Spec [13/09/06] |
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Exterior
Interior
Chassis
Engine
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Project Build Diary 13th September '06 Sourced a 5 series sump and dipstick from an M50 engined e34 and also a set of e36 6 cylinder engine mount arms. 20th September '06 Large order into BMW for all the niggly little parts I need. Browsing the ETK for the bits you need can be quite dangerous, it's easy to keep thinking "I may as well have a new one of those" and before you know it you've got a massive bill... Chandler's Worthing BMW parts department were as good as usual. I list the part numbers straight off the ETK to them and they get the parts in very quickly.  My garage is now full of BMW parts bags and boxes! 25th September '06 Genuine BMW e36 M3 stainless steel hydroformed manifold arrived. I contacted an Ebay seller that was auctioning the manifolds and bought them before the auction ended. They came with the manifold gaskets included which was a stroke of luck as the gaskets usually cost £80+ from the dealer apparently.  These will be the manifolds that I have modified to fit the e30 bodyshell and clear the steering coupling, so they will be cut off above the flexible joint and the no.6 primary will be reshaped. 26th September '06 I'd recently noticed that the cam cover had a crack in it. This would potentially leak oil, so rather than risk it I replaced the whole thing with a new part. Taking it off also gave me a good chance to inspect the cams for wear. Everything looked good, so the new cover was fitted with new rubber gaskets. The coilpack cover (or 'tarpaulin' as BMW calls it) was then fitted with new fittings.    Next I replaced the crank position sensor as the old one had a crack in the plastic housing. I used a new plastic guide and new bolts, studs etc..   Now I had all the necessary new fittings I was able to start building the bare engine back up. I started by fitting the m3 oil filter housing and reconnected the vanos oil-feed line into it with new crush washers. The alternator mounts to the oil filter casting, but my small M52 alternator has a cold air scoop that would no longer fit with the oil cooler take off in place. Rather than completely remove the plastic cold air scoop moulding, I cut off the scoop part so I could retain the part the wiring cover connects to, that keeps that area waterproof.    The powersteering-pump also attaches to the oil filter housing. I offered the pump up to the housing but quickly realised it wasn't going to be a straightforward fitting. The M52 casting is wider and has a bore that a step bolt passes through. The Powersteering-pump bracket has a captive nut on the back that the step bolt screws into. The S50 (M3) casting has a shallower threaded section that a normal bolt screws into.  I attached the pump bracket to the S50 casting using stainless fittings, you can see the gap this leaves at the back of the pump bracket:   The downside of this is that with the powersteering-pump pulley attached it was quickly apparent that the pulley is about 15mm out of alignment with the other belt pulleys. I don't want to use the m3 powersteering-pump as the M52 one is smaller and lighter. Maybe I can use the M3 pump bracket on the M52 pump. If this is not possible I will have to make a 15mm spacer bracket to fit between the oil filter housing and the M52 pump bracket. I can't find any info about anyone else that seems to have had this problem, so if anyone has already solved this issue please drop me an email to let me know your solution! 27th September '06 Works Motorsport 4 pot caliper and 280mm disc kit ordered. The kit consists of:
I still need to decide which pads to go for and whether to get grooved discs or not. I eventually settled on this kit because it will allow me to still run the standard BMW 15" x 7J ET24 BBS wheels if I want too. I used to use my 327i Sport on track and found the standard 15" wheels were the best solution, especially when fitted with cut slicks. I finally had chance to see this WMS kit on a car at Santa Pod on Saturday and the quality looks very good.  |