monty23psk

[monty23psk]

I got a pic of some OEM items for the calipers. I added the new bleeders, new guide bushings and caps and cleaned out the old guide pins. Next is the piston install. Will submit pic of it put together. Might have to wait until the 26th to do it, unless I can sneak it in tomorrow.

[monty23psk]

I received my special lube for the caliper piston install. From Dow Corning. It does not melt and does not mix with brake fluid. Its what the Porsche guys use. Not very cheap but made install very easy. Brake fluid was not working. Very very little tolerance on the seals and the piston. ATE has a special lube, which is not Plastilube but over $30 for a tube and not available in the states. Other brands have something that should work. Plastilube has been used but it is not designed for it and didnt want to take the chance.

Here is the newly powder caliper with guides, bushings, and piston installed. Still waiting on my other parts so I can install it all.

[monty23psk]

Got a new TRE fuel pump as I still hunt my rough idle. Glad I replaced it as it is much smoother but still a little rough. Looking at O2 next. The original pump was stamped BMW so it might have been the original or at least youngest age possible, 13 years as my car joined our family back in 2001 and the pump has never been replaced. The car sat without moving for 4 years locally before my dad bought it for my sister back then. Glad to get in there to replace it. I have 4 pictures but I had to recover them as my wife deleted them from the digital camera. I recovered two of them but only the thumbnail is viewable. Used my dremel to cut off the bottom lip and the rest was straight forward. Hightly recommend due to price, warranty and it is very quiet. On to the pics:

New pump:


Old Removed:


New pump with old frame:



Installed a little cleaning of area:

[DesktopDave]

Used my dremel to cut off the bottom lip and the rest was straight forward. Highly recommend due to price, warranty and it is very quiet.

Thanks for posting this. I've been considering this for a long time. I suspect our high alcohol fuels have been slowly doing in my pump.

Makes me wonder if it could replace the dual pumps in older BMWs? I'll have to check into that; if the pump flows enough fuel for an M30, that's a cheap upgrade for older BMWs. Two pumps are a good solution, but very expensive to replace.

[monty23psk]

Well today my 7.5a fuse blew. I need to figure out why, I put in a 15a just to drive home. Online I see some people have had the same issues. Just need to research it. Don't really want to drive the car with wrong fuse.  I wonder if the connector on the top of the housing might be dirty or loose. The car has  been great otherside. I know people of putting them in the e34 cars, but a single solution. I know some e30s came with dual setup so as long as your fuel rate is at least stock numbers, you can probably switch to a single setup.

[monty23psk]

For those following along, I call TRE and they told me the pump draws between 10-11 amps at high RPMs. Just put a 15a fuse in its place, which is my current remedy using spare fuses in my fuse box. Next is to make sure my wiring handles the higher ampage. Older e30s use a 15a fuse with 1.5mm wiring which can handle close to 20amps. But the 91 318is ETM does not have this section, or at least I couldnt find it. It does state the fuse is 7.5a. Looking at a 91 m3 ETM, the wiring is the same as older e30s but it states to use a 7.5a system. I assume the lower fuse is used on cars with one fuel pump versus the older e30s with two pumps. So in the end, without going out to measure the wire to make sure it is 14 awg, the 15amp fuse will rectify my issues.

[DesktopDave]

I'd just swap the fuse and not worry about it. Happily, BMW uses very high-quality wires. IMHO it's one of the reasons the cars last so long.

[monty23psk]

I have been a little busy, as I got a 01 530i to split daily duties with the e30. Better to take girls out to school and not hinder the interior of the e30. But finally got all the parts for the e30 m3 suspension swap.

So starting with the removal for of the stock e30 parts.

[monty23psk]

Got more time to continue on project.

Got BMW OEM control arms just a few dollars cheaper than Lem. arms which I had. My old outer ball joint was sloppy due to a back shock strut insert nut that had gotten loose. This also caused the sway link to be sheared on the bottom side.

Here is the new with old. Notice one side of the arm does not have the holes. More solid. Got a new nut for both ball joints also from BMW.


My AKG m3 offset bushing is still good but had spun a little due to worn parts. This time I used a 6mm hex set screw on the top of the lollipop.  Highly recommended after what happened with me.  I forgot to take pictures of it before I mounted it. Here it is when I removed it.


Here is the Bilstein sport strut from the old housing in the new m3 housing. Previous owner bought it and never installed it but had it painted a nice deep black.  I also got the bisltein tool to torque the strut insert nut. Disregard breaker bar in pic, was using it for something else.

[Slowered318]

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one who epoxy coated my strut housing.

Going to check my lollipops next time I get a look under the car. Never suspected it was possible they could rotate.

[monty23psk]

Neither did I even though it was recommended. But if something is out to alignment due to something broken or worn, it cause more stress on the other parts. Mine was just exessive and caused the movement. I have no slop on the driver side and it has not moved in the same time frame. Set screw is just reassurance.

[monty23psk]

Have washed the parts a little before installing. Renting the spring compressor tomorrow. I got an OEM strut bearing. I want the camber correction one but for the price, I rather save a little more and get the Vors. camber kit in the future as I would like GC coilovers in the future.

[Slowered318]

Are those H&R OE Sport springs? I found the car sits a little high in the front with them, you shouldn't have too much negative camber.

I would love to replace my strut bearing, it's 12+ years old a little rusty and likely worn out. I have the offset mount set to + camber, it sits nice but I'm wondering how much negative camber I will have with the standard mount and M3 control arm bushing.

[monty23psk]

Yes OE Sports. I wish is was a little lower but it works nicely as my daily driver.

[monty23psk]

Strut installed....





I still need to install the backing plate/dust cover. The wheel bearing is not spinning like my old, so I want to install it all and see how it  goes before I add the plate. I also want to add the OEM brake ducts and see if I can get it to the backing plate.  I don't want to take hub out then put it back in and have to remove the  bearing.

The only none BMW brand item, the rotors. They are from Balo which is same as past hub and good enough. BMW ones are very expensive. Set screws are BMW.



Here is the old rotor, still mounted to old strut with new one.  The m3 rotor is 1 whole inch larger in diameter. From the angle a little hard to tell. I took my tape measure. m3=11", e30=~10"



Here is a comparison of the carriers. I need to trim a little of the powdercoat on the inside of the carrier as the bottom opening rubs the disc. Not much tolerance there.