I did a thing!
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Update: Replaced the rear differential mount with a garagistic poly mount. Was a little disappointed in the fitment as the bushing wasn't quite the right offset, had to massage the mounting tabs backwards an 1/8-1/4" to get it to line up. Filled the diff up with new redline 75w90 as well. Turns out the factory LSD is no longer present which is a huge bummer, couldn't read the tag on the diff so I have no idea what ratio it is. Also did a valve adjustment while I was replacing the leaky valve cover gasket, some of them were good and some were a little loose so I just corrected the ones that were loose. Set them all to .010" (0.25mm) while the engine was cold. Gapped new plugs to .028 to replace the worn out plugs that were more in the neighborhood of .040. Will post pics of things when I get home tonight.
Drove it very nicely (nothing over 3500rpm as I still haven't done the timing belt) around the block to see how things are going, the clunk seemed to be mostly gone except for when I did a more aggressive shift from 2nd to 3rd. Any other time it was nice and tight so I'm just going to ignore it for now and not beat on it too hard. Engine idled much more smoothly on the cold start though I probably should clean the ICV as it still has a small stumble off idle when it's cold. It seemed to run a lot smoother and quieter in general though. There is still a constant clicking noise that seems to be unrelated to RPM's that I am going to try and locate and quiet down, maybe something emissions related but I'm not sure. When replacing the diff mount I must've damaged the speed sensor since the speedometer no longer works...oops. Also, the car sat outside in the rain this past week and I came back to a number of really wet spots in the interior, so restitching and conditioning the top went from a "I'll get to it eventually" thing to the next priority.
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Pichers:
Open diff surprise.
New diff mount installed!
Valve adjustment, needs an oil change but thankfully no sludge buildup
Tonight I checked on the rear shock mounts and it turns out they were both completely blown out. When I removed them the center sleeves pretty much just fell right out. I happened to have a set of new E46 M3 convertible RSM's and reinforcement plates that came with some suspension parts I bought for the M3 a while back so I threw those in. Doing these on a vert is a million times easier than a coupe or sedan, I had both sides done in less than half an hour since you don't have to rip the trunk apart to get them out.
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I also have a garagistic poly mount in my car. The fit was "meh" at best. Dead blow helped.
Whatever backwoods China plant makes the bushings gives zero shits
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Driver's door lock didn't work so I installed a new lock after work today. Got the lock out and found that it had been previously updated to the newer design (maybe from the factory as it is a '92) that uses a little cylinder roller instead of a ball to avoid cracking of the housing. One of the center pieces of mine was actually broken in half.
These lock 'rebuild' kits are only about $30 and have every part to build a completely new lock.
New lock assembled, matched to the key and all lubed up:
\Installed it back into the door and now I have a functional door lock and the double lock works perfectly too. Central locking isn't working so next I'm going to try the trick where you eliminate the live wire loop in the driver's door to fix it.
Also made an attempt to start sewing up some of the split seams on the convertible top. I'm using a sewing awl and some strong outdoor polyester thread, and once I figured out how to use the thing I was able to fix a 2" split. I started looking over the top and there's probably 10 feet of seams I need to repair as I need to completely re-sew the support wires across the roof, so that's gonna take a while...
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split seams on the convertible top.
its cuz your car is a fatty fatty 2x4
and also, i wouldnt expect a 325i vert to have a factory LSD. more often than not, they weren't driven in the winter/mountains/etc so the option wasn't added as much.
Dan
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That's what I thought too, when I decoded the vin to get the options I was surprised to find the 25% LSD was on the list. The seller never claimed it had one so I was just hoping it would be there as a bonus...oh well. Its not like I'm ever going to be driving it hard enough to make it noticeable, the body flex compared to a coupe or sedan is pretty significant...
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Started the timing belt job over a week ago (then proceeded to get sick) and I finally buttoned everything back up this past Sunday. Installed a new water pump, thermostat, cam seal and o-ring, timing belt tensioner and spring, distributor cap and rotor, the four major coolant hoses, and also installed a gates racing timing belt for extra piece of mind.
I also cleaned everything I took off because it was all covered in sludge from the valve cover and cam seals leaking everywhere. I'm sure other things are leaking too but at least I got some of the sources. It looked like the distributor cap and rotor had never been changed as the contacts were really badly pitted and crusty, It definitely runs a lot better now.
While bleeding the cooling system I noticed that the temp gauge was bouncing/skipping around. I had a similar issue on my 318is and so I pulled the cluster to check out the grounding nuts on the back:
The temp gauge nut was freely spinning and a few threads away from falling off. The fuel gauge nut was also a bit loose so I tightened them down and the gauges are reading nice and steady now.
I climbed under the car with the intention of pulling the speed sensor in the diff to see if it were cracked or gunked up and found this (I unplugged it prior to taking the picture):
Pretty sure that's the problem haha.
I snipped the other wire and brought the plug home to my apartment. Disassembled it, trimmed back the ends of inner pieces of the plug covering what was left of the wires, soldered on a new, heavier gauge wire, and then used some heat shrink to stiffen the joint so it wont fray/split down the road. Tomorrow or Wednesday I will reconnect the plug and see if that solved the no speedo problem.
I also changed the oil with some castrol GTX 20w50 and a new filter as it was looking pretty old. Now that I know my timing belt isn't made of dust and dreams I took the car out for a more spirited drive and it runs like a champ. The clunk/knock from the rear when shifting between 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd is much better so I will call it good for now too. Still have some more maintenance to catch up on but it's definitely coming along nicely.
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it's practically like a brand new car!
2011 E92 M3 6MT ZCP - ESS 625 supercharged
2007 Z4MR
2003 E39 M5
2002 E46 M3
2021 X5 40i -
Installed the repaired plug for the speed sensor and the speedo works again! Glad it wasn't the sensor because those things are close to 50 bucks. Also replaced the fuel filter and changed the transmission fluid with Redline MT-90. Took it out for another drive and shifts are a lot smoother, the old fluid looked like it had never been changed.
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Sadly, I have decided to list this car for sale (over in the "cars for sale" section for now, will be listed on craigslist in a day or two). I have too many cars and too few resources to keep up with all of them. I'm still going to plug away on some things on the car over the next few weeks but I need to start focusing on the M3 and 318is again. I tried to price it about where the market seems to be at, but if you think I'm pie in the sky at $4500 feel free to let me know.
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Getting rid of your m20 car. You are dead to me
Your 318 needs body repairs from a failed ragedrift, correct?
And yeah the 318is still needs some front end bodywork after I accidentally went hunting with it... I'm pretty sure the m42 is two cylinders short of epic ragedrifts in its current form, but I'm thinking some megasquirts and positive intake pressures could make up the difference
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that's sad, did you at least go cruising with the top down a couple times?
Dan
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that's sad, did you at least go cruising with the top down a couple times?
Definitely a bummer since I really like the car and it has a ton of potential, I have been driving it quite a bit now that I got it running properly and will continue to do so till someone buys it! Drove up the lakefront with the top down on Friday and it was a lot of fun.
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