Project: 2003 BMW M3

[RawrImAMonster]

Well I replaced my vanos line and it turns out that wasn't the oil leak. So I decided to turn the car on and make a mess in my garage.

Turns out, it's this guy. Anyone know what it's called? That's on the passenger front side of the motor, right by the front most piece of the header.

https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/AppropriateImpureBeaver

[Beej]

Is that the timing chain tensioner?

Weird place to spring a leak.

[RawrImAMonster]

Yeah looks like that's it.

[RawrImAMonster]

New timing chain tensioner and crush washer ordered. I could probably get away with just the crush washer, but at 130k it wouldn't hurt to replace the tensioner as well. I'm guessing the car will be a little quieter on startup with the new tensioner anyway. There is a spring inside them that provides tension until oil pressure builds up so when that spring gets weak, you can have a couple seconds of timing chain rattle when you first start the car.

[RawrImAMonster]

I never updated this, but the timing chain tensioner was definitely my culprit. The original one was not on there very tight at all so I'm guessing it just slowly backed out over the course of 130k miles. Either way, I went ahead and replaced it with a new one and the leaks are gone.

With all of the house stuff I've been working on, I haven't been doing much with this recently, but I'm planning to try to get some things done this fall/over the winter. The big thing is deciding if I want to tackle the rod bearings myself. It's not too bad of a job if you have a good torque wrench that can do angle torque without an additional gauge and a lift (which I'm getting once I drywall/insulate my garage).

Short list of stuff that I'd like to get done:
Rod Bearings
Motor/Trans/Diff mounts
Shifter rebuild
RTAB's (not sure I need these, the car seems to track straight under heavy acceleration, but something is squeaking in the rear when it gets hot)


Otherwise, this thing has continued to be a very solid example of an E46 M3. While it did leave me stranded about a mile from my house due to it puking oil, the cause wasn't some catastrophic failure. It was just a timing chain tensioner slowly getting loose.

[davej]

in for trading drywall/insulation time for lift access at a later date. =)

Glad you got it fixed up without too much heartache, now let's find a sunny afternoon and hit up the quarry road again.

[Senor_Taylor]

Can you actually put a lift in a garage with a basement under it? At this point, I'm like an RTAB expert, so let me know and if I'm in town, I might can help. You can make the rtab tool out of a ball joint press if you want to not buy one, but I firmly suggest you borrow/rent/buy the RTAB tool.


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[JPolen01]

I think it would depend on how thick the concrete is. That's the important thing when you are drilling into the concrete to anchor the lift to it.

[RawrImAMonster]

Yeah, it has reinforced steel beams under it so I'm just going to make sure to set the lift posts directly over one of those. Even without doing that, there likely wouldn't be a problem.

It mostly just depends on concrete thickness and tensile strength.

I'm still going to put the car up on the lift for a couple of days before I risk getting under it the first time though.

[Tyler.M]

I was wondering who'd be first to put a lift in... Hope it works out, that'll be sweet.

[RawrImAMonster]

What would be good alignment specs for my car for a semi-aggressive street setup (it's lowered about 1.5 inches)?  I'm planning on autocrossing and hopefully a track day or two next year, but of course it's going to be used mostly on the street.  This is what I found through some quick googling, does this look about right?

Code:

Type of Driving    Front Camber (Degrees)   Rear Camber (Degrees)   Front Toe (Inches)   Rear Toe (Inches)

Stock                   -1                         -2                -0.18               -0.23
Sporty Street           -2                         -1.8                 0                -0.15

[D_Eclipse9916]

I mean Taylor would know more about "track worthy", but in my inexperienced opinion I would do -2.5 to -3 degrees of camber (assuming you have camber plates, if not knock the "pins" out of the stock plates to get a bit more). Rear camber is fine, I would add a 1/16 total toe up front to get it to feel a bit better on toe in.

[Senor_Taylor]

You want .63 degrees toe out on just one wheel. For Uber aggressive left turns.

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[JPolen01]

For Uber aggressive left turns.

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Is that a maneuver that Uber drivers use as they whip through DC traffic?

[Senor_Taylor]

For Uber aggressive left turns.

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Is that a maneuver that Uber drivers use as they whip through DC traffic?

Yeah, and Lyft is named after the massive amounts of lift-off oversteer the cars are set up to have.

[Jake]

I mean Taylor would know more about "track worthy", but in my inexperienced opinion I would do -2.5 to -3 degrees of camber (assuming you have camber plates, if not knock the "pins" out of the stock plates to get a bit more).  Rear camber is fine, I would add a 1/16 total toe up front to get it to feel a bit better on toe in.

I, too, agree with this under-researched and confidently stated alignment conclusion.

[RawrImAMonster]

I do have the stock camber pins pulled and adjusted all the way in so I should be setting around -2 degrees which is about the most you can get out of the stock top hats (unless you swap them maybe).

When you say add toe up front do you mean toe in or toe out?  Will that cause increased tire wear?

Suspension is clearly not my strong point.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Add just a little 1/16 total toe out up front. I personally like zero but most the guys I work with on car setup, I add a bit of toe and they seem to like it better on turn in. Caveat: it will make it a bit twitchier on the highway, too bad no way to increase caster to counter it on a stock E46 M3 top hat.

It will cause slight increased tire wear but not much. The factory actually comes with a decent amount of toe and wears much worse, so if you were fine with factory, youll be pleased with these settings as far as wear.

[GTBrandon]

So other than reading through this and thinking to myself, wow I really want to get a 10 year older version of my car now (I love how insane that sounds to most non-car people), I have a question that doesn’t seem to be addressed. I’m not super familiar with the process so this might not make sense to do, but why not weld and fill with foam for double the reinforcement if you are already planning on doing the welding as it seems the foam isn’t that expensive? Planning for hopefully the future as this car has always been a dream of mine and I honestly regret going newer other than the whole broke in college and rely on warranty thing.

[Beej]

So other than reading through this and thinking to myself, wow I really want to get a 10 year older version of my car now (I love how insane that sounds to most non-car people), I have a question that doesn’t seem to be addressed. I’m not super familiar with the process so this might not make sense to do, but why not weld and fill with foam for double the reinforcement if you are already planning on doing the welding as it seems the foam isn’t that expensive? Planning for hopefully the future as this car has always been a dream of mine and I honestly regret going newer other than the whole broke in college and rely on warranty thing.

Granted it's been awhile since I've been on e46 forums and may not be fully up to date, but IMO, that's still potentially kicking the can down the road.  Then you have a rock solid rear axle carrier, but then all of the energy goes to where the RACP mounts to the body...which is also a known failure point.  The only way to bulletproof it is to add additional bracing to solidify the whole shebang.  Some dude (VinceSE2? something like that on m3forum.net) made a kit that does exactly that, but it's a good sized job with lots of cutting and welding.

That said, I have epoxied plates on, enjoy the car but don't abuse it, and sleep pretty well at night.