1991 318is M42 Refresh Journey

[udubfl]

Upper and Lower Oil Pan Gasket Replacement

Easy thing to do after subframe, steering pump and steering rack out. I had a weeping leak due to upper oil pan gasket being piled and some loose bolts. After removing the lower pan, I noticed I had two bolts from upper pan in the lower pan. Not sure when it got loose enough to just drop in the lower pan.

note: did upper engine refresh couple years ago already.

Here’s some pictures before going through some cleaning.

Gaskets. It seems original but can’t tell. It was stuck to the metal pretty good. Spend some time removing and cleaning the surface.





Before cleaning

[udubfl]

Here’s after cleaning…

Nothing particular special in putting it back together. Read people using gasket sealant/RTV vs paper gasket. Decided to keep it OE/OEM. You do have to some sealant in few spots where you got two metals mating on engine block. Didn’t take any pics of this.

Torqued all the bolts to spec.

[udubfl]

don’t have picture but you do need to remove dip stick tube. So, ordered new o-ring rubber gasket and reinstalled as well.

[hotbascosauce]

Great work. Appreciate the attention to detail. I also have a sterling silver 318is. Hoping its in the budget to get it repainted this summer.

[udubfl]

hotbascosauce, I would say getting it resprayed gave my 318is an new life. I found a local restoration shop that was super flexible and easy to work with. We worked together where I did all the dissembling and reassembly of bumpers, mouldings, gaskets, door handles, etc. basically anything I could take my time to take pictures, strip it down and reinstall. some of these parts can get little stubborn. I also ordered all new moulding clips, etc.

Not sure if this processed saved me any money. But at least I knew how it went off and back together. Also, took this time to dissemble and clean up the key holes and other things. Many times, restoration/body shops have so many cars they are working on at one given time, they can be guessing.

[udubfl]

Replaced engine mounts as well. Nothing wrong with current ones. Figured since I go the engine suspended, why not. New one should last another 30+ years. They are getting expensive (not sure how much it was but didn't realize how much these cost). Also took the time to clean up the brackets. Years of gunk and dirt. Purchased new OE BMW parts from BMW dealership. Read online that you can use other E30 mounts but the round round tab next to the subframe bolt would need to be grinded off. Didn't want to mess with that. I think it could have worked but not sure as the subframe has a hole slot that looks like you can install different OE engine mounts.

Part # 11-81-1-137-076

Here's couple pictures to show close up of the new mounts. I couldn't really find any online for reference point.

[udubfl]

Here's additional pics. It was simple few bolts to remove both brackets (driver and passenger) from engine block. On the passenger side, you do have a ground cable to you need to disconnect to remove the bracket. I didn't really read up on the instructions prior to tackling this part as it seemed intuitive.

[udubfl]

Getting closer to finally tackling the new steering rack upgrade.

[udubfl]

Here's the beginning of the steering rack upgrade process. One of the things I did was purchase the new firewall plate. I wasn't 100% certain if I needed to modify the firewall opening. I read online (and chatGPT) that I wouldn't need to. I didn't want to get into thick of things and realizing I needed the plate. So, I ordered it advance.

Here's some pictures showing the comparison...

The original one is more oval shaped (top and down) vs. new one is perfectly round. The new shape didn't make any difference with the performance or with the rubber boot.



You can see (in red) how it cuts lower right to the original plate. What I noticed as I was dry fitting was that the new (to me) e36 rack requires the steering shaft to go toward lower right corner (reference point here is...if you are sitting in the driver seat).



On the backside, the OE part had some thin foam attached to it. I had some one-sided adhesive foam materials from previous projects. I chose the black foam backing. The OE version had more yellow version. Figured color don't really matter here. I think the purpose is to avoid metal to metal (firewall metal to to plate) contact. It worked out perfectly.