MLM's E36 M3 rebuild thread.

[Rob&co]

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

[MommysLittleMonster]

It's update time, chillens!



So finally has finally sprung here in New York, and you know what that means.




Just kidding, this is Rochester.




When the salt finally cleared and the sun finally started to shine, I made my move- the M3 was coming home for spring.

I ordered a care kit from Turner Motorsports over the winter, scooping up some Redline transmission and diff oil, a cabin filter, a replacement windshield wiper switch, magnetic drain plugs, and some Motul 5w-40 oil. Then, I held up my local parts store for 6 Iriduim spark plugs. And I may have accidentally ordered tires for the Style 5's.



The car started and idled like dog shit in storage, so I got to work and ripped the spark plugs out before even taking it home. This is where the maintenance avalanche starts for this car.


Needless to say, the OEM plugs were beyond beat.


After replacing the plugs, it seemed to get it spunk back, and it idled like a horny mountain lion after eating a pound of catnip.

After playing musical cars, I finally pulled it out the door to freedom, and cruised home.


Now, let me take a minute to describe what this felt like.

For the last 4 months or so, I have been stuck driving this.


Not bad, right?

Well, at a wheezing 150 horsepower (when it was new) and weighing in at a tank-esque 3,000lbs (when it was empty), this thing has the acceleration of your grandmother riding a Rascal with a dead battery in a windstorm. While I can't complain about it's reliability and being a fantastic fuel sipper, it is as exciting as a bag of soggy cheese puffs. I transgress.

After what felt like an eternity being stuck in an overweight/underpowered car, I finally get the chance to squeeze the trigger on my M3 on the 10 minute ride home. And it was glorious.


Hokay. So. I get the car home, and immediately make a list of things that needs to get done. Mind you, this is just stuff I see at first glance, not modifications or changes that will happen down the road.


Game time. Organize the stuff to do for the day and get to work.


Don't laugh at my blocks. My younger brother is in the process of tearing down his EG to clean up the bay and go through the motor/transmission, so I got side tracked a lot that day.

First things first: That motherfucking sound deadening that was draping my shift linkage and laying on my driveshaft like an overdosed $20 whore. After liberally (read: angrily) cutting most of it out with my trusty knife, I put the pile of it on the garage floor and look at it condescendingly.



Now my shifter moved freely, and my driveshaft wasn't getting the dog-in-heat treatment every time the car moved.

Next order of business: the fuel filter. I couldn't really get any pictures of it coming out (because I was covered in oil, grease, and gasoline at this point), but rest assured it was interesting. Now let's use the power of our imaginations, close our eyes, and try to picture it.






















Done? Good.

Now for the kicker. The car is a '98, but it was built in 1997. Anyone care to guess what year the fuel filter had stamped on it?



Yeah. It's the factory filter with 112,000 miles on it. And this is the Yohoo-looking fluid came out of it when I back-drained it.

Kind of looked like one of my favorite beverages, except with fragments of sea sand mixed in.


Then my phone died from playing music through the stereo in the shop, and I couldn't take any pictures of the transmission oil... which was also the factory-added oil from 14 years ago. I put the car back on the ground and rolled it outside, then helped my younger brother work on his Civic for a little while before calling it a day.

After impatiently waiting through winter, I was finally getting the wrench time that I so desperately missed. I'll add more as I have time to write it out.

Either way- thank goodness for spring.

[alec_moore]

honestly, this is probably the most entertaining thread i've seen in my short time here on this forum, and fuck, does it make me laugh. When i saw that you test fitted those style 5's, i did something along the lines of this

[coconutt]

Like I said, you gay. <3

[Earl]

Yay=-)

[MommysLittleMonster]

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.

[Sabertooth]

Don't EVER stop telling your stories through meme's and GIFs. This is my favorite build thread.
Besides that I like your attention to detail, Hope to see more update's when it come's out of storage!

[mortenkdk]

No seriusly, cool story!!

[MommysLittleMonster]

I will have to do that when I get mine=) Is the z4m shifter even shorter than the z3 possibly?

I don't know, the offset might be different which could cause bigger issues. I'm just sticking by what most people have done.

[Earl]

I will have to do that when I get mine=) Is the z4m shifter even shorter than the z3 possibly?

[MommysLittleMonster]

What does this tweakofdapeepee entail on the shifter?

I'm glad someone caught it.

Adding a slight 10* bend to it, in order to have it facing close to stock.

Z3M's have a straight-up-and-down shifter point, where as E36's are a little bit more laid back.

[Earl]

What does this tweakofdapeepee entail on the shifter?

[MommysLittleMonster]

Are those RS caps resting on there in the first picture then?

They're not really BBS parts. I don't want to tell you guys where I got them, but I'll give you a hint.



I found one of them laying in the junkyard, so I decided to grab it on the off chance it fit. And, it actually kind of does.




I started putting together a list of things that need to be tackled for it in the spring, so far I've got enough stuff to keep me busy for a week or two.

-Remove the God-forsaken Clutch Delay Valve
-Z3 steering rack (maybe, kind of on the fence about it)
-Z3M short shifter with a slight tweakofdapeepee
-OEM 3-spoke BMW M-Tech steering wheel
-Rip apart the rear spoiler and replace the blown brake light bulbs. Possibly replace with an LTW wing, kind of on the fence about it.
-Transmission oil service
-Ever-so-lightly tint the windows (50%?)
-Kosei K1's in 17x8.5 fashion, with 245/40's.
-Complete respray of the original sex, Alpinweiß.

Okay, I'll stop bumping the thread now. Seriously. This is a build thread and it should be treated as such.

Hopefully this gif will make you stay in my thread a little longer and keep it company.

[Earl]

Are those RS caps resting on there in the first picture then?

[MommysLittleMonster]

Do the e34 caps snap right in, or do they not much up right?

I wouldn't know, I don't have E34 caps.

There's nothing even going on here. Just a car that I like, and a guy doing boring stuff to said car.

And yet, I'm begging for MOAAR

Moar will come in the springtime, when I actually start doing things, Can't do shit when the car is in storage, so I'll probably stop posting in this thread until I get it back out next April.