m42b32

I'm 90% sure I own this car now haha. I recognize the pin stripe and tape residue on the back door trim (and the fact that it's a white 318i sedan)

Setback after setback....this is the final result! 295 rear tires and 245 fronts, fitment is great but I plan to lower it just a bit more.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

And intake is almost done. All tack welded and ready to be finished. I got some 1/4" plate to do the end cap and to add some reinforcemnt for vacuum fittings.
 
I will use bosh motorsports dbw throttle body. I am shooting for anything between 350-500whp. I think that 68mm throttle should do. The next size up is 82mm but I worry it will be too twitchy and drivability will suck. 
Holesaw setup to cut 3" holes for trumpets
A little mockup with two runners to check the position of the plenum
 
 
All 4 runners in. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fuel Rail
 

It was a very busy couple of days for the M3!



At 109k miles I did the rod bearings and bolts, motor mounts, header gaskets, trans mounts, driveshaft center support bearing, trans fluid, and engine oil. 
The motor mount on passenger side was two pieces, and the drivers side was collapsed and the oil pan was resting on the sway bar. 

Bearings looked acceptable for the mileage, but good to have piece of mind that they're done. 


The motor had been replaced by the dealer at around 300 miles for a stuck injector, and it looks like they didn't do the header gaskets correctly... 



The drive after felt great, significantly smoother with the engine not rocking around in there and being properly isolated from vibrations.

Not to toot my own horn, but I love how all of this came out. 

Went to wire up the center gauges and install center console, but ran into a whoops moment. While testing the interior dash lights, I bumped a couple terminals with my small pick tool and shorted it out. Dash lights immediately turned off and wouldn't work again.
Checked the fuses, radio fuse was blown. Good, easy fix. Nope wasn't the issue although probably part of it. Did some googling and came up with the rheostat inside the headlight switch that dims the dash lights easily fry apparently. 
One fix is jumpering some pins in the headlight switch to bypass the rheostat. Tried that and I was able to turn the entire car on by pulling the headlight knob out. Ummm, no thanks! Reversed that.
Another fix is completely disassembling the headlight switch to solder the broken area and everything should work as normal. Let's give it a try!
Disassembled the switch

Found the spot on the rheostat that fried. Hard to see but it's the very first coil of the spring behind the silver tab.

Soldering this small is nearly impossible for my giant solder gun, so big blob it is. 

I tested the continuity between the end of the tab and the other end of the coil spring wire. Looks good to me. 
Threw it back together and into the car. All works as it should! Sorry no pics of that yet. Glad I was able to save some cash as every part of this car seems to be priced like gold. We shall see how long it lasts now. 

I started putting together manifold. Just some mockups for now to figure out injector positions and angles.
I also got a set of wilwood floormounts that i am trying to fit. Looks like  pedal position will be close to stock
 
 
 

The first of the parts are showing up! Still need to place my order with FCP for the bulk of the manual transmission items (clutch, master, slave, etc.) but ordered my DSSR and selector today joint from Ireland engineering, driveshaft, clutch pivot pin and fuel tank from Rockauto, trans mounts from AKG, and shifter stuff from McMaster. Shooting to fab that up this weekend with the help of @m42b32’s excellent write up, I drove his car last year and fell in love with the shifter enough that I had to have my own. Also, the price of OEM shift levers seems to have increased significantly, and I see no reason to spend more for an inferior end result.
 
Anywho, the fuel tank showed up today, and I thought I would give my initial impressions since I really haven’t seen much info online about the tank I bought. If anyone has looked recently on Rockauto, the Spectra tank that seems to be the first choice is out of stock, with the only available option being from Liland Global. Didn’t have much choice, so bit the bullet. 
 
Packaging was kinda shitty, no bubble wrap or protection but other than a few bent tabs, everything seems to be in one piece. All of the small fittings have foam protectors on them to prevent overspray and clogging of lines, which I thought was a nice touch. Some waviness can be seen in a few spots on the tank but overall it seems to be an okay product for the money. The finish is pretty uniform and seems to be relatively thick and tough, and the metal itself is of reasonable thickness. I will probably POR the seam before I install it to try to eke a little more life out of it, but that’s probably not strictly necessary. My only real gripe so far is some small bits of debris in the tank shown in the images, but it’s nothing the fuel filter won’t take out. 
 
I’ll post another update when I go to install it, and another when it comes time to fill it! Fingers crossed!
 

Slow progress is still progress! Work has been nuts for me lately, but I found some time today to get out to do some work on the car. Managed to get the diff disconnected from the subframe (confirming in the process that the existing diff is FUDGED), and got the old subframe bushings out and the new poly ones in. I knew the diff had a shot I out bearing, but upon turning the output flanges it appears that the gears or bearings in the carrier are roached, it’s super chunky and has a lot of resistance to movement. Kinda curious how much fluid is actually left in it, but not looking forward to the smell when I find out.  Should make a good welded diff at any rate. Old crusty stuff:


New nice stuff (including the 3.73 LSD I bought from @rampelsauce:



Thanks to @YoungCR, I had the correct tools for the job, the right puller made this pretty pain-free. I used a torch to heat up the bushings from the outside and just applied force with the pusher until they popped out. One bushing was pretty cracked and deteriorated but stayed in one piece, while the other was completely torn in two. The new bushings should make a huge difference after seeing that, and thank goodness for the easy install of poly!
 
I can’t remember if I updated here, but I picked up a full manual swap a few weeks ago from a local guy. I ended up paying more than I thought it was all worth especially considering condition, but I really want to get this back on the road quickly so sacrificed had to be made. I discovered however that the driveshaft u-joints were borked after I got home that night, and thankfully after some coaxing the seller gave me a refund on that (sold it all to me as good-condition, working, no issues with anything for a price that reflected it, so I was I think justifiably a little upset about it). So I’m still looking for a good g260 manual driveshaft if anyone has one laying around. And before anyone asks, yes, I’m planning to reseal the G260 before installing. Seller claimed that it shifted well and didn’t suffer from any grinding or gear pop-outs, so fingers crossed that’s actually the case. 


Other random news: scored a console with a Husco armrest for $10 the other night along with some sweet e34 parts, excited about that! It needs the cover replaced but I believe replacements can be sourced; otherwise, I have family that does upholstery so I could potentially go that route too. (E34 parts were rear headrests and a power rear sunshade if anyone cares)
 
Next on the list: Drop the exhaust and driveshaft, then pull the fuel tank and replace. Then, it’ll be on to removing the trans and starting to put things back together. 

And back in...


 

Dash starting to look complete once again

Really got after it with the warm weather today. Dashboard and front half carpet removed. Dashboard was fairly straight forward and simple. The carpet removal would not have been purist approved. Had to cut it back behind center console otherwise the heater core and many other things would have to have been removed in order to get carpet out whole. Wasn't going to get that involved. Plus where I cut will never be seen when new carpet goes in. 

Dashboard was disassembled and the "pods" were prepped for paint. Along with the kick panels too. New black dashboard didn't come with the "pods" and are near impossible/expensive to find.


LVP paint applied to all pieces. Need to get another can for final coats. 

Once new front half carpet arrives in mail things can start getting reassembled again.
 

the welder has created a sim car cage with pvc.
im ded. 

*sigh*
 
I get the idea behind the rear design but it does come out looking like you’re staring down a stink star. Disappointing because the e92 is one of my favorites too. Seems like he took some inspiration from the Baldessari car. 

Yup. The lip has a foam seal in it similar to the OEM bucket. And then the Ellipsoid adapters uses a second screw that goes in the top of the factory housing and that screw has an o-ring on it to seal it. the only sealant you should have to use it a small bead around the bi-xenon connector where it passes through the backside of the Morimoto housing.

Looks like a really nice solution!! Fully sealed up when it's installed? 

Your insurance company (and all other drivers on the road) would like to speak with you. 

Figured I'd start with more interior work.
Firstly started with installing the Never Done glove box sag fix.



I then moved on to removing the seats and center console. This is to prep for the dash replacement and to install the restored Z3M center console pieces.


Center console painted and assembled with Z3M center pieces and new VDO classic gauges. 

Hey guys. I've been working pretty hard on these and have a variety of options now: 
Morimoto Mini H1 8.0 DIY Projector Retrofit Kit for $495-530 shipped. 
Acme Standard DIY Projector Retrofit Kit for $295 shipped.
Depo Smilie plug and play headlights with the projectors already installed and all required HID hardware included: 
Morimoto: 
$775 shipped for clears $795 shipped for smoked Acme: 
$535 for clears $565 for smoked  








 
 
 
 
 

Anywho, here's some pics from Lake Poygan autox.


And my perfectly average time across all classes for the day. Like absolutely half way. Not bad for running against a lot of cool shit/actual race cars.



 
There's also video but you'll have to come over and I'll show you on my phone, but over my shoulder so I can pause it and give commentary.

Making progress tonight. Rears needed a little clearancing at a 4 degree angle to fit inside the new lips. A friend that dabbles in machining got me set up and was able to try my hand at it. Brand new center caps should be here tomorrow. Then, off for coating.

This last weekend I got the opportunity to go to the Rolex 24 with Michelin and it was absolutely amazing!  The race was awesome but the people we got to watch it with made it even better.  Our hosts were Paul Gerrard (The American Stig, Grand Tour), Didier Theys (Winner of Rolex 3x, Sebring 2x and 3x Lemans podiums), Butch Leitzinger (2x Lemans winner, 3x Daytona winner) and Kelly Williams (CASCAR driver and Pfaff motorsports driving coach).  We got to do a lap of Daytona with Paul in an M5 CS which was absolutely insane!  You think you've driven fast until you drive with a professional driver 🤣.  Doing 165 around the oval and 100+ through the infield was an experience I will never forget.  These guys did corner tours with us and had us looking at the driving in a whole new light.  The way they can diagnose what's going on and verbalize it is seriously impressive.
 

I'm very behind on this, but I opened my gift this morning! It got here around Christmas, but I had a family emergency that popped up shortly afterwards and the dust is finally settling. It didn't have a name on it, but thank you to whoever was my Santa!! It's a sweet IMSA poster and some BMW CCA cars and coffee magnets! I'll be getting a frame for the poster and the magnets are already on the fridge!