Glacier Blue 6-speed build thread

[cartoonz]

Since you likely won't be doing a lot of these, what you are doing works ok.
But with just a few different fitted tools, these can all be stripped out and replaced with a threaded rod - and faster too.

[petejk]

Since you likely won't be doing a lot of these, what you are doing works ok.
But with just a few different fitted tools, these can all be stripped out and replaced with a threaded rod - and faster too.

I don’t see myself doing this job again any time soon!

It seems that having a press is only part of the battle - having usable press/receiving tubes of the right size and length is the other part.

I like the idea of using a threaded rod. I’ve seen the sets that can be bought or rented. The difficulty is knowing what does and doesn’t work for the different ball joints/bushings.


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[cartoonz]

that's just it, there is no single "set" that covers them all.... more like one or two pieces from each of 5 sets plus 2 custom machined drifts on top of that.
But once you have the full kit in hand, it is way easier to attack this job with the subframe on the bench rather that trying to hold it up to the press.

Now... when you put it all back into the car, be smart... while a lot of them are bearings, some are actual bushings - so weight the suspension before you lock the bolts down. Otherwise, those stressed bushings will destroy themselves in short order.

You have done a beautiful job on this car, bravo!

[petejk]

Now... when you put it all back into the car, be smart... while a lot of them are bearings, some are actual bushings - so weight the suspension before you lock the bolts down. Otherwise, those stressed bushings will destroy themselves in short order.

Plan is to raise the rear of the car on ramps so I can get underneath and torque the bolts with the suspension loaded. Hopefully I’ll have enough access to get to them.


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[petejk]

This weekend, using this thread https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ine-CV2-Grease as my guide, I rebuilt my half shafts.

2x 33217840673 inner CV boot repair kit
2x 33219067806 outer CV boot repair kit
2x NAPA 686-5834 CV boot clamp (because, sure enough, as stated in the thread, the ones in the kit suck)
Redline CV2 grease, lacquer thinners, brake cleaner as per thread

One of my half shafts. First step was putting it in the vice and knocking the top cover off the inner joint.



Nasty 30 year old grease that would require a lot of cleaning



An initial wipe down, then full clean with brake cleaner. This stuff gets EVERYWHERE



Mostly cleaned off.
When it was time to move onto cleaning the old grease out of the outer CV joint I used the lacquer thinners in a bucket method, followed by a lot of brake cleaner. This worked really well.



A quick paint job to tidy them up. Here you can see I have an extra inner Cv joint. This was from the axle that seized inside my hub. I’ll keep it as a spare for probably no reason at all.




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[petejk]

Inner and outer kits laid out. There were some extra parts that may apply to different cars, but it was easy enough to figure out what should go where.
The Hylomar is for sealing the covers on each side of the inner joint.



I used almost every bit of the Red Line CV2 grease, and several energy drinks to finish the job



Packing grease into the cleaned up outer joint took some persuasion. Moving the joint around a lot helped



Inner boot grease-filled and with Hylomar applied, ready for the joint to be placed on top. I initially tried to reassemble the joint on the shaft. It was much easier to assemble it first, then slide it onto the axle afterwards.



Job done. I thought I was going to be able to get more done this weekend, but ultimately I’m happy to get these finished.




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[petejk]

I got the last of the bushings removed from the subframe, and from the trailing arms.

Trailing arm bushing removal was possible after measuring the inner and outer diameter of tubing needed, along with the length, and ordering some pipe from speedymetals.com. I probably could have found a local metal supplier, but this was quicker!
Picture shows the bushing being pressed out.



I had to use a threaded rod to remove the old differential bushings from the new carrier. There was no way it was going to fit under my press!



I took a recommendation of this brand of VHT epoxy paint from another forum thread, and used more cans than I anticipated to paint the subframe, hub carriers, and arms.



Prep was a clean and degrease followed by a wire wheel on loose surface rust. I didn’t feel it was necessary to go all out and spend a huge amount of time on prep. It was just important to have some corrosion prevention, and for it to look a little nicer as I bolt it back together!



The paint has a cure time of a couple of days, so I won’t be able to start reassembly straight away.

This will give me time to move to the differential




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[petejk]

The differential I’ve chosen is the E32 3.15 LSD. An eBay purchase, which looked from the outside at least to be relatively clean, but of unknown mileage.

I’ve also sourced a late differential cover, so the diff when refitted to the car will have components from 3!

I used two videos to understand what goes on inside the case.
** This is the first time I have taken the cover off a diff, let alone attempted to rebuild one. Fingers crossed I don’t screw it up too badly

The first is from RacingDiffs, who supplied the friction plates and washers to rebuild LSD carrier internals. This video shows a rebuild of the 210mm E46 M3 M-variable diff, but the useful parts of the video showed some neat tricks to removing bearing races from the case and the carrier.

https://youtu.be/F7QTGKCcWVU

The second shows friction plate replacement in a 188mm diff, but as I understand it the method is very similar to the larger carrier.

https://youtu.be/gHD3Z54sV_U

With the rear cover off, I then pried the output flanges off, and the the output caps. This then allowed for removal of the (heavier than expected) LSD carrier.



After asking for advice on bearing condition, I took the plunge, and pressed the pinion out. There’s no going back from this point. All bearings and races will be replaced, and a new crush sleeve will have to be installed, and the pinion preload set.



The first of the tricks from the RacingDiffs video was that the inner pinion bearing race can be knocked rather than pressed out. This worked well, and allowed me to move on to the outer pinion bearing race.



Lacking an immaculate set of mandrels as per the video, I improvised with some tubing and dies that I had to hand. The outer race pressed out smoothly, and I was left with a case ready for cleaning and paint.



This worked well for removal of the bearing from the pinion. I had not wanted to cut this one off.




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[petejk]

The last two races to come out. After this it was time to move to the carrier.


A 5 inch width carrier was not going to fit into my existing bench vise, so I had to swap it out for a larger model.



As I don’t own an air impact, I had to muscle the ring gear bolts off.



The bolts at the top of the carrier were a lot easier to remove, removal of these allowed for the carrier guts to be come out.



I then laid the washers, friction discs, and gears out in order, and in the same orientation in which they were removed. My plan is to clean up those parts that I won’t be replacing, and substitute in the new components as the carrier goes back together.




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[petejk]

The last pair of bearings to be removed were those on the carrier. I cut these off, using a dremel and a punch.


The last couple of hours of the afternoon were spent cleaning, ready for reassembly to start tomorrow.


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[petejk]

After some time spent masking,



I was able to finish off some rattle cans that were on my shelf. The diff case really wasn’t that bad to start with, but looks better after a blow over.




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[petejk]

After ultrasonic cleaning of the LSD components, I oiled them up, and reassembled in the reverse order of removal, using the new Racing Diffs friction plates and Belleville washers.

Due to the either increased thickness, or tension of the new washers, it took more force to bolt the top cover back on after reassembly was complete. This increased preload is supposed to slightly increase lockup beyond the factory 25%. Not important to me on this car, but interesting nonetheless.



After pressing the inner and outer pinion bearing races back into the differential case, remembering not to forget the spacer!, I inserted the outer pinion bearing, and pressed in the pinion seal.



A few dollars spent in Home Depot gave me the tubing I needed to press on the new inner pinion bearing.



View into the case with a new Timken inner and outer races and outer bearing. RockAuto had great prices for the bearings and races I used.



I’m about to press the outer bearing onto the pinion, and partially crush the sleeve. Luckily bought two of them..




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[petejk]

With a swivel vice, I was able to clamp the input flange in place, and slowly tighten the 32mm nut.



After tightening the nut a small amount, I checked the preload, the repeated, more than a handful of times. Eventually, the preload reading was within the acceptable range. Edit: the first time I wasn’t slow/patient enough, and had to start again with a second crush sleeve.



Pressing the carrier bearings on using the old bearing. This was painless. It might be something to do with my becoming more familiar with using my press.



Checking the pattern. The contact patch looks to be roughly in the desired spot, although this is my first time doing this job, so will stand corrected if not.



Checking the backlash - it took longer to work out how to set up the gauge than it did to set it up and take the reading. Luckily, despite bearings replacement, the reading appears to be within range.



All done. Sealant curing, then will fill with 75W-140.
Time will tell if it was worth the effort to do this myself, but I feel like I know a little bit more about differentials than I did a few weeks ago..




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[petejk]

Pressing new rear bearings in, with the orange side facing out. Reassembly was the fun part - as everything went back together a lot more quickly than it came apart.


Snap rings in place, ready for the ball joints and hubs.



Ready for CV axles. I took advice from other threads, and used a wire brush on the splines, and applied plenty of anti seize before fitting the axles into the hubs.



I had been worried after getting to this point that the trailing arm bushings may be incorrectly clocked. Subsequent fitting of the subframe to the body proved that to not be the case. The illustration in the repair manual showing the correct orientation was of course correct.

I also needlessly worried about the anti roll bar. The later bar will, I found out, only bolt in one way up!

Subframe bushings, having been a pain to remove - were easier to press in, but still not a walk in the park solo with a press.



I was able to fit m sport rear springs at last, and get everything loosely bolted up. Prior to subframe removal, I hadn’t been able to pull out the stock springs.

The only question I have, is how do I determine which side the ABS sensors should go back to. Are the cables usually marked left/right?





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[cartoonz]

what's the fancy writing on the sway bar?

[petejk]

what's the fancy writing on the sway bar?

Eibach 09/12 227321.9
Must be the OEM for the rear CSi sway


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[White94RX]

What an amazing restoration job. I wonder what the value of something like this would be when you're finished. Good job.

[petejk]

Thanks - It’ll be worth a lot less than I’ve spent on it, but I’ve had fun working on it (well, mostly, some jobs excepted!)


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[BlkzhpWoG]

It does look amazing. I've been following this thread drooling over the work being done. Agree with you that your "return" on the money/time in will be low - but the real question is what would you charge a fellow forum member to do some of these things? Asking for a friend...

[TedBobo]

- but the real question is what would you charge a fellow forum member to do some of these things? Asking for a friend...

I bet that's $50k in labor alone. But, it's great following this thread.

[dragon850]

Fantastic Job!

[petejk]

Thanks for your comments - I now have a deadline of the end of the year to have the car put back together and roadworthy, as I’ll be moving house (eek!)

I’ve been getting some smaller interior jobs done, and removal of the rear bumper to repaint and refresh the mounting hardware.

For the rear bumper I’m using a great thread by 8tech as my guide, https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...umper-Overhaul

Plan is to install PDC sensors before mounting it back on the car.

Pictured is a neglected bumper bar - this will be refinished along with the mounting brackets. I may also need to make cut outs to clear the E38 PDC sensors.



Soara manifolds awaiting downpipes, and me to make a header to downpipe gasket decision (copper paste or cut some using snips and exhaust gasket sheet).



Front and rear pods, awaiting cleaning and preparation for new speaker installation. There are some good threads discussing speaker options in the E31, and I think I’ve read all of them!




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[dragon850]

Awesome!
I have an engine with the same manifolds ready do go, what does Victor recommended on the downpipes for the gasket?

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[petejk]

Awesome!
I have an engine with the same manifolds ready do go, what does Victor recommended on the downpipes for the gasket?

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I haven’t actually asked him yet. I know that in every photo I’ve seen of his completed M70 sets it looks like a bare joint between the manifolds and downpipes.

Need you to post a sound clip of that engine when it’s installed - I’m still a few weeks off firing mine up and need some motivation..


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[petejk]

Speaking of PDC, I decided to color code the sensors to match the bumpers. It seems that they are paintable, as long as you don’t go overboard with paint thickness.



A quick clean with prep spray, a coat of plastic primer, then a dusting of top coat and finally clear.



A small job in the scheme of things, but one more crossed off the list.




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