Yet another e36 328i sport coupe

[nosuchuser]

Well bugger. The CD43 is in, sounds good but doesn't control the changer in the boot. From a bit of reading, the CD43 needs a Ai or Pi changer. My changer is an A. MBus rather than IBus.

No real drama as I wasn't intending on using the changer long term and it appears to have a disk stuck in it. Which means putting the C43 back in (that connector is a bh) and messing around. Could potentially stick a e46 changer in but that sounds like a faff..

There are various ebay specials that may work with the CD43 and my Galaxy S7. In the old V70R I had a USASpec unit for a 2nd gen ipod. That, was awesome. Control, charge and track listing on the factory head unit and sounded great with the upgraded surround system.

There's this kind of thing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Z3-E36-AUX-iPod-iPho...
That'd probably work, stick a Brodit ProClip (another blast from the past) in but needs power.

Or this kind of thing: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-3-E36-91-98-MP3-SD-U...
Looks like a clone of an old Denison. Could stick it in the glove box with a usb stick. The CD43 has BP9272 on the sticker so should work with this box and both support ID3 tags.
It'll keep the interior nice and oem, I can still connect the phone if needed.

Decisions, decisions..

helix402 said:

Water pump won't be metal from the factory. I'd only recommend gen. BMW water pumps, seem too many poor quality aftermarket ones. Latest BMW ones are still plastic and last very well, they have been redesigned several times.

I was going to buy some parts from GSF for the cooling system refresh but having read the 'cheap parts woes' thread in 'BMW General', won't be buying these important parts there.
C3BMW offer a Kohle Schmidt water pump with a metal impeller. Anyone used these?
Or best to go to the dealer for the latest iteration with the composite impeller and a plastic thermostat housing and thermostat?

TroubledSoul said:

Lovely car mate. From experience, please do check under the boot seal rubbers immediately for rust. I've also just found a hole behind the rearmost arch liner on the offside too. Great.

Get your battery out and check the floor beneath it, also under the spare wheel. Known rust areas.

The Z3 rack is better than the E46 purple tag. It's rarer but they are out there. Purple tag rack is a good alternative though.

Otherwise, enjoy the car

Cheers. I do have some rust under the battery to deal with, under the spare is from memory, clean but will recheck and pull the boot seals and check there. Hope these just pop back on

Edit - I've just seen your rust pics!

Edited by nosuchuser on Friday 24th February 20:16

[TroubledSoul]

Yeah not pretty. Almost threw in the towel at that point....

The rubbers do just clip back on. The plastic panel where the latch is will probably break if you try to force that off. You don't need to. You'll know when the rubbers come off if there's an issue.

[nosuchuser]

TroubledSoul said:

Yeah not pretty. Almost threw in the towel at that point....

The rubbers do just clip back on. The plastic panel where the latch is will probably break if you try to force that off. You don't need to. You'll know when the rubbers come off if there's an issue.

hmm, had one side of the rubber off, looks ok but won't bed back down into the correct position. Any thoughts? Might lift the other side, check, clean, refit and run some silicone along to keep the water out.

Today, no diy required while the plaster drys so oil change time:

Today's workshop, once the dog st had been cleaned up:



Oil (Opie recommended) and filter:



Could not get the bloody sump plug out using a ratchet, swore then remembered I had an Aldi special 12v impact wrench from years ago I'd never used. That did the job

Oil filter housing, not looking too bad in there:



Yeah, few drips everywhere...

Old filter:




I'd purchased a couple of washers from GSF for the sump plug along with filters etc then realised there was one in the filter kit. Doh.

Added oil, warmed it up and added some more. Took ~6.6l, sitting just under the full mark on the dipstick at 51104 miles. I intend on keeping track of the oil consumption from now on.
There was a bit of yellow gunk under the oil filler cap, could be condensation from what I've read. Hopefully not anything more serious.

And new and old air filters. Hurrah



Also added a CTek Comfort Indicator on the battery to allow easier charging and visibility of its state.

Next things: Order the xbrace and fit that, change coolant, water pump, thermostat, stat housing and belts while working in that area.

Some outside work should be completed next weekend and then the car can go up on stands so the wheels can go to the refurb guys to sort the centres out. Got a feeling I'll end up having all the bolts replaced, some of them are going rusty...

Then MOT, alignment and then I can get back out and enjoy it

[nosuchuser]

Wheels haven't made it to the refurb place but I have fitted the xbrace, thermostat, housing, waterpump, radiator, cap and belts...

Some fun was had removing the undertrays. Time hadn't been kind to the fasteners..

Old vs new:



Looks like a plastic impeller. Thermostat was dated 1998, bit of a sod getting it out the block

Bit of light corrosion on the sealing surface of the waterpump mount, cleaned this up with some very fine wire wool:



Gunk on the block where the thermostat housing mounted, again cleaned with the wire wool:



Fitted new parts, change belts and filled up with coolant. During bleed I discovered the expansion tank was leaking at the base:



Arsebiscuits. Pissing out when the engine was run for bleeding...

For a bit of light relief I fitted the xbrace - chased holes, nutserts fitted with a Sealey tool:



Not used nutserts before, they are pretty cool. Tool makes it dead easy. Indeed, I've bought some more, going to use some smaller nutserts and ally angle to rebuild/replace the broken mounting areas on the undertray at some point in the future.

Fitted:



Back to the leaky rad, I decided at 17:52 last night I needed a new rad, Eurocarparts had one ordered in for 8 this morning... It's badged up as Behr Hella so time will tell but looks pretty good for £101

Fitted today in-between conf calls and so far no leaks Rad cap also needed changing, picked one up from local BMW dealer. It's the same part number used from e30's all the way the RR Phantoms..

And the reason for this rushed purchase - MOT booked for Friday afternoon...

[NiceCupOfTea]

Lovely car, and i see you are local! I am over in Bickley, running an e36 323 convertible and an e46 330 touring.

Re the audio options, mine came with a C43 and a changer when my dad had it before me. The changer skipped all the time which is common i think, so he binned it, sold the C43 and bought a Rover badged CD43. When i got it I was tempted to fit an MP3/BT head unit but really liked the OEM look and the sound.

As a result i bought a second hand Parrott mk9200 (i think) which adds Bluetooth iPod and MP3 and works very well. Never quite got it totally ironed out (some rev related whine,so suppression needed) as it is bloody tight getting everything in behind the dash but it works well.

Also worth checking out bmwpowerandaudio (Dean Harrison) on Facebook who offers loads of audio solutions for e36 and e46 - including aux in.

My brother has a techno-violet 328 sport with the blue interior, lovely thing. Also fighting the good fight with rust! He went with the eibach pro street setup iirc, although i think he thinks it's a bit hard for everyday use.

[helix402]

Cross brace looks great. Is it brand new?

[nosuchuser]

And it failed. Nofor me this weekend

As I pulled the car out from down the side of the house and closed the gates I thought it looked a bit low on the drivers side...



Offside spring is broken just in the cup... The rear springs were changed last year but the dampers and fronts are the originals.

Disclaimer: I went to KwikFit for the MOT.

Was the only place I could book online late at night and I wanted the car MOT'd for this weekend. I won't be going to them to fit the new springs or whatever replaces them. They gave me a rough price of 175 for the springs plus fitting plus 100 for a Hunter

So what to do? Just change the springs? Or upgrade to the Bilstein SportLine or Pro Kit bearing in mind this has always been on the cards due to the age of the dampers

I've never changed springs before, looks quite scary... I guess I'll be looking for an indy to fit whatever I get

helix402 said:

Cross brace looks great. Is it brand new?

Yes, new from Cotswold BMW

[E36Ross]

Have you a model number for the nutsert insert tool? Worth buying just for the job or possible to do without?

[SebringMan]

helix402 said:

Water pump won't be metal from the factory. I'd only recommend gen. BMW water pumps, seem too many poor quality aftermarket ones. Latest BMW ones are still plastic and last very well, they have been redesigned several times.

Like yourself I've not had a problem with plastic impellors. But I do also change the coolant in any car on the dot in addition to also using what the manufacturer specifies for the car . You probably know that recently I have been caught out on cheap parts :/.

Back on topic that looks to be a very clean car. The car looks stunning!

For the front lollipop a known bloke who works on E46 M3s all day was saying that the PowerFlex items don't last in that application if doing trackdays. The OEM M3 bushes seem to be much better here. I was going to poly mine in the future but now I am not too sure ; I was aware that the PF stuff didn't last however for the lollipops. The RTABs are a good move however with the Rogue items .

It's always great to see a car that is serviced quite a bit, judging by your filters.

[Podie]

I love threads like this, where people bring cars back to their former glory.

Keep playing the good work.

[RickBristol]

Afternoon mate. Was wondering where you got the front sub frame M3 cross brace from. Am interested in getting one for my project.

[JordanTurbo]

helix402 said:

Water pump won't be metal from the factory.

Changed the water pump and thermostat in my 328i as the standard e36 precaution, and the one that I removed was metal and stamped BMW.

[helix402]

Can't argue with that!

[nosuchuser]

E36Ross said:

Have you a model number for the nutsert insert tool? Worth buying just for the job or possible to do without?

Depends how powerfully built you are
Pelican have a way of fitting them without a tool, just bolt and spanners would do it: http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/101-P...
Could be a faff though so I opted for one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-AK3984-Short-Arm-T...
Fairly straight forward to use, the long arm model has a gauge for the amount of compression but a couple of test runs with this short arm model will show you how it needs to be set up and it copes very well with the M8 steel nutserts.

RickBristol said:

Afternoon mate. Was wondering where you got the front sub frame M3 cross brace from. Am interested in getting one for my project.

Cotswold BMW ([e-mail]). Ordered spare bolts and nutserts in case of fkup and for testing:
6x M8X20-Z1 Hex Bolt with Washer BMW# 07119915093
6x M8 Blind Rivet Nut nutsert BMW# 51718175003
1x Cross Reinforcement BMW# 51718410212
If you're not on e36coupe.com, register there and ask them via the forum for a price to get the discount.


Now on to updates and money spent... Warning, there are pictures of rust and swearing ahead.

Following the MOT failure, I decided to change the suspension all round. This expenditure has obviously knocked the M50 manifold etc back some way...
Previous owner had had rear springs replaced for mot failure but the dampers etc were the originals. Opted for the Bilstein B12 pro kit as this is intended as a road and occasional track car. I did spend a stupid amount on time weighing up various options - Bilstein PSS vs the B12 (for height adjustment), prokit vs sportline for ride height, reading reviews of B14 vs B8 vs B6 dampers etc.

So fresh springy stuff:



Expensive call to CA-int: Rogue Engineering rtabs and rear top mounts. I was planning on getting the z3 plates but he was very convincing:



These took a fking age to deliver, UPS are absolutely ste, 2 alleged delivery attempts, no card, no doorbell. Had some cross words with them via twitter . Finally arrived other side of the long weekend with the excuse that they'd been on another van. .

Spring seats front and rear, gaskets, sundry nuts, bolts and washers sourced from BMW - and also some M3 reinforcements for the front towers:



Out with the old (Being a muppet, I didn't measure the ride height before removing the old kit...). And there's no 18mm impact socket in the Halfords range.. Seems daft.



Hmm, don't have a pic of the rear dampers but they were heavily corroded on the bottoms and had almost no rebound when compressed

Talking of corrosion, battery tray and boot rust:




Wirebrush'd, Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80'd and hammerite:



The horror of the rear suspension arms (and trailing arms, diff carrier, rear arb, brake pipe brackets):




Nightmare.

I did consider dropping the whole lot for either sandblasting and powder coating or straight out replacement but that is a massive job. Maybe when I look to put a LSD in...

Managed to get 2 of the bolts out for the trailing arm bracket but I'm admitting defeat on the rest (killed an Irwin bolt remover) and will be getting a pro to remove the other 4 and replace with the remaining new bolts:



So won't be doing the rtabs for a bit then
Going to be fun doing that little chore. The 10mm bolts holding the brake pipe bracket to the trailing arm have of course rusted like fk and will be amusing to remove. Hopefully no threadlock on them and far less torque to deal with than the rtab bracket bolts.
When it's all freed up I'll be in there with the BH Hydrate 80 and Hammerite...

Addressed a couple of rust areas on the rear arches, scraped off underseal to clean metal, wirebrush, degrease, Hydrate 80 and Hammerite again. Some more spots should have been attended to but I'll get to them when I do the rtabs. Also got some I noticed in the front wheel arches above the liner which will need to come out. Planning on covering this in Dynax once treated and painted.

Weight-loss by M-Technik:



Rear dampers built with new mounts and old bumpstops while I see how it rides (I don't know why this website rotates pics but you get the idea...):



Rogue top mounts have the nuts underneath so no need to pull carpet out for future changes

Today I've built the fronts up (observe fantastic Hydrate 80 / Hammerite job on the upper spring plates (I couldn't be arsed to buy black Hammerite). Slight twist on the cover on the drivers side strut which is irritating...:



These should be fitted tomorrow. Lots of fun getting the top nut done up...

However, there is a new problem. When I was removing the old front struts, I disconnected the brake sensor and ABS sensors from the harness connections. Being an idiot I reattached the battery without connecting them and now my ABS and ASC lights warning lights are on. Have left the battery disconnected overnight and the lights are still on. I've tested the front 2 sensors with my multi-meter and they both have the expected resistance.

I ordered a code reader from Amazon (Creator 310) and 20 to 16 pin lead, this combo will read the engine but not the ABS, just gives a comms error. Arse. That'll be going back.

Speaking to another company about the iCarsoft 910 today, they have assured me it can read the ABS codes and reset them. I didn't have any probs with the ABS beforehand and I'm just hoping the code is stuck in the system due to my idiocy.

The other alternative is to book the car in at the local indy and have the codes read, ABS issues resolved and also remove the old rtab bracket bolts at the same time.

Wheels still haven't made it to the refurb place. I need the centres swapped and the rtab sorted before an alignment post successful MOT. Maybe I'll drop the wheels in this week.

Feels like very slow progress

[Paul S4]

Following this thread with interest as I have the same ABS/TC lights on problem.

I shall be interested to see how you solve it ; mine came on after a very heavy downpour on the motorway on my commute...my be just coincidence but maybe not. My BMW indy read the codes and replaced the N/S front ABS sensor. Road tested fine, but after I got the car back the lights came on again and have stayed on most of the time since, despite the car going back in for some 'readjustment of the air gap'. The fault is a 'work in progress' between myself and the garage in whom I have full faith.

[carpetsoiler]

ABS lights do go out by themselves if you fix the issue that they have.

£35 for a copy of INPA off eBay and it'll tell you *exactly* what the issue is, as well as being able to do funky things like measuring independent wheel speeds.

Keep up the good work- glad to see lovely fresh suspension making it on- if you'd like a spare rear subframe to rebuild, I have one knocking around... that one looks... interesting.

[nosuchuser]

carpetsoiler said:

ABS lights do go out by themselves if you fix the issue that they have.

£35 for a copy of INPA off eBay and it'll tell you *exactly* what the issue is, as well as being able to do funky things like measuring independent wheel speeds.

Keep up the good work- glad to see lovely fresh suspension making it on- if you'd like a spare rear subframe to rebuild, I have one knocking around... that one looks... interesting.

Ah bugger, deffo something knackered then! I've ordered one of the iCarsoft things, should have been here today, hopefully tomorrow. Need to do some more research on INPA and resurrect an old laptop for it, think I've got one with a serial port on it in storage.

Yeah, the rear suspension is interesting.. The dream I think, would be to find a complete M3 3.0 rear axle - lsd, subframe, wishbones, trailing arms and their brackets to swap right in. Fitting an lsd as you've suggested would be the right time to replace all that nasty rusty stuff.

Front struts are going in today, nearside wheels are at the refurb place to swap the centres so if I can find out whats wrong with the ABS tomorrow, order the parts and MOT Friday hopefully

[nosuchuser]

INPA it is then, the iCarsoft i910 doesn't read the ABS and exhibits the same behaviour as the Creator 310. The vendor is suggesting a software downgrade might help but I'm not convinced.

This is my diag port:



And according to some googling today, if pin 15 is populated, it's ADS rather than OBD (correct me if I'm wrong)

Getting started with inpa: http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f99/bmw-inpa-d...
Spoddy stuff about interfaces: http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f99/bmw-inpa-e...
Getting inpa to work via serial: http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f99/1999-e36-3...
Diagnostic port info: http://bmw-e36.com/tips/26-diagnostic-connector.ht...

ADS doesn't work via USB so will need a serial connector - so if it is ADS I need something like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321604578856?_trksid=p20...
or
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Diagnose-ADS-OBD1-2-...
or
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tiny-ADS-Interface-for-B...
which would require some physical setup
or the built version:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiny-ADS-Interface-with-di...

I've got an old Dell D630 with serial port...

Still, collected the nearside wheels from the refurb place today and the front struts are on so couple of steps forward..

Also carried out a bit more diy diagnosis of the front abs sensors as per http://www.bimmerforums.co.uk/forum/f92/how-diagno... and think one of them might be duff. I've ordered some pagid replacements from eurocarparts using their money off code and will have a bit of a play tomorrow..

[nosuchuser]

Back on the road

I had the car booked into local indy last week to look at the ABS issue and remove the rusted rtab bracket bolts but on the way to the garage, after about 2 mins on the road the lights went off and stayed off. Codes were read (50 Throttle Actuator Mechanical Defective, 81 Speed Sensor Front Left Open Circuit, 82 Speed Sensor Front Right Open Circuit, 209 Throttle Valve Electrical Defect), cleared and did not return. Hurrah.

Not hurrah: Garage mentioned there is a small crack on the part of the body where the n/s bracket attaches. Could be a problem. Passed MOT though, only comment from the tester was that the rear pads could do with changing.

I'll have a good dig around when I replace the rtabs (and the brackets...)

Garage also mentioned that the front lower control arms were not correct for the model - they do not have the elliptical bushes?

Good run out early this morning to Westerham, Edenbridge etc and pulled over for a couple of quick shots of the dirty, rusty we with the prokit on:






It feels a bit stiffer than it used to, still needs an alignment but that will have to wait for the rtabs to be done. Front arch to tyre gap is ok but the o/s rear is about 1 cm lower than n/s and can rub the arch (removing filler and rust in one fell swoop...)

Removed the rear wheels this afternoon and the o/s hub is about 1 cm lower than the other side but the distance from the rear shock mounts to ground is the same on both sides. Could be subframe bushes, I imagine they are properly knackered going by the condition of the other bushes...

Would be nice to have a bit of rear to front rake so I'm going to order some thicker upper spring seats, 1 for n/s and 2 for o/s to raise the rear a little and resolve the lean (hopefully) while I decide how to move forward with the rear end.

I think I'd really like an LSD, that ASC light was flickering a lot this morning . Cheers

[helix402]

I'd have a dig around your rear for more rust . Have you had the side skirts off and checked all the jacking points?