[johnnyBgood]

E30+E36

1st......My brother finally bought his E30 M3.....a California one owner 1988 Diamondschwartz Black Metallic beauty....he made an even trade for it, for his 2004 Z4....from Enthusiast Auto in Ohio.....So, he has the car shipped via truck/car transport.....when the car arrived it looked like everything was as expected, until the road test........A very loud grinding growl @ speeds of 25 mph +.....so, I look @ him & say wheel bearings or rear differential......?

E30
Saturday....front wheel bearings replaced, noise still there! Started on the rear bearings Saturday night.....exhausted & quit about 9 pm.....

Sunday morning @ about 10 am work resumed, the rear wheel bearings are pressed into the lower control arm assembly.....& a bitch to get out.....without the help from pullers & press tools.....rented from autozone for free!......5 hours later new bearings installed & a road test of joy for my bro! Noise gone!.....

Forgot to mention the very large 46mm $50.00 dollar socket that was needed for the front axle nuts....

E36
I decided to tighten up my front suspension on the E36, with a purchase of FCP Gronton's......E36 M3 UPGRADE COMPLETE FRONT STEERING AND SUSPENSION KIT for a reasonable $210.00 & free shipping.......you get 2 full control arms with balljoints, 2 full tie rods, & 2 M3 solid offset control arm bushings.....
BMW E36 5-piece Control Arms and Tie Rods Kit

A fairly easy job, also need the right tools, I needed to use the press tool kit from Autozone to press the new M3 solid offset bushings into the control arm housings......3 hours later, a stiffer handling front suspension!

And that concluded this E66 Weekend @ my brother's house......

DIY links used.....

E30:
Pelican Technical Article: BMW E30 3 Series Front Wheel Bearing Replacement

E30 rear wheel bearing replacement

Pelican Technical Article: BMW E30 3 Series Rear Wheel Bearing

E36:
Pelican Technical Article: BMW E36 3-Series Control Arm Placement

jb

p.s. my neck is killing me! pics of his E30 M3 to come!

 

[BimmerE39]

Good stuff Johnny! One thing that's great about the E36 is the amount of awesome upgrades you can perform.

Your weekend sounds a whole lot more fun than my current upkeep task. I'm in the process of changing my valve cover gasket right now. it's probably going to take me a good 2 hours to clean up all the caked on burnt oil and shit but overall the valve train components look to be in good shape. No more burning oil smell for me!

 

[johnnyBgood]

Good stuff Johnny! One thing that's great about the E36 is the amount of awesome upgrades you can perform.

Your weekend sounds a whole lot more fun than my current upkeep task. I'm in the process of changing my valve cover gasket right now. it's probably going to take me a good 2 hours to clean up all the caked on burnt oil and shit but overall the valve train components look to be in good shape. No more burning oil smell for me!

Thanks......I had the same issue with my valve cover about 2 years ago......
the gaskets hardened so much, they were like plastic....& very hard to remove....but everything else is fairly easy.....you are right, about 2 hours....


johnny

 

[BimmerE39]

Really? For me the gasket itself wasn't even sticking to the valve cover or the head itself. It literally fell right off which was surprising because I expected to struggle getting it off on at least one of the pieces. I made sure to order all the grommets as well because I had a nasty oil leak at cylinder #2 in particular. The ignition coil was soaked and I had to clean it up.