Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

[Skarpa]

Is it round or oval? Looks round in the link, but oval on your knob.

That's oval.

"Additional Info: Oval shape emblem, width - 30mm / height - 33mm"

I'm not sure if they ever made a bmw with round shifter and six gears.

[Staszek]

BMW no longer sells badges separately, just full knobs. I got mine here. It says genuine but it didn't come in bmw packaking so I'm not sure about that. The quality seems OEM, though.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-BMW-M-Technic-6-Speed-Shift-Gear-Knob-Adhered-Badge-Emblem-25111221825-/262680205471?hash=item3d28f5d89f%3Ag%3ApxsAAOSwyLlXo2Tu&_trkparms=pageci%253Ae8ff5621-6b6b-11e7-a43b-74dbd1809ed2%257Cparentrq%253A53cf65c715d0ab4da2429c58ffe708bb%257Ciid%253A3

Thanks for the tip. It feels pretty squishy indeed. I'm tempted to try out a polyurethane bushing from roller skates if I luck out with the dimensions.

Is it round or oval? Looks round in the link, but oval on your knob.

[Skarpa]

It turned out just fine :up:

[Skarpa]

Where did you get that? I need one for my S54.

BMW no longer sells badges separately, just full knobs. I got mine here. It says genuine but it didn't come in bmw packaking so I'm not sure about that. The quality seems OEM, though.

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-BMW-M-Technic-6-Speed-Shift-Gear-Knob-Adhered-Badge-Emblem-25111221825-/262680205471?hash=item3d28f5d89f%3Ag%3ApxsAAOSwyLlXo2Tu&_trkparms=pageci%253Ae8ff5621-6b6b-11e7-a43b-74dbd1809ed2%257Cparentrq%253A53cf65c715d0ab4da2429c58ffe708bb%257Ciid%253A3

https://store.garagistic.com/bmw-per...hifter-bushing

You should replace the carrier shifter bushing. I used a 98 Ford Explorer front end link bushing, but use whatever. Even brand new, oem sucks. It's such a massive improvement over stock.

Thanks for the tip. It feels pretty squishy indeed. I'm tempted to try out a polyurethane bushing from roller skates if I luck out with the dimensions.

[Kershaw]

https://store.garagistic.com/bmw-performance-parts/bmw-3-series-parts/e30-performance-parts/E30-polyurethane-bushings/E30-poly-rear-shifter-bushing

You should replace the carrier shifter bushing. I used a 98 Ford Explorer front end link bushing, but use whatever. Even brand new, oem sucks. It's such a massive improvement over stock.

[Staszek]

Today I updated the gear diagram to six speed version. I was pleasantly surprised when I found an oval 6-speed emblem with the older style M-stripes. I think It's been used in E34 and E31.

Where did you get that? I need one for my S54.

[Skarpa]

I decided to leave making the brackets for the muffler until I have the exhaust fully welded in case I need to react to distortions. Instead, I took on the shifter linkage. With the GS6-37BZ transmission and E9X shifter support the shifter would be positioned about 30 mm too far back and 10 to 15 mm to one side in E30 body. I cut up the shifter support to correct the position.





I don't have equipment for welding aluminium so I had to come up with a way to mock up stuff and keep them in position when I take them for a welder. I drilled a couple of small holes and screwed the parts to a piece of sheet metal. I'll tell the welder to make triangle supports to the joint to make it stronger and neater.




The actuation rod needed respective changes.




I didn't just weld the tubes side by side. First I cut off a bit from one of them to reduce the offset but I should have cut a bit more. As you can see the shifter didn't end up perfectly centered. I got it corrected with a bit of bending for the rod, though.

[Skarpa]

Today I updated the gear diagram to six speed version. I was pleasantly surprised when I found an oval 6-speed emblem with the older style M-stripes. I think It's been used in E34 and E31.

[Skarpa]

Work on the exhaust continues. The exhaust piping has pretty much found it's shape. Of course some details such as brackets and sensor bungs are still missing.


I will after all make a little space in the firewall to get a flex piece in the rearmost headers. My hands are a bit tied with the locations because I want to place the O2 sensors in the headers rather than the exhaust pipe to keep the exhaust easily detachable. I also wanted to place the V-bands in the downpipe area where they are less likely to snag anything. I haven't quite got the hang of welding upside down with the flux cored wire. It's more or less spattery and runny. When welding in normal position I'm happy with the results.


When I had the front end of the exhaust in shape it was time to move on to the catback section. I had to make a small lobster cut in front of the pipe connections to point them down and avoid hitting the gas tank and its heat shield. Likewise I had to make a similar cut in front of the rear muffler to have it horizontal. It took less modifying than I thought according to my first mock up. I had cut off the exhaust tips to have the rear muffler in correct position.




The pipes could be a little closer to rear subframe. If it seems to be a problem, Ill make further modifications. The exhaust tips need to be extended and tilted sideways to line them up with the rear apron.








I'm not the biggest fan of the slanted exaust tips but I decided I didn't want to modify the plastic apron. When the exhaust tips were tacked in place I started eyeing the supports for the rear muffler. The original brackets in the rear muffler didn't work so I cut them off. E36 exhaust mounts will work when placed according to the cutouts in the exhaust heat shield. Although I had to make a bit more space on the right side.






That's where I got so far. Next time I need to bring some stainless flat steel to make the brackets in the muffler.

[Skarpa]

I've progressed with the exhaust work quite well. I cleaned off the stubs of pipe from the resonator so I can come in with new pipes.


When mocking up the bends it quickly became clear to me that I need to move the front muffler back a bit to have space for the bends behind the transmission. I cut up the brackets I made earlier and moved the hooks about three centimeters back. Now they are pretty patchworky but oh well.


I borrowed some stainless wire for the mig from work so I could start tacking the exhaust together.




I'm happy with how I got the pipes lined. There's no place where they would be lower than the frame rails and there's at least five centimeters more ground clearance than with the E36 stock exhaust. I use v-bands to join the exhaust to headers. When mocking up things I found good spots for the O2 sensors. I just need to weld bungs for them. The sensors would not fit in the original bungs of the headers plus I don't think they are in a very good place to get an even reading from all the cylinders. I will add a flex joint to one of the headers if it seems I can fit one there. That should prevent the exhaust from twisting when the headers heat up or cool down unevenly.



Sorry for the lousy pictures today. It's difficult to get decent pictures under the car.

[Staszek]

I haven't used or tried any other photo hosting services because Photobucket used to be good when I started using it. When I look at other people's project threads they mostly seem to use flikr, imgur or kuvat.fi in Finland. I ned to do a bit of research and then undertake the massive rehosting process.

I use Flickr, I just cut out all their URL stuff when I paste the pics over. So far over the last few years no issues and it is built into IOS so I can just quickly upload from my camera role on the iphone.

[bradnic]

photobucket has been a spam turd for years.
dropbox pulled the same cr@p. I have thousands of pic links. considering a move to Flickr.

I'm hoping I can talk the admins into doing a global string replace. as long as I keep the same folder structure right? we will see.

[Skarpa]

Have you tried using Flikr? It takes some adjusting to get use to but the image quality is superior and you dont have to worry about using upgrading. Well, I havent had to worry about it.

I fucking hate photobucket, the site is nothing but a spam-fest, pop-up ads, and scam central now.

If I was in your shoes, I would ask James and the other mods, if you can host the images here, since this threat is pure E30 pornography.....

I haven't used or tried any other photo hosting services because Photobucket used to be good when I started using it. When I look at other people's project threads they mostly seem to use flikr, imgur or kuvat.fi in Finland. I ned to do a bit of research and then undertake the massive rehosting process.

[delamaize]

Fuck you Photobucket!


Yes I have. There's a button on your site specifically for hotlinking pictures to forums.


So you decided to wait until I have 1500 hotlinked pictures before bringing this up?

Fuck you Photobucket!

Any recommendations for photoservers which allow hotlinkin with reasonably priced accounts?

I fucking hate photobucket, the site is nothing but a spam-fest, pop-up ads, and scam central now.

If I was in your shoes, I would ask James and the other mods, if you can host the images here, since this threat is pure E30 pornography.....

[Helical]

Have you tried using Flikr? It takes some adjusting to get use to but the image quality is superior and you dont have to worry about using upgrading. Well, I havent had to worry about it.