My project 84 318i

[Pinepig]

Do you know how I know you are gay, you stop and take pictures when you should be wrenching.

Looks like you slipped a few extra pics in when I went to drop a deuce.

[Jean]

Thanks man!

Last bit of suspension that was overdue for an overhaul....

Had a shop press new wheel bearings into my spare trailing arms from the 325i and got new oem subframe and trailing arm bushings since it's a dd.

$28 something from autohaus az.





Bushings and e-brake shoes I bought a year ago from bmaparts and just now got around to installing



Had a shop press the new bushings in, $60 a side including hot tanking the arms.



old vs. new







Gotta love stupid e-brake shoes.....



New subframe bushings pressed in and subframe ready for assembly



view from the bottom



You do not have to remove these bolts, they can stay in place when you install the subframe with trailing arms





subframe with trailing arms/diff ready to go



don't forget the upper washers





Installed



Found out that my rear driveshaft u-joint is bad... doh! flex disc is still good though...





new bushings









All said and done took about 5-6 hours from start to finish, with pressing new bushings into the empty trailing arms and subframe, changing e-brake shoes, and transferring the rear axles and brake hardware from the old trailing arms to new.

Feels "fluid" on the road now, where before you would feel that the rear end would kind of "crash" over the un-even road surface or pot-holes, now it doesn't do that anymore.

So, well worth it in my book.

[scabzzzz]

Car looks great Jean. Dont change a thang.

[Jean]

I don't sorry. There is going to be an "enduro" (saturday practice runs, sunday one run on the same course as saturday) event next month, and I might have a clip then...

[el bob]

Hey Jean, do you have any video of your car at the autocross?

[Jean]

Yep, it appears to make a difference, oil light was on for a split second on start-up this morning after the car sat overnight where in the past it would be on for about 5+ seconds in the early mornings with generic oil filter.

New oem subframe & trailing arm bushings will get installed in the next week or so, I gotta pick up a set of front/rear pads and maybe do it at once in time for this car's last autocross. Hehe.

[el bob]

That is great news about the oil filter! I admire you're dedication to keeping the car's original systems running tip top.

[Jean]

Thanks :)

Finally installed heater core, heater valve, new heater core lines and o-rings today so I'll have heat!!! Just need to install two new heater hoses under the hood and make sure nothing leaks...

Also changed oil/filter and used an oem (bosch) filter and the oil light goes off right away so maybe there is truth to the oem filters....

[BenM]

I love your car Jean.

Truth right thurr. Looking very fine as usual Jean.

[Turf1600]

Oil filter wont make a difference unless its filthy.

This is NOT true. I had it happen on my 2002. A cheap filter caused low pressure at startup. It was new, too!

[Nicademus]

I love your car Jean. What a world of difference Euro bumpers make.

[Jean]

Car is dirty, but I had in my hands a 70-200 f2.8 so I had to take some shots with it :p

[Jean]

I use 10w40 every 3k along with filter.... I heard only OEM filter has some kind of valve in order for the m10 to build up pressure ? Is that false?

[nefarious7907]

what weight oil are you using? Oil filter wont make a difference unless its filthy.

[Jean]

Yep, gotta love oem sport seats, now if they were also heated hehe. Got a matching blue cloth rear seat as well :)

I think this m10 will soon give up the ghost as they say... not getting oil pressure on morning start ups for some reason, light stays on for up to 5 seconds. I am not using oem oil filter, does it matter? I guess I'll have to figure out what to do with this sooner than later... just put 20k miles on it since I bought it.