Lira (euro DS mtech II 318is reshelled, 24v swapped, also now BAR'd)

[KIRIEIW]

Sweeeet man! Glad to hear it passed, I'll bring you back your smoke tester today after work if your around still (I get off around 7.30PM) otherwise the weekend.

[kronus]

I am at a lemons race this whole weekend. Hold on to it, I'll get in touch next week!

[kronus]

some small updates..

cleaned up an painted a Sparco strut brace I had sitting around. interestingly, it doesn't clear the fusebox of my '83 323i but fits fine here with a bit of elbow grease.



made a subframe bushing extractor helper thingy



pushed the (very dead) bushings out of the old subframe, cleaned and primed it




With the subframe swap I will also be removing the buzzy open 4.10 small-case diff, so I'm currently figuring out what I want to install in its place. I have a S3.46, a 3.46 Torsen, and a S3.23 available, and may have a line on a S3.15 as well. (yes, I have a problem) The main operative difference is whether I want to stick with the 260 in the car, or put in one of my 245/11s (told you I have a problem).

A 3.46S is a bit low for the 260, going about 3100 RPM at 80mph, vs the 245/11+S3.15 combo's much more convenient 3500. However, putting the dogleg in involves locating a clutch for it, redoing the entire shifter setup, and it makes the car less attractive for an S5x motor down the line if the M50 goes, since the 245 will apparently have trouble keeping its shiny bits on the inside with that much power. Maybe I just want a 3.73.


I have been driving the car as well now that it's street-legal, and am running into some cooling issues. Car sits at a tick to the right of the 1/2 mark on the gauge, but coming off the highway it will get as high as 3/4 before the fan can rein it in. The internet claims the M42 rad is pain in the ass to bleed, but I'm pretty sure it's fully bled by now. I have good heat coming from the core and everything seems to be circulating fine. I have the stock 92deg thermostat in the motor.. Is it possible that the M42 radiator is just not keeping up?

[86gt635]

This thread is titties.

[kronus]

did work!







these Lemfoerders should last a decent amount of time. TABs coming up this week.


swapped out the M42 radiator for an E36 unit. the size difference is substantial, but the effect on my running temperature was minimal. I need either an electric fan or a low profile euro diesel fan, but haven't decided which, yet. For now, my aux fan is rigged to be permanently on and the temperature is staying stable.




I've also cleaned, sandblasted and stripped down the calipers that came off the Italian donor.






They are getting painted and rebuilt with new bushings, o-rings and boots this week.



The car itself, on a little trip down to the dealership.

[bradnic]

anything special about the calipers?

[kronus]

nope, pretty typical ATE units. I like them better than the Girlings that are on the car, and after 270k miles a refresh is nice even if the brakes feel pretty great as they are right now.

[alas]

Nice work, Kronus!

I wish I lived closer to come check out your car and shop, but maybe during the holidays as the fiancé has family up near you...

Totally SUB'd.


-E

[kronus]

thanks! which holidays?

also, continued plugging away at it. Calipers got painted..



dried..



and rebuilt with new guide sleeves, o-rings and boots




replaced the TABs with new Lemforders.



now I'm trying to get the axles out.. might need to use the press, since they're being complete assholes.

last puzzle piece is the diff, which I should be getting to this week. I'm thinking to put the torsen unit from the 3.46 into the 3.25 and install that.

[bradnic]

aluminum paint? that's the way it's done.

[kronus]

Duplicolor silver caliper paint. The choices were red, black, blacker black, and silver. It goes with the black/silver theme of the car decently well!

[Reichart12]

Cars looking clean. How was the fitment switching your radiator up?

[kronus]

late-model cars hold the sides of the radiator instead of the bottom, using little clip-in plastic cups. the M42 radiator is about an inch narrower than the M50 one, and the little cup is different enough that the M50 radiator didn't drop right in. I did not know this until I was in the middle of the swap, so I had to trim the cup a bit instead of using the correct one.

also M42 cars don't have provisions for mounting the M20 overflow tank, so it's currently held in with zip ties.

otherwise, it was fine.

I think I'm going to go back to the M42 radiator for the somewhat cleaner setup and lack of zip ties, since my cooling problems seem to mostly be related to the lack of a fan, not cooling capacity.

[Reichart12]

Cool, that all makes sense. I never realized how much of a size difference there was with m42 and m50 radiators. Thanks

[kronus]

so today was going fine and then after lunch this thing fell off



sighing, I rounded up all the crap I had piled in a corner and went to work. pile of crap:



contents of pile:
subframe with new Lemfoerder bushings
trailing arms with new Lemfoerder bushings, good bearings, OEM bent trailing arm delete mod
new rear sway bar end links
new half-shafts
new e-brake cables
new e-brake shoes
cleaned-up e-brake hardware
new(ish) rotors
UUC SS brake lines

pictured in a previous post:
4 rebuilt ATE brake calipers

here's the gaping maw of Lira's ass end



these are kind of cake to do when the subframe is out..



subframe went in straightforwardly-like. it's painted, a lot.



trailing arms followed.



being stupid, I had filled up the tank the day before deciding to do this whole thing, so in order to get the right-most trailing arm bolt in, I had to drain about 5 gallons of gas out of the tank fill tube into a gas jug, while on my tippy toes. most of the gas did not get everywhere. However, being not the stupidest, I did remember to preload the trailing arms before torquing the bolts.

diff went in. It is a S3.46, but it is only temporary while I swap a torsen unit into a 3.25 case. sorry about the 80s porn filter, I think some diff juice got on my phone.




by this time it was about 6pm, so I cleaned up and went home. just need to re-torque some stuff, reassemble the driveshaft, exhaust, and drive to Oregon. easy. I wish it would stop overheating..


also, what could this be.