Mike's Cosmos Black 1998 M3 Sedan (M3/4/5) - Project Concord

[iXBeater]

Those really are pretty wheels...

[mike.bmw]

Earlier this week I replaced the idler pulley and tensioner pulley assemblies. The tensioner pulley shock actually broke during removal, preventing me from removing the pulley while it was still on the car. Fortunately, I was able to get a socket behind the pulley to remove the blocked bolt and remove/replace the entire assembly. It's much smoother/quieter with the new pulleys installed.

Here's a short YouTube video of the process: https://youtube.com/shorts/MF-mPHhQQ...pWry2IzYQyBOSs


PXL_20251015_010101710 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251015_104935009~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251015_010144468~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

It's never ending with this car...

After some odd clutch pedal/engagement behavior, I decided to inspect and bleed the clutch slave cylinder. I've found that removing it from the transmission and pushing the rod into the clutch slave while opening the bleed screw (pointed upward) works well. However, when I removed the clutch slave cylinder from the transmission, the rod fell out and onto the floor. I've seen people make the mistake of applying pressure or pumping the clutch pedal with the clutch slave removed, which will force the rod out, but that wasn't the case here. It just fell out!

Given the odd clutch engagement behavior and the fact the rod fell out (which can be reinserted easily, but I didn't trust it), I decided to order a new FTE unit as it was only $54 shipped. I left the car on jack stands for the better part of the week and installed the new clutch slave cylinder when it arrived in the mail yesterday. The clutch pedal/engagement feels much better/smoother now.

PXL_20251022_164423538~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251022_164405281~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251022_165011672~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251022_164728359~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251022_182125645~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

The saga continues!

Last month I thought I had finally resolved an intermittent issue with air entering my cooling system. How wrong I was!

PXL_20251028_002316057~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I had done this before, multiple times, but I went over EVERY SINGLE HOSE AND CLAMP. I also checked the expansion tank for cracks. That's when I saw this, a tiny amount of liquid around the hose that connects to the expansion tank bleeder.

PXL_20251027_211304154 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Well, the PEX clamp was quite loose. There was a small amount of coolant leaking out (and air getting in), but because it leaked between the expansion tank and fan shroud intermittently, never leaving a visible trace or puddle, it was very had to track down.

PXL_20251028_000321656~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I removed the PEX clamp and installed a proper BMW 12-15mm hose clamp, which I had leftover from replacing all the fuel hoses/clamps on my E30.

PXL_20251028_001103507~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251028_001551505~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And then I re-bled the system. All good for the last few days! I know I've said I fixed this before, but this time I'm more confident. There hasn't been any coolant loss, and I haven't felt or heard any air in the upper radiator hose when squeezing it.

PXL_20251028_010836232~2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

After a 40-minute drive with the blower motor squeaking at every fan speed yesterday, it was finally time to replace it. I've had the part sitting on a shelf for a year, but couldn't motivate myself to tackle this job as access and space are terrible, and there's a lot of fragile plastic that needs to be moved or removed.

The job was just as terrible as I imagined, and 6 hours later I have the cuts on my arms, hands, and fingers to prove it. There were times I questioned my sanity, but I worked through problems as they came up and eventually got everything back together. Having a quiet blower motor is going to make driving this E36 M3 so much nicer.

For the sake of comparison, I've swapped two complete E30 dashboards, which are long and tedious jobs with many parts and fasteners, and those were much easier (and enjoyable) jobs due to space and design.

E36 life?
PXL_20251105_002406616 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251104_161624863 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251104_190239034 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251104_190337347 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251104_193747578 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251104_213502358 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20251105_002345664 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[iXBeater]

After a 40-minute drive with the blower motor squeaking at every fan speed yesterday, it was finally time to replace it. I've had the part sitting on a shelf for a year, but couldn't motivate myself to tackle this job as access and space are terrible, and there's a lot of fragile plastic that needs to be moved or removed.

The job was just as terrible as I imagined, and 6 hours later I have the cuts on my arms, hands, and fingers to prove it. There were times I questioned my sanity, but I worked through problems as they came up and eventually got everything back together. Having a quiet blower motor is going to make driving this E36 M3 so much nicer.

That's good work - it's amazing how quiet everything feels once you've buttoned up something like that.

For the sake of comparison, I've swapped two complete E30 dashboards, which are long and tedious jobs with many parts and fasteners, and those were much easier (and enjoyable) jobs due to space and design.

This is excellent news - I'll let you know when I'm ready to swap the dashboard in my E30 so you can come help...