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#1. Re: [E36M3] How to adjust GC rear lower control arm? - from Jamie Howton
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:09:59 -0500 From: Jamie Howton <jhowton@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [E36M3] How to adjust GC rear lower control arm? > For those of you who run GC adjustable rear lower control arms, can you > share with me how to properly adjust them? There are 3 nuts, the long red I don't know if this is what you are supposed to do but I loosen the two nuts that are next to the red Aluminum rod and just turn the rod by hand. When it's where I want it, I tighten the locknuts. -- Jamie Howton 2000 M5 1995 M3 Hampshire, IL
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#2. Re: Purge Valve - from Neil Maller
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:13:51 -0500 From: Neil Maller <neil.maller@gte.net> Subject: Re: Purge Valve on 10/12/05 7:28 AM, "Foley, Brian" <bfoley@cmpd.org> wrote: > Anyone heard of a 'purge valve' in the emissions system? Apparently my > car threw a code and that's what came up. Could this cause a rough idle > condition during cold start up? It might help if you were to reveal what year your car is. On 96+ OBD-2 models, the purge valve is part of the evaporative emissions control system. It consists of a solenoid operated valve resiliently mounted to a bracket on the driver's side front strut tower just ahead of the brake master cylinder (location may vary slightly by year and model). There's one vacuum hose leading from it to the intake manifold, and another that drops down and goes back under the DS floor to the fuel tank area. The evap purge valve is opened by the ECU and uses engine vacuum to draw fuel vapours from the back of the car into the intake. A code with unusual rough idling suggests a vacuum leak somewhere in the evap purge system. It could be either at the front or the back of the car, but hose or hose clamp leaks at the rear are often reported. Neil Fort Wayne, IN 96 M3 - Bastard child 03 525iT - Sterling Grey Metallic 77 MGB - Original owner, need to sell 05 Mini - Cooper S with LSD!
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#3.Anyone in the Palo Alto area? - from Chester Wong
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 08:23:13 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: <OT> Anyone in the Palo Alto area? I might need a favor...please contact me offline. Thanks, Chester
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#4. RE: 3mm Wheel Spacers - from Burgess, Kim L
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 09:22:03 -0700 From: "Burgess, Kim L" <kim.l.burgess@boeing.com> Subject: RE: 3mm Wheel Spacers Yikeess!! http://www.lakeshorewheelandtire.com/store/html/3mm-4-and-5-Lug-Universa l-Thin-Style-Wheel-Spacers-Set-of-Two.html From <http://www.lakeshorewheelandtire.com > KLB -----Original Message----- From: cteague@cox.net To: E36M3 <e36m3@bmw-m.net> Sent: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 12:07:31 -0500 Subject: [E36M3] 3mm Wheel Spacers I'm looking for a pair of 3mm E36 wheel spacers. I have some 5mm H&R ones, but I need some thinner ones. Some told me Tirerack sold them, but I called them this morning, and they said they did not. Anyone know of a source for 3mm E36 wheel spacers? Chris
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#5. Thanks, and E36M3 list - from Gary
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 11:31:03 -0500 From: "Gary" <probikeguy@probikeusa.com> Subject: Thanks, and E36M3 list The list is great to be on! Unlike some of the Boards this list has less fat and more content. If you need to know something post it here and someone will more than likely help you out. You meet new people and make new friends. I have a friend from the list who you have seen post Amhad Lutfeali. Thanks to Amhad my trip to Atlanta to drop my wife off went from disaster, to smooth. There was a problem, but I was able to fix it in the hotel parking lot! My wife and I use our trusty 94 325i (four door auto wife/family car) to travel in. To date it has been bulletproof logging 30k miles in less than a year! Until we went to Atlanta Sunday! We got to Atlanta Sunday afternoon. And planned to do some things Monday. Meet Amhad and his girlfriend for dinner monday night, and then go to the airport Tuesday. WELL the fill tank on the 325 blew up SUNDAY night at a restaurant 15 miles from our Hotel, we limped back to the hotel with jugs of water and numerous stops...My wife was very upset thinking about the broken car, leaving to go home to see her family for the first time in a year and a half (Moldova), and me stranded with a car to fix. I called Amhad Monday morning to get numbers to call for parts. I couldn't get parts delivered, I asked Amhad if he could bring me the part. He did. It meant a lot to my wife that I had friends I have meet through the E36M3 list that would help us. I just wanted to let everyone know how much my wife and I appreciated the help from Amhad. Had I not been on this list I would have never meet another very good Friend. Thanks, Gary & Marina Gray
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#6. My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part III - Alignment - from Alan Leung
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:45:40 -0500 From: "Alan Leung" <alanleung100@hotmail.com> Subject: My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part III - Alignment After Matt and I put the car back together and set the ride height I talked to the DE coordinator for recommendations on alignment shop that has experience with modified suspension, specifically adjusting rear lower control arms and camber plates. He mentioned that actually the dealers do pretty good jobs and they charge about as much as anyone else so I brought my car to Sears Import and had the top alignment tech he recommended to do the job. The base alignment price from the dealer is $158. Well long story short they ran out of adjustment on the rear on one side so they had to disconnect the other rear lower control arm to recenter the two arms and charged me another hour for that. I’m still confused as the GC arms were supposed to be preset at factory lengths. Then they ran into trouble with a seized tie rod which incidently was replaced at the same dealer only 15k ago. They are trying to charge me another hour yet to free this tie rod. So if I give them what they want it'll be a $400 alignment when it's all said and done. For reference the alignment I asked for was: Front -2 degree camber, 1/16” toe out, max caster Rear -2 degree camber, 0” toe The alignment tech did a great job and got the alignment pretty much right on though. But he also broke one of the caster bolts on the GC plates while loosening them. I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out how that happened. Alan 95 M3 - hope to pick up car today
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#7. RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG - from marco
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 12:54:21 -0700 From: "marco" <m3driver@iname.com> Subject: RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG one thing to keep in mind with air tools is that if your compressor doesn't have the capacity to run the tool it won't matter if you buy a 1kiloton ftlb impact wrench. I'm surprised you had so much trouble with those bolts. But then I no longer live in the rust belt ;-) Marco -----Original Message----- From: Alan Leung [mailto:alanleung100@hotmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 5:19 AM To: E36M3 Subject: [e36m3] [E36M3] My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 17:03:49 -0500 From: "Alan Leung" <alanleung100@hotmail.com> Subject: My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG I received my GC order about 4 weeks ago and since it’s later than I expected Matthew and I had to coordinate our schedules again. We decided to blow through it a couple weekends ago. In between I received courteous help from Rob and James at Bimmerworld with installation questions and now comes the fun part. I basically followed the H&R coilover installation write up in the E36M3 Digest webpage and had the trunk interior pulled back weeks ago. I had the car on jackstands and started in the rear first. The shocks and springs came out almost too easily, especially after removing the rear sway bar in anticipation on loosening up the diff for the rear lower control arms. Since there wasn’t much documentation on how to install the lower control arms I guessed it would be the source of pain in this project and unfortunately I was right. To remove the inner bolts you need to move the diff back and up as much as possible to provide clearance. But even after I removed all three mount bolts and lifted up the diff with the floor jack the inner bolts still wouldn’t come straight out. I ended up having to wrench it out as it was coming out corked riding on the front of the mount bracket. Now moving to the outer bolts. I thought I was smart enough to borrow my friend’s 600 ft-lb air impact wrench and everything should be a breeze, right? Put the impact wrench on the outer bolt and it didn’t even move. Plenty of PB Blaster didn’t help either. Matt and I were defeated and started pondering about more destructive methods. We decided on using a cutting wheel to cut off the nut side of the bolt and hopefully it should just break free afterwards. Lots of sparks and smoke later the nut came off and I stood on the impact wrench again on the bolt and … nothing. Apparently the bolt was rusted through inside of the ball joint. We tried the impact wrench in both directs and the bolt still won’t move. Now comes the Brenzo torch. Matt hit the bolt up and after a minute or so smoke started coming out and we quickly stopped fearing that the rubber in the ball joint would melt. Then I decided it’s time for the BFH. I cut the front side of the control arm off so the end of the outer bolt was sticking out by about 5mm and I started pounding that end like a madman. After much sweat and profanity the end of the cut bolt started deforming but it still wouldn’t bulge. Then I knew I needed a much more serious piece of equipment. Matt searched on Harbor Freight’s website and came across this 1200 ft-lb 1-in impact wrench that looked like would get the job done. Of course when I got to the store it’s the size of a jackhammer and was labeled “for fleet maintenance”. I got it along with a bunch of impact socket adapters and gave it another try. We were really lucky that the bolt was facing a direction that allows use of a wrench this size. With full anticipation that the bolt would come out with the first pull of the trigger, it still took us 15 mins to break it loose. A few more taps and it finally gave up. Installation of the GC adjustable rear lower control arms was basically the reverse except that the outer fork won’t bolt up to the outer ball joint. The reason was that my outer ball joints were somehow all the way to the back on both sides. They are supposed to be pressed in even front-to-back. I asked this digest on how far the ball joint was supposed to be pushed in and how it’s done but I received no response. I ended up getting help from Bimmerworld crew chief Mark who was extremely knowledgeable on E36 and walked me through it over the phone. The tricky part was to figure out how to put a ball joint pusher on it as there wasn’t enough space between the front side of the ball joint and the rear brake dust shield. Research on bimmerforums showed that most people either bent the shield or outright cut it. But Mark showed me that by removing the parking brake components the shield would come out enough to use a ball joint pusher. Worked like a charm! I didn’t expect to learn the rear brake from a suspension job but now I understand how the parking brakes work pretty well too. The original plan was to install new outer ball joints at the same time but Pacific BMW failed to deliver so we decided to leave the old ones on instead of having one new and one old on the car. This time I put anti-seize on the body of the bolt (not the thread) so hopefully it won’t get bind up with the ball joint again. Once the adjustable rear lower control arms are installed the rear shocks and springs looked easy. I got the spring weight jacks also and they are quite a clever design. Securing the weight jack on the upper control arm took some effort as the bottom clamp nut is 50mm wide. A extra-large adjustable wrench took care of it. The solid rear shock mounts have slots on them and Rob at BW told me I should keep the shocks as straight as possible. Now it’s time for the front. All the bolts actually came off without too much trouble except for the one connected to the sway bar end link. I got the thin 16mm wrench from Harbor Freight but the quality was so bad it started rounding off pretty soon. The good news was that by that time I’ve backed it off enough to put a regular 16mm in there to finish the job. I sprayed some motorcycle chain wax into the spherical bushing in the camber plate and put some Mobil 1 synthetic red grease between the top of the upper spring plate and the bottom of the camber plate. I followed the H&R write up and everything went fine with snaking the new strut back in position. I loosely tightened the top nuts and found out that as someone else has pointed out before, the hole for the sway bar end link was too small. Some dremeling and round filing later it’s not an issue. But then I also found out there wasn’t enough clearance on the strut to slide the steering knuckle in place. And grinding the powder coating and material off the inside of the mount bracket while the strut was on the car was not fun at all. It turned out I had to take it down to bare metal and some more for things to barely fit so the fitment on these struts definitely leaves something to be desired. Knowing all these I modified the other strut on the bench and it was a lot easier. I also put some more of the Mobil 1 grease between the steering knuckle and mount bracket to help with the assembly. Also make sure you jack the wheel hub high enough so that it doesn’t flop around when you’re snaking the strut through all the wires. I set the front lower spring perch a few lines higher than half way on the strut and it turned out to be about an inch drop which was perfect for me. I have the rear lowered about ¾ of an inch. My car is on the alignment now so I’ll talk about my driving impression in the next installment. Alan 95 M3 ************************************************* Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com Turner Motorsport http://www.turnermotorsport.com Eurosport High Performance http://www.eurosporthighperformance.com Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com Treehouse Racing http://www.treehouseracing.com Elephant Motorsports Inc. http://www.elephantmotorsports.com DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm *************************************************
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#8. RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG - from Chester Wong
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:03:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Chester Wong <chester_p_wong@yahoo.com> Subject: RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] My Suspension Upgrade Journey Part II - Installation - LONG --- marco <m3driver@iname.com> wrote: <snip> > Now moving to the outer bolts. I thought I was smart enough to borrow my > friend’s 600 ft-lb air impact wrench and everything should be a breeze, > right? Put the impact wrench on the outer bolt and it didn’t even move. > Plenty of PB Blaster didn’t help either. Matt and I were defeated and > started pondering about more destructive methods. We decided on using a > cutting wheel to cut off the nut side of the bolt and hopefully it should > just break free afterwards. Lots of sparks and smoke later the nut came off > and I stood on the impact wrench again on the bolt and … nothing. > Apparently the bolt was rusted through inside of the ball joint. We tried > the impact wrench in both directs and the bolt still won’t move. Now comes > the Brenzo torch. Matt hit the bolt up and after a minute or so smoke > started coming out and we quickly stopped fearing that the rubber in the > ball joint would melt. > > Then I decided it’s time for the BFH. I cut the front side of the control > arm off so the end of the outer bolt was sticking out by about 5mm and I > started pounding that end like a madman. After much sweat and profanity the > end of the cut bolt started deforming but it still wouldn’t bulge. Then I > knew I needed a much more serious piece of equipment. Matt searched on > Harbor Freight’s website and came across this 1200 ft-lb 1-in impact wrench > that looked like would get the job done. Of course when I got to the store > it’s the size of a jackhammer and was labeled “for fleet maintenance”. I > got it along with a bunch of impact socket adapters and gave it another try. > We were really lucky that the bolt was facing a direction that allows use > of a wrench this size. With full anticipation that the bolt would come out > with the first pull of the trigger, it still took us 15 mins to break it > loose. A few more taps and it finally gave up. <snip> You didn't replace the ball joint?!?!?! With all the banging and heating, do you really think that it survived? Chester
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#9. WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop - from Lew Becker
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:21:52 -0700 From: Lew Becker <lmb_cfls@sbcglobal.net> Subject: WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop Nothing to do with BMW's, much less M3's; but, I have a great deal of respect for the collective wisdom and experience of the List; so ... I'm looking for a shop in the SF Bay Area to install some headers on a 5.7 Hemi. Any recommendations? Thanks. Lew Becker 97 Dinan M3 06 Magnum RT
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#10. RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop - from marco
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Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:35:42 -0700 From: "marco" <m3driver@iname.com> Subject: RE: [e36m3] [E36M3] WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop Call Don at Replika Maschinen - they are well connected in the "merican" iron world in the SF bay area. They could probably point you to the right folks. They are a head/machine shop so they won't do it. 408-986-8626. Tell him I gave him your phone number. Marco -----Original Message----- From: Lew Becker [mailto:lmb_cfls@sbcglobal.net] Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2005 1:28 PM To: E36M3 Subject: [e36m3] [E36M3] WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 13:21:52 -0700 From: Lew Becker <lmb_cfls@sbcglobal.net> Subject: WOT -- Recommended (Non BMW) SF Bay Peformance shop Nothing to do with BMW's, much less M3's; but, I have a great deal of respect for the collective wisdom and experience of the List; so ... I'm looking for a shop in the SF Bay Area to install some headers on a 5.7 Hemi. Any recommendations? Thanks. Lew Becker 97 Dinan M3 06 Magnum RT ************************************************* Please help support the E36M3 list by visiting our sponsors: Bimmerworld http://www.bimmerworld.com Turner Motorsport http://www.turnermotorsport.com Eurosport High Performance http://www.eurosporthighperformance.com Rogue Engineering http://www.rogueengineering.com Treehouse Racing http://www.treehouseracing.com Elephant Motorsports Inc. http://www.elephantmotorsports.com DIGEST INFORMATION: http://www.bmw-m.net/resources/digest_info.htm *************************************************