Hello BF.c FI,
I wanted to share the next chapter of my BMW journey. Two and half years ago I decided to buy a Eurosport Twinscrew E36 M3 instead of turbo'ing my Estoril M3. It was the right decision at that time in my life and I have absolutely loved the car. It's everything an E36 should be. As much as I loved the car the color scheme, Fern Green on Sand Beige, always just bothered me. Most people like it and give it compliments but it just wasn't for me, but I didn't want to give up the nice bump in power of a stock car so I dealt with it. Then I was browsing BF for sale section and I see "Twin Screw 1998 M3 Estoril Blue." I thought to myself, just don't click in there its only going to make you want it. Lightly put I am obsessed with Estoril, I think it is one of the best BMW colors ever made. I read the for sale ad and it was quit a bit more modified than mine and located in Kansas City, 1800 miles from where I live outside Seattle. It took me about 2 months of convincing myself it wasn't worth the effort before I caved and emailed the seller. After we chatted we had an agreed upon price and I had a flight to Kansas city on my birthday (May 17) to pick up the car and drive it back to Seattle. The trip took us 3 days and other then a bit of exhaust drone we made it in one piece
First Picture:
Couple Pictures from the Trip:
I started work on cleaning up the Fern Green one for sale but a Dyno Day popped up so I decided to take both in and see what the Stage 2 one made over the Stage 1. A whopping 5 RWHP.....needless to say I was pretty disappointed. The car is running really lean and overall the AFR's just suck. I started digging into the car more and more and it started to become obvious that there were a fair amount of things the PO didn't disclose or only told half the story. I went to get an emissions test and the car failed despite not having a CEL present. Turns out the CEL bulb was burnt out and a couple codes are present. The only things I have done to this point was adding Clear Tails.
https://youtu.be/LjtrunBqicU
At the same time I was trying to get the Fern Green M3 for sale I had just started a new job and was in the process of moving so the Estoril didn't get much love but was drove here and there. More recently after wrapping up some projects and getting everything line up I washed the car and took a couple pictures and then put her up on the lift to start the process of digging into some issues. Things I need to do or want to replace.
-Full Exhaust: The Current exhaust is way too loud for my liking so I will be installing AA headers, Section B and a Dinan Catback. Hopefully that quiets it down.
-Suspension: The Spring rates on the coilovers are too high and so I have some lighter ones ready to go in
-CEL Light Fix: Chase down the CEL light, one issue is that one of the Pre Cat O2 sensors isn't plugged into anything.
-Power Steering: New pump, lines and ZHP rack.
That will get me started but I'm sure other things will pop up here and there. Pictures from today:
Both Cars Together
License Plate from my Grandfathers 2000 528i he got on Euro Delivery. Been on 7 of my BMW's since
On the lift ready to go under the Knife
Thanks for looking!
--Seppi
Sharp! If it weren't for Estoril Blue, I wouldn't have an M Coupe__she's not really a fan of the shape, but she loved the color (and is the one that told the girl selling it that we had to buy it, before she even announced it to me).
EB FTW!
Have fun with it, and you'll get it dialed in the way you want it.
Cool update, sorry to hear about the PO not being totally forthcoming - been there done that a few times! Nice pickup regardless, sounds like a fun project and looks great.
The car looks great, even if the power is not yet where you want it to be. That ACS lip spoiler sets it apart.
Last edited by Keda; 01-02-2019 at 05:09 PM.
It's funny you mention it because my Fiance doesn't really understand my love of older BMW's (The black E93 is hers) but she does say how good looking the Estoril is. Thanks again for all the past and future help on the ESTS kits!
Yeah its too bad it turned out that way but only think I can do at this point is fix what needs to be fixed and enjoy the crap out of it.
Not too worried about the power level, its more know that it sound be higher and its not higher because its running poorly. If I get the car running properly with correct AFR's and what not, it doesn't matter to me if its 360 RWHP or 390 RHWP. I've loved that ACS spoiler for probably 10 years so that was a nice cherry on top.
Nice ride! The TS kits were really nice back in the day, you don’t see to many people running them nowadays.
Sweet
Small update but I got a new steering wheel
Before
After
No much driving around here we got 6 inches of snow yesterday
I saw your green car up for sale right after I commited to rebuilding the engine on my car, which was a huge mistake. Wish you put it a week or two earlier, I most likely would have bought it instead, I really like the idea of a twin screw car. I was thinking with being able to 3D print metal now it wouldn't be too hard to do intakes to make new kits instead of trying to find a used one for a reasonable price.
I probably walked away from 2-4 grand waiting from summer 2018 to winter 2018 to post it. I wanted to make sure it was in near perfect shape for the next owner and I bought a house in June and so I just kept putting it off and putting it off. The weather and the stock market dropping a bunch I think really hurt my sale price both on the private party as well as BAT. Ahhh such is life.
Yeah the tuning and the manifold are really the only super unique parts of the kit. Its a bummer TRM doesn't really care too much about the ESTS its possible there might be some people willing to have a kit made.
I was able to get some work on the car done last weekend. The suspension that was on it was some 14 year old ground control suspension that was rusty as can be, super hard and just generally pretty tired. I had some new ground control coilovers that I had planned for the last car that I installed along with 12.5mm spacers, apex race studs, new sway bar links and 4 front M Roadsters
Parts ready to roll
quickjack set up
Rear suspension
Studs
Studs and spacers
Suspension parts
Sway Bar Links
Front Suspension
I was under the impression that you could adjust the front suspension with it installed but that doesn't seem to be the case. Did I install this incorrectly?
I like the car raked a bit so I've got the back raised up but I'm still playing with the ride height
Nice to get under the car and back to wrenching.
Thanks!
--Seppi
Major props for using Kopr-Shield on the hub-centrics!
I can't put a wheel back on without it. Note, you won't need to reapply every time you remove/remount the same wheel__assuming it isn't 15 yrs later
Quickjack! How long has this been a thing? Would you recommend owning an air compressor for the quick jack setup? Good looking car. Best of luck.
Current: 95 M3 Turbo | 08 335i
On a side note, beautiful Cervelo road bike!
22RPD Tuning '95 540i/6 custom turbo mit Borg Warner S400sxe/Rebello Racing 4.9L M62/JE pistons/Arrow rods/custom cams/S62 crankshaft/Darton sleeved/Focal custom stereo
Porsche 996 Turbo Evosport GT 700-[700hp]-my daily
Not sure how long quickjack has been around but they are awesome. The version I have goes off the battery in your car. If I would do it again I would get the plug into an standard outlet but at the time I needed it they were 3 months out for those.
Thank you! Yup its an awesome race machine
- - - Updated - - -
Hello time for an update, with the COVID-19 pandemic keeping me at home I've had a chance to do some work on the car.
After driving around since installing the coil-overs the suspension even with the lightest springs I could buy it was just too harsh for my tastes. On my previous M3 I had Bilstein Sport Shocks and H&R Sport Springs and I thought that was perfect. I figured I could sell the coil-overs and and still have some money left over. At the same time I decided to sell the Wilwood big brake kit as it was overkill for my street driving. After selling and sourcing all the parts I went to work. I also put on my AC Schnitzer wheels I had been hoarding for the last 3 years.
One thing that came about is that after installed the new suspension with the reinforcement plates above the shock mounts, and then putting the strut brace their isn't a ton of meat for the bolts to grab. I was able to torque them correctly but I'm a bit worried. Thoughts?
Pics:
Rear Springs Installed
IMG_2343 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
IMG_2344 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
Rear Shocks:
IMG_2345 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
Front Struts
IMG_2421 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
Front Struts and Brakes installed
IMG_2568 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
Strut bolts issue
IMG_2577 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
New Wheels:
IMG_2585 by Seppi Hutter, on Flickr
You might want to knock out the short studs and use longer studs on your upper strut bearings.
Generally you want at least two threads extending beyond the nut to assure adequate engagement.
I didn't know those studs were removeable. RealOEM only has a part number for one size. Any idea where to get longer ones?
Also, is #15 in the parts diagram absolutely needed? I didn't have it with my previous coil-overs and I'm wondering since I have the plates of the strut brace it will be enough.
It’s been a long time since I did this but it was part of the instructions for installing Dinan fixed camber plates. The instructions were to screw a nut dish a few turns and tap on the nut with a hammer to push the stud out. You wound have to remove the brace to have enough threads to knock studs loose. I cannot recall how much space or clearance is underneath the strut. Maybe you can slip a bolt though instead of trying to find a longer press fit stud in the right thickness. If so, knock one out, replace it, and move on to the next since you want two holding the strut up when tapping on any one. If not, maybe you have to disassemble the strut to get the access and/or find longer press fit studs. I just can’t remember from 10-15 years ago.
You ABSOLUTELY want to keep that reinforcement in! Haven't you ever seen pictures of the strut tower deformed with the studs splaying out at an angle? I've corrected that on a few Z3s (M Rdstrs/Coupes came with them fitted) and a few M3s also.
I have replaced an OE stud before, and did it in situ, so yes, I think it is possible to replace them__one (1) at a time__without tearing it all down.
Unless you can get the threads past the top of the nut, you're not taking any advantage of their locking capability, and those six (6) nuts definitely work themselves loose__I retorque them (23Nm/18Lb-ft) on every car I work on. Some are scary loose...
Hello all - Been almost 8 months since an update so this will be a big one. I've done a fair amount of work but didn't have a chance to get a bunch of pictures of the process so this will be text heavy but some nice pictures a the end.
I was getting some intermediate overheating issues and since the car needed to run cool because of the extra power I decided to look into the cooling system first. It has an aftermarket radiator and expansion take so I knew it wasn't that. I figured to just make it easy on myself and ordered a Stewart water pump, thermostat housing, 80c thermostat and fresh coolant. Pretty straight forward install. Since a lot of the car was apart at that time it was time to look into the power steering issues. My power steering had a mind of its own, sometimes it would work sometimes it would. I got all new lines, rack, and power steering pumped and fluid. As I drained the fluid it had a ton of mechanical flakes in it so I new the rack or pump was smoked. The pullies squeaked pretty good as well so fresh ones were ordered.
Put the car back together and the power steering was back and consistent and the temperature was right in the middle of the gauge. Feel confident that the hardware of the car was good it was time to move to the software.
Ever since I had the car on the Dyno right after I got it I knew that it was running super lean and losing power. Being that 22RPD was in my back yard I decided to have Zack take a look at the car. After doing a baseline (368hp / 303 tq) Zack felt that with the small supercharger pulley, cams and headgasket the 37lb injectors couldn't keep up. We decided to go with the trusty 42lb green giants and some fresh spark plugs. After doing his magic the car made 396hp and 335tq. Assuming 12% drivetrain loss looking at 450 crank hp.
Knowing that the car was running great and safely I was able to start to push it and really enjoy it again. It truly is an absolute joy to drive this car with the Eurosport Twinscrew supercharger. Around town and what not it drive like a nice stock E36 M3 but when you squeeze the throttle the power comes on so quickly and builds so predictably. Its just the perfect little car for me.
After a couple months of enjoying the car the rear end started to make a clunking noise when taking off from a stop or reversing. The bushings on the differential looked really tired, the bushings were pulled out of my treehouse racing control arms and the sway bar links were hitting the control arms as well. I bought rev shift bushings and stock control arms. The sway bar links were adjustable so I was able to shorten them and after putting everything back together, no more sound!
Now that that the mechanical condition of the car was solid it was time to move to the interior. The car came with some infinity speakers and a big amp in the back. They didn't sound great and I wanted the system to be more stock. I've had success with Bav Sound and used their kit again. Sounds awesome now and has a cleaner look. Also did the cabin filter and a blower resister motor.
Had a Reiger lip sitting in a box for 3 years from my old car and put that on as well. Had an exterior detail, clay bar and polish and wow the paint looks amazing now. Its been a long time coming but I'm feeling really great about the car and the condition.
Thanks!
Last edited by Alpine 318is; 12-06-2020 at 03:19 PM.
Nice setup - car looks great
Beautiful! I like the idea of the pulley cover that keeps that upper radiator hose safe, clean solution to that rubbing issue
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