New (to me) M3!

Well, I went and purchased the M3 I posted about a while back. The owner came down in price to $4900 safetied and e-tested. 87k miles, salvage title, with some odds and ends that need sorting. (no trunk trim/carpet/jack, missfire attributed to a broken spark plug boot, missing front undertray stuff, crappy riding Tein S-tech springs).

Any tips or recommendations for making this thing a reliable, stockish DD and auto-xer? I know the cooling system is weak, and think I should probably check the oilpump nut. Bushings all appear good, but I need to take a closer look. And good forums you can recommend to me? Thanks! Nathan

[IMG]http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i69/njansenv/PC263240.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i69/njansenv/PC263243.jpg[/IMG]

Looks good. You messed up the IMG tags though.

www.realoem.com and www.pelicanparts.com will be your new best friends.

I don't know anything about the Tein's, but there's a good chance the PO just upgraded the springs and not the shocks, so the car is riding like crap because it's underdamped. If you're just getting started with things, you really can't go wrong by returning an M3 to stock form. Get springs from a dismantler, and replace the shocks with Bilstein HDs. That will improve your ride.

Use stock blank rotors, and go with Hawk HPS pads.

Obviously take care of the other maintenance it needs.

Interior seems really clean. Is that black or violet paint?

derekshannon wrote: I wish I had a car that was so good stock that getting rid of aftermarket mods made it better!

"Aftermarket" doesn't always mean "better". There are more people supplying crap parts than there are people supplying good ones. The majority of people "upgrading" their cars, don't actually know what will improve the car.

The OP said the current springs are crappy. The stock suspension is not crappy. There is certainly room for improvement, but it's not crappy.

When just starting in motorsports, a proven stock suspension is a good base-line to build your skills from. With a properly engineered car, you're better off not upgrading until you have the experience to know what your needs will actually be. Stock E36 M3 suspension is well rounded without any particularly bad habits.

I think these are the pictures.

That sounds like a heck of a score! A manual 4 door M3? That's a pretty rare beast. Congrats. I miss my e36 M3.

Are those Toyo RA1s?

Good eye...but unfortunately not. Bridgestone S-03's, I believe. Lot's of tread, but they look old. (the car was wrecked in '04, and hasn't been driven since)
They suck in snow. :) I think I'll go with stock springs, or at least look into other options. Definitely the original dampers on there though.... The car has UUC camber plates up front, and most of the maintenance seems to be up to date on it, but I'll keep going through it over the course of the winter.

The car is Cosmos-metallic (black).

Thanks all!

Salanis wrote: The OP said the current springs are crappy. The stock suspension is not crappy. There is certainly room for improvement, but it's not crappy.

Agreed. Bilstein HD + stock springs FTW. If you're hearing any strange clunking noises from the rear, check the rear upper shock mounts. Easy/cheap to replace. Source some OE strut plates and either sell the camber plates or keep them on the shelf until later. Most adjustable camber plates will make a car ride rougher.

I'd say most of the 4dr M3's I've seen were manuals...

Roadfly isn't a bad forum for the M3... lots of noise at times, but a few knowledgable folks... and the Bentley tech forums are better than most. I got a lot of good help there before the '97 was sold (I kinda miss that car... ). Hell, just searching on this site will net you some decent info. We seem to discuss M3 and E36 issues with some regularity.

I never got around to checking the oil pump nut... car was sold shortly after learning about it... but IIRC, investigating it is a fairly involved project (requires dropping the oil pan).

Good luck! I was just thinking/talking about the old M3 during lunch today...

Factory Boge dampers are somewhat expensive and don't last well - if the Tiens are adjustable, call them and see if some softer springs will work - you can pick up a set of 2.5" springs in any length and rate for $50 each so ask them for a better street setup and then restore the factory ride height (well, a mild drop...)

If that fails, I'd recco selling them and buying new Koni SAs with factory springs from ebay.

To make it reliable:

• replace the plugs with factory ones

• check the boots on the coil packs... the misfire is probably a bad coil pack and not the boot

• replace the valve cover gasket, the leading cause of coil failure is a leak that shorts out the electrode

• water pump

• check the operation of the electric aux fan, the fan clutch and so on... this leads to overheating and ruins head gaskets

• check radiator necks for cracks, replace if brittle at all

• motor mounts, these break fan blades and the hoses tear off the radiator necks (usually blamed on lousy radiators... but engine movement loads the hoses and yanks on them)

• check guibo, center support, control arms (ball joints), tie rods, bushings, rear shock mounts, rear trailing arm bushings, diff and subframe mounts, replace at any sign of play or cracking.

• replace the shifter bushings and trans mounts with new OE parts (or stiffer) to make the gates less vague

• flush the brake lines with good quality DOT4

That ought to just about do it for the next 50k miles or so of hoonage.

njansenv wrote: Good eye...but unfortunately not. Bridgestone S-03's, I believe. Lot's of tread, but they look old. (the car was wrecked in '04, and hasn't been driven since) They suck in snow. :)

While I have no personal experience (the '97 was parked from Nov thru Mar), I've been told by those who drive them year-round that with a good set of snow tires an M3 is pretty good in the snow. The M3 is a strong candidate to separate Summer/Winter wheels.

Ian_F wrote: Agreed. Bilstein HD + stock springs FTW. If you're hearing any strange clunking noises from the rear, check the rear upper shock mounts. Easy/cheap to replace. Source some OE strut plates and either sell the camber plates or keep them on the shelf until later. Most adjustable camber plates will make a car ride rougher.

I second replacing the rear shock mounts with something more solid. I have ground control mounts on my Z3M.

Thanks for all the tips! Great stuff.
I'll probably buy a dedicated set of rims with snows next year, in the meantime I'll merely look at the car wistfully as it sits under 6" of snow.
I'm pretty sure these Tein springs are primarily of the "appearance" variety. I'm not at all opposed to stiffer springs with appropriate dampers. :) I see Koni's recommended often, how are the Bilsteins in comparison?

I'll be purchasing some parts through the winter: Salanis, you mentioned the HPS pads? Are they pretty good on this application? It's hard to filter through the noise as to what are "good street pads" on most forums.

njansenv wrote: I see Koni's recommended often, how are the Bilsteins in comparison? I'll be purchasing some parts through the winter: Salanis, you mentioned the HPS pads? Are they pretty good on this application? It's hard to filter through the noise as to what are "good street pads" on most forums.

The Bilsteins are generally recognized as the best bet for a serious non-adjustable shock. If just starting out, you don't need (or really want) an adjustable shock. The Bilsteins last pretty much forever, and can even be rebuilt and revalved to change application (but that is not cheap). The Bilsteins are also a better mate to stock M3 springs.

Hawk HPS and HP+ are sort of the "Miata" of pads around here. Which of those two gets recommended based on the use of the car. The HPS is a fantastic Street/Auto-x/Track pad (in that order). It bites when cold and will stand up to light track duty. It will be a bit noisier and dustier than an average pad. The HP+ is a better Track/Street pad. It withstands track use better, but needs to heat up to get good bite. It will be significantly noisier and dustier than a stock pad. So it is not a great street pad, although it is still safe to use on the street if you are familiar with how it will behave.

Unless the primary function of the car will be track use, I recommend the HPS over the HP+.

Edit: All my recommendations are based on the assumption that you're just getting started into motorsports, and that the car will be used primarily on the street, but seeing occasional sporting duty.

IMO... the quality of the Billies with the damping of the Koni would be ideal but in general (I see you are in NJ) the Billies are kindof over-damped on the rebound to the stock springs and feel a little harsh because of it - especially in winter. They match up better to the H&R or Eibach sports. The Koni is rebound adjustable and compression seems to work well from stock up to about 500lb springs so you get the ability to tune it to your taste and more or less match the springs as you go (this is not as good as custom valving or double adjustables but costs a whole lot less).

The "best" (IMO...) solution if you have a little cash and are looking for flexibility in the future is to call Jay at Ground Control and, tell him what you plan to do and pay him about $1800 clams. He can hand you matched springs and dampers in a complete kit and tell you where to set the baseline for height/rake and so on for your application. He knows these cars and supplies a lot of BMWCCA race cars with underpinnings.

I second the HPS for street use and for the track... pass right over the HP+ and go to dedicated race pads. DTC-60s work really well for the weight of a stock E36 with stock calipers/rotors. PF-97s are also excellent.

...And take a close look at the rubber accordian boot upstream from the throttle body. Despite 4 grand worth of STU prep I missed the big freakin' splits in mine 'til the middle of last season.

Redline MTL in the trans and 75/90 in the rear end...