You need a bigger Clarkson tool.
You need a bigger Clarkson tool.
FINALLY got everything back together a few days ago. Much stiffer in the back and I can actually tell that I have stiffer then stock springs now. The ride isn't bad just a little more harsh over the really rough stuff. The back feels much more planted and I can tell the LSD is there when I go to spin the tires. As far as the gear ratio though I cant tell a huge difference. This might be because of the 3 week span I didn't drive it but I'm not sure. the stiffer suspension makes me want some sticky tires.
I am also getting some type of driveline noise that increases with RPM but not speed. The noise is gone if I put the clutch in or get off the gas. I'm thinking it might be the center support bearing but don't know for certain. I also rotated the tires so they are making some noise and its hard to tell what is coming from where.
Sounds like the same thing my mustang does when im not moving. I think mine is the trough out bearing. If it were easier to change I would but that would be a heck of a job...
T/O Bearing
After discussing my issue with my brother the only thing we can come up with as far as the noise would be the exhaust. It had a small leak before so its possible it has a different tone now that its bolted up correctly.
Yesterday I fixed my passenger window that was being held up with a piece of wood, zip ties, and wire. I Installed a used motor from ebay and it works perfect now.
Today I should be covering the sun roof panel with more suede.
I also need to decide on what to do about the paint. The clear coat is peeling really bad after that last bit of snow and ice. I'm trying to decide whether to paint it myself or try to plastidip the entire car.
Another issue is the battery. Pretty sure the cold weather has killed it. I'm trying to find a lightweight alternative that I can run day to day with sacrificing daily usability.
In reply to Uncoiled: Great work on this baby! So you may want to google around, a lot of E36 guys are using a Miata battery. 25 pounds vs 45 for the stock battery. I think those fancy lightweight batteries are under 25 pounds, but they more or less demand trickle charging.
Just a thought.
If your weather gets cold, I don't think a lightweight battery will suffice for daily usability.
I have a 318ti with a 1.9L and went from a 700CCA battery to a 500CCA. The new battery struggles to crank the car in temps below 20.
Thanks for the input! I don't want to sacrifice daily drive-ability but a lighter option would be nice. Hopefully I can find some middle ground.
I saves 10 lbs and $20 by going with a smaller, lighter battery. If I were to do it again, I would have gone with the original size. My car does spend time in NJ and MO, so I get hit with all 4 seasons. It was sub-20 all of last week.
I'm seeing people use the Mini Cooper batteries too. More power. Only saves 10 pounds over stock, though.
What are your thoughts on this?
WPX30L-LS Lightning Start Battery
I know nothing about batteries yet so I'm doing some research. This one has over 600 cca and the stock battery is 640 cca. This battery is for a motorcycle which obviously doesn't have as much electronics going on. It is waaaay lighter assuming it fits (I'll have to measure). I would hate to spend the money and it be dead in a year because it cant handle powering everything.
After a little more digging I found a Mini Cooper battery at Wal-Mart that weighs 30 lbs(vs 47 stock) with 650 cca. That sounds like the route I will take. Cheaper then stock as well, and has a warranty.
Seems like a good call. The Miata batteries are only 5 pounds lighter than that Mini battery you found, but the cca is much lower, plus they're AGM which is incompatible with my current trickle charger.
I also went and talked to Maaco about painting my car today. They can paint the entire car for $500 with their mid grade paint. It has a 4 yr warranty and is a base coat clear coat combo. I got an "inside deal" because they do a lot of work on my employers vehicles. I don't need show car looks but I really want to get rid of the peeling clear coat. The other options are trying my hand at painting it myself or plasti dip.
I know its not performance related but I really would like the car to look good.
Vinyl wrap is a good alternative. Luckily, one of my local autocrossers owns a vinyl wrap business so he can give us racers a good deal.
Are you in NC? That might be an option if the price is comparative to the Maaco paint.
Update: Went to Wal-mart to get a mini cooper battery but ended up with a stock battery. Weight comes in at 42 lbs but it has 790 cca and a 5 year warranty. Wal-mart wouldn't give me a warranty on a battery not recommended for my car so I went with warranty over weight.
Yeah, I live in Eastern NC. My guy quotes around $1500-2000 for most cars, so it's much more than your Maaco paint quote. He changed his wrap colors on his STS Miata, and it's beautiful. I'm probably going to have him wrap my E36 next year, or the year after that.
Automotive ADD has started to kick in and I'm getting bored with the BMW. Its very fun to drive but I have hit road block where I will have to spend some serious money to move the project along, and I don't have serious money. Its exceedingly fun to drive but I have just as much if not more fun working on the car, and I'm running out of cheap things to do. It does need rear shock mounts and it should be getting those in the next few weeks. Not sure what direction I will be going, and I may very well have the BMW for a good while longer, not sure yet. If I do move to another car it will be something older. I have grown to hate the complicated, and intricate crap they put on newer cars, and this car isn't even that new!
After I covered the sunroof I had issues with it working properly and knew it had a broken clip as part of the mechanism. So I ventured in and replaced it.
It was relatively easy to do but it did not fix my sunroof issue. I think the two carriers on either side have gotten uneven somehow so I will attempt to fix that soon.
Also after replacing the passenger window motor with a working used piece the window is somehow off track now so I have to take the door panel off again...
Passenger window was an easy fix! Now on to the fun stuff, rear shock tower mounts. These were surprisingly easy to remove, only 4 bolts per side. I ordered mine from Bimmerworld and they sent me plenty of stickers and some German gummy bears. These are their lifetime mounts and I got the reinforcement plates as well.
Here is the drivers side, no wonder it was making noise:
New vs old
Yes I am very aware I need new bump stops but I didn't order any like I should have before hand so they will wait for another day.
After having the BMW up on craigslist for a few weeks and not really getting any bites I have decided to start back in on the car. I had a few interesting trade offers but I like the car a lot and that made it hard to jump on anything I wasn't 200% certain about.
Using some extra funds I scrounged up I have ordered new spark plugs, and I am close to ordering new control arms, tie rods, and control arm bushings to refresh the front suspension. I am also planning on chasing down my 3 odb2 codes: p0136, p0442, p1423. More on this later.
Of course right before I bought all those shiny new parts my alternator went out. I was pulling into my work and my voltage light came on but luckily my new battery had enough to juice to get me home and then back out to advance to test it. Old one is out right now and the new one should be at advance in the morning and I'll have it all together tomorrow. I just bought a cheapish Bosch reman unit with a warranty. The price was right and it was very easy to take the old one out, hopefully the new one goes in just as easy.
Got the new alternator in, pretty easy and painless job. Reman Bosch unit from advance auto, lifetime warranty. Not super exciting but here it is:
Some things that should be ordered and installed soon:
-front control arms
-poly offset control arm bushings
-tie rods
-valve cover gasket
-silicone intake boot (to fix check engine light)
-gas cap? (to fix check engine light, still need to check on this)
-alingment
I am waiting to get my code reader back and erase my codes to make sure some aren't old ones lingering around. I have a check engine code for some evap type leaks that might possibly be the intake boot and gas cap. The silicon intake boot will hopefully fix that but if not it adds tiny bit of performance and I will use it to delete the throttle cut out for my traction control. I will rewire it in a manner that the traction control can still operate and use the rear brakes to control wheel spin.
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