FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[Jdesign]

Just got back from the parker store. Super nice guy, gave me the fittings I need and hose for free (for now). I have to measure for a perfect fit, and come back so he can crimp it together and make the perfect line. It was slightly tricky for him too because one end is american and the other is metric.

[Jdesign]

Got the line back in last night and re-bled the brakes. I didn't drive it though because I was too lazy to unload the 3 sets of wheels on the roof.

I will say that the hydro line that I had made turned out so awesome that I was so excited to install it that I forgot to take pictures.  Im sure no one will be interested in what a $113 high pressure power steering line looks like anyways. On a side note, that is also probably the most I have spent on 1 single part on this car. 

Pics I do have:

The orange tape was for the length mock-up, a different type of hose was actually used. The metal portion under the tape (as seen in the first picture) was compressed with a special press to hold the line into the fittings on both ends and complete the process.

[Jdesign]

I drove this to work a few days ago because my civic decided to toss an axle about. I realized some more things I need to address.

1. The heat doesnt work for shit. 
2. The rear end has a bad bushing or something somewhere as it tosses itself about over larger bumps and cracks in the road
3. The seat belts still dont work well, I need to get a harness bar and install the harnesses.

[jc43089]

Check RTABs and the outer ball joints.  I put in poly RTABs and that fixed most of the loose feeling, I need to replace the outer upper ball joint on one side too but the RTABs make it feel really loose because of toe changes.  How about your lollipop bushings in front?  You should replace with OE centered m3 bushings, they are similar except much more rubber than the non m.  And really cheap too.  They come in pairs usually FYI.

[GunMetalGrey]

Jdesign said:

I drove this to work a few days ago because my civic decided to toss an axle about. I realized some more things I need to address.

1. The heat doesnt work for shit. It's an E36, isn't that how they were from factory?
2. The rear end has a bad bushing or something somewhere as it tosses itself about over larger bumps and cracks in the road See Pats signature
3. The seat belts still dont work well, I need to get a harness bar and install the harnesses. Safety first kids!

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Check RTABs and the outer ball joints.  I put in poly RTABs and that fixed most of the loose feeling, I need to replace the outer upper ball joint on one side too but the RTABs make it feel really loose because of toe changes.  How about your lollipop bushings in front?  You should replace with OE centered m3 bushings, they are similar except much more rubber than the non m.  And really cheap too.  They come in pairs usually FYI.

This is my assumption as well, Rtabs will be the first, but I will do the rear sub frame bushings too. I was considering just making my own out of delrin or aluminum.. All the front suspension is new, and I have poly lolli spares if needed.

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

This is my assumption as well, Rtabs will be the first, but I will do the rear sub frame bushings too. I was considering just making my own out of delrin or aluminum.. All the front suspension is new, and I have poly lolli spares if needed.

In the rear the stock RTABs are rubber, poly would be a good choice but a hard material might not be because there is some twisting required as the suspension compresses.  Poly ones are easy to install because they don't have to be pressed in. 

Upper and lower control arms have bushings on the inside, they are pretty hard and not much rubber there so doubtful those would be a problem.  Outside has a ball joint on the upper and a bushing on the lower for non M and ball joints on both outer ends for M cars.  Supposedly you can put the same ball joint that is in the outer upper joint in the lower on non M cars as well.  I have 2 of them and will find out hopefully this week.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

In the rear the stock RTABs are rubber, poly would be a good choice but a hard material might not be because there is some twisting required as the suspension compresses.  Poly ones are easy to install because they don't have to be pressed in. 

Upper and lower control arms have bushings on the inside, they are pretty hard and not much rubber there so doubtful those would be a problem.  Outside has a ball joint on the upper and a bushing on the lower for non M and ball joints on both outer ends for M cars.  Supposedly you can put the same ball joint that is in the outer upper joint in the lower on non M cars as well.  I have 2 of them and will find out hopefully this week.

Honestly in a apocalyptic world, none of this would be accessible. I think Im just going to weld in steel beems for struts and shocks and never worry about anything moving at all besides the sidewalls of the tires. 

In all seriousness, thanks for the knowledge! Rouge and Turner make Rtabs that use spherical bearings in aluminum housings. These allow the articulation you mentioned as I am sure you are aware. Everything else is just a linear axis so simple turned parts on a lathe would be easy to make.

[Jdesign]

Slacking as I havent done much but help others with their projects.

I just stopped in this thread to realize I never mentioned that I bought Earls centerline Hawks off of his daily. As some of you may know I already had a set of the same wheels but in 3pc rivets. I originally was going to use these but the rear are not as wide as These 1pcs Earl had. I have intentions to mount them to this car but I think I need to paint or plastidip them. The polished look is obviously "too much" for this car and the theme I have going. So I photoshopped some color ideas after I test mounted them to the car.

**Note the images are compressed and the quality is suffering from this**

1.Spray the whole wheel with transparent red and put a red pin stripe on the tire

2.plastidip the whole wheel with black and put a red pin stripe on the tire

3.Spray the wheels with a matte black face and a gloss black lip

4.Spray the wheels with a full gloss black or a transparent black

5.Spray the wheels with a transparent red

6.Spray the wheels with a matte black face and a transparent red lip

7.This is what they look like currently

What are your guys Thoughts?

I also need to fix the heat. I think the coolant valve in the engine bay quit working so I barely get heat in the cabin which sucks. I really wanted to go get a Xmas tree with the roof rack on this thing.

[Bassboy3313]

Out of the choices, #3 looks the best imo.

[B C]

#2

[Jdesign]

Should I consider red tire letters this time around? I feel like need to toss some red on the wheels somehow/where. 

[P_Roloff]

Yeah I like the idea of gloss black wheels with the red tire lettering.

[stealthbimmer]

P_Roloff said:

Yeah I like the idea of gloss black wheels with the red tire lettering. 

This. Or matte black. Or make a couple matte and a couple gloss to go with the paint scheme

Or just do em blaze orange or something lol

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[Bassboy3313]

Yes!!! Black wheels with red lettering. Red stripe makes it look too toyish, like a hot wheels car.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[P_Roloff]

You could do like gloss lips/barrels and matte spokes, or maybe like a gloss transitioning to a matte on the different surfaces of the spokes, similar to how some modern wheels have silver surfaces but then black/gray sides to the spokes, kinda like these. 

[Jdesign]

Looks like a gloss/matte black combo with red tire lettering. Now I have to decide what the tires should say....... Maybe just the crazy font I used on the door?

Attachments:

• V8decals.jpg

[Jdesign]

Holiday Update!

I attempted to work on this and managed to break more stuff. 

Rear end felt really wonky and loose as I mentioned earlier so I had a chance to put it on the lift and take a closer look. Turns out that most of the bushings are in "fair" condition but could be replaced with nice stiff Delrin. But despite that, this was not my issue.

That's when I then noticed that the cam/eccentric blots for the lower control arms were wayyyyy off of each other. GOD DUMMIT (P.O."JIM-BOB")  those eccentric bolts are not the kind you just tighten down with your baby gorilla strength. Ughhh. So I pulled out my tools to try and adjust them to an even amount from left to right in hopes that I would gain some symmetry in the rear camber adjustment. That's when I realized that it wasn't going to be an easy task. I got one side free and adjusted it close to the zero mark and cinched it back down. Then moved to the other side, and that's where I ran into problems. First it was an impact, nothing. Then a breaker bar, nothing. Then I used some penetration oil, nothing. So I got a bigger breaker bar, and this is where I personally made a mistake. I should have used the torch first and broke the sucker free, but NOPE. Went in like popeye and snapped the head of the eccentric bolt fucking clean off. NOICE.

So following this, I then ensued with a good 6 pack, lots of swearing, and a good 3 hours of my life. I managed to get the bushing out, all the hardware, and proceeded to urinate all of my holiday spirit onto said bushing and eccentric bolt.

Needless to say I will be ordering

• Eccentric bolts
• Brakes lines(I lost one when the bushing was engulfed in flames) 
• Adjustable control arms
• Control arm bushings

If anyone is parting an E36, I would like to steal some hardware from your suspension.

[jc43089]

Bummer, I am sure you found that the issue is the V down the length of the bolt holds the deluxe car rusting solution spread on the roads by the DOT and seizes solidly to the inner bushing sleeve.  You can replace the lower bushings with the same ball joint that is called for at the upper outer control arm spot.  M cars have ball joints in both locations from the factory.  Antiseize is your friend.  I have some stock lower control arms free if you want them but I doubt you do.  Adjustable ones are great but again antiseize is your friend.  With the adjustable ones you just use a regular bolt not an eccentric because you don't need that tiny adjustment any more when you have a turnbuckle style to adjust length.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Bummer, I am sure you found that the issue is the V down the length of the bolt holds the deluxe car rusting solution spread on the roads by the DOT and seizes solidly to the inner bushing sleeve.  You can replace the lower bushings with the same ball joint that is called for at the upper outer control arm spot.  M cars have ball joints in both locations from the factory.  Antiseize is your friend.  I have some stock lower control arms free if you want them but I doubt you do.  Adjustable ones are great but again antiseize is your friend.  With the adjustable ones you just use a regular bolt not an eccentric because you don't need that tiny adjustment any more when you have a turnbuckle style to adjust length.

Good point. I wasnt thinking about that. I can just slam some normal hardware in there and get adjustable arms. Sweet deal.

And yeah, the nice midwest slurry of salt and corrosion has taken its tool. It seems like all of the front suspension is new but the rear is untouched for the most part.