A Tale of 2 Sedans M42/S52

[eternal24k]

I always have to jack the car up to get a strut bar to fit right, just relieve the force from the tower and they should relax enough to get the bar on.

that works when the struts need to go further apart (how i installed my $50 BavAuto on this car), on my S52 car, i had the opposite problem.

Speaking of which, I've got the S52 swap back, dissapointed to say that it is not painted. Spent 5 months at paint shop, never happened, so I picked it up to work on it and then drop it off when I deploy next month.
The summer 4 wheel fleet, the CRX being my wife's favorite and just averaged around 50mpg on a trip to Maine



First thing I got to


Wow, what a massive PITA, but I ordered some MT2 trunk springs to help with the under sprung trunk, even with both springs at strongest point the trunk would always slam. Huge PITA, but I got them in and still have all my fingers.
For those who do this, the small socket was a lifesaver, gave leverage while keeping fingers safe:


Also, for this spoiler (Hartge), I think i could have gotten away with just one of the MT2 springs, both at the most relaxed position is very strong, but better than slamming

[Northern]

I always have to jack the car up to get a strut bar to fit right, just relieve the force from the tower and they should relax enough to get the bar on.

[moatilliatta]

Ill have to keep Tangent in mind, cool stuff of their website, must be owned by a crazy enthusiast, perfect!. I used GDK sportscars years ago with a cut down M52 ignition harness. Mine is for E36 318Ti though. I had to pretty much redo the coil holes in the bracket in a mill to fit the Bosch coils because of their size. I ended up keeping a spare cut down #1 coil in the trunk in case I ever had to swap it out. I wish there were a coil cover option. I wonder if tangent would make that complete package.

Strut bar doesn't fit probably because your towers have moved inward. Active aged camber!

[eternal24k]

Looking good. A timecert is a much more solid thread repair. I never herd of hitachi coils, had to look that one up. Which COP kit did you go with? Sorry if I missed that detail. Are the hitachi better than the bremi? I redid my COP for the bigger square Bosch coils as the Bremi / STI are problematic.

Thanks. Hitachi is OEM for a bunch of Toyota models, or at least they used to be, it’s why I tried them out. I haven’t been happy with Bremi Chinese made coils so I tried these out for $35 a piece from Rock Auto, was disappointed to see they were also Chinese made, but then again, so were my last set of NGKs... COP kit came from Tangent Innovations

[moatilliatta]

Looking good. A timecert is a much more solid thread repair.

I never herd of hitachi coils, had to look that one up. Which COP kit did you go with? Sorry if I missed that detail.

Are the hitachi better than the bremi?

I redid my COP for the bigger square Bosch coils as the Bremi / STI are problematic.

[eternal24k]

The 318i overhaul continues, new exhaust (Magniflow cat and Bosal muffler), the Bosal components and hangers left some to be desired, but overall very happy with how quiet the car is. Just waiting on FCP for the front hanger off the trans, the car didn't have one and I would like to give some support up there.



I also went with a coil over plug conversion and new Hitachi coils. Of course the back bolt came out of the head with the threads, so I had to bust out the Helicoil kit. The spring got a little funky feeling on insertion and was a little hard to catch the threads, but the bolt caught and it is strong, much stronger than any of the aluminum threads. But the wonky insertion tool has me wanting to get a Time Sert kit to have, i just never love the helicoil feel.


That being said, the car has had a new AGM Group 94 battery, but always took a few cranks to start, but this started first crank, fastest starting car I own at this point, blew me away.


Once I get the exhaust hanger I can get this back on the road, then vinyl wrap the roof and get the roof rack for my wifes bike on it.

[eternal24k]

The few times I drove it at the end of this winter it filled with water, a little oil but like 90%+ water. Now that it’s warmer out I’m hoping it will cut down the condensation so I can get a better handle on how much oil I’m getting. I’ll try to pull the throttle body to see if it’s still clean.

[downforce22]

nice attention to detail. How much oil are you getting in that catch can? I have the same can on my turbo but noticed my mess under the intake delete also collects some oils at the base of the intake boot port.

[eternal24k]

The secret to not hating your life when doing front swaybar bushings is ordering a set of these: https://www.iemotorsport.com/product...mount-kit-e30/ I put them on all of my cars, simply because the stock ones are such a PITA to install.

Looking back, I really should have, I like that approach a lot. My S52 swap has ST sway bar kit that was a breeze, but I had these Rein bushings kicking around from who knows when, was trying to keep things a little softer, what a pain. I also swapped out the 95A diff bushing for an 80A, had I been removing the diff I would have put an OEM rubber one in.

[AWDBOB]

The secret to not hating your life when doing front swaybar bushings is ordering a set of these:

https://www.iemotorsport.com/product/front-sway-bar-mount-kit-e30/

I put them on all of my cars, simply because the stock ones are such a PITA to install.

[eternal24k]

Been working on the M42 car, giving a good once over since I am deploying and I want my wife to be able to enjoy it while I'm gone...

Had a drone in front wheel bearing, so I put in brand new SKF bearings/hubs (so nice to do on a car without any rust


While i was in there, new Lemforder end links (old ones were shot) and new Rein bushings.... Possibly the biggest PITA i have done so far


And while I had it up and out, some badly needed brake TLC, new boots, rubber, Zimmerman rotors, OEM pads, and cerakoted the front calipers.

[eternal24k]

Curious, why such a large oil catch can on the m42? Were you having problems with oil intrusion? Love the wheels and awesome resto. Great work. Keep it coming!

Honestly, because it was a cheapo Amazon catch can and only came in one size. After doing the mess under intake I was seeing a fair amount of oil in the throttle and intake, this was $20 so I figured I would try it out. And thanks! Hoping for an update from paint in the next month.

[Nairb]

Curious, why such a large oil catch can on the m42? Were you having problems with oil intrusion?

Love the wheels and awesome resto. Great work. Keep it coming!

[eternal24k]

Somehow while looking for seats I got lost, and now I have these beautiful wheels in route. The guys at Compomotive have been great to work with to get the color I was looking for. What’s everyone running for 16” tires, 205/50?

[eternal24k]

I swung by the paint shop and snagged the headlights so i had something to tinker with on cold days.

Picked up Tangent adapters for Bosch headlights, Morimoto Mini H1 8.0 and some 3800k bulbs and got to work.




Sealed with flowable silicone:



Had to make slight modification since both Frenchies were Left side, but easy enough with a drill and file. Used 3x adjusters on this side instead of the standard 2x to maximize adjustability with non-standard mounting points





Super happy with how they came out