E36 vert build N/A

[Tgoode318]

N/A e36 vert buildup here, street and Auto x/Track. I Have been lurking in the forums for a while & finally have some extra $$ to spare. So far : e36 96+ m3 front control arms and stock m3 Fcabs, O.E motor mounts & trans mounts, Bilstein reg shocks, H&R sport springs, 17"s , Goodyear eagle F1" , resonater delete with straight pipe, K&N air filter (got this 8 years ago but still works great been cleaned twice), Turner hi performance spark plug wires and Ngk plugs. And a new soft top.

[Tgoode318]

I Installed the strut tower bar from turner, the holes lined up nicely! Afterwards i took it for a drive and noticed a difference In how the car felt. surprisingly the front feels much more solid and is now more forgiving on big bumps in the road. The vert does come with the X-brace but the chassis  could use more stiffining. Now every thing has a more tied together feeling. The only thing I didn't like was it only covers 2 mounting holes on the strut tower even though turners picture shows three    

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-Lightly sanded Bmw logo on valve cover and the oil cap then painted them.

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Tomorrow going to install the arca's and take it to a shop to get it corner balanced.

[Tgoode318]

I Put the turner arca's in this weekend, initially i was worried about possible nvh from the spherical rod ends but they are fine by me! The only place you can really feel them is when there are a lot of cracks or big bumps in the road close together.





The Arcas helped fix my alignment, the M3 control arms were eating my front tires.

(BEFORE)


(AFTER)

[DesktopDave]

Looks like you're really into a few nice upgrades there - I'd guess an E36 'vert would be a great candidate to firm up.

Those 'before' alignment pics were pretty ugly; does the car feels dialed in?

[Tgoode318]

The car for the first time since having the h&r's/bilstein put in feels dialed in. Before the car always had a lowered/slamed feel to it that never felt right and my wet traction was horrible, now my wet traction is great.

Installed the Turner Motorsport 30mm Front sway bar following Doug's domain guide. Decided on the turner because again of how much flex the vert has so i wanted to get the biggest bar.  My First impressions, the car sits much flatter in the corners. Overall I'm very happy with every thing from turner all A+ quality components.
 

[Tgoode318]

In the first pic the front of my car sat much higher in the front then the back. The h&r's didn't like 17s so I had a spacer. But A lower center of gravity is always good So I took my car to the number one ricer shop by me to get the fenders rolled. After rolling I was able to take the spacer out and fully lower her.


After doing that had multiple below freezing days and my engine went to crap idling terrible/ running with no power. First was throwing a 1226 code so changed knock sensor 2. Car had a little more power but was still idling way off also the 1226 was gone but now replaced with 1222 lambda problem. I Figured out most of my hoses were shot and my icv was clogged(UPDATE: and PCV was bad) A new icv is expensive so i decided to clean mine. When functioning properly (in a 94, not earlier models) you should feel a faint buzz on the icv unit with the key turned in the first position. Here is a simple overview for any one with a 93-94 m42 who wants to clean there's and not pay 200 for a new one. First take off the intake boots to hose clamps (red arrows are the two screws) (blue is the intake boot)

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The next step is to remove the throttle body, it is held on by four screws. After removing the four nuts simply move the tb out of the way.

Next remove the intake manifold. To remove take the five hexnuts out and then pull it off. the one nut behind the manifold can be a pita I used a small hand wrench to get it.
now access to the icv, here it is with the blue arrow
 
un strap the unit, remove its clip on electrical connector and its free. Remove icv and clean the inside with a old tooth brush and throttle body cleaner and your done! Installation is the reverse of uninstall.

[Tgoode318]

Update
-VAC Underdrive Pulleys
-Belts
-Hoses
-New PCV valve
-Tail lights
-New fuses

[Tgoode318]

Wish i had some performance updates but unfortunately the m42 had other plans   

Alternator went bad, on the theme of saving as much money as possible went ahead and rebuilt my self. New regulator, brushes, cleaned contacts, bearings, paint, Etc.

(bad alternator)



8 years ago when i first got the car the alternator went bad. Of course this was while i was on a road trip passing through a Hic town that had only one shop that could work on a bmw 
needless to say they put a junky valeo on my car with a broken post and left the wire covering Off.


Broken post


Rebuilt alternator came out nice!


Post rebuilt


Striped one of the bolts had to go to stealer as the hard ware shops around me didnt have this Grr almost 15 dollars for one bolt!!





Next the belt tensioner assembly & tensioner pulleys needed some luv.






Cleaned up


Painted


Installed


Last known culprit of the dreaded 1222


A clean throttle body is a Happy throttle body


Cleaned up The VAM And refinished it


Cleaned Air filter gota love having one filter for 8 years even if i do loose 3 horsepower :XX



then went crazy and bought a bunch of supplies **notice most important supplies bottom right **



Cool new battery charger i bought that will tell you if your alternator/ bat is good with out having to get out the meter



Hit the fuel system with some techron and put a little bit of sea foam in the intake through the brake booster seemed to get rid of the slight valve tap i had and the fuel injectors seem to be flowing much better/ more power



Finally Got this in the mail form understeer! yay (Fan mod delete!) It took them almost a week to get off their a@@'s and put this in the mail but the shipping was quick only 2 days


Went to the store and bought the monstrous 32 mill wrench for 30 dollars!!! Then was ready to head to bmw stealer to get coolant but was promptly cut off by the wifey and was left with the decision of getting coolant or beer. Guys dont worry i made the right choice and got beer

[jrw21]

That fan delete kit is a good setup. I ran that exact kit on my old F/I s52 m3 vert. Only time I saw the needle go above norm was sitting at loong stop lights in the middle of summer.

[Tgoode318]

Was kinda worried about the FDM with out a spal fan but if you ran it with F/I then i should definitely be good. In the future if i ever have the extra $$ will probably spring for a electric fan just for added insurance.

[deansweet]

Wow, I thought the ICV was in a pita place on our e30's?!

[Tgoode318]

^^ When i found out it was under the intake mani instead of the fire wall i (－‸ლ) a little bit...

Removed Fan clutch and shroud.



NOTE: ANY ONE WITH AN ORIGINAL FAN TO CHECK YOUR FAN/ SHROUD EVEN IF YOU THINK ITS GOOD!!
Even though my shroud appeared fine from the top, once removed you could see the damage done. Luckily The fan won and the shroud lost! 




Nasty long over due coolant flush!


Old thermostat has seen better days



Lower temp Themo installed



Fan switch looked as bad as the thermo



New Fan switch


Cleaned and painted the thermostat housing.


Royal purple , Filter & Degreaser to try & figure out where my leaks are coming from!





Degreased and Painted oil filter housing




Latest problem  =  Code 1286 and Gauges going crazy!

Started by checking knock sensor since i just replaced one wanted to make sure it was snug.. it was.. next checked grounds.. Bingo bad ground, 1286 is gone but the gauges are still going crazy maybe bad cluster or dme? any thoughts?





Next, time for a little weight removal.

Fan clutch / shroud = heavy as hell and removed

Interior floor mats = removed  (3LB)

Stock Airbox with filter (3lbs 5oz)

Jack = Removed (5lbs 2.4oz)

High Beams (1lb 10oz for pair)

r. speakers (pair) (5 lb 1.7oz)

-tools/amp/antenna (7lbs)

Trunk carpeting = removed (17LB)



Heavy Spare= removed (33lbs)   (NOTE: In e36 convertible's the spare acts as impact absorption/deflection! if removed and you have a rear collision you will sustain much more damage then if the tire was there!)



6 disk cd changer = A Brick & Removed. Good by Tunes, Hello Power to weight Ratio! (10Lbs)





Windsheild washer Bottle and pump (10lbs.) are the last to go for now, but I have my eyes on the back seat and to replace with some kind of carpet solution.



Total weight removed Around 105lb Give or take a few pounds.

[Tgoode318]

Suspension/performance goody's from a while ago i installed that i just now found pictures of 

Turners m42 Hi performance wires! Great upgrade from stock how ever i would recommend getting rob e30's COP kit and support our local members.



BILSTEIN!



H&R Sports

[DesktopDave]

This is like five kinds of awesome. Next time I see this thread at the top of the updates list, I'm popping some popcorn!

[Tgoode318]

Finally Solved my Trouble Codes  !
Code 1286 Was solved by replacing the DME's Ground Wire And Properly Securing the DME on its Metal Shelf.

The Other Problem I had Was my instrument cluster gauges wouldn't work properly and i had to guess my speed/rpm most of the time.
This Luckly turned out to be a very simple fix that had most people stumped (i even took it by a shop and they said they had never seen code 1286 not to mention gauges acting in this manner.)
The relay contacts were very poor after 20 Years of use. In this Pic i sanded about half of the contact  And voila no more instrument cluster problem's.



Here is more sanding







Did a little more work cleaning up under the hood. Cleaned up and painted the throttle body. Then i had an idea since i have 2 spare intake bellow's why not paint the intake Black And see how it looked? Not really thinking it would look good but figuring what the heck, I cleaned the boot with compressed air and then painted it jet black. The results were surprising it Looks better then a brand new OE in my opinion!





New Tools












My father passed down this amazing tool set, Figured i would add to it with these stand's and hopefully pass it down to my kids one day.





With my newly acquired stand's/chocks/tool's it was time to get down and dirty.

Replaced Fuel Filter








Drained Diff Fluid And replaced with Redline, They claim 10% drive train improvement over conventional... I don't know but it definitely feels much better cruising on the high way.



Also The stock rubber bushing on my diff were toast and felt terrible. When the suspension was stock it wasn't bad, but of late with every thing else done it became more and more noticeable and really felt sloppy. The Answer was of course turner! I almost went with AKG's all solid mounts but i have heard the delrin in the front will offer slightly less nvh then 100% aluminum. Needless to say the bushings gave me a fit trying to remove/install but in the end they surrendered, and the aluminum's went into their new home. I also Replaced the Front Diff bolt (Grade 8.8 ) With (Grade 10.9) which will hopefully prevent it from shearing on the track.



New Lights!

Magneti Marelli Euro's



And Ein stuck (one piece) clear corners.  (i knew that 2 years of german would pay off i took in highschool lol)