Time for a do-over - 12/88 Diamantschwarz M3

[benwalsh91]

And subscribed. Done some really good work on this so far and I am excited to see what’s to come!

[e30austin]

got a big order placed with the dealer on Monday, consisting of the following:

radiator
fan shroud
fan clutch
expansion tank
thermostat
every single cooling hose (all but the upper radiator hose are original with "88" stamps.................eek)
coolant temp sensors
aux fan switches
e36m3 shift lever (my absolute favorite OE shift lever) and an entire shifter overhaul "kit" (bushings, shift joint, output/shift shaft seals, etc)
oil service
fuel hoses
every single hose clamp replaced with an OE or Gemi unit (i fucking hate aftermarket/imperial hose clamps, yuck)

hoping i will have it all before the end of the week. would love to be able to change all the parts out over the weekend. i will definitely be way more comfortable exercising the car on longer distances, once all these parts are replaced.

[e30austin]

my parts from the dealer arrived this morning. i decided i would replace all the breather hoses, and the oil separator, since i was there, anyway, so won't see those for a little while yet. Supersprint midsection should (hopefully) be here in two weeks. probably will end up waiting until that arrives and attempt to do the entire job all at once - i like doing everything all at the same time, then i can spend more time beating the old girl to the revlimiter :)

[e30austin]

my shop foreman keeping guard, and making sure i don't install imperial sized hose clamps. i think she hates them more than i do.



got the rear most heater hoses and expansion tank replaced last night. old radiator, thermostat + related hoses removed and will be doing some more cleaning before reassembly tonight. still waiting for the oil separator valve to arrive, and will replace the fuel lines at the same time.

FWIW, since BMW 8x13 fuel hose is NLA (in bulk 5m lengths), i opted to use Mercedes 9mm fuel hose, since it's still available in bulk lengths from my supplier (for now) and made by CRP/Contitech. OE Mercedes part number: 107 476 24 26 (107 476 24 26-5-EC for the bulk sections).

[e30austin]

got all the cooling hoses changed last night. for fun, this is what every single one looked like. i had to cut all of them off their respective mating surfaces. all cooling hoses were "88" stamped, save for the upper radiator hose. kind of impressive that they all lasted as long as they did.



looking a little more like a respectable car, with all its missing bits installed. note the fan shrouds and distributor rotor cover. it's the little details that count. :)

[mjweimer]

Nothing more satisfying than getting all those little details sorted. It sure cleaned up really well. Are you re-installing the cruise control as part of the do-over?

[e30austin]

Nothing more satisfying than getting all those little details sorted. It sure cleaned up really well. Are you re-installing the cruise control as part of the do-over?

thanks, man. don't really have any intention of installing cruise control, at least, not for a while. have lots of other stuff on the list that takes priority. i would really like to source all the air conditioning components and get that all functioning again. getting the exhaust dealt with is next on the list, and hopefully, i'll be able to just drive it for a while!

[mjweimer]

thanks, man. don't really have any intention of installing cruise control, at least, not for a while. have lots of other stuff on the list that takes priority. i would really like to source all the air conditioning components and get that all functioning again. getting the exhaust dealt with is next on the list, and hopefully, i'll be able to just drive it for a while!

Totally understand where you're at there. Hopefully you can find someone with an E30 M10 part out to snag the compressor bracket and avoid the M-tax...the compressor is common enough. The full Supersprint will be a glorious thing on that S14.

[e30austin]

that's a good call on the 318i compressor bracket! didn't even think about that, lol.

did the cooling system about two weeks ago and then a client gave me strep throat, so i've been out of commission, ever since. on Tuesday, i drove the old girl to work to change the fuel hoses (lazy and didn't want to do it on the ground) and perform the oil service. as i pulled into my parking lot, the main fuel feed hose rotted away and started puking fuel. perfect timing. 36th week of '88, just like every other hose i pulled off this car. changed every single one i could get to. now i feel comfortable taking it for long drives. :)

still awaiting the oil separator and related vacuum hoses to arrive...

[MR E30 325is]

Excellent work thus far! Congrats on this, and I am excited to see it being driven routinely, as that's the way it should be.

[e30austin]

haven't had much time to work on this for a while. ordered all the parts and then got sick for 3 weeks, then had an ice storm that caused lots of fallout in my neighborhood (including being without power for a week, grr)

cooling system all overhauled and working flawlessly (which was the last thing i was able to do before i was bedridden for almost a month).

my first day back to work, i decided to drive the M3 so i could perform the oil service, replace the fuel hoses, etc. as i pulled in to my complex, i started smelling a serious amount of fuel. turned out that the main fuel feed hose (from the hard line, to the fuel rail) had rotted away. what convenient timing. fuel hoses were from the 36th week of '88. pretty consistent with every coolant hose i removed, too.

the next weekend, i decided i'd overhaul the shifting assembly and fix the leaky shift rod seal. brought it in, blew it all apart, installed a '95 M3 shift lever (to replace the rattly Rogue shift lever), new reverse light switch, repaired the harness, all new bushings, shift rod/output shaft seals, new shifter insulation boot, and threw it all back together. no more leaks, yay! drove it to the hardware store, to grab some supplies for a project my helper and i were working on, and as i pulled into the parking spot, the shift lever had no more positive feel...uhhh. pulled the insulation boot and noticed that the aftermarket Rogue heavy-duty selector rod had failed... great. called my helper and had him bring a floor jack and a pry bar, so i could at least put the transmission in second gear and limp it back to the shop so i could figure out what the hell happened.

got back and put the car on the rack... what i saw was very perplexing. i should have caught this while the car was apart, but didn't think anything of it. the Rogue Engineering shift rod, while very heavy duty in construction, was not engineered very well, at all. the long part of the shaft is drilled at each end, and the ends are bolted together with a 6mm Chinesium bolt... particularly, on a buzzy little car, like the e30m3, those bolts will fracture and snap off. that is exactly what happened in my situation. why the folks at Rogue decided not to spend another 5 minutes and weld the ends on, i will never know or understand. so, i jumped in my red s50 car and flew down to my fabricator friend's place, and he welded both ends in place. good to go. stock photo from RE below, for reference...what a terrible execution.


decided i would give it a thorough wash, along with my neglected e28m5 (that sits, awaiting it's lazy owner to change the clutch master cylinder...again)


and, after that, my mentee and took it on a ~300 mile trip, to go retrieve his e28. did spectacular, the whole way. this is rapidly becoming my most favorite car i've ever owned (out of 150+).


thanks for looking.

[Albie325]

Damn, you and your buds have some seriously awesome cars. Very jealous

[e30austin]

haven't done much to this lately, other than drive it whenever i have the chance. i did finally get a chance to install my Supersprint DTM race muffler and resonated center section, about 3 weeks ago. MUCH BETTER. no idea how i tolerated the horrid exhaust noises this thing made before. sounds absolutely fucking glorious now.





last weekend, i got bored and decided to prep and paint all the little parts, that i had been hoarding for a while. my gripe with doing this, is not knowing where to stop. the term "mission creep" definitely falls into play, here. the car definitely doesn't have awesome paint, but it's uniform ("uniformly shitty", i call it), so it seemed silly, to me, to have a bunch of nicely painted parts on a car that doesn't match, otherwise.

my initial plan was to have the front/rear bumpers, hood, fenders, mirrors and spoiler refinished. as time went on, i grew to accept the tired finish and dings for what they were. a few posts earlier from this one, i snagged a Sport Evolution trunk spoiler and a NOS Evolution II chin spoiler. additionally, i purchased a pair of brake duct inserts, Evolution tow hook covers and both bumper cap covers, since my car was missing all of the above. the replacement front bumper i purchased, needed a lot more body work than i had anticipated, initially. for fun, i test fit all the new parts i had, to my existing (but cracked) front bumper cover. the Evo II spoiler and the brake duct inserts covered almost all of the damaged portion, and since the colour was already the same, i decided to just leave it for now.

i painted the parts myself, and other than the colour being a few shades off, it turned out alright. someday, i hope to have the whole car stripped and repainted properly, but until i'm ready to shell out a figure, that is very close to what i paid for the car, to have it repainted, i'll live with it.

[2mAn]

Colour... what are you canadian?


also, a Supersprint exhaust install needs a sound clip.

do it

[benwalsh91]

I am very happy that you spelt the word colour correctly.