The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebaggery

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The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebaggery - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebaggery (/showthread.php?tid=8853)

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Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-19-2012

July marked 3 years of owning this thing, I stumbled acrossed the for sale ad I bought it from on bimmerforums. I was due for a half decent photoshoot of my car in it's latest form anyway, so I thought I'd put together an album of then, now and some of the good ones along the way.

[url]http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1259135&page=1"]http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1259135&page=1[/url]

Bought: 7/16/2009
Mileage Then: 142,000
Mileage Now: 176k+
Total Cost: ????

Parts replaced (from memory and in no particular order): Intake, intake boot, Chip, Wheels twice, tires 3 times, brakes, shocks, springs, end links (also twice), tie rods, RTABs, head unit, headliner, trim wrap, full BSW speaker kit, gone through two subwoofers, steering wheel, front seats, climate control unit, two fuel filters, two sets of ignition coils, a couple of valve cover gaskets, couple sets of spark plugs, headers, VANOS, knock sensors, full shifter rebuild, and a handful of fog lights.

I've added some dents, taken some out, taken paint off and put it back. I've detailed it until its clean enough to eat off of and gotten it to filthy to look straight in the eye. I've tracked it, autocrossed it, beaten on it, neglected it and babied it. I've driven it all across the eastern seaboard, moved in it, worked in it, commuted in it, been in two accidents (neither were my fault) and arguably met my girlfriend because of it. It toes the sociopath line with what it chooses to break and when, but it has never, ever not gotten me home. Even in a blizzard.

It has literally taken my blood, sweat, and tears to keep it going, and taught me through trial-by-fire that I know how to work on cars. If I could go back I wouldn't change a thing.

[Image: nb9SAh.jpg]

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-19-2012

The latest little project was in response to my 3rd or 4th shattered fog light. This one went down one morning on my way to work, presumably thanks to a well aimed rock.

[Image: XrluH.jpg]

I wasn't really interested in continuing to throw my money away on fogs, nor was I thrilled about spending $40 on blanks or $200 on fiberglass air inlets. My co-worker had the borderline genius idea of just using the fog housing to create my own inlet. I hollowed them out, drilled a hole in the back, fitted a 2" flex tube to the driver's side and ran it up to the air intake. Came out pretty good for basically no money and a few hours work.

[Image: sSJCM.jpg]

And a much less flattering angle, a little more time spent smoothing out that edge would make it a lot prettier up close though.

[Image: gzysW.jpg]

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-19-2012

Not too much has happened since then, we headed up to Bimmerfest East in MD which was a completely awesome show. Got to meet a lot of the guys I know on the BMW sites, and see a lot of the crazy builds that I've been watching come together for years.

Here's my album:
http://imgur.com/a/DV2RY

Then a few weeks ago my friend grabbed this awesome rolling shot heading up 28 N with some cars & coffee people.

[Image: m4e6Q.jpg]

My main priority right now is just to drive this thing and save up money for a daily driver. At some point, ideally after the purchase of said daily when I can take my time on it, I need to replace my Guibo, and center support bearing. I also need to fix my rattly, ghetto-as-all header to midpipe connection, which I think is probably going to turn into a full custom midpipe by the time its said and done.

I also need to get some stuff done on Lauren's E39. I've got a slow cooling leak and a slow oil leak to address, a slight shimmy in the front end at highway speeds, and a peculiar squeal when you give it too much throttle and the motor is cold. Almost sounds like a belt slipping. Luckily she only drives about 2 miles a day, so I've been able to limp it along by just keeping the fluids topped up. It's definitely getting close to project time though.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-19-2012

Oh yeah, one more thing. A couple weeks ago I was puttering around looking for something to do, so I pulled my shift surround to re-wrap. The CF looked cool, but didn't line up around the corner and I was never really happy with it. I redid it in alcantara to match my headliner and parcel shelf. I may end up eventually doing the entire lower area of the center console/dash to give it an "extended alcantara" look, like the extended leather you could order on the E34 M5s, we'll see though.

[Image: D65MZl.jpg]

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - Goodspeed - 09-19-2012

Nice - that looks sweet. Mo alcantara = mo betta

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - ScottyB - 09-19-2012

that looks pimp as hell.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-19-2012

Thank you sirs, I'm pretty happy with it. Smile

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-23-2012

Goodspeed Wrote:Nice - that looks sweet. Mo alcantara = mo betta

Mo you say?

[Image: uUCM4h.jpg]

8)

(Sorry for the iphone photos, but it was getting dark and my phone has a lower aperture than my SLR. :? )

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - Goodspeed - 09-24-2012

[Image: 800.jpg]

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-24-2012

^ Linky no worky Sad

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - Goodspeed - 09-24-2012

Oh. Just a "hnnng" picture. Nice work!

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-24-2012

Oh wait, I see it now. Thanks ;-)

bimmerfest.com wasn't crazy about it. The concentration of pimpyness is too high I guess.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 09-25-2012

Mildly interesting tidbit post:

I already posted the car's build sheet on page 1, but I found a guy who could run off build sheets AND provide production info, which is something I've been half-heartedly poking around for since I bought the car.

Quote:It is the 3,575th car made.
There were 21 cars made on 1994-11-28
The most rare option on your car is the option 900. It was installed on 3,903 out of 8,515 cars.
There were 694 1995 BMW M3 Coupe Manual (BF93) - US painted in Dakar Yellow (267) with Black Nappa Leather (0522/N5SW) interior.

So mine is 1 of 694 that came in Dakar Yellow with a black interior. (There were very, very few cars ordered with yellow and a non-black interior, I've only seen one and it was a non-M 'vert, probably not originally yellow.)

I wonder how many of the original 694 of them are left...

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 10-28-2012

Ok, looks like we're taking this project thread to another level whether I like it or not. Yesterday while I was putting on a new main coolant line and heater hoses, I discovered an external headgasket leak at the back of the motor on the exhaust side. Its slow enough that no coolant is really hitting the ground, but its only going to get worse as the weather gets colder and time goes on.

[Image: OhGql.jpg]

Here are the initial options that come to mind:

1.) Have the shop do it. Early googling (not an actual quote from my shop) sounds like that wound cost $1500-2000. The benefit is it gets done right, and gets done quickly, the downside is the massive price tag. I'll have to save up for this, I could probably have it done before Xmas.

2.) Nut up and do it myself. This seems like the most practical option in some ways, but also the most daunting. Someone on bimmerfest did it in a week for under $1k, which is motivating. I could collect all my parts and plan a week to knock the project out. Maybe some local wrench monkeys would be willing to come help me out during the project. (Cough, MM, Cough <3 ) My only concern would be getting into the project to deep, and ending up without a car for weeks.

3.) Swap the motor, the cost of swapping a motor doesn't seem all that much higher than the head job. Motors with decent mileage go for ~$2k, so if I somehow worked a screaming deal on one, I could swap it in a weekend with some friends (aka, DJ and Mike) and be on my way. Another option would be to buy another motor (maybe a 3.2L) with a blown HG, build it on a stand so I can take my time and keep using the car, and then swap it in a weekend once its done. With that I'd just be concerned the cost would get away from me, but if I could float it, and if I had the energy, I could also rebuild my motor when it comes out of the car and recoup a huge chunk of money.

The gasket kit + ARP head stud kid is ~$450. Sending off the head to be tanked, media blasted, planed and valve job would probably be about $500. A tanked S50 or S52+OBD-I swap kit would cost atleast $500, so a minimum of $1500 in the new motor. I could sell my dying one for $500, or throw another $1k at it and sell it for $2k, not really even worth the time.

4.) Buy a daily beater so I can take my time on the project. This seems like such a nice option, but just doesn't feel realistic. I could scoop up an old VW TDI to bomb around it for about $3k, then I'd have to let the M3 sit for a few months while I saved up the $1k-$1500 for the project, but given that I had a daily, I could do it in tiny little pieces, and reassemble a brand new looking engine bay.

#2 is looking like the winner. Certainly not in easiness, but its the cheapest option that gives me the best improvement (my rebuilt motor with ARP studs would be way stronger than a stock one with half the mileage) I can save up all the parts, plan for it, and hopefully with the help of a lot of friends, lots of pizza and beer, I could knock out the entire thing in a week.

I'd love to take this project as an opportunity to drop in some schricks, 3.5in MAF, tune, and finish up the exhaust, but unless I have a rich uncle I don't know about, i think I'll have to stick to basics to keep it affordable. If I could get someone to help me weld up my exhaust, or fab an entirely new midsection, I'd be pretty happy. I can always pop cams in later when I can afford them.

#3 also sounds really tempting despite the additional cost. It will never be easier to stick a 3.2L in my car, and I have all the parts on my OBD-I motor to make the conversion on the donor. Also, having the motor outside of the car would allow me to assemble the entire thing on a bench, no cramped spaced and maybe not as many busted knuckles. I could take my time to build the entire thing, then plan a weekend to pluck out the S50, swap manifolds, and stick the new guy in. The main thing I don't like about that plan is the pathetic hunk of S50 I'll be left with after its all said and done. Not a lot of people are going to be interested in a 180k+ S50 with an external headgasket leak and no intake system.

Any thoughts? Advice?

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - .RJ - 10-28-2012

Are the ARP studs a necessity? Can you re-use the headbolts, or are new OEM cheaper?

I think you could get the head done cheaper at a local machine shop - just needs to be hot tanked and checked for straightness.

I'd DIY. No reason it couldnt be done in a weekend.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - JustinG - 10-29-2012

I didn't see the "yank engine and install LSX" option?

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - BLINGMW - 10-29-2012

3.2 swap doesn't sound all that exciting, isn't the power nearly the same and it has like, a smidge more torque? And then you've got some unknown engine.

I'm with #2 and RJ's recommendation to do it as cheaply as possible and knock it out in a couple days. The factory head bolt set is $20. With this many miles, I too would be tempted to get the head reworked, which is probably the way to go if you plan on driving it for many many more happy years.

But you could just, you know, put it back on and cross your fingers. It's likely straight unless you've overheated it.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - SlimKlim - 10-29-2012

The ARP studs are far from a necessity, but the general consensus seems to be if you are planning on beating on the motor or might one day do forced induction, you should upgrade the studs while you're in there. The 3.2 swap is a small upgrade, but I've always dreamed about camming my motor and having a fiestly little N/A car on my hands. The extra .2 would come in handy if I ever got there.

I guess that's what I'm trying to decide. Do I want to buy the gasket set + OEM head bolts and knock this out in a week, no fancy stuff? Or do I want to try and save up, do it slowly (people are telling me I can drive for a while with the external HG leak, as long as I keep checking the fluids, there's none in the oil), and build the kind of motor I always run my mouth about building.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - ScottyB - 10-29-2012

SlimKlim Wrote:people are telling me I can drive for a while with the external HG leak, as long as I keep checking the fluids, there's none in the oil

i drove my EJ for a couple thousand with an external leak on both banks. just keep an eye on your coolant level and check the oil every gas fillup or so. as long as it doesn't turn into an internal leak....not a big deal. but of course that's the concern.

Re: The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebagger - BLINGMW - 10-29-2012

SlimKlim Wrote:...might one day do forced induction...

Doesn't sound like you're anywhere near that, and haven't even decided if you want to stick with N/A... so upgrade the studs when/if you do go for it. That is relatively easy.

I would also agree you can likely drive it for a long while as-is and have some time to think about it.