caliper slightly chattering around the brass bushes, with a tiny amount of play present. Can I live with this, or will I go back to rubber bushings?
-Brake pedal. It's lovely, but you tend to forget how much braking power you have from the get-go. If you come from another car, it can be quite a shock!
So yes, a few annoying things but they do however do the job.
It was then time to do the trackday! This however, did bring up an issue for a few owners including me. Anxiety.
Wimpish to say I know! Many of us were expecting rain. So I didn't bother going to get my track wheels. You can expect my surprise when I saw the the ambient temperature was 35 degrees Celcius! Not good for the SMG pump. More importantly, not good for the car's cooling system!
Upon going up, all was well. I was enjoying the drive up. Sure, the car was on fumes as the car had been stationary during lockdown! But it was so great to be on the road. The weather was hot but great! The car held the temps well and went like a champ! This is why I still have this car! All of this was well until I went to Donnington's gates.
Normally my temperature gauge used to be just below halfway most of the time and tend go to the middle during the summer. The oil temp? Around 95-100 in traffic. As I was sat in the queue to be admitted to the circuit as a Covid-Free, licence holding driver, the oil temps hit 100. It's OK. I'll turn the engine off for 5 mins. Fire it up and the oil temp climbed to 115 degrees. Yikes! I thought I was bad but I'll come back to that later.
Eventually I'd hit the track. Thankfully I'd booked a garage. So I prompted emptied the contents of my boot to the side of the garage, ready to hit the track. Besides the ever-increasing YouTubers going around filming things all was OK. But at least i had some great sights from the garage wall
Putting these photos up now, I've seem some limitations of iPhone photos, even a good one at that! But the above captures the moment I think. The time was great, all was great.
That was until I hit the track!
I came to hit the track, and I could hear that gearbox pump slightly slowing down. I expected this ; the motor is 18 years old running that, and a new motor is probably due. No gearbox light however, so all was good. The shifts etc. were fine. Well, that is how I thought it would roll!
Hitting the first few corners of Donny, like the Craner Curves, I could tell the vast cash spent on the brakes over the years was well worth it. Sure, it was not quite AP money like what some folks had spent. However, the brakes did feel special and dependable. You could lean on them and know they could scrub off the speed in a heartbeat. Perfect!
All was well until I saw the temp gauge come off the halfway point. It was going towards the wrong side. Nowhere near the red, and not even near the first dot! But it was close enough for me. Did I mention a secondhand S54 engine is around £4,000 these days? Maybe I'm being a wuss, but during these times, I can't afford to take the gamble. Yes, folk are argue what's the point in owning such a car if you are going to be too careful, but it's also a bit of a waste. With this in mind, I went into the garage, and to quote John from Commando "Why don't you let off some steam?".
Thankfully, it didn't let off any steam! I did however, go and grab a coffee, chat to a friend of mine in a distanced manner. We talked aboutabout how things were during the lockdown and generally broke bread. This to me is part of what trackdays are about.
It seems however he had worse luck than me! You'll have some folks mocking those for saying "Manufactuers know best". It seems my friend had a bit of a lesson in that!
In his 2015 Mini Cooper S, the BMW pads last fine on a trackday previously. The BMW pads seemed to fare OK. They wore down a little fast but they were fine. Seeing as the BMW pads are a little price and the car is his daily driver, he threw in a set of Bendix pads. Not a bad call on the face of it. I've done it, he's done, we've all done it.
Upon the second lap of Donny, his pedal was fine, but his braking power wasn't. He had lost his brakes! Not good at all! Upon both of us hitting the track again and having fun, my car managed to hold the temps together. His did too, bar those Bendix pads. Yup, they faded off a cliff once again!
I'd be lying I said I've not seen this with Bendix pads before. On the Mk3 Mondeos, those pads seem to give up in extreme town driving whilst in a hurry. The current 2.5T of mine is no different with these pads. It's a shame it went that way for my friend, but sometimes, such is the way.
We were not the only ones with issues however. A guy there had an E92 M3 which I was wondering about. How did he stay cool in the queue onto the circuit? The truth? He kind of didn't. In the age of no temp gauges, well, bar the oil temp gauge in M/Sporty BMWs, he didn't really know. In the traffic onto the circuit, he hit 120 degrees with the AC on. On track? It was going towards 130 degC. Ouch! Warnings came up in the car, and so he couldn't really go out to play.
Heat was definitely the issue! However, I had a good 10 laps or so around the circuit, despite cars losing coolant and crashing. 1 hour prior to it closing, I decided to leave. I had my fun, the car had survived and it was time to enjoy other things. The other thing? A pretentious coffee place. I know I know.
Yup, it was Caffeine and Machine. Having the Equivalent of the Ace Cafe on your doorstep isn't a bad thing at times, even if the place is a little snobbier! It's the company which counts!
After talking some rubbish it was time to go home. Some would argue this final photo sums up retro ownership at times.
Do I have track footage? Yes. However, thanks to yours truly recording at 240fps instead of 24fps, the PC is somewhat struggling to process the video! Am I making excuses for me being slow? Absolutely! The videos despite this will arrive once I figure a way to process them.
Until then I'll try and provide further updates. Let's just say things have got busy, but for the right reasons. Fingers are crossed!
-Squealing! The Pagid RSL29s at the rear didn't initially squeal. Remember that I fitted them first
. They did begin to squeal a little more. The RST1s? They followed the same pattern. I think they may squeal more to be honest! On the track? They are silent as church mice! They tend to stay that way for around 100 miles after the trackday!-Rattling. I initially thought a balljoint had gone However, you can hear the caliper slightly chattering around the brass bushes, with a tiny amount of play present. Can I live with this, or will I go back to rubber bushings?
-Brake pedal. It's lovely, but you tend to forget how much braking power you have from the get-go. If you come from another car, it can be quite a shock!
So yes, a few annoying things but they do however do the job.
It was then time to do the trackday! This however, did bring up an issue for a few owners including me. Anxiety.
Wimpish to say I know! Many of us were expecting rain. So I didn't bother going to get my track wheels. You can expect my surprise when I saw the the ambient temperature was 35 degrees Celcius! Not good for the SMG pump. More importantly, not good for the car's cooling system!
Upon going up, all was well. I was enjoying the drive up. Sure, the car was on fumes as the car had been stationary during lockdown! But it was so great to be on the road. The weather was hot but great! The car held the temps well and went like a champ! This is why I still have this car! All of this was well until I went to Donnington's gates.
Normally my temperature gauge used to be just below halfway most of the time and tend go to the middle during the summer. The oil temp? Around 95-100 in traffic. As I was sat in the queue to be admitted to the circuit as a Covid-Free, licence holding driver, the oil temps hit 100. It's OK. I'll turn the engine off for 5 mins. Fire it up and the oil temp climbed to 115 degrees. Yikes! I thought I was bad but I'll come back to that later.
Eventually I'd hit the track. Thankfully I'd booked a garage. So I prompted emptied the contents of my boot to the side of the garage, ready to hit the track. Besides the ever-increasing YouTubers going around filming things all was OK. But at least i had some great sights from the garage wall
Putting these photos up now, I've seem some limitations of iPhone photos, even a good one at that! But the above captures the moment I think. The time was great, all was great.
That was until I hit the track!
I came to hit the track, and I could hear that gearbox pump slightly slowing down. I expected this ; the motor is 18 years old running that, and a new motor is probably due. No gearbox light however, so all was good. The shifts etc. were fine. Well, that is how I thought it would roll!
Hitting the first few corners of Donny, like the Craner Curves, I could tell the vast cash spent on the brakes over the years was well worth it. Sure, it was not quite AP money like what some folks had spent. However, the brakes did feel special and dependable. You could lean on them and know they could scrub off the speed in a heartbeat. Perfect!
All was well until I saw the temp gauge come off the halfway point. It was going towards the wrong side. Nowhere near the red, and not even near the first dot! But it was close enough for me. Did I mention a secondhand S54 engine is around £4,000 these days? Maybe I'm being a wuss, but during these times, I can't afford to take the gamble. Yes, folk are argue what's the point in owning such a car if you are going to be too careful, but it's also a bit of a waste. With this in mind, I went into the garage, and to quote John from Commando "Why don't you let off some steam?".
Thankfully, it didn't let off any steam! I did however, go and grab a coffee, chat to a friend of mine in a distanced manner. We talked aboutabout how things were during the lockdown and generally broke bread. This to me is part of what trackdays are about.
It seems however he had worse luck than me! You'll have some folks mocking those for saying "Manufactuers know best". It seems my friend had a bit of a lesson in that!
In his 2015 Mini Cooper S, the BMW pads last fine on a trackday previously. The BMW pads seemed to fare OK. They wore down a little fast but they were fine. Seeing as the BMW pads are a little price and the car is his daily driver, he threw in a set of Bendix pads. Not a bad call on the face of it. I've done it, he's done, we've all done it.
Upon the second lap of Donny, his pedal was fine, but his braking power wasn't. He had lost his brakes! Not good at all! Upon both of us hitting the track again and having fun, my car managed to hold the temps together. His did too, bar those Bendix pads. Yup, they faded off a cliff once again!
I'd be lying I said I've not seen this with Bendix pads before. On the Mk3 Mondeos, those pads seem to give up in extreme town driving whilst in a hurry. The current 2.5T of mine is no different with these pads. It's a shame it went that way for my friend, but sometimes, such is the way.
We were not the only ones with issues however. A guy there had an E92 M3 which I was wondering about. How did he stay cool in the queue onto the circuit? The truth? He kind of didn't. In the age of no temp gauges, well, bar the oil temp gauge in M/Sporty BMWs, he didn't really know. In the traffic onto the circuit, he hit 120 degrees with the AC on. On track? It was going towards 130 degC. Ouch! Warnings came up in the car, and so he couldn't really go out to play.
Heat was definitely the issue! However, I had a good 10 laps or so around the circuit, despite cars losing coolant and crashing. 1 hour prior to it closing, I decided to leave. I had my fun, the car had survived and it was time to enjoy other things. The other thing? A pretentious coffee place. I know I know.
Yup, it was Caffeine and Machine. Having the Equivalent of the Ace Cafe on your doorstep isn't a bad thing at times, even if the place is a little snobbier! It's the company which counts!
After talking some rubbish it was time to go home. Some would argue this final photo sums up retro ownership at times
.Do I have track footage? Yes. However, thanks to yours truly recording at 240fps instead of 24fps, the PC is somewhat struggling to process the video! Am I making excuses for me being slow? Absolutely! The videos despite this will arrive once I figure a way to process them
.Until then I'll try and provide further updates. Let's just say things have got busy, but for the right reasons. Fingers are crossed!
Cheers folks! The thread has been neglected on here, so it's time I changed that. Alot has happened over the year, so it's time I give an update on the life side of things as well as what happened from then until now.
It's been a while since I've updated this.
The truth is, things have got quite busy with me in all honesty, with me trying to accomplish some large changes in my life, amidst a recession and gloom all around.
As a result, the M3 simply got retired for a few months. Until now.
Last week, I took it out for a spin, and truly enjoyed it. I forgot how it doesn't feel quite so refine as a modern (yes, I did say that "runs and hides!"). The exhaust is that bit louder when cold thanks to a secondary air pump, it doens't quite work its best when cold (I'm told that's an M thing), and with a few of the mods, it's not quite as pleasant on the creature comforts. The brakes are now very sharp which can catch you out on slow maneuveres. It's not the quickest car by any stretch of imagination. An Audi C6 RS6 would leave this car for dead, and dare I say, I suspect a 340d or 440d would do so too, as would an M140i!
But, it is quite nice in how it holds the road, and how it gets down it. Hearing that mechanical S54 engine note with the induction roar screaming up to 7.5k is quite something! It doesn't really do it in a ricer way either. It's very German. Yeah, I guess I'm smitten with the car.
Which is partially why I've retired it for now. While I enjoyed driving it about for a day or two I'm aware things aren't getting better
-The rust is getting worse, especially the rear arch, which I really didn't want to see.
-The Inspection II still isn't done
-The brake lines at the back are terrible ; they've very crusty.
It made be a modern in some eyes, but the above list certainly are the hallmarks of shoddy workmanship, a UK climate that simply destroys old cars. Oh wait, that sounds like a creed of car I know.
I'm also aware I can't leave things stagnant. I've done it before, and cars just don't improve over time. But that big change I mentioned? Finances are key to me, as is how I am perceived in handling them. The work above isn't cheap. How not cheap?
-I suspect the respray of most of the car by the time I deal with the arch and the wings will be not far off £1.5-2k I fear. Since I'm changing both wings, the front will need painting as will one side, thanks to the arch rust.
-The Inspection II, even in parts alone, will be £400. Ouch! As people hate doing those clearances, it's not far off £1k for an Inspection II; it's a good job it's only needed to be done every 60,000 miles or 8 years eh? This is one reason why I hated the cuffuffle the Saab became, as it cost me getting it closer to this wretched service.
-I got offered via a specialist friend of mine for him to do the rear lines for £300. Yup, it's a ballache. Tank, exhaust, and alot of other clips off. One garage I debated giving that I use for MOTs really didn't want to do the work, and talked about maybe routing the pipes differently etc. But I do like things done right. I know fuel tanks dropping off are super rare, but it does happen, and bodging the lines in doesn't sit well with me.
If the times were different, I'd have given the respray over I suspect to someone I trust, done the Inspection II myself and moan about it, in addition to giving the brake lines over to matey boy; I know that's not going to be great to do without a lift.
But, where there's a will, there's a way. This car may be pocket change to some, but it's still the most expensive car I've ever bought, believe it or not. So I hate really doing work on cars like this like bodywork, as the risks of balsing it up are high and possibly expensive.
But, I may as well, go big, or go home right? So yup, you may have guessed it, I'm going to attempt all of these. Am I stupid or simply broadening the skillset? Time will tell? Will I end up making the bodywork issues more expensive to deal with, or save the car in the long term?
It's funny, with a list like that, people maybe consider breaking it ; It's about £3k's worth of work at a specialist, and M3s do break very well for parts. But no, not me. You can't take away memories, and maybe the E46 M3 being 20 this year hasn't helped. It's not like I have alot to do at the moment either!
So with all of this waffling, the car is now in position. Yup, it's not going anywhere. I know what I have to do, and I think I know how to do most of it.
Cars. They deteriorate over here in time, and haemorrage money. You try to go sensible, for a PCP or approved used deal, but it seems the riskier buys always bring you back. That leaves the folks like me buying another fun car, and then fixing that in a hurry , then moaning about two average cars!
It seems I can't live without the damned things! But, at least it might provide some comedy value on the thread eh? Stay tuned for further updates. As someone once said, it' ain't over yet.
It's been a while since I've updated this.
The truth is, things have got quite busy with me in all honesty, with me trying to accomplish some large changes in my life, amidst a recession and gloom all around.
As a result, the M3 simply got retired for a few months. Until now.
Last week, I took it out for a spin, and truly enjoyed it. I forgot how it doesn't feel quite so refine as a modern (yes, I did say that "runs and hides!"). The exhaust is that bit louder when cold thanks to a secondary air pump, it doens't quite work its best when cold (I'm told that's an M thing), and with a few of the mods, it's not quite as pleasant on the creature comforts. The brakes are now very sharp which can catch you out on slow maneuveres. It's not the quickest car by any stretch of imagination. An Audi C6 RS6 would leave this car for dead, and dare I say, I suspect a 340d or 440d would do so too, as would an M140i!
But, it is quite nice in how it holds the road, and how it gets down it. Hearing that mechanical S54 engine note with the induction roar screaming up to 7.5k is quite something! It doesn't really do it in a ricer way either. It's very German. Yeah, I guess I'm smitten with the car.
Which is partially why I've retired it for now. While I enjoyed driving it about for a day or two I'm aware things aren't getting better
-The rust is getting worse, especially the rear arch, which I really didn't want to see.
-The Inspection II still isn't done
-The brake lines at the back are terrible ; they've very crusty.
It made be a modern in some eyes, but the above list certainly are the hallmarks of shoddy workmanship, a UK climate that simply destroys old cars. Oh wait, that sounds like a creed of car I know.
I'm also aware I can't leave things stagnant. I've done it before, and cars just don't improve over time. But that big change I mentioned? Finances are key to me, as is how I am perceived in handling them. The work above isn't cheap. How not cheap?
-I suspect the respray of most of the car by the time I deal with the arch and the wings will be not far off £1.5-2k I fear. Since I'm changing both wings, the front will need painting as will one side, thanks to the arch rust.
-The Inspection II, even in parts alone, will be £400. Ouch! As people hate doing those clearances, it's not far off £1k for an Inspection II; it's a good job it's only needed to be done every 60,000 miles or 8 years eh? This is one reason why I hated the cuffuffle the Saab became, as it cost me getting it closer to this wretched service.
-I got offered via a specialist friend of mine for him to do the rear lines for £300. Yup, it's a ballache. Tank, exhaust, and alot of other clips off. One garage I debated giving that I use for MOTs really didn't want to do the work, and talked about maybe routing the pipes differently etc. But I do like things done right. I know fuel tanks dropping off are super rare, but it does happen, and bodging the lines in doesn't sit well with me.
If the times were different, I'd have given the respray over I suspect to someone I trust, done the Inspection II myself and moan about it, in addition to giving the brake lines over to matey boy; I know that's not going to be great to do without a lift.
But, where there's a will, there's a way. This car may be pocket change to some, but it's still the most expensive car I've ever bought, believe it or not. So I hate really doing work on cars like this like bodywork, as the risks of balsing it up are high and possibly expensive.
But, I may as well, go big, or go home right? So yup, you may have guessed it, I'm going to attempt all of these. Am I stupid or simply broadening the skillset? Time will tell? Will I end up making the bodywork issues more expensive to deal with, or save the car in the long term?
It's funny, with a list like that, people maybe consider breaking it ; It's about £3k's worth of work at a specialist, and M3s do break very well for parts. But no, not me. You can't take away memories, and maybe the E46 M3 being 20 this year hasn't helped. It's not like I have alot to do at the moment either!
So with all of this waffling, the car is now in position. Yup, it's not going anywhere. I know what I have to do, and I think I know how to do most of it.
Cars. They deteriorate over here in time, and haemorrage money. You try to go sensible, for a PCP or approved used deal, but it seems the riskier buys always bring you back. That leaves the folks like me buying another fun car, and then fixing that in a hurry , then moaning about two average cars!
It seems I can't live without the damned things! But, at least it might provide some comedy value on the thread eh? Stay tuned for further updates. As someone once said, it' ain't over yet.
December 29th was the day that I actually started on the car. That is to change the hard brake lines.
Even as I began it, I thought, why don't I give someone £400 to change them, as it is really a plop job to do. But then, many things came to my mind
-I would have moaned like crazy about paying that much. My local garage might be able to do it cheaper, but they'll rush it, probably break things in the process as it's not a nice job. If you want it done right, sometimes, only you can do it.
-Being an old BMW there will no doubt be some scabby parts on it. I can tend to those, something which I doubt a specialist would want to do without the price going up.
-These kind of tasks always teach you something. Sure, that might be, now matter what you consider to be pricey, give it to someone. I'm referring more to a kind of task in which I'm tackling
-I've moaned enough about why at this very time I can't spend the cash. This I didn't forget.
With that in mind, I have decided to tackle this job in a few stages
-Day 1 - Remove the exhaust, shields and undertrays (Done)
-Day 2 - Remove the seat squab, tank fittings, and everything to lower the tank
-Day 3 - Drop the tank, and fit the lines
-Day x to whenever? - See anything you don't like underneath, and treat it and paint it up. Then refit the lot.
Day 1 would happen. However, I did not bank on when Day x would come up.
With that in mind, I got the car up for the 2nd Xmas running.
I wasted little time in getting the exhaust off. Since I used new fixings, removing it was not as bad as I was expecting. As I've removed an M3 backbox a few times now, I have a modus operandi for changing them. That is:
-Leave the mounts in place on the car.
-Remove the nuts securing the backbox onto the mounts
-Let the bolts take the weight of the backbox.
-Put a jack carefully under the backbox.
-1 by 1, remove the bolts, while still leaving the shank of the bolts in the mounts. Remove the backbox once this is done by lowering the jack down, carefully
I didn't need to remove the defusion like many do. It's a little fiddly this way, but still quite possible and simple to do. With this done, I put the Eisenmann in my backbox collection. Which will go back onto the car? Who knows? But the Eisenman does look pretty!
With that done, it was time to move onto the centre section. This is a little fiddly to remove, since the under trays partially obscure this, and it itself with the cats attached is quite a heavy bit of kit. It didn't stop me however, and I simply cracked on and remove the mid-section in no time
All that was left to do was to admire the parts I'd slowly be fitting to the car. In particular, the brake lines. The rest of the items in the cardboard box are for the Inspection II, which I will do as the car is up in the air.
So that was that. Firing it up to put it on the ramps really reminded me that this is something a little special. The engine, despite having a mechanical sound, is quite eager to rev on the go, even in this road going format. Sure, the interior may have a whiff of Lewis Collins' jacket about it, but it sure is inviting, and not a drab affair.
However, not all was great.
I was hoping that the hard line did not go all of the way to the master cylinder/DSC unit. It does. Fantastic news! It will be more faff, but I will have to simply get it there no doubt.
I may end up chucking a Vlog onto here, and seeing what kind of response that gets, if it will help out potential owners soon. If no, I'll probably carry on this way. That I'll try and sort out soon .
Then, I'd rest a bit, have some leftover Xmas lunch, and crack on with it the next day.
Even as I began it, I thought, why don't I give someone £400 to change them, as it is really a plop job to do. But then, many things came to my mind
-I would have moaned like crazy about paying that much. My local garage might be able to do it cheaper, but they'll rush it, probably break things in the process as it's not a nice job. If you want it done right, sometimes, only you can do it.
-Being an old BMW there will no doubt be some scabby parts on it. I can tend to those, something which I doubt a specialist would want to do without the price going up.
-These kind of tasks always teach you something. Sure, that might be, now matter what you consider to be pricey, give it to someone. I'm referring more to a kind of task in which I'm tackling
-I've moaned enough about why at this very time I can't spend the cash. This I didn't forget.
With that in mind, I have decided to tackle this job in a few stages
-Day 1 - Remove the exhaust, shields and undertrays (Done)
-Day 2 - Remove the seat squab, tank fittings, and everything to lower the tank
-Day 3 - Drop the tank, and fit the lines
-Day x to whenever? - See anything you don't like underneath, and treat it and paint it up. Then refit the lot.
Day 1 would happen. However, I did not bank on when Day x would come up.
With that in mind, I got the car up for the 2nd Xmas running.
I wasted little time in getting the exhaust off. Since I used new fixings, removing it was not as bad as I was expecting. As I've removed an M3 backbox a few times now, I have a modus operandi for changing them. That is:
-Leave the mounts in place on the car.
-Remove the nuts securing the backbox onto the mounts
-Let the bolts take the weight of the backbox.
-Put a jack carefully under the backbox.
-1 by 1, remove the bolts, while still leaving the shank of the bolts in the mounts. Remove the backbox once this is done by lowering the jack down, carefully
I didn't need to remove the defusion like many do. It's a little fiddly this way, but still quite possible and simple to do. With this done, I put the Eisenmann in my backbox collection. Which will go back onto the car? Who knows? But the Eisenman does look pretty!
With that done, it was time to move onto the centre section. This is a little fiddly to remove, since the under trays partially obscure this, and it itself with the cats attached is quite a heavy bit of kit. It didn't stop me however, and I simply cracked on and remove the mid-section in no time
All that was left to do was to admire the parts I'd slowly be fitting to the car. In particular, the brake lines. The rest of the items in the cardboard box are for the Inspection II, which I will do as the car is up in the air.
So that was that. Firing it up to put it on the ramps really reminded me that this is something a little special. The engine, despite having a mechanical sound, is quite eager to rev on the go, even in this road going format. Sure, the interior may have a whiff of Lewis Collins' jacket about it, but it sure is inviting, and not a drab affair.
However, not all was great.
I was hoping that the hard line did not go all of the way to the master cylinder/DSC unit. It does. Fantastic news! It will be more faff, but I will have to simply get it there no doubt.
I may end up chucking a Vlog onto here, and seeing what kind of response that gets, if it will help out potential owners soon. If no, I'll probably carry on this way
. That I'll try and sort out soon .Then, I'd rest a bit, have some leftover Xmas lunch, and crack on with it the next day.
Cheers fella!
With me cracking on, I finally managed to liberate the necessary undetrays from the car. At this point I found a couple of things I was not expecting. First was the fuel filter. Nothing surprising about that. That is, until you look more closely at the date. Late 2011. So the filter was fitted in 2012 going off the car's history. However, the history states that the last Inspection II this last had was in 2015. Obviously, someone was told a porky at some point.
As you can see, the first Inspection II was done by the second owner.
The second bill, as you see, clearly points to the fuel filter being changed with the then 3rd owner of the car.
Not a massive biggie, but it's still annoying to see that someone was effectively was conned out of a full service.
Ah well, that's one place I'll recommend folks to avoid! Obviously, I'll refrain from putting up the name of the outfit, who seem to have glowing reviews on Google, but it has been noted. Why do I work on my own cars again? The above is one reason.
I guess at least the fuel filter is not as critical as some of the other filters on the car. The Mondeo for example, doesn't even have a fuel filter to be changed on it according to the service schedule. On a strainer which will stay in the car for its lifetime.
That said, I do have a delivery from Rock Auto to perform the Inspection II:
It's madness to think that I saved over £150 on Mahle items with the correct and updated part nos. as opposed to buying them locally! I'll not even mention how much cheaper the spark plugs were! Normally, I might have bought them from Opie Oils etc. but this time, cash unfortunately has to be king.
Anyway, alot like this brake pipe job, I'm procrastinating on talking actually talking about it! While it was annoying to see that someone in the past had been conned out of a filter on the car, and possibly more, I did see some signs of good news. I was expecting to change the brake hose and do one of two things
-Create a join underneath the car ; quite a few M3 owners have done this, even on the more valuable end-of-line CS models.
-Change the entire pipe back to the DSC unit in the engine bay.
Obviously, the latter is something I was keen to avoid. Upon seeing that there was a joint towards the front of the car, in a tight, but accessible area, I was a little more relieved about the job in hand!
As @mattn36 has stated, there is indeed a join upstream. Looking at that shot, you'd be wondering why I am changing the brake lines.
Erm, that is why. They don't look too bad in those shots, but they do look worse in reality, especially when you bear in mind that I have sanded them down and greased them in the past! A sin I know, but I guess old habits die hard! I'll go to run and hide now!
It was then time to drop the tank now I had stripped out what was preventing the tank from being dropped.
Upon removing the rear seat, and the access panels removed, I was greeted with a surprise upon seeing the fuel tank.
Besides struggling to remove the rear seat due to the sound deadening attaching itself to the seat, and making that more of a struggle to remove, I did not expect the fuel tank and sender unit covers to have so much stuff around the top of them!
I realised that the earthy smell the car had was most likely down to this! Another job no doubt to add to the list. Clean what I can from the top of the fuel tank.
With the tank vacuumed at the top, the accessible connections removed & the propshaft centre bearing lowered slightly, it was time to drop the tank, which wasn't too difficult. All of this to do the job I need to do ; the brake lines replacement. One-by-one that is, so as the keep the routing and the connections the same as they were before. I was able to access some of the lines from within the car, with the tank dropped, which was quite handy! With a combination of wobble extensions and sockets, I had loosened the brake pipe mounts. Thankfully!
That is where I got to! Stupidly, I have lost my flare nut spanners! With that downer, I went and bought a set, awaiting for the now loose driver's side brake line to be changed.
That is where I am for now. We'll await to tackle the brake lines next time I am down.
With me cracking on, I finally managed to liberate the necessary undetrays from the car. At this point I found a couple of things I was not expecting. First was the fuel filter. Nothing surprising about that. That is, until you look more closely at the date. Late 2011. So the filter was fitted in 2012 going off the car's history. However, the history states that the last Inspection II this last had was in 2015. Obviously, someone was told a porky at some point.
As you can see, the first Inspection II was done by the second owner.
The second bill, as you see, clearly points to the fuel filter being changed with the then 3rd owner of the car.
Not a massive biggie, but it's still annoying to see that someone was effectively was conned out of a full service.
Ah well, that's one place I'll recommend folks to avoid! Obviously, I'll refrain from putting up the name of the outfit, who seem to have glowing reviews on Google, but it has been noted. Why do I work on my own cars again? The above is one reason.
I guess at least the fuel filter is not as critical as some of the other filters on the car. The Mondeo for example, doesn't even have a fuel filter to be changed on it according to the service schedule. On a strainer which will stay in the car for its lifetime.
That said, I do have a delivery from Rock Auto to perform the Inspection II:
It's madness to think that I saved over £150 on Mahle items with the correct and updated part nos. as opposed to buying them locally! I'll not even mention how much cheaper the spark plugs were! Normally, I might have bought them from Opie Oils etc. but this time, cash unfortunately has to be king.
Anyway, alot like this brake pipe job, I'm procrastinating on talking actually talking about it! While it was annoying to see that someone in the past had been conned out of a filter on the car, and possibly more, I did see some signs of good news. I was expecting to change the brake hose and do one of two things
-Create a join underneath the car ; quite a few M3 owners have done this, even on the more valuable end-of-line CS models.
-Change the entire pipe back to the DSC unit in the engine bay.
Obviously, the latter is something I was keen to avoid. Upon seeing that there was a joint towards the front of the car, in a tight, but accessible area, I was a little more relieved about the job in hand!
As @mattn36 has stated, there is indeed a join upstream. Looking at that shot, you'd be wondering why I am changing the brake lines.
Erm, that is why. They don't look too bad in those shots, but they do look worse in reality, especially when you bear in mind that I have sanded them down and greased them in the past! A sin I know, but I guess old habits die hard! I'll go to run and hide now!
It was then time to drop the tank now I had stripped out what was preventing the tank from being dropped.
Upon removing the rear seat, and the access panels removed, I was greeted with a surprise upon seeing the fuel tank.
Besides struggling to remove the rear seat due to the sound deadening attaching itself to the seat, and making that more of a struggle to remove, I did not expect the fuel tank and sender unit covers to have so much stuff around the top of them!
I realised that the earthy smell the car had was most likely down to this! Another job no doubt to add to the list. Clean what I can from the top of the fuel tank.
With the tank vacuumed at the top, the accessible connections removed & the propshaft centre bearing lowered slightly, it was time to drop the tank, which wasn't too difficult. All of this to do the job I need to do ; the brake lines replacement. One-by-one that is, so as the keep the routing and the connections the same as they were before. I was able to access some of the lines from within the car, with the tank dropped, which was quite handy! With a combination of wobble extensions and sockets, I had loosened the brake pipe mounts. Thankfully!
That is where I got to! Stupidly, I have lost my flare nut spanners! With that downer, I went and bought a set, awaiting for the now loose driver's side brake line to be changed.
That is where I am for now. We'll await to tackle the brake lines next time I am down.
Yesterday was a bit of a turning point on the car. Yes, I did remove some stuff, but I also added stuff back onto the car. Finally, the car had something new, in the form of the brake hose go back onto it! However, given that the brake hoses I have are straight, albeit pre-made, I'd have to bend this one to shape. In the past, I've bent these by hand, as I've done on the 205 GTi that I once had. I decided to try and go a little more professional however, with one of these:
An Irwin Record Pipe bender, aka Chinese Record. A friend of mine lent this to me, as the packaging on his stated that his was for imperial pipes. However, it seems the bender is intended for metric pipes, like what I'm dealing with. Given that he makes pipes for a living, and that most of his stuff is imperial, his bender would actually come in useful! But would this Chinesium bender actually do the job? Firstly, I'd need to get the old pipe out. This would be one of the three pipes that wouldn't need the tank to be dropped, but it would also be one of the trickiest to access, due to having a subframe and a 'big case' diff in the way of seeing it! With some patience, logic, and removing the driver's side spring, the offside rear pipe was finally liberated for the last time from the car, where it had been for 18 years.
The union which I had been struggling with on the car with a flare nut spanner would finally come undone when I introduced it to yet another dose of WD40, in addition to mole grips. I was relieved to say the least!
It's funny. On the bench, the pipe doesn't look as bad as I recall it being in the car! Note the mullered union!
An Irwin Record Pipe bender, aka Chinese Record. A friend of mine lent this to me, as the packaging on his stated that his was for imperial pipes. However, it seems the bender is intended for metric pipes, like what I'm dealing with. Given that he makes pipes for a living, and that most of his stuff is imperial, his bender would actually come in useful! But would this Chinesium bender actually do the job? Firstly, I'd need to get the old pipe out. This would be one of the three pipes that wouldn't need the tank to be dropped, but it would also be one of the trickiest to access, due to having a subframe and a 'big case' diff in the way of seeing it! With some patience, logic, and removing the driver's side spring, the offside rear pipe was finally liberated for the last time from the car, where it had been for 18 years.
The union which I had been struggling with on the car with a flare nut spanner would finally come undone when I introduced it to yet another dose of WD40, in addition to mole grips. I was relieved to say the least!
It's funny. On the bench, the pipe doesn't look as bad as I recall it being in the car! Note the mullered union!
With the old hose removed, would the Chinesium bender be able to almost replicate the bends in the new pipe? I'll let the pictures do the talking here.
Obviously, I would play a part in where the bends went. I don't think the hose turned out that badly. I was quite impressed with myself for having the patience to do the bends! I could not stand around admiring my handiwork however, as if I were a Uni student who managed to make a great dish, which wasn't beans on toast!
And so, the car received the new pipe! It did require a small amount of tweaking to get into place so it didn't hit certain part of the car, but my bends were in the right place, which was a result!
So there we have it. One down. two more to go. The two being the reason for why I dropped the fuel tank in the first place.
Obviously, I would play a part in where the bends went. I don't think the hose turned out that badly. I was quite impressed with myself for having the patience to do the bends! I could not stand around admiring my handiwork however, as if I were a Uni student who managed to make a great dish, which wasn't beans on toast!
And so, the car received the new pipe! It did require a small amount of tweaking to get into place so it didn't hit certain part of the car, but my bends were in the right place, which was a result!
So there we have it. One down. two more to go. The two being the reason for why I dropped the fuel tank in the first place.
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