Big Al's Revenge: an OEM+, MTech1 325e restoration

[Melon]

Melon when I first heard that noise, I about pooped ma pants. It's not nearly as bad now as what I was experiencing and definitely no worse than the 5-speed in my E46.

Fuck it, I'm 24v swapping this bitch.

[luckybk]

I need to decide whether to get the euro bumpers installed now so that I can wire in the city lights, or just get the headlights installed without the bumpers or city lights until I'm ready for the MTech kit to go on. I have a euro valance but it's unpainted, and the US spec valance looks a little out of place with the euro bumpers and the fog lights won't fit. Thoughts?

Get the euro bumpers and lights up while you get the paint done. Others might waiver and let these parts of the project go once on the car but we know you'll button it up perfectly when you have everything ready. Plus it'll make it easier to finish the job when the paint is correct and give you motivation to get it just right.

[Albie325]

So I'm basically in a holding pattern until I have the funds to start Stage 3 of the project: MTech 1 and repaint. I have some nice euro goodies that will be going on the car but was initially planning to hold off so they don't get beat up prior to having the car looking 100%.

Well I got a little bored and started working on some small upgrades that I can complete in the meantime beginning with some euro smileys:



I bought these a couple years ago, they were refurbed by a member here on the forums. They're very nice and definitely serviceable, but they do have some wear. The lenses are pitted and the adjusters, while functional, are a little tired:






I ended up sourcing a NOS set of lenses, and the adjusters are still available albeit pricey ($15 apeice pricey, and you need 8 long and 4 short adjusters):





Anyway, those will go on when everything is all done. I plan to polish and refinish the old lenses, depending on how they come out I'll either list them for sale or keep them as a spare set. Today I got started breaking down the old ones:



Not a tough job, just twist the adjusters so that they notches fit through the slots in the frame and push out, then pop out the black plastic cups from the lenses themselves:



For the ellipsoids, to separate the projector from the lens there's 3 phillips head screws. Note that the rear projector aligns based on whether it is the right vs left lens:





All apart:



This set came with matte black painted trim rings which really weren't my style. I found some chrome rings however they needed a bit of modification to fit which I'll post later when I get them all put back together:



I found that the bulb sockets for the city lights were brittle and starting to crack, so I had to order new ones from overseas today. Will hopefully be here in a few weeks. For anyone interested, the p/n for just the city light pigtail is 63121385603.

I need to decide whether to get the euro bumpers installed now so that I can wire in the city lights, or just get the headlights installed without the bumpers or city lights until I'm ready for the MTech kit to go on. I have a euro valance but it's unpainted, and the US spec valance looks a little out of place with the euro bumpers and the fog lights won't fit. Thoughts?

[Albie325]

Melon when I first heard that noise, I about pooped ma pants. It's not nearly as bad now as what I was experiencing and definitely no worse than the 5-speed in my E46.




Digitalwave, Mike hit it on the head. There's just not a lot of options in that size and the only two I typically see are the Direzza DZ102 and the S Drives. I've heard mixed reviews about the Direzza's but most seem to like to Yokohama's. I also don't want anything TOO track-minded as my car will mostly be a daily driver with some spirited weekend backroads here and there. Plus, if I ever want to smoke the tires with the Eta, I'm sure I'll have to sacrifice some grip

[Digitalwave]

Ahh yeah, the age old problem of nobody making 24" circumference tires anymore, lol.

[mike.bmw]

Dunlop Direzza ZIII's are worlds ahead of S.drives, at least from a performance perspective. The S.drive is a dated design and technology.

Agreed. The Direzza ZIII's would be the clear choice, but these aren't available in 205/55R15. I believe Albie is referring to the Direzza DZ102s, which are at best on par with the S.drives.

[Digitalwave]

Dunlop Direzza ZIII's are worlds ahead of S.drives, at least from a performance perspective. The S.drive is a dated design and technology.

[Melon]

Check out the Sport Comp-2 as well.

Sucks about the rattle man. I only heard about it recently from a friend of mine who was looking to use the g260 in a K20 swapped Miata.

[Albie325]

mike.bmw now that you mention it I do remember seeing you running them on your new RS's (which I love btw, nice pickup!) Glad to see you're happy with them as most seem to prefer the Yokohamas to the Dunlop Direzzas which seem to be one of the few other options in that size. Maybe Santa Claus will be kind to me this year and I'll have the Euroweaves mounted up by spring...

[mike.bmw]

On a side note, I was looking around online for some Yokohama S-drives in 205/55/R15 for the Euroweaves I bought and was bummed to see they aren't making them anymore. Looks like the newer Advan Fleva is the replacement, anyone running these yet?

First, congrats on finding the knock! I'm sure that was a HUGE relief.

Second, I can give some feedback regarding the tires. For the past year I ran the S.drives on my Ronals in 205/55R15. I'm now running the Advan Flevas on my RS001s in 205/55R15 (because like you said, the S.drives aren't available anymore). Initially the Advan Flevas felt a little soft to me compared to the S.drives. However, after driving around on them for a week I realized this was due to tire pressure. I had been running 36 psi on the S.drives and only 32 psi on the Advan Flevas. Yes, it's only a 4 psi increase, but it did make a noticeable difference. The Advan Flevas are fairly quiet, which is nice. They provide a good amount of grip. Turn-in is sharp (running 36 psi). Overall I'm happy with them. The S.drives seemed have have more blocked/square shoulders, but that's likely due to running 205s on a 7.5" wide wheel (Ronal LS) vs 205s on a 7" wide wheel (RS001).

[Albie325]

So since coming back from vacay I've been avoiding driving the E30 due to a "death knock" I've been worried about. The car drives and shifts fine, but after getting the engine warm I kept hearing a harsh rattle when coming off the gas in gear as well as a bad rattle when turning the car off. The shift knob also seemed to transmit more vibration than I was used to. Due to my overheating incident, my concerns were a spun rod bearing, some issue within the trans itself, or perhaps something within the drive train loosening up ( CSB, etc). My google searches didn't do much to ease my anxiety given the symptoms.

I spent last weekend under the car poking around and didn't find much. Removed all the heat shields and the driveshaft felt nice and tight, the CSB was as it should be. I hadn't replaced the trans mounts as they seemed to be in good shape but on second inspection they looked a bit warped, I think I over-tightened them. I decided to replace them with new BMW mounts:



This seemed to help the shifter vibration a bit but the death knock still remained.

After a bunch of hemming and hawing and resigning myself to the fact that I may need to do a bottom end rebuild or look for a new trans, I noticed that the knock also occurred when going over the speed bumps in my apartment complex. Some more poking around today and I noticed that the exhaust mount on the manual trans placed the exhaust tube a lot closer to the cross member than the mounting on the auto trans.



Tough to get a great pic but there was like 1/8" between the exhaust tube and the cross member, it was definitely hitting.

I bent the mounting bracket as much as I could and added a spacer which ended up giving me an extra 1/2" of room:



Started it up, took it for a long drive on a beautiful day, and no more death knock! There's still a Getrag rattle for sure, but it's nearly unnoticeable compared to the sound I was worried about. Very relieved to say the least. I really missed driving the car around and now that I have confidence that all is OK I plan on putting some miles on it in the coming weeks.

On a side note, I was looking around online for some Yokohama S-drives in 205/55/R15 for the Euroweaves I bought and was bummed to see they aren't making them anymore. Looks like the newer Advan Fleva is the replacement, anyone running these yet?

[Albie325]

Thanks guys, I evacuated a bit of the refrigerant and things seem to be working much better.

I had the same issue with a brand new thermostat not opening! This was after putting a rebuilt head on the car. I was so pissed thinking I was about to have to take the head off again when it was overheating.

I hear that, ever since the car overheated I've been neurotic listening to any little sound. Is it the head gasket??? Is the head warped??? I've freaked myself out and talked myself back down off the ledge at least 10 times since all that happened.

Speaking of which, now that I've been driving around with the windows up I've noticed a pretty pronounced "Getrag rattle" coming from the drivetrain. I'll have to get up under the car soon and make sure nothing else in the driveline loosened up on me. I hear a bit of a rattle when going over bumps so may not just be limited to the trans. I also noticed the swap parts I used didn't have a vibration dampener on the driveshaft, I may have to pony up for one if I can't find anything else rattling under there.

In other news, I got some pretty sweet keychains in the mail this week from Matt B:



Will be driving the F82 (have since gotten my little boo-boo fixed) up to CT followed by a wedding in Boston and a few days in Portland ME this week. Will be out of the garage for 2 weeks but hopefully I'll be able to take some nice pics in the fall foliage up there.

[Melon]

I went 134a, and it never gets cold when it's over 90 degrees out, but it works.

Excellent job on rebuilding the compressor man!

[Digitalwave]

This build is insane. Awesome attention to detail! Love that you put info on the process along the way too, it's so helpful for others in the future.

I had the same issue with a brand new thermostat not opening! This was after putting a rebuilt head on the car. I was so pissed thinking I was about to have to take the head off again when it was overheating.

[mike.bmw]

Lots of good info on the compressor and A/C system. Thanks! Good work as always.