With the help of the local BMW dealer (prices aren't too bad!), I sourced all the fasteners and 'inserts' to mount all undertray/liners/brake ducts/lamb chops in the front end. All were missing thanks to the neglectful PO. I'm sure it will drive better now...
Also dropped off the Comp Cams 26-918 valve springs, retainers, locks, and OEM valve seals at the machine shop.
Little at a time...
Last edited by Tim Mc; 02-05-2019 at 01:23 PM. Reason: Spelling
Some images of the fresh block:
17 07 30 M3 L33 Pass Cylinders
New rear cover (for simplicity):
17 07 30 M3 L33 Rear Cover
Finally have a 'functional' brake ducting/inner fenders/lamb chops, and front belly pan:
17 07 30 M3 Brake Ducts
And yesterday sourced a used DS2 rear wheel to replace my currently crack/welded(!) one (cost was $100):
17 07 30 M3 Wheel Used
As well as a better condition rear lower seat...previous was black leather spray painted gray...again by PO (cost was $120):
17 07 30 M3 Rear Seat
I plan to have the wheel powder coated OEM color...hopefully it will clean up the minor curb rash/marks-that normally is $450 for a set of 4 here in Tampa.
Looking good! I love the estoril/gray combo.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
BigL350: I agree-a great color combo. The original paint still grabs one's eye...at least the sides. I've also found the gray is much cheaper than the black/anthracite. I purchased an 'A' pillar interior trip from BMW for $58. The black one is $230...guessing the black supply is drying up.
Tipsy: actually it came from Paul the 'Russian.' I was looking for a wheel and he also had the seat. It is not perfect and I wonder if it is for a coupe as it went in pretty hard. But anything was better than what was in there-I didn't want to give anyone a ride due to the flaking seat! The leather is pretty good... The back still needs replacement due to one hole...but acceptably for now. Both Paul's and the CL add were folding seats and mine is not-apparently not interchangeable.
Put 1000 miles on the car since bought...21 mpg average. Drives pretty good...wish it wasn't a automatic.
Received the updated 799 cylinder heads. They fully cleaned them and installed new valve seals, Comp Cams beehive 26-918 springs, and new locks/steel retainers. They removed .003 from the deck surface and set the springs with no shims-resulting in 160 pounds on the seat.
No issues with the valve seats or guides...even with 100,000+ miles on them...modern engines.
Hopefully sufficient to see 7000 rpm on the little engine...with Dad driving! :-)
Also purchased new interior 'A' pillar trim ($60 odd per side). The interior is pretty grungy...and has a scent. New parts always smell good.
Nice project. I also have a 97 M3 sedan auto. It had a ruined back seat when I got it. I found crayons so I assumed original owner was mother with a few kids/car seats. I rebuilt it to stock. I bought another E36 sedan for my LS swap. I much prefer the 4 door look plus it is easier to grab the seat belt. Keep up posting on the build
Albertan: Thanks...we keep plugging away.
A Pillar trim from local dealer:
17 08 06 BMW A Pillar Trim
L33's 799 heads complete with CC beehive springs:
17 08 06 L33 Heads Top
Combustion chambers...minimal decking:
17 08 06 L33 Heads Combustion Chambers
Next chassis project...front brake refresh...StopTech rotors:
17 08 06 BMW Brake Rotors Outside
Even painted backside/vanes-first I've seen of that!:
17 08 06 BMW Brake Rotors Inside
We will order up some Hawk HPS pads and SS brake lines in short time.
(In my best Homer Simpson voice); Ummmm....clean parts. Those A pillars are brand new?
I swapped my tan dash for a black dash and recently decided to take it a step further. Even though I probably have the only only non-sagging original E36 headliner left in existence, I want to recover the headliner, pillars and package tray in a black micro suede. I've been doing tons of reading on various fabrics and came across some positive information about Headliner Express, which it turns out is not too far from us, in Winter Park.
I reached out via email and ended up speaking with the owner, Bill, for about 15 minutes. Holy hell. The level of detail he got into with regard to types of materials, adhesives, methods of recovering. etc, etc. Needless to say, this guy seemingly knows what he's talking about when it comes to headliners.
I'm going to remove the headliner and sunroof insert and bring those, along with the pillars and package tray to his shop in Winter Park and let him do his thing.
Thought you might be interested, since you're local.
Tipsy
I tried to glue my own headliner on. Made a heck of a mess but I had some extra. Took it to a local upholstery shop and for $150? They glued it on. Best money ever spent.
Tipsy: Affirm...from Reeves. My current ones have broken plastic tabs on the backside...new ones snapped right into place.
Headliner: Excellent! I'm not sure the current one is blue, green, or sun faded black. So a new headliner is on the list. Appreciate the info...likely we will just ask for a refresh of the current one.
Albertan: I've read it is easy to do, but just looking at all the areas for myself to screw up...I'd rather let someone mess with the overhead.
Put some effort into the front brakes for an easy to do project with my helper. Hawk HPS pads, Stop Tech Rotors, and Lines.
The old rotors had some miles on them...although Autozone pads were relatively new (round-filed):
17 08 12 M3 Front Brake Old
Helper doing it the right way...no rust on the hub!:
17 08 12 M3 Front Brake by Helper Close
Bits:
17 08 12 M3 Front Brake Update Bits
I'm impressed at the OEM pad thickness...Corvette's are half that from a similar year:
17 08 12 M3 Front Brake Pad Thickness
Finished (minus the brake lines):
17 08 12 M3 Front Brake Update New
Tried a rear wheel in the front:
17 08 12 M3 Rear Wheel on Front
Top view:
17 08 12 M3 Rear Wheel on Front Top View
I like the rotateability...but not sure of it sticking out...a spacer will also need to be added according to the research on this forum (~15 mm).
Last edited by Tim Mc; 08-22-2017 at 06:35 PM.
Add Stoptech SS brake lines up front with a fresh brake bleed with ATE fluid as well as new front sway bar links and frame bushings (OEM BMW):
17 08 19 M3 Brake Lines Bleed and Sway Bar Connections
Sourced a radio block off plate:
17 08 16 M3 Radio Block Off
As well as blockoffs for the front fog lights, ridding the car of the yellow jobs by PO:
17 08 19 M3 Fog Light Old
Complete:
17 08 19 M3 Fog Light Block Off Installed
Then tested it on a trip to local mountain bike trails:
17 08 20 M3 MB
Test drive resulted in tighter handling with no change on the pedal (already was pretty good). Unfortunately, the right front strut blew...ie no more dampening. These are inexpensive chinese "Maxx" struts the PO installed. Will drive us to refresh the complete front suspension along with Koni/Eibach setup...little sooner than expected, but desire to minimize the alignments required.
Last edited by Tim Mc; 02-05-2019 at 01:28 PM. Reason: Spelling
Sounds like the PO was full of bright ideas lol. Looks like you're on the right track though. I considered blocking off the fogs too but I'm kinda partial to yellow fogs. My whole front bumper and everything attached to it needs to be replaced badly.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
PO was just driving it into the ground...fortunately, very little body damage which is what I really didn't want. Interesting how every body panel has the VIN tagged...I know it is original. Nice.
Got a weight on the car finally. 3237 on a certified scale...no people or fuel. Jack/spare intact with no radio or foglights. I'm very interested in the final weight with the L33 installed...hopefully less???
I'm tempted to add a Sparco fixed seat (because I have one) and sunroof delete (because it rattles and doesn't work)...I will weigh just prior and after the engine swap though.
It looks like you're going for a minimalist/track oriented build but for the time being, fixing that sunroof rattle might be a challenging/rewarding project.
Tipsy
Tipsy: I dislike sunroofs...half of them I've owned leaked eventually. Looks like rattles are quite common on the E36. I'd rather install a blockoff and install a headliner without the option. Son won't complain-it is a pretty awesome car as it sits...:-)
Appreciate the link though...understand we can still crank it open, if desired!
Helper and I reworked the rear brakes...Stoptech rotors / Hawk HPS pads. I'm guessing the rotors had been replaced only once in its life! Quite a ledge on the rotor.
Super easy to complete.
New fluid and lines in the rear next week...
May order the remainder of the engine parts next week as well...small steps...
Shot of 222,000 miles rear suspension and undercarriage-pretty clean!:
17 08 27 M3 Suspension Rear Old Complete
Appeared to have a dead auxiliary fan (AC isn't too cool!)...so I pulled the front bumper for the first time:
17 08 30 M3 Bumper Removal
Amazing how easy it was...went back on as easy-very nice. I noticed the VIN was tagged on the bumper...quite amazing the original bumper still remains...
New replacement fan (Rock Auto for $120):
17 08 30 M3 New Auxilary Fan Front
With the three day weekend approaching...big Summit box showed up with majority of the pieces to assemble an L33 engine. My helper and I may be busy this weekend. :-)
Last edited by Tim Mc; 08-31-2017 at 09:24 PM.
Tim, you're located in FL, right? Fair warning, based on my not too scientific preliminary results and board members experiences, I wouldn't expect the stock pusher fan to cut it. I have a Mishimoto x-line radiator and Volvo fan setup. Driving around in traffic the week before last with the a/c on and the fan only operational on low speed, the coolant temp was slowly creeping up until I shut the a/c off. Ambient was 95-100*.
Even on low speed, the Volvo fan moves a s**t-ton of air. I'm going to connect the high speed fan relay trigger wire tomorrow and see how it goes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
BigL350: I'm tracking. I actually have the Volvo upgrade and decided to just get the OEM stuff working primo before doing the full swap. I assume you have upgraded the OEM wiring/relays/power to support the Volvo fan?
How do you like the radiator? This one leaks...understand the automatics got the same radiator as manuals. Might be another purchase soon rather than deal with the once a week "Radiator Low on Fluid" warning.
Thanks.
Tim, I'm using the Volvo relay and triggering it with the negative output from the ECM. I removed the relays in the Wiring Specialties box and made jumpers from the negative side of the coils to the output pin of the contacts of the fan 1 and 2 relays so the trigger signal just passes through to the Volvo relay. The BMW fan circuits aren't being used.
So far, I like the quality of the radiator. I can't speak for its performance because I haven't pushed the car that hard yet. It is thicker than the stock rad so you lose some room between the fan motor and water pump pulley. I have JUST enough with the f-body accessories.
What really made up my mind to do the upgrade was remembering that when I was driving the car from NY to TX to relocate, the coolant temp started creeping up when running >100mph for more than a few minutes with the a/c on and 95-100*F ambient. Lower the mph to <90 it would go back down This was with the S52 and a relatively new OEM radiator, water pump, thermostat, hoses, etc. Could there have been something else going on that was causing that? Sure, but I didn't want to take a chance.
Also, mounting the Volvo fan requires some creative trimming and hardware application when using a 940 shroud. There may be an easier to use OEM or aftermarket shroud. Also, you have to order the non-return flaps separately and they're expensive from Volvo. SPAL sells some that might work but I found them a few months too late.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
BigL350: Cooling is certainly a high priority - location and considering the car will do autocrosses with low speed/high revs presenting a challenge. Would this be the Mushimoto X-Line radiator?:
https://www.mishimoto.com/bmw-e36-al...tor-92-99.html
I understand you adapted a Volvo shroud to the car for the Volvo fan. JTR seems to recommend using the OEM BMW shroud and adapting just the Volvo fan. I've not looked at my setup yet...
http://www.jagsthatrun.com/BMW_Order.html
Can you clarify the Wiring Specialties box comment? I'm very troubled with electricity...:-)
Additionally, I will be using F-Body Accessories as well.
Thanks.
Last edited by Tim Mc; 09-03-2017 at 03:49 PM.
It looks like this is the X-Line fan for the E36. I didn't realize there were two different models available from Mishimoto for the E36.
I've been planning to run the Mishimoto "drop in" replacement with the Volvo fan.
I'm surprised to hear this has proven to be inadequate for LSx applications.
Tipsy
Bookmarks