E36 328: In over my head!

We had a big incident at my local autocross event , and due to sensitivity of management of the facilities(worried about losing this site), I can't go into detail about what happened (at least not yet), but at least there were no injuries. Of course, I didn't have my car, so I had to ask almost all the veterans to see if they would let me co-drive with them. Vern obliged; I was very grateful. He has an '07 S2000 in B Stock, low miles, 6-speed, and Direzza ZIIs. I never drove an S2000 ever, so this was going to be interesting. The forcast had rain, which was a huge factor, IMO, of the incident. We get a good amount of rainfall, but usually not on race days, and sometimes we get thunderstorms on race days which makes it more inconvenient. Ken was also driving Vern's S2000, so I had to run in the Pro class with the hotshoes. Our Pro Class is similar to how they run Nationals, only their first three runs count. I was working first while my two co-drivers were racing. Carefully watching all the fast drivers since the course is so small, I was noticing that you really had to drive smooth to look like you were getting a good time. Then, the incident happened, and it took about 2.5-3 hours for it to be resolved. The staff decided to give everyone 4 runs. I finally got to race. I noticed that the S2000 is roomier than a Miata, yet it's still a little uncomfortable for me to get in it. The chassis feels stiffer than my car, and it changes direction better, at least creeping to the start line. Vern rode with me the whole time because of the incident, which was very understandable. I was focusing on being smooth, especially with my steering inputs. I was smooth and tight on the lane changes and wallums, but I took the turn-around and pivot cone too wide, so my first run was a little slow at 40.5. The car also pushes much more than I was expecting. Another hotshoe said last week that S2000s are twitchy and get loose suddenly, so I was a little worried. But Vern's doesn't, at least with how I was driving. I was able to get him to coach me up, and he told me that I was taking the turnarounds too wide, and I was too sudden with the throttle. Relative to my car, I was smooth, so his throttle is that much more sensitive than my 328. His car also had no clutch pedal travel, and you don't feel the clutch engage very much, which I don't like. I hit a cone, since I'm not familiar with the width of his car, and I naturally try to get next to plenty of them. On my second run, I smoothed out the throttle and tightened up the turnarounds, and I got a 38.45, but I hit a cone. I noticed that the spring rates and dampening are really good on his car, much more firm than mine. His steering rack doesn't give as good feedback as mine does, however. His car has more top end power, but mine has more torque, it's very noticeable. On my third run, he forgot to turn off the traction control, but so did I. It made me bog down at the start, that's how he knew. I creeped off the line every time since he was riding with me, and it's sandy at the start, so you will just get wheelspin if you're too aggressive. I was smooth, and kinda slow, so I didn't feel it intrude too much. I got a 38.6, but with two cones. On my last run, I really tried to speed up at the fast parts of the course, and really nail the turnarounds. At the pivot cone, the car is moving too slow to be in the powerband, so I had no acceleration there, but I really tried to nail the brakes hard and late, stay tight on the turnaround, and steer the car with my foot while looking ahead. I still chopped a cone and came through the finish with a 38.53 but with a cone. It felt like the fastest run and the best driving I did, but the clock don't lie. Even though I was in last place in Pro by quite a lot (probably, results aren't up yet), I still did some good driving. Due to the rain forecast, I didn't bring my camera. I brought my 7 year old daughter for this event, and she had fun playing with another vet's 10 year old daughter.

Now for the repairs. I filled the radiator with coolant and left only one hose open to see if it would reveal anything. My dad turned the car on for a few seconds, and nothing happened. Then, to really check, I connected the hose, so I could watch the coolant drop in the resevoir while it drew in coolant and pushed air out of the bleed hole. After a few seconds, I knew it was not working, because it was still doing nothing. To do another easy check, I squeezed the top radiator hose, and it was empty. I squeezed the lower radiator hose, and it was empty too. I could also hear slight odd noises, and a slight air sucking sound as the car was running. Then, I turned the car off.

I'm thinking about getting the Stewart high performance water pump, but I'm going to pass on it for now. The all aluminum radiator is keeping the car a little cooler than the stock one when problems arise; the car stays cool or slowly rises in temp instead of just jumping into the danger zone. Plus, I'm going to go back to the Evans coolant at some point, so the Stewart pump won't be needed.

In reply to Mr_Clutch42:

Well it sounds like you know what the problem is at least! Keep us posted.

I finally(relatively) got the parts in. The hose is the top one, the aftermarket one was swelling up some.

Here's a side by side comparison of the OEM composite impeller to the aftermarket metal impeller water pump.

Not much of a difference.

Damn, that pump looks good!

Too bad it's getting covered by a pulley that doesn't look that good. It almost made me want to paint the pulley.

This looks pimp, too.

Even though it adds weight to the front of the car, the grooves in the old one were starting to get worn down some from old age. I kept the old one just in case. However, the OEM water pump is a little lighter than the metal impeller one. I bled the system, but I still need to test drive it to be sure it's completely bleed. The heat doesn't work, so I will need to get a new heater core around October, yay.

I also used water wetter with the 50/50 mix.

Your heat not working doesn't necessarily mean your heater core is blocked. It could just be that the system needs to be bled, like you said in your previous sentence. A lot of people say the BMW cooling system is hard to bleed, but I've never had an issue on my E36, E39 or E53.

If you don't have heat, check the heater valve - they sometimes stick. I believe it's near the master cylinder.

I drove it around a couple of days ago, and it was leaking. I couldn't figure it out, so I sent it back to my local shop. They found that I didn't tighten the hose clamps to the heater core tight enough, so it wasn't bleeding all the air. I think I may finally remember to tighten those damn clamps as much as they will go next time. The heat works, and it's running like a champ.

I changed the oil and the main accessory belt today, so just regular maintenance, finally! For the first time, I used Castrol brand motor oil. I also used 1 Qt of synthetic so see if the engine can lubricate itself with this small of an amount of synthetic oil. If it can't, I will know for next time. The engine was getting louder, so it seemed like the oil was broken down, at least for my engine. However, the bottom end rattles, which is more disconcerting than the top end rattling.

I have a couple of updates. Last Sunday, I had an autocross event with my next closest organization. The site was near a tiny town, and the road it was held on just had the test course and small facility on it, so it wasn't on my GPS. It didn't show up on mapquest either, and I had just assumed that it did. When I got to the tiny town, I asked a few people, and one nice lady did know where it was, so my day was saved! I got to the event and unpacked all my stuff. The course was unusual; it was on a test course so the setup was limited to a very long set of slaloms with a Chicago box and a slow circle near the beginning. It was very long; my first run was a 95.74 +4. They had key cones setup very tight to keep our speeds down. I was way late for my turn ins, it felt really sloppy. I had an experienced driver ride with me on my second run, and I was on time for my turn ins. He gave me a few more pointers, and also suggested that I put a bigger sway bar in the front. He said that I would be much faster with it. I did a couple more runs, with my best being a 92.669 +1. The fastest driver got a 78.229 in a STX BRZ. I knew I couldn't keep up with the fastest drivers on this unusual setup, but it was fun racing and talking to these guys. I didn't get a chance to talk to my direct competitor in a Mazdaspeed 3, but he got an 89.4 +1.

I also had a breakdown after my 4th run, my alternator died. I knew I had it replaced 2 years ago, so I wasn't happy about it. I also had a weird clunk on course when I loaded up the passenger front suspension. I was about 170 miles away from home, so it wasn't looking that good. I called AAA and had them tow me home, even though they charged a hefty price after the free 100 miles since I have the Plus coverage. I didn't want to risk getting dropped off at a city and not being able to replace the alternator that evening (I didn't bring the repair manual) and having to get a hotel. I happened to bring my big toolbox just in case I could adjust the camber. The next day, I realized that I was being overly cautious. When I move the airbox out of the way, access to the alternator is easy, so it's a fairly quick fix. When I replaced it, I saw that I bought one from Autozone, that's why it failed after two short years. For some reason, I didn't save the receipt, so I had to pay them again for one instead of using the lifetime warranty. I saved this receipt. The next alternator going on this car will be an OEM one, I'm low on money now because of the expensive tow. I switched to my 15" street wheels, and there has heavy grinding on the wheel, so I had to park it and check it the next day. I checked it, and the bottoms of the ball joints are bent, especially the passenger side, so the tie rod end scrapes against the passenger front wheel.

I had to drive on the Rivals around town for a couple of days.

I should have taken a couple of pics of the alternator repair job, it was really easy.

My good camera broke, so I have one more thing I need to purchase eventually. I also got turned down for a welding union apprenticeship, so more obstacles are piling on.

My OEM balljoints came in earlier than I expected.

Of course, photobucket is acting up again with the rotation.

I removed the control arm.

Then, I found out that the balljoint that's integrated to the arm is bad, and the engine is rattling again. I'm worried that the headgasket is going, because the oil was a little watery when I checked the oil level.

I'm going to send a sample to Blackstone Labs to have them confirm it.

Try going to a thicker oil. These engines like a thick oil. I think Mobil one makes a thick 40w advertised just for German cars at wal-mart, its pricey though. I use Rotella T6 (40w) in mine and so far its been great.

I'm also low on money because I bought a used car!

I bought a lightly wrecked car from Copart.com

Keeping the 328i running with my current job is getting too costly, so I need a car that will be cheap to run. It's still likely that I will need to sell the 328 and purchase an E36 or an E46 when I earn more money and use it primarily as an auto-x/hillclimb/weekend warrior. Hillclimbs require a race car with a roll cage, so when I am financially ready to participate, I need to either add a roll cage to my 328 or to sell it and buy an E36, E46, or different chassis with at least a roll cage installed already, ideally with Corbeau or Sparco racing seats.

I had this car delivered from West Virginia, because I was tired of driving an auto when my car is down, so I had sifted through numerous Civics, Accords, Mazda 3s, and Mazda 6s to get a manual trans. In a way, this car is ideal because I don't like it that much, I love the 3 and the 6, and I want a diesel car for a daily next year. I would also consider buying a motorcycle. Short rant, but a salvage yard charged me $50 to unload it from the trailer with a forklift, which seems like $20 too much.

The first fix I'm doing is replacing that nasty carpet. The car is at my other local shop getting an alignment and other checks before I do some repairs on it. I'm also waiting on the title and my deposit in the mail.

I did get a look at the chassis from under the trailer, and it looked good, but the alignment still needs to be checked. I did drive it from the salvage yard to my repair shop, and the front driver side wheel bearing is no good, and there is some problems with the suspension. Since it's a Civic, it will be inexpensive.

To Uncoiled: the oil numbers measure viscosity, so when our engines get old, I believe that we can just change viscosity without worrying about if it's advertised for German engines. But if coolant is getting into the engine, the weight won't matter.

I was just mentioning that it was advertised for German vehicles, not that's what you should use specifically. 40w is about the thickest you can find on the shelf. Not sure what you are running already but the thicker oil may help the engine rattle.

I am super glad to hear that your cooling woes seem to be over at least. I hope you had fun racing.

I'm running 5W-30 oil. The racing was fun, but I hope I can make all of my region's races; I have a race in 13 days.

Oh, and maybe the best part about the Civic I bought is that I actually like the color. All the cars I have owned, I didn't like the color.

I changed the oil a couple of days ago, and I noticed that the engine still sounded like crap. I used 10W-40, and you can tell that it's way thicker than 5W-30. After thinking about why it still was rattling alot, I recognized that the sound was from an exhaust leak.

The bolt you can't see in this picture was loose. I tightened it and it quieted the engine down alot. I bought some nuts, but I bought the wrong size, so I had to buy the correct size the next day. I put locktight on the nuts and put them on.

My shop pressed in the balljoints. It would have been better if they rotated them 90 degrees, but oh, well.

It was scraping the dust shields on turns, and I checked them the next day. The balljoint fasteners were loose, so I tightened one down. I need to buy a new nut for the driver side because the old ones are the nylon ones.

I tried to press out the balljoints myself with a tool, but the metal bracket on the bottom stopped it from being pressed out.

It would come out some, then stop. It would probably work with most other ball joints.

Oh, and the oil isn't slowly dripping out of the drain plug. I also saved some oil so I can get Blackstone Labs to analyze it.

I got a new control arm in the mail, with an oil filter. I do like the slick covers to protect the ball joints.

I tried to put pressure on the ball joint to loosen the nut, but it didn't work.

I ended up cutting the shaft of the ball joint to get the control arm off.

Then, I used a universal three jaw puller to pull the bushing off the old arm. Then, I used a hammer to tap it on the new arm. I'm really glad I went with the poly bushings.

Here's the new one installed.

It now feels good, the control arm isn't rattling on bumps now. The ride is a little better on the left side compared to the right because of the integrated ball joints, so I will order the passenger side one in a week or two. But, the car is ready for my next autocross! (I had to miss the last one)

My front passenger wheel bearing is starting to make funny noises, so I will need to replace it soon. While diagnosing it, I installed some Dynamat sound deadening where the factory stuff was.

I cleaned the surface with rubbing alcohol first.

I still need to order two sheets since it's not enough material.

I also tried out a DIY alignment. With a Macpherson strut setup in the front, only the toe can be adjusted.

I watched a Youtube video of a guy doing it with an E36 hatchback. He also measured from the string to the body of the car right behind the front wheels. I couldn't do that because my car's chassis is bent there on the passenger side compared to the driver's side.

These cars (and most cars I would assume) get a slight toe in for increased stability and a little understeer for most drivers. Since I need a more performance oriented alignment for autocrosses, I chose to go with a toe of 0. I still drive heavy miles with this car for the time being. I read the Alignment guide for E36s.

To make sure the toe is 0 from tire to tire, I used these here.

Two inexpensive tape measures and string is much cheaper than $100 per alignment. To "measure" the toe relative to the chassis, I pluck the string where it's touching the front of the tire, and try to make it the same on the other tire. I just didn't get a picture of that.

The G-force Rivals I have are showing some extra wear or heat cycling on the outside edge of the tires, so they need some negative camber. I likely won't have money for Vorshlag camber plates for quite a while, so I will use shims for the time being. I'll probably get longer bolts so I can use two shims per bolt.

I tried it a few days ago and the car started pulling to the right. I re-did it a couple of days later and it pulled to the right even more. Then, I remembered that the steering rack isn't working properly so this work might have been moot. I'm also likely to put in the aftermarket steering rack that I have lying around.

Also, that guide doesn't have instructions on adjusting rear camber, so let me know if you know how to adjust that, since I need negative camber for both the front and rear.

My wheel bearing finally came in so I can replace the old one tomorrow.

What do you mean your "steering rack isn't working properly"?

When you adjusted the toe, did you make the same adjustment (number of turns) on both sides of the car? At zero toe, the car will handle totally differently, as I'm sure you know... most noticeable at highway speeds where it might feel more twitchy and less "on center". Toe at zero or out will result in more tramlining and might make you think it is pulling to one side or another. Pulling to the right is more likely since roads are usually crowned at the center.

Did you complete the camber adjustments? Increased camber will induce tramlining too- a cambered tire wants to turn.

When I replaced the steering rack last year, my performance shop diagnosed it as a rack that doesn't return on center. It would pull to the right after right turns and pull to the left after left turns. I just haven't replaced it yet. I didn't do the camber yet, but how do you adjust camber for the rear?

I tried to weld the socket to the wheel nut, but the metal seems to be too thin, so I'll wait for the socket to get in.

I was going to use these washers, but Home Depot had thicker ones.

It's quite a difference.

I may swap out one of the thicker washers on each bolt for a thinner one if need be. I will also get longer bolts, too.