E90 M3 - V8 saloon
Discussion
Long time, no update. Stuff has happened and pictures were taken, so I shall carry on below:
Firstly, that door lock. It needed to be changed, although after I'd replaced it I realised I hadn't replaced a fuse as the new lock didn't work at first... I'm sure the original was faulty though or it wouldn't have packed up in the first place. I only have about 1% doubt that I wasted ~£200 on a new lock though. Note to self: check fuses thoroughly and make sure they're back in the right place...
Off with the door card:
Door internals:
I think I got a bit carried away after that as there aren't any pictures of the old lock coming out or the new one going in.
The car was due a service now, and I'd not replaced the spark plugs during my ownership of nearly two years so I thought it best to swap them out and be sure they're all in good condition:
Airbox off. This takes about five minutes now I know how it's done:
Just to give you an idea, the coil packs are a tight fit, and the plugs are a fair way down in the cylinder heads:
Cylinder 8 was awkward to do but not that bad. Then we got to cylinder 4! This is the rear-most cylinder on the driver's side and there's a gnat's whisker of space to play with. Spot the extension socket on the end of the plug:
Alternate view that makes it look easy, but it really isn't:
See what I mean about no space?
We got there with less hassle than it actually looked, and I was relieved to see that all the spark plugs that came out were A) correct spec, and B) in really good condition, further confirming this car's been really well looked after before me.
Sample of spark plugs, sir?
Everything back together again and looking semi-pretty after a quick oily rag session:
Last but not least, the oil change:
The usual Castrol 10/60 was used but I'm considering changing to 10/50 on the next service so that the oil is just a bit thinner when cold and hot. I'm following M539 Restorations on Youtube and he's been using it for years and many miles so it looks worth a go.
More bits and pieces to follow soon. There's always something to tinker with
Firstly, that door lock. It needed to be changed, although after I'd replaced it I realised I hadn't replaced a fuse as the new lock didn't work at first... I'm sure the original was faulty though or it wouldn't have packed up in the first place. I only have about 1% doubt that I wasted ~£200 on a new lock though. Note to self: check fuses thoroughly and make sure they're back in the right place...
Off with the door card:
Door internals:
I think I got a bit carried away after that as there aren't any pictures of the old lock coming out or the new one going in.
The car was due a service now, and I'd not replaced the spark plugs during my ownership of nearly two years so I thought it best to swap them out and be sure they're all in good condition:
Airbox off. This takes about five minutes now I know how it's done:
Just to give you an idea, the coil packs are a tight fit, and the plugs are a fair way down in the cylinder heads:
Cylinder 8 was awkward to do but not that bad. Then we got to cylinder 4! This is the rear-most cylinder on the driver's side and there's a gnat's whisker of space to play with. Spot the extension socket on the end of the plug:
Alternate view that makes it look easy, but it really isn't:
See what I mean about no space?
We got there with less hassle than it actually looked, and I was relieved to see that all the spark plugs that came out were A) correct spec, and B) in really good condition, further confirming this car's been really well looked after before me.
Sample of spark plugs, sir?
Everything back together again and looking semi-pretty after a quick oily rag session:
Last but not least, the oil change:
The usual Castrol 10/60 was used but I'm considering changing to 10/50 on the next service so that the oil is just a bit thinner when cold and hot. I'm following M539 Restorations on Youtube and he's been using it for years and many miles so it looks worth a go.
More bits and pieces to follow soon. There's always something to tinker with
Small update! Not a lot has happened to the M3 of late. I've been using it for trips here and there, most noteable of late was driving from Kent to Oulton Park race circuit and back to watch some GT racing with a friend. There's definitely a drivetrain vibration again. I'm pretty sure it's the diff this time. Like the E46's, one side of the diff ends up with free play, and I reckon that's the issue. My diff is definitely worn so needs a rebuild anyway - it doesn't really lock any more, so I've bought a rebuild kit from Racing Diffs at a not-inconsiderable cost. It'll solve the problem as they include a compression washer that the OEM setup doesn't have, which means you don't have any free play on one side of the diff. Of course that meant I needed to buy a 12 ton floor standing press and a large vice too... Just need to build my work bench and I can crack on! The car now lives in a garage too as I've moved house:
I'll update once the diff is in pieces
I'll update once the diff is in pieces
Long time no update!
I'm pleased to say that I didn't end up selling the car or even SORNing it. I just drove it occasionally and remembered why it's excellent. Nothing between the last update and now has happened really. It had the usual yearly service that I give it regardless of mileage and passed its MOT again with no advisories. I couldn't believe I've spent next to no time or money maintaining the car this year as it's not really needed anything. It was about time that not working on this car changed! I had a job stored up for a long time that I really wanted to get stuck in to, but the new house renovation project kept pulling me away from; namely the diff rebuild. Well, I pulled my finger out and got on with it!
Not before a trip to Spa over the summer to watch some racing. Twice
I found a nice bit of countryside very near the circuit for a good shot of the car. I also tested my diff out, knowing I was going to schedule some time soon and rebuild it. I don't think it did number 11's very well.
With the racing trips finished it was time to get serious. I've never dropped the diff before, or any diff to be precise. I knew it was supposed to be fairly straightforward on this particular flavour of M3 but even so, this was silly quick. Less than two hours including faffing around jacking the car up, having a chat and probably a tea break for good measure and the car was looking like this:
Now, the bit that actually takes time if you haven't done it before. Taking the internals of the diff apart, replacing worn clutch stack in the 'LS' part of the LSD and also replacing all bearings and seals while in there.
Measuring backlash before touching anything, just so I had some kind of idea:
Professional image++ Makes me look like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it
I then took the LSD out of the casing, leaving only the pinion shaft/gear:
This is where it gets really scary. I had to grind out a small 'security' ball bearing that stops you undoing the ring that holds the LSD unit together. Big boy pants required here, brave pills etc. Once that was dealt with I used the special tool to undo the ring on top of the unit:
This then allows you to take the internals of the LSD apart. Here we have the viscous coupler unit, clutch stack and the top spider gear in the middle:
Looking inside the casing at the rest of the spider gears. This is the 'open diff' part:
Spider gears removed. Just a bare case now:
Here they are ready for cleaning:
Now, change of underwear required again as you have to grind the old bearing races off, after physically breaking the old bearing cages and letting all the roller bearings fall out everywhere. It's the only way to remove them:
Pressing the new bearing on was much less scary:
Here's the old clutch stack. Smooth plate followed by friction plate. Rinse and repeat through the stack. The washer on the left sits at the bottom of the LSD casing under the first spider gear. My rebuild kit replaces that flat washer with a spring washer variant. This eliminates the slop you get in the passenger side output flange as the diff wears during normal use. That was another major reason for doing this rebuild, and probably the main cause of vibration I could feel under acceleration.
On to the pinion shaft. This little bugger took a full 10 ton of pressure (out of 12 available on my press
) to remove. Boy, did it go BANG when it let go. More underwear... The reason it didn't want to let go soon became clear. The bearing on the input side of the pinion had some corrosion somehow on the side of the race pressed up on to the pinion shaft:
More grinding of old bearing races. This one you had to be particularly careful with as the bearing race gets much thicker towards the pinion gear where it's a double bearing of different diameters. I really, really didn't want to start slicing the shaft itself up, so concentrated very hard on this one!
Pressing out the old bearing races in the diff casing proved to be awkward for one of them. I bodged my way around that one with a Heath-Robinson setup on my press, but it worked!
Once all the bearings were sorted it was just a case of pressing in the pinion shaft, one input and two output oil seals, and then the LSD unit could be slotted back in the casing. After checking the correct breakaway torque had been achieved, or course. I wasn't 100% sure I'd got it right the first time so I took the LSD unit apart again just to be sure. I also needed to measure the rotational torque of the pinion shaft with the new bearings and crush washer. I was happy that I'd got it as good as it was possible to get so sealed the unit up and put some fresh oil in while it was still on the bench, Much easier than when it's back on the car!
All complete:
I gave the casing the worst paint job ever after this pic, just to protect from the worst of the weather. It'll be coming off again at some point in the future as I intend to do an underside refurb.
Here's the diff back in the car, exhaust back on etc, ready to drive:
So, does it work better? Is it still clunky? Well, there's no noise apart from a bit of groaning from the clutch discs when doing tight turns, which i expect to go away as everything wears in. There's no vibration at all now and no clunking either. Not from the diff at least. The fact that it's in perfect condition has highlighted that it's the gearbox which also has a small amount of slop. The whine I was experiencing is still there so I'm now sure it's the gearbox at fault. It's barely noticeable in third gear and quite loud in fourth. Who can blame it at 155k miles? New bearings required in there too methinks. I've got a plan up my sleeve for that, but we'll have to see how much over time I can do at work to pay for it!
I'm pleased to say that I didn't end up selling the car or even SORNing it. I just drove it occasionally and remembered why it's excellent. Nothing between the last update and now has happened really. It had the usual yearly service that I give it regardless of mileage and passed its MOT again with no advisories. I couldn't believe I've spent next to no time or money maintaining the car this year as it's not really needed anything. It was about time that not working on this car changed! I had a job stored up for a long time that I really wanted to get stuck in to, but the new house renovation project kept pulling me away from; namely the diff rebuild. Well, I pulled my finger out and got on with it!
Not before a trip to Spa over the summer to watch some racing. Twice
I found a nice bit of countryside very near the circuit for a good shot of the car. I also tested my diff out, knowing I was going to schedule some time soon and rebuild it. I don't think it did number 11's very well.
With the racing trips finished it was time to get serious. I've never dropped the diff before, or any diff to be precise. I knew it was supposed to be fairly straightforward on this particular flavour of M3 but even so, this was silly quick. Less than two hours including faffing around jacking the car up, having a chat and probably a tea break for good measure and the car was looking like this:
Now, the bit that actually takes time if you haven't done it before. Taking the internals of the diff apart, replacing worn clutch stack in the 'LS' part of the LSD and also replacing all bearings and seals while in there.
Measuring backlash before touching anything, just so I had some kind of idea:
Professional image++ Makes me look like I know what I'm doing, doesn't it
I then took the LSD out of the casing, leaving only the pinion shaft/gear:
This is where it gets really scary. I had to grind out a small 'security' ball bearing that stops you undoing the ring that holds the LSD unit together. Big boy pants required here, brave pills etc. Once that was dealt with I used the special tool to undo the ring on top of the unit:
This then allows you to take the internals of the LSD apart. Here we have the viscous coupler unit, clutch stack and the top spider gear in the middle:
Looking inside the casing at the rest of the spider gears. This is the 'open diff' part:
Spider gears removed. Just a bare case now:
Here they are ready for cleaning:
Now, change of underwear required again as you have to grind the old bearing races off, after physically breaking the old bearing cages and letting all the roller bearings fall out everywhere. It's the only way to remove them:
Pressing the new bearing on was much less scary:
Here's the old clutch stack. Smooth plate followed by friction plate. Rinse and repeat through the stack. The washer on the left sits at the bottom of the LSD casing under the first spider gear. My rebuild kit replaces that flat washer with a spring washer variant. This eliminates the slop you get in the passenger side output flange as the diff wears during normal use. That was another major reason for doing this rebuild, and probably the main cause of vibration I could feel under acceleration.
On to the pinion shaft. This little bugger took a full 10 ton of pressure (out of 12 available on my press
) to remove. Boy, did it go BANG when it let go. More underwear... The reason it didn't want to let go soon became clear. The bearing on the input side of the pinion had some corrosion somehow on the side of the race pressed up on to the pinion shaft:More grinding of old bearing races. This one you had to be particularly careful with as the bearing race gets much thicker towards the pinion gear where it's a double bearing of different diameters. I really, really didn't want to start slicing the shaft itself up, so concentrated very hard on this one!
Pressing out the old bearing races in the diff casing proved to be awkward for one of them. I bodged my way around that one with a Heath-Robinson setup on my press, but it worked!
Once all the bearings were sorted it was just a case of pressing in the pinion shaft, one input and two output oil seals, and then the LSD unit could be slotted back in the casing. After checking the correct breakaway torque had been achieved, or course. I wasn't 100% sure I'd got it right the first time so I took the LSD unit apart again just to be sure. I also needed to measure the rotational torque of the pinion shaft with the new bearings and crush washer. I was happy that I'd got it as good as it was possible to get so sealed the unit up and put some fresh oil in while it was still on the bench, Much easier than when it's back on the car!
All complete:
I gave the casing the worst paint job ever after this pic, just to protect from the worst of the weather. It'll be coming off again at some point in the future as I intend to do an underside refurb.
Here's the diff back in the car, exhaust back on etc, ready to drive:
So, does it work better? Is it still clunky? Well, there's no noise apart from a bit of groaning from the clutch discs when doing tight turns, which i expect to go away as everything wears in. There's no vibration at all now and no clunking either. Not from the diff at least. The fact that it's in perfect condition has highlighted that it's the gearbox which also has a small amount of slop. The whine I was experiencing is still there so I'm now sure it's the gearbox at fault. It's barely noticeable in third gear and quite loud in fourth. Who can blame it at 155k miles? New bearings required in there too methinks. I've got a plan up my sleeve for that, but we'll have to see how much over time I can do at work to pay for it!
Thanks everyone! It took me a while of watching the Youtube video that Racing Diffs made showing how to rebuild this, to fully understand what was going on. Once I got my head around it I was happy to take mine to pieces and now I've done a full rebuild on it I'm confident it wouldn't take half the time if I did another. I was being extra careful and double checking everything first time around.
Running costs wise, I wouldn't say it's been bad at all. My main spends on this car have been the suspension refresh, rod bearings and the diff rebuild. It's just 'old car' stuff that needed doing to bring it back to excellent condition. I bet there aren't many out there with this level of work and yet they'll sell for loads more than my car simply for being lower mileage examples. The tax cost grates a bit; it's much more than my insurance for the year! Petrol cost is a consideration but you don't buy a car like this for MPG returns
Running costs wise, I wouldn't say it's been bad at all. My main spends on this car have been the suspension refresh, rod bearings and the diff rebuild. It's just 'old car' stuff that needed doing to bring it back to excellent condition. I bet there aren't many out there with this level of work and yet they'll sell for loads more than my car simply for being lower mileage examples. The tax cost grates a bit; it's much more than my insurance for the year! Petrol cost is a consideration but you don't buy a car like this for MPG returns
Gallons Per Mile said:
Thanks everyone! It took me a while of watching the Youtube video that Racing Diffs made showing how to rebuild this, to fully understand what was going on. Once I got my head around it I was happy to take mine to pieces and now I've done a full rebuild on it I'm confident it wouldn't take half the time if I did another. I was being extra careful and double checking everything first time around.
Running costs wise, I wouldn't say it's been bad at all. My main spends on this car have been the suspension refresh, rod bearings and the diff rebuild. It's just 'old car' stuff that needed doing to bring it back to excellent condition. I bet there aren't many out there with this level of work and yet they'll sell for loads more than my car simply for being lower mileage examples. The tax cost grates a bit; it's much more than my insurance for the year! Petrol cost is a consideration but you don't buy a car like this for MPG returns
The maintenance for stuff like the suspension didn’t worry me too much,but the fuel bill was going to get tedious for me doing somewhere between 12-14k a year and my current project is in Holyhead, a 360 mile round trip. The tax is brutal though.Running costs wise, I wouldn't say it's been bad at all. My main spends on this car have been the suspension refresh, rod bearings and the diff rebuild. It's just 'old car' stuff that needed doing to bring it back to excellent condition. I bet there aren't many out there with this level of work and yet they'll sell for loads more than my car simply for being lower mileage examples. The tax cost grates a bit; it's much more than my insurance for the year! Petrol cost is a consideration but you don't buy a car like this for MPG returns
Doesn’t stop me wanting one though.
Gallons Per Mile said:
Worth every penny. It's a fantastic engine in a small-ish car. I find it really comfortable to do long distance in by the way...
Indeed, the engine is a masterpiece.The E9x is a nice size; my 335i is comfortable and did a great job lugging us to Devon and back a few weeks ago, both trips with no stops.
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