MLM's E36 M3 rebuild thread.

[Earl]

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

[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.

[mortenkdk]

No seriusly, cool story!!

[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!

[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.

[Earl]

Yay=-)

[coconutt]

Like I said, you gay. <3

[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

[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.

[Rob&co]

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

[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.

[244Brick]

You can tell he doesn't love the VAG

[MommysLittleMonster]

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

[Rob&co]

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

[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.