91 318is Never ending project(s) journal

[sasha18yug]

You Sir are amazing... the way you do things is awesome... keep up the work... i think you're an inspiration to must of us ....8-)

[monty23psk]

thanks, just trying to fix things but do it right the first time.

['e30love']

did you have to do anything to the wiring? or just switch the bulbs? also how much where the new platic housing?

[monty23psk]

Just change bulbs. I got the housings from Blunt from BMW. They are the same as Hella part so save money and go with Hella. He also offers them. I think they are like ~$17 ea.

[monty23psk]

Well today I wake up this morning and when I turn the car on to go to work, and I get a huge smell of gas. Opened the hood and one of the small rubber hoses going to fuel rail under the upper intake manifold is leaking. So after work, since I have extra BMW 8x13 fuel hose I went to replace it. I found out one of the original clamps was bad and couldnt be tighten anymore. This normally happens with these clamps overtime. I still swapped out the hoses and replaced the clamp. But when I removed upper intake the gasket was broken in 3 parts. I think this is my bad idle/bad mpg, plus the loss of fuel to make it worst. I ordered the gasket but car is back on road until I get gasket Mon or Tues.

I also order a piece of 12mm silicone black hose from Hi Performance after Desktop Dave's review of their product. I order the 2ft length to change out my oem hoses that go from valve cover to throttle housing. The cable fit very snug on both ends. I could have cut about 4-6 inches but wanted to keep the hose without kinking and using the same path the OEM hose uses, which is under the intake manifold. Here is pic of the 3 items and upset I had to use cell phone for pics. When I replace gasket, I will take a better pic of hose installed. I need to figure out hoses for the ICV run even though I am using the 2 stock hoses and then a stock plastic coupler with a molded ICV hose for the m30. Looks stock.

Here is the hoses I replaced with the silicone. It is the 3 piece with 2 couplers. I used these after removing the throttle heater plate. And 10x eaiser to remove upper intake with out having to deal with coolant hoses.


Here is the new hose, terrible pic. Hose is great quality.


Here is the new hose installed. Being that it is a little longer, I ran it towards the rear of engine and thenturn it back under the throttle housing. Bad pic but better coming soon...

[monty23psk]

Finally, after almost 2 years of having the e36 rack, I installed it due to leakage from my e30 rack. I purchase a 95 m3 rack (3.0 ltl) from a junkyard for $35 and $15 for shipping. Had it rebuilt with lifetime warranty like I did my e30 one. It lasted 6 years and the issue with it is one of the rubber lines that goes from one end to the other popped loose. I will have it rebuilt and then sell it with the warranty as I have receipt paid in cash to someone local. Will help offset cost of e36 rack rebuild.

I started to remove the old rack. Very simple and use the tie rod ball joint puller which takes 2 minutes per side.



I then removed the rack. Only issue I had was I couldnt get knuckle off rack and next time will try to remove it while rack is still bolted to subframe for extra support. Made installation a pain but not difficult since it is an airbag car. Here is the rack removed and what leaky ATF does to the rack on the outside. No fluid inside the boots.



Here is a before and after of the subrame area under the PS pump. I just used a rag and next weekend will drive it on ramps and clean with degreaser and hose. The subframe has nice OEM sticker stating airbag info from factory in orange. I wiped it before I took the before pic. It was covered in grim and was not visible. Nice to see it even after 20 years on the car.

Before:


After:


Here are the spacers from AKG for the top of the rack when mounted to the subframe:


Lastly the new rack. Here they still have the old boots. I replaced the whole tie rods with e36 Lemfoerder ones which are beefier than e30s. New boots and new metal clamps instead of cable ties even though that would work.


I then bent the hose that goes from the PS pump to the rack. I modified the opening on the firewall. It is the black plate from the pedal assemble that needs to be grinding, not the actual firewall of the chasis. After it is installed, the grinding was not necessary unless you want the rubber boot to fit better. I just modified the boot to seal up the whole. The car turns much faster and feels great. Today I have alignment appointment. I also ordered the PS delete to remove 9 pounds of hardware. It should be here tomorrow and will try to to get to it this weekend while cleaning the underside.

[MG325i]

great work done to your car! sub'd :up:

[monty23psk]

Got a few things done today....

Replaced passenger side seatbelt rod bolt cover, minor but it was cracked and driving without a passenger seat since Christmas, it was bugging me. Here is the pic and you can the old one in the top left had corner. It was cracked and part of the edge was deformed from stepping on it while getting in and out of car from back seat.

Some of the pics for this thread suck due to focus. Didnt check after pic was taken.



Next was replacing grommets and return spring for clutch pedal. I recently did the same for gas pedal and did the clutch pedal bushing, so just wanted to finish it off correctly. The spring grommets on both sides were gone and the spring ends were touching metal.

Here are a few pics of the parts and before and after for the upper grommet.







Finishing up with e36 rack upgrade....

I got the PS delete from Silence. I removed the lines and reservoir with hoses. Still need to remove pump.

Here is a pic of the PS delete:


Here are the hoses loose from the PS pump and draining the system


While draining, I removed the old reservior, hoses and brackets

Now you see it:


Now you don't:


I replaced the cable ties with the OEM metal clamps after running rack for a few days to make sure nothing was leaking. Here is a pic with the delete also installed.



Here is the tool to clamp them. I bought it many years ago for some coolant lines the use them on the e28 m5. Got it at Grainger.



Lastly, here is a pic from inside the car at the plate that needs a little grinding for the e36 rack swap on an airbag car. It is held with 2 13mm bolts and comes out easily as long as you have the steering column telescoping rod out. I just got it loose and did it there. You can also make a new plate also.

[monty23psk]

Today I replaced my alt/water pump belt as it was falling apart and luckily I did. 3 rubber teeth were missing. I also finished removing the power steerring pump for weight reduction. The car without power steering is not bad at all, just hard from a dead stop but you get use to it. I know my upper strut mounts are binding which make it harder.

I also continued on my passenger seat today, little teaser of course. I still need to work on bottom have and order the seat shocks. Just need to check if I need all 4 shocks, so far I need 2.

On to the pics of the mtech centers and micro suede bolsters to match rears and door panels. It is not hard to work on the seats, just tedious. I understand now why labor can be expensive doing this.

Top half off:


Center cushion removed and side bolsters/frame:


One side bolster hog ringed with blace micro:


Main teaser, center section just resting on frame with mtech m3 pattern, horizontal instead of vertical stitching plus the one side bolster:

[Simon S]

Good times.

[monty23psk]

^ any new updates on your car Simon?

[Simon S]

Not really..
Haven't touched it durring last two months..

[monty23psk]

^ well hope you do something. Always detailed work.

After my last head rebuild, the flywheel blind plug would keep slipping out until I noticed last weekend it fell out. Probably due to the plastic ridges being worn out after the 20 years. I got my new one from Blunt and on it went. I have seem some m42s without them which can let debris get into the flywheel. Very hard to get something hard in there but don't want to take the chance.

Plug from BMW:


Plug installed, which took a little force to get it in there which means it will not budge.

[monty23psk]

Got the top half of the passenger seat done. Now working on bottom half and checking if I need any of the shocks or hardware. Will also clean up the metal base.

[monty23psk]

Today I replace the rubber vacuum hoses from the ICV to the rubber intake boot with a silicone hose. So heater plate has been fully deleted and all hoses are silicone. I bought it from the same place I did the VC to throttle hose. This one is just a little wider. I kept ICV in the stock location and just bent the bracket that holds it just a little so the hose underneath ICV has room to curve without giving it a kink. My car has the recall valve kit for the heater core and if it wasnt there, I wouldnt have to bend the bracket. I kept the stock hose that goes from top of ICV to valve cover. It is so short and tight bend that I rather keep it stock to prevent any kinks in the hose. I order 2', the minimum and cut about 4 inches but could have done more but like to give the hose room to move if needed. In the end, buying these 2 hoses would have been the same cost as buying all the stock hoses if you wanted to keep the heater plate, but of course more expensive that just buying rubber vacuum hose.

Here is a better pic of the VC to throttle hose plus the new one installed.


Here is newly added hose, hard to see under ICV.


Here are how both hose look under boot/throttle plate: