My E36...

[rozayE36]

top work!

[BenKoflach]

Just finally got round to getting the build sheet for the Touring, been meaning to get one for ages. As I suspected, it's basically a Sport with no other extra - :lol:





Have also ordered all the heater bits and have booked the day off next Wednesday to fix it all. Genuine coolant and a new Vanos microfilter also ordered.

[BenKoflach]

The Touring is 15 years old today. Yay.

Unfortunately it's sitting at home broken, so rather than taking it for a celebratory drive I'm just going to have to put up a picture of it. This was the first time I had it out on track at the PBMW track evening a couple of years ago, at Brands Hatch. Under M52 power at the time.



We have a track day coming up on Feb 24th at Brands again. £139 for a whole day of open pit lane - check it out below. See you there!

Performance BMW Car Track Day - Monday 24 Feb 2014

[BenKoflach]

Spent a day last week doing some repair and maintenance.

First up, replaced the broken heater connector. Not too bad-a-job, filled it up with Genuine coolant, bled it out and it was good to go. No more leaks and no more overheating! The heater also works better now that it's getting some pressure through it.



All back together



Then did my Vanos microfilter and o-rings. The filter looked alright but the lower o-ring (small black one) had just gone hard and clearly wasn't sealing properly. Replaced the bits, put it back in and the Touring is good to go again. I'm not sure if it's placebo effect but it also seems to pull more aggressively. It's that or the fact I haven't driven it for a couple of weeks - either way, I sh*t my pants when I put my foot down! 



Now the fuel gauge seems a bit suspect at times and this morning, my indicators stopped working. Brilliant.

[BenKoflach]

Not much of an update about the car as such, just a few other bits.

Firstly, new indicator relay has turned up so will throw that in and hopefully fix the issues with that.



Will also chuck this in the window at the same time. It's now been under S54 power for 6 months, don't know where the time has gone.



Fitted my old aFe induction kit to a friend's new 323i. Went for a spin in it and it made me realise how savage the S54 is compared to my old M52.



Paul46 text me the other day to say that my rear calipers are ready, so looking forward to getting those on Sunday. The rear kit uses 4-pot calipers and 336mm discs but came as an E34 M5 kit with red calipers. Now the colour has been corrected, I'll have to work out what needs doing with the brackets for fitment. As the discs are transferrable I'm partially hoping that the bracket will be the same or close to it.



Ran these to the tyre shop this morning, getting them shod ready for their new home. They're 8.5 and 10x18 with 215/40 and 225/35 tyres if I remember rightly - should be a nice challenge for the tyre fitters. Really not looking forward to seeing these go but will be grabbing a few shots back on the Touring before they leave my grasp.





And finally, haven't been able to stop myself researching things like this. Oops.

[BenKoflach]

Had a busy weekend. For starters, went out flood-wading in my friend's Landy 110. Got a little too brave but luckily the only dramas were water-filled headlights and blown bulbs. This is a road I usually cycle on.



The set about finding what was up with my indicators, as a few checks suggested the relay wasn't to fault. Didn't take long - tyre has gone through the wiring.



Fresh wiring, which I tucked down inside the chassis bar



Will do the other side the same when I have time. Indicators now fully working. Last thing to do was to trim down my rear brake dust shields, ready for the WP Pro kit to go on. Just waiting on the machine shop to finish skimming my brackets, which I needed to do as the kit is an E34 M5 one.

[Queef|Chief]

Great wagon my friend! Can never go wrong with a wagon

[BenKoflach]

Had yesterday at the PBMW trackday, which was pretty awesome.

I'd been waiting on brake pads for some time - I talk to Sam at WP Pro a lot and there had been a muck-up on the order before and so he sent the first set from the next batch they had available. Also, because of the mistake being on his end, he sent it two-day delivery from Canada, which I was impressed by as it can't have been cheap.

Anyway, I'd been checking TNT tracking as Sam had supplied me the consignment number and to my surprise, it ended up sitting at Heathrow for 4 days. It should have arrived last Wednesday, instead they arrived at my offices (just down the road from Brands, luckily) only yesterday. So I did my sighting laps, nipped to the office to grab the pads, and set about fitting them just behind the pitlane.

Pleased to report that despite tons of miles of service (I think around 30k since I've had the brakes) the pads had worn evenly and all the pistons moved freely. So getting the new pads in was nice and easy. I did a bit of bedding in with a quick run up and down the road (WP's pads don't need much bedding in at all) and then I hit the track. Only to find that the small vibration I'd had before soon turned into quite an alarming vibration.

A few quick checks and one of my track rod ends had completely given up, with the other not far behind. Great! This was another thing that was supposed to be changed before the track day but wasn't - long story. Quick phone call to a couple of local factors and one had the pair in stock, which I collected straight away and fitted trackside. I say me, but actually a mate had come along for the day with me and ended up doing most of the work because loads of people wanted to talk to me!

Anyway, pics:









In the end it did me proud - still have a few issues to resolve (slight vibration, massive fuel starvation, bit of a long brake pedal, need to get a Sport button to take it off sport mode, gearing is way too long) but it's fast, handling is good though a bit soft and the engine was faultless.

A couple of people put cameras in my car - this is the footage from one of them, which was Jonny from Car Promo's gear.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj8o4ntkwBg[/youtube]

And this is Rob from RAW taking it out

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scSC5FZBtRg[/youtube]

[Dr.AK]

Ben, your car is getting to be my fav Touring more and more...

even though it's red... even though it's missing roof rails. I love it, haha.

[Earl]

Ben has been hard at work on this monster: http://totalmcars.com/thread/643/e36...ng-s54?page=13

Randomly happened across that looking at reviews for the Bimmerworld Little Nicky shift knob.

I hope Ben comes back to start updating this thread because this is such a great touring=)

[NathanE-94]

Just finished reading all 19 pages! Excellent car, excellent read and excellent work man!!

[SnazzyQ]

Ben come back pls