1990 M3 Diamantschwarz

[Eric Giles]

I know the repair bills are racking up, but take it from a former owner of two E30 M3's....you are doing this the right way, and it is definitely worth every penny. You'll have everything sorted before you know it!

[hankolerd]

Picked the car up from Prova Motorsports today, it had a pretty exhaustive list of maintenance performed over the last two weeks.

- The front sub-frame was cracked under the passenger side motor mount. So they welded it back with a re-inforcement plate and installed new motor mounts.
- Both transmission mounts were torn, so they installed new transmission mounts and installed the UUC Evo 3 SSK. The transmission output shaft seal was leaking, so they installed a new one.
- The driveshaft flex disc (guibo) was forming cracks, so it was replaced.
- The brake lines were cracking/bubbling, so they installed new G-STOP (Goodridge) stainless brake lines.
- The coolant hose to the thermostat had a slow leak, so they replaced it.
- Valve cover gasket was leaking (even though it was just replaced 3 years ago) so they replaced it.
- They replaced all the engine belts as they were showing their age.
- The broken steering rack was pulled and replaced with a rebuilt OEM unit, along with new power steering lines and new steering fluid reservoir
- Oil pan was removed and to my surprise a Turner Baffle kit was already installed - so they just replaced the rubber flapper and re-installed the oil pan with new seals. They shimmed the oil pump to bring back proper chain tension.
- They removed the rear sub-frame - the rear subframe (and mounts) were nearly brand new, but the rear trailing arm bushings were K-Mac polyurethane units that had failed, so they replaced the worn rear trailing arm bushings with OEM rubber units.
- They opened, inspected, and re-sealed the differential.
- Replaced the clutch master cylinder line as it was leaking.
- Replaced the rear parking shoes, as the passenger side was completely disintegrated.
- New engine and alternator grounds installed
- Every fluid flushed and replaced
-- Engine: Redline 15w50
-- Differential: Redline 75w90
-- Transmission: Redline MTL
-- Power Steering: Redline
-- Brake: ATE TYP200 Dot 4 Racing
-- Coolant: OE BMW
- Alignment:
-- Camber:
-1.37° FL -1.45° FR
-3.14° RL -3.63° RR
-- Toe:
0.04" FL 0.03" FR
0.10" RL 0.03" RR

Chris recommends I pick up some 1" taller springs for the rear of the car to be able to bring the rear camber back to ~2°-2.5° negative camber.

Otherwise I took the long way home, and am thrilled with how the car drives. As you would expect after so much of the suspension and steering components replaced, the car feels absolutely stellar. My only complaint was over very abrupt edges (such as expansion cracks on I-5/I-90) that there is still a harshness to the rear end - I am going to discuss this with Chris in the future to see if he thinks the taller springs would mitigate this - or if I need to move back to a rubber rear shock mount - but this is being pretty nit-picky - the car is a night and day difference to where it was.

The UUC Evo 3 SSK is really nice - I am sure the new transmission mounts and all new shifter bushings help a good deal here. Reverse and 1st are really close together - I kept re-engaging reverse by accident trying to shift from reverse to first - but if you let the shifter re-center before attempting for 1st it is not a problem. The throws are very short and precise. I forgot to ask if they set it to its longest or shortest setting, but I would guess it is at the shortest setting.

The Koni Sport struts and Ground Control Touring camber plates work really well - a perfect set-up for a street driven car.

The brakes feel a bit better as well - less spongy. I assume this is thanks to the G-STOP/Goodridge SS brake lines. Not sure what they did to the brakes, but I am not getting any more squealing at low speeds like I had before, very happy about that.

If it wasn't already obvious, I am extremely happy with the car. I couldn't keep from smiling the whole drive home.

Re-enforced motor mount






Items on my radar for next year:
1) Tires: Either 205/45 Michelin PSS's, or 235/40 Toyo R1R's to mount on the 17x8 BBS RC's.
2) Exhaust: Either going to go for a VSR Center Section and Stromüng muffler and sell my Super Sprint Race system, or I might just re-install the Super Sprint system.
3) Steering Wheel: Trying to decide between a 370mm MTech 1/2, a 350mm Momo Mod 31, 69, or 78, or a 350mm Renown Clubsport.

[hankolerd]

I have, but from my understanding since this car is a '90 car with factory airbag that the firewall has to be modified as well as the steering knuckle for any Z3/e36/e46 rack to fit.

At this point I am $4000 in on this suspension project, and my budget was $1000 (), so I am hoping to resolve the steering rack with whatever is most budget friendly

[spiDmang]

Daniel,

Have you considered an upgraded steering rack? I'm sure you want to keep everything original, but just a thought..

[hankolerd]

Thanks! Unfortunately this took a turn for the worse.

I hadn't mentioned in this thread, but when I pulled the old strut insert from the passenger housing the insert sleeve had broken away from the insert and was jammed into the strut housing. Prova spent a couple of hours heating and trying to get the sleeve out of the strut housing, but eventually decided I was better off finding a new housing, otherwise they were going to spend as much shop time getting the old sleeve out as a new strut housing costs.

The Bilstein strut insert


The yellow Bilstein insert sleeve still stuck in the housing:



Thankfully I found a used spec-e30 re-enforced strut housing on eBay for $800 (They are $1400 new from Tischer, which was the cheapest I found), so I ordered it up, and went ahead and had Prova re-enforce and re-paint my driver side strut housing as well to match.

The used (and dusty) passenger housing from Prussian Motors on eBay:


The driver side housing all re-enforced and cleaned up:


I went ahead and ordered up new wheel bearings/hubs since I was waiting on the new housing anyway, and Prova installed those once the housing came in.

Then the driver side housing gave some issues with the new strut insert, as it had been filled with water and had corrosion. Prova got it cleaned up and eventually got the strut housings all put back together and ready to go.

I had them press on the new FCAB's onto the new aluminum control arms as well.

They were very generous to only charge for 4 hours shop time, though I know for a fact they were closer to 8-10 hours on these. Between shop time, and new bearings/hubs, hub nuts etc. I am out another $850.

Last week I replaced the passenger side tie-rod, and in preparation of putting the car back together this weekend I tried to replace the driver side tie-rod last night. Unfortunately, the driver side tie-rod is FUBAR. I believe the PO installed the lock washer backwards and drove the tab on the lock washer into the threads of the tie-rod. I am using an 18" pipe wrench and a floor jack and got it backed off ~1/6 turn, enough for the lock washer to spin freely. But the tie-rod is jammed tight as ever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEz9VlPZEA0


I also found my steering rack is leaking on the driver side, as the boot had a few drips of fluid in it.

I am hoping to re-assemble everything and have it towed to Prova in hopes they can replace the tie-rod and rebuild the steering rack without damaging it. Otherwise a new rack is ~$800.

[e30austin]

Those are bitchin! Love those wheels.

[spiDmang]

dude solid progress! Keep it up :up:

[hankolerd]

So far so good. Before:

After:

[hankolerd]

Well, now I am not sure what I am going to do with my 16x8 Style 4's. I can't keep both around.

BBS RC304 17x8 et38 16.3lbs. Have 5+ years of dust on them, but should clean up nicely.
Just picked these up from the original owner, who bought them new 16 years ago for his e36 m3, and claims to have only run them for ~500 miles to/from/on track. The tires would actually be OK to run if they also weren't 16 years old. Only one small patch of rash, and a few surface scratches that should polish out.

[hankolerd]

Weigh the steel control arm when you change them out :D

Here you go:
W/ lollipop and bushing 8lb 5oz


W/out lollipop and bushing - I will get a new weight once the bushing is installed - 4lb 1oz

[iwantspeed]

cars is gunna drive like a dream when you are done

[hankolerd]

Oh, and for fun, the old sway bar bushings -
The left is what both bushings look like on the outer end, the right is what they both look like on the inner end

[hankolerd]

Still waiting on parts delivery...


In the meantime, here are all the goodies on their way:

Control Arms w/ bushings and mounting hardware:



Tie Rods w/ Boots (and securing plates not pictured)


Sway bar end-links and bushings:


Brake Caliper bolts and wear sensors


Turner oil baffle kit w/ upper oil pan gasket


Windshield cowl covers:


Air vents and sunshade




Got a couple of other things knocked out recently:
1) Swapped in the new kidney grilles
2) Put lamin-x over the headlights
3) Replaced the sunroof seal
4) Re-installed the roof check control panel and A-Pillars - plan to take it to Greg at S3 Designs at some point to get a new headliner fabricated before re-installing the B (new) and C (old) pillars

After I get the suspension installation finished I am taking it in for an alignment, might get a quote for installing the oil pan baffle kit and the differential gasket - both need extensive cleaning to be able to monitor future leaks/seeps.

[hankolerd]

I will try to get my hands on a scale to compare them. I have read the steel arms weigh between ~7-12lbs/ea, depending on brand. According to that Vorshlag photo (and the text that accompanied it when they posted it), the aluminum arms are 4.1lbs/ea. Probably not worth the premium, but then they should last me 10+ years at the rate I drive the car, and I am not sure they will still be available when it comes time to replace them again.

[jhaurimn]

Weigh the steel control arm when you change them out :D