m3anderings

[AWDBOB]

It felt wrong not doing stainless lines now that I'm in this deep, so I bought the Bimmerworld kit and finished up the front brakes.

ATE pads, Zimmerman Rotors, and rebuilt calipers I got from an s14 member.

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

I scrubbed the wheel wells with purple power and a tire brush so I could start suspension reassembly. Painted some brake lines, measured/ordered new hardware for most of the car, assembled front suspension (twice), had rear axles rebuilt at Indy Rack&Axle.

Most of this stuff was purchased many years ago, so it's nice to see it all start to come together. Low mile stock M3 steering rack and steering joint, reinforced front subframe, etc made the reassembly pretty smooth. I installed a new clutch master while the steering linkage was out.

I had a spare rear sub powdercoated, which ended up being cracked under the paint. I didn't catch it despite inspecting it, nor did the powdercoater, so I have to have another one done

I have a bunch of stuff to clean up/paint for the rear suspension before it goes back together, but it's nice to have the front done.

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

did the parking brake cables fight you, or come out easy after the blaster? Dreading dropping my rear subframe this winter

Surprisingly disassembly has been agreeable thus far- i've been getting lucky. Sprayed for a few days before vise grippin though

I wouldn't stress about rear sub- get prepped for a lag bolt extraction and it'll come right out! I use a 5/8" shank lag bolt, 6" long. Thread in from the bottom w hammer, then impact, then give it a few snug turns after with a breaker bar. Hit down on it from above with a long 3/8" extension you don't like.

It can be a PITA to set the subframe up in a press to get the old bushings out if you don't have the tool.

If you're doing rubber trailing arm bushings, don't order Febi- they're like 1-2mm too big and 50% of the time fold over internally during installation.

Meyle TA bushings are the correct size. Drill one side of the old ones out with a hole saw bit and a normal threaded sleeve puller gets them out/in without much of a fuss.

Those are all the tips I have, grip n rip

[JasonWilson48]

did the parking brake cables fight you, or come out easy after the blaster? Dreading dropping my rear subframe this winter

[AWDBOB]

I lashed the spare S14 that I am going to install while my other engine is at the machine shop.

The head on the spare engine looks fresh, and none of the shims were worn from their stamped values, but it was gapped pretty tight overall.

I'm shooting for .30mm lash. On the intake side where I need to go up or down .5mm I'm going tighter (a couple will be .28mm), and the exhaust I'm going looser (a couple will be .33mm).

Thoughts on the aforementioned lash plan of action are welcome. I also stuck a borescope in each cylinder turned 180* to look at the valves- they all looked okay.

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

I've been told you can use a flywheel like this with a standalone. Last year I emailed for a price and it was around $500.

https://www.ttvracing.com/product/bmw-e30-m3-s14-evo-60-2-lite/

A few s14.net guys had the TTV flywheel delete its ring gear teeth- my plan was to do a front trigger wheel setup and run the RHD flywheel since it's chromoly and affordable if I end up going standalone. I need to test my spare parts on the stock ecu for a while anyway, so it'll be down the road if that happens, and shaped more like an s54 than an s14 standalone

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Ordered a tank. Replaced the diff plug housing (1378416). Heatin up

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[patrick88m3]

Jake said he'd make a pnp standalone if I wanted to use my car to test- crank signal from bellhousing pickup doesn't play nice with standalone so would have to convert to front trigger wheel. Need to get the car running on motronic first so I can test my spare bits. Wish I could go standalone from the get go so I could put a light flywheel on it w/o reference tab for significant savings over the sport evo flywheel that is now $1k. Can't win em all. Have to do stock flywheel for now due to general cost of the project

I've been told you can use a flywheel like this with a standalone. Last year I emailed for a price and it was around $500.

https://www.ttvracing.com/product/bmw-e30-m3-s14-evo-60-2-lite/

[AWDBOB]

A clean separation.

I've neglected to consider other things that I should replace like fuel tank and ebrake assemblies... I guess now is the time

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

amazing wheel decision

thanks man, I am hoping the looks mute the ride quality delta #r3versover30

Damn SON. Where did you find those!

So good! This is an excited project an an exciting time.

I really enjoy your service bay backdrop.

Keeping it motronic?

The quiet calm of a clean tail light stack overlooks the chaos

Jake said he'd make a pnp standalone if I wanted to use my car to test- crank signal from bellhousing pickup doesn't play nice with standalone so would have to convert to front trigger wheel. Need to get the car running on motronic first so I can test my spare bits. Wish I could go standalone from the get go so I could put a light flywheel on it w/o reference tab for significant savings over the sport evo flywheel that is now $1k. Can't win em all. Have to do stock flywheel for now due to general cost of the project

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Cleaned up housings and unwrapped the front sub I had coated/reinforced for the car a while back.

Learned my lesson with front 51mm Konis- 8641-1210 vs 8641-1021

Ordered 1210s, went to install them with the GC plates and H&R Sports (50406) and was confused why the piston wouldn't release all the way. Then found out the 1210 extended height is much shorter than 1021s, requiring a terrifying amount of pressure to compress the springs to get it all assembled. Spring compressors kept sliding around under pressure on the fresh springs until I used fiber paste from the MTB tool kit. I have an upright spring compressor for things like this and it wouldn't compress the spring enough so I entrusted my life to maddox. Required every bit of thread they had.

Koni notes the 1210s have "minimally stiffer dampening than the 1021s" and an internal rebound spring that limits unloaded extension height.

No mention of internal bump stops, and both 1210s and 1021s are externally adjustable, so I think next time I'll stick with the latter for ease of installation.

Used new dust shields, 9mm M3 upper spring pads, and lowers. GC touring camber plates, e36m3 bump stops. Had to buy Vorschlag bolt rings for the camber plates since I bought the plates used and the GC bolt rings were badly distorted.

Broke down and bought the s14 valve bucket tool so once that's here I can lash the spare engine, change a few gaskets, install a water pump, and generally get it prepped for installation.

Almost done pulling the rear subframe, which will get refreshed with new bushings/bearings/lines/etc. Looking forward to the car being a roller again.

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[moatilliatta]

Damn SON. Where did you find those!

So good! This is an excited project an an exciting time.

I really enjoy your service bay backdrop.

Keeping it motronic?

[Northern]

amazing wheel decision

[AWDBOB]

moatilliatta passed the torch on his msystems- I shall cherish them until life do us part < 3

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

How was it blown, water in oil? Or what

Water in oil

[econti]

How was it blown, water in oil? Or what

[AWDBOB]

Hell yeah. I'm here for the more frequent updates on progress. You think you will have this put back together before next winter? My goal is to have my project driving before the first snow/road salt of the year.

I hope so! I can't have the car stuck on the lift for too long, so I'll get the front/rear suspension, fuel system etc knocked out quick to make it a roller again and then give whatever time he needs to do the head/motor since it's a bit of a favor.

Killer, I think you'll have yours done sooner! If I still lived back there I'd donate a night of wrenching.

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Got the motor torn down and during the process was getting really nervous because there was a LOT of moisture in the motor from the blown HG.

But I'll be dipped, after a thorough inspection I can't find any block/head cracking, and the cam trays look useable.

Obviously machinist will have final say, but with the cost of spare block/head/cam tray this is a huge win and I am very pleased.

On the not so good end of things, the bores are rusty, and the valve springs are rusty which is obviously a huge no-no to reuse rusty sprung steel....... which mean I'll have to buy a set of springs, which likely means I'll upgrade, which will probably convince me to buy cams of some sort.

Regarding the cause for the HG failure, nothing stood out. There was red gasket maker under the cam tray which means someone was probably in there, so maybe just a HG job gone bad?



Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr