Convertiblau! My 1996 BMW 328iC

[Jake]

Man, this thing is super cool.. Welcome back to convertible land :thumbup:

Hope to see this thing sometime this semester!! :mrgreen:

Ohh you will, don't you worry

So, some updates.

Suspension Follies
I was driving home from seeing a few friends last Friday night around 11 PM. Traveling on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and naturally, right near Anacostia, hit some expansion joints and started hearing this awful rubbing noise whenever the left rear corner got loaded up. Because I was near Anacostia, I elected to finish my drive home veeeeery carefully instead of stopping to check things out. The more I drove, the more it felt like I was driving on the spring. Very bouncy.

Well, I was driving on the spring. The dad/son duo who sold me the car put new rear shocks on it a few weeks ago. They also replaced the rear shock mounts, which are prone to failure. Great! Except... they didn't re-install the washers that keep the rubber from ripping out of the metal mount.

Mine looked like this, except the shock had tucked itself nicely into the inner fender.



I temporarily fixed the one shock mount but was nervous about the other one... so, between needing new RSMs and the front struts being original, I decided to buy Mike D'abreu's used suspension because #fuckit, this thing handles like a Buick right now.



I removed the rear stuff last night, and the other shock fell out of its mounts as soon as I unbolted it from the hub. Thrilling.

Got the new goodies installed in the rear last night - Bilstein shocks and H&R Sport springs. Easy rear install.

Attempted front install last night as well, but a few of the studs that stick out of the upper strut mount/spring perch broke off, which means I need new mounts. Fack. I'm currently trying to figure out if I can use my stock upper mounts - the potential issue would be in the H&R spring diameter. It seems like the H&R's require a 1995 M3 spring perch, as the 96-99 M3 spring perch is smaller in diameter, and thus the springs won't fit safely. The 1995 M3 and all non-M E36's share the same diameter of spring perch.

In theory, then, I'm good. Going to rent a spring compressor tonight and try it out.

Brakes
Rock Auto shipped me front and rear rotors and pads. The rear stuff doesn't fit at all. Pads are the wrong shape, rotors are not large enough to fit over the hubs. Argh. Didn't try the fronts yet because of above suspension BS last night.

Airbag System!
Gotta fix the explode-y things in the dash. I got my occupancy sensor "simulator" (thanks again, Pete!) and some resistors to shove in the seatbelt buckles. That should make the SRS computer behave. Then I have to install the dash light which I plan to pull from the M3.

Convertible Tonneau Cover
I found a guy on Bimmerfest who wrote up how to wire in a separate switch for just the tonneau motor. I got a double throw, double pole switch that should allow me to run the motor both ways by reversing polarity, thus latching and unlatching the tonneau cover. This is a project for a lazy Sunday morning as all of ^^ that is more important right now.

Doin' werk!