Rebuilding the build that never was - S/Ced schwarz e36 vert

[rzerob]

Finally.

[Fraser]

Frickin love Becks. Great build man, I wish I could come close to that sort of attention to detail...

[jeenyus]

great work :D - from your NEW FRIEND! <3

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Alight. Time to start catching up.

Digging back into my photos I think this is where I left off. Reinforced the trailing arms and subframe after everything was sandblasted. My roommate took all of it to work and painted it gloss black in the spray booth. Then I installed powerflex bushings. Picked up a hydraulic press from harbor freight to press in and out all the various bushings. Lifesaver. Started to fabricate my own adjustable swaybar endlinks using a new set of OEM m3 endlinks. Chopped it in half, threaded and reverse threaded each end, screwed them into a hex female threaded rod I found online. Voila.

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[Sh3rpak!ng]

PSH, an understatement here folks

CHARLIE!... COME BACK!

I'm always lurking....

Yea I've driven it to work for a few weeks now. It's in the garage now getting detailed (clay bar, polish, sealant, wax etc.)

I've done a bit of work on the e30 too..

Problem is that I used to post while I was at work but now they've blocked google photos/drive etc. across the whole company because I guess info got hacked or shared somewhere. I'm never on my computer when I'm home - always using my limited free time to actually work the projects :)

I'll start posting photos again I promise

[2mAn]

might be firing the car up this weekend I know I owe updates

PSH, an understatement here folks

CHARLIE!... COME BACK!

[TeXJ]

haha, you're good man. Life is busy.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

bump

might be firing the car up this weekend I know I owe updates

[TeXJ]

bump

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Excellent!

Thanks!


Installed exhaust studs. This is a little trick... N54 studs are a slight bit shorter and have a torx head for easy install. No more jam nut fiascos. Just a tiny wipe of anti-seize on the threads and you'll never have a frozen stud again.




Finally started some rear suspension reinforcement. The oem rear control arms are kinda a joke. There is ONE small weld holding the entire piece together. If you try to press the bushing out it crushes the end. Ask me how I know... Most people just replace these with adjustable arms but I'm on a budget and this isn't a track car. As much as I want the ball joints, adjustability and bling, I don't need it. The quality ones seem to retail around $250-$400 for a set. I'll pass. Instead I just cut some metal and reinforced the whole thing. It'll be totally solid now and has enough adjustment for a street car (there are also reinforcement plate kits for sale).

Here you see the side of the arm that has no welds at all. It's just two pieces of stamped steel.




Here's the end with no weld




And the end with a weld. Pathetic.




Reinforcement plates




One of the ends with the reinforcement tacked




I've got rear subframe reinforcements, front subframe reinforcements, rear subframe mounting points, and rear trailing arm pockets left to do.... and por15 on order to coat it all. Really aiming to start assembling it this weekend.

[MR E30 325is]

Excellent!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Finished the motor








My amazing wife got worried one night that I was going to eat dinner too late so she delivered dinner to me in the garage. Some BLTs with heart toothpicks :D I sure am lucky to have her




Really got into the rear suspension last weekend. One of my friends gave me a hand manhandling the parts on the press. Took a little finagling but we figured out good combinations of sockets and DIY tools to press everything out. There are A LOT more bushings in the rear of the e36 than the e30. 14 bushings/ball joints were pressed out in total.



Kinda proud of the ingenuity to make this tool. The e36 non-m rear trailing arms have an upper ball joint and a lower bushing for the upper spring perch/control arm and the lower control arm. I picked 2 "new" control arms from the junkyard because my NJ arms were really cruddy and rusty and one already had the axle frozen in the hub. However, I had already replaced the 2 ball joints in the old arms and wanted to reuse them and would need to press them out without damaging them.

So we pressed out of the junkyard arms a ball joint and a bushing and then gutted both parts. I was left with the outer race of the ball joint and the outer sleeve of the bushing. I slit the sleeve along its length and welded it back together. Now it is a very snug fit over the ball joint - giving clearance not to damage the boot but snugly fitting through the hole to press firmly on the outer race of the ball joint. Then I welded this modified sleeve to the gutted outer race of the ball joint I pressed out. Voila. A BMW rear ball joint tool is made. Paired with the harbot freight press it made the removal of the other ball joints a breeze.




The rear subframe is kinda rusty at most of the weld joints. I have some reinforcements to weld into the swaybar tabs. It's a known weak point of the rear e36 suspension. With larger swaybars the tabs tend to crack/break off over time. I intended to wire wheel the whole subframe and paint it but then my roomate offered to sandblast it first, I do the reinforcements, then he has it epoxied at the shop (WCC). So that's the new plan for all the rear suspension.




So the plan for this weekend is to do all suspension and chassis reinforcements (swaybar tabs, rear subframe mounts, trailing arm pockets, front subframe engine mounts) and then with whatever time is left sand/polish the engine bay and start putting things back together.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Subscribed.

wunderva

:) updates soon. Engine is done. All the rear bushings are pressed out and my roomate took everything to work to sandblast the light rust (NJ car) and get it ready for the weld in reinforcements.

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[jeenyus]

wunderva

[rzerob]

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