Project M42 Touring..Update-Feb 26-E30 M3 Tacho...

[MikeDE]

Picking up where I left off Friday, I ran all over the place Saturday morning to find an M8 helicoil. I stopped by (3) shops but they either had none or they were too big, the other larger 'Home Depot'-like stores looked at me like I had nine heads when I asked them if they had Helicoils. Well actually I had to explain what they were first. Anywhere that woukld actually have them are specialty places here in Germany, so they were all closed on Saturday.

So when I finally got into it after lunch, I chased the threads with an M8 tap. I managed to clean out some of the junk in the hole. I tried an M8 from what I think was from a rear swaybar link. A little longer to hit the threads deeper in the hole. I dunno whether it was the different bolt or what, but I got it to hold the torque of 120in/lbs or whatever the Bentley said.

Here is everything torn down and cleaned up:


Getting ready to start RTV'ing and reassembling:


Cases torqued down and sealed(I hope):


New t-stat housing sealed up:


And everything back together:


I just have to fill it with Coolant and bleed it tomorrow, then we'll see if it's sealed up this time.

[Simon S]

* fingers crossed *

[MikeDE]

* fingers crossed *

Next time I have a problem Simon, I will PM you to cross your fingers again.

It APPEARS to be sealed this time, and there is no longer any leak from the tensoiner plug either. The residue on there was most likely the seepage from the upper timing cover's lower-most bolt.

Next installment will be Brakes & Suspension. Then onto the rest of the little projects that I have planned like Electric puller fan w/ stock wiring(lo & hi speed), cleaning the engine bay, tucking the wires on the drivers side (if I ever find a good brilliantrot fender), replacing the pad on the inside of the hood with some other insulation, heat shield for the exhaust manifold, and a detailing that it needs sooo bad, fresh(er) front sport seats, dying the interior black...the list is definitely longer but I can't remember it all right now.

[Simon S]

=-)

[MikeDE]

The timing case cover gasket is still lookin good, I hope to have no more problems with it.

Now that the engine is taken care of, I have turned my attention to a few others things that i've had lying around for a while. I bought a set of Euro non-smiley projectors from Learningcurve86 found in a yard out here. They looked very clean in the photos and I wasn't disappointed when I got them. I had a set of these on the car when I bought it but swapped them for the Smileys that were on my Seta. I decided that I wanted the projectors back, so here they are:

I painted the trim rings black and polished the high's a bit just to remove the film on them. And yes, my hood is still misaligned.

I also wanted to throw in a set of black brake ducts just to see how it looks:





I also started sanding my MSW mesh's, but had no more desire to do so after 10 minutes so i'll have to jump on those another day.

[monty23psk]

Looks good. Also noticed the antenna, nice.

[LicensedToM]

Wow - just read this thread and have mad respect! Great job on getting this complete. The car looks sweet - and I'm sure it runs smoothly too now with the M42.

[MikeDE]

Last weekend I did some long overdue suspension & brake work. I installed the following:

Lemforder LCA's
E30 M3 LCAB's
Front and rear swaybar bushings(PITA)
Rear swaybar endlinks

Bilstein Sports
KW 40/40 springs

And for the brakes:

Massive street kit w/ Meyle blanks(from 2002maniac)
Goodridge SS lines

The rear (4) lines were installed already when I reseated the subframe bushings, I installed the front (2) a few weeks ago b/c I had some free time.


I didn't stop to take any pics because time was short and it kills my momentum when I stop to do so.

Here it is all finished up:


And behind the Euroweaves:


These pics were actually taken a few days afterwards. I test drove it Saturday evening after I bled the brakes and tweaked the front toe.
All was well with no odd noises....fast forward to Thursday AM. I rolled out of my parking spot to hear a noise that coincided with road-speed only. i stopped at the gas station and took a quick look underrneath to make sure it was nothing obvious and proceeded cautiously to and from work that day.

I took the wheels off after work and found this:


AND the other side:


The edge of the caliper, why only after 4 days I have no idea, was just knicking the weights:




It's barely visible in the pics(I think my 10D is beginning to shit the bed, either that or the lens if hammered) but you may be able to see the marks on the outer edge of the caliper next to the bolt.

I ground the weights down a bit and it seems to be ok. When I mount my fresh summers next spring, I will put the weights a bit further in on the wheel.

Here is a quick pic of the 'stance' after the Billy/KW's:


And I found a nice MT2 in the Junkyard a few days before:

The leather feels brand new and gives the old ho' a whole new feeling.

And a few pics of the engine bay after some cleaning:





On the way from Bimmerworld are my Spal 16" puller and E30 radio delete panel. I will be relocating my radio, and using a 316i HVAC/radio delete panel to mount an oil pressure & temp guages, and possibly water temp.

I plan to use an 80/88c switch but not the low/hi speed configuration. Rather I will be running the 80c trigger in the summertime and the 88c trigger in the wintertime, both on HI speed.

Till next time......

[MikeDE]

JiXer's Phenolic Spacer review and thoughts....

Posted it in the Product Review section:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=233287

[MikeDE]

Teaser:



Just picked this up from one of the German e30 forums over here. Just have to get the E30 M3 temp sender and hope the threads in the front of the m42 filter housing are the same size as the sender.

I also had to pull my entire exhaust, headers included to weld the (2) sections together to fix the exhaust leak. The headers were leaking as well. I threw a weld on them but I think it's terminal. I have an extra set on the way from rob_e30(thanks) and I'll take my time cleaning and rewelding every seam on this set.

I also have plans for the rx7 brake kit behind my weaves with a 10mm spacer. But it has to go for TÜV this week, wish me luck(that they don't notice the M42).

[alexw]

Makes me miss my touring. Mine had a M42 swap too!

Good times, hope all is well over there buddy!

[DaButt]

God I want to move back to Germany so bad. Mad respect for your work.

[VANOS714]

well done.

[Roysneon]

Where are the pics?