E36 M3 big end bolts

[832ark]

Hi, I'm looking to buy an E36 M3 Evo in the not too distant future but keep reading stories of spun shells due to stretching of the standard big end bolts. I've read that the ARP ones are a better replacement. What I can't seem to find out though is if I buy a car in good health is is simply a case of replacing the bolts as a proactive measure or would I need to be replacing other bits at the same time?

Cheers

Al

[TheEnd]

You can just swap them without doing anything else, and I believe they can be done fairly easy with just the sump and baffles off, and swap them one at a time.

[832ark]

TheEnd said:

You can just swap them without doing anything else, and I believe they can be done fairly easy with just the sump and baffles off, and swap them one at a time.

Thats what I was hoping, seems like a decent insurance policy to me!

[TheEnd]

Yea, the majority don't have any problems, but if they do go wrong, it's close to game over.
You'll always see evo engine blocks on ebay, and that's usually the reason why.

[andye30m3]

Coming from someone who's spun bottom end shells on 2 M3 evo engines I'd highly recommend the upgraded bolts.

[iguana]

If you are in there, seems daft not to bung new big end shells in, cost is not large vs the labour to get the sump of as its a fair old faff but can just whip 'em out & inspect.

As said above evos suffer most.

If its a 3.0 some say shove in an evo oil pump & sump while you are in there, but I've known of a good few 3.0s tracked hard on slicks with the 3.0 set up & been fine, just need to shove in the head restrictor valve, so they dont jizz it in the inlet.