Project: neglected E36

[getfast]

Good news: new plugs and related oil cleanup fixed the intermittent misfire.

Bad news: it came right back 12 miles later.

So tomorrow I'm gonna replace that valve cover gasket set, because oil leaking down into the plug tubes isn't good for anything, whether it's got something to do with the misfire or not. And now I'm pretty sure the miss is coilpacks.

Did the valve cover gasket today just on the off chance that the oil leak was causing the miss. Top end is in great shape, no sludge whatsoever, lots of shiny metal and the gold color of a happy engine. If you look closely you can see the pools of oil in the #1 and #2 tubes:



So that helped. No more oil leak up top, at least not 15 miles later. Misfire came back of course, but it's still so intermittent and not causing a CEL... new used (but known good) coilpacks are going in soon to hopefully fix this problem forever. BTW, whoever installed the last valve cover gasket on this car needs to be punched. Nothing torqued to spec, various rubber grommets cracked or in the wrong place, etc. No wonder it was leaking everywhere...

Otherwise, making a plan for this car. Gonna deal with the throwout bearing (possibly the input shaft bearing) noise in the next few weeks. It wouldn't surprise me if a new clutch kit, rear main seal, slave cylinder, guibo, etc were all installed "while we're in there." Chassis stuff is next. Lining up some used, but known good, suspension parts. Maybe two tires also. Otherwise, clicking right along, 300+ miles so far, doing this as cheap as possible and enjoying it. More updates soon...

[PDenbigh]

Keep the updates coming - fun to read!

[getfast]

We put the car in the air for the first time today...



Good news:
-pretty straight underneath, fairly rust free car
-front lower control arms/balljoints, tie rods, engine & trans mounts, various other bushings, mounts, etc all look ok (but not new)

Bad news:
-nail in one nearly new Kumho tire about 1/4" from sidewall
-two bent wheels, one really bad (wearing a decent Falken) and one probably balanceable with lots of weights (wearing the nearly new Kumho that had the nail in it and is now plugged)
-wasted front lower control arm bushings
-blown rear shocks
-questionable front struts
-much oil down the back of the engine, this may be leftover from the prior valve cover gasket issue
-possible rear main seal leak, or that could just be blown back from aforementioned vcg leak (now fixed)
-missing lower engine tray & poorly attached front fender liners

Also there's no spare tire in the car whatsoever. It's got a jack and a lug wrench, just no spare wheel or tire. Predictably I discovered this when I wondered if there was a non-bent fullsize spare in the trunk that could be swapped for the one really bent wheel.

So needless to say, I'm soon to be hunting down any used 15" OEM E36 wheels, preferrably two of 'em with tires, to then put the less bent one of these in the trunk for a fullsize spare and dispose of the very bent one. And I'll be replacing those FLCA bushings this week.

Still on the hunt for free or cheap known good OBD1 coilpacks also.

[Jake]

Still on the hunt for free or cheap known good OBD1 coilpacks also.

Damn, I had about half of a set from my buddy's 95 525i that were still good. The other three were trashed, but I only replaced the set because Rex had an entire set. They're stupid expensive new, I feel for ya there.

I don't even want to put the E30 on a lift. It'd make your list look very short, I think.

[xvxax]

I have 5 325 sport wheels with 80-90% Michelin Summers on them (wanna say ps2s) that I will sell you. I probably have some other stuff too, but I need to organize. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

[xvxax]

[getfast]

Picked up some known good Bremi coilpacks tonight from a local buddy/E36 guru. Replaced the back three and the misfire is gone. Damn this engine feels strong now... must resist urge to dyno, it's just a beater who cares, etc.

Also picked up some "maybe bent maybe not, and these Michelins may be shot or maybe not" 325is 'bottlecap' wheels today. Gonna bolt 'em on tomorrow night and see. FLCA bushings are also going in tomorrow night, already got spare lollipop brackets to make the job easy.

This thing will soon be in 100% daily driveable condition... other than the clutch related noises, blown-out struts/shocks, and intermittent no-start condition due to ignition switch and/or lock cylinder, of course. Guess it couldn't be all that bad, I've put 450+ miles on the thing in ~8 days... :twisted:

[getfast]

Crossed 500 miles tonight, I mean that I've put on the car in the last 9 days. Got 24.3mpg on the second tank, lotsa city driving.

Bottlecaps & Michelins turned out ok, they'll tide me over until I find something better. At least the car is no longer on two bent wheels and three different brands of tires. :lol:

We didn't get to finish the LCA bushing job, so I drove it home with just the drivers side one replaced. Yes it helped and was noticeable, but only when you run through potholes with the LEFT side of the car :twisted:

Gratuitous pic with FIERY SPARKS:



Note: the LCA bushing job takes twice as long without a sawzall.

[getfast]

Car continues to run well. Finishing LCA bushing job tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Might accidentally install new front lower control arms while it's apart. Oh, and used Konis/H&R's. Oops. :lol:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Uh hoped you didnt use oem bushings on the old arms as it might be a huge bitch (or impossible) get off the new bushings from the old control arms if you installed them properly.

[getfast]

LOL I know, these are "one time use" bushings.

Got spare carriers/bushings to go with the new LCA's and used suspension. Not sure if that's all going on tomorrow or not.

[getfast]

Been too cold for wrenching so I haven't done anything to the car but drive it. Over 800 miles now. Gas mileage continues to plummet, thanks to city driving during holiday shopping season: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fuelly.com/driver/getfast/325i">http://www.fuelly.com/driver/getfast/325i</a><!-- m -->

Oh, I did replace the third brake light bulb to stop the annoying OMG BRAKE LIGHT CIRCUIT message.

Next up.. finishing the LCA bushing job and installing these:



Those are Koni Sports and H&R OE Sports with somewhere between 20k and 25k miles on 'em. Perfect for a street beater - firmer than stock but not uncomfortable during the daily potholecross.

May or may not do new LCA's, haven't decided yet. May have a set on hand during the suspension install and return 'em if not needed. The ones on the car don't look bad, but they don't match (which cheap bastard prior owner only replaced one LCA, seriously?) so I'm wondering if the older of the two is original.

As usual, stay tuned for details :thumbup:

[ScottyB]

cool, enjoying the progress

[getfast]

That warning kept coming up and the third brake light bulb wasn't the problem. Turns out the socket was, and it's all fixed now.

Also picked up some slightly used Eibach adjustable swaybars for it today, 28mm front / 24mm rear. Just gotta get some new end links and whatnot.

Assembling clutch parts now, thinking of putting the car on the lift this weekend and doing everything it really needs all at once, which has become quite a list, and involves way more parts than originally planned, so be it.

Otherwise almost a thousand miles on this boat since taking it off Dave's hands... :thumbup:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Nice, whats a beater without a track suspension?

[getfast]

The car put down 156whp/151wtq on the Dynojet at PAS today, which is of course not much, but also not bad for a bone stock 139k-mile 325...

Otherwise, it looks like it is gonna get a lotta stuff at once.

Konis/H&R's pictured above
Eibach swaybars
new front LCA's & bushings
clutch kit

Probably the week between xmas and new years :twisted:

[D_Eclipse9916]

nice, thats pretty healthy for 140k miles. What clutch ya getting?

[getfast]

Stock Exedy. Nice and cheap, because it's a beater. :lol:

[D_Eclipse9916]

Good choice, I would have done the same. I dread the day when the clutch goes on my m3. $1500 for the stupid Bimmerworld Strapless Clutch/Flyhweel

[getfast]

CEL code was showing for O2 sensor, cleared it, it hasn't returned.

5 weeks and 1k+ miles later the light came back on for the same thing, P1221, oxygen sensor. This might explain the shit mileage lately: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fuelly.com/driver/getfast/325i">http://www.fuelly.com/driver/getfast/325i</a><!-- m -->

A new Bosch piece is like 77 bucks. And unlike my old M3/4, it has one... not four. Gotta love OBD1 cars. :bow: Anyway, it's on the list...

And the car got a workout tonight in the snow. 20 miles of unplowed back roads in 2-3" of fresh powder resulted in two semi-unintentional spins and quite a lot of ASC light blinking:



Tomorrow it will go parking lot drifting for the first time. The open diff is pretty much useless, turn the ASC off and it pitches left in a straight line as soon as traction is lost. Catch it quick or spin. The car is actually pretty useless altogether in the snow on these old Michelins, but as expected, that's not stopping me from driving it anyway :lol: