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Thread: E36 M3 RallyCross build!

  1. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
    That's...a lot of boogers and porosity on those welds.
    Yeah, they don't look so hot. I might ask him to go back and touch them up a bit. His eye sight hasn't been doing so well recently

  2. #52
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    You front shocks are what's commonly referred to as inverted design. Mine are the same. What you see and think is the piston shaft is in fact the body of the shock and the shaft comes out the bottom and attaches at the bottom of the strut housing.

  3. #53
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    In lieu of real updates of work, I figured I would dump my parts list up here. I put a lot of thought into each part I bought, and I think I bought some pretty cool stuff. This post is partly here to help me remember exactly what's on the car, and partly to thank some great vendors.

    All weld-on E36 reinforcements (front subframe, rear sway bar, and trailing arm pockets) are from AKG. They seem to have the best reputation, and fitment was pretty good. I also bought the AKG 95A poly diff mounts as a bit of a compromise. I had lots of diff noise transmitted into my old E28 (turns out it was the diff itself and not the mounts) and I wanted to keep the M3 more enjoyable on the street. Oh, and I also got their rear shock mount reinforcement (not welded on).

    I bought my front strut tower reinforcements from Rally.Build, the same guys who made my skid plates. Fitment was good, but communication (through Facebook only) left a little to be desired.

    I bought all my OE parts through GetBMWParts.com. This is the online marketplace for a BMW dealer in Silver Spring, MD, and their prices are incredible! I bought things like new front control arms and little nuts and bolts from them. They ship super quick and customer service is immediate. I highly recommend you buy your OEM-only parts through these guys!

    For OEM/aftermarket parts, I bought most things through Pelican Parts. There are others like them, but I just love their site design, product descriptions, and huge variety of manufacturers. I bought Lemforder parts when available (tie rod assemblies, sway bar end links, trailing arm ball joints). I bought some off brands for things like coolant hoses, but anything is better than the old crap on the car. I think the wheel bearings I bought (front and rear) were made by FAG. Consumables (oil and fuel filters) are all Mahle.

    For engine mounts, I went with the performance rubber BimmerWorld set, modeled after the $800 BMW Group N mounts. For the rear subframe, I went with the aluminum BimmerWorld set. I went back and forth between aluminum and delrin/poly, but in the end I wanted the rear subframe solidly attached to the body to give the suspension a solid place to mount to. I also went with BimmerWorld for their rear trailing arm bearing kit. I knew I didn't want poly since that bushings needs to deflect in two axis, and after reading that the ride quality didn't degrade much with the bearing kit, I chose it to get a little more predictability and durability from the rear suspension. I also got their SS brake lines.

    Motor mounts:
    PerformanceTrack_Engine_Mount_WM.jpg

    Rear trailing arm bearings:
    E36_E46_SphericalRTAB_600.jpg

    Aluminum subframe bushings:
    BW_E36_SubframeBushings.jpg

    For trans mounts, I went with the rubber Rogue set. I also bought the Rogue rear shock mounts and rear springs height adjuster kit.

    I bought some things from Turner, but not a ton. I got their adjustable rear lower control/camber kit with rubber bushings. I also got some apparently rare BMW Group N rear upper and inner control arm bushings. They were like 4x more expensive than regular bushings, but I'm hoping to never have the car apart and I figured I might as well throw in the best and most durable stuff while I was in there.

    Lower control arms:
    suspension-TSU9940001-Turner-E36-E46-rear-adjustable-camber-arms-sm.jpg

    Group N upper/inner bushings:
    suspension_bushing_group_n_33327749475_lg.jpg

    I'm sure I'm missing some pieces, but that's a good start.

  4. #54
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    ***Can anyone tell me if the EWS system disables spark or fuel, or both?***

    I got the car back together, but it won't start. It cranks great, and the muffler reeks of fuel afterwards, but it won't start. Keep in mind that I had the battery disconnected from the car for over a month. The local shop I called said the EWS might have lost connection to they key (IIRC) and might need to be re-synced. Does this sound plausible? All the lights work on the dash, and I see the check engine light come on. I trickle charged the battery up to 100%, and I have 3/4 tank of gas. I did drain all the fuel out of the system when I replaced the fuel filter and most of the fuel lines, but I let the system pressurize for a long time, and the fuel smell in the muffler tells me that isn't the problem. I also did change the spark plugs, but I reinstalled everything properly as far as I'm aware. Aside from a bad crank or cam sensor that just randomly died, the EWS theory sounds plausible. What do you guys think? Oh, and the alarm system locks and unlocks the car just fine, and I tried using the valet key and that didn't help either.

    My understanding is that on earlier E36s you can bypass/disable the EWS, but that can't be done on later cars like my 98. Am I understanding that correctly?

  5. #55
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    As always, I'm behind on my updates, so let's try to catch up a bit!

    As we all know, the cooling systems in modern BMWs are absolute crap, and aside from a semi-new aluminum radiator and thermostat, I had no idea what was new in my cooling system and what was original. Rather than risk an overheating incident 3 hours from my house in the middle of nowhere (our Frostburg racing site), I decided to play it safe and go hog wild.

    I purchased:
    Stewart water pump
    OEM thermostat and thermostat housing/cover (apparently the metal ones on the market are of sub-par quality)
    All new hoses
    OEM blue coolant, distilled water

    While I was in there, I knew I should also do all the belts and pullies. Boy am I glad I did. For this part of the motor, I purchased:
    3 OEM idler pullies
    2 new Continental belts

    Let get this thing drained!



    Oooh, that doesn't look so good. Do these iron blocks usually deposit so much crap into the coolant?

    Oh look, another oil leak.





    I spent a LOT of time cleaning up old caked on oil around the valve cover. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to forget to take a single picture after it was all done and super clean. Take my word for it, it looks great now!

    Thermostat with some goo on the bottom of it. Can anyone guess what this stuff might be? I almost seemed oily....





    And this is when I ran into my first problem. For some reason I had decided to purchase a new pulley for the water pump from the dealer. Don't ask why, because I don't know. But when I compared it to the one that came off the car, it was immediately apparent that my car came with a set of underdrive pullies.



    Yeah, at this point in my life I'm just not okay underdriving my water pump, alternator, and power steering to gain a few HP. The pullies also didn't have any brand names on them, so I couldn't figure out what size belt to get for them. This meant I had to find new/used OEM pullies so I could use the OEM-sized belts I bought.

    Well, at least the Stewart water pump is nice an pretty.



    The area around the thermostat was pretty nasty, so I cleaned it up with a wire wheel.







    New thermostat housing vs. old housing:



    Hooray, new coolant hoses!



    Apparently this hose is no longer on my car, and I believe it has to do with the M50 manifold swap. Now I'm stuck with this dumb $80 hose that I can't return....who wants to buy it for cheap? It's a BMW hose, nothing cheap here.



    Good god, look how badly the old hose had ballooned out...









    More weird goo in the hoses and radiator:





    The throttle body had to come off because metal shavings got shot into it when drilling out the strut towers, so I might as well clean it up!



    I ordered new throttle body gaskets, but apparently they don't play nice with the M50 swap, so I reused the gasket that was already in there (the bigger black one).



    So, those belts weren't in very good shape....



    Getting the UDP off the alternator was a PITA....



    UDP vs. stock



    The UDP pullies were all aluminum vs the stock plastic for the water pump and power steering. The OEM alternator pulley was steel though. I had a scale handy so I figured I would check out the weight differences!

    I believe this is the OEM water pump pulley- ~4 oz.



    UDP, water pump- ~9 oz.



    OEM PS pulley- ~5 oz.



    UDP, PS- ~14 oz.



    OEM steel alternator pulley- ~6 oz.



    Aluminum UDP, alternator- ~1 oz.



    So, total OEM weight= 15 oz.
    Total UDP weight= 24 oz.

    I have absolutely no idea if this is important or not, but there you have it.

    Anyways, time to reassemble!

    New OEM thermostat:



    Some black RTV for the housing....



    Done!



    New idler pullies as well! I don't know what happened to my pics of the weird offset one for the alternator, but that one was new too.



    Fuck it, got some new hardware to make it all look purdy.



    All assembled! Well, except for the pulley cap for the AC....that came in the mail a few days later....



    Ahh yes....



    I also got new bushings for the radiator, even though it didn't need them....


  6. #56
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    Look, a wild rear subframe!



    And some new OEM RSB bushings. Why was it so hard to find poly bushings for sale?



    Mmmm, squishy.....



    I had to buy this bad boy to get the rear axle nuts off....



    These guys (rear wheel bearing inner races?) really didn't want to come off.....but they did and I now have new rear wheel bearings!



    Aww yeah, fancy!



    I'm just going to ignore all that surface rust and focus on the pretty AKG reinforcement plate.



    One of the output shaft seals was leaking on the new diff, so I threw new ones in.



    With everything reinstalled I went to fill up the diff annnnnnd, nope. My 14mm hex socket was too long and wouldn't fit between the fill plug and the spare tire well, so I placed an order on Amazon and got these bad boys the next day!



    Success! I filled the diff with Redline 75w-90 using my little hand pump thingy.



    - - - Updated - - -

    I was still in need of some rear springs, since I really didn't want to use the progressive stock springs, so after much discussion with people like Jason at Vorshlag and Phil at Bimmerworld, I settled on Hypercoil 7" 350lb rear springs. I was going to get the Vorshlag adjustable rear spring perches, but they were sold out for a while, so they recommended I get the Rogue pieces. The Rogue kit is pretty cool because as far as I can tell it's the only kit that articulates. I'm not an engineer, so I can't prove that that feature has any real world benefit, but damn if it isn't cool as hell!

    Installation was pretty easy; just unbolt the shock from the rear kingpin and disconnect the RSB from the subframe.

    Before:



    7" Hypercoil vs. stock:



    It sounds like 7" is the longest spring I can run back there, and with the Rogue perches at their lowest setting I'm just above stock ride height. Sweet!

    So one part of the Rogue kit feeds up through the bottom hole, and another piece threads on from the top. Another really cool thing about the Rogue kit is that the ride height is adjustable with the car on the ground with the turn of a 14mm bolt from underneath! Too bad I'll probably never take advantage of this feature, but you never know.





    Installed!





    Aww yes, that's the good stuff.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Remember how I had clearance issues with the u-brace for the skid plate and with the skid plate itself? Well, it was time to fix them before taking the car out and damaging something.

    First up was the u-brace. I'm not sure if it was due to installation error or a poorly designed brace, but the u-brace was right up against the tensioner for the AC belt. My buddy Eric (who welded up the bar) tried to clearance the u-brace, but it looks like he did it in the wrong place.....So it was up to me to remove the tensioner and do some more grinding.



    The skid plate was right up against the FSB as well, as seen here by the marks:



    Unfortunately, instead of removing the tensioner along with its assembly, I tried to just remove the tensioner. Big no-no. I'm not sure if it was just at the wrong angle, or under tension, or if it was just old and ready to explode, but it exploded.



    Crap.

    I wonder if these puny washers on the bolts for the u-brace/skid plate will get me enough clearance for the FSB...



    While I was waiting for a new tensioner to arrive, I decided it would be wise to paint the u-brace. This was of course after I ground it down in the correct location.



    Better.



    New vs. old.



    I haven't put the skid plate back on yet, but the motor is reassembled and smoother than ever.
    Last edited by 95maxrider; 05-16-2016 at 03:08 PM.

  7. #57
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    Good stuff! (FYI, I made the same mistake on that belt tensioner.)

  8. #58
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    As previously shown, the car came complete with plenty of oil leaks, and the majority of them appeared to come from the valve cover. Having read the Bentley manual and the 101 Projects book from Pelican, I knew I had to buy all the little parts to ensure a good seal. I would also be doing the spark plugs, of course.

    First up was disassembly. One of the two little rubber guys that hold up the plastic outer cover was destroyed by coming in contact with oil:





    Next up was removing all the grounds for the coil packs. Unfortunately, this little one in the center snapped off while I was trying to undo the upper nut, so I had to make a new one.



    With everything off, it didn't actually look too bad in there! I wonder if the head was already replaced, since the car has 220k+ on it....



    The main valve cover gasket was in fine shape, but the ones for the spark plug holes had turned into hard plastic a long time ago and were in no mood to come off easily. I don't know why my camera refused to properly focus on this thing.



    Rubber ----> plastic



    After I cleaned things up, I noticed that there was a 4" long crack towards the back of the VC. QuikSteel to the rescue!







    After much cleaning and scraping, it was time to reinstall the VC. I applied some gray RTV to the problem areas according to my two books, and let it set up for 24 hours.











    Next up were the little rubber grommets that go around the VC. The old ones were clearly worn out...



    And two new other things....



    The VC didn't come with this rubber gasket, so I bought one.



    Then there are these little fuckers. They isolate the VC cover, but they don't like to stay in place, and prefer to fall into the dark recesses of the engine. I was not a fan, and completely understand why the car didn't come with any.





    Here's my new ground...woo woo



    All cleaned up!





    Apparently I forgot to upload pics of the spark plugs, but there wasn't anything noteworthy in there. Maybe later....

    I had to do some troubleshooting to get the car started, which involved checking all my coil packs and ground. Of course, those little rubber fuckers got lost again when I took off the VC cover. I decided I had had enough, and threw some red RTV on them so they don't get lost every time I take the cover off!



    Not long after I got the VC and plugs in, I tried to start the car. Eric and I had removed some fuses when he welded and when I changed the fuel filter, and they were labeled and in the cover for the fuse box. I reinstalled everything, but the car wouldn't start. I could smell fuel in the muffler, and the starter was cranking over. I called up the local shop that was going to do my alignment (RRT) and the owner thought the problem was related to the EWS system. After doing some more research, it turned out he was either lying (and trying to get me to pay for diagnostics), or didn't know what he was talking about, because apparently if the car is cranking, the EWS is happy, and thus not the problem. I figured that if I smelled fuel in the muffler, that meant I was getting fuel injected into the motor. Little did I know that the motor will actually draw fuel in without the fuel pump working, it just won't build real pressure. After more troubleshooting, I realized that there was one fuse missing from the panel: the one for the fuel pump. Apparently we didn't label that one, so when I went to reinstall all the fuses, I didn't realize I had missed one. After a few seconds of cranking the car started right up! I topped off and bled the coolant, checked for other leaks, and prepared to drop the car off for the alignment.
    Last edited by 95maxrider; 05-17-2016 at 03:11 PM.

  9. #59
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    Did you let the grey silicone set up for 24 hours BEFORE putting on the valve cover?

  10. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by jakermac View Post
    Did you let the grey silicone set up for 24 hours BEFORE putting on the valve cover?
    Err, I don't think I did it quite like that. Here's what Permatex recommends:


    1. Apply a continuous and even bead of silicone to one surface; surround all bolt holes. Assemble parts immediately. Finger tighten bolts until material begins to squeeze out around flange. Allow to dry for one hour then retighten 1/4 to 1/2 turn.
    2. Silicone dries in 1 hour, and fully cures in 24 hours. Allow more time in cold or very dry conditions.


    But I DID wait more than 24 hours before starting the car up, so I'm pretty sure it will be fine.

    So I need to replace the rubber window guide for the driver's front door. When I picked the car up from the alignment shop I noticed that the window wasn't pressed tightly against the guide and I could almost stick my finger through the gap at the top of the window. Upon closer inspection, the rubber guide is pretty beat up and looks like it's forcing the window out of its intended track, so I ordered a new one. I have the door mostly disassembled, but I'm not sure which plastic pieces to remove to be able to remove the glass. Here's where I'm at:





    Which pieces do I remove next?

    EDIT: It sounds like I'll probably need to replace some other small things while I'm in there, can someone point them out to me on this diagram?



    Thanks!
    Last edited by 95maxrider; 05-20-2016 at 10:21 AM.

  11. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by 95maxrider View Post
    Err, I don't think I did it quite like that. Here's what Permatex recommends:


    1. Apply a continuous and even bead of silicone to one surface; surround all bolt holes. Assemble parts immediately. Finger tighten bolts until material begins to squeeze out around flange. Allow to dry for one hour then retighten 1/4 to 1/2 turn.
    2. Silicone dries in 1 hour, and fully cures in 24 hours. Allow more time in cold or very dry conditions.


    But I DID wait more than 24 hours before starting the car up, so I'm pretty sure it will be fine.
    If it leaks, you'll know why. The expectation is that the valve cover install pushes the gasket down into the soft sealant to form a tight leak proof seal, and then you wait 24 hours for everything to cure before running the motor. You might be golden though.

  12. #62
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    Quote Originally Posted by jakermac View Post
    If it leaks, you'll know why. The expectation is that the valve cover install pushes the gasket down into the soft sealant to form a tight leak proof seal, and then you wait 24 hours for everything to cure before running the motor. You might be golden though.
    I did my oil pan the same way that Nick did the valve cover. Permatex is pretty clear on the install steps. I have never heard to let it set 24 hours before install but as long as it is still slightly soft when tightened the VC should be fine. Oil pan sealing is a more critical process as it is under more heat and pressure.

  13. #63
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    Re: window removal.

    There should be a metal clip kind of behind that spot that is circled in green. Those little ends press into plastic sliders, and the metal clips hold it together. Slide the metal clip out of each plastic slider (two on each window) and gently pull the arm out of the plastic piece there.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
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  14. #64
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    Re: window removal.

    There should be a metal clip kind of behind that spot that is circled in green. Those little ends press into plastic sliders, and the metal clips hold it together. Slide the metal clip out of each plastic slider (two on each window) and gently pull the arm out of the plastic piece there.
    Came for the great updates, stayed for this help that I needed removing my windows!

    Great progress man!

  15. #65
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brake_L8 View Post
    Re: window removal.

    There should be a metal clip kind of behind that spot that is circled in green. Those little ends press into plastic sliders, and the metal clips hold it together. Slide the metal clip out of each plastic slider (two on each window) and gently pull the arm out of the plastic piece there.
    Yeah, I had already pushed off the retaining clip thingy but couldn't easily pull the arm out. It seems like it's held in place with some bolts, do I need to remove them or keep them in place? How hard do I need to pull the arms? Thanks for the tips!

    Oh, and I should mention that it seems like the DS window isn't going up entirely straight. I couldn't tell until I tried to guide it up properly and I could wiggle it side to side a bit, which seems to make the problem worse. What other parts should I replace while I'm in there to fix this?
    Last edited by 95maxrider; 05-23-2016 at 02:39 PM.

  16. #66
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    Quote Originally Posted by 95maxrider View Post
    Yeah, I had already pushed off the retaining clip thingy but couldn't easily pull the arm out. It seems like it's held in place with some bolts, do I need to remove them or keep them in place? How hard do I need to pull the arms? Thanks for the tips!

    Oh, and I should mention that it seems like the DS window isn't going up entirely straight. I couldn't tell until I tried to guide it up properly and I could wiggle it side to side a bit, which seems to make the problem worse. What other parts should I replace while I'm in there to fix this?
    They seriously do just pull out, pull harder. You may break those white clips but they are $4 each from the dealership.

    You can adjust the position of the regulator within the door and that'll adjust the angle that the window goes up and down. The very left-most arm in your photo here allows a bit of movement. Fiddle with it and remember that small changes will be magnified as the window travels on the guides all the way up:

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  18. #68
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  19. #69
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    So I dropped the car off at RRT to get it aligned a few weeks ago. On the way there I was surprised at how smoothly the car ate up bumps, and was relieved to not hear any weird noises from the car. Apparently there isn't much of a penalty to running aluminum subframe bushings and hard poly diff bushings! I was really worried that they wouldn't be able to get enough negative camber in the front due to the Subaru top mounts, but with a shim or two they were able to get it good enough. Hooray! Unfortunately, the good news ended there.

    Going back a few weeks, you may remember that my buddy Eric (who did all the welding) noticed that the pocket for the PS trailing arm was mashed up a bit. He did his best to straighten it out with a slide hammer, but it wasn't enough. Apparently RRT couldn't get the rear PS tire to have less than 1" of toe in! They got the DS to match, so at least the car drove straight, but I now had more than 2" of rear toe in! Their guess was that the trailing arm was bent and needed to be replaced. Crap! That means I would have to press out those nice new ball joints and BW sealed bearing/bushing from my trailing arm, and find a straight one to install them all into.

    In the mean time, I was anxious to see how the car drove, so I took it out on a nice Sunday afternoon to have a little fun. I noticed that the rear of the car kind of hopped around when it went over bumps, but I didn't think much of it, since everything else felt so great! The turn-in is amazing, the motor runs much smoother, power delivery is great, the suspension eats up bumps, wow! I thought it was ready for a shake down at the auto-x the following week. Well, the next Sunday rolls around, and it brought lots of rain. I head out the door around 7 to make the hour drive to FedEx Field for the auto-x, anxious to really thrash the car. It's raining steadily as I cruise on the highway, doing about 60 mph. Now, the car is on some rather junky all season tires, but they at least have good enough tread left. With the highway mostly to myself, I try and get a feel for how the car handles at speed in the rain. Hmmm, well that doesn't feel right. Oh well, I must just need more coffee. I take an on ramp to the Beltway, and things start to get weird. It's a bumpy ramp, and the whole time the car is feeling very strange, like it's trying to spin me off the road. Now I'm starting to get spooked. I start driving at 50 mph, and the whole time I've got a death grip on the steering wheel. Something is definitely wrong here. I eventually pull over to check for flat tires, but nothing. I'm now the slowest car in the slow lane, and I'm terrified. This car is trying to kill me. Every single bump sends the rear end all over the place, but I eventually make it to the event.

    It's raining pretty good the entire time I'm racing, and the car just never settles down. I put down equal times to an S52 M coupe, but he isn't a great driver. Aside from him, I'm way back from everyone else, and I never built up any confidence in the car. I was at least consistent, with all four runs within 0.4 second of each other, but it was damn slow. Crap. Now I have to make the drive home, and it's still raining. I stay in the right lane, rarely going above 50 mph, and I get home exhausted from concentrating so hard. After thinking about it for a while, I come to the conclusion that what I was feeling were the rear tires not pointing anywhere close to straight ahead, so when one would hit a pothole/bump, it would come back to the road at an angle, which made the car want to step out. When both rear wheels hit something, they both wanted to go in different directions. I believe these handling characteristics were hidden the week prior due to it being dry out, which gave me more grip and covered up the demon that lurked beneath. I knew that I could no longer wait to repair the trailing arm situation until the off season, it had to be done before the next race.

    With that in mind, I made a thread about the trailing arm situation, here: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2298736-What-bends-first-trailing-arm-or-pocket&p=29257124#post29257124

    There was one guy who chimed in and we ended up speaking over the phone. Apparently he wanted to correct what he believed what some incorrect information people were telling me, and he believed my problem was not a bent trailing arm, but rather more likely frame damage. He said he had owned over 50 E36s, and really knew his way around them. He lived pretty close to me and even offered to swing by and take some rough measurements. Score! Well, yesterday Terry came by my place and poked around under the car for a while, and took some measurements. Right off the bat, he was seeing differences of 1/2" between the right and left sides, and didn't see any indication of a bent trailing arm. He pointed out some cutting and welding that were done to the PS rear wheel well and unibody around the trailing arm pocket. So with that, it looks like the car needs its frame straightened. More on that as it comes. Until then, enjoy my alignment sheet:


  20. #70
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    Well it looks like this project is over before it was completed.

    I took the car to a collision/frame shop to have them look it over. I was hoping they would just be able to put it on their frame machine and pull it straight, but it seems the damage is far more extensive than I or anyone else realized. They said the PS rocker needs to be completely cut out and replaced, as well as the sidemember/crossmember. Their estimate was about $2,500.





    I sent the estimate and some pictures to other collision shops, and their responses didn't make me feel any better. Two shops told me outright that they wouldn't even put the car on their machine to check it out, as it was so far beyond what they would consider repairing. Another shop that's familiar with E36s said the first estimate is accurate, and that the car is pretty well fucked. I could pay them $250 to put it on their machine, but the answer wouldn't change. The car has serious problems that can't be fixed with a simple pull job.

    I'm now in the unenviable position where I just got done completely rebuilding a car only to find out the chassis is junk. I don't think it would be wise to try and repair the frame, as who knows what else they will find when they start really opening things up. My only option is to try and move everything over to another chassis. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find any M3s within my now tiny budget, so I'm left to consider which non-M car I should start looking for. 318, 325, or 328? If I'm going to swap over the motor, I assume a 328 would be the best place to start. But what about all the chassis stuff? I have brand new M3 control arms, and a completely rebuilt rear end. Can all of that be transferred to a non-M chassis?

    I'm in shock right now, and my brain is going blank. It's 10 am and I have a strange urge to drink myself into oblivion, because I can't comprehend the work and headaches ahead of me. I just want to give up and quit, because I don't know how I'm going to handle this. So much time and effort down the drain, only to have less than I started with.

  21. #71
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    3,455
    My Cars
    1997 BMW M3 NASA GTS2
    The beauty of the E36 M3 is that it's entirely not-very-special compared to a non-M car. You can find a 318i and swap every single piece of that M3 over to it. The only big difference is that the 96-99 M3s had some subframe reinforcement that the other cars didn't get. You can add that in pretty easily, though.

    Yes, it's a giant pain to swap the shell, but it's doable. Both subframes can come out as units with suspension and wheels attached. Motor and trans out as a unit. Exhaust and driveshaft. Engine wiring harness and DME. Move whatever you care about from the interior but who cares, it's a rally car. Strip it and run two expired race buckets and some 6-points. Boom, done.

    If you happen to find a 93-95 325i with a good motor, someone from Spec3 racing will undoubtedly want/need it and you can recoup some cost of buying the shell. The transmission from a 328i is the same as the M3 and a GTS2 or TT racer may need it.

    Let me know when the swap day is, I'll come help.
    Last edited by Brake_L8; 06-03-2016 at 10:43 AM.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
    Out Motorsports

  22. #72
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Vancouver, BC Ca
    Posts
    3,255
    My Cars
    1993 325is
    You're cheapest (and lightest) option would likely be a 92 318is coupe chassis. The only concern I have about that is the difference between that and your M3 chassis with regards to OBD1 versus OBD2. I don't know if you're concerned about emissions compliance or not, but if not, you could address the differences with a re-flash of your current DME to eliminate all the OBD2 reporting.

  23. #73
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Broomfield, Colorado
    Posts
    565
    My Cars
    2
    Man, that sucks. Sorry man.

    You know, for $2500, maybe watching this problem just go away is better than all the money and time spent on swapping over to a new car.

    Just a thought.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by 95maxrider View Post
    But what about all the chassis stuff? I have brand new M3 control arms, and a completely rebuilt rear end. Can all of that be transferred to a non-M chassis?
    I'm sure the rear control arms are different, but fit. The rear brakes differ between the M3 and other versions of the E36 - so the mounting points are different on the control arms - but since you have the brakes and control arms, I think you're golden.

    The rear subframe should be a bolt in - I'll let someone else correct me here - but I think many have done this swap.

    Front subframe - many of us have added the X-brace to Non-M cars succesfully - I'd be surprised if all that stuff didn't just bolt right on. I personally put M3/MZ3 control arms on the front of my 328 (to get rid of the dumb rubber around the balljoints).
    Last edited by CoMZ302; 06-03-2016 at 11:39 AM.

  24. #74
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    Posts
    3,455
    My Cars
    1997 BMW M3 NASA GTS2
    The chassis mounting points are not different between the M3 and non-M cars. If you plan to move both subframes and all drivetrain/DME, it will bolt right on.

    Not rocket science, just a lot of work.
    2011 F-150 FX4 | 1997 BMW M3 #404 GTS2 | 2006 BMW M3 Convertible
    Out Motorsports

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Concord, CA
    Posts
    754
    My Cars
    1996 328i vert
    X brace was only standard on m3 and vert e36 m/s52 chassis, you'll have to buy one of those front subframes or drill and weld the appropriate nutserts on

    You'll need to weld the body reinforcements on at the rear subframe location if you buy a non m chassis also
    Last edited by Pyropete82; 06-03-2016 at 03:17 PM.

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