BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

[bstardchild]

Jun 17, 2020 19:03:06 GMT Battenberg said:

Again

Apologies for the hijack, but ^^ looks bloody lovely IMO on steels....

I'd better apologise to for the further hijack

With 270 bhp it upsets people when it's on steels - they think it's a 116i because it doesn't have alloys and they get a shock

I agree BTW I'd happily run steels all year round

[ChasR]

Well, it's good to see I got some conversation going!

I guess I can allow this hijack as:

-it's helped a few others out with wheel/tyre experiences
-I've done my fair share in my own time previously!

[bstardchild]

Jun 17, 2020 22:22:53 GMT ChasR said:

Well, it's good to see I got some conversation going!

I guess I can allow this hijack as:

-it's helped a few others out with wheel/tyre experiences
-I've done my fair share in my own time previously!

lol

I do like what you have done with the wheels but for me the CSL wheel looks best in an M3 E46 but it is kinda overdone on none CSL's

[ChasR]

Jun 17, 2020 22:35:59 GMT bstardchild said:

Jun 17, 2020 22:22:53 GMT ChasR said:

Well, it's good to see I got some conversation going!

I guess I can allow this hijack as:

-it's helped a few others out with wheel/tyre experiences
-I've done my fair share in my own time previously!

lol

I do like what you have done with the wheels but for me the CSL wheel looks best in an M3 E46 but it is kinda overdone on none CSL's

Cheers!

CSL wheels were super tempting, since a new set of replicas are £500 + tyres on top. I even was offered the genuine CSL wheels on the Velvet Blue Drop top for around £700 + my then Smokes Chrome wheels. I do kick myself for not buying them a little.

I say a little since, as you say, they have become the Minilite of the BMW world. But maybe that shows what a great design they were from the off.

However, given how the stock wheels came out with this different take, they look better then I expected .

The Steelies really work on your E82! Dare I say it, it almost blends in with passing off for a German-owned car! It’s good to see you are liking that car .

[bstardchild]

Jun 18, 2020 7:29:43 GMT ChasR said:

Cheers!

CSL wheels were super tempting, since a new set of replicas are £500 + tyres on top. I even was offered the genuine CSL wheels on the Velvet Blue Drop top for around £700 + my then Smokes Chrome wheels. I do kick myself for not buying them a little.

I say a little since, as you say, they have become the Minilite of the BMW world. But maybe that shows what a great design they were from the off.

However, given how the stock wheels came out with this different take, they look better then I expected .

The Steelies really work on your E82! Dare I say it, it almost blends in with passing off for a German-owned car! It’s good to see you are liking that car .

Minimites of the BMW world - you’ll have penski in here if you say things like that.

The coupe was very disappointing when I first got it (I had been looking for a 135i version for ages but most I looked at were way below my acceptable stds for a daily (way too many owners, poorly maintained and dog eared interiors frequently shod with budget tyres and most of the time tired paint) so when I found this one it was 1 owner less than 60k miles FBMWSH and I thought I could live with it. I was wrong the engine had the same characteristics as a 1.6 CVH - huge rev range on a tacho but at the top end pointless using it as it was just noise - it’s a 3.0 24v lump (last of the N52’s) FFS and it should scream up to the limiter and want more but the “125i” map restrictions just made it asthmatic and reluctant to rev (it did have plenty of torque so I ended up short shifting and using only 50% of the rev range)

The remap from 215 to 270 made a huge difference it completely changed the driving feel of the car - basically woke it up and made it a pleasure to drive.

I've stopped looking at 135i’s now

I am however looking for a replacement for the SLK and the 55AMG’s are getting near my price range

[ChasR]

I found exactly the same issue as you when:
-Looking for my E46 M3 ; I'm told it's better now but I reckon the curse word just got accepted and more expensive.
-Looking at a 330Ci for a friend.

Do people just not look after cars anymore?

As you know, I reckon you made a great choice on the N52. They can do reasonable MPG, and make a pleasant noise. Your talk of the remap may have put them back onto the radar for me, as the x25is of that time were a car I overlooked.

I wanted for a short while an E91 335i, but it seems most are tired and now expensive, almost M3 money. My dad's 535d, if you can get over the autobox and diesel part, is better value IMHO, at almost half of the price, but with real gusty performance, in a very undiesel like way. Or should I say diesel like, but at every point in the rev-range.

But yes, cars from the late 00s and 10s are becoming more affordable. I for a short while was definitely not looking at E63 6.2s to buy. I was itching over a tastesfully specified E61 M5 Touring, but I looked away, in the fear of my bank balance being destroyed . I know, I know

[penski]

Someone mention minilites?!

[bstardchild]

Jun 19, 2020 18:28:44 GMT penski said:

Someone mention minilites?!

Nope nothing to see here

PS always agreed with you it’s the wheel for sheeple (people with no imagination)

[ChasR]

Ha!

I reckon your shot suited the mood perfectly penski! At least from my PC screen!




Brilliant!

While I've been oggling over what to do with the wheels, another issue was on my mind. The thermostat.

I managed to skip an update, so I'll place that here . This came literally weeks before the wheel refurbishment.

In recent times, the M3 has been hanging onto the first dot of the gauge, or a 1/3 of the way up the gauge. While I am aware a number of M3s do this, mine always used to be a little more towads the middle. So it was fairly obvioust the thermostat was done. Since I needed to do a coolant change anyway, I got to work.

Firstly, it was a matter of putting the car up on the ramps:



Once I pulled out the temperature sensor, it was a case of making a mess everywhere as the water went for every bit of the floor bar the catch tray. Forgive me if this sounds familiar.



Since I had the temperature sender out, I took the time to also change it, as there was a good chance this seal was original to the car. I didn't also avoid draining the block. Oh no! I also got on with that as well



Inevitably, the once clean floor now looked like coolant shitstorm! But that's no real surprise going from my aforementioned comments.






But me moaning about the floor was not going to get the coolant swap done. It was time to remove the thermostat. Naturally I forgot to film this. It's not a simple thermostat to remove in all honest. The housing has to be lifted and pulled towards the front of the car in order for the thermostat to clear the water pump. However, in no time at all, the thermostat and what I believe to be the bypass hose were removed from the car, revealing the tired thermostat. Yes, it's an odd looking thermostat isn't it? I've only seen similar looking thermostats in trucks and they make this item look cheap! Except this thermostat isn't cheap at all!







Looking at the water, I was surprised at how clear it was! I have left this coolant in a little longer than I would have wanted (a year) but it's surprisingly clear! Moreso as I expected it to have a higher concentration of coolant in it! The black stuff around the coolant is the oil I didn't clean out previously



Then, it was a case of fitting the thermostat back into the car. This was quite awkward. It's very easy to nip one of the seals

Then it was the matter of filling this system up and bleeding it. BMWs of this generation and older are notorious for being a pain to bleed. This one however, for the first time ever, was a simple car to bleed. It went as follows:

-Drain the coolant via the radiator (temperature sensor) and the engine block plug
-Refit the sensor and the plug
-Putting the car into ignition position no.2, put the temperature onto max and the fan position onto low. 2 position up fron the fans being turned off is a good place. This in turns will open up the heater valves and activate the auxiliary water pump. The latter will help with bleeding the system out. Obviously, if it doesn't work, it may cause problems
-Fill the cooling system up slowly. Mine IIRC took around 7 to 8 litres.
-Keep an eye on the coolant system. Once the water level settled in the KALT position in the header tank, put the cap back on the tank, and start the car up and bring it up to operating temperature
-Once the car has cooled down, recheck the coolant level. In my case, it didn't drop that much at all.

What was I rewarded with? A more stable gauge and I suspect better fuel economy. It's early days however to tell so soon.

I suspect the thermostat may also aid VANOS operation (i.e it will fully work if the engine is working in the right temperature range). My car did have an error for the cooling system temperature, which also spurred me on to change the thermostat.

[ChasR]

So, what else has gone on with the the car?

It's being used again! With me working from home, and almost being pinned to a desk, I don't really drive as much as I used to. It does however mean that with the quieter roads, I can enjoy them more. Sure, the Mondeo would make more sense! But fate would enter here.

Enter Exhibit A:







My sister's Saab 9-3. Yup, it had been hit, and being a key worker, it's something she really didn't need.

It's amazing how older technology can hide a multitude of sins regarding camera phone technology. Oh, and Chemical Guys Butter Wet Wax ; it's amazing for removing Overspray. It could also be a car dealer's wet dream in terms of shining cars up! It certainly did shine up the Saab!

However, no amount of polish would remove the dent. Since this happened in April, all of the photos were taken of the car before we were told the inevitable. It was written off. With Saabs not being worth alot, and the rear 1/4 being No Longer Available (NLA) from the usual suspects including Neo Brothers and Bond Street in the Leicster, this was not really a surprise.

Fast forward to June and we had this silly notion that the Saab would once live again! However, she would need a car. She goes to the school. Me being me, and knowing that she can drive well, I offered her two cars:

-Mondeo
-M3.

She took the Mondeo. Unfortunately for me, she seems to like the Mondeo a little too much! Sure, it's got some trickery fitted into it during my ownership, but I thought a £1k car would never entice anyone! Clearly, I was wrong! Hopefully I'll get it back as I do wonder what else £1k will buy me which ticks the boxes quite as well as that car.

Not that it matters, I've had the opportunity to enjoy the M3 that bit more. The occasional trip to work was more of a joy than before, especially more so! But other cars too! .

Remember that BMW 330Ci ClubSport I mentioned earlier? Well, this post goes full circle as I'd end up doing a favour for a friend ; the alignment ship he booked in was a stone's throw away from me, so I jumped at the opportunity of helping him out. It's not a bad looking thing either!












The all important kick plates to state what the car is .



What most BMW owners covet. I can't say I'm one of them (read on), but it's OK.







Since he was selling it, he asked me to grab a few shots as well. Naturally, I obliged.

Driving it was an absolute pleasure however!

Sure, I found that 'box annoying! Not that I'm a hater of manuals, but rather the glorification they have for what seems to be dick-length reasons. Sure, there is 'some' increased involvement, but trying to account for when the clutch has released? A sloppy change? Surely the point of a manual is for the 'box and clutch to be fully complain in your demands. This really wasn't that. Until you put your foot down:



Yup, it's not bad when you are making progress .  Hopefully, the video didn't put you to sleep!

The fun didn't stop there however. Remember why I was rebuilding my brakes? This car could give a taster of what to expect. After all, my friend rebuilt the calipers using the Bigg Red seals, pistons and slider bushes, topped off with some braided hoses from HEL. Oh, and new discs and pads. Not something you expect most people to do. Did it brake better than before? You can bet yourself to a barn dance that it did! It was spot on! Even on stock pads, it pulled to a halt really well. More than either of us expected in all honesty!

With this being a 330Ci, it has 100kg less than an E46 M3, and that can be felt! It is a little more sprighlty!

The final thing? The engine? Sure, it does not have the S54 raw than BMW M cars have. But sometimes, that's not what people want? The M54 is more of a creamy smoother operator affair. It never feels or sounds fragile, and it literally just hums along! Sure, coming from an M3 this can seem dull, but there's no denying the engine is less relalctrant and more refined over town over the S54 lump in the E46 M3. But I do love that character! What did someone say about having your cake and eating it?

Yup, while these times have been busy, they've not been bad

[ChasR]

It has been a while since this has been updated! It's not that I've been sitting on my laurels. Oh no, not here. Quite the opposite!

Let's just say the Mondeo went out to my sister on loan as her car came in for a repair. I do also have some plans for the M3 for next week, where my sister's car being repaired threw a royal spanner in the works.

With plans for the M3 next week, it's fair to say things got tense!

Want to see why people get a car on PCP? Stay tuned. It's been a testing month! Going through the photos, I either think I've done more than I thought, or I really did try to be ambitious! But the latter is the RR way right?

[ChasR]

While I planned for one massive update, it's best to deliver it in bitesize chunks I suspect. So, let's begin.

A few posts up, you would have seen me mention that my sister's Saab which got hit and written off. Without trying to dwell on the Saab story too much, my sister wanted either this car to be replaced at the time, or another convertible. Chatting to friends in the trade, they told me that £4k would not get a nice drop top, or should I say to the mediocre standards I wanted; most cars being traded in during the lockdown were truly awful and only being traded in as the owners didn't really see themselves having another choice.

This inevitably left us between a rock and a hard place. We made a decision, but the right one? Time would tell. The main plan was to get the now CAT N Saab repaired, and to throw in a few tasty upgrades and repairs along the way, including:

-An Apple CarPlay headunit
-New discs and pads all round to bring some life to the shocking brakes in this car
-Sort the steering out, and give the car an alignment.

Sounds easy doesn't it? I wished it was easier.

Firstly, I came to install the Kenwood DMX-7017DABS CD player. With a Connects 2 lead set, it should have worked well. What did our survey say however?



Yup, there was nothing whatsoever. Despite me connecting the kit up to the letter as follows:

-Headunit patch lead first
-Headunit lead to Connects2 main lead
-Connects 2 Box
-The Saab connections on the Connects2 lead to the Saab

I have nothing. Zero. Nada.

Ringing Connects 2 was also useless. Their guy there basically wasn't interested in helping out, stating only via email could I be assisted, and that really, all non-dealer folk are too thick and that I should go to a dealer (yeah, I'll get to that part later). This was perfect for dropping the car into the garage 4 days later for the repairs to begin, where I was told the car would be ready in 4 days. Perfect, I'll book a holiday for 5 days in 3 weeks time I thought. This would soon unravel however.



Fast forward a bit, and those 3 days would become 4 weeks. Yup, the holiday time I booked and could not really change due to tight work times and issues there really did not help.

However, since the Saab was away in the bodyshop that week, I thought I'd crack on with the M3. I planned that day to get all of the brakes fitted. However, like all best plans, things didn't go that way. There I was changing the calipers on the rear first, until I hit the nearside:






Yup, the spring had snapped big time! I'm surprised the car was still level! However, since ECP somehow were doing the springs for £20 for the pair, I bought them to get me out of trouble. Being an E46, it may pay to keep these as a spare set anyway! Sure, they didn't look right, but they'd get me out of trouble.

While I was there, I picked the best discs out of my spares to compliment the new brake shoes, before finally fitting the rear CSL calipers with Pagid RSL29 pads. Because the previous specialist prior to my ownership did not clean out the brake area for the handbrake, the dirt just got trapped and destroyed the inside of the otherwise perfect discs. Sure, it passed an MOT, but I knew the handbrake was useless in the real world.



Could things really improve with just this? That will have to wait until the next time.



Those grooves made the handbrake useless.





While the inner surface was rusty, it was sound and worn well more importantly, so these were picked.

[ChasR]

While the M3 now had a set of rear brakes, it still needed the fronts doing!

However, the Saab was now back and this would become a priority. After all, it's my sister's car and if you guys don't recall, the M3 was a daily again and it's Inspection II (y'no, the one with has the dreaded valve clearances again, along with the pricey diff oil, gearbox oil and an oil service, before I get to checking the car over) which I was planning to do over Xmas was very quickly getting closer to being done in the summer. Why didn't I want to do it?

-The clearances are a pain in the backside, with the gaskets alone cost £80, and the risk of dropping the shims (the size of a 5p piece) being very high
-From a dealer, this is now £1.3k (yup, they don't want to do it). From an Indie who actually does it right, it's around £650-800, depending on where you go. If I do it myself, it is still £300 in parts just to do it.
-Trying to buy a house (there is a development on this which I'll come to later) the above is something I don't want to spend now. In all honesty, if I am trying to save and scrap on every penny, I can't spend it. It's that simple.

However, the Saab would have other plans for the above, and well, the M3's mileage would rack up and up and up. So much so that I'll need to do the Inspection next month. . There goes my saving strategy. But more on that later.

I won't dwell on the Saab, but I'll give the quick overview.

With all of the parts ordered new including new discs and pads all round, and a new steering shaft, it should have been 2 days work. What began as two days work became over 1 week! How, I hear you ask?

Firstly, the carrier bolts were TX-E aka External Torx bolts. Not a problem I thought, I'll use my rattle gun/breaker bar and the 3/8" drive bits to remove these. On the first disc, the carrier came undone with an almighty crack from the bolts; as the rattle gun wouldn't touch them even in the full setup (DeWalt DCH899), albeit I was using an 3/8" adaptor. The breaker bar just undid them. Someone previously had used red Loctite.

Firstly, the driver's side disc was hard to remove. I could have hit it harder, but I also didn't want to risk pitting the bearing either from smacking with a sledgehammer. Yup, I've been here before on another car. So, with a Reciprocating saw, I carefully chopped down the middle. Once a tiny bit of tensioner was relieved from the bell, the disc fell out easily. A handy tip this!




The passenger side? This is where the problems began.

I came to use the breaker bar, and the adaptor snapped in two. Great I thought. I then got my second adaptor. What did that do? Yup, it almost snapped, but it is now scrap as it began to fail upon turning.









By this point, I was an enraged Chas. I was sick of the car and frankly sick of working on it. Why was it so damned awkward! With this in mind, after spending some good time on it, I went home in a bit of a huff!





However, Amazon would come to the rescue (I'm sorry guys, but time was tight!) with a next-day delivery for a set of 1/2" drive TX-E Impact sockets. Great I thought, this will help! If it was quite that easy! However, it did help with the fronts, albeit now being £30 out of the pocket due to the socket set ; no one locally sold an E20, where it would turn out I'd need an E18 and 16 as well!

But let's not get too ahead of ourselves, I finally have the front discs on, complete with cleaned slider pins and new slider bushes.







However, it needed a new front caliper, and the Chinese one I inadvertedly ordered didn't quite look the same. What's more, from looking into the piston area, the piston didn't even look coated! Everyone has told me the calipers on eBay are no different to the overpriced stuff at the local places. So in the end, £70 got spunked onto a new OE replacement caliper from the motor factors.

Yup, the replacement looks exactly the same. It may have been OK, but it's my sister's car, not mine, so I couldn't take that chance.







The rears would also prove to be fun! It should just be a simple fact of removing the carrier bolts right? Well, that's what they were expecting you to think



Yup, it wasn't that simple. Due to the rear suspension bolt, I couldn't get the impact socket on. The clearance was too tight, and I didn't want to go at it anything but square on.







I then realised the socket was never going to go on, despite what the Pelican Parts site sites. I had heard (and many Saab folk) told me an E-Spanner could do it. But considering the bolts probably had not been touched for 140,000 miles, alone with the fronts being a pain to undo, I had my doubts, and I really didn't want to spend yet more cash and time on spanners that may not work. So what did I do? Get creative.

Moving the suspension up and down made zero difference to the access of the bolt. That was ruled out. There was only one thing left. Remove it partially. 12 year old car on 142k. I'm sure the bolt would just come out. Well, the rattle gun and an E16 socket on the highest setting along with PlusGas removed the nut. The bolt surprisingly was free to move inside, which was a big relief.

I then removed the Carrier bolts with the breaker bar and an E18 socket. Yup, I was quickly getting my money's worth out of the Impact TX-E socket set.



The best part of the job? Trying out a new windback tool, but an air powered one. This made putting the pistons back a very quick job indeed, and far less fiddly than the mechanical ones.



This saved valuable time and made a fiddly but simple job much easier.

The steering also needed changing as the UJ had failed. Not a problem I thought. A £150 shaft ordered later and it was a pain to fit. Actually fitting it was fine, but the new shaft itself wasn't the best made. The bolts bound going in, so much that I stripped a bolt, and the retapping and cleaning process revealed junk inside of the shaft which didn't help.

A bit of time with a drill bit to enlargen the bolt hole, which stopped the binding, and some Dremel action to get rid of flakes of metal in the shaft, finally had the shaft going in OK. This really shouldn't have been necessary on a part of this value. But I guess where you can't get OEM parts (Sorry Saab folk, I searched and I couldn't find a genuine replacement ; this one was from Neo Bros) you don't have a choice

Finally, the car was done, and I could ship the heap away from my memory! Can I recommend a poor parts availability, awkward to work on, and lifeless driving Swede to anyone? I'm afraid not. Unlike the Swedes themselves, it will dissapoint.





But naturally, this still left me to do the M3 and get it ready for the trackday. More on that soon.

[ChasR]

With the Saab seeming to take an eternity to fix, I was doubting my own ability. How on Earth could a routine job become such a pain and require more tools? Yes, I could have gone cheap and tried normal sockets, but I'm sick of dealing with rounded off bolts, with new bolts then being required, which I can't nip out and get as I work during the the time any fastener places are open. Plus it's a cost. All the Saab needed after this was a mini-clean and a lock replacement. Great, it looked lovely, and I was glad to see the back of the car once it was done. Can I recommend anyone to buy one? I can't say so. The lock that I changed? That's gone bad as well. Annoying, as you can't get a new lock anymore. Where are those Saab guys now saying "You can get everything"? Oh, no answers? I can't say I'm not surprised. Hateful, hateful car! It was also a waste of a week off!









Anyway, with that heap out of the way, it was time for me to crack on with the M3. With the rear calipers done, it was time to hit the fronts. Since I built up the calipers as an assembly it wasn't too bad to fit them in the end!

The brake unions were a little stiff to undo. However, with some PlusGas and a blowtorch, they came undone OK. It's the first time I've used a blowtorch on a brake line, and I was a little uneasy about doing so, given that brake fluid is flammable! However, it came undone surprisingly easy using this method!

At the same time I decided to measure the old discs! Ah, that will be why the braking power wasn't quite what it was! 26.4mm is the minimum thickness of the front discs! These were not that!




Yup, these discs were done! They were not however, done with me. I came to remove one, and possibly down to the Saab being a pain to work on and source bits for, I ended up snapping the Torx bit! Great!




Clearly, I wasn't going to get the car done, and so I went home, pretty annoyed, and retired back in the chair. Were me and cars done? The rears were a walk in the park in comparison. How could these grub screws be so bad! Heat Cycling and rust buildup were the answer.

However, with some renewed vigour, a Ukranian fellow BMW friend took pity on me and so he gave the car his magic touch. By gently 'pulsing' the spanner and breaking yet another Torx bit on the M3, another bit finally did go in, and eventually it came out. With me giving the similar treatment on the other side, it finally looked like I was back in business!







The eagle eyed of you may have spotted a BMW box on the floor in that pic. Surely, I was using refurbished parts bar the pads! Well, that is exactly what I was expecting you folks to think. In all honesty, it's what I was thinking too! However, the front CSL discs I received were near half worn. Sure, I probably would have been OK normally, but with stickier pads going in, I didn't want to take any chances. This may seem hasty, but the non-CSL factory discs in the above shot had only ever seen one set of pads over the 40,000 miles they covered up front. Yup, the genuine pad went from seeing them from full thickness to no thickness. This doesn't bode well for putting in stickier pads eh? Obviously, with this to think about, going new up front was going to be the right call.

So, after much searching, it seems the CSL discs were not going to be any cheaper than £300 for the pair, and at that price, I'd be waiting weeks for them to arrive. Euro Car Parts? Try £420! European sourced discs were not any better than the ECP price. It's funny, they used to be the cheapest over 4 years ago, but times do change. When Rybrook BMW did them for over £300, it was obvious that they would have the deal! The stealers are terrible people were saying?

With the remains of the old discs and pads (in a CSL configuration) being sold for over £100, it did soften the blow. After all, while the discs may not have been any good for me, they were probably fine for most.






345mm CSL discs don't look much bigger than the 325mm discs, but hopefully, it will make all of the difference.



But why go old when you can go new. Yup, it's still a 345mm vs 325mm shot?







It was then a matter of fitting the HEL lines with the refurbished calipers, complete with brass slider bushes. The HEL lines are great for fitting in comparison to the Goodridge lines, thanks to the spinning unions on the hard line end. This makes it a doddle to fit them and allows for the flexi line to be fitted without being bound etc. far more easily! With stainless ends as well, it's just that bit handier!

After a quick bleed, it was time to hit the road with the new brakes.

On first impressions, they were not too bad! They weren't even bedded in! As I came to approach a junction, I had a dozy Land Cruiser owner pull out without looking! As I went for the brakes I was stunned at how sharp it braked! It hurled me to a stop!

It was then time to find a private road and bed them in properly as per Pagid's guidelines for the RST3 and RSL29 pads. Yup it was time consuming!

The second step of that where you put on full braking power from quite a speed showed a few things!
-The DSC system was beginning to get overwhelmed as the pads were bedding in
-Once it went past that, the car was semi-struggling for grip from the tyre! It really was hurling itself to a stop!
-The brakes absolutely stank!
-The pedal was beginning to now go slightly soft, but not sink. I was still on factory DOT 4, as I was planning on flushing the brake fluid out again for the Motul RBF660.

As it was getting late, I ended up parking the car at home for the night!

The next time I drove the car, I would be in for a surprise!

[mk2cossie]

Nice progress ChasR

Those disc retaining screws are always a bit of a sore point on all the BMW models, usually the impact screwdriver sees to them

And the Motul braoe fluid is good! Can't remember if I have the 600 or 660 I my car tho

[ChasR]

Sept 6, 2020 6:22:10 GMT mk2cossie said:

Nice progress ChasR

Those disc retaining screws are always a bit of a sore point on all the BMW models, usually the impact screwdriver sees to them

And the Motul braoe fluid is good! Can't remember if I have the 600 or 660 I my car tho

Cheers!

Speak of this quietly. I did actually use a rattle gun after I saw a ratchet wouldn't get it out! I know I know, but I figured it would be a similar shock to an impact screwdriver, which annoyingly I had at home, and not the unit. I need to get that to the unit one day .

I went at Speed 1, which undoes wheel bolts at a normal tightness, building up to full power. The bolt didn't want to know at all. At Speed 2, which will generally undo almost all wheel bolts and brake caliper bolts, it snapped the bit as I began to build it up.

[ChasR]

So, I bedded the brakes in, but how did it drive?

Well, in short, while I was impressed, to quote Faithless, I wanted more!

More, did I say! Well, it seems maybe I had more than I bargained for!

Sure, these are fast road pads, but the cold bite is unreal! The pedal is now feathered, not managed! Coming up to corners, I no longer brake before the first coner and then let the car roll on to the next corner and then accellerate upon the exit. Oh no, that is the work of peasants!

Now? I see the roundabout, tap the brakes, scrub off what seems like a small amount of speed and carry on! They really hurl you to that much of a stop! It's addictive! You flow from bend to bend with quite a bit of pace, but it's taken the car to another level! They don't give up either! They just keep on giving and giving! I never really though I needed better brakes, but these are now on another level! Who ever thought you could gain pace through brakes which you love?

Remember the 330Ci I told you about earlier with great brakes? Well, I had a chat with the owner, who now has one of these:



It's fast and it's great! I'm still a little shocked he let me drive the thing You want to talk about mind-boggling power for the road? This certainly gives you an idea of that!

Anyway, we switched the keys with our motors! It's fair to say he walked away with a bit of brake envy! I know people find it strange that I let trusted guys drive my cars, but it's good to see if you are not thinking the wrong way. It seems he walked away with brake envy from my M3. I call that mission accomplished .

Are there downsides? Well, yes, but I'll hit those later. Why?

Well, because I decided to go to this place. It could have gone better, but it could have gone far worse! I ended up going on one of the hottest days of the year! What could possibly go wrong?

[ChasR]

So, the brakes. I gave you folks a brief intro. Sure, the bite was fantastic but it's now time to talk about the downsides.

-Squealing! The Pagid RSL29s at the rear didn't initially squeal. Remember that I fitted them first . They did begin to squeal a little more. The RST1s? They followed the same pattern. I think they may squeal more to be honest! On the track? They are silent as church mice! They tend to stay that way for around 100 miles after the trackday!
-Rattling. I initially thought a balljoint had gone However, you can hear the caliper slightly chattering around the brass bushes, with a tiny amount of play present. Can I live with this, or will I go back to rubber bushings?
-Brake pedal. It's lovely, but you tend to forget how much braking power you have from the get-go. If you come from another car, it can be quite a shock!

So yes, a few annoying things but they do however do the job.

It was then time to do the trackday! This however, did bring up an issue for a few owners including me. Anxiety.

Wimpish to say I know! Many of us were expecting rain. So I didn't bother going to get my track wheels. You can expect my surprise when I saw the the ambient temperature was 35 degrees Celcius! Not good for the SMG pump. More importantly, not good for the car's cooling system!

Upon going up, all was well. I was enjoying the drive up. Sure, the car was on fumes as the car had been stationary during lockdown! But it was so great to be on the road. The weather was hot but great! The car held the temps well and went like a champ! This is why I still have this car! All of this was well until I went to Donnington's gates.

Normally my temperature gauge used to be just below halfway most of the time and tend go to the middle during the summer. The oil temp? Around 95-100 in traffic. As I was sat in the queue to be admitted to the circuit as a Covid-Free, licence holding driver, the oil temps hit 100. It's OK. I'll turn the engine off for 5 mins. Fire it up and the oil temp climbed to 115 degrees. Yikes! I thought I was bad but I'll come back to that later.






Eventually I'd hit the track. Thankfully I'd booked a garage. So I prompted emptied the contents of my boot to the side of the garage, ready to hit the track. Besides the ever-increasing YouTubers going around filming things all was OK. But at least i had some great sights from the garage wall

















Putting these photos up now, I've seem some limitations of iPhone photos, even a good one at that! But the above captures the moment I think. The time was great, all was great.

That was until I hit the track!

I came to hit the track, and I could hear that gearbox pump slightly slowing down. I expected this ; the motor is 18 years old running that, and a new motor is probably due. No gearbox light however, so all was good. The shifts etc. were fine. Well, that is how I thought it would roll!

Hitting the first few corners of Donny, like the Craner Curves, I could tell the vast cash spent on the brakes over the years was well worth it. Sure, it was not quite AP money like what some folks had spent. However, the brakes did feel special and dependable. You could lean on them and know they could scrub off the speed in a heartbeat. Perfect!

All was well until I saw the temp gauge come off the halfway point. It was going towards the wrong side. Nowhere near the red, and not even near the first dot! But it was close enough for me. Did I mention a secondhand S54 engine is around £4,000 these days? Maybe I'm being a wuss, but during these times, I can't afford to take the gamble. Yes, folk are argue what's the point in owning such a car if you are going to be too careful, but it's also a bit of a waste. With this in mind, I went into the garage, and to quote John from Commando "Why don't you let off some steam?".

Thankfully, it didn't let off any steam! I did however, go and grab a coffee, chat to a friend of mine in a distanced manner. We talked aboutabout how things were during the lockdown and generally broke bread. This to me is part of what trackdays are about.

It seems however he had worse luck than me! You'll have some folks mocking those for saying "Manufactuers know best". It seems my friend had a bit of a lesson in that!

In his 2015 Mini Cooper S, the BMW pads last fine on a trackday previously. The BMW pads seemed to fare OK. They wore down a little fast but they were fine. Seeing as the BMW pads are a little price and the car is his daily driver, he threw in a set of Bendix pads. Not a bad call on the face of it. I've done it, he's done, we've all done it.

Upon the second lap of Donny, his pedal was fine, but his braking power wasn't. He had lost his brakes! Not good at all! Upon both of us hitting the track again and having fun, my car managed to hold the temps together. His did too, bar those Bendix pads. Yup, they faded off a cliff once again!

I'd be lying I said I've not seen this with Bendix pads before. On the Mk3 Mondeos, those pads seem to give up in extreme town driving whilst in a hurry. The current 2.5T of mine is no different with these pads. It's a shame it went that way for my friend, but sometimes, such is the way.

We were not the only ones with issues however. A guy there had an E92 M3 which I was wondering about. How did he stay cool in the queue onto the circuit? The truth? He kind of didn't. In the age of no temp gauges, well, bar the oil temp gauge in M/Sporty BMWs, he didn't really know. In the traffic onto the circuit, he hit 120 degrees with the AC on. On track? It was going towards 130 degC. Ouch! Warnings came up in the car, and so he couldn't really go out to play.

Heat was definitely the issue! However, I had a good 10 laps or so around the circuit, despite cars losing coolant and crashing. 1 hour prior to it closing, I decided to leave. I had my fun, the car had survived and it was time to enjoy other things. The other thing? A pretentious coffee place. I know I know.




Yup, it was Caffeine and Machine. Having the Equivalent of the Ace Cafe on your doorstep isn't a bad thing at times, even if the place is a little snobbier! It's the company which counts!

After talking some rubbish it was time to go home. Some would argue this final photo sums up retro ownership at times .




Do I have track footage? Yes. However, thanks to yours truly recording at 240fps instead of 24fps, the PC is somewhat struggling to process the video! Am I making excuses for me being slow? Absolutely! The videos despite this will arrive once I figure a way to process them .

Until then I'll try and provide further updates. Let's just say things have got busy, but for the right reasons. Fingers are crossed!

[ChasR]

It's been a while since I've updated this.

The truth is, things have got quite busy with me in all honesty, with me trying to accomplish some large changes in my life, amidst a recession and gloom all around.

As a result, the M3 simply got retired for a few months. Until now.

Last week, I took it out for a spin, and truly enjoyed it. I forgot how it doesn't feel quite so refine as a modern (yes, I did say that "runs and hides!"). The exhaust is that bit louder when cold thanks to a secondary air pump, it doens't quite work its best when cold (I'm told that's an M thing), and with a few of the mods, it's not quite as pleasant on the creature comforts. The brakes are now very sharp which can catch you out on slow maneuveres. It's not the quickest car by any stretch of imagination. An Audi C6 RS6 would leave this car for dead, and dare I say, I suspect a 340d or 440d would do so too, as would an M140i!

But, it is quite nice in how it holds the road, and how it gets down it. Hearing that mechanical S54 engine note with the induction roar screaming up to 7.5k is quite something! It doesn't really do it in a ricer way either. It's very German. Yeah, I guess I'm smitten with the car.

Which is partially why I've retired it for now. While I enjoyed driving it about for a day or two I'm aware things aren't getting better
-The rust is getting worse, especially the rear arch, which I really didn't want to see.
-The Inspection II still isn't done
-The brake lines at the back are terrible ; they've very crusty.

It made be a modern in some eyes, but the above list certainly are the hallmarks of shoddy workmanship, a UK climate that simply destroys old cars. Oh wait, that sounds like a creed of car I know.

I'm also aware I can't leave things stagnant. I've done it before, and cars just don't improve over time. But that big change I mentioned? Finances are key to me, as is how I am perceived in handling them. The work above isn't cheap. How not cheap?

-I suspect the respray of most of the car by the time I deal with the arch and the wings will be not far off £1.5-2k I fear. Since I'm changing both wings, the front will need painting as will one side, thanks to the arch rust.
-The Inspection II, even in parts alone, will be £400. Ouch! As people hate doing those clearances, it's not far off £1k for an Inspection II; it's a good job it's only needed to be done every 60,000 miles or 8 years eh? This is one reason why I hated the cuffuffle the Saab became, as it cost me getting it closer to this wretched service.
-I got offered via a specialist friend of mine for him to do the rear lines for £300. Yup, it's a ballache. Tank, exhaust, and alot of other clips off. One garage I debated giving that I use for MOTs really didn't want to do the work, and talked about maybe routing the pipes differently etc. But I do like things done right. I know fuel tanks dropping off are super rare, but it does happen, and bodging the lines in doesn't sit well with me.

If the times were different, I'd have given the respray over I suspect to someone I trust, done the Inspection II myself and moan about it, in addition to giving the brake lines over to matey boy; I know that's not going to be great to do without a lift.

But, where there's a will, there's a way. This car may be pocket change to some, but it's still the most expensive car I've ever bought, believe it or not. So I hate really doing work on cars like this like bodywork, as the risks of balsing it up are high and possibly expensive.

But, I may as well, go big, or go home right? So yup, you may have guessed it, I'm going to attempt all of these. Am I stupid or simply broadening the skillset? Time will tell? Will I end up making the bodywork issues more expensive to deal with, or save the car in the long term?

It's funny, with a list like that, people maybe consider breaking it ; It's about £3k's worth of work at a specialist, and M3s do break very well for parts. But no, not me. You can't take away memories, and maybe the E46 M3 being 20 this year hasn't helped. It's not like I have alot to do at the moment either!

So with all of this waffling, the car is now in position. Yup, it's not going anywhere. I know what I have to do, and I think I know how to do most of it.



Cars. They deteriorate over here in time, and haemorrage money. You try to go sensible, for a PCP or approved used deal, but it seems the riskier buys always bring you back. That leaves the folks like me buying another fun car, and then fixing that in a hurry , then moaning about two average cars!

It seems I can't live without the damned things! But, at least it might provide some comedy value on the thread eh? Stay tuned for further updates. As someone once said, it' ain't over yet.

[ChasR]

Today was the day that I actually started on the car. That is to change the hard brake lines.

Even as I began it, I thought, why don't I give someone £400 to change them, as it is really a curse word job to do. But then, many things came to my mind

-I would have moaned like crazy about paying that much. My local garage might be able to do it cheaper, but they'll rush it, probably break things in the process as it's not a nice job. If you want it done right, sometimes, only you can do it.
-Being an old BMW there will no doubt be some scabby parts on it. I can tend to those, something which I doubt a specialist would want to do without the price going up.
-These kind of tasks always teach you something. Sure, that might be, now matter what you consider to be pricey, give it to someone. I'm referring more to a kind of task in which I'm tackling
-I've moaned enough about why at this very time I can't spend the cash. This I didn't forget.

With that in mind, I have decided to tackle this job in a few stages

-Day 1 - Remove the exhaust, shields and undertrays (Done)
-Day 2 - Remove the seat squab, tank fittings, and everything to lower the tank
-Day 3 - Drop the tank, and fit the lines
-Day x to whenever? - See anything you don't like underneath, and treat it and paint it up. Then refit the lot.

Day 1 would be today.

With that in mind, I got the car up for the 2nd Xmas running.




I wasted little time in getting the exhaust off. Since I used new fixings, removing it was not as bad as I was expecting. As I've removed an M3 backbox a few times now, I have a modus operandi for changing them. That is:

-Leave the mounts in place on the car.
-Remove the nuts securing the backbox onto the mounts
-Let the bolts take the weight of the backbox.
-Put a jack carefully under the backbox.
-1 by 1, remove the bolts, while still leaving the shank of the bolts in the mounts. Remove the backbox once this is done by lowering the jack down, carefully

I didn't need to remove the defusion like many do. It's a little fiddly this way, but still quite possible and simple to do. With this done, I put the Eisenmann in my backbox collection. Which will go back onto the car? Who knows? But the Eisenman does look pretty!











With that done, it was time to move onto the centre section. This is a little fiddly to remove, since the under trays partially obscure this, and it itself with the cats attached is quite a heavy bit of kit. It didn't stop me however, and I simply cracked on and remove the mid-section in no time





All that was left to do was to admire the parts I'd slowly be fitting to the car. In particular, the brake lines. The rest of the items in the cardboard box are for the Inspection II, which I will do as the car is up in the air.

So that was that. Firing it up to put it on the ramps really reminded me that this is something a little special. The engine, despite having a mechanical sound, is quite eager to rev on the go, even in this road going format. Sure, the interior may have a whiff of Lewis Collins' jacket about it, but it sure is inviting, and not a drab affair.

However, not all was great.

I was hoping that the hard line did not go all of the way to the master cylinder/DSC unit. It does. Fantastic news! It will be more faff, but I will have to simply get it there no doubt.

I may end up chucking a Vlog onto here, and seeing what kind of response that gets, if it will help out potential owners soon. If no, I'll probably carry on this way . That I'll try and sort out soon .

For now, I'm going to rest a bit, have some leftover Xmas lunch, and crack on with it tomorrow.