Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

[Skarpa]

Sun is starting to come out again and I guess I need to start moving to get the car running next summer. Everything is very much unfinished but here's where I'm at right now. The idea was to do 5 lug conversion this winter. The parts I acquired last summer.



The goal was to use readily available stock parts to keep future maintenance easy.

Front:

• Epytec sleeves and nuts for E36 hubs
• Epytec caliper adapters for E36 brakes
• E36 front hubs (ABS ring needs to be turned down slightly and I need to tap it to correct depth to match the sensor position)
• Mini Countryman brake disc 294*22 (34119804828)
• E36 brake calipers and carriers
• Width increase 7mm per side

Rear:

• Z4/E90 hubs 33416752381
• E36 brake discs 280x10 mm (for example 325i) 34216864051
• E36 brake calipers and carriers
• MRT caliper adapters for E36 brakes
• width increase 2,5 mm per side

The half shafts don't need to be replaced for 5-lug swap. I just need to replace them because my current ones have shred the rubber boots. I'll try new GKN/Spidan/Löbro ones.




Now that I'm taking apart the rear axle it's time to get the tow in on the left side in order. For some reason my left trailing arm is out of shape and has too much toe in. The alignment bolts are not enough the get the correct toe-in. I was planning on correcting it with eccentric bushings bet then decided that I want to have a straight trailing arm. I bought an E36 compact one. It's a little difficult to find reliable information on whether the trailing arm has the exact same dimensions as an E30 one but I'm like 98% sure. I still need do side by side comparison once I have the trailing arm out of the car. Of course I also need to have this one powder coated into Jägermeister orange. When doing the 5 lug swap I of course need to update the wheels as well. For quite a while I've had a set of RS005/006 in stock condition for this reason.





I took apart the wheels and took the centers and tha waffles to painter. I'll assemble the wheels using my current lips, barrels and hardware. One of my current hex nuts is in less than premium condition so I polished one of the spare ones.




Usually I store the wheels separately from the car during winters so I've had basic steelies for winter storage but of course they won't fit anymore. Besides it's been a little annoying that the first time driving the car after winter hasn't felt as festive as it should when the car is on lame steelies and 30 year old tires. I bought a set of E39 16" style fives for that purpose.



These need to be powder coated and they are missing the center caps. That's all right as I don't like the look of the E38/E39 center caps especially on older cars so I bought aftermarket aluminum waffles and hex nuts.





The goal is also to have the AC working next summer. Since building the car it's been in them same condition. The car has the condenser and evaporator in place. All the wiring and switches etc are there. Only the AC lines are missing. The big reason is how the AC lines and the lower radiator hose want live in the same space.



Last summer I realized that E36 (as well as the other cars with M5X engines) have a few different models of AC compressor. The one I have is Seiko but there's the Denso/Hischier one as well (64528385915) and it has the hose connections at the back so I ordered one. I also had to look for the compressor bracket as it's different as well.



AC lines will fit with no problems but the compressor still touches the lower radiator hose.


A while ago I bought a full aluminum E36 radiator for this reason. I can modify the radiator hose outlet position so it was just a matter of a little cutting and welding to move it a couple centimeters up.







The AC lines had 40 year old hoses and the connectors didn't fit the compressor so they had to be modified. I qot a bunch of crimp fittings and hydraulic pipe from a local hose shop and started routing the lines.





I tacked the pieces together and took them to a professional welder. Once I get to mock them up on the car I'll cut the right length of hoses and have them crimped. Originally I thought of having the hard lines yeallow zinc plated but I'm not quite sure what the acid bath would do to the bracing and the threads of the valves so I think I'll just paint them.

So everything is going pretty all right but there is still a bunch of stuff to do.

[Skarpa]

The axle on this page cost $316 when I posted the link two days ago: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-gkn-driv...211226901~gkn/
Now, it's $510.

Wow, that's pretty steep price hike

I decided to try my luck with the Spareto ones.

[Vincenze]

The axle on this page cost $316 when I posted the link two days ago: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-gkn-driv...211226901~gkn/
Now, it's $510.

[Skarpa]

Is it a reliable website? It seems the price is 50% of the US price.
https://spareto.com/products/lobro-drive-shaft/300693

Thanks! As far as I understand Spareto is kinda on the limit when it comes to reliability. It's not a scam but the customer service is not great and if things go wrong or you need to return something it might be a bit difficult to handle. As for the price, the parts are manufactured in Spain so it makes sense the parts would be more expensive when shipped overseas with taxes and tariffs. But these seem to be pretty cheap. I might try my luck although I'm a bit sceptical on the delivery. After doing quite bit of searching I found no one stocking new GKN, Löbro or Spidan drive shafts even though I found sellers listing them. (Löbro and Spidan are GKN's sub brands) So there might be some difficulty in getting them from the manufacturer. I'm guessing the retailers in States have their own stock and that's why they are available there. Spareto also doesn't have them in stock but they are willing to sell you at 28 days delivery. I'm still waiting for an answer from a local BMW spare part dealer in Finland that sells rebuilt drive shafts. They are more expensive than the Spareto ones even though the spareto ones should be brand new. If they can guarantee that the shafts are rebuilt using GKN parts and are actually available I might rather go with them as I consider them more trustworthy than Spareto.

[Vincenze]

Is it a reliable website? It seems the price is 50% of the US price.

https://spareto.com/products/lobro-drive-shaft/300693

[Skarpa]

Didn't GKN Löbro make the original driveshafts?
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-gkn-driv...211226901~gkn/

Thanks! I think the originals are Löbro so these are probably what I'm going witf. As far as I've heard the SKF and Febi Bilstein ones are shit but they are also considerably cheaper than these.

EDIT: Strangely I cannot find any seller for GKN / Löbro driveshafts in Europe. Must continue investigating.

[Vincenze]

Didn't GKN Löbro make the original driveshafts?
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-gkn-driv...211226901~gkn/

[Skarpa]

Half shaft rubber boots look like this after a couple years of driving



They are aftermarket rubbers but the quality is still atrocious. The joints were not perfect to begin with so now I'm considering on getting whole new shafts, having the 5x120 RS's painted and going for five lug setup. But the shafts: Does any aftermarket manufacturer make decent half shafts or are they all loose after one summer? The price for originals is a bit steep.

[Skarpa]

I've had E36 Scorpion catback as the rear section of the exhaust all these years. It's pretty loud. When the car runs in the yard the windows rattle in the house. You can hear the car from a couple of blocks away. Sounds great at full throttle but I grew really tired of the drone especially when driving longer distances so I decided to replace the Scorpion with Eisenmann Sport. There's quite a bit of size difference in the mufflers.



I bought the E30 model. Not a catback but just the muffler because E30 catback would probably not fit with my modified E36 front section. I planned to reuse the pipes from Scorpion but as you can see there's quite big angle and position difference in the inlets so I had to cut up the pipes a bit more.




In essence I cut off the sideways shift that was right before the muffler in Scorpion and placed it just after the center connection. That moved the pipes into better position under the rear subframe and gave me more ground clearance. The exhaust already had some scraping from driving on small forest roads.







I placed the muffler where I wanted it using quick straps and blocks of wood and then started to build hangers for it and tack together the pipes. This was the first time of using the welder I got from a bankruptcy auction and it works great. It's pretty hefty unit. My house main fuses wouldn't handle it at full tilt but luckily I don't need that for the stuff I do. I used 0,9 mm stainless flux core wire that my ex boss gave me. It's not great for welding thin material but works all right. The seams are not the prettiest but they are smooth inside which is what matters. This would have been more of a tig job but then I'd need to get someone else to do it. By the way, wrestling a mirror polished muffler into position under the car gives you a wonderful close look at your own struggle faces :D Fascinating if somewhat awkward.



That's how it turned out. One fitting wasn't quite enough. I had to readjust the angle of one of the pipes befor final installation. Eisenmann Sport is pretty quiet. Abit louder than the stock exhaust on my E91 325i. The idle is low rumble similar to Scoroion but at much lower volume. At higher revs it has sharper and more metallic tone but again quieter. Even though I had to trade off some of the joy of the car roaring at full throttle, the lack of drone and booming more than compensates it. I'm really happy with the change.

[bradnic]

that reply was as awesome as the previous post!! thank you Skarpa

[Skarpa]

brilliant as always! amazing work on the emblem. Would love to hear more about the process for the 3d printed stainless model badge! there are some drawings around of the badge font, but wondering how you did all that. The Chinese process is powered metal of some kind?

Thank you! I work as a mechanical design engineer doing lots of 3D modeling. For this kind of stuff I use SolidWorks which is what I'm familiar with. You could do it in Fusion 360 or other programs as well. I had a careful look at the stock badge and reproduced the geometry in Solidworks.



After making individual numbers I joined them together with a bar at the bottom and saved the whole assembly as an stl file which is what 3D printers use. You can get 3D prints and other similar stuff like circuit boards etc. pretty cheaply from China. (at least in Europe) In states the current tariff situation may affect it. I used https://craftcloud3d.com/ to find the cheapest printing company. They also handle the international payment traffic.

DLS or Direct Laser Sintering is a way of 3D printing metal. It uses powdered metal and melts it together in the wanted shape by laser. There's nothing inherently Chinese about it. I can just get parts at a fraction of the price from there. There were some options for different metals and finishes. I could have chosen to have the part shipped already polished but I didn't trust that the finish would have been up to my standards.

[bradnic]

brilliant as always! amazing work on the emblem. Would love to hear more about the process for the 3d printed stainless model badge! there are some drawings around of the badge font, but wondering how you did all that. The Chinese process is powered metal of some kind?

[Skarpa]

It's been a while since posting anything but the car works great and continues serving as my summertime daily. Interesting detail: You can fit three carefully selected medium sized bouldering pads in a two door E30.

I haven't done much to the car but after taking it out of hibernation I decided to tackle a few issues that have been nagging at me.

- I've had cruise control physically mounted on the car for the past five years but I hasn't been connected because I needed to swap the connector for the clutch pedal switch. I did that and have to say that cruise control is an enjoyable accessory when driving longer distances.
- I also figured out why the map light mirrors stopped working. It was just a matter of broken old wire at the base of the connector.
- My dash center panel was crack at the top so I swithed it to a pristine one. That also got me a fourth fan speed. The fan switch has always been a four speed one but the panel was for a car with three speed fan and physically limited the switch positions to three. Although the fan sounds like a jet engine at speed four. I should get on with the AC.

One job that wasn't that quick was the model badge. The rear end of the car has been looking a bit bland without a model badge. I was pondering for a while what to put there. The car is originally a 316 but there's not much left of it. Basically the body shell (except for all the metal I replaced), floor mat and door cards. The car wouldn't really be a sleeper anyway even with a 316 badge. For a while I was considering doing the name of the car in model badge style font.


For some reason it didn't really catch my eye. Four characters seems too long with that spacing and I wasn't quite satisfied with it in other ways too. In the end I went with a simple solution and made a 3D model of a model badge with appropriate engine displacement in the old font. I had it 3D printed in China.



The material is stainless steel. Direct Laser Sintered parts have a similar surface finish to cast ones with pores and pits. Inside is solid metal. I used files the get rid of the pits while retaining the edges and facets. Doing it just by sanding would likely produce much more rounded shape. After filing I sanded the parts in many steps starting with P60 and ending in P1500 before polishing. It was a lot of work and the surface finish is not perfect but looks great when viewed from any normal distance.


On the backside I put thin two sided foam tape and cut it slightly smaller than the made badge so it doesn't show. Then it was just the matter of installation.





The letter i is diy as well to keep the shade the badge the same. The space between the letter and the dot is painted black as it's supposed to be. I'm really happy with the end result. The rear of the cars seems much more finished with the model badge.

[Skarpa]

By the way here's some pictures from this year's E30 meet:

















Pictures courtesy to olavi.rska

[Skarpa]

During the 2023-2024 winter it was time for another little project. The rear seat was demanding some attention. It's originally a burgundy seat which has been at some point painted black. The paint and the leather had some cracks and the red was really starting to come through especially in direct sunlight.. The leather was also very dry and hard at some points.



At the fall after the season I removed the rear seat and started working on it. As the first measure I lathered the seat daily with lanolin-rich leather balsam (for horse equipment) as well as hand cream with lots of glycerin :D Lanolin and glycerin are the magic ingredients for restoring dried out leather. Lanolin is the natural grease of the leather and glycerin helps leather absorb moisture from air. Leather pretty much likes stuff that's also good for your skin. You want to avoid anything with solvents or silicone or anything like that. Judging by the smell the leather balsam I used had also quite a lot of beeswax in it. As far as I understand beeswax is mostly for surface shine and doesn't really treat the leather. I actually tried using pure lanolin as well but on itself it's pretty stiff wax so aplying it wasn't easy. After heating up the jar in hot water it was kinda doable but I don't really know if it was of any help. After two weeks it was starting to feel like the leather no longer absorbed anything. It had also become much softer and more malleable where it was hard before like the front edge of the seat and the top of the backrest. I left the seat greasy and put it away for a few months.



At the beginning of the May the E30 meet was rapidly closing so it was time to finish the seat. First I needed to battle the seat belt lock holder off. Those christmas tree pegs really bite into the sheet metal in the seat frame. At first I tried prying the part off with a plastic pry bar but hadn't much success so I switched into the biggest flat head screw drive I could find and managed to pry the part out enough to get my fingers under it. Then it was just the matter of getting my rock-climbing-hardened fingers there and pulling as hard as I could.



Magically non of the pegs broke. I had to use so much force that I was sure the plastic would give away. It would be much easier to get it off by punching he pegs out from the behind but at least in the M3 seat it's not possible get access to the other side without cutting at the seat which I didn't want to do. For the painting I bought a leather colourant kit from Furniture Clinic. The instructions tell you to rub off the leather finish or "laquer" using solvent and an abrasive pad. It's supposed to be enough if you rub until color starts to come off as that means you've removed the colorless leather finish but when doing that the old black paint was coming off pretty easily so I decided to remove all off it and scuff the original leather leather to get the best possible adhesion. I did run out of the supplied solvent and had to buy more. Based on the smell the stuff is mostly acetone but there's something more as well as the Furniture Clinic solvent is much more effective than pure acetone.



When I had the old paint off I scuffed the surface with P600 sanding paper.



There were no severe cracks in the leather but some little marks here and there. I filled them in with FC's Flexfill which you need to buy separately. A word of warning about that: The stuff is the consistency of hand cream. The instructions tell you to apply it with a palette knife and then sand it down but Flexfill is nearly unsandable. When cured it is extremely flexible and tough. It gunks up your sanding paper and if you try to sand it down it wears much slower than the leather around it. So make sure you only get Flexfil into the cracks. You can wipe it away with a moist towel or a paper when it's still wet. I found this out the hard way and had to rub the seat once more with solvent to get rid of the unwanted Flexfill. When I was happy with the cracks I applied the first layer of paint with a sponge taking extra care the get the color into all the seams and recesses that might be missed when using spray gun.



The colourant kit comes with a sort of pen brush. Mine was defective. The air nozzle and paint nozzle were misaligned and paint would only come out if you twist the tank in certain way. Out of curiosity I also tried using the airbrush with the supplied cans of propellant. It was really miserable and I don't recommend it for anyone. The propellant seems to be mostly propane so I guess I can use the cans in a blowtorch or camping cooker. I borrowed a proper air compressor and applied the paint with a spray gun.



After three thin layers of paint I was happy with the coverage and applied the finish ie. laquer. I hadn't realized the kit comes with two different options for level of gloss. The gloss one is very glossy indeed while the matte one on a black surface seems to be pretty close to NASA's Vanta Black. It's a perfectly matte surface that absorbs all visible light. After some experimentation I came up with a satisfying recipe for a satin finish: 1 part matte and 4 parts gloss. I of course also added the provided cross linker in ratio of 1:8. I applied two layers of the finish as instructed and I managed to use all the gloss finish and all the cross linker. At least for me the colourant kit didn't come with enough material for treating the whole interior unlike promised. By the way, pour the finish through a strainer before putting it in the spray gun. It had some solids in it.





The conclusion: The painting work was kinda tedious and miserable. Sloshing around with solvents and spray painting aren't my favorite activities. Mostly because I don't have proper space for it. However I'm really happy with the end result and when you consider how much upholstery costs this was a good choice. Especially as the leather is in a very good condition. The Furniture Clinic liquid products seem like good quality but I wouldn't bother with the colourant kit. It comes with some useless junk and in my opinion there wasn't enough of the leather finish and cross linker. When you buy the stuff separately you can also choose a satin finish without needing to mix it yourself. Let's see if I'm ready to undertake the front seats next winter.