1996 BMW E36 328i Coupe - we have history...
Discussion
guards red said:
buy_cheap_pay_later said:
The new rack is undamaged. Hooray!
It came with track rods attached, but I presume it's from an E46 as the overall track is about 5-6cm wider than the one that came off my car. There was only about 1cm adjustment possible on each side, so that meant I had to swap the track rods over.
These ones are mine, from the E36, with my trusty tie rod tool in the foreground. They had locking washers, which were absent on the ones attached to the new rack. I decided therefore that they are unnecessary.
Fortunately (or entirely by design and obviously, I imagine), the bare racks are the same length. Rock on.
Rack on the car. It took some persuading to get the spindle on the rack into the pinch block on the steering column. Top tip here is to actually remove the bolt from the pinch block entirely. That's more effective than simply loosening it. That's probably a well known fact but it wasn't known to me until now!
Behold the purple tag!
I tightened everything to the torque specs in the Haynes manual, though the torques for the banjo bolts onto the rack seemed a bit feeble. From memory it was something like 32Nm and 43Nm for the small and large bolts. It felt to me like a recipe for leakage so I have to admit I did the 'I know better' and applied a bit more muscle.
It's filled with fluid and seems happy enough. Three turns of the steering wheel from lock to lock. I haven't got it back on the floor yet though.
guards red said:
One additional question, are all "purple racks" the same or is there a purple rack to look for in particular?
All "purple tags" are not purple...https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I have a fast rack on mine and is the 2.7 turns L2L one. I think the E46 Compact is 3 turns L2L.
Probably doesn't make much difference at all in reality. All I can say is with the rack and E30 steering arms, the car is transformed. Probably the best mod I have done on my E36.
It's as chuckable as a Clio 182...
buy_cheap_pay_later said:
I can’t shed any light on this subject yet I’m afraid, having driven a grand total of about one mile since fitting it. However, I will give my opinion on Monday evening (or shortly after), having spent the day chucking it round Donington Park. Can’t wait! 
I have a couple of hours to have a bit of track day action on Monday, would a like minded passenger be accepted? Obviously I’ll bring my own helmet and stump up the passenger fee to MSV. If you’ve already got company, no worries.JeremyH5 said:
I have a couple of hours to have a bit of track day action on Monday, would a like minded passenger be accepted? Obviously I’ll bring my own helmet and stump up the passenger fee to MSV. If you’ve already got company, no worries.
I do already have a wingman, but definitely got space for a passenger if you fancy it. Just have a read of the backstory and see how often I visit the scenery before you commit though 
Everyone loves a bit of jeopardy, right?
Track day on Monday, so I’ve been checking over the car, sorting some bits, cleaning it etc.
Went to get some fuel, and that rattle was back. The one I said I could hear when I got it home from the tyre and alignment place. It’s most obvious at low speed (maybe because at higher speed you can’t hear it over the exhaust…) and was changing frequency as I sped up and slowed down, so definitely drive train or wheel related.
To cut a long story short, having been unable to locate the issue myself from inside the car, I recruited help and narrowed it down to the front left wheel. Got it on stands and, sure enough, there was play in the wheel. I think my wheel bearing is on the way out.
It would be irresponsible to take it to Donington on Monday in this state, so I need to fix it, or make another plan.
Nowhere that is open on a Sunday has the wheel bearing kit in stock, and likewise no one has a 46mm socket in stock. So I’m a bit stuck.
It just so happens that I have another E36 waiting in the wings, so as reluctant as I am to use Derek as a parts mule, I do have a solution for the part, at least temporarily. However what I don’t have is a 46mm socket.
So that’s where I am. I’ve asked friends and neighbours to see what they can track down, and I’m waiting to see if someone can magic up a 46mm socket. If so, great, I’ll swap the bearings over. If not, then it’s on to plan B. I don’t know what plan B is yet…
Track day on Monday, so I’ve been checking over the car, sorting some bits, cleaning it etc.
Went to get some fuel, and that rattle was back. The one I said I could hear when I got it home from the tyre and alignment place. It’s most obvious at low speed (maybe because at higher speed you can’t hear it over the exhaust…) and was changing frequency as I sped up and slowed down, so definitely drive train or wheel related.
To cut a long story short, having been unable to locate the issue myself from inside the car, I recruited help and narrowed it down to the front left wheel. Got it on stands and, sure enough, there was play in the wheel. I think my wheel bearing is on the way out.
It would be irresponsible to take it to Donington on Monday in this state, so I need to fix it, or make another plan.
Nowhere that is open on a Sunday has the wheel bearing kit in stock, and likewise no one has a 46mm socket in stock. So I’m a bit stuck.
It just so happens that I have another E36 waiting in the wings, so as reluctant as I am to use Derek as a parts mule, I do have a solution for the part, at least temporarily. However what I don’t have is a 46mm socket.
So that’s where I am. I’ve asked friends and neighbours to see what they can track down, and I’m waiting to see if someone can magic up a 46mm socket. If so, great, I’ll swap the bearings over. If not, then it’s on to plan B. I don’t know what plan B is yet…
Riek said:
Could swap the whole knuckle?
Yep, could have done…But my mate came through with the socket, which meant we’ve just spent the last 2 hours drilling out the brake disc retaining screw on the convertible to get to the wheel bearing.
At least I now have a wheel bearing and the right tool to fit it, which I’ll do in the morning. If I do, and the noise is still there, there’s no telling what I might do!
JeremyH5 said:
Weird, any further clue as to what it might be? Can a mate video record hanging out of the window or something to diagnose?
I’ve had people standing on the side of the road as I drive by, and consensus is that it’s definitely front, and probably left hand side. Today I’ve had several pairs of eyes on it, some definitely more knowledgeable than I. Although we can’t figure out what’s making the noise, we’re satisfied that the car isn’t unsafe. Maybe a good thrashing tomorrow will see it right. Or magnify the problem to the point that we can identify it…
Anyway, we’re on for tomorrow.
We haven’t got a garage so you’ll find us in the car park. If the BMW is out on the track when you arrive, you’re looking for a white GR Yaris, which is the support vehicle for tomorrow.
buy_cheap_pay_later said:
JeremyH5 said:
Weird, any further clue as to what it might be? Can a mate video record hanging out of the window or something to diagnose?
I’ve had people standing on the side of the road as I drive by, and consensus is that it’s definitely front, and probably left hand side. Today I’ve had several pairs of eyes on it, some definitely more knowledgeable than I. Although we can’t figure out what’s making the noise, we’re satisfied that the car isn’t unsafe. Maybe a good thrashing tomorrow will see it right. Or magnify the problem to the point that we can identify it…
Anyway, we’re on for tomorrow.
We haven’t got a garage so you’ll find us in the car park. If the BMW is out on the track when you arrive, you’re looking for a white GR Yaris, which is the support vehicle for tomorrow.
A number of things to update this evening. I'll start with the continuation of the last few comments, which leads me into yesterday's track day at Donington Park.
As I said, we spent the weekend chasing that irritating front end rattle, to no avail. Here's a picture of my mate drilling out the brake disc retaining screw on the convertible at about 9.30 on Saturday night so that we could get to and steal its wheel bearing:
What a palaver that was. We ended the evening with the brake disc off, and the wheel bearing off, ready to put it on the track car on Sunday morning. Annoyingly it left the inner part of the bearing sleeve on the spindle, which proved slightly awkward to get off.
It wasn't stuck on there particularly firmly, but a real pain to get any purchase on. I engaged my 'out of the box' brain and ended up wrapping a couple of cable ties round the back of it and using them to pull it out. Worked a treat, which is good because I was beginning to think I was going to be stumped again. As it was, by late morning on Sunday I had the wheel bearing from the convertible on the coupe, in the desperate hope that it might resolve my issue. I was not to be so lucky.
In hindsight the symptoms weren't exactly what you'd expect from a wheel bearing (in my limited experience), in that it went away when I braked, and went away over about 35mph. Between about 20 and 35, it was a metallic rattle that increased in frequency as speed increased and vice versa. It was definitely linked to the rotation of the wheels, though, and there did seem to be a bit of play in the wheel, so I will defend my logic to an extent.
Having ascertained that the car didn't appear to be unsafe and driven over to Donington on Sunday evening, my mate and I spent the night in the luxury of a Days Inn on the A50 before heading over to the circuit early on Monday.
It was ever so slightly embarrassing clanking my way around the paddock like a knight in poorly-fitting second hand armour, but riding the brakes was a good way of quieting the sodding thing down! It wasn't a problem on track, because it disappeared at high speed. So how did it go on track?
It was an MSV track day this time, whereas most of my others have been with Javelin. I've been to Donington twice in recent years, once with MSV and once with Javelin. I wouldn't say my sample size is sufficient to identify any significant differences between the organisers, though yesterday was the first time I had sat in a physical briefing at the start of the day. What I would say, and this is probably a Donington thing rather than an MSV thing, is that there was a lot of really fast stuff there.
It was probably the busiest I've seen a track in the seven track days that I've done, and such was the calibre of vehicle, I spent more time looking in my mirrors and getting out of the way than I did looking out the windscreen. I exaggerate of course, but it felt like that at times. There were McLarens, Ferraris, Ariels and Porsches a-plenty looming in my rear-view mirror. I think all I overtook on the day were a couple of Ford Kas, and the Montreal Blue E36 318 that was looking awesome. Oh, and the corporate drivers having their first go on a track in the CCS Media GT86s. That said, the weather was spectacular all day and on the odd occasion that I found some clear track, it was massive grins all round. Donington is a great track.
The car...
Aside from the known front end clank, which I am now theorising is the brake pads rattling in the calipers (the symptoms fit), the car had a couple of other little complaints. First was the rear end clunk, which started the day by showing itself in every corner, but had mysteriously disappeared by lunchtime. I know the battery can sometimes knock about in its hole in the boot because it's not properly secured, but I knew I'd firmly wedged it in with some lightweight motorsport cardboard, and the noise sounded more suspension-y. I'd checked all the wheel bolt torques so I knew it wasn't a loose wheel. I'm not going to worry about this particular noise though, since it was resolved by the self-healing technology that BMW developed in these cars.
Then we had a bit of a blast from the past. Just as I was enjoying a bit of clear track in the late morning, pushing on and enjoying stringing a few corners together unencumbered by all those other selfish people who thought they were entitled to use the track in my vicinity, I spotted the temperature needle creeping above the centre. I came into the pits and had a look under the bonnet, to find that it had been spitting coolant all over the place again.
Long time readers (if there is such a thing) may remember that I had cooling issues a couple of years ago. It has a tendency to spit coolant from time to time, but the real crux of the problem back then was that I had removed and not replaced the ducting that channels the air through the radiator. Once I put that back on, the cooling system has been absolutely solid no matter how much abuse I've given it. It's weird that the issue seems to have come back. I was managing five or six laps before having to come back in, or slow down to bring the needle back to the centre. My mate who was sharing the driving didn't seem to have the same problem, although that's probably because he was short shifting while I was, I believe the technical term is, 'revving the tits off it'.
I took advantage of the lunch break to allow the car to cool, and after lunch topped up the coolant. During the afternoon session it didn't appear to have spat any more out, but was still starting to overheat after a bit of a thrashing on track. My mind is going back to funky aluminium radiators etc, as it was a couple of years ago, but there's something else to try before I drop hundreds of pounds on probably unnecessary 'upgrades'. The cooling system as it is is capable of dealing with the beating I hand out to it, I'm sure. It might just need a bit of a nudge.
After my adventures at Thruxton (sideways gardening/visiting the scenery - insert appropriate euphemism here), the plastic components under/behind the front bumper were a bit damaged and out of alignment. I'm talking brake cooling ducts, arch liners, and the trim pieces that join the arch liners to the bumper. I'd taken them all off, with the intention of stitching them all back together at the weekend, before I got sidetracked by chasing the not-a-wheel bearing noise. So as it was I did Donington with the bumper on, but no arch liners or other bits. Given my previous experience of the cooling being affected by a simple piece of plastic being absent, I will put all this back on and see if that sorts it out before I try any more expensive and involved solutions.
Around the same time that the rear end clunk disappeared, the front end clank also disappeared. With my brake pad theory in mind, I wondered if maybe the heat had caused the pads to somehow bind to the calipers/pistons. I don't know, but what I do know is that later in the day it developed a fairly significant steering wheel shudder under hard braking. Whether that is related to the clank/absence of clank, I've no idea. The clank was back by the time I got home though.
What about the steering rack? I honestly don't think there's a vast difference between this purple tag and the Z3 rack that preceded it (and that died at Thruxton), and I couldn't really say there was a vast difference between that and the original rack. Maybe I'm just a ham-fisted philistine, but it all feels much of a muchness to me. It was good, don't get me wrong, but not spectacularly better than the original rack. Sorry if that's a bit underwhelming, but just my opinion.
Apart from these few issues, the car felt as good as ever. Planted, balanced, stuck to the track, and now sounds like a racing car with its daft exhaust. Unfortunately sounds more like a foghorn reverberating in a tin can when driving home on the motorway, but you can't have everything! I'm still really glad I've got it as a toy. It makes me happy.
Thanks to Jeremy for giving us the benefit of his experience, and my mate was able to offer him the experience of spinning out at Donington in an E36 328i, which he may not have had before
I'm just glad it wasn't me this time!
As I said, we spent the weekend chasing that irritating front end rattle, to no avail. Here's a picture of my mate drilling out the brake disc retaining screw on the convertible at about 9.30 on Saturday night so that we could get to and steal its wheel bearing:
What a palaver that was. We ended the evening with the brake disc off, and the wheel bearing off, ready to put it on the track car on Sunday morning. Annoyingly it left the inner part of the bearing sleeve on the spindle, which proved slightly awkward to get off.
It wasn't stuck on there particularly firmly, but a real pain to get any purchase on. I engaged my 'out of the box' brain and ended up wrapping a couple of cable ties round the back of it and using them to pull it out. Worked a treat, which is good because I was beginning to think I was going to be stumped again. As it was, by late morning on Sunday I had the wheel bearing from the convertible on the coupe, in the desperate hope that it might resolve my issue. I was not to be so lucky.
In hindsight the symptoms weren't exactly what you'd expect from a wheel bearing (in my limited experience), in that it went away when I braked, and went away over about 35mph. Between about 20 and 35, it was a metallic rattle that increased in frequency as speed increased and vice versa. It was definitely linked to the rotation of the wheels, though, and there did seem to be a bit of play in the wheel, so I will defend my logic to an extent.
Having ascertained that the car didn't appear to be unsafe and driven over to Donington on Sunday evening, my mate and I spent the night in the luxury of a Days Inn on the A50 before heading over to the circuit early on Monday.
It was ever so slightly embarrassing clanking my way around the paddock like a knight in poorly-fitting second hand armour, but riding the brakes was a good way of quieting the sodding thing down! It wasn't a problem on track, because it disappeared at high speed. So how did it go on track?
It was an MSV track day this time, whereas most of my others have been with Javelin. I've been to Donington twice in recent years, once with MSV and once with Javelin. I wouldn't say my sample size is sufficient to identify any significant differences between the organisers, though yesterday was the first time I had sat in a physical briefing at the start of the day. What I would say, and this is probably a Donington thing rather than an MSV thing, is that there was a lot of really fast stuff there.
It was probably the busiest I've seen a track in the seven track days that I've done, and such was the calibre of vehicle, I spent more time looking in my mirrors and getting out of the way than I did looking out the windscreen. I exaggerate of course, but it felt like that at times. There were McLarens, Ferraris, Ariels and Porsches a-plenty looming in my rear-view mirror. I think all I overtook on the day were a couple of Ford Kas, and the Montreal Blue E36 318 that was looking awesome. Oh, and the corporate drivers having their first go on a track in the CCS Media GT86s. That said, the weather was spectacular all day and on the odd occasion that I found some clear track, it was massive grins all round. Donington is a great track.
The car...
Aside from the known front end clank, which I am now theorising is the brake pads rattling in the calipers (the symptoms fit), the car had a couple of other little complaints. First was the rear end clunk, which started the day by showing itself in every corner, but had mysteriously disappeared by lunchtime. I know the battery can sometimes knock about in its hole in the boot because it's not properly secured, but I knew I'd firmly wedged it in with some lightweight motorsport cardboard, and the noise sounded more suspension-y. I'd checked all the wheel bolt torques so I knew it wasn't a loose wheel. I'm not going to worry about this particular noise though, since it was resolved by the self-healing technology that BMW developed in these cars.
Then we had a bit of a blast from the past. Just as I was enjoying a bit of clear track in the late morning, pushing on and enjoying stringing a few corners together unencumbered by all those other selfish people who thought they were entitled to use the track in my vicinity, I spotted the temperature needle creeping above the centre. I came into the pits and had a look under the bonnet, to find that it had been spitting coolant all over the place again.
Long time readers (if there is such a thing) may remember that I had cooling issues a couple of years ago. It has a tendency to spit coolant from time to time, but the real crux of the problem back then was that I had removed and not replaced the ducting that channels the air through the radiator. Once I put that back on, the cooling system has been absolutely solid no matter how much abuse I've given it. It's weird that the issue seems to have come back. I was managing five or six laps before having to come back in, or slow down to bring the needle back to the centre. My mate who was sharing the driving didn't seem to have the same problem, although that's probably because he was short shifting while I was, I believe the technical term is, 'revving the tits off it'.
I took advantage of the lunch break to allow the car to cool, and after lunch topped up the coolant. During the afternoon session it didn't appear to have spat any more out, but was still starting to overheat after a bit of a thrashing on track. My mind is going back to funky aluminium radiators etc, as it was a couple of years ago, but there's something else to try before I drop hundreds of pounds on probably unnecessary 'upgrades'. The cooling system as it is is capable of dealing with the beating I hand out to it, I'm sure. It might just need a bit of a nudge.
After my adventures at Thruxton (sideways gardening/visiting the scenery - insert appropriate euphemism here), the plastic components under/behind the front bumper were a bit damaged and out of alignment. I'm talking brake cooling ducts, arch liners, and the trim pieces that join the arch liners to the bumper. I'd taken them all off, with the intention of stitching them all back together at the weekend, before I got sidetracked by chasing the not-a-wheel bearing noise. So as it was I did Donington with the bumper on, but no arch liners or other bits. Given my previous experience of the cooling being affected by a simple piece of plastic being absent, I will put all this back on and see if that sorts it out before I try any more expensive and involved solutions.
Around the same time that the rear end clunk disappeared, the front end clank also disappeared. With my brake pad theory in mind, I wondered if maybe the heat had caused the pads to somehow bind to the calipers/pistons. I don't know, but what I do know is that later in the day it developed a fairly significant steering wheel shudder under hard braking. Whether that is related to the clank/absence of clank, I've no idea. The clank was back by the time I got home though.
What about the steering rack? I honestly don't think there's a vast difference between this purple tag and the Z3 rack that preceded it (and that died at Thruxton), and I couldn't really say there was a vast difference between that and the original rack. Maybe I'm just a ham-fisted philistine, but it all feels much of a muchness to me. It was good, don't get me wrong, but not spectacularly better than the original rack. Sorry if that's a bit underwhelming, but just my opinion.
Apart from these few issues, the car felt as good as ever. Planted, balanced, stuck to the track, and now sounds like a racing car with its daft exhaust. Unfortunately sounds more like a foghorn reverberating in a tin can when driving home on the motorway, but you can't have everything! I'm still really glad I've got it as a toy. It makes me happy.
Thanks to Jeremy for giving us the benefit of his experience, and my mate was able to offer him the experience of spinning out at Donington in an E36 328i, which he may not have had before
I'm just glad it wasn't me this time!
There was other activity on Saturday morning, before I came over all Chicken Licken about wheel bearings. It feels like ancient history now, but bears writing up I think. I treated young Derek to a bit of this:
After my initial efforts with multi-surface cleaner on the day I got him home, the soft top looked like this:
Still a bit green and a bit streaky. I gave it a good scrub with a nail brush and the Meguiar's, again working in sections whilst trying to avoid my repair tape. I got a bit too close to it at one point and the cleaner caused the edge of it to roll up. Interestingly, after drying out, it stuck back down quite nicely.
After I'd given it a comprehensive rinse off and it had dried in the sun, it looks much better. A much more even colour. The repair tape appears to have shrunk a bit, which I presume is due to getting wet and then drying.
Annoyingly though, some of the stitching around the rear window (can I still call it a window when I can't see through it?) has given way.
After cleaning the soft top, I had to then give the rest of him a wash. And just look at him. He's so pretty.
After I got back from Donington yesterday, and with an eye on the weather forecast for the week, I decided that I couldn't leave poor Derek forlorn up on axle stands. I gave him his wheel bearing back and got him back on the ground, then made the odd decision, having been driving literally all day, to take him out for a drive. It was quite late and not that warm by this point, so it was roof and windows up. It was lovely going out on some nice clear A and B roads (before I got stuck behind a speed camera van, of all things), though I was a bit perturbed by the amount of creaking and squeaking that went on. I've never had an E36 convertible before so I don't know how normal it is, but it definitely felt like the body is made of marshmallows. I don't really care though, because he is really, really ridiculously good-looking.
After my initial efforts with multi-surface cleaner on the day I got him home, the soft top looked like this:
Still a bit green and a bit streaky. I gave it a good scrub with a nail brush and the Meguiar's, again working in sections whilst trying to avoid my repair tape. I got a bit too close to it at one point and the cleaner caused the edge of it to roll up. Interestingly, after drying out, it stuck back down quite nicely.
After I'd given it a comprehensive rinse off and it had dried in the sun, it looks much better. A much more even colour. The repair tape appears to have shrunk a bit, which I presume is due to getting wet and then drying.
Annoyingly though, some of the stitching around the rear window (can I still call it a window when I can't see through it?) has given way.
After cleaning the soft top, I had to then give the rest of him a wash. And just look at him. He's so pretty.
After I got back from Donington yesterday, and with an eye on the weather forecast for the week, I decided that I couldn't leave poor Derek forlorn up on axle stands. I gave him his wheel bearing back and got him back on the ground, then made the odd decision, having been driving literally all day, to take him out for a drive. It was quite late and not that warm by this point, so it was roof and windows up. It was lovely going out on some nice clear A and B roads (before I got stuck behind a speed camera van, of all things), though I was a bit perturbed by the amount of creaking and squeaking that went on. I've never had an E36 convertible before so I don't know how normal it is, but it definitely felt like the body is made of marshmallows. I don't really care though, because he is really, really ridiculously good-looking.
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