MLM's E36 M3 rebuild thread.

[Jersh]

How long did it take you to do the CDV delete? I'm debating doing it to mine.

[chuckie]

Decent read but as soon as this gif came up, everything else just disappeared.

this!
I need more awesome full of random gif posts!

[CrackerTeg]

Decent read but as soon as this gif came up, everything else just disappeared.

[mrg7243]

Meh

[MommysLittleMonster]

Ya love this one.. i know thread is bit old but i really liked the stuff.. i think my thought process matches with you.. Thanks again

Glad you enjoyed the read.

I've been meaning to update this, but I don't have much to share that's significant.

Since I've gotten my Prelude back out, I've been kind of putting the M3 on the backburner to keep the miles off of it. The Prelude gets 30mpg without flinching, so it's a little bit easier to feed driving 50+ miles a day for work.




Bought an M50 intake manifold in hopes of doing the swap, but then I bought a house so all of my money disappeared.



Drove it to my parent's cottage in Wolcott, and was promptly met with the fucking Rio Grande river crossing the access road. The pictures do it no justice whatsoever. It was about a foot and a half deep by two feet wide. Somehow I 3-wheeled it across without gouging the underside of the car.



After that misadventure, it earned a bath when I got home.


I also deleted this little annoyance from my clutch hardline. It's the "Fat Americans Can't Drive A Manual Transmission Properly So Lets Add A Delay Valve" ...thing.

I don't know who's bright idea this piece of shit was.

Then I ripped apart my induction facilities and cleaned my MAF and checked my intake boot for tears (read: a reason to delete the ASC). After removing a few magical pixies and dead dragons from my air filter, I gave everything a good cleaning. If you own an E36 and have not done this, get off your ass and go do it right now.


After deleting the CDV and cleaning the MAF, the car drove like a totally different animal. It was much more responsive, precise, and I could do siqq driftz without worrying about trashing my clutch.



And then I realized I'm due for an inspection this month, and my rear tires are down to the wearbars.

Enter: some less-trashed 215/45R17's on my Style 5's for temporary rear shoes.


They aren't pretty, they rub a tad, and nothing matches. But hopefully it's enough to get a new inspection sticker. :

That's all for now, hopefully I'll get some time to paint it before things get too close to our wedding day.

Until next time.

[JonathanMendez]

Well fuck






Back the truck up.





After not having anything to do for a month, I decided it was time to take apart my Style 5's and finally get around to re-polishing the lips and cleaning them up. I am the type of person that cannot sit still for longer than an hour on the weekends, so I found some motivation (read: beer) and got to work thursday night.


I don't know if any of you are paying attention to the news for the ridiculous gun laws that they are passing in New York, but I said to Cuomo and used my ASSAULT DRILL and a polishing wheel to help me along.


Its got a 30-drill mag with a Mongoose peg silencer, and a Brawny "Black Edition" scope. I can only carry 7 bits at a time. I had this baby locked on full-Drill mode, not that semi-Masonry drill mode.


And on the third polishing pass I rested, and it was good.



I had a few spare hours on Saturday while my wife-to-be was trying on wedding dresses, so my father-in-law and I went to test fit my Style 5's for shits and giggles.

The rear should tuck up higher to the body line, as I didn't have it evenly blocked out back. Lack of lumber = no bueno



The front didn't look bad. I took a moment to realize my front end alignment is







Overall: I am satisfied, and I'll probably rock these for a little while.

Ya love this one.. i know thread is bit old but i really liked the stuff.. i think my thought process matches with you.. Thanks again

[MommysLittleMonster]

So, here's the last update I might have for a little while. I'm closing on a house in two months, so I'm trying to save all that I can right now- which means car parts take a back seat for a while.

On April 21st, Watkins Glen had it's opening weekend where you could take your car out on the track for "pace laps". We knew the guy leading the group both times, and he kept a "spirited" pace for the most part. I hung toward the back with two or three other guys, who proceeded to lag like crazy, then blast through a few sections of the track as fast as we could manage.

I'm really pleased with the car, it was well balanced with just a touch of understeer in the tight twisties. Overall, it carved the corners well, hauled ass on the straights, and felt very much at home between the rumble strips. My fiance was my passenger and took care of taking photos for the better half of the day.













We bailed after two sessions and went and got some food, then our smaller group of friends made some stops at a few wineries along Seneca lake.








Then I threw the keys to my better half and let her drive on the way home as I played with the camera and took a nap.



That's all for now, hopefully the next update will involve a new garage to park inside of.

[nellydragracer]

It's always good to see maintenance done properly on these cars and lol at the fuel filter, I see it all the time at work and it's normally "This ten year old car has a full dealer service history, and when was the fuel filter last changed? NEVER"

[Chuckdee]

I'm lovin' this thread, really I am. I laughed, I cried, I've killed an hour, all thanks to you.

Looking forward to more!

[Rob&co]

nice Chris most people I know over look the "little" things good job!

[MommysLittleMonster]

So it finally got nicer outside here in Rochester, which means I've been able to daily my M3 for the last few weeks. I'll bring it up to speed.




I decided it was time to clean out my interior and give everything the once-over.


The coin holders all stuck and worked like assmeat, so I took the coin holders and cup holders apart (read: fell apart in my hands when I took them out) and found this funk caked all over everything.





Obviously, no one is was as anal-retentive as I am with keeping this car nice.

OUT COMES THE PURPLE POWER.


While those things soaked, I pulled the car into the shop and started to tackle other little jobs. First up, rear diff fluid change.

Now, if none of you have ever had the privilege (or curse) of doing a rear diff service, let me save you a few bucks. The rear diff drain plug and fill plug are both 14mm hex plugs. You might think, "FUCK YEAH I have one of those for my 1/2" ratchet!" and you'd look like a fucking tool. The rear diff and trunk are so close, that you can't really fit anything in there besides a modified allen wrench. Or... if you get creative like me, a 14mm bolt head and a box-end wrench.

I found a 14mm seatbelt bolt left over from my Prelude and tackwelded a nut onto it , to essentially make a drain plug removal tool. Insert it into the plug, wrench on it with the appropriate box end, and walah.



Now as you can see, my rear diff seals were beyond destroyed. Luckily, I ordered new ones from Turner with the rest of my shit. Crisis averted.



Diff boobs lol.


Reinstall and top off the rear diff with Redline unicorn blood


And badda-bing, you have a quieter rear diff and a happier limited slip carrier.

Next up- valve cover gasket.
Mine had been leaking my expensive 5w-40 Motul on the exhaust manifold and created an annoying oil burning smell. So I had to investigate where it was coming from- that shit had to go.


I found it dumping oil right next to the Vanos cover, and promptly removed it with one hand.


It looked like the previous owner took good care of the motor and kept up with oil changes, there was next to no gunk anywhere.


And then I looked at the "gasket". That busted-ass, leaky motherfucker. It was more like a piece of hardened plastic than soft, malleable gasket material.



I was all like, "BITCH YOU LEAKIN'." And it was all like,


So I removed the rest of it (carefully) with vice grips. It was like removing solidified hooker blood from the bottom of a mafia capo's trunk.




After I replaced got all the gasket material off, I got in a rush to go watch Red Dawn with some friends and stopped taking pictures. Seems to be a bad habit of mine.

I got it all back together, let the high temp RTV set up, then hit the road a few hours later.

I'll update with pictures from Watkins Glen two weeks ago soon.

[Rob&co]

Clearly, he's a BMW person over a VAG person.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Clearly, he's a BMW person over a VAG person.

[244Brick]

You can tell he doesn't love the VAG

[MommysLittleMonster]

Jesus this is coming along! I never knew you even had a thread for the M lol!

It's just basic stuff for now, nothing crazy yet. Most of the pictures I'm posting are from over a week ago, there just isn't enough stuff happening to do it as it comes.