Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

I got out of the house early this morning for some photos (5:30AM). Unfortunately I left the camera battery on the charger at home, so I didn't get back to the spot until 6:15AM. The light was still decent so it worked out.

The location is under a bridge alongside the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Virginia. I've biked and run this trail many (many is an understatement) times over the years. Only recently did I see some cars parked here for overflow parking and thought it might be a cool place to take some photos.

[mike.bmw]

Really great stuff.

Your car is the benchmark for my recently acquired 318is.

Wonderful.

Bill

Glad to see you are still making your car better. It brings me joy to visit every year or so and see progress.

Love everything about this car. Good work!

Thanks, guys!

Since you've got new mounts in, can you give the engine a wobble and tell me approx how far it moves side to side? If I push on the intake manifold from left to right there's a good 15mm movement (3/4in?) and I'm not sure if that's normal. Mounts were fitted to my old car for a few thousand km, stored for 3 years, then fitted to the new car. Want to know if they've had it or not

I will try to take some measurements later today, but I don't think it moves much. Definitely not 3/4". My old mounts were pretty shot as I can compress them with my hand and it appears the liquid inside was making it's way out. The car drives MUCH better with the new mounts. Shifting feels better, on/off throttle transitions feel better, and there's less vibration in the cabin.

[econti]

Since you've got new mounts in, can you give the engine a wobble and tell me approx how far it moves side to side? If I push on the intake manifold from left to right there's a good 15mm movement (3/4in?) and I'm not sure if that's normal. Mounts were fitted to my old car for a few thousand km, stored for 3 years, then fitted to the new car. Want to know if they've had it or not

[Nairb]

Love everything about this car. Good work!

[phreshkid]

Glad to see you are still making your car better. It brings me joy to visit every year or so and see progress.

[Bill Brown]

Really great stuff.

Your car is the benchmark for my recently acquired 318is.

Wonderful.

Bill

[mike.bmw]

Engine Mounts, Drive belts, and Oil Pan Investigation

It's been a rough week at my house. I won't get into details, but thankfully everyone is OK. I needed a bit of an outlet, so before picking up the kids from school I knocked out a few things: drive belts and engine mounts. After they went to bed I dropped the lower oil pan (M42s have upper and lower pans) to check on some things and changed the oil.

My drive belts were in decent shape, but the alternator belt always seemed a tad loose, even with the tensioner fully extended. It turns out the previous owner had put the wrong size belt on the alternator (1030 vs 1025). So now I have 3 new and correctly sized belts.



The M42 doesn't have any aftermarket engine mounts available. You can get E36 M42 mounts and file off a locator nub for about half the price, but I read conflicting things on that, so I went with OEM. I also ordered all new hardware.



I'm fairly certain the old engine mounts were original. They were about an inch shorter than the new ones (due to age/collapsing/etc). After raising the charcoal canister, I was able to access the top nuts using some extension and a swivel socket.



Old left vs new right:



Installed:





Lastly, the oil pan. I wanted to ensure there weren't any loose bolts. During some extensive engine seal work a couple years ago I had new timing guides installed, so I wasn't expecting to find any of those. Prior to that I had done the lower oil pan gasket myself to fix a leak and ended up heli-coiling 6 of the holes in the upper pan. When I opened it up everything looked great. We'll see if I introduced any new leaks when I installed the pan (new gasket + gasket sealer).



Prior to last week, I managed to get out for some photos of the improved ride height. Usual spots, so nothing exciting. I did find a new photo spot and I'm hoping to get there soon.









I've hit up a few Cars and Coffee events with the kids. I was able to check out fresh_TD's minty '91 318i again as well at Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, VA.

[e30sh]

Thanks! The top pad is different and has what looks like an integrated bump stop, though I'm not sure if it's there as a bump stop or for locating the spring. I've read a number of internet threads where folks have stated the bottom pads can also be used on the top (the internet is NEVER wrong :) ). The aftermarket adjustable spring pads also state they can be used on the bottom or top (without the bump-stop-thing). So, in summary, I have no idea, but others have confirmed it's an option. I plan to continue to run the stock upper spring pad.

The top spring pad on the e30 M3 has a shorter hump. With it's lower ride height, I vote that it is an actual bump stop.

[mike.bmw]

Nice job! I love to do small things like this, doesn't take a lot of time but has instant results.

When you say that these pads will fit both on the bottom and the top?
Isn't the top one different, I'm pretty sure it has a bumpstop?

Thanks! The top pad is different and has what looks like an integrated bump stop, though I'm not sure if it's there as a bump stop or for locating the spring. I've read a number of internet threads where folks have stated the bottom pads can also be used on the top (the internet is NEVER wrong :) ). The aftermarket adjustable spring pads also state they can be used on the bottom or top (without the bump-stop-thing). So, in summary, I have no idea, but others have confirmed it's an option. I plan to continue to run the stock upper spring pad.

[D.Martijn]

Nice job! I love to do small things like this, doesn't take a lot of time but has instant results.

When you say that these pads will fit both on the bottom and the top?
Isn't the top one different, I'm pretty sure it has a bumpstop?

[mike.bmw]

Ride Height Adjustment

I'm running the H&R OE Sport Springs (50404.55) on my car. I was fairly happy with the ride height, but thought it could be a bit more level. When I replaced my suspension, I opted for new 7.5mm rear spring pads. After everything settled, I wanted to raise the rear of the car by about half an inch.

Due to the rear suspension geometry, the spring pad height increase should be multiplied by 1.7 to get the true total ride height increase. It turns out that 14.5mm E46 spring pads are a direct fit for our E30s (part #33531094754).
The 7mm increase (7.5 to 14.5mm) would result in raising the rear about half an inch. Perfect!

I had some help in the garage today:



Ride height before, measured wheel center to fender:



7.5mm left vs 14.5mm right:



Installation was a breeze (because I had help). After moving the trunk lining out of the way, I unbolted the rear shocks from the top. Then I removed the lower shock bolt. I also unbolted the rear sway bar links. Make sure you have the car in neutral and the parking brake off so the suspension will droop all the way. I removed the springs by hand, swapped the pads, and put the springs back in. Here's one installed:



Here's the measurement after everything is back together:



I'll get out for better photos sometime soon, but here's a quick one in the garage:



My helper requested a photo:



My helper wanted to take a photo of me. I usually don't like posting photos of myself on the forums, but I made an exception in this case:



Random thoughts on the matter:
- Yes, there are adjustable spring pad kits out there for about the same cost as these BMW rear spring pads. I like the OEM fitment of these to include the rubber nub that centers the spring nicely.
- These, along with adjustable spring pad kits, can be used to better corner weight cars without coil overs. Pads come in sizes of 5, 7.5, 10, and 14.5mm (and possibly others I'm not aware of).
- These pads can be run on either the top or bottom.

In other news, we recently took the wagon on a family road trip. I took some cell phone shots along the way, but I liked this one:



In the next few weeks I'll be replacing the engine mounts, trans mounts, and drive belts.

[mike.bmw]

The kids surprising you with E30 gear?! That's simply amazing! Congrats on the win!

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Haham yep! I'm wearing mine today. Always puts a smile on my face when my wife supports my hobby.

Congratulations Mike! That is awesome!

Congrats on your win sir. I'll have to see it soon at Katie's and see whats new.

Thanks, guys!

[M42Technik]

Congrats on your win sir. I'll have to see it soon at Katie's and see whats new.

[Zeemz]

Congratulations Mike! That is awesome!

[jeenyus]

The kids surprising you with E30 gear?! That's simply amazing! Congrats on the win!

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