Bringing my dad's car back to its former glory and beyond

[dadsbmw]

So I ended up buying ARC-8's a bit back with the intention of dipping them silver and seeing if I like them. I finally put tires on them and gave them a test fit to decide that I absolutely do not want them on this car. IMO just doesn't fit the look... especially not in black!




So these are now for sale.

Finally installed the pedal covers I purchased years ago, along with a new shift boot with medium grey stitching


Replaced the screen on my 6 button OBC, which unfortunately went awry as it's not lighting bright enough... gotta do some diagnosis

And decided I want to keep tabs on my oil pressure, so purchased a VDO 80psi gauge and 3d printed a vent gauge pod. Install to take place tomorrow.

[dadsbmw]

Sweet! Thanks!

[Northern]

PM'd back a little more in-depth, but here's what 803 MAF stuff I found while digging today:

803 vs E36 MAF graph, with link to the 803 Scalar:
http://romraider.com/forum/viewtopic...149960#p149960
The tuner should know all of this and update this scalar before tuning if they've dealt with MS41 before.

Supposedly the reason turner sells that adapter is because the grounds are internally bridged on the stock MAF, whereas some people dispute the 803 MAF is not.

[dadsbmw]

Wild that the diff cover broke, That's pretty abnormal. Planning to fix that Z3m cover?

r3v/my work internet seems to not want to load anything before page 12 so I'm not sure if you're even OBD2, but if yes, then it's normal for the crank sensor to have oil on it.

For the same reason, idk if you have a tune for the different MAF already, but you should get on that. If the scalar for that 3.5" MAF is already in ba114's spreadsheet here then it'll take like a week of reading and $50 in cables/flash tool to do it yourself.
Just want to make sure you're aware of this option.

If the Z3M cover is fixable then I'll probably opt to sell it, honestly.

It is OBD2, so good to know that oil on the crank sensor is normal.

I havent done anything specific for the MAF yet, but it is OBD2 so was hoping it wouldnt be too far off. Definitely plan to get it dyno tuned soon, so perhaps that's something that can be accomplished at the same time?

[jeenyus]

dang! wtf? I don't think i've seen a diff break off like that before.

[Northern]

Wild that the diff cover broke, That's pretty abnormal. Planning to fix that Z3m cover?

r3v/my work internet seems to not want to load anything before page 12 so I'm not sure if you're even OBD2, but if yes, then it's normal for the crank sensor to have oil on it.

For the same reason, idk if you have a tune for the different MAF already, but you should get on that. If the scalar for that 3.5" MAF is already in ba114's spreadsheet here then it'll take like a week of reading and $50 in cables/flash tool to do it yourself.
Just want to make sure you're aware of this option.

[dadsbmw]

Thanks! Here she is getting the exhaust finished up

[econti]

It might be broken but it looks damn good in the process

[dadsbmw]

Worked on a number of continuing issues since the last update:

• Diff cover and mount- Purchased a used 3.73 open diff for $50 and used the stock cover and mount to stick mine back up temporarily
• Exhaust- Took her to an exhaust shop this morning to get the muffler connected to the stock e36 midsection. It always blows my mind how different the car FEELS when you quiet it down and move the exhaust exit from under the car to out the back... it vibrates so much less and feels much more refined.
• Coolant temp and CPS- Installed new OEM BMW units to try and fix the codes she's throwing. When I pulled the crankshaft sensor it was covered in oil? Is that normal?
• IM PCV vent cover- Pulled off the valve cover to install it, since I'd forgotten to with the intial build. Noticed when I pulled the IM that there was a good amount of oil pooled in that vent and leaking from the oil separator, so was happy I'd decided to do it.
• Brake booster valve- Purchased a new e92 valve and installed it while the IM was off, to fix a vacuum leaking sound when the brake pedal is applied.

Put it all back together, started up the car, and...

• Diff cover leaks oil
• Coolant temp sensor code is still being thrown, and the the crankshaft position sensor doesnt seem to be workign either
• Oil is still leaking PROFUSELY from an unknown location. Maybe one of the outlet covers for the OFH? Maybe the oil pan gasket? Either way it's quite a bit and I REFUSE to have an engine with less than 100 miles on it that leaks ANYTHING.
• Applying the brake pedal still results in a vacuum leaking sound... thinking it must be a damaged or missing foam silencer, as the brakes work great!

And the work never ends!

[dadsbmw]

Thanks Conrad!

Today has a new update...

Ended up driving the e30 to work today because my coworkers were bugging me that they hadnt gotten a ride yet. Took my manager around the block, let it warm up a bit, and gave him a good 1st, 2nd, 3rd gear pull and dropped him back off. My other colleague hopped in next and we had a bit more fun, but basically just a drive around the block. At this point a 3rd colleague had come out to see what all the fuss was about, so I took him for a ride too. As I exited the parking lot I gave it gas in 1st and she went sideways, short shifted to 2nd and dropped the clutch to get even more sideways. My coworker was absolutely stunned. We continued down the street and I did another 1-2 hard shift when all of a sudden there was a LOUD CLUNK from the rear of the car. I immediately pulled over and figured the rear muffler (which was only zip tied at this point) had broken loose and hit the ground. Dropped to the ground to take a look, to find that the diff had ripped off its rear mount and was hanging a couple inches off the ground!

We had to walk back to the office where my coworkers were all standing around talking in front of the building. They were curious why we were walking... they figured I hadnt crashed it as the smile on my face was too big. What can I say, it's hard to get upset when the reason your car broke was that the diff mounts couldnt handle the power! Yet another thing to fix, but certainly not a reason to be upset!

Thankfully one of my colleagues offered up their AAA account and now I'm waiting for the flatbed tow truck. Pictures soon to follow.

[Conrad311]

This thread seriously delivers! glad to see you got it running and got some seat time in!

[dadsbmw]

Drove her around some more today to keep breaking in the motor. Going by the "drive it hard" method, so took it to a nearby deserted-ish highway. It's crazy fun to drive, just an absolute riot! 1st gear just spins. I havent even gotten a good 1-2 shift because of this, but 2nd gear definitely begins to spin as you hit 5k rpm. On the few chances I've had to hold 2nd past 5k, a hard shift into 3rd also spins the tires hard enough to bring the back end out.

Unfortunately I didn run into a couple issues today. Figured out the reason it's not going into a high idle during warm us is that the brand new coolant temp sensor is throwing a code. Also discovered that it goes into a limp mode intermittently, and pulled codes to find that the brand new crankshaft position sensor also seem to be not working appropriately. Annoying.

Gonna pull the IM to take care of those guys and look for other leaks under there, and prepare to get it dyno tuned in the near future. I'm hoping there's at least another 20whp to be found!

[dadsbmw]

First things first... proof that she runs!

It definitely needs a tune, as at the very least the warm up enrichment is incorrect, but she runs pretty strong! Breaks tires loose at the top of second gear, which is pretty sweet! I mean its got all weather 205 width tires, but still!

So I purchased a new selector rod joint which I was able to install this morning to see if it would fix the issue of the shifter sitting too far forward. Turns out yes, there is a significant difference


Sits perfectly centered now, which makes me very happy! Also realized a few weeks ago that spring mount of the shortened struts sits almost exactly parallel with the lip of the front wheels. Ended up throwing the 8mm spacers which were sitting on the rear, on the front. And put 15mm spacers on the rear. Honestly it looks pretty great, but I need to figure out some areas that are rubbing a bit. Now at 16x8 +10 rear and 16x8 +17 front.

I also purchased a 3.5" HFM to match the 3.5" 540i TB, which arrived today. Had to custom make a throttle body elbow, so aluminum brazed a 1" pipe for the ICV, and got it all put together. Super want to go get it all dyno'd and tuned now!


Still have a few things left to do. Have a small coolant leak under the IM somewhere, which will likely be annoying to find. Exhaust midsection needs to be attached to the rear muffler, AC needs to be charged, and interior pieces need to be put back together.

[dadsbmw]

Nice progress. Stick with it... you're almost there. And don't feel bad about all the preplanning you did only to have to make constant spot orders for different/more parts... I went through the same process with mine nearly nickel and dimed me to death

on the shifter/grinding issues, your shifter should sit centered in neutral. IDK if the angle of the photo was weird (also not sure what gear the trans was in), but it does looks like a pretty severe angle the way it's sitting there, and I imagine the angle would increase when you push the carrier to line up with the trans as if it were installed. Which shift carrier did you use? E30 or E36?

To be fair I had the shift lever was installed incorrectly in that picture, but it has since been turned 180* and is still wrong. It's never been centered, which I didnt think was right, but now after driving it's pretty obviously wrong. I used e36 m3 DSSR and shift arm, z3 shift lever, and e30 shift carrier. As you suggested, my understanding is that this should sit centered and somewhat off to the right.

edit: Picture from directly above with trans in neutral


edit x2: After doing a bit of research I think I may have an e30 shift selector joint, which in pictures appears to be longer than the e36 version. Time to order more parts!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Nice progress. Stick with it... you're almost there. And don't feel bad about all the preplanning you did only to have to make constant spot orders for different/more parts... I went through the same process with mine nearly nickel and dimed me to death

on the shifter/grinding issues, your shifter should sit centered in neutral. IDK if the angle of the photo was weird (also not sure what gear the trans was in), but it does looks like a pretty severe angle the way it's sitting there, and I imagine the angle would increase when you push the carrier to line up with the trans as if it were installed. Which shift carrier did you use? E30 or E36?