E36 328: In over my head!

Okay, one of the topmost bolts are stripped, so I need to remove the engine with the trans as a unit. Is the easiest way to remove the complete front end of the car, or to just try to lift it over the radiator, bumper, and bumper support?

probably just lift it out over the bumper. The front of the car all comes off, but there are two spot welds (one on each bumper support) that will need to be cut to do that. I would take that pretty new rad out first though.

The hood should have a 'maintenance mode' hinge at the top of the hood strut that you can unbolt and then flip around to get like 20 more degrees of hood opening. I had my e36 for like 2 years before I discovered that beauty.

Ok, thanks. I removed the radiator, fan shroud, and some other items on the engine. I just need to keep on disconnecting the rest of the lines and hoses. It's not so easy getting to everything.

But I did just get these in.

I didn't expect to get them until next week so I'm really happy about it.

Here is the rear shock tower in good condition. .

Here is the other side with the reinforcement plate.

Here it is with a new shock mount bolted to it.

And a shot from inside the trunk.

I wasn't feeling so well yesterday or today so I wanted to do at least something tangible.

Looks good. I keep getting tempted to get an E36 M3 and fiddle with it, but then I remember how poorly most people treat them.

Just buy one that was maintained well, and you will be just fine (most of the time).

I removed the intake manifold, and the front struts today.

I'm having some big problems removing the cooling fan.

I can see the top two bolts to remove the transmission, but even with a special angled adapter, I'm not sure if I have the clearance.

From looking at the spark plugs, I think that the engine is burning oil. What do you guys think?

The first picture is of plugs 1-3 and the second one is 4-6. Is there anything else that can be said from looking at the plugs?

I think the fan bolt is reverse thread, and is a pain without a skinny wrench. maybe that helps. its been a long time since I was working on my m50.

Check the valve cover gasket for those plugs. the spark plug vallies can fill with oil. (certainly not the only cause of crud on plugs though)

Maybe you are just hiding your aggravation really well, but i am impressed by how you are trudging along with this. I can kind of tell where you are at as far as mechanical experience and tool selection and a lot of people in your position would give up or start doing really hack-job stuff out of impatience, and you mostly dont seem to be doing that, so props!

I will tell you that all this stuff gets easier with experience! This may very well be the ONLY time you ever pull a motor to do a clutch. In fact, if you can SEE the bolt from the top, can you cut the head off of it from the top?

I have to admit.. even though i can get engines in and out of most of my cars pretty quickly, whenever something comes up that makes me need to take an engine out, i usually kick it to the corner and work on something else and dont get around to it for months. So in that respect you are working at breakneck speed!

In reply to rcutclif: It is, I did take it off a while ago. I may just need to heat the nut with a torch. The valve cover gasket is leaking since there's oil on the head underneath it, so one more thing to do.

Your spark plugs look like that car needs a trip to the track to get it good and hot in there and clean all the crap out so you can really evaluate it.

You can also just go for a drive and keep the revs above 5k for 10 minutes straight.

Fan bolt is left handed thread and this will make it a bunch less annoying to replace:

http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/fan-clutch-wrench-32mm-cta-manufacturing-cta-a878?gclid=CMyd38SX4L4CFeKXOgodCgMAug

As to removing engine/trans...

I typically remove the whole front support because it's easier in the long run (not faster, just easier). You have to cut two small pieces of tin but then you can swing the whole thing open with the wiring and hood release all still connected. That makes it possible to easily remove the engine w/o even taking the hood off. It also makes it really easy to get in there to clean and just generally ups the accessibility to everything so you can see better.

HOWEVER: If the "stripped" bolt is one of the two starter bolts it might not be stripped. They have a nut on the starter side you need to put a wrench on in order to remove it.

The first time you do this this way it will be time consuming because you will need to locate all the little self-tapping screws holding body things together but now on my 4th E36, I can swap a clutch (or a whole engine / trans) in a little over 4hrs including beer breaks and trips to get more bandaids.

In reply to Vigo: Just so you know, I'm a certified BMW mech... no, I'm still am amateur, haha. I've been working on my own cars for quite a few years but I haven't had to do much of the serious, complicated repairs because my cars have been reliable for the most part. So I know that you need to trudge along for stuff like engine removal, etc.

I can see the back of the bolts for the transmission from the engine compartment. I still need to inspect to see if I can remove them without removing the engine from the car. I can't cut the head off because that would be doing some of the hack job stuff you were mentioning. Plus, the threads would still be in there and I would need to drill it out, and that still would need to have the engine and trans removed from the car.

I unexpectedly only took off the control arm knuckles(?) yesterday.

I used a universal 3 jaw puller.

I then cut the metal holder with a reciprocating saw and tapped them out with a wedge and a hammer. Then I put silicone grease on them and tapped the polyurethane bushings on with a hammer. I had to sand the knuckles (?) down a little so I didn't have to use a ton of force.

I actually put them on backwards so that took an hour maybe to get them off the control arms and put them on the right way, then put them back on the control arms.

Now this car is officially in STX instead of F Street for autocross. But the local and state championship officials won't care about just bushings so I will keep running in the Street class with this car until I do some substantial mods to it.

Here's the rest of the exciting performance parts I put on too.

At first, the top mount bolts didn't line up with the ones on the bottom so I was getting worried. A quick call to the shop that mounted the springs on the struts told me to put it on, and then rotate the mounts. He said it would be hard, and the driver side was harder since I had to turn them more. Thank goodness for good repair shops ! I'll need to remember to get new ones when these need to be rebuilt.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: The car didn't run before I took the engine components off. I can try that when I get it running. The bolts in the starter are threaded. I can see the back of one but it's hard getting to that one.

If anyone wants to help me out financially, I have a set of Race Ramps I'm selling in the classifieds.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/race-ramps/87062/page1/

I can see the back of the bolts for the transmission from the engine compartment. I still need to inspect to see if I can remove them without removing the engine from the car. I can't cut the head off because that would be doing some of the hack job stuff you were mentioning. Plus, the threads would still be in there and I would need to drill it out, and that still would need to have the engine and trans removed from the car.

Well, i thought i had read you saying the bolt heads were stripped. IF the options came down to slice the heads off or pull the engine, i would slice the heads off. Assuming you are talking about bellhousing bolts, if you cut the head off you will still have ~1/2" or more of bolt shank sticking out of the block after you pull the transmission, which you should be able to work out of the block fairly easily from underneath the car once the trans is out. That is what i came up with without seeing pics so it may not be the best advice if im not picturing the situation correctly. I definitely would not recommend cutting anything off flush to the block.

But, if you have room for a cutting tool you probably have room for a tool that will actually spin the bolts out, it's just a matter of which tools you have or can get.

I vote valve cover gasket as well for the plug issues.

I haven't done anything today or yesterday for the most part because I'm trying to borrow my neighbor's engine hoist. I had a couple of things come up and I'm sure they have stuff too so hopefully I can borrow it because I will probably have to buy one tomorrow if I can't borrow theirs.

In reply to Vigo: Just one bolt head is stripped. I'm not taking any chances, that's why I'm removing the engine and trans. Most of the items that are connected to the engine are undone or unplugged.

Placing suspension bushings in the freezer overnight prior to install makes for a happier install.