Howdy BimmerForums!
Last month I purchased a Cosmos Black 1998 M3 Sedan (M3/4/5). It's a 244,000-mile, two-owner car, with the second owner of ten years being a tech at the dealership where the car sold new. I've been binge watching M539 Restorations on YouTube lately, so taking a page from Sreten's book, I'm calling this Project Concord (as I purchased it in Concord, North Carolina). I'm a big fan of classic BMWs as I also have a 1991 318iS. Project thread here.
DSC_0229 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
I've been running a series of articles on BimmerLife.com, so instead of rehashing everything here in the initial post, you can read about the fly-and-drive story and subsequent work that I've been doing in the following stories:
- Planes, Trains, and M3s: A Fly-And-Drive Story
- Project Concord: Breaking Eggs To Make An Omelette
- Channeling My Inner Hack Mechanic—Sometime
- Winter Is Coming—The Art Of Indoor Events
- Breathing New Life Into A Classic M3: Project Concord Loses Its Head
- Breathing New Life Into A Classic M3: Project Concord Reassembly
- Shooting A Classic BMW Through Rediscovered Vintage Glass
- Short And Sweet Wrenching Sessions
Engine:
- AFE Intake
- Active Autowerke Exhaust
- Dinan Ignition Coils
- Stewart Water Pump
- CSF Aluminum Radiator
Drivetrain:
- E60 shifter
- Stamped Style 24 LTW Wheels
Suspension:
- TC Kline SA Coilovers
- E30 LCAs
- Offset LCA Bushings
Interior:
- Boa Boa Cloth/Alcantara
- Professionally recovered headliner in suede/Alcantara
- Coco Mats
- Continental/VDO head unit
- Rennline E36 Phone mount
DSC_0595 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0565 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0588 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
That's it for now. I'll be posting more updates soon. Thanks for following along!
Last edited by mike.bmw; 01-12-2024 at 10:19 AM.
Happy Holidays!
DSC_0710 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
I have been trying to take that shot for a few weeks now, but the street has been closed for various activities. Well, not at 6:30AM this morning, when it was 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside! I had taken a similar shot with my E30 on Christmas Eve last year, just with the tree on the opposite side of the street:
DSC_0273 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Lots of driving and various photos, when I have time:
DSC_0729 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0657 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0624 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Other than that, I've been enjoying the car. It has received a new cooling system: Stewart pump, thermostat, CSF radiator w/ poly offset mounts for clearance, a new expansion tank and cap, and hoses all around (performed by a local shop RRT). I've done all of the door lock actuators, replaced the trans mounts, replaced the rear sway bar endlinks, replaced the trunk harness, replaced both broken front seat recline gears, and the washer fluid reservoir tank, hoses, nozzles, and valves. Lots more work to come!
2022-12-04_03-47-54 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2022-12-04_03-47-25 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2022-12-04_03-47-13 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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2022-12-12_06-55-47 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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2022-11-25_07-59-07 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0589 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0560-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
You're the one that bought that car. I messaged the guy and he said it was pending and then it was gone.
Yep! I wasn't the first in line either. I had reached out in late October, but it was pending. Eventually that fell through (buyer didn't sell his car on BaT), so I was next in line. Booked a plane ticket and the rest is history.
Here's the fly-and-drive story: https://bimmerlife.com/2022/11/18/pl...d-drive-story/
If I was you I'd ask the mods to tow this to the M3 section, but totally up to you.
Welcome - I think you'll find an M3 sedan is more than capable of being your every day do-it-all car. You'll love it!
20221102_172048.jpg
-Josh: 1998 S54 E36 M3/4/6 with most of the easy stuff and most of the hard stuff. At least twice. 271k miles. 1994 E32 740il with nothing but some MPars. 93k miles.
This is fantastic, congrats on the purchase! Glad to see another maintenance/resto thread starting up around here.
been following on Instagram but nice to see it here too. You also took an awesome photo of my M3 at the vintage... hope to see your E30 at this vintage or maybe the M3. You have great taste in modifications and photography.
TRM Coilovers 670F/895R | BBS LM | Corsa RSC36
Thanks @blckstrm, @jaysonx, and @propcar! Yes, if you'd like to follow along on Instagram, I post regularly: https://www.instagram.com/mike.bevels/
I've been busy with lots of small-scale projects on Project Concord.
The windshield washer reservoir was cracked so I replaced it. But it couldn't have been that easy, right?
2023-01-04_07-42-33 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-42-18 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
The level sensor grommet broke, so I had to order one. Once I got that back together, I realized that washer fluid was coming out from under the hood pad, so I removed that to find the heated nozzles were cracked at the 90-degree bend where the hose attaches. I'm not a "cheap" person per se, but at $60 per heated nozzle I decided to go with non-heated nozzles and the corresponding check valves. New hose as well!
2023-01-04_07-40-39 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-40-49 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
I clipped the pigtails off the heated nozzles, heat-strinked the exposed ends, and electrical-taped them as well.
2023-01-04_07-40-07 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Naturally once I had it all back together I realized that I had routed the hoses incorrectly. So I took it apart again and fixed that.
2023-01-04_07-40-23 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-39-57 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Once the washer system was fully functional, I turned to something that had been bothering me since I bought the car: water spots on the windows. BAD water spots. Water spots forged in the depths of hell. Nothing seemed to remove these (specific water-spot removal chemicals, white vinegar/water solutions, magic eraser, etc). So I broke out the buffer and some compound. BOOM! Done.
2023-01-04_07-39-27 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-38-47 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-38-05 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Another small project was replacing the lower door plugs. These were long gone and I believe the voids were causing extra wind noise while driving. I found some 20mm rubber sheet metal plugs on Amazon that work perfectly:
2023-01-04_07-41-41 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-04_07-41-52 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Moving forward, I'll try to go into more detail on specific work/repairs/upgrades in individual posts. I glossed over somethings that I had included in the BimmerLife articles linked in the first post: trunk harness replacement, door lock actuator replacement, trans mounts, rear sway bar endlinks, cooling system replacement, roof paint correction, driver and passenger seat recline gear replacement.
And some beauty shots for good measure:
DSC_0634 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0662 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0663 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Beautiful car! Post some interior pics please!
----- Alpina supercharger parts and rebuild kits. www.b7stuff.com -----
e36 M3
e39 M5
e46 330i ZHP
e90 330i
e31 €850i
e65 Alpina B7
e36 M3 Vert
Mike - two quick questions for you - beautiful car!
1) The rear door lock actuators - can you take them out without unscrewing the door lock mechanism. I have a 97 m3 sedan and the rear passenger one failed. Getting ready for this....
2) The underwood insulation - on mine its bulging on the passenger side of the engine (almost over the oil cap). Appears to be inflated or stuffed. Is that normal. I cant tell from the picture you posted of yours hanging down?
Thanks
Alex
Here are some crappy cell phone photos. They don't quite do it justice, but this Boa Boa interior is insanely clean.
2023-01-19_08-43-52 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-01-19_08-44-09 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Thanks!
1) I've read that you can do this with the door closed, but it's going to be tough unless you have small hands. If you can open the door, unscrewing the door lock mechanism and letting it hang inside the door (dropping it down to access/remove the actuator on top) is definitely the way to go.
2) My hood insulation lays pretty flat. There are probably 20 clips that hold it in place. The material is slightly "puffy" though, if that's what you mean.
I did some work on the car today. Well, let's be honest, I do work on the car every day. But today I'm posting about it!
After I had a shop replace the radiator, the thermostat failed open a week later. So I had the shop replace the water pump (Stewart), thermostat, hoses, expansion tank, etc. Pretty much everything except the coolant level sensor. And I had a shop do it because I didn't want to deal with coolant (draining, disposing, refilling, bleeding).
Well, that broke too. So today I replaced it. I did this without loosing too much coolant by clamping off the small top hose that runs to the expansion tank, and the larger lower hose that runs under the intake manifold.
I sucked out the coolant from the expansion tank with this nifty $10 extractor from Amazon. I put it in a clean (and empty) distilled water jug.
2023-01-19_08-50-55 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
And then I removed all of the pieces of the old coolant level sensor. It really came apart in there. I did this with a long, thin rod and pushed the debris out the open hold in the bottom of the expansion tank.
2023-01-19_08-50-25 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
I threaded the new sensor into place, unclamped the hoses, put the shroud back into place, buttoned everything up, and then bled the system.
2023-01-19_08-50-41 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Job done. No more "Low coolant" warning light at start up and shut down. Hurray.
Earlier in the week, I replaced the alternator on my E30 318is (for a second time as the first one was DOA, which I found out after installing it).
2023-01-17_07-57-04 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
I also wrote a piece for BimmerLife this week on removing stubbon water spots from glass: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/01/16/wa...n-water-spots/
DSC_0604 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
And I got out a few times for one of my favorite things, taking photos of cars:
DSC_0724 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0587 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0586 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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Great photos and such a cool journal. Congratulations on the new toy!
Love the GTV. A friend had a 74 2000 in the early 80s that I remember well.
Alternators have been a crap shoot in my experience, but buying good OE ones instead of buying from the local parts store is key.
In fact, I buy either OEM or OE stuff exclusively these days - too many "lifetime replacements" turning into a lifetime of replacements. You do it long enough you start to see the value of doing it right.
Also, yes, your hood insulation should be "puffy" on the passenger side, filling the low spot above the headers. It's roughly contoured to fill the space between the hood and all the stuff under the hood - and the biggest gap is the space between the passenger shock tower and the oil cap.
Thank you!
Wish it was mine! I've spoken with the owner a few times at a local Cars and Coffee event and it's definitely one of my favorites.
I'm the same way. OEM or OE all the way. Unfortunately, for my 318is, OE/OEM alternators appear to be NLA at the moment. They're either listed as "Backordered No ETA" or "Discontinued" all of the places I checked. So, I was stuck buying a CarQuest/AC Delco remanufactured unit.
I've never seen that the Boa mixed with suede before, that is very cool! Great photos
Lovin' the Alpha...
Estoril/Modena '97 M3...sold for the second time.
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You only live once, and I'm running out of time...
Thank you! With regards to the underwood insulation mine gets pretty puffy in two parts in the back (like a sponge puffy)
E36 Mini Meet at Katie's Cars and Coffee yesterday! 3 M345s and 3 coupes. There were a handful of other E36 Ms scattered throughout the event as well.
DSC_0598 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0632 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
And my friend Alexis' new acquisition as of a few months ago:
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And some shots of my M345, Project Concord, from a quick lunch run on Friday.
DSC_0663 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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Dang I need to get mine back on the road!
great purchase......love the interior cloth..never saw that before....
picked up a 200k mile 97 slick top sedan in Oct 22..for track days
e60 is a nice under the radar ssk
Wow, your car is so clean! Also, loving all the pics. Too bad there isn't much of an E36 presence here in KC. At least not that I am aware of.
What's new? Last week I took a short trip to Puerto Rico with my family. And then I wrote a feature piece for BimmerLife and published it earlier this week (I'm the editor there).
DSC_0349 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
Article: https://bimmerlife.com/2023/01/30/bm...n-puerto-rico/
A friend hooked me up with a fire extinguisher mount, so today I picked up some hardware and installed it along with the loose fire extinguisher that came in the car.
DSC_0382 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
2023-02-02_04-46-07 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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And I've been taking photos, which isn't a new thing. Another friend, Douglas, was kind enough to be a second driver.
DSC_0567-3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
DSC_0728 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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DSC_0613 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
And we got some snow in Virginia. Barely any, but we'll count it.
DSC_0404 by mike.bevels, on Flickr
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And more photos, just because I like taking them.
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That's all for now!
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