new to me, 98 M3

[cpandrewschmidt]

well, no real update on the m3.  Still the CEL but drives fine.  Been driving the e30 convertible lately.  

Came out of the office to this today.  Anyone have a spare m20 oil pan?!?  My damn luck...........

[B C]

Hows it going?

[cpandrewschmidt]

Snap said:

Hows it going?

It was a pretty small crack, only a millimeter or so wide and about half inch long.  So, I just JB welded it and been driving it now for a couple weeks.  So far so good.  Time to buy a skid plate.  Good thing I fixed this because 2 days later the M3 master cylinder broke so now that car is out of commission!  Ugh, never ends   Hopefully will be fixing that today and tomorrow.

[cpandrewschmidt]

well, got the master cylinder in.  That's not a job I want to do again.  I'm having trouble with the return spring though on the pedal.  It looks like it's in where it should be but when you push the pedal down the spring is actually pushing the pedal towards the floor.  Once the pedal is past halfway the spring slams it down and the pedal won't return.  I haven't bled the master yet but there's no way I could see it having the force to push it back.  The spring is hurting, not helping in this case.  It was also VERY hard to install.  The only way it'd fit was to zip tie it still the spring completely bottomed out. 

Here are some pics if anyone has an e36 they could snap a picture.   

[cpandrewschmidt]

here's a video to try to show what i mean.  

spring video.mp4

Attachments:

• spring video.mp4

[B C]

I vaguely remember the spring action on my car being like that.

Just gotta get it bled

[cpandrewschmidt]

well Snap was right as usual!  However, 1 step forward, 2 back. I was reverse bleeding from the slave.  removed it and pushed the piston in a few times and then started adding fluid to the slave.  Seemed like I was putting a lot of fluid into it but never did get the fluid level to rise in the engine container so i figured I'm still pushing air out.  Felt the clutch and it was getting a little resistance, so went back under and added some more fluid.  Went to check the clutch again pushed harder.  BOOM - blew the slave cylinder out.  Rookie mistake.  Guess I needed to reinstall it first.  

So, now will have to wait for a new part to arrive (unless someone here has a spare on hand?!  

Ugh.......

[B C]

At least the slave is a little easier install than the master

[cpandrewschmidt]

Finally got the clutch back up and running.  So, figured I should show a few pictures after a wash and wax.  No idea why they show up crooked.  I rotated them and re-saved after uploading but they're still messed up.  Oh well. 

Next project is to get a new trunk on.  I'm not a fan of the huge spoiler on there.  I found a nice white one without a spoiler at the junk yard.  Got to strip it and paint it then I'll go with that and a smaller m5 style lip like shown. 

[m42b32]

Looks awesome! I have the e46 m3 lip spoiler on my coupe and its one of my favorite things I have done, would look great on your car

[cpandrewschmidt]

not much new going on for the M3.  Finally got around to a much needed interior and engine detailing.  Saw Gliptone recommended on some other sites for leather seats. This stuff is great.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VV423G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  Cleaned and re-treated with it.  Finally fixed the saggy glove box too.  Now just need some real M3 floormats and zhp knob.

[cpandrewschmidt]

Wife gone, proper garage.  Also, mocking up some splitters I'm gonna make.  Thoughts? 

[B C]

Only interested if you use double-wall cardboard

[KaiserRolls]

Snap said:

Only interested if you use double-wall cardboard

And if it passes an 80lb crush force test

[Jdesign]

Personally I would make it continue across the whole front of the car and protrude a little more. What type of material are you planning to make it from? Dibond? Carbon?

Side note- Your interior is amazing and makes me realize how shitty my E36 interior is. LOL

[patsbimmer1]

Buy some hdpe from menards.  You won't regret it!  I agree with jdesign, carry it all the way across the front.

[cpandrewschmidt]

patsbimmer1 said:

Buy some hdpe from menards.  You won't regret it!  I agree with jdesign, carry it all the way across the front.

yeah, will definitely look at HDPE for it.  I'm going for this look.  I think carrying it all the way across just makes it look too much like the stock splitter already on there.  But I'll still mock one up to see if I like it more.  

[Jdesign]

Well its your car, you can do whatever you please    

eBay has some molded parts similar to what you are thinking. I didn't search much, but I am sure there are flat versions as well. $40 seems better than spending a few hours making your own.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/92-99-BMW-E36-3-SERIES-M3-FRONT-BUMPER-LOWER-VELOCITY-GT-SPLITTERS-/192010946516

Otherwise this is what I had in mind:

[cpandrewschmidt]

Hi all,

Couple months or so ago I did a Vanos reseal. I have a lightweight flywheel which doesn't have a pin to lock the flywheel. I made some CAM locks myself and proceeded with the job. During the job my locks slipped a bit. I realigned with the head as best I could and proceeded. When done verified TDC on flywheel and all looked good through several rotations. 

Since then I've been battling those codes you've seen in this thread. I've replaced all known issues for that; plugs, coil packs, o2 sensors, fuel filter, smoke test, etc. I planned to do all those anyway as routine maintenance as the new owner so that's fine. However, I'm still getting the code. So, that brings me back to my Vanos job as the only other variable that's changed. More I read I see people talking about it being off a "tooth" Are they referring to the splines when re-inserting the Vanos? After watching some video's I'm not 100% confident I had that in correctly. So, I'm re-doing it to double check my work. After seeing a few techniques on youtube i'm more confident I'll be sure it's right. 

I'm at the point to lock the CAMs (with real cam locks this time). Here's a picture of my exhaust cam. Crank is TDC, lobes pointed at each other upfront and intake cam is pretty flush. Exhaust is off by a bit. I'm told to wiggle the CAM with a 24 mm wrench so it sits flush but I'm afraid of other things moving. I plan to have a friend hold a wrench on the crank to insure that doesn't move, but am I ok to wiggle that CAM around? I didn't want to take the Vanos out without knowing that first. 

Thanks for any advice for those that have done this. 

Andrew

[B C]

The crankshaft is at TDC. the camshafts are locked. once you remove the timing chains you must rotate the crankshaft off of TDC. Start the wrench at approximately the lifting hook (green line) and turn it counter clockwise to the opposite edge of the head (red line). Yes, it is horrifying to rotate the crank out of sync with the cams/with the timing chains off, but it is safe. Once the crankshaft is in this position you can rotate the cams all you want. You will probably have to rotate the intake cam independently to force the VAMOS unit off of the cam anyhow since you will notice that rotating the intake cam with the VAMOS unbolted results in the whole VAMOS unit moving axially in and out on the cam.