11-12-2006, 12:27 PM
Yep, another project e30 thread. I bought one cause I missed wrenching, and goddamn, that worked out (for better or worse, depending on your outlook). This ended up being a bigger project than I intended and Mike enjoys that. First post is a biggie since I've been busy.
Bought the car knowing these issues:
-Heat doesn't work (fan doesn't work and heat doesn't come even with the temp knob all the way to the right).
-Rattley exhaust.
-Lopey idle.
So the first thing I change out is the spark plugs, and a couple vacuum fittings to see if that does anything for the idle. It doesn't, so something else must be causing it to seemingly miss at low RPMs. The exhaust rattle seems to be coming right from the middle of the car (PO says it started after he nailed a bump, and that messed up his heatshield and crap). So I replace the cat (and most of the exhaust in the middle of the car, including some nasty bends). The rattle remains unchanged. 0 for 2, but fuck it, I need to get emissions tested.
I win the prize on the emissions machine as I double the maximum value of CO, HC's, and NOx at 25mph (but pass 2 of the 3 at 15mph). I hate reading those results, but everything (including the smell) seems to imply I'm running rich. Bought it with an aftermarket chip, so I yank the ECU to see what that is. It's a Racing Dynamics chip...and according to the part number is for 1/95-8/95 M3's (413 ECU). I have an earlier motor, so I have a 506 ECU. Searches return mixed results as to whether this would work or not, so I now have a stock 506 chip in the mail. Fingers crossed.
So I figure that since I have some downtime, I'll address some other stuff. I yank the intake manifold to replace the idle control valve as a shot-in-the-dark thing, check out the heater hoses, and replace the fuel filter. Just as I suspected (PO said the heat worked before the swap), the hoses to the core are reversed. Swapped those back, so I should have heat now. I also take the blower motor out to see what the deal is with that (resistor often goes out on e30's, but usually you have speed 0 and full speed - not none). On positions 1-3, The wires going to it get no voltage; on speed 4, it gets .8 volts (should bypass the resistor and be full 12 volts). Not sure what's going on with that. But since the motor is out, I hook it up straight to the battery, and goddamn those fuckers spin fast. Putting the motor back in was the biggest pain in the ass - there is one metal clip that goes around the body of the motor that is silly hard to get back in. After about 2 hours of messing with it, I finally get it on...but I must've pulled it out of shape, because it pops off WAY too easy now. Fuck.
There's a known issue with GC coilovers in the rear on these things. If you get too weak of a spring rate on a constant ID spring, the spring will bind up. When springs become solid pieces of metal, shit breaks. Luckily, my trailing arms are only dented, and it doesn't look like they took too bad of a beating. Either way, I ordered 475lb. barrel shaped springs (and camber plates for the front) from GC. Rear springs are in, gorgeous camber plates are still sitting.
I also replaced the leaky valve cover gasket and tightened up leaky power steering hoses.
So things I need to address before moving on to bling:
-Running rich (worse comes to worst, new coils, O2 sensor, HFM, etc...trying to find someone to swap parts with first)
-Lopey idle (related to rich?)
-New diff (3.25 to replace the 3.73, which is way too high)
-One new axle because a CV boot is torn
-Exhaust rattle, and probably new muffler since the Brullen is obnoxious
-Lowbeam adjuster clips are busted, so I'm lighting up the sky
Bought the car knowing these issues:
-Heat doesn't work (fan doesn't work and heat doesn't come even with the temp knob all the way to the right).
-Rattley exhaust.
-Lopey idle.
So the first thing I change out is the spark plugs, and a couple vacuum fittings to see if that does anything for the idle. It doesn't, so something else must be causing it to seemingly miss at low RPMs. The exhaust rattle seems to be coming right from the middle of the car (PO says it started after he nailed a bump, and that messed up his heatshield and crap). So I replace the cat (and most of the exhaust in the middle of the car, including some nasty bends). The rattle remains unchanged. 0 for 2, but fuck it, I need to get emissions tested.
I win the prize on the emissions machine as I double the maximum value of CO, HC's, and NOx at 25mph (but pass 2 of the 3 at 15mph). I hate reading those results, but everything (including the smell) seems to imply I'm running rich. Bought it with an aftermarket chip, so I yank the ECU to see what that is. It's a Racing Dynamics chip...and according to the part number is for 1/95-8/95 M3's (413 ECU). I have an earlier motor, so I have a 506 ECU. Searches return mixed results as to whether this would work or not, so I now have a stock 506 chip in the mail. Fingers crossed.
So I figure that since I have some downtime, I'll address some other stuff. I yank the intake manifold to replace the idle control valve as a shot-in-the-dark thing, check out the heater hoses, and replace the fuel filter. Just as I suspected (PO said the heat worked before the swap), the hoses to the core are reversed. Swapped those back, so I should have heat now. I also take the blower motor out to see what the deal is with that (resistor often goes out on e30's, but usually you have speed 0 and full speed - not none). On positions 1-3, The wires going to it get no voltage; on speed 4, it gets .8 volts (should bypass the resistor and be full 12 volts). Not sure what's going on with that. But since the motor is out, I hook it up straight to the battery, and goddamn those fuckers spin fast. Putting the motor back in was the biggest pain in the ass - there is one metal clip that goes around the body of the motor that is silly hard to get back in. After about 2 hours of messing with it, I finally get it on...but I must've pulled it out of shape, because it pops off WAY too easy now. Fuck.
There's a known issue with GC coilovers in the rear on these things. If you get too weak of a spring rate on a constant ID spring, the spring will bind up. When springs become solid pieces of metal, shit breaks. Luckily, my trailing arms are only dented, and it doesn't look like they took too bad of a beating. Either way, I ordered 475lb. barrel shaped springs (and camber plates for the front) from GC. Rear springs are in, gorgeous camber plates are still sitting.
I also replaced the leaky valve cover gasket and tightened up leaky power steering hoses.
So things I need to address before moving on to bling:
-Running rich (worse comes to worst, new coils, O2 sensor, HFM, etc...trying to find someone to swap parts with first)
-Lopey idle (related to rich?)
-New diff (3.25 to replace the 3.73, which is way too high)
-One new axle because a CV boot is torn
-Exhaust rattle, and probably new muffler since the Brullen is obnoxious
-Lowbeam adjuster clips are busted, so I'm lighting up the sky
2001 M5
2016 M3
2014 Grand Cherokee
Been had: 1984 318i | 2003 S2000 | 1990 330is | 2005 STi | 2005 M3
2016 M3
2014 Grand Cherokee
Been had: 1984 318i | 2003 S2000 | 1990 330is | 2005 STi | 2005 M3
igh:
