Glacier Blue 6-speed build thread

[72tpik5]

I think I will ask my local shop to replace the rear springs when I have the car taken for it's post suspension refresh alignment. Unless another forum member has an idea how to compress the stock rear springs enough to remove them, as I've drawn a blank.

I used a heavy duty ratchet strap. Both hooks on opposite sides of the upper coil on the spring with the strap wrapped around the lower control arm. Probably not the safest procedure, but I had no problems.

[petejk]

72tpik5, the ratchet strap method sounds promising. I'm almost done working under the hood for now, so may try to tackle the rear springs next!

Yesterday was a busy day. I am a slow working mechanic at best, and so the next couple of posts took me the whole afternoon, and stretched later into the evening than I wanted!
Having read the fan upgrade thread, https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...is-work-on-e31, I knew it was something I wanted to try.

Below is the 109mm pulley (clockwork's spare),

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and BEHR fan and clutch. I did notice that the clutch is deeper and heavier than the original.
I had to use a longer belt, and as the pulley on my AC compressor the larger one, to allow for the use of an auxiliary alternator, I had to purchase an 1190mm one.
I am not 100% sure that the tension is correct, and RealOEM confusingly also lists an 1180mm AC/water pump belt, which I may try if I experience problems.

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Before I reinstalled the side and top coverings around the condenser and radiator, I decided to remove the the bent and battered horns from under the car, and install a pair of Hella Sharptones.
I extended and Tesa taped the horn wiring, (this tape is fantastic, and I've used it on repairs and rewrapping of a lot of exposed wiring in the engine bay, and in the car)

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Horns installed behind the kidney grills

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Mahle radiator installed, along with a new temperature sensor - all rubber mounts were replaced.
As it had been months since I removed the old radiator, it took some consultation with RealOEM to work out what clipped where.

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[petejk]

Connecting the water and breather hoses back up was simple enough, other than the two smaller hoses at the water pump, tightening the breather hose clamp in particular requiring an extension to reach around the belt.
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Cooling system all zipped up. I'll fill it with distilled water and coolant flush, and pressure test it, before filling with the correct BMW clue coolant.
The heavier clutch and fan took a little more effort to hold still and thread onto the water pump, but I managed it without turning the air too blue..

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And then an easier job to finish. My car was missing part 51711970184, Engine compartment screening, and so I test the fit.
I am pretty sure this will have to come off again for one reason or another before I'm on the road again!
If you are doing this job yourself, you'll need 4x 07129904232 body nuts, and 4x 07119916964 screws.



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This will either work well collecting coolant and oil drips, or protect the engine ancillaries while driving. I'm not sure what is more likely.
I did notice that it does brace the two lower air boxes to some extent.

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[TedBobo]

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This will either work well collecting coolant and oil drips, or protect the engine ancillaries while driving. I'm not sure what is more likely.
I did notice that it does brace the two lower air boxes to some extent.

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You'd be surprised how many 8er's are missing this part.....including most of the 8's that have appeared on that new auction site.

[petejk]

Agreed, I wasn’t able to find an under body shot with the part fitted as a reference, which leads me to think lost get removed and never reinstalled.

Now if I could only find the air guide, # 51718118725 ...


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[petejk]

Having a bonus weekday off from work, I had time to knock out a couple more items from the (long) list.
After reading good things about Phoenix Motorsport static camber plates, I had ordered a set after the New Year, and now was the time to get them on the car.
Really, I could have saved myself a couple of hours of time and effort if I had done this job along with the shocks/springs/hubs last year.

After breaking out my trusty grinder and punch, I cut off the existing studs, and punched them out, according to Gerry's PDF instructions.
If you plan on doing this job yourself, wear gloves! I have nicely cauterized slash on my thumb from not doing so!

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Plates installed - I was given a choice of anodized finish - they look good in silver.

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A snug fit in the tower. One of the side effects of this install will be to fractionally (I hear ~10mm) raise the ride height at the front of the car.
This will counter some of the M-sport drop, and allow me to better clear the incline on my driveway.

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View from the top. Gerry had suggested that it might be necessary to grind the top washer, but this doesn't appear to be necessary.

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Bonus: A quick replacement of the rear speaker grille foam, which almost completely disintegrated.

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[72tpik5]

Amazing work. I can't help but feel lazy reading the detail in this post.

[buildit]

Amazing work indeed! Gives me many ideas for my own project.

Love the scope creep

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[petejk]

Amazing work. I can't help but feel lazy reading the detail in this post.

Thanks - I try to spend a couple of hours every Saturday and Sunday doing something to continue to progress.

Amazing work indeed! Gives me many ideas for my own project.

Love the scope creep

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The scope creep has been unavoidable, because I know once I'm driving this car again, I won't want to put it back on jacks!
I either get it done now, or probably not for a long time..

[petejk]

Last week I'd received a package from Germany, containing, along with a few other parts, a plug and play LED conversion kit for the A/C controls.
This item is from Pusches Parts, https://www.pusches.de/index.php/home/product/view/5/44
It seemed like a good thing to get stuck into after morning coffee.

Pictured are the control buttons removed, along with the circuit boards. Above these, is the new LED assembly, which draws power from the old incandescent bulb socket.
The existing light tubes are removed as part of the install.

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One of the three LEDs can be seen with the wheel spindle removed. I bent them slightly towards the front of the unit to allow for the spindles to be reinserted.
It was satisfying cleaning the buttons and control wheels, while the unit was disassembled - a surprising amount accumulated grime can be removed.

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Almost done - the new socket is inserted, and the top circuit board is about to be screwed into place.
The nice thing about this mod, is that it is both reversible, and there is no need to break out the soldering iron!

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Later, I did battle with my front brakes, reinstalling pads into the Brembos didn't go quite as smoothly as I had expected.
I had planned to then move to the rear of the car, and do the pad installation there, and handbrake shoe adjustment, but I sidetracked myself.

The fuel and brake line brackets, and inner rubber pieces were in a pretty sorry state - defintely due for replacement.
One of the plates was missing, but I scraped, scrubed, and cleaned the remaining nine. This was not time efficient, as I spent much longer than I would have liked chipping off old underseal from the plates.

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I'll rarely see them again, but I'll know that they're in much better shape than they were before.

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Tomorrow will bring clutch and brake bleeding. How bad can it be?

[petejk]

The answer is worse than I could have expected!

After adjusting the brake shoes,

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I assembled the brakes with pads and wear sensor.

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Next I attached a Motive power bleeder to the master cylinder reservoir, and pressurized it to 12PSI according to their instructions, or at least I tried.
I was greeted with the sound of escaping air. I tried to pin the sound down, initially suspecting the seal between the bleeder cap and the reservoir, then the master cylinder to reservoir grommits.
Thinking I had nailed the source of the leak, I filled the reservoir, loosened off the clutch slave bleeder nipple, and applied pressure.
Very little brake fluid entered the bottle attached to the clutch slave, and upon checking the driver's footwell carpet, I encountered a puddle of brake fluid.

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With the carpet moved out of the way, a drop of fluid can be seen at the end of the clutch master, although the seal at the top of the cylinder is bone dry.

This leads me to suspect either the clutch hose connection with the clutch master cylinder, which seemed to be damp, or (less likely, hopefully) the clutch master cylinder itself - I really hope this isn't the case.

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Pictured is the end of the hose, looking damp. Perhaps a zip tie or clamp here would do the trick? - the hose is brand new, having been replaced when I changed the brake master cylinder reservoir out.

My brake/clutch system was almost completely dry, as brake hoses, calipers, and clutch slave have been replaced. Hydraulic system (steering/brake booster etc) is also empty.
When I have this ironed out, I am assuming that the order of bleeding is clutch first, then brakes, according the distance form the brake master cylinder?

[cartoonz]

you don't need 12psi... that's why it blew past the hose
Yes, do clutch then wheels.

[petejk]

you don't need 12psi... that's why it blew past the hose
Yes, do clutch then wheels.

That makes sense, I'll give it another go this week with 5psi set, and maybe a zip tie on the clutch hose.

I'm just really keen to be able to get the car back on the ground with fluids added, so that I can focus on getting the interior back in.

[petejk]

Started for the first time since the middle of last year. Cranked it, nothing, then Googled potential no-start conditions for 10 minutes, came back, and it fired right up.
Happy dance now!
I'm trying to work out what I can hear - seems like it might be the accessory belt slipping?

[rjjablo]

BMW Tensioner pulleys in general are notorious for making noise, I could not hear anything on video, but my hearing is shot

[petejk]

Belts seem to have quietened down, which is good news!

I ran the car for 30 minutes today while recharging the AC and flushing the coolant.

Frustration level grew when I noticed a small oil leak under the car. I don’t have the willpower to tear under the hood again to investigate, so that will have to be a job for a local BMW specialist.

On the bright side now that the AC system is charged and leak free, and the new heater core doesn’t appear to be leaking, I can get the dash reinstalled next weekend.


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[sreten]

That's your power steering pump, not the belts. If the level is correct, remove the small cap on the reservoir and turn the steering wheel from lock to lock few times to bleed the air from the system. Other than that, sounds very healthy. : )

[petejk]

Shortly after recording the video, I noticed an oil leak from the rear of the engine. One thing led to another and I ended up building an M70B54 hybrid. Thread here: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...9-M70B54-build

At this point the engine and transmission are ready to be dropped back in the car.

Pictures below are catch-up from the past couple of months of jobs on the car while I’ve been rebuilding the motor.

My ASC+T pump had been leaking brake fluid, and destroying the paintwork below. I removed it for replacement and to repaint.



The pump after a couple of hours of careful pipe removal, including removing the brake booster (again) which also doesn’t rank as one of my favorite E31 jobs. I’ll clean this up and keep as a spare to perhaps have sent off and rebuilt in the future.



Rudimentary masking and papering complete.



Undercoated



And painted. The color matches the body well, but not some of the (heat faded?) paintwork under the hood. Either way, it’s a lot better than before.

I also replaced the ABS pump, and cleaned up around that area. All rubber mountings were replaced for both pumps.
Firewall grommets for the clutch master and clutch line, were replaced, along with the line between the clutch master and slave, which was rotting.



ASC+T Pump, brake booster, and master cylinder reinstalled.




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[petejk]

I had intended to drop the rear subframe today, but decided to complete some overdue jobs up front instead.

Refitting the center link, idler, and new pitman arm was first up.



Next, Mooseheads! I had removed my upper control arms to press these in. It was either these, or Wokke sphericals, and I had a new pair of control arms already, so moosehead bearings made sense.



For a refresh to the steering, I fitted a refurbished hydro steering box, with new u joint, and flex disc, firewall boot, and all nuts. I had also been able to acquire the heat shield, shown below.
The plug and harness for hydro steering seems to be present on all E31s. I cleaned the plug up , and rewrapped the wiring before plugging it in.
The hardest part of the job was reattaching the lower and upper column in the car, with the car in jack stands..



The required harness for the hydro assisted steering is still available, although the blue relay is difficult to find. I was able to find an older post by Shogun, with discussion of relay options to substitute. I am using an Audi relay.
I hooked the harness up to the yellow plugs in the driver’s side kick panel.



Cross member, X brace, and heat shields cleaned up and refitted, along with one of the rebuilt ASC+T lines.



Tomorrow I will start on the rear end.


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[TedBobo]

More great viewing. Thanks!

[petejk]

I took all the advice I could find regarding dropping the rear subframe.
That is, loosen all bolts before dropping anything, be careful to disconnect and to run the ABS and brake pad wear sensor wires clear of the subframe and out of the way, and to unplug the speed sensor on the differential. Finally, use a screwdriver or a small punch to knock the handbrake cables out of the hub, and out of the way.

Here is some gore - this was toast, as were all bushings and ball joint boots with the exception of the trailing arm bushings, which don’t look too bad (but which I will replace anyway).



More gory details - I had looked at these boots and verified their poor condition before ordering parts.



On one side of the car, I was able to knock the CV axle out with a swift blow of the hammer. I subsequently pulled the hub with a slide hammer. On the other side, the axle resisted my puny hammer blows, so will meet its maker tomorrow on the 20 ton press.

The plastic clips that hold the ABS sensor wires are $6 each, so I took great care not to damage them. I will still have to replace a handful, unless anyone knows of a cheaper substitute part number?



New parts to be installed include control arms, diff mounts, all bushings, wokke eccentric bolts, and backing plates.
I also want to replace inner and outer CV boots, and wheel bearings.
The diff will be swapped with a 3.15 LSD, and the subframe swapped to allow a CSI rear sway bar to be fitted.




Subframe dropped at last. I’m looking forward to tearing into this further, and am quite pleased to be out from underneath the car!




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[petejk]

With the subframe removed, I was able to unbolt the diff, and recover the one part from the 2.65:1 open diff that I will be using - the input flange. My now trusty OTC flange holder made this an easy job, once I’d grabbed a 32mm socket.



I had been able to knock the axle out of the hub on the driver’s side, but on the passenger side, neither a slide hammer (when the subframe and hub/hub carrier were still on the car), or my press, as seen below, were able to separate the axle from the hub on the passenger side.
I ended up contacting Brett at Koala Motorsport, who was able to supply a replacement hub carrier and axle.



Carrier bushing removal with a press - here I am operating the press and holding the subframe steady. A definite balancing act! The subframe is the later subframe with integrated diff bushings, which can be seen in the photo. I still need to formulate a plan of attack for removing these.



Pressing out the hub. The hub carrier, due to its awkward shape, is difficult that flat under the press. This wasn’t exactly flat, but good enough.



After trying and failing to press out the rear bearing outer races, I cut them with a dremel and then knocked them out with a cold chisel. Not the most elegant method, but the same end result. Race fragments shown




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[petejk]

The hub carrier is an awkward bastard of a shape to fit on a press, but allowing enough clearance by using ( in my case sockets) to increase the gap allowed access to the ball joints.
Pressing the old ball joints out using a piece of Home Depot tubing as a receiver tube worked out, but I will need to be more careful pressing the new ones in. At this point I’m mainly interested in pressing everything out so I can get the arms/carrier clean and painted.



By comparison, working on the arms is simpler, but reinstallation will require me to purchase specific diameter tubing first so as not to damage the new ball joints.



A newish looking trailing arm bushing. I wanted to remove this, but wasn’t able to cobble together anything of the correct diameter to press them both out. Again, will have to measure and order tubing for the job, unless anyone has these specs already!



All ball joints were trashed bar one, which was actually on the replacement hub carrier.

Out with the old almost complete, and after some cleaning and painting, in with the new soon!




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[rjjablo]

When just the press will not work, fire up the torch and get the carrier hot

[petejk]

When just the press will not work, fire up the torch and get the carrier hot

You’re right - I should have used heat. My Dremel was overheated while cutting, and is now stuck on one speed


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