MLM's E36 M3 rebuild thread.

[Rob&co]

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

[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!

[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"

[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.

[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]

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.

[mrg7243]

Meh

[CrackerTeg]

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

[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!

[Jersh]

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

[Slycas28]

I bought a 1997 M3 sedan like 2 months ago and I love it the power is awesome.

[nickyd]

omfg im dying right now! LMFAO

[MommysLittleMonster]

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

Not long, I like to dillydattle though. It took me about two hours from start to finish- my lines were a little on the crusty side so getting them apart was a cock. A word of advice: make sure you can crack the bleeder loose before taking anything else apart, or you're fucked.

I got both sides of the CDV loose, then slowly removed both sides until I could get them both off at the same time- you lose less fluid that way. If you don't, this is what happens.


Make sure you buy the proper brake fluid!

I bought a 1997 M3 sedan like 2 months ago and I love it the power is awesome.

The sedan is the clear choice for winners everywhere. The small things I would suggest you do: delete your CDV, clean your MAF, and debaffle your stock intake box. It makes the car a million times better to drive.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Been a while since I've updated this. I've been so busy with our house and getting married, I haven't had a whole lot of time for the toys.

I'll go back a few months.
4th of July weekend, my ebrake had finally just shit the bed. They decided to stick 3 minutes after leaving home, for a 30-minute drive to work on the weekend.


I knew there was something wrong with the rear shoes, but never really took the time to figure out out. And boy, was I sorry I waited so long.


You can see the broken springs that were just rolling around inside the disc for two days.



Enter, all new hardware and shoes.


So, while that was torn apart, I drove my Prelude around town, and was generally displeased with the weather on the 4th of July. We drove through a fucking monsoon in a car with an intake pipe 4" off the ground.



Shortly after, the Prelude went under the knife. I decided to tackle the rust that was forming on the quarters and paint it the right way.

I knew I was fucked as soon as I started on the driver's side quarter.


I tried getting it all painted in a week (which was a stupid move) so I could put the car in a local Japanese car show. Our good friend andybob made the 4-hour pilgrimage to go to the show and hang out. Sadly, my slutbag Honda didn't cooperate, so I did the next best thing: I drove a BMW to a JDM car show.



Then I got back to work on the Prelude, after leaving the car show for the first time without a trophy.




I threw my Works on for good measure. It sucked that I didn't have the car done in time, but I was glad that I took my time and did the bodywork right.



Fast forward a month. We finally got moved into our house the second week of August, which meant a ton of moving things around. The nice thing is, at least I can park my cars inside now.




All four tires on the car were fucking hammered (I have no idea why that would be), to the point where driving in the rain was like driving on a sheet of ice. New shoes were ordered and mounted, and I got to drive around on snow tires for two days.




They say it's best to break in your new tires over the course of 500-600 miles to work the lubricant out of the tires.

So I went to the racetrack and did some 1/8th mile drag racing with friends.





Two weeks ago, I got married and got the fuck out of NYS for a week, where I ate a bunch of food, drank a ton of beer, and stood on Myrtle Beach with my wife.





As soon as we got back, I ripped open a package from Kitty that contained what I was thinking about all week long- my European Bosch ellipsoid headlights and clear lens tail lights.



This was not an easy task, because there was a massive temptation to go buy GTA5 as well.


I had to make a wiring harness for both headlights at work (lol) to get them to plug in- no splicing for this guy.





And then I put everything on and fapped furiously.



Old on the left, new on the right.




I had to use two Noyka Hyper Yellow bulbs in my high beams, I didn't have any other H1 bulbs at the time. But I kind of like them that way.

And now, I'm getting ready for fall. I kind of want to cry, because I accomplished next to nothing this year for both cars. Thus is life.

[hinrichs]

so glad i read through this thread, epic