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

[Conrad311]

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

[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.

[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!

[econti]

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

[dadsbmw]

Thanks! Here she is getting the exhaust finished up

[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.

[jeenyus]

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

[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?

[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.php?p=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]

Sweet! Thanks!

[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.

[jeenyus]

NOICE! great work, it looks great!

[dadsbmw]

Thanks Jeenyus! Did a test fit of the gauge today and I'd say it matches pretty well!


Oh and I fixed the oil leak... tightened the VANOS feed line and oil pressure sending unit. Both were leaking at a pretty decent clip. SOOO nice to not leave a pool of oil at every place I park the car!

[dadsbmw]

Managed to get the oil pressure gauge up and working this weekend but it's behaving a bit strangely. It seems to be pretty laggy and almost seems like it builds up pressure over time, kind of like a compression tester gauge would, except smoothly. I'll take a video a bit later tonight to explain.

I've come to another few pieces that need to be fixed as well. There is somewhat significant vibration when driving, which I'm sure some of it is related to the age of these tires, but I'm also curious if at least part is due to removing the driveshaft vibration dampener. Haha the name would imply it at least! Curious if everyone else removed theirs as well (to fit the DSSR) and if it caused issues?

Other thing is that I'm almost positive now that the VANOS seal is bad. When I bought this motor it was said to have had it's VANOS system rebuilt by Beisan Systems, but I have to imagine it was installed incorrectly. Symptoms include:

• Quiet at idle, but very noisy from 1000rpm-3000rpm
• Stumbly poppy idle
• Enormous surge of power at 3000rpm

Not wanting to do the work to fix it, but at least I'm pretty sure I know what it is!

Lastly, made a little exhaust video today. Just like the old one, but this time with more S52...

And the original

Edit: Viewing the back end of the car in these videos side by side really makes me appreciate how much I like the all red tails!

[2mAn]

Are you regularly driving the car now?