KwS

Those Alpina sound like they are E36/E46 offset though. Ps, buy the M parallels, they're gorgeous.

Can you get a photo of the markings on the backside of the wheel face? That'd give you an idea of what it is

Oh gutted, freedom spec engine strikes again.

I wasn't aware of that, I thought only the E36 M3 got that poxy "US ///M" motor and the zeds got the full fat euro engine?

This doesn't compute eh. M54B30 is factory rated for 228hp, so that will be at the flywheel and less ATW. My old S50B30 made 240hp ATW, and the B32 makes more than that, sooooooo.... I'm with you on that one. Someone is spinning a story there.

Ouch, yeah, way over priced. Not Motorsport, no cruise, no paddleshift, no comfort access, no light package, no xenon, pretty basic really.

I know when i had the E91 i looked into Carly and there were warnings about certain FRM units that would sh*t the bed if used with Carly. Maybe related? http://support.mycarly.com/knowledge-base/carly-safe-coding-specially-regarding-frm-ecu/

A lot of cars have locking tabs/washers and according to realoem and google the e36 is one of them. looks like they were axed for the e46 so will run without. Thanks for the info on the lock stops. Sounds like something I don't need, so will run without.

Do they double as locking washers to lock the inner rack ends or is it just to shorten lock?

Came out of a compact. What are the stops? It looks like the e36 used thin metal washers as locking tabs? No sign of anything for locking tabs in realoem for e46 ti

Iirc the common single mass conversion flywheel is an M20 one? I recall that's what was used when my 323i was converted. I believe there are good options for flywheel and clutch kits on trademe now, but someone else will need to chime in on that.

E46 steering rack. Do they use locking tabs on the inner rack ends? Rack came without ends, and new ends dont have locking tabs.

Welcome back. E36 life is best life. Hellrot really does suit the shape, lovely.

Made my e36 too low. Now to raise it up so I can get out the driveway.

Big end breaings on the crank. Doing that is also covered in the same video series (and episode) I mentioned above.

If you haven't already, have a look at the Weekends With Moose series on the Speed Academy Youtube channel. They are doing an E36 M3 Euro project, and one of the episodes focuses on the sump. The standard sump looks to have good baffles anyway, but an upgrade to a 3.2 dual pickup pump and sump would be better if you were on the track.

Typical Q&A warriors talking sh*t with no intention of buying. I kinda agree on the whole, should cert before sale thing, but also know what it's like when you just don't have time to do it. Looks like a tidy example though

I havent, but will keep it in mind. My only issue is the rough idle, it starts first pop hot or cold. Will see what happens with the new FPR and maybe do the relays anyway later.

Interesting, that one idled like a dream. I recall I had the intake off at one point but dont remember why. Be worth checking the ICV and its piping. Also worth checking fuel pressure as that warm start issue is usually a sign of the fuel pump one-way valve failing and bleeding all the residual pressure away. Easiest to test the fuel pressure from under the car, at the outlet of the fuel filter, rather than trying to get at the fuel hose at the back of the rail. In regards to the current one, I tested the fuel pressure today. The FPR is rated at a max of 3BAR (43psi). At idle, with the vac line attached, I had 50psi. With the vac line attached, according to the manual, I should see 6-10psi less than 43psi at idle, so should have about 35psi or so. New FPR is on the way, so will see what happens when I replace that. Fingers crossed.

Not the only one! Realistically it's not that bad, a slight stumble when warm and lumpy when cold. Just bothers me not knowing what it is!

Its a tad primitive. Its no wonder they changed to the Siemens on the B32 Good point on the tube. Mine doesn't seem bothered, but I made sure to unhook it further down the engine bay so it could move and not bend.

Another part of trying to sort the idle is to replace the idle control valve, which has been a bit suspect from the beginning. I don't particularly enjoy taking the intake off, but its the only way to get to the idle valve. I cleaned the idle valve a while back, but obviously it was still suspect. Even after cleaning I was still getting a reading of zero in DIS for idle air flow (I haven't had a chance to test since replacement). After some research it turned out that the S50B30 idle valve is shared with the M60/M62 BMW V8 engines, so although its bigger and not shared with the other I6 engines, it's not too hard to source one from an E34/E39/E38. I got a good used replacement, and got to work pulling the intake out again. Thankfully last time I had it all off I chose to fit a pod filter instead of the standard airbox, as that was one part that pissed me off a lot when reassembling; refitting the airbox. Taking the plenum off doesn't take too long, it's just a bit fiddly. Here we go again Out came the old valve. The only difference between the M6x ones and S50 is that there is a rubber grommet on the M6x ones. Once you pull that off, they are the same, even down to Bosch part number. It became obvious that despite me cleaning it, the original valve was still sticking, and it moved nowhere near as freely as the used replacement. An easy test of how freely they operate is to twist/shake the unit side to side and see how easily the shutter inside it moves. The old one needs quite a firm shake to move the shutter, whilst the replacement moves very freely. I suspect this is how the original one moved in DIS but may not be working correctly. With a full whack of voltage to fully open or close it (as the DIS test does), it works OK, but you can't finesse the movement and tweak it just a little. With one of my previous orders, I had ordered a replacement mount for the valve, as the old one was brittle and broke last time I removed it (hence the zip tie in the above photos). On went the new mount. I fit the replacement valve, reassembled, and tested. It seems the idle acts a bit better than it did, with noticeable changes when load is applied at idle, but it's still rough and misfiring at idle, so obviously the idle valve was an issue, but not related to my original fault.

In my quest to smooth out my idle issue, I wanted to remove and check the DME and VNC units. The DME (Digital Motor Electronics or ECU in normal cars) and VNC (Vanos control unit) are both stacked in a little compartment at the back of the engine bay, under the cowling. There are two things that these units are known for; A, getting waterlogged in that compartment and B, cracking solder joints. This is where they live in a RHD engine bay. On the LH side, and on the M3, behind the coolant expansion tank. ALWAYS start by disconnecting the battery. You don't want to short this stuff out. First, the coolant tank needs to be moved. This is clipped in at the back, and hooked into a tab at the front. The rear of the tank will just lift upwards out of its clip and then side toward the rear of the car to disengage the front tab. This allows you to undo the 5 screws that surround the black panel. A 1/4" ratchet was the best for fitting in here. The RH side of the panel is hooked into a little tab. You need to pull the LH side towards the front of the car, whilst holding the loom against the firewall (to unhook it from plastic panel), and then slide the panel to the left. Then you have a big gaping hole with wires and control units in it. This is the point where you can tell if it's been full of water in there or not. Mine, thankfully, looked pretty dry. A bit dusty if anything. On the bottom, with the big connector, is the DME. Up top is the VNC, with a smaller connector. I found removing the DME connector from the DME before sliding the unit forward, was a lot easier than trying to remove the DME first, as there is limited space due to the fuse box. To remove the DME connector, the silver metal locking tab needs to be lifted up, away from the DME. This will allow you to tilt the wire end of the connector away from the DME. The other end of the connector is hooked into the DME and to disengage it you need to tilt the connector away from the DME until it slides out. The DME is then friction fit into its mount. It will slide forward with a bit of pressure, and come out. With the DME out and on the bench, I needed to disassemble it to inspect the solder joints. Normally this requires bending tabs on the bottom of the unit, but my DME has obviously been open before, and these tabs are missing. Then there are a bunch of screws top and bottom. The little ones are Torx 8, which thankfully being an ex-Apple Computer technician, I have T8 drivers just kicking around. With all the screws out (including the four large ones in the below photo), the casing comes off and leaves bare boards Now, the DME3.3 used with the S50B30 is a two board setup joined by a ribbon cable. This is fairly straightforward, only complicated slightly by the fact that one layer of the boards has its own pins in the connector, and needs some specific conditions to remove the pins. The pins are the top layer In the bottom corner of the boards there are two little plastic retaining clips on each corner of the board. These pull apart to release the boards, and then the boards must be carefully prised apart. You need to separate them at least as far as the above photo, if not slightly further. Just don't damage the flex cable between the two. With the two boards apart, you need to carefully pry the layer of pins out of the connector. There are a couple of clips on the back of the connector that need to be undone (pre-broken off on my DME), and then using a little flat blade screwdriver, wedge it between the top of the plastic around the pins, and the lip just above them on the casing. If you have enough angle on the boards, this should allow the pins to pop out backwards The DME should then open out into two boards This is also the same procedure required to chip the DME, which I figure is why my DME has been open before. There were obvious witness marks on the tune chip socket. The chip that would be replaced is circled below Anyway, that's not what I'm here for (for now). What I wanted to check for, were cracked solder joints. Anyone who is a long time reader of mine will likely remember I fixed Nicks Vitesse by fixing solder joints in his ECU. This is the same thing I'm looking for here. A quick nosy around and I spotted a couple of very suspicious looking joints. Most of them were on the large diodes on the main board. I fired up the old soldering station, cracked up the temps, and went to work resoldering the joints. In the end I think there were about 6 joints that I resoldered. Reassembly of the DME is just the reverse of disassembly. Hook in the pins, press the boards together and then reinstall the casing and screws. Next was to remove the VNC. This is a weirder mount; you need to slide the VNC towards the rear of the car, and then down, to get it out. The connector has a tab that slides across to unlock and remove it. A bunch of little screws hold the top cover on, and once removed, reveal the magical guts of the unit that makes Vanos work. And as a reminder of how special these early M3s were, all the original VNC chips have a handwritten sticker on them. This is also the chip that gets replaced when you chip the car (both the DME and VNC need to be chipped). I completely removed the board from the housing, but found nothing out of the ordinary here, so reinstalled and reassembled it. Refitting the VNC to its mount is a pain. It needs to slide backward and up, and then forward to lock it in. The connectors and cover then go back on, and the battery can be reconnected. The result of this work was... nothing. No change at all. Still runs and drives the same, but at least I know it should be more reliable in the future. I now also know how to remove the DME and VNC to chip it if those "Group N" chips on eBay tempt me too much.

One for each foot, duh.

Just listed some stuff I still had kicking around in the garage, which may be of benefit to some here. Standard satin silver PreLCI E90/E91 grilles https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2167618000 PreLCI E90/E91 Motorsport bumper mesh https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2167635938 Mixed N54 coils x6 https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2167627718 N54 intake walnut blasting tool https://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=2167621288 No buy nows to be added, goes to the highest bidder.