M3AN

I'm a little bit happy with cleaning the passenger seat and swapping it onto the driver's side. It's not perfect but those that have seen my car will appreciate the difference. I'm reluctant to install the other seat at the moment lol.

^ I also wondered about that circuit board and thought to just remove it but that would have ended up being more work. As far as mine are concerned they're pretty solid now. Today I had an impulse to see if I could swap the seat cushions left to right without removing the seats... turns out you can and it's really quite simple. It's pretty filthy in some of those crevasses and the plastic seat pans were unspeakable. Gross. My leather is irrecoverable but I thought I'd try and give the one going back into the driver's side a bit of a clean and it came up okay considering. I've yet to decide what to do with the other seat - I'd like to get the leather rips seen to so they don't get worse before I put it all back in the car but I first need to check out my options and I'm not too sure of the legality of driving around with an exposed seat frame.

Yes, I would whilst you have easy access. Both of my exhaust solenoids had dry solder, all 4 were blocked to some extent and all of the filters were toast.

Solider on right? All solenoids re-soldered and reinforced... couldn't be happier with the result, better than factory because I've eliminated the copper (circuit board) connection. Workstation... Result: Did both solenoids on both sides, very happy with the result! Now just waiting for the new o-rings then Mark can have his unit back!

^ to add to above: Use 9v not 12v Use brake cleaner and compressed air Clean from the 'end' out through the 'side' at first, reverse when there's no blockage You need to use both brake cleaner and air when the solenoid is open (charged) Clean, clean, clean = click!, click!, click! (rather than duh, duh, duh). Middle pin on connector is (-) (shared ground) outside pins are (+) (one for each solenoid) Check the circuit boards for dry solder, test impedance with multimeter Discard the brown plastic/gauze filters entirely (once the gauze is gone what's the plastic going to do?)

That's not blowing your own whistle, it's being helpful!

If they've never been cleaned I bet you'll be quite amazed at how much crap is in there. Upon review Kelvin's thread linked above covers the essentials, I'm not sure how I missed that actually. But to provide some filler info here are some good links: http://m5e39.net/how-to-repair-s62-vanos-solenoids (video not text) http://bmwever.com/vanos-solenoid-cleaning-soldering-diy-guide/ https://zroadster.org/articles/bmw-z3-m-s50-engine-vanos-bolts-preventative-maintenance.53/ Keeping in mind that the E36 has a far simpler circuit board arrangement (i.e. none and no diodes).

Interesting. If you have any source links do post them up, I'm quite fascinated by this now. But either way, I agree with your final assessment, good seals and tight covers will be fine. It's not difficult to remove the covers every oil service to check for seal leaks and the gaskets are cheap as chips.

Interesting... you're the only other person that I've known to even recognise the "orange crap" - have you seen it before? Yes, will be using the S62 o-rings but I don't have any so need to pick them up. Will review your thread too...

Whilst I still don't have all of the parts for my VANOS re-rebuild I've made significant progress. All of the solenoids have been cleaned and tested and 100% working which is great. I was not sure of how clean/test them actually because there's not a lot of info out there when I was searching for E36/S50 VANOS topics. A chance discussion with Martin (BreakMyWindow) at the Auckland meet on Sunday helped me establish that the E36 and E39 M's use the same solenoids and the M5 lads have truck-loads of info on this topic. Using this info I was able to recover mine to factory form, and boy were they a long way away from that! One of my exhaust solenoids was almost totally blocked, the other was mostly blocked and even on the intake side they were bad. Now I have a reassuring 'click' from each. Feel free to reply here if you want more detail. Solenoids had ingested most of the "filter" - these will be discarded entirely. And this is on the intake (cooler) side, the exhaust ones had no gauze (orange stuff) left at all. Have really cleaned up the solenoid pockets as well, from this: To this: Just need some o-rings now and I'll be good to go!

Yeah, should be no problem. The solinoid responds to a charge but needs a clean, I'll reinforce them all whilst they're out. I've got all the necessary soldering equipment.

Pretty sure I've worked out why my VANOS exhaust solinoid wasn't working...

No. And don't be mean my seats make me weep.

Its a project of love (and frustration) for me, have to keep going. Perhaps I can achieve the best OEM+ daily driver M3 in NZ?

Delighted to receive my new steering rack today and hope to get it in ASAP because the steering feels sloppy after the suspension upgrade. After oodles of research I decided not to go with the quickest rack available (Z3) because a lot of people (but certainly not all) feel the result is a little too twitchy. That rack is 19% tighter than my stock one, the E46 Compact rack I've just received is 11% tighter than my current one so hopefully a perfect compromise and the reports out of the UK are that it's a fabulous upgrade. I paid £55 and that included lots of high resolution photos and I was allowed to choose a clean low mileage one (27k miles) that had no front end damage... not bad considering they're hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of dollars over here. Indeed it is very clean and in great condition overall, the boots hardly seem used (I don't need the arms but they came included). Will probably order a new reservoir (because it has a non-serviceable filter in it) and gets some hoses made up before I shove it all in (or more likely talk to SJ about it!).

I'd be happy to visit if you lived 800 k's further north! I added extra tape after the first coat as the wind tempted my paper to go AWOL. Feel for ya.

What you can't see in the pictures above is the horrible condition on the black trim that runs across the top of the windows from the A pillar right back to the C pillar. Mine looked like: So a bit of this: And this: And I got this: Much better: I'm delighted with the results and although the texture is a different to OEM you wouldn't know unless you knew. It looks so much better than it did that I'm happy even if it's not perfect. I used Dupli-Color "Custom Wrap" which seems to be the same sort of thing as Plasti-Dip. I'm not sure how long it will last but I used about 3/4 of a $28 can to coat each side 7 times. Application was easy, my second side (driver's) turned out better than the first but even so the first side isn't worth redoing, the imperfections are tiny. It really looks a million bucks - that trim in poor condition is in a place that you simply can't "unsee".

Cheers guys. I'll feel even better when the wheels are fixed up.

Washed...

I had exactly the same issue as you and although it didn't cause a problem it wasn't ideal. Yes the cap nuts are sleeved so they're both more secure in the strut mount ends and they grip more thread. BMW Part #: 51-71-2-268-565 And I got them from: http://www.schmiedmann.com/51-71-2-268-565/product-type/new/search-by-productnumber.aspx

Oh... and did I mention I've got a quick ratio steering rack on the way?

Yippee, some new bits! So yesterday I picked my car up from EUROHO's (SJ's) shop Apex Autos in Porana Road here on the Shore because I now have all of the suspension bits discussed here installed! As well as some reinforcements welded in. I only knew SJ though the forum until we met in person at the recent Coffee & Cars mini-meet and I subsequently found out that he and his dad have a workshop close to where I live and are also competent welders. After discussing what I needed doing and getting competent and confident replies as well as a more than reasonable estimate for the work I had no hesitation signing Apex up for the job. Boy did I make the correct decision! I can't recommend SJ, his dad and Apex enough. These guys aren't just mechanics they're enthusiasts and it shows in every aspect of their work. I received text and mms updates throughout the day, I visited during the job and they were happy to step me through everything and show me progress whilst it was up on the lift. Finally I went to pick her up and SJ had a massive cache of progress photos that I hadn't even asked for! (I was going to ask for photos but the estimate was so reasonable that I didn't think I deserved optional extras). Plus I got a loan car to boot! Without a doubt I'll be using them for more work now and this is not to detract from other other forum sponsors and contributors but when you find a winner you've got to run with that right? I can't recommend them enough, go down, have a chat and draw your own conclusions, I think you'll be happy. I'm glad I got the reinforcements welded in, especially the sway bar ones because boy the stock ones look very, very weak. I got mine from RallyRoad.net but any reputable aftermarket ones will do. If you're not tracking your car or have standard suspension they may not be necessary but it's piece of mind for me, especially with the up-rated suspension. Stock sway bar tab! Reinforced: RTAB reinforcements after a quick spray seal: New springs: So... how does it feel? In a word amazing. It is far, far more compliant than I imagined and is actually more comfortable that it used to be! How? Well I put it down to two things: 1. The spring rates are matched to these specific dampers with the E36 M3 in mind, it's all optimised to go together. 2. The springs are progressive rather than linear like stock therefore they actually 'start' softer than stock. Over typical undulations the car feels softer (vertically) but you can tell the springs get harder faster over more aggressive bumps. Pitch under hard braking is also less. The sway bars seem to have made quite a bit of difference to roll. I've not had the opportunity to get to any significant twisties yet but on some curvy roads that I know I can already feel a difference. It's certainly more confidence inspiring. I'm not used to it all yet but I am very happy. There's absolutely none of the bone jarring rattle and bump that I've experienced with some aftermarket suspension. I'd actually say this is how the car should have some, no M3 driver would reject this as a stock setup in my opinion. Interestingly the car doesn't seem much lower. I did use 15 mm spring pads in the rear because I'm running 255's and needed them to fit. I'm glad I did because the front hasn't come down by the claimed 25 mm and now the rake seems perfect. There's still quite the gap above the front wheel but it's not as cavernous as stock. Note that I was not going for a dumped look. Front gap: Rear gap: And finally I got it all aligned. Now often threads pop up here on the best place to get an alignment and I've previously used Peter Alder at Andrew Simms in Newmarket but he's since moved on. I'd prefer someone local and my brother suggested Wairau Alignment so I went and spoke to them. A brief chat and the fact that they could do it while I waited convinced me to proceed. What another fabulous experience. Caesar the tech that did my car is a BMW enthusiast from way back having owned many cars included an E30 M3 Evo Sport and a E30 335i that had a 635 CSi engine... and he has a couple of BMW bikes that he's prepped for racing including one he chucked a supercharger on... He was happy to show me the alignment equipment (laser of course) and how the machine worked and he stepped me through all of the settings and variations. And he took me for a shake-down drive just to verify. So now I can also recommend Wairau Alignment for those wanting great service on the Shore! Overall I'm delighted with the experience and the rest, happy as a pig in mud! But now the steering can't keep up and feels (relatively) terrible... see the next post... Some proper photos when I get her cleaned (edit: I didn't know it was a 'she' - no problem with that but I'm fascinated that I called 'her' that).

Yeah, a couple of people have mentioned that they're not beyond repair but it will take a lot of manual labour to bring them back. And TBH on that basis I'd probably pay to have them done, my time is too valuable. Whereas I wanted to do the VANOS myself (arguably more time) because I was interested in the mechanics, I'm not particularly interested in leather restoration. Another member here posted a thread with some amazing restoration results about 8 months ago and I called the lady that did his. She came around and took heaps of photos but never got back to me and it just fell off my list in the face of other priorities. I was still looking at over $800 as a rough estimate for a job that would look good for 2-3 years. So I'm weighing up lots of options, repair, new leather (AutoBerry.com), recover (Alcantara etc), replace interior (full Alcantara M3 swap in)... DIY aside, nothing will cost me much under grand, most options much more... Priorities are wheels first though and that's next on my list (QUBE will be happy!). Thanks for the link, it's an encouraging read!

Just installed the official BMW Motorsport cap nuts on my front struts - these are the ones that come with the official Motorsport strut brace and are much cooler than the standard 13mm self locking nuts.

I replaced the chain guide yesterday and re-torqued everything up top which took a few hours but I learned a trick for the hard to get bolts on the valve cover. Ratcheting hex bit screwdriver -> hex to 1/4" socket adapter -> 1/4" universal joint -> 1/4" extension bar (to suit) -> 10mm socket or similar arrangement - perfect, wish I'd discovered this the first time. Took it for a test drive up to red line in a few gears and no codes so it seems okay. Eibach suspension (springs and bars) and rear reinforcements (rear trailing arm pockets and sway bar mounts) go in on Tuesday. New gaskets and HT bolts for VANOS rebuild should be here in the next few days. Big cleanup job ahead.