1990 M3 Diamantschwarz

[hankolerd]

Good to know. Real OEM only lists the aluminum arms for this year, so what you say makes sense.

I am replacing the struts and camber plates. The bilstein struts are the wrong size for these camber plates, which is why they got ruined in the first place. The Koni single adjustable's in the photo above are my new struts. Ground Control pre-valved them before shipping for my spring rates:
Front: Eibach 0600.250.375 - 6”x2.5” @375 lb/in
Rear: Eibach 0500.225.0450 - 5”x2.25” @450lb/in

I am also replacing the control arm bushing with a new offset bushing and the inner and outer tie-rods, as well as the various nuts and bolts throughout.

[M-technik-3]

US spec cars had Aluminum arms in 89 and 90 I believe, 88's did not have them unless they were fitted. If I remember correctly.

So you replaced the strut or did new threads?

[hankolerd]

Yep, strut was not mounted correctly and was damaged, let alone the strut nut was not able to stay tight, which led to them clanking around as everything was loose.



New Koni struts and GC plates arrived:


Ground Control Touring plate vs race plate:



And new aluminum control arms on the way for good measure. Looks like at some point this car had the aluminum arms replaced with steel ones (that or only the Evo cars had aluminum?)

[hankolerd]

Fast forward 8 months, got a few goodies on the way.

Koni adjustables, pre-valved by Ground Control for my spring rates:


Ground Control 'Touring' camber plates:


And a bunch of other various items that have arrived in the last couple of months:
- Evo hood and bumper seals/gaskets (because race car)
- Euro tow hook covers (covers the holes by the fog lights)
- Battery to Engine Cable
- BavAuto Ground Strap kit
- Sunroof seals (old seals are old)
- Differential gasket and plug
- Kidney grilles (the bottom tabs on mine broke)
- New hubcaps for the OEM style 5's (I might be willing to sell my current caps)
- Lamin-x for the headlights and fog lights
- Fog light brackets

The current bistlein struts are extremely firm, and I have reason to believe one or more struts is actually damaged. I can hardly take it anywhere in Seattle without feeling like I am going to rattle the car to pieces. My goal this winter is to get the new struts/plates swapped in, and then go through all the maintenance items to get it running and driving oem+. I think I will raise it another 1" or so, to max out what the ground control system allows. Starting next year I plan to attend a couple auto-x/track sessions to start learning where I want to improve on the car. After spending a couple of days on track with the M2 in Palm Springs in March I am honestly not sure if I want to keep the M3 long term, or if I want to swap it for a 1M/M2 in the future. Once I get it driving like it was meant to again I will have the tools to make that decision ;D

[SSE30]

Holy shit those Style 4s look GREAT. Beautiful car.

[jink0619]

Very nice car! I see ur enjoying it rather then shelter it away.

[hankolerd]

I like the NGK plugs in mine honestly. I did not have any a good experience with the Bosch X5DC. They seemed to burn cleaner and hotter giving better off throttle response. Granted I have an Iigomotive SP93 chip vs a stock chip, but my White M3 ran better on them as well.

Do you like the Morimoto kit? I had been considering doing that. Really need to drive my M3 this year, I've put 8 miles on it in two years. Eek Not good but was in heated storage.

Yeah, I wasn't even planning on doing plugs, but the guy I bought the wires from had these too and threw them in for free. I ran the last set of X5DC plugs for 8k miles, and didn't seem to have a problem. I actually am not sure that my plug wires were the real cause, as I found on cylinder #2 that the spark plug cap was awfully corroded, so it is possible that my issue was entirely from corrosion on the spark plug cap. However, since I ripped my spark plug wire in half pulling it out I was not able to verify which was the root cause. Thanks for the heads up though, I will consider NGK next time around.

I do like the morimoto kit for the most part. I do have a few gripes. First is that the build quality is not stellar, particularly in the reflector (kind of looks like runs from chrome spray paint), though I am not sure it affects them functionally. Second, I apparently did not do a great job sealing them, as I am getting moisture in them. At some point I am going to pull them back apart to dry them and attempt to re-seal them. It is worth noting that I have the Mini H1 6.0, and they just recently launched the 7.0, with the most notable difference being that they say the 7.0 is safe to use with their 50W ballast, and has a slightly wider beam. J.T. also has an updated Squared adapter for the MH1 7.0, which he has moved to a metal plate which he says keeps the optics closer to what Morimoto intended. He also has a page to show off some of the members results - http://squaredmotorwerks.com/pages/customer-photos. I would love to upgrade to these if I am going to be taking them apart, but not sure it is worth another ~$250 at this point. I do have a back-up set of new US Hella Ellipsoid low beams in case I can't fix the moisture issue, in which case I would probably just run a 9006 HIR bulb and call it a day.

[M-technik-3]

I like the NGK plugs in mine honestly. I did not have any a good experience with the Bosch X5DC. They seemed to burn cleaner and hotter giving better off throttle response. Granted I have an Iigomotive SP93 chip vs a stock chip, but my White M3 ran better on them as well.

Do you like the Morimoto kit? I had been considering doing that. Really need to drive my M3 this year, I've put 8 miles on it in two years. Eek Not good but was in heated storage.

[hankolerd]

They produce a resonated and non-resonated version (they also have a metallic catted version). I have the non-resonated. They also produce three different mufflers, I have the 'race' muffler, which doesn't offer all that much muffling.
Not my video, but this gives an idea of how loud - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBC2Ftwd_I


Normal muffler vs. Race muffler

[Javier h]

Rsonator?

Isnt there a resonator that goes with that aftermarket exhaust?

The supersprint isnt suppose to be loud at all. I think that might be the cause of the loudness.

[hankolerd]

They are standard US Hella Ellipsoids, 9005/9006. I posted a bit of my thoughts on the LED's in the lighting thread I started - http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=371831 - but in short, I don't know that they are that great with this reflector, because the LED bulbs just create two hot spots, instead of a nice even distribution. But those hot spots do seem pretty bright. It is hard for me to say with much authority though, as this is my first e30, and I haven't yet had it next to anyone else's at night to compare. Another problem is I swapped to the bi-xenon low beams, which by themselves are pretty stunning and make a high beam mostly unneccessary. What I ought to do is test just the LED high beams by themselves against the Philips 9005 HIR. If I get around to that one day I will certainly post it up.

I have read that about the plug wires, and someday plan to investigate better options.
I was wondering about a coil pack conversion (if any exist), but figured it would require a new engine management solution, and am not yet in a position to do that. I got this 7MM set still in original plastic with new Bosch X5DC plugs for $100, so decided for now it was a no brainer. Once I settle in to a house of my own and can afford to throw a bit more at this car I will :)

[reelizmpro]

What lights are you running the LED's in ? Hella H4/H1's? Also how do you like the LED kit now that you've had them a while? The stock plug wires look nice and neat on the S14 but that causes a lot of problems with the wires themselves. All that vibration/heat takes a toll on things.

[hankolerd]

Over the last couple of weeks I replaced the coolant sensors, distributor cap + rotor, and O2 sensor, though none of them seemed to help. Yesterday I replaced the plugs and plug wires and am very relieved that it is running like normal again. No more stumbling under acceleration.

I ripped one of the wires in half taking it out, which I know is not uncommon, but I think also speaks to them needing replaced.


I also got a pair of Philips 9005 HIR bulbs, but I haven't decided which I want to run yet... I realized I never mentioned that I swapped out the low beam projectors for the Morimoto Mini H1 bi-xenon.


I also got my fogs working simply by digging around in the wiring looking for a culprit, though I am pretty sure they went out in the middle of my drive, so I think I have a short or fractured wire to track down.

[hankolerd]

Thanks for the recommendation. I have certainly been considering buying one and sending mine in as a core, but I notice he doesn't offer the e30 M3 for direct sale any more. I will contact him to see what the turn-around time is if I send mine in.

[Apps]

Awesome car!

You might try Greg at Bavarian Restoration to get your AFM refurbished. He does great work and I've certainly noticed an improvement in mine since it was rebuilt.