Pitchblack Motorsports Rally e30 318i (now with M50) - and some Porsche 924S stuff.

[irish44j]

A few last things before Thanksgiving:

My inventory of parts shows that I have ALL of the replacement pieces to do the shifter linkage, which is really sloppy. I may hold off on that for a month or so since my wife is probably getting me the Z3 shift setup, so I'll do it all at once

It's super-gunky/oily up in there, but seems like its from the shifter linkage seal leaking, rather than the main rear tranny seal - it looks to be new and all the leakage is ABOVE it, so unless this car has been in anti-gravity, that's probably not it lol...





naked chassis



Down at my parents' marina for the holiday, so brought my rear subframe with me to use one of his presses to do the main bushings. A bit of torch heat and it slid right out with little effort. That means that in the next week or so I can put the entire rear end back together...excellent





Happy Thanksgiving All!

[irish44j]

Back from Thanksgiving and managed to do a bit of assembly. Pressed the new subframe bushings in (OEM rubber ones), which was super-easy, and then attached the 325i/disc brake trailing arms (with Ireland Engineering poly bushings). Need to get some new trailing arm bolt locknuts, then I'll bolt it all back onto the car and start assembling the rest of the rear end.





also had a package waiting on the porch when I got home.....mostly some small parts that I needed. Included though were some e30 M3 offset LCA bushings for when I do the front suspension in a few weeks



Also started rebuilding the other CV axle with new boots but after replacing the outer boot I'm a bit suspicious with the joint. It feels kind of "notchy" when rotating and movign back and forth. Going to check it out a bit more, and then maybe order a reman from NAPA since they're fairly inexpensive.....we'll see.

a few random pics from the Thanksgiving break - visited my parents who own a marina down on the Chesapeake, so it was a nice relaxing weekend on the water



did some exploring on some of the little local river roads in the 4Runner



didn't have a chance to take the boat out, but did take a nice sunset picture of it!

[irish44j]

Didn't work on the car much today or yesterday, other things to do.

A few things though

First, after putting new boots on the second CV axle, I think it might be no-good....the movement/play on the outer joint doesn't seem smooth so it worries me. Going to look around for a cheap remanufactured unit I think. I have at least a month before the car will be on the ground again, so no rush.

Also, got a package today

I bought a pair of "unkonwn condition" front Bilsteins from a fellow GRM'er. They are what he said, and I knew going in that they'd probably need a rebuild. One has smooth travel (but some brown grease in the seal), and the other seems to be seized up. As it turns out they're the OEM billies from the sport model, I was hoping they'd by HD's, but no big deal. I may or may not get them rebuilt, since they only cost me $30, and just re-sell them.



So was waiting on seeing them, and since they won't do the job I want, I just bit the bullet and ordered some new HDs for the front. I want to get this front suspension taken care of, so don't really want to use the sports, and don't want to deal with a rebuild at the moment. Front HDs is a place where getting new ones is worth it, so I did.

Also in that deal, the seller had a set of OEM offset upper strut mounts (they run about $150/each new). Still new in box, and I got them for $50 for the pair, so that was VERY worthwhile!



Tomorrow's project will be to get the rear subframe back into the car, once I find some M12 locknuts locally for the control arms. I want to torque them down before I put the subframe on, it's easier that way.

[CreamBeam]

car looks like its coming along, my question is tho what is the purpose of the offset CAB's and what direction is the offset hole suppose to point to?

[A Sucked Orange]

Thats the dirtiest diff oil ive ever seen.

[irish44j]

car looks like its coming along, my question is tho what is the purpose of the offset CAB's and what direction is the offset hole suppose to point to?

The offset hole has an arrow that aligns with a mark on the "lollipop." I don't have a pic right now, but will at some point.

The offset bushings slightly increase camber and caster compared to the stock ones.

Thats the dirtiest diff oil ive ever seen.

lol yeah....though the pic makes it dirtier than it was. It was really more of a brown/caramel color (look at the residue on the upper fill plug.

[irish44j]

got up early to get my yardwork out of the way so I would have some "car time" before football, and got a good bit accomplished today.

First, got the rear subframe back on. It went on a hell of a lot easier than it came off, that's for sure.



also got the stainless rear brake lines (inner and outer) hooked up, cleaned up the springs and repainted them while I was at it, and reinstalled the rear suspension with the 325i trailing arms/rear brakes.



Still have to get the old ebrake lines out (which I still haven't figured out how to do!) and get the new disc brake ebrake lines in.

A few things I noticed:
First, a rust-through spot under the wheel well rubber undercoating. It's not structural, just the lateral brace to the rocker panel it appears, so no biggie. I'll just clean it up and paint it most likely, so stuff can't collect in that spot in the future and cause more rust.



And of course the former-mystery cover. On 325's this cover is where the trunk battery cables run. Since the early 318s don't have the trunk battery, took a bit of investigation to figure out what is in there. The cover is all rusted out (and will be replaced), but looks like it is hose for the evap/gas tank overflow "system"....bleh.





the cover


where the hoses enter the gas tank


anyhow, feels like I'm finally making some progress now that I get to put things back together :)

[irish44j]

stopped by a local dealer today on my lunchbreak to pick up a couple bolts and a transmision output seal. Oddly, I've never been in a BMW dealer before, and was thorougly impressed by the leather/mahogany smell going on in there, lol.

Anyhow, put the new seal in, cleaned up the diff a bit more, put the stub axles back in, and painted the rusty case with some POR-15, just to prevent more near-term rust.

I know most guys clean up the rear case cover and make it look pretty, but didn't bother much more than a wire wheel, since it'll probably be dirty/muddy all the time anyhow...

[irish44j]

took off work early to do some Christmas shopping, and that gave me a little time to do some car work while it was still light out for once.

Not coincidentally, got a box of a few needed parts in :)

First had to get the remaining ebrake cable out of the steel tubes at the rear end. Totally seized in there, the only way to get it out was to use progressively larger drill bits until one bit enough to yank it out. After much cursing and some bloody knuckles, they're out!



and the new cables came in. Went with new ones because 1) I like to be safe and 2) getting used ones out of a junk car would have been a MAJOR pain.

had a good laugh at the giant bag thing they came in, lol


installed


now is a good time to mention that setting up the ebrake (internal to the drum) is a major bitch, especially getting the spring pins in with no leverage at all, so the tips of my finger is sore as hell from pressing with all my weight, lol. Still need to get the ebrake actuator for one side, so right now just one is hooked up, but it's not like I"m in a rush. Also permanently put in the new extended wheel studs with red loctite.

so managed to get the new rotor on, and the rebuilt caliper, and that means I'm officially done with the left rear suspension, aside from getting some brake pads and bleeding the lines (and of course installing the CV axle).

I'm also about to pick up a used stock IS rear sway, so will install that before I put the diff back in, hopefully this weekend.

[irish44j]

was getting something out of the garage and I saw the extra exhaust manifold sitting there, all pretty with silver powdercoat that the previous owner did, but never installed. Then I looked over at the car's engine bay and saw the nasty, rusty manifold sitting there off the engine.

So, since the exhaust is already off of the car, this seems like a quick little project to do. Also having it off will give me a chance to take a good look at the engine mounts and clean up that side of the block and head from all the gunk.....

pimpin'


oddest gasket ever, with a heat shield thingy to protect the plug wires. Looks like I was getting a bit of blow-by on the gasket, so will give a better inspection when I get a chance.


yep, gunky and could use a cleanup. The engine mounts look ok, but since this car's gonna be banging around I might just replace them pre-emptively, since I hear they're a weak point on these cars. Though maybe that's for the heavier engines, not the little baby M10

[kts]

The engine mounts look ok, but since this car's gonna be banging around I might just replace them pre-emptively, since I hear they're a weak point on these cars. Though maybe that's for the heavier engines, not the little baby M10

You're already there where it will be easy to replace them with new ones or upgraded units. I'd just go ahead and do it since doing Rallycross I'm sure you'll be torturing them.

[irish44j]

You're already there where it will be easy to replace them with new ones or upgraded units. I'd just go ahead and do it since doing Rallycross I'm sure you'll be torturing them.

now the challenge is finding someone that still makes M10 mounts (besides stock ones). Looks like IE doesn't list them anymore :(

[irish44j]

tonight's suckage: front control arm balljoint. Got the nut above the front subframe halfway off before it started spinning the balljoint. I've tried every trick I know for balljoints, so looks like it's gonna be sawzall time.

on the upside, I just ordered Moog inner and outer balljoints, so I don't have to replace the control arm. Someone taught me the trick to removing the stock ones ;)

[irish44j]

removing front suspension, and of course the balljoints are the suck, and the bolts are seized. Say hello to Mr.Dremel.



Rather than buy new lemforder LCAs, I'm going to replace the balljoints with Moogs (inner and outer) for half the price, and they'll last longer hopefully. Should be fun....

[kts]

now the challenge is finding someone that still makes M10 mounts (besides stock ones). Looks like IE doesn't list them anymore :(

Doing some googling it looks like S14 mounts should work on the M10. It may or may not need the S14 mount arm on the exhaust side as well.

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109214

Do some more searching, it might be an option. Vorshlag also makes some S14 mounts. http://www.vorshlag.com/index.php?cP...3699e13e0c910b

I didn't realize they used different mounts than the M20. :( Bummer.