Chris' BMW Projects

[loxxrider]

do it

[chaloux]

Omg I would so rock a 2002. One of my fave cars for aesthetics

[loxxrider]

They are indeed awesome. My friend with the turbo E30 has has been keeping an eye out for one to swap something into.


So I made a real bafoon move tonight. While taking the compressor housing off of the HX40 I just received, I bent a freaking compressor blade. Then I broke it off. Too bad, because it is a nice little billet wheel. 56/85 are the specs. I might just have to make the turbo a desk ornament :( Totally my fault.

Title has been recovered on the bimmer, so that'll be in the driveway tomorrow night. Looking forward to fixing it up

[loxxrider]

Ordered MS3 because of a Black Friday sale at DIYAutotune.

[chaloux]

Lol. Awesome

[amd is the best]

MegaSquirt is awesome! I miss having a MS car to play with

[loxxrider]

Yesterday my buddy Justin and I worked on his... er... our E34. It has been suffering from badly blown Koni sports up front for the past couple of years, and it had FCP Euro control arms too... neither of those things were helping the front tires which were wearing WAY too quickly. So yesterday we decided to fix all of those things.

I have to make Justin a little guilty now... he needs to take a little better care of this poor girl! I don't know if anyone remembers, but I bought this car for $900 when it was nearly on its way to the junkyard. It had just under 350k miles on it when I bought it, and didn't run. I fixed it that week with about $400 in parts and it was my faithful companion on trips up and back to college for a year. It never let me down except for one cheap part that failed. I fixed the thing with all of the cheapest parts when I got it because the car really only owed me a year or service considering the price I got it for (and it had AC!). That is why the control arms failed so fast, and why the center support bearing for the driveshaft failed (that is the thing that left me stranded the one and only time).

Now the car has been with us for maybe 3 years and it is still running as strongly as ever, so it deserved some quality parts. OEM only this time.

Anyway, back to Justin being guilty... take a look at what happened when my dad busted out the cleaner wax... this poor thing hadn't been loved on it far too long!





You can see the newly aquired E46 in this shot. I installed a water pump and some new control arm bushings last week and took it for its maiden voyage. It drives great now I can't believe how easy the thing is to work on too... I can do the water pump in 30 minutes flat. Control arm bushings were a leisurely endeavor as well.

By the way, it is currently wearing the 635's normal wheels. The tires on the E46's wheels were too bad even to just roll around on. I'll get some new ones later this week hopefully.



Today I worked on the E24. I have been wanting to get crackin' on the driver's side door sill for a while now, but other things have kept getting in the way. I finally developed a game plan this morning and started strategically cutting out the old, bending up some new stuff, and (the best part) welding it back together.

I am using 22 gauge metal on the floor panels/some body stuff, but the rockers/door sills and other structural stuff is thicker. I'm using 18 gauge for that. It welds much nicer than the thinner stuff

Here is the mostly cleaned up rocker area.



New stuff welded in.



Sample of the welds when I get in my groove... some areas are not as nice, but most of it is like this with pretty good penetration. I think it isn't too bad considering I have been teaching myself on this car.



Just another shot of the piece I made, from the inside.



That little rectangular hole you see is just where I had to cut out some more rusted metal. I will fill that part in later (that's no big deal compared to what I had to do today.

Next I have to make the other half of the rocker/door sill. They meet up together where you see the 90 degree bend and get spot welded together there, then the excess material I left on that 90'd part will get folded over the second half to create those rail things that people sometimes jack the car up from and end up bending them/busting through the floor, etc. I can draw a diagram of what I'm making if anyone wants to see how I'm re-creating these things.

After that, I just need to make a simple piece for the floor and the door sills will be 90% done. There are just a few other small spots which need some attention in that area of the car. The last thing I'll tackle is the transmission/driveshaft tunnel. It will be easier than the door sill, so I'm happy about that



Overall, I'm very happy with the progress I've been making on this and how much I've learned. More to come

Oh, and it looks like the E46 is going to stick around for a while longer... my Dad wants to buy it from me now lol

[scubadave]

looking good Chris. not too bad on the welding. it does take some time to figure out wire speed vs heat, but you will get it. Honestly, it becomes second nature at a point where you can hear its right or wrong. Bacon sizzling is what you want, but Im sure you know that.

looks like I may have to come down again and help you and your dad expand the driveway across the front lawn just to keep up with the cars being aquired. :lol:

[Justin517]

Looks good!

You really think the E46 is easy to work on? I am OK with doing some things on the fiances 330Cic... then I had to do the PCV system, under the intake... awful. Her work is ~2 miles away and the the T-stat was stuck open last winter, so the system froze up and sucked a bunch of oil into the front 3 banks and wiped out the oxygen sensor. It was pretty make but overall the only issue we have had so far.

I still love E34's... I play with the idea of selling the 540i and picking up an E34 M5... but I probably wont because the M5 will cost more to maintain, not be as mild mannered when I want it to, and they are about the same speed, my 540 may even have the edge with the M5 diff. But now that I have the 200 for winter, I sort of want to get an older more "summer only" car... I geep thinking about a grand national too...

[scubadave]

Justin, they are quite easy to work on actually. I used to work on them for a living, and I agree the first time doing the crank case vent sucks to figure out. If you do them on a regular basis, it gets easy since you know exactly what you're doing. BMW's of that generation have very typical problems and become second nature when diagnosing problems. Even very experienced techs who do that job for the first time feel that way at first, let alone an inexperienced owner who is just trying to save money on a car that commands a pretty penny at the shop. Your complaints are justified, but with more time under the hood it becomes second nature. I was born an Audi fanatic, but I would definitely own a 540i or M5/M3 for sure.

[Justin517]

Justin, they are quite easy to work on actually. I used to work on them for a living, and I agree the first time doing the crank case vent sucks to figure out. If you do them on a regular basis, it gets easy since you know exactly what you're doing. BMW's of that generation have very typical problems and become second nature when diagnosing problems. Even very experienced techs who do that job for the first time feel that way at first, let alone an inexperienced owner who is just trying to save money on a car that commands a pretty penny at the shop. Your complaints are justified, but with more time under the hood it becomes second nature. I was born an Audi fanatic, but I would definitely own a 540i or M5/M3 for sure.

?Yeah, changing the oxygen sensors was laughably easy, literally a 10 minute job all from under the hood, not under the car, as was the T-stat and other little things I've done. My issue with the PCV system is the fact that it is plastic (my main issue with many modern euro cars) and since it is under the intake and I have gigantic hands... it just sucked. I think that just made me bitter.

I much prefer working on the engine in my 540i, bigger car and the engine is 2 cylinders shorter, anything you need to touch is on top or on the easily accessible front.

I always laugh at people who scoff at working on european cars, I'll take that any day over jap or american cars. Jap cars have fasteners that are too small and break/strip and american cars just don't have the fit and finish. The euro stuff just comes apart nice and goes back together nice also... usually.

[scubadave]

I agree about the plastic. That is a pet peeve of mine about ANY manufacturer that cheaps out on reliability by moving to plastic.

[loxxrider]

I too hate the plastic. It is obvious that it is to save money, not to lighten or anything like that. Plastic in an application which gets heat cycled is just idiotic for longevity.

I do still think they engineered the E46 (among others) right for maintenance as far as the things you have to do on a semi-regular basis like the accessories, water pump, etc. That PCV job sounds like it sucks though, but you can't win 'em all

Justin, I'd bet your 540i is indeed faster than the average E34 M5. I do like E34s better in general compared to E39s, but the M5 is a different story. Any M is a different story!

[chaloux]

Boo plastic! Chris, I wish I had the spare time you do. Cars look great. Nice welding, I have no comment about quality because I don't know squat! Lol. We need to see a turbo in that fleet somewhere... Haha

[loxxrider]

Boo plastic! Chris, I wish I had the spare time you do. Cars look great. Nice welding, I have no comment about quality because I don't know squat! Lol. We need to see a turbo in that fleet somewhere... Haha

Well, if it makes you feel better I don't have much spare time, but that is only because I utilize it working on cars... so you're right. Those little tykes got ya busy huh?

There will be a turbo, don't you worry. I am craving it so badly!

[scubadave]

seriously? free time? Its not at all about free time. It about the fact that its 80 FRGGIN DEGREES down there in florida! I would have my rings and bearings done already if he cold here doesnt kill my motivation any time I step outside. I keep threatening my sister I may move down there.

[loxxrider]

Man, this vibration is really getting to me. I haven't driven the 635 in a while since it's tires were donated to the E46 for a short time. Got them back on, went for a drive, and I was reminded of THE DEATH WOBBLE all over again

I've had the wheels/tires road force blanced, no change. Had some higher profile tires on there and it helped a bit, but it was definitely still there. I think the low profile tires just cause it to be more noticeable and maybe even amplify it, but I don't think they are the cause. I still want to fit the tires from my M5 or E36 or the E46 to see if it will help, but I really doubt it.

This weekend I'm going to DIY align it for toe.

So goes my question... in your experience, have you ever known excessive toe in or out to cause a violent shake in the steering wheel? I'm very curious to see what the alignment is like at this point.

I can totally imagine how it could cause some shimmy, especially in a car with a suspension as sensitive as the BMWs of this era. I can also see how castor would do it, but that is pretty much set in stone. The car has new tires (not that I think they are perfect from the factory), new control arms (the expensive stuff) and all new suspension... the only things I haven't replaced are the tie rods and the connecting one that goes all the way across the car. They are very tight though. Steering box has also been adjusted nice and tight. I don't think anything suspension-related is causing it. I think there is a small chance that it is a brake rotor (but they seem to be in good shape) or wheel bearing (also seem OK).

The shake only happens from 45-50 mph... it is smooth as glass any other time. I can also get it to stop if I "brake boost" during the shimmy while maintaining the shimmy speed. That leads me to believe that applying the brakes is causing the alignment to change favorably therefore killing the shimmy. I imagine that if this was caused by the brakes, applying the brakes with force would make it even worse.

My money is 99% on alignment and it always has been. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.

[WOMBAT]

Haven't had a shimmy from alignment... front hub slightly wobbly for any reason? With the brakes on, it's forcing the suspension to load against the car (i know you know that) so I wonder what slop it's removing by doing so - loose subframe attachment or hub/upright mounting point?

[Justin517]

Umm, have you done the thrust arms. The bushings and occasionally the ball joints being bad on them is the #1 reason for front end shimmys in bmws.

even if they look good, they probably aren't if they have over 50-75k or so. Also, even if you replaced them, unless you used Lemforder... they are quite likely bad again already, BTDT with cheap arms.

The brake boost thing you mention further backs up my theory because you are loading the arms in the direction of the slop until it flexes to the point that it stops.

If the arms are of decent quality (not URO brand or some other cheap crap) and the ball joinbts are good, throw some powerflex bushings in the arms, I love them in my 540i.

[gtn116]

I've never had a shake from an alignment. Alignment issues will make it dodgy or wear tires, but I can't see how an alignment would cause that at all.

[loxxrider]

Yeah... I spent a very good chunk of change to put all Lemfoerder stuff on this car. Upper and lower control arms, the struts are brand new koni sports, upper strut mounts are spherical bearing-based, etc. No expense spared on the mechanicals in this thing.

I still think a bad alignment could cause a shimmy if the two tires are fighting each-other from toe issues. Think about it... lets say they are toed in. Both wheels are are trying to push inward, but a slightly washboarded road could initiate a difference in that inward force, which grows in amplitude as the suspension/steering system reaches its natural frequency at a certain speed.

Anyway, I can also imagine that the thrust arm bushings (even though they are brand new, OEM bushings) could be allowing this to happen significantly more than it would if I was using some very spendy spherical bearing-based bushings, but the fact remains that something else is the root cause of the shimmy. Even really, really bad thrust arm bushings can ride just fine with no shimmy as long as everything else (including the road surface) is perfect. Obviously that almost never is the case, but you get the point.

I will align the thing at home just to see how good or bad it is. If it is pretty close to being in spec, I'm not really sure what I'll do. I sort of want to try driving with no calipers on the front to rule out the rotors, but that seems... dangerous LOL.

Maybe I'll buy the spherical bushings if I can't figure it out soon. I'll be pissed if that doesn't help, but they're nice parts to have anyway.

I really can't wait to get to the bottom of this!

Casey, good call on subframe mounts... I'll take a look.

[gtn116]

A toe issue would only hop at low speeds I would think. Anything higher would just scrub tread away. It would have to be REALLY bad. Get some vice grips and pinch off the front brake hoses. Test it before you do high speeds though haha.

[loxxrider]

Time to ramble a bit... this helps me clear my head and get my thoughts in line. Haven't done this in any of my threads in a while, but those who followed my old thread on MG probably remember some rambling from time to time when things needed to be planned or problems needed to be solved!

Bah, I'm really starting to think that the control arm bushings are just too soft for the wheel/tire combo (although I do still think there has to be some root source of the problem). The vibration is relatively subdued on the stock size wheels/tires, but is still present. It seems like the lower profile tires and their stiffer sidewalls just really help to transmit any imperfection in the tire or whatever is causing the shimmy rather than damping it like the balloon tires do so well.

I can push the wheel back and forth in the wheel well by hand when the car is on the ground, so that tells me things need to be stiffer down there. If I can do that by hand, then for sure imperfections in the road or tires (or maybe even some alignment issue) can get that going too. Solid bushings would help stop that from happening for sure.

I'm pretty close to just ordering the super badass Moosehead Engineering spherical bearing setup.

I will still measure alignment tomorrow and will try to make some more progress on the door sill.

Oh, and I have to do a valve cover gasket on the E46 as well as either subframe or diff bushings (or both), and I have to do the water pump on the E36 as it is leaking (been 6 years since the last one was done). The E46 has a clunk in the rear end which can hopefully be attributed to the rear diff bushing... I don't think I'll get that lucky though and I'll probably have to drop the whole rear subframe and do all the bushings. Also hope I don't find a cracked unibody back there where the subframe mounts (there is a class action lawsuit against BMW for this). We'll see. It's all in good fun

[loxxrider]

***k it, I just went ahead and ordered those mofos

http://mooseheadengineering.com/#!/~/product/category=1512131&id=5697121







It was an act of desperation! I want to be able to cross between 45 and 50 mph without feeling like death.

If it doesn't work... I'm going to


I will get to the bottom of this!

The only other ideas I have in mind are wheel bearing and brake rotors. I did notice that one bearing wasn't as smooth as the other when I had them out...

[loxxrider]

Progress has been made... on a different front.

I got an awesome little Christmas present for myself.

(Don't mind the rest of the interior... lol)



ALL SUEDE Mtech 1 with M-tri-color stitching





I might have to wear driving gloves with it just so it doesn't wear, but dammit, it's worth it! I'll probably just use it for special occasions anyway.

The only problem is that the splines don't match up to my steering column...

I knew about this problem going in, but here at the project pad, we aren't your average bunch... we make shizz work!

Here's the low down. All E28s and E24s from 1985 and before had different steering column splines than the 86 and up cars. The older ones had coarse splines, and the new ones have fine splines. I've only seen a few people attempt to adapt a fine spline wheel to a coarse spline car, and it has always involved machining the splines off of the steering wheel and bolting a hub adapter (for example the Momo 2005 adapter which converts from coarse spline to a 6? bolt Momo wheel hub) to the back of the modified steering wheel.

I'd much rather not have to modify the car or the steering wheel. As such, I came up with my own solution.

This is just a mock-up... I didn't have any dimensions when I was drawing this. It was just a conceptual design to get my head wrapped around whether it might work or not.



The following three pictures are from a mye28.com member who modified the steering wheel the way I am looking for an alternative to. They show the Momo 2005 hub adapter that I will have to buy next. The page explaining his method is here:

http://www.mye28.com/tech/rods_pages/id23.html


Here is a picture of the Momo 2005 hub adapter



A picture showing how it must be machined



and a picture of the modified wheel and hub



As you can see, my idea is much different. Again, here is the picture of how I intend to adapt this wheel.



In this picture, the steering column is the teal part, the momo 2005 is the blue part, and the green part is a modified steering column from an E30 or later E28/E24.

The idea is to use the Momo 2005 hub to interface with the splines on the stock 1985 E24 coarse spline steering column shaft. I will then modify the splined part of an E30 or late E24/E28 steering column by cutting it off and threading the inside diameter to screw onto the coarse spline shaft. Since I don't want the steering wheel coming off when I turn left, I will weld a flange to the fine spline shaft which will bolt to the modified Momo hub adapter.

Make sense?

For reference, here are a few pictures of some steering columns I cut off at the junkyard recently (I failed to do the proper research before going to the yard, so I had to try a few times before getting it right lol).

This first one is internally threaded (M14x1.5) and comes from most US spec E36s and E34s.



The next one is from an E30 (any non-airbag E30 should have this... not sure about airbag models). It is externally threaded (M14x1.5).



I was surprised to find that it was hollow... that makes threading it that much easier



Interestingly, the two shafts will thread into one-another



The next step will be purchasing the Momo 2005 hub adapter, fabricating a bit, and then trying it out!

Stay tuned for updates on that.




Here's a pic of the E24 in our mall parking lot. I cannot help myself from looking back at it the whole time I'm walking away.




I also received these BAMFs in the mail last week... still waiting for the tool to press them in while the control arms are on the car.




I haven't made any progress on rust repair because of family being in town. I intend to make some progress this weekend.


Other random news:


The X3 I bought was missing one of the door lock pins when we got it. I decided to machine another the other day. It works and fits great, now I just need to hang it over some acetone vapor to shine it up like the stock one I made the hemisphere at the top more shapely than the original one because I was curious to see how nice of a radius I could get on it by hand. I like the shape.




One mini project I worked on recently was restoring the headlights on the E46. It is always satisfying! In the picture, the passenger side is done, drivers not started yet.




and finally... when I went to the junkyard today to get the E30 splines, I came across a Volvo turbo just sitting on top of an engine. I didn't have to do any work to pull it, so I brought it home with me. If anyone wants it, let me know. It is a 16g TD04 with what looks to be a K24 hotside flange. Seems to be in pretty good shape too. I'll put it on ebay if noone wants it.







No signs of oil leakage in the intake or exhaust sides