Melon's Project 3/4/5

[Melon]

Yeah, I'm fucking insane.
I did it again, but this time, with more valves, and two more doors.

I got another "Project" of sorts.

I introduce to R3v
The 1997 M3-4Door-5Speed. This time an E36 flavor, painted in Cosmos Black Metallic, and inside is Magma interior. 1 of 59 made, so she's a rare bird.

How to properly say MAGMA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYAFfeNO00

Roughly 180k miles on the clock, for the low price of $9,000.00
It's no yellow civic, but it's an affordable, if not the most desirable flavor, of a classic car.
I've always wanted one, and so, I'll give this one a try.

The good:
This car has been gone over mechanically. I have a lot of pictures from the previous owner.
Rear main seal, new clutch, transmission seals, detents, new guibo, new motor/trans mounts, new suspension bushings, new shocks/springs, new wheel bearings, valve cover gasket fixed, oil pump housing seal fixed, new plugs and coils, new pads, rotors, and brake lines, and new fluids. It's really sorted mechanically.

The bad:
Mostly cosmetic, the interior needs a good detail, and a new radio.
The rear spoiler, bumper and hood need some paint attention.
The tint is awful, it's cracking and needs to go.

The good with the bad:
It needs a lot of small trim pieces, but the owner has purchased those, and will include them with the car, all I need to do is install them.



So here she is!







MAGMA



Few of the repairs:



























































This is about a third of all the photos I have.

The gentleman in the red isn't the seller, that's a fellow E30 enthuasiust.
He has an S54 swapped and caged E30 track car, and an immaculate E30 M3. He's also probably one of the most knowledgeable people I know of, who isn't a professional mechanic, so I am confident the work has been done properly.

So, I pick it up on Friday, and I'll post more pictures of the car overall and start getting a plan together to get the paint addressed.

[Melon]

So I wanted to race the car in an Autocross.

I first needed to remove the 10" sub in the back, and deal with the loose wiring.





Then I removed the mounting hardware that was installed in the panel.







Got those out, what a pain.



Cleaned up the wiring. Taped off the exposed ends. I'm pretty sure they go no where, and I'll have to run new wiring for any speakers I want to install.



Nice and clean and usable.



Since I had the rear seat base out, figured I'd clean it and condition it.
See if I can bring any life back to it.

Before:


After:


See any difference?
Yeah, me neither, but it feels nicer after having some conditioner on it. Win?

Had an EVAP code, so I cleared that.



Race day!



Blew the power steering pump, she's whining. SAD!

So, I washed it up once I got it home and put it in the garage. Didn't want to work on a dirty car.







I got under it for it's first official :melon: grade inspection.
Overall it's really really good, ZERO rust, not even surface rust.

The oil pan gasket is leaking.
One shock is blown.
Brake line is leaking.

[Melon]

So the plan was to replace the rear brake lines, and shocks, I figured I'll go ahead and paint the calipers, throw on some new rotors and pads while I'm at it.

Current state of the rear brakes. Rusty, street pads, no bueno.



Get started on the tear down, and boom, broken axle boot.



Fuck me, ok, I'll get the axles off...
Well, one was stuck, like really really stuck.
I tried a 3-jaw puller, heat, a hydraulic puller, so man whacks with a hammer I lost feeling in my hand. Zero movement.







After several hours of trying to get one out, and feeling frustrated I called it a day.
Sunday morning, I got up, knowing I needed to take the trailing arms out, to bring them to a shop to have the axles pressed out.
Well upon getting them out of the car, and with a lot of hammer blows and soaking in PB Blaster, they finally came free.







I ended up having to dissassemble much more than planned, but I got it all laid out and organized.
Waiting on the caliper paint to, well paint the calipers.



While I got everything apart, I took a good look at the subframe, differential, and inner control arm bushings.
And to be honest, they all look pretty decent, so I'm going to leave them alone.

Differential:




Subframe:




Trailing Arm Busing Socket:
(Possible chassis failure point) These look great, zero rust.




Differential Cups:




Also there is zero leaking from the diff. I'll do a fluid change, but that should be all it needs.

Lastly, trying out some black plastic restorer I used on the E30 with great and long-lasting results.





Parts list:
New wheel bearings
Upper and lower control arm ball joints
Trailing arm bushing
Various bolts
Exhaust Gaskets
Sway Bar Links
New Axles

I'll be adding it up in upcoming updates.

[Melon]

Didn't spend the entire weekend working on the car. Had a pretty busy week, with being vaccine sick, a track day, and a day out in the field.
I wanted to sleep in, play some video games, and just chill the fuck out a bit.

That being said, let's recap what I got done.

Wanted to get the trailing arms cleaned up before I brought them off to the shop, so I took them, and a few other parts outside and gave them a good wash.
Moving parts around the garage and reinstalling them is much easier when they're clean.



Nice and clean.









The leaking brake line really ate up the paint on one of the support brackets, so I took both the right and left, cleaned them up and threw a good coat of paint on them.









I had to replace the air box because a piece holding a clip was broken on the one the car had.
After cleaning it, the plastic looked like it needed some love, so I wanted to treat it with the same product I mentioned earlier.

Before: Notice how it looks like I sanded it. I just used some cleaner and a parts brush.




Got the table set up, use paper towels, this stuff will stain. Foam brushes work wonders, but make sure you have a few.
I only had this one, and it was really torn up by the end. (And then I discovered I had about three more, goddammit)


After:




Apply the product, kind of work it into the plastic, you can see it actually absorb into the material like a sponge.
Wipe off excess, and it's dry to the touch, and leaves no residue.

Then I started on the front end disassembly. I need to get it all apart to paint the calipers, install Bilstein shocks and, drop the subframe.

Getting going:


Carrier bolts were REALLY on there.


Got it all taken apart, and zip tied the spindles to keep them up.


Brake calipers ready to be disassembled, cleaned, and painted.
The boots look great, I'll just be removing the slide pins and boots for paint. I'll tape off the piston boots.


The spring clips look like they need some love.


Cleaned them up, and threw on some BBQ paint that's rated for 600 degrees.




Good as new.


My FCP Euro shipment arrived, and I was able to inspect the new parts.
I always like to lay the new stuff out next to the old to double check fitment.




Trailing arms ready to go to the shop this week.
New trailing arm bushing, upper and lower control arm bushings, and new wheel bearings.


New axle-shafts.


So, this is how she is currently sitting. About 90% of the way torn down.
Waiting for the oil pan gasket to arrive before I drop the subframe.

[Melon]

This is about a month's worth of work, cross posted from another forum.

I'm single now, I have extra time/money, and an M3.

[2mAn]

I'm single now, I have extra time/money, and a 4DOOR M3.

Melons single now, so more doors for more whores... make it rain baby

[Reichart12]

That's great progress. I wouldn't mind getting an e36 m3 for track day purposes. How do you like that quick jack thing? Do they seem safe enough by themselves or do you also use floor jacks?

[CubbyChowder]

I'm single now, I have extra time/money, and an M3.

Living the dream

Good stuff so far! I really enjoyed your E30 thread and this one is off to a great start. 3/4/5's are so sweet, one of my personal bucket list cars for sure. Seems like a pretty clean example to boot! Excited to follow along

[Melon]

That's great progress. I wouldn't mind getting an e36 m3 for track day purposes. How do you like that quick jack thing? Do they seem safe enough by themselves or do you also use floor jacks?

They're very stable and have mechanical safety locks, so if the hydraulics fail it won't fall.

I can't recommend it enough.

[Melon]

Melons single now, so more doors for more whores... make it rain baby

Lol.

I'm definitely enjoying the single life.

[Albie325]

NICE! Been awhile since there's been a Melon thread and this has started out great. Was odd to see the PO's garage with tile floor, I mean really?

I need to get some of those quick jacks, I'm getting tired of jacks/stands every time I wanna do something quick under the car.

Also, sorry, or maybe Congrats(?) on the single life, but an M3 project is certainly a nice reward.

[Melon]

NICE! Been awhile since there's been a Melon thread and this has started out great. Was odd to see the PO's garage with tile floor, I mean really?

I need to get some of those quick jacks, I'm getting tired of jacks/stands every time I wanna do something quick under the car.

Also, sorry, or maybe Congrats(?) on the single life, but an M3 project is certainly a nice reward.

Thanks man!
Definitely congrats.

[Melon]

Back to work on the M3 now that the E30 is back together.

Obligatory New Parts photo:


I got the trailing arms back from the shop. Bullshit story, but they got shitty with me because it was "too difficult" to remove the hub with it off the car. Didn't fuck with it, and sat on them for a month.
So one side was done, but not the other, and they got the rest of the bushing pressed.


New axles installed, and everything tightened down.


New brake lines installed on the rear.


The car had foam on the swaybar, to keep it from hitting the exhaust.
Found the cluprit, torn hanger, so I replaced both sides.




Installed my new Bimmerworld Cat-back. Can't wait to hear this thing.




Cleaned up the trunk, and got rid of all the old speaker/stereo wiring.


Moving on to the front.

Dropped the subframe and gave it a de-schmutz-ing.






Ta-da!






Got the oil pan out and it too got a schmutz delete.




Dat bottom end.


Safety wired up the oil pump nut.


Failed attempts.


Cleaned up all the oil pump nuts really well before reinstalling it.








New oil pan gasket, and ready to go back on the car.


Neat trick I learned to keep the gasket in place.


Oil pan on, and oh so clean.


Subframe reinstalled.


Transferred the springs and hardware to the new Bilsteins.


Rebuilt the power steering pump. No pictures of the rebuild as my hands were covered in oil and goop.
But, here she is all refreshed and cleaned up.




Reinstalled the pump and all the new lines and reservoir.


I was putting on the banjo bolts and noticed one had a piece of metal in the pressure valve.


With that all together it was time to start on the cooling system.
Draining it went about as expected.


New water pump has the metal impeller.


Water pump installed. Notice how it drains right over the crank pulley, making for a nice waterfall to each side.




Took apart the thermostat housing and found massive corrosion.




Cleaned up the mating surface on the head, and it's got some pitting.


So, going to have to use JB weld to fill in the pitting.
Ordered some new gaskets and other parts I need, so until next time!

[roguetoaster]

Comprehensive maintenance, very nice.

[Melon]

So I got some wire wheels for my dremel to remove the corroded metal.





Filled it in with JB weld, and sanded it smooth.



Used these plastic razor blades to spread



Sanded the new thermostat housing smooth and installed it with some goop.











Then I put it all together.





New seal for the airbox.



Broke the clip that holds the air box to the MAF, (Which is why I bought the new box in the first place)



New belts.



Well, I put it all together, pressure tested it and it leaked.
Sigh, I took it all apart and cleaned off the goop, and in the process, I broke the plastic water pump pulley.
But, I tested it again, and it only lost 1.5psi over 30 min. Leaking at the tester fitting.



Got the spare tire cleaned up and the trunk put back together.



Front swaybar on with new end links.



Got the calipers painted, waiting on them to dry and then I'll rebuild them.







Got the rear parking brake on, and the rotor on, just need the calipers done.



Wanted to get the new headlights installed, the HID kit is bright blue, and it is hard to see at night.
Found this loud speaker in the wiring, WTF?



Got the old headlights out. Tons of dirt.





Got that all cleaned up.







So that's where I'm at, waiting on new bulbs from Amazon to install the lights, and FCP Euro to get me a water pump pulley.