turbolizard

I am taking apart a front suspension strut on an e34 BMW and things are weird – I have done many struts before and never seen one behave like this. My normal process is… loosen the strut top nut slightly, while still in the car (which I did) take the strut assembly from the car (which I did) compress the spring, which relieves tension on the top mount remove top mount and disassemble the spring and strut. Not this time though – at step 3 the shock damper rod is pulling into the body of the shock as the spring is compressed, keeping a high compressive load on the spring. The rod pulled in about 40mm. The force pulling the rod into the shock body is really high – it is not just dropping under gravity. Even with the spring very compressed you cannot pull the top mount back up by hand at all. This behaviour was totally mystifying me so to confirm it I put a piece of metal angle up against the piston rod, between the shock body and top mount, to prevent the rod from moving down into the body. I could then compress the spring as I expected and could easily get it loose between the top mount and bottom perch (with the metal angle holding the rod at full extension). This confirmed that the piston rod is pulling in pretty hard. With the spring compressed and loose there is now a lot of compression force on the angle (piston rod is definitely pulling hard into the body), so there is still tension on the nut. I do not want to release the nut off the top, even though the spring is no longer pushing on the top mount. If I did release the nut then I expect the rod would shoot downwards. I don’t think things would fly anywhere because there is no elastic energy in the angle holding it up, but I don’t want to do it when I don’t understand the cause. What the heck is going on? The replacement struts I have push outwards with gas pressure as expected.

Looking for a nice set of e34 sill strips. These are the aluminum and plastic/rubber plates under the doors that say 'BMW' on them. I would prefer a set in really good condition, but being realistic about used parts a few scratches could be ok.

This car used to be real hot, but something has changed. Can't quite pick out what is different. Maybe it is lower now, which I guess makes it look cooler.

The battery in my e39 M5 lasted 12 years! Reading this thread does make me thankful my car is at least a little bit simpler but it can be really interesting digging into the engineering - it sure helps if you have time and dont need the car every day.

Amen to this. I would rather put my fist through an off brand touch screen than have to try and use it in real life.

Sent you a PM. A friend has one that might suit you.

Since you already have an M40 manual then a swap to M42 would be pretty easy. You should be able to find one pretty easy, they are not all that rare. The power gains would be bigger than a cam and chip on the M40 and I would think a good running M42 might be cheaper than buying the cam and putting it in. An M42 swap is certainly worth considering - you would then have the great handling of the 4cyl and a much better platform for any future development. It might cost a bit more, but I think it would only be a few hundred more.

Based on my own experience with my 540is I would agree with this comment. I put in single mass flywheel and new pressure plate / sprung clutch plate etc in my 540 and it is just fine. However, I liked the original dual mass flywheel setup. It was smoother and in my opinion it just suits the style of car better. If it was a race car then it might be different, but BMW road cars are not race cars.

I bought some of these Garagistic gears. They are effective, easy to fit and good price. They might take a while to arrive as they have been a bit slow on delivery of a few things to me, on a couple of orders, but everything has always worked out.

The M40 / M42 has an eye cast into the rear of the block near the top on the left side (above the starter). M44 may even be the same block casting, or even if not it may have the eye cast in the same place.

Yep! I agree. I didn't want cheap - I wanted good value - and that is what I got. In fact, I think it was great value. I did not mean to imply it was expensive, as that was not the case at all.

I had some work done at Taylor Automotive. I didn't think it was cheap, but I did think it was good value.

How wide and tall is the main body of the radiator (the finned part)?

That is getting down to the price level some guys want for an e30 with the same mileage. Ok, not exactly, but the interior looks in better shape than some of those high priced e30s.

Very interested. PM'd What are widths, offset, bolt pattern and centre bore?

I don't know the specifics of the car in this thread at all, but I think a really decent low km e30 is worth quite a lot of money nowdays, if you can find one. The overpriced cars (in my opinion) are the e30s at the lower end of the market. These worn out, poor condition cars are on their last legs and would cost a fortune to lift to the level of some of the nicer cars. It will be a contentious point to all 4 door fans, but I also think the premium for 2 door cars will greatly increase over the 4 door as the cars get older and rarer.

This explanation has some of the individual factors explained quite well but ultimately the conclusions are quite wrong. Lubed bolts need less torque, not more. At about 13 minutes the presenter really goes off track. The reduction in friction in the lubricated bolts means there is more extension of the bolt (clamping force) with less applied torque, so the rule of thumb ratios he uses for torque that goes "into clamping" do not apply universally to dry and lubed threads as he assumes. His experiment actually shows this when he tightens all bolts to the same torque (20ft-lb). The lubed bolts rotate further - and are actually tighter (have more clamping force) than the unlubricated bolt at that point. If you look at torque tables from reputable fastener manufacturers you will be able to see their recommendations in practice. Lubricated threads require less torque to achieve the same stretch (clamping force) compared to dry fasteners. If you lubricate a thread and then torque it to its dry spec it will be over tightened. The presenter shows some data at 16:40 that actually demonstrates this - the bolts yield at lower torque when lubricated.

Great that Amazon helped you out. I have used Mainfreight within NZ and kiwishipping (Mainfreight) from the US. They have been really helpful and reliable for me on a number of occasions, usually on quite large items like engines and machinery parts. My only bad repeated experience is with Peter Baker Transport (PBT) - they have damaged more than half off all the items they have ever touched for me. When I told someone else about my experience with PBT they told me it stands for Probably Broken Transport, or Peter Breaker Transport.

I will take it. PM'd.

How tight is too tight? It seems that even a slight movement on the engine mounts (perhaps due to plenty of torque) will cause the header to bind the steering.

I think it is pretty unlikely the bulk of the oil is actually heating and cooling that quickly. I would guess it is the sensor being exposed to different sources of oil in corners. Is the sensor in the sump or in some part of the pressurised oil flow path? Does the bulk of the oil flow away from the sensor in turns leaving hotter oil flowing back to the sump running directly over it?

There are many possible opinions on this - a bit like asking what oil to use. People will ask you how much you value your head and whats inside it, even though this is not really instructive. Some will mock you for cheaping out if you spend less than $1000. Others will tell you where to get a helmet for $150 that meets the rules and consider it unnecessary to spend more. Make sure you know the rules for whatever you want to compete in. The most important thing is to find a helmet that fits. Try on quite a few as you may find that some brands do not actually work for you no matter what size you select. You might just have to find a different brand to get one that works and this applies to high end helmets as well as cheap ones. Apart from fit, you can get more if you pay more. For example, light weight laminate helmets are expensive but they are much nicer to wear as they don't pull on your neck with g forces and the same would apply if you crash. The more expensive helmets will most likely have SAH rating so they can be easily used with HANS. Consider getting a balaclava too, even if just to keep your helmet much cleaner and nicer. Cars can be hot.

I don't think you need to feel too ripped off. Yes, it is a very expensive O-ring and if you were buying 20 and paying $120 that would be a massive ripoff. But try looking at it this way, the guy stopped working on something else to help you and its not like you spend a lot of money with him the rest of the year. He didn't actually make anything out of this sale. Meanwhile, you got what you needed to get your car going for little more than the cost of an ice cream - I reckon that is an ok outcome and you can feel fine about it if you want to.

PM sent

I also had to make a tool to hold the water pump pulley but it was very easy. Just measure the bolt pitch on the water pump bolts and drill a couple of properly spaced holes in a bit of flat bar.