Yet another e36 328i sport coupe

[nosuchuser]

Yes, really.

Bit of previous..
205 xs
Uni cars: Nissan Sunny, mk1 XR2, Capri 2.8i
Volvo 360 glt - crashed, fractured spine, scared me off rwd for a good long time.
405 sri - sold
405 mi16 - dog, sold
309 gti - loved and sold
VW Type 3 - loved and actually cried when I sold it:



And then Volvos again, needed a slag for commuting and started with a 850 2.0 10v. Way too slow so s70 T5, 940 2.3t culminating in this v70R:



At one point I had 3 volvos at the same time.. Weirdo. And some boring things like Nissan Primera, VW Polo, Fiat Panda

In 2008 I came very close to buying a 993 but other priorities took over. Still kick myself about the missed 30k c2s.

V70 got written off in 2010 after a driver didn't apply their handbrake on a hill. Much wrangling with insurance ensued and it didn't end well. Saab 95 aero replaced the v70 as the family wagon. It's ok, just ok.

After lurking on The Best //M/Barge.. thread for some time I realised I really needed a toy. Considered boxter, integra, gtv v6, westfield, usual suspects but I wanted RWD, something I could spanner the easy bits on myself and something cheap to run but still amusing. Needed 4 seats as well.

Last spring I went looking at various 328's, saw some dogs, saw some ok and one lovely one which turned out to be a cat d. Bugger. Owner claimed to have no idea.

Then this one came up on pistonheads. Yes, I paid too much for it but way less than the asking.











From Bimmer.work
Model 328i - EUR
Development Code E36 (2)
Chassis COUPE
Steering RL
Doors 2
Engine M52
Displacement 2.80
Power 142
Drivetrain HECK
Transmission MECH
Color Titansilber Metallic - 354
Upholstery Leder Standard/schwarz - P7SW
Production Plant REGENSBURG
Production Date 1998-06-04

Standard Equipment
214 Automatic Stability Control+traction
246 Steering Column Adjustment Mechanical
285 Lt/aly Wheels Bmw Styling
410 Window Lifts, Electric At Front
465 Through-load System
510 Headlight Beam-throw Contr. F Low Beam
520 Foglights
542 Check Control
853 Language Version English
Options
314 Heated Windscreen Washer Nozzles
337 M Sport Package M
354 Green Stripe Windscreen -
401 Sliding/vent Roof, Electric
428 Warning Triangle
431 Interior Rr Vw Mirror W Aut Anti-d
441 Smokers Package
473 Armrest, Front
481 Sport Seats F Driver/front Passenger
494 Seat Heating F Driver/front Passenger
498 Headrests In Rear, Mechanic. Adjustable
508 Park Distance Control (pdc)
528 Automatic Air Recirculation Control(auc)
534 Automatic Air Conditioning
554 On-board Computer
669 Radio Bmw Business Rds
674 Hifi Loudspeaker System Harman Kardon
694 Preparation For Cd Changer
704 M Sport Suspension
710 M Leather Steering Wheel
767 Individualserie Schweiz
785 White Direction Indicator Lights
786 Measures 17"-wheels
812 England Version
850 Add Fuel Tank Filling For Export
863 Europe/dealer Directory Service
880 English / On-board Documentation
962 Motorkennfeld
Information
686 Diversity-function Aerial

Original complete toolkit, first aid kit, jack and glovebox torch

Initial thoughts after I bought it and a 250 mile trip back:
It has some issues, the rear arches are full of filler and need to be cut out and replaced. Car's had a cheap respray at some point to tart it up so will need done again as the rubbers weren't removed and it's flaking around the windows (I can't help thinking the new wings are arctic rather than titan silver). Rear trailing arms and suspension components are quite rusty as well. There's also a bit of rust on the floor pan which needs investigating. Jack points need looking at as well.

Slightly annoyed I didn't pick up on the respray when I was inspecting it... Still, plenty of time to get it done.

Car has a chequered service history, first owner stopped servicing it in 2006 and bar remedial work for mot's, there's no history for the period 2006 to 2015. Second owner picked it up as a trade in and had inspection 2 done @49k early 2015 and then did the following: Refurbished alloys, replaced fuel tank straps, replaced both rear springs, new front track rod ends, replaced O/S and N/S front lower suspension arms, replaced both front wings with BMW parts due to rust.

Needed new boots, pair of Wanli ditchfinders on the back, fronts were Continentals of unspecified age, shoulders cracked on all 4.

Leather appears in good condition, slight wear to driver's bolster. It's got the HK speaker setup, BMW Business radio cassette, BMW 6 disc changer in the boot. Climate control which works reasonably well, 18 button OBC etc

I'm impressed by the interior build quality so far, feels really well put together for an 18 year old car. Love the stitching on the steering wheel.

Standard apart from some parts of the airbox have been removed (still got) and the golf tee mod on the vacuum pipe on the exhaust.

On the list to do:
Engine mounts - ABS light can come on and stay on, rip in the bonnet sound proofing makes me think they need done.
Rust
Transmission and Diff oil change - First to second can be a bit awkward. The gear stick doesn't centre very well back from 5th until the gearbox is warm.
Chromed bulbs for the front indicators - Don't really want to go ambers and don't like the fried egg look
Rear pop out seals - enough said.
Creaking clutch pedal. Delrin bearings to be ordered
Bushes
Dampers - dust boots are fecked and these seem to be the original yellow dampers. Might need to be changed
Rust
Weird clunk at the back. Hopefully not shock tower mount thingies and just a loose exhaust mount
Headlight condensation..
Rust
Rear pdc's don't work.
External temp sensor missing.
Thorough check over of the brake system
Cooling system - pipe work looks good but will probably replace the usual bits over the summer.
Proper CD43 unit

HPI checked it, contacted original dealer to confirm service status, mileage ramps up evenly from the old MOT's so fairly happy it's not been clocked.

Things done so far:
Changed the passenger door actuator.. Got the old one out, couldn't get the new one in. Much swearing ensued, cracked the replacement's plastic trying to lever the fker in with a screwdriver. I had to remove the whole latch assembly and found out I'd bent the front locating pin forward when I'd removed the dead actuator so there wasn't a hope in hell of the new one going back on in situ. Now have doors and boot locking from either side. Car has factory alarm and fob but missing the key to enable/disable the alarm itself so a bit wary of messing around with it.

Replaced the cheap battery with a Bosch (Costco) and Michelin Pilot Sport 4 again from Costco. 225/45 at the front and 245/40 rears. With the £60 off, just under £400. Also changed the Saab from old, nearly worn out PS3's to PS4's.

I thought Costco had managed to fit the 225 to the 8.5 wheel and the 245 to the 7.5 on one side but after checking and measuring, looks like when the wheels were refurbed, the wrong centres were put on the 2 rims. Tyres on right rims, centres need to be swapped over. If you look at the head on shot from the vendors pics, the passenger side tyre protrudes further than drivers side. A1 Alloys in Bromley at some point then, hopefully, just centre swaps rather than full refurb.

New key, pop out seals, engine mounts and clutch bushings sourced from BMW - Not as expensive as I'd thought they'd be, mildly surprised.

Replaced the FSR as the fan wasn't working correctly. Changed bulbs in the OBC which was separated into 2 sections from some reason - all good now.

De-fried egg:



Many early morning hoons were enjoyed over the summer. Would like to get on a novice trackday at Brands at some point when they are next available. Only track experience I've had is lots of go kart racing and a couple of jollies with Palmer motorsport.

Car has been off the road since Oct, moved back and forth to stop flat spots every week or so.

Got all the parts for oil service, change belts etc and yesterday I thought I'd jack it up and check how bad the jack pad metal really is before it goes up on the stands for a week while the wheels go to the shop to swap the centres.

Found out the crossover bar behind the engine isn't a safe place for jack stands:



Time for an M3 x brace then.

Jack pad areas at back had no actual pads and have a bit of surface rust (2-3 mm deep) but having had a really good dig around, very solid under the rust. Need to get busy with a drill and wire brush and get some Bilt Hamber on them. inside the holes is dry and dusty. Front ones still had the plastic inserts and no rust but there was a lot of wet muck in the actual jack pads themselves so cleaned out. I'm tempted to drill some drainage holes in the pads.
There are also some areas where the underseal has come away and some surface rust but I think I can deal with that.

I do need to find a place for the rear jack stands though while working on the rear jack pad area. Read on another forum about the toe plates just in front of the rtab mount. Will try that and see how it goes.

Had a really good dig around the rtabs. Again, fair bit of surface rust and accumulated mank. Pretty sure the rtabs are fked. I think I'll go with the Rogue Engineering black compound, read good things about them and the install doesn't seem massively hard. Famous last words.

At the front, drop links (? - Stabiliser Links on RealOEM) look fked, really rusty. Car has new wishbones and the drop links really let it down.

So, get wheel centres sorted, rtabs, oil change, belts, engine mounts, MOT, alignment, gearbox and diff fluid, overhaul cooling, change brake pads depending on wear.

Less important things: take the front bumper off, get it lined up properly with the drivers side wheel arch (maybe add a M3 lip spoiler), sort out external temp sensor (I can feel the probe in the passenger side brake duct so need to check wiring), change drop links. Will have to keep an eye on rust, there is a pinprick of rust on the body under the boot lid shutline and also some under the battery that needs to be dealt with and of course, the rear arches. Need to get the skirts off and check over the sills as well. Under the doors looks like new.

Future plans: Upgrade brakes, H&R ARB's, replace dampers with correct parts, no oil leaks present at this time. Rear springs were changed in 2015.
Then book a time with alpina527 then go see Jason @BW for a remap. Maybe some cams from Just Deutsch in a year or so.

Still haven't got round to the clutch bushings.

When it's been run over the winter to warm though and trundle back and forth on the drive, it can sound a bit tappety at the top, oil is a bit low but it doesn't appear to have any leaks underneath, will keep an eye on it post oil change.

And, got a CD43 off of ebay.de for a reasonable price. Should be dh'ling its merry way here as I type. Worried the autochanger is on its way out as was being a bit precious selecting disks last year.

Rear spoiler and clear indicators will be staying!

Cheers

[nosuchuser]

Yeah, that Avus is a great colour. Simota is also on list of potentials. I think BW still sell them so when I get down there for a remap...

Rossi, as you're local, it would be good to meet up when mines back on the road to compare noises

Chris - you're on for Brands

CD43 arrived from Germany in some serious packaging, including a couple of the blokes old t-shirts. Interesting.



Front looks good, little dink above the screw cover on the rhs but wont be too noticeable. Annoyingly the pins for the screw covers are broken except for one. Will have to see what can be done about that. Maybe some judicious blutak...
Might need a new volume knob as well.

Looking at x braces on ebay, all looking a bit rough. Found a place in Holland that will supply genuine, new for 135 euro delivered which I thought was reasonable but had a quote from Cotswold BMW, £121 delivered inc bolts and nutserts, that'll do.

[nosuchuser]

Cheers carpetsoiler, some responses:

carpetsoiler said:

Engine mounts - ABS light can come on and stay on, rip in the bonnet sound proofing makes me think they need done.
Yes- engine mounts are a common problem. M3 ones are solid rubber and direct retrofit. There's a very real chance that the subframe itself is torn- they are not made of very thick metal. So it's best to replace the subframe at the same time. A friend of mine makes reinforced ones that solve all these issues!

I've already got the standard mounts from BMW, just need to fit them, will check the subframe when next under it. Didn't know tearing was an issue, probably want to do this before fitting the nutserts for the brace.

carpetsoiler said:

Transmission and Diff oil change - First to second can be a bit awkward. The gear stick doesn't centre very well back from 5th until the gearbox is warm. Redline D4 ATF. 1.2-1.4 litres. Drop it all when the engine's warm. 17mm socket. Make sure the car's level so use a ramp or a pit. For the diff, 75w140 if it's an LSD, and if it isn't, why isn't it? 75w90 for regular open diff.

LSD would be nice, not overly fussed, not intending this to be a drift slag, more oem+. Question though, does the ASC still function if you've an LSD fitted?
Adding an LSD seems a fairly large chunk for something I'm not going to use that much..
Royal Purple Synchromax was the fluid I had in mind. And of course, make sure the filler plug will come out before draining

carpetsoiler said:

Rear pop out seals - enough said. They're expensive from BMW, but worth doing.

Again, got these already, prepping parts list for a respray in the far future

carpetsoiler said:

Creaking clutch pedal. Delrin bearings to be ordered I've not got to the bottom of this on mine yet. I was considering dousing it in a liberal dose of white grease/lithium grease/etc.

I've picked up the correct bushes from BMW, just need to summon the enthusiasm and back flexibility to get in there and do it! Not looking forward to it..

carpetsoiler said:

Bushes Use Powerflex Black for front lollipop bushes and rear trailing arm bushes, Powerflex Purple for ARB bushes, subframe bushes, etc

I'm torn between oem and the Rogue Engineering Blacks from CAInt. RE ones will be easier to DIY and are silicon impregnated so allegedly less likely to squeak than Powerflex, I'll have to pay someone to do the oem ones though.
Need to check the fcabs.

carpetsoiler said:

Dampers - dust boots are fecked and these seem to be the original yellow dampers. Might need to be changed. It's old suspension, change it for a decent kit and you'll notice a night and day difference. Springs and shocks- Bilstein B10 Power Kit for mad tyte lows (not too low) and great handling, or Bilstein B12 Sportline/Pro kit for slightly more subtle and speedbump-friendly drop, as well as frankly excellent handling. I actually have a spare set of B12 Sportline suspension currently from my 328 Sport that's done about 7,000 miles tops. If you want to go coilovers, Bilstein B14, Eibach Pro Street or KW V1- I run the V1s on my daily 328 Sport and they're incredible. You need 13mm spacers for the front wheels though.

Bilstein B12 Sportline sounds like the way to go, close to oem, not too low and will give a more nose down attitude. Not intending on changing the wheels and the front tyre to arch gap could be improved. Something to think about..

I must admit, I don't understand coilovers, maybe I'm too old. What are they going to give me over the standard damper and spring setup?

It would be good to have the definitive on the m-sport suspension. I've read that the 328i sport came with the avus suspension setup - is this the 704 m-sport suspension option? Anyone seen avus in an vin dump?
Guess I need to get the p/n off the current dampers and check on realoem.
There's no wallow or bounce in the damping that I recall from last years driving. I had a failing rear shock on the 95 aero earlier this year, it was very noticeable on the motorway (corkscrew motion over expansion joints) and over speed bumps (rebound severely compromised). Not felt anything like this in this car.

carpetsoiler said:

Weird clunk at the back. Hopefully not shock tower mount thingies and just a loose exhaust mount Two birds, one stone- new suspension kit, replace the top mounts, off you go.

Shock tower mounts also on list to do at some point. (along with CDV delete, purple tag rack etc etc)
While in this area - subframe reinforcement? Some say it's a must for a fast road/occasional track car. Will have to get the carpet out the boot and have a good look from above and below.

carpetsoiler said:

Headlight condensation.. Either drill 3 large holes in the high beam light cover, or just remove them for a few days until they clear. Rinse and repeat.

Got this under control at the moment - as you say, pop the covers off and let it dry out and repeat as required. New headlight bulbs at some point as well.

carpetsoiler said:

Rear pdc's don't work. Stick the car in reverse on ignition 2 so they 'activate'. Walk round the back. Crouch down. Head next to each sensor. Wave a hand in front of it. If it clicks, it's fine. If it doesn't, it's borked. Alternatively, get a copy of INPA and an old Windows XP laptop, and scan with INPA. You can scan each module for fault codes, and it'll tell you exactly what the problem might be.

Thanks, will play and see whats what. Not heard of the INPA thing, interesting.

carpetsoiler said:

External temp sensor missing. BONG - no, it's not -37ºC, bugger off. Plugs in the... passenger side brake duct, from memory.

The probe is present in the passenger side duct, need to check wiring, voltage etc. I think I'm looking for +5v to be present - again, not urgent though.

carpetsoiler said:

Thorough check over of the brake system ATE Typ200, if you want a cheap but decent upgrade then some E46 320d/328i/325i front brakes are a good idea. Use the carriers and discs. 300mm up from 286mm, bolts straight to the original caliper.

Thanks, need to get the wheels off and look at pad depth, not upgrading till I need to.

carpetsoiler said:

Cooling system - pipe work looks good but will probably replace the usual bits over the summer. Water pump and thermostat are kind of a rite of passage job when you own an E36. Worth doing. Metal impeller pumps are cheap and plentiful, and an ally stat housing is a good idea too.

Yeah, I've heard. As it's a 98 build should already be metal impeller but better safe than sorry.

All good info, from a man who knows and loves these cars - much appreciated, cheers

It does seem like I've a load to spend on the car but it doesn't need to be done all at once. I only did about 750 miles in it last year, it's just cracked 51k and I imagine I'll do about 1k this year.

[nosuchuser]

Paul S4 said:

Just out of interest....How much was that BMW CD player ?

200 euro delivered. Better get it in tomorrow and check it's working properly. Intention is to disconnect the boot change and put in android connector.

Thanks for the positive comments all.

[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

[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...

[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

[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

[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

[nosuchuser]

helix402 said:

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

I've just dropped the trailing arm brackets.. I've got bigger issues...

[nosuchuser]

I've changed my rtabs to the Rogue Engineering ones.. It's been a journey of some horrible discoveries. Going to need more than some weld in reinforcement

That hole really shouldn't be there:


There's another nice hole just out of shot on the lhs. No holes on the n/s console but just as fked. Not good, not good at all. A lot of swearing. The captive nuts are still solid and at least they've not ripped out of the body. The repair sections for the rtab consoles are £250 from BMW but I'm thinking it might be worth changing the whole rear carrier going on condition of the subframe. This isn't going to be cheap bodyshop will probably need to drop the subframe, fuel tanks etc to weld the replacements in. Will be trying to get some quotes over the next couple of weeks. Might as well do the rear arches at the same time but that leads to respray.. I need to get the skirts off to check the sills more thoroughly, I dread to think what else I'll find.

Surprised it held together:


Post bearing removal, all the aluminium bearing carrier had corroded to the trailing arms:


Carnage after some fun with the angle grinder:


Cleaned up the trailing arms then installed new bushes. Removing the old ones wasn't much fun but the RE ones went in quite easily, mounted with new rtab brackets:


I've also added a 21.5mm upper spring seat on the o/s and a 10mm seat on the n/s to try and even the lean out:

[nosuchuser]

helix402 said:

Ouch! You do with a good fabricator like my friend who helped with my E46 rust repair, all these were made from 0.9mm flat steel sheet:

Yeah, a good fabricator would be handy. Still need it welded in though!

I went down to a place in Rochester that had been recommended here. On the phone the guy said bring it down and we'll have a look. When I got there they said they had no idea how to do it or how much to quote it at.. This was to replace with the bmw parts. Mildly annoying.

The hunt continues... Everything else on hold while this gets investigated.

Insurance came round again. 270 with Flux via confused with the mods declared which was significantly lower than A-plan..

[nosuchuser]

Just had a long discussion with a mobile welder. Easy enough he says to cut out the old and replace with the replacement sections but I'll need to drop the fuel tank (which entails driveshaft removal which leads to guibo replacement, rear exhaust removal etc).

I may well have bitten off more than I can chew...