Eagle

2 hours ago, Vass said:

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned that I was a bit surprised by is that the rear left reinforcement plate covered up one of the holes that the heat shield used to attach to so had to use a self-tapper to fasten it down

Reddish ones dont so id say its a CMP thing or maybe the touring is a little different

2 hours ago, Vass said:

Bilstein B6's, Msport springs, all but crumbled bump stops and what looked like original top hats

B6's have internal bump stops so shouldnt any on there. I can't remember your reasoning behind getting rid of them? not that im a fan of them either for ride quality reasons, but B4's are overpriced if they only last 25,000km like my ones. 

2 hours ago, Vass said:

Can't wait to hear what they think of my solid subframe bushes and camber arms...

Easier to do an alignment with monoball RTAB's and those camber arms compared to stock.

I bought mine nearly 4 years ago as i needed a cheap daily and it was the only thing local for 2k. Money well spend even after dumping a few k into it.

That a fair bit. Assuming you bought them along time ago? maybe they were better quality back then or dont notice the loss as much in the old barges.

I had them my W140 and they were fine (compared to the original 220,000km ones) but only did 2000km.  

Curious what sort of k's people have on these? IIRC @Olaf and @adro are running these on family? wagons

I just replaced the rear set in my compact to try and resolve a harsh and a bit sloppy rear, big rear end improvement just driving casually down the road. Turns out ive done around 25,000km on them, speed bumps, crap road and faster than normal driving hasnt helped them either. Various posts on BMW forums ive come across state they are only good for 20,000-30,000km, which seems to be the case here. Even my tyres have easily outlasted them. Have to do the fronts now because the rear axle is showing it up, they are probably worse off.

Eating my own words here when i say you rarely really notice an obvious decrease in performance until you replace them.

Got to be one of BMW worst transmissions. Makes the timing chain guides seem not so bad. 

With the total amount you have spend on this i dont think that figure really matters 

With heater valve disconnected if should default to open\hot. You should be able to hear it clicking if its working when moving the temperature knob from full cold to hot. If all parts you replaced are working, the system is bled and all hoses are proper hot (you can verify actual temperature with infrared thermometer) then it maybe check the heater flap\cable is moving when going from cold to hot. Never done an E30 but its im assuming its located around the heater box like most vehicles. If its in the closed (forward position?) if will be bypassing the core and not heating air. 

Not sure what sensors you used but i dont trust aftermarket ones myself. Never heard or seen any BMW OE coolant temp sensors fail tbh. My E30 temperature gauge never read right (think it read low or high)and it turned out to be due to bad ground or something loose in the instrument cluster, cant quite recall (If it was ok before then its probably not that though)

12 minutes ago, e30ftw said:

I thought I was the only who did this bleed procedure lol

Haha Ive used it ever since my first E34 in 2005. Probably a old timer BMW trick i saw somewhere.

I like the feel of my M3 oil cap but don't think i would of bought one myself. Not sure id trust a Febi one to hold up over the long term, but suppose its cheap enough and you keeping you old one no doubt

6 hours ago, Vass said:

Impossible to find these in good condition second hand or at wreckers nowadays so got a brand new one through the dealership. 

What do they cost?

A poor man or rugged mans way to bleed the system is to put your mouth over the expansion tank hole and use it to pressurize the system. You block the vent hose with finger etc and use the other hand the open and close the bleeder between breathes. I usually crack the bleeder when its upto operating temperature just be sure sure but there is rarely any significant amounts of air.

Lost count of how many M20 and M30 engines ive done like this before i had a cooling system pressurizer.  

You can also drill a 2mm hole in the thermostat arrow to help bleeding but ive never needed to doing the above

18 hours ago, Vass said:

I stumbled upon the fact that the throwout bearing guide tube is also a wear item that's recommended to be replaced with every clutch job.

Never come across that, where was that stated? Ive seen them all sort of condition on lots of different makes and models, they would have to be extremely worn to cause any obvious clutch issue. Ive replaced them on a few BMW's because OCD\feel good factor, but we lucky we can still buy new parts like these for old cars unlike many other brands.

I think i said it before but im certain you got the best mechanical condition E46 in the country. 

The lower control arms on earlier models like E34 and E39 rarely went bad in my experience, always ball joint failure rather than the bushing.  

The tension struts\upper control arms are the ones that take the most load and its usually the bushing the fails. I tend to replace only the bushing if the ball joint is still good because i believe the OE ball joints are superior\tend to last longer than most replacements. The main downside is a chance to damage the ball joint boot upon removal even with the proper tool. 

In your situation id probably just buy the complete arms with bushings installed either Lemforder or Meyle HD. Not sure what the labour costs would be,but its certainly easier and less hassle with complete arms. Dont have to worry about anyone stuffing the job up either.

If not re-using the bearing then heating around the shaft with a torch whilst having a puller on the hub hasn't failed me yet.  

Ive got some genuine BMW sound deadening pad spare if you ever want some to fill in gaps. Guessing tourings have more of it after that pictured front beam?

Yeah i see him advertising on facebook. I think local is fine if you aren't particular about brands and doing small orders. Most of us here go for the higher quality stuff and order lots of parts at once, local doesnt really work well for that.

22 hours ago, Harper said:

Will be doing a factory wiper delete as well convert to a RF key instead of the shitty IR key at the same time since the FZV module is in the hatch on the compacts.

Wiper delete for looks? Some situations i wish all cars had rear wipers.  

11 hours ago, hqstu said:

@Eagle

?

Na mine hasn't left the shed in awhile. There's is a few around no doubt.

43 minutes ago, NZ_InFerno said:

Don't buy shitty solenoids kids. 

and all the other electrical stuff

I agree about the E36 vert. Chuck a purple tag rack in and its probably got the best steering feel too.

Some maybe better than others but end of the day they are all low tier rubber. Supercats were one of the OG budget tyres before all the chinese flavors flooded the market.

Yeah suppose it depends on how bad it is\can you live with it. Could have the balanced checked on the shaft just to be sure 

Have had some success rotating the position of the flanges but only if had to take the thing for another reasons. I usually tighten it up the the diff first and loosen the transmission cross member and mounts when car is level, push it up and down so everything rests in its natural position, then retighten.

Minor shimmys and resonance\humming are the only real issue ive ever had with BMW's. The ones that were smooth were ones that hadn't been touched from the factory. They may get a final balance as a complete assembly.

TIS usually states for various BMW's that the driveshaft ends should be marked in relation to transmission and diff flanges due to this, obviously you cant do that with used parts though. Worn driveshaft center sleeve can cause vibrations, i usually replace it the same time as the flex disc. Assume you checked the CV joint. Also had crappy CSB's cause issues too. 

Compared to places like UK etc i dont you really need to go that deep. The underside isnt that exposed really either and if kept clean and not used in harsh condition should last ages even with cheap paint.

I used 2k primer, 1k base e-coat colour and the same 3M sealer. Reddish recommend applying cavity wax after painting because when you weld its burns up the factory stuff in the internal cavities. I used 3M and some applicator wands, expensive but good as most 3M products are

300,000km is nothing these days. Someone just hurt because they bought arguably the worst\cheapest BMW you can buy then found out after the fact. 

Every brand has made problematic engines. Problem is 90% of people who buy these cars have no clue about them and whats required to run them, they just see a cheap BMW. Rarely do any research or ask workshops for advice or even get PPI done before buying. They certainly cry about BMW's being unreliable and expensive when they fail though, which is fine by me because limits these fools ruining the better ones.

Yeah all the M4X and M5X engines are in that regard.