GMW E36 repair log

This was originally supposed to be a thread were I was going to document the basic repairs and upgrades I performed to the (nicknamed) GMW 350ci, but unfortunately life sometimes has a way of happening and dictating what you are focusing on.

It started off fairly straight forward. Had to adapt to driving a standard as a daily, and learn how to drive a standard on track. With a GM performance small block and most of the interior functioning as it should, and tackling a few small issues as quickly as possible. Namely a transmission fluid leak (which was actually the GM speedometer sensor leaking around the oring), and leaky slave cylinder.

Its not bad looking, needed some cosmetic work at the start. 

Pictures with its distant sibling. First off I drove it as a daily, enjoying it almost too much and rethinking the thought of using it as a track vehicle. Realized just how tiny it is comparably to everything else I own.

First I got the headlights polished (Free to me because I was booked in for a windshield at the same place)

Then during a trip to the city, I peeled off the chrome trim someone had but on the grille

Then a week later the previous owner contacted me to tell me he finally had a chance to dig out the summer wheels and tires for the car so I picked them up.

Prior to picking them up, I had never seen them, I was surprised to see a set of 17x8 Momo Arrows with undersized (and old) Pirelli tires (215/40r17)

Had to compare them to the intrepid wheel and tire combo (245/45R18)

Got the Momo's balanced before putting them on the car

Fitment is awesome. 

I got the windshield replaced and took it in to my vinyl guy to fix up the sides since the door molding clips I bought didn't seem to be working properly, we filled the body trim channels with some semi gloss black vinyl. Its a detail that unless I point it out to people they can't see it. I mostly wanted to not have tape holding on the trim pieces and because there are holes I didn't want to let water get in and rust the car from the inside out.

Looks better clean.

I have had good luck with the 'Reflect-a-Gold' on intakes previsously so I did that since I had some extra on hand.

Made it to the first event the BMW club put on. Its Autocross meets Time attack. They call it 'Driver Training' its non competitive around a Go-Kart track that can be set up in a few different layouts. You go out and run 2 laps around the course. You are timed, its mostly to learn the car and such. A lot of fun, except I was on the aforementioned old tires.

My fastest lap with the BMW was on par with the Intrepid, but this was my first time out, so it will definitely see future and more track use and track upgrades.

Up until this point everything was going swimmingly, I was pricing out some preferred suspension upgrades and budgeting to get some very needed tires, checking with the WSCC about seat requirements (the drivers seat leather lost the 3 years stored outside battle and is in horrible shape, so if I'm changing it I want to make sure I'm not going to get sent home for having a seat that doesn't meet requirements) and speccing out an exhaust system to make it both removable and add a bit of a note to the car.

And then this happened...

A yearling deer jumped out from the ditch beside an approach. I slammed on the brakes but still hit him full stride at about 95km/h. Luckily, it was a yearling and he was full sprint and I hit him above the bumper. The downside obviously was the extensive damage. Mild coolant leak  at the seen. I flat towed it home. It did drive itself to the other side of the highway to be towed, and it drove itself into my shop. 

When I was able to get the hood open I was able to survey the extent of the damage.

Downside, because of the mounting for the rad being a 'wedged in place' fit, the force of the deer popped it out of place and the water pump ate it

Being an individual that can look at anything and see opportunity, I took this time to fully remove the non functional A/C and fix the relays to the fan. 

The cheap 90's bodykit bumper survived surprisingly well, mostly paint flaked off in chunks and somehow the glass foglights took damage.

I pulled the corner of the fender straight since its rusty and I want to find a turn signal side marker fender for the drivers side yet.

I got very lucky that a buddy had a bunch of old E36 parts kicking around and I was able to pick up a lot of what I needed as well as some more extras I need to pick up yet (drivers side door, trunk lid and rear suspension arms) 

And a local guy had a set of headlights and tail lights for $30 so I now have 3 sets of tail lights in total.

The rad is an aluminum e36 upgrade rad which meant I needed to source a bunch of parts from Pelican parts which arrived this week so I can get it mounted and begin to get the rest of everything mounted up.

Since i was searching I decided now was the time for fresh foglights and clear corner markers as well. 

Don't mind the soaked pictures, the roof of my shop garage leaks bad. We had a tarp over it and it helped, but a windstorm and the age of the tarp (3 years) shredded it. I do need to do a serious amount of work on my shop one of these days... 

You may have noticed the drivers side rocker was fairly poorly so while its in the shop, I decided to give it a wire brushing down and spray some rocker guard and a lick of paint to help it to survive a bit longer 

(White/cream because I bought the rocker guard for my colorado)

Semigloss black,

And with the tape removed. I went higher on the fender because it is rusted badly, and I will need to replace it, just need to find a decent replacement fender and get it painted.

I still need to source a hood, but its looking like I will end up ordering one from Cross Canada parts. I was able to get a new rad support so I should be almost golden, as long as I successfully figure out wiring up the ran fan from the mess of wires they had installed. 

 Very cool - how was it received at the bmw event??

nice.

I had to laugh at you having a buddy with some random e36 parts.

Literally, everyone with BMWs has some random e36 parts. i have a ton of them, and I've never even OWNED an e36 lol...

How is the handling vs. stock?

In reply to jfryjfry:

They actually loved it. I explained it got the swap because the previous owner wanted to flat tow it behind his RV and with it being a 94, OBD 1 and having running issues from the previous previous owners negligence, the getting it towed 2 hours to get it looked at because no one locally would look at it. The only thing they had issues with was the tire size presently on it, lots of spinning and I did the course in second gear. It really needs proper sized tires, just need to finish fixing it first!

In reply to irish44j:

Buddy actually had a RHD E36 sedan, but he bought a coupe that a girl used for drifting that she wrecked. So I was lucky that he had kept the parts around. Handling vs stock is hard to say, I have only really pushed it on the go kart track and I have nothing that I can compare it to except my Intrepid, which is a low power, heavy, front wheel drive car. It seems to still have that natural handling up until you really lean on it, it definitely instills a false sense of security when driving it at 5/10 ability, its when you start pushing that little bit more that it can get out of hand very quickly, needs a few little things to unleash it full power potential, but I have time to get used to it as well.

In other news, I went outside and put in a couple hours and...

I got it mostly back together! I need some rad hoses and then figure out how to mount the surge tank, then fill it with coolant and hope my new cooling fan set up is set up properly! I am excited, and of course I have some mild issues with the eBay parts fitment but its a lot better! I am excited to drive this thing again!!

That's not bad! Deer are a major pain in some places. I just hit one with my Miata. Luckily it was a glancing blow and the only casualty was my left turn signal intake. Unfortunately those things are aparently made from gold.

When we last left off, the GMW was lacking a proper cooling system, and as cool as an air cooled small block sounded, I needed to get coolant flowing from rad to engine.

Now,

Wasn't tooo hard, really, the small block water pump outlet is 1.75 inch, the E36 rad is 1.5 inch, but I also needed to plumb in the overflow / reservoir because the e36 rad doesnt have a rad cap...

Nothing a couple 1.5 inch outside diameter exhaust pieces couldn't fix with a chopsaw, welder and a lick of paint.

It's never going to win any prizes for its appearance, but it doesn't leak and its hidden from view by the alternator and belt and currently the overflow.

The rest of the rad was straight forward. Just hose connections. I learned a couple things. 1) I need to change the upper hose to one that has a rad cap in it to simplify the the cooling system and 2) I need a larger fan than 12 inch, but I ordered it before I had a rad on hand, as long as I am moving I see max 180 degrees coolant temp (without a hood) but as soon as I am sitting, it climbs fairly quickly and when the fan comes on at 205 it still climbs slowly.. Oh and 3) I need to source a new rad because I may have patched this one with JB weld, its holding enough so I can drive it a bit and verify other things, but upside I know I can properly mount an E36 rad, I am looking at a Mishimoto rad as a possibility.

Now the next issue to arise after getting the car outside, it keot throwing the belt off and the alternator was making a horrible noise and getting really really hot. So I pulled the alternator off and took it to work to give it a test.

After the test I saw that its performing flawlessly, so I am going to be needing to replace the bearing on the back of it to get rid of the noise, but what caused it to have issues?

Back track a tiny bit and notice that the alterntor is actually only supported from the long bolt into the head..

And a makeshift 'tensioner' so after sourcing an alternator bracket from a small block chevy, I discovered that it I didn't have a bolt hole in the waterpu,p for the bracket to attach to.

So I did what any GRM'er would do and I made one from free scrap metal!

Its thin gauge from a tire pressure gauge display we usually have on the counter at Napa, when its empty I take home the displays since they send a new one when we get more to sell. I think I have like 5 of them in the shop right now. It's not as strong as it could be, but it's holding better and the alternator doesn't flex around nearly as much as it was. I need to remove it later and may make a reinforcement plate to weld to it to strengthen the center for less flex when I pull the alternator to change the bearing.

The good news tho? I have got it running almost as good as it was before the accident, needs a solid tune up, exhaust work and a fuel pump and she'll be a rocket, got her to the local cruise night a few weeks ago and enjoyed the nights activities.

Also finally was able to get it in and give it a wash down for the first time since the accident and fell in love all over a gain even tho the exhaust leaks ar e a lot louder with out a hood...

Desperately needs a going over with a buffer to bring back some of the glamour of the purple, and there is a laundry list of issues that need to be addressed overall, but theats what winter is for, right?

Next big step is to get a hood, and I think I will be looking at venting it because this small block make a lot of heat.

From here on I will continue the building and refinement of the GMW and *hopefully* get it on track at Gimli next year since I shouldn't have a bunch of dental bills to contend with, this thing just really needs tires in the worst way, but that a process for the future.

So when we last left off, I had the car returned to a mostly one piece repaired from the accident, But after a few drives with the car little issues cropped up. The biggest issue was that cooling system was pressuring up too high and blowing the rad hose off, and being a smallblock, I wanted to avoid over pressuring the cooling system and blowing out the headgaskets. So I had to make ac bit of a change to the cooling system. 

Enter a Toyota upper rad hose!

'NOS' equipped...

In the end it greatly cleaned up the way the engine bay looked, and bought me a lot more space between the rad and the rotating pieces. I still need to remake the metal connection for the lower rad hose, but winter is long... 

A few things to note here, one being the NOS can overflow and the safety latch cap that is rated for 16psi (as was recommended to me locally) But more on that in a bit...

While the car was Parked and getting a cooling system looked at, I decided to pull the passenger side door panel off to inspect the window issue, it turned out to have popped out of the clips that hold it to the regulator, and while the clips need to be replaced, I was able to pop them back in to have a functioning passenger side window while I put together a cart of little parts for a few things from Pelican Parts. When I removed the door panel tho, it was painfully obvious someone had been back there previously...

It was caked in bondo / body filler and 2 very large screws were holding it in place because over half of the plastic push clips were broken or missing... So I did what any sane person would do, I fixed it with liberal amount of gorilla tape ( because I have a roll on hand) and purchased new clips!

Not my proudest moment in repairs, its holding, its hidden and when I get the new regulator clips I can inspect it for a better fix. Not pictured is the new clips added to the panel.

And back on the door! It's very nice to have a working window and knowing that its at least mostly repaired! There is a highly probability that both door panels will be replaced with Condor speed shop panels in the future as the drivers side is probably just as bad if not worse since it has visible cracks filled glue and such. 

One thing I have learned from reading the Forums is to be frugal, very frugal and to take those deals when they pop up somehow if you can make it work. And I have also started watching the local Auction house because sometimes you can strike it very very lucky.

Remember how I said this thing needed tires? Specifically it really needed a pair of tires on the rear as the old 215/45r17's that it wore on all 4 corners were, while the front seemed to be up to the task, the rears just became loud noises if care wasn't taken with the loud pedal. Well, one day my mother says to me "Hey I'm looking at this auction online and bidding on a few things, I saw they had a bunch of tires up for bids as well, maybe take a look because I have no idea what you need or want." So I take a look, I could use tires for my trucks and who knows right?

Well, I struck a find!

2 tires. 235/45r17. Just the pair, no bids and less than an hour left to go in the auction. Threw in a low ball bid.

I won.

They are definitely used tires, and will only last me next season before they require replacement, but it does make the car feel a bit more stable under acceleration while cornering and best of all.... $1 CAD each. No plugs or patches, just right place at the right time. 

They really add a bit of the aggression that this car was missing considering the performance potential it has when its fully sorted out. When it comes time for street tires I will be 100% looking at running factory M3 sizing (225/45 front 245/40 rears), maybe possibly going one size larger depending on funds and other modifications, speaking of which...

The cooling system, the change in upper hose setup and overflow worked great, until it didn't... I went with a couple friends to the final 'car meet' of the season 2 hours from home and we had a blast on the drive up aside from arriving really really late and it was great fun until it was time to go home when I noticed the brace I had made for the alternator was badly cracked since it was just think cheap metal, so I had to make an emergency repair to get me home... which led to this

Not my proudest moment at all, but it DID hold to get me home and demonstrated that the alternator hadn't been 'squared' to the rest of the pulleys and was the cause of the squealing bearing and belt, and it had been like that since the small block was swapped in since it was only ever supported from the bolt that ran into the head. So there is further measurements to be made to make a proper solid bracket, but I have an idea for that. 

Anyways, that has nothing to do with the cooling system does it? But it leads us to a discovery with the cooling system but this is on me. See when I was making the trip to purchase a ratchet strap, I had relatively open roads to keep the air flowing through the rad, since I had noticed from other trips that the fan works but rally only slows don the sped that the temperature rises, not really cooling it down (easy fix, larger fan) but as I was attempting to leave the city, there was traffic gridlock, construction, slow moving buses and an accident so the temperature was climbing. At one red light just before I was able to get to the main stretch to get out of the city, catastrophe struck. I saw coolant splash up from past the engine. I blew out a hose! I quickly turned off down a residential street, found some shade from a tree and parked up to assess the damage.

Thankfully it wasn't any actual damage, just blew off the hose connection, which also showed me that the piece to the rad needs a bit more trimming yet as well.

But how? The temperature had barely hit 200* when it happened. I was perplexed to say the least. Turns out when the cap would open, it would flow into the can as one would expect. Downside, it was opening too often and filled the can, when the can filled, it then just pressurized the system and then pop goes the hose. So with some hand me down parts...

This *should* help. Its vented, I can check the level easily enough when viewing from the side and I can keep an eye on it, and I swapped out to a 20psi cap in HOPES that the cooling system is moistly fixed, there is still a few things I want to upgrade like a larger fan and replace the lower pipe connection and I may change the thermostat due to age in hopes that I can get this all sorted out.

If there is one thing that I have discovered with this car so far, its that a lot of people don't look past one facet of the build. This car has an engine easily capable of over double the power compared to stock (if it had a proper fuel pump) and yet, nothing else had been done to help support that power. Brakes are stock, suspension is stock, summer tires were horidly undersized (still are but fractionally better now) so I have a lot of refinement to do to bring this car to its full potential, which brings me to the purchase of more used parts

Some cheap local lowering springs. These came from the same parts car that I scored the rad and grille surround from. The fronts having markings to be H&R the rears I am uncertain, the previous owner did tell me he had installed KYB Shocks and struts so I should be able to swap things over easily enough. Winter is coming so I can start to piece together upgrades to the cooling system, get the hood painted and installed and maybe tackle the fuel ump upgrade and get the exhaust leaks fixed so I can get it properly tuned by spring time. 

I got a hood!! Still need to install it but I am one step closer!

Also, sourced a way to hold the alternator and also be able to add tension.

Its a bit low tech, but I am able to make it function...

Also, safety gear!! sort of 

Need to slightly modify the bracket to get the throttle cable to work, but I will have a throttle return spring so it ads a bit of a safety to the engine bay. Will be a lot better than the piece of scrap that was bent with some washers to hold it in place....

Spring will call for the truck valve covers I have to be cleaned and painted to be installed and I will put the chrome bowtie covers on the camaro when I swap on the vortec heads.

A question for the hive that's tuning in, what are a some good better quality brake pads to look at? The Intrepid wears Hawk HPS front and rear and I enjoy the bite they have BUT that's also the only 'performance' option available.

On the GMW, the pads are needing replacement soon and I'd like to 'upgrade' a bit because it punches outside its class in power but I don't presently have the means (money) to invest into a big brake kit while also chasing down and repairing various other 'enhancements/problems' from its past life.

I'm not worried about brake dust or noise, mostly want to make sure that it can get itself stopped BEFORE I even think about taking it on to any track at all 

I made a bracket! Now the alternator is fully held in place and the the tensioner is actually bolted to the engine as well.

Made it from some left over scrap my brother grabbed me from his work (road construction shop) and I have since given it a coat of paint and its solid and there is no more belt squeal and the car seems so very happy now. 

Also I got the throttle cable bracket sorted out and it still idles fine and the throttle is stiffer but way more predictable. Now when you want 1/4 throttle input it is 1/4 throttle, not 1/4 throttle and some travel. Makes the car a joy to drive. Still need to tackle some small little maintenance work, AND put the hood on properly with help, and then maybe I can start to look at upgrades? Mostly looking to tackle suspension work to help get the power it does make to the ground.

So a little under a year later...

Some updates:

• I have it running decently enough. Needs a bit of a going through and a proper bit of tuning done. It really dislikes cold starts and running cold on the highway.
• I did get the hood painted and installed, it looks a bit different colour wise and I fought with the primer a lot more than I would have liked (spray cans).
• I got the rear differential fluid changed for fresh (Castrol 80w90 Hypoid) as well as changed out the gearbox fluid for some Royal Purple Synchromax, seems to feel a bit better when the stars align and I hop on it and everything works properly.

Future 'improvements' include:

• I am fairly certain I need to replace my gas pedal as the bottom plastic 'hinge' on the OEM pedal has broken and I think may be causing issues with throttle input since it changes how the pedal physically sits and changes the pedal angle and at times it doesn't feel like 'to the floor' as it should.
• I need to develop a 'stop' for the clutch pedal so I can keep from over extending the slave. Mostly to make 'spirited' shifting less of a worry if the clutch pedal can only go far enough down.
• Exhaust work. Needs exhaust work. 1 because it has leaks that are getting into the cabin and 2 because it is restrictive and choking the engine back a fair bit and not letting it efficiently breathe.
• TUNE! I need to get the MSD worked out for a proper tune. I'm not looking to chase every last HP out of the car, but I want efficiency for sure. Work out a good cold temp setup, let it be fuel efficient on the highway and noticeable bit of giddy up when I step on it. 
• Interior repairs. Door panel on the driver side is falling apart, drivers side door is slightly out of alignment which is causing issues for the window when getting close to the top position.
• Front suspension needs to be rebuilt. As much as I don't want to buy parts twice, I am going to aim to stay with OEM except for the lollipop bushes, those I will order from Condor with Delrin bushes. 

There are a few 'upgrades' I want to do aside from the improvements that will come from fixing a few things, but I feel this is a good start to the list of things to do. These will come AFTER the intrepid is back on the road and I have tackled a few things on the winter beater dailies. Hopefully I can at least make this thing reliably fun to drive.

Exhaust got done. Was desperately needed due to the leaks getting worse and worse. 

It has made driving the car a lot more enjoyable to drive overall. The exhaust leaks are gone mostly (still has a bit of noise up front, but that may be cracked welds in the one header) and the interior no longer stinks. There is a bit of drone around 2000rpm on the highway in fifth gear but that's also around the 120km/h mark so its not too bad really. 

The power difference, oh my the power difference now. The car feels a lot more lively in every gear now. Previously 5th was an absolute dog below 1800rpm and would be boggy if trying to accelerate and every other gear was a struggle to get beyond 2500rpm, so it was really getting choked by restrictive piping.

The important bits and pieces:

The car now breathes through dual 2.25" pipes with a Borla Pro XS mounted in the middle of the car, with pipes running to the rear and out the factory location. Went with no tips for now since the car presently wears a knock off M3 rear bumper cover and I am undecided what I am doing with the body yet.

It sounds good, not over the top aggressive trying to get attention, but it does result in some double takes when cruising. WOT is enough to garner attention, still pops on gear shifts and a bit like a cat barking, not a noise you'd be expecting from a BMW.

I am working on a video of the exhaust, just trying to get most of things covered since when I was searching for what muffler to purchase finding a Pro XS on a mild chevy small-block was near impossible and I want the sound out there for others to be able to make a decently informed decision. 

Can't discuss exhaust modifications and NOT have video of it right?

So I still have this thing! I recently (at least a month ago) did brakes on all 4 corners. Just went with less expensive stuff since I want to upgrade stuff in the future (because small block engine) but I also want to be able to stop.

I'm still researching better pads, probably just going to go with OEM sized stuff for now (presently stops well enough in emergency situations) with a bitey-er pad on a slotted rotor for gas dissipation. Needs front suspension rebuilt, needs better engine mounting (not solid), needs a properly baffled pan before thinking about tracking it, needs new headers, needs some ignition work, it feels really boaty on onramps so I want to look at some upgrades as well. *REALLY* need to get reinforcement plates for it as well. Probably get decent tires for the 17's and step down from the current 18's it has as well. 

'New' rear rotors had uncoated hats, that's also on the list as is general bodywork.

She needs some cosmetic work as well, that's coming soon as well. Second job has had me out and DJing the past 4 weekends with another wedding this weekend, and possibly one next weekend as well, so some new bits will be coming soon, I hope. 

So due to the fire, I am living in town over winter (or longer, the figure the *earliest* is May long weekend, highly likely longer to be rebuilt) and there is a garage that isn't quite large enough to tackle what I need to tackle on the Intrepid, but big enough for the BMW, I am going to tackle the few things it needs over winter to keep myself sane.

It needs:

- Spark plugs (and one last plug wire changed as well)

- Replace cap and rotor

- Both lower control arms

- Front strut mounts

- 'Lollipop' bushings (going to order a pair of delrin from Condor)

- Inner and outer tie rods (both sides)

- New intake tube to filter (possible, looking at something from eBay)

- Drivers side fender (procured a used one w/ side marker light, needs less repairs than mine) as well as repairing the lower body fender mounting.

That should take care of the *needs* list, there are a few *wants* that I would like but will depend on how winter goes with the second job before I can get into making upgrades to the car. Mostly work on handling enhancements, and get it running better yet but tackling the ignition bits *should* greatly help that. Also need to sort out a PCV setup as well. And make a new metal piece on the lower rad hose connection. Mostly concerned about the suspension bits since I need to get a proper alignment done and these pieces need to be changed, then maybe I can take it out for some seat time in Gimli in the spring.

I've begun piling up parts for this rebuild.

I have decided to go with OEM style lollipop bushings to try and get as close to the OEM driving experience for now before venturing out onto track with it, to see how it feels *stock* before throwing money at it to *improve* it. I still have my eyes on condor bushings, but the current bushings are stock (244,xxxkms) so new maybe all that is needed for now. 

I am still looking at how to get it running better, it is suffering from a nasty exhaust leak between the head and the header. I am debating finding or purchasing a set of factory style manifolds to see if those would seal up better. Would require the exhaust being reworked a bit, but I'm okay with that. And manifolds because I don't need to chase every last HP out of this setup. If I can get it to 250whp (needs to see a dyno and see how terrible it actually is) that's waaaay more than factory power. 

Do you have or know someone with a belt sander? Hit the flanges with it to make sure they're at least semi flat and run some good thick remflex or similar gaskets (and make sure to retorque the bolts after a heat cycle or two!)

I always suggest people figure out their cars handling foibles before dumping money into gofast goodies but it probably wouldn't hurt to throw some poly/delrin bushings in the lollipops. That's not exactly a place where you run different bushings to tune the suspension. (obviously not accounting for moving the pivot point)

In reply to iansane :

I own a belt sander that I could probably make work to get everything square, its the removal of the header will probably require the use of an angle grinder since it goes around the steering shaft. So after that fight to get it out, I'd probably look into other replacement options first. I am hoping with some help I can find out if the bolts simply backed out and can be replaced as a for now fix, the easy option based on other swaps is block hugger shorty headers. 

The bushings I'm going with simplicity, when I get bushings for the rear, the lollipop bushings come in the kits and it will be cheaper to get the kit than to purchase everything individually from Condor. I'm *supposed* to be back to the farm by May long (probably longer yet, since cabinets are a 6 month wait...) so I'm trying to avoid turning the car into an extended project of 'since I'm upgrading this, I should also do this..' since I know I am bad for that (and I have at home a list of various upgrade parts already that continuously keeps growing..). It handles okay right now, needs to be aligned, previous shop that did the alignment gouged up the threads on the tie rods, so they need to be replaced, the ball-joints are loose (couldn't get an alignment after replacing the arm after I purchased it due to the tie rods) and then I can look at some decent tires since I have been running used or cheap new tires.

I'm still trying to decide on the cars fate.

It could be fun track toy but highly uncompetitive due to classing because of the engine and trans swap but literally stock in every other way. (Which is fine as I get it dialed together)

Could be fun to drift when I get it running 100%, but also almost to nice to be 'learn to drift' car. ( I have been watching for something to learn to drift with tho )

It may end up as a fun weekend toy as well, and let it tell/show me what it needs to be upgraded to be a better car to suit me. 

Percy's header gaskets are pretty amazing if you decide to keep the headers.   But factory manifolds won't cost you much if any power and will be quieter and, it sounds, easier to install. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

I know presently the furthest back plug wire is very close to the steering shaft, so if they are manifolds below the spark plugs, it may squeeze in and work perfectly fine. I'll need to take some photos when I get it up on stands for front suspension work since most everything will be out of the way. 

So after examining factory manifolds on various trucks, the manifold sits out much further than the spark-plug so that option is out.

Looking like I will be ordering a cheap set of block hugger shorty's in my future to replace the headers as the nuclear repair option. I need to inspect if the bolts are broken in the head because that will determine how much of a pain this job is going to be, if they are broken, its at minimum the head coming off to get them out and sawzalling the header off. 

So. 

I have been driving this car as a daily right now, and after much thought, I am going to LQ swap it. The bolts did break in the head and to get the header off requires it to be an engine out ordeal, and it's not worth putting it back in given how much of a pain it is for basic maintenance. 

Originally thought about K-swapping it and was looking into how to make it work, when I remembered I have a Holley Dominator stand-alone I won't be using on the Intrepid (because of transmission control) so when I looked into using that for a K-swap I realized I can get an entire LS harness for relatively cheap. And an LS should bolt up to the T5 without too much hassle other than finding a flywheel.

The plan is to track down a 4.8 and do a mild rebuild on it. Future goal for the car is time attack and I do not need big power since until I have the suspension dialed in and lots of seat time I won't be competitive. So the mild rebuild will be gaskets, bearings, sensors, baffled oil pan, oil pump and pick up. I do have a friend with an 8-1 header setup he will be selling when he makes a better flowing one for his 6.0L (he had a 4.8 in his Cressida, but he had an off track at a drift event and took out an oil cooler line) so that would be rather cool to add. 

Other planned upgrades include depowering the rack and sorting out the suspension to first be as 'stock' as possible, then tweak as I go and eventually make the switch to coil overs. It will be in the 'unlimited' class for time attack if I have read the rules correctly because it has an out of brand engine AND increased in size engine swap.  

I guess this is me saying that things will start happening to the BMW soon. I have a load of stock replacement suspension pieces on hand already and more bits and pieces coming. 

I likes me an LS/LQ bmw.

*Today* marks 4 years of owning this car. I still have a fair bit planned.

Probably going to try making a set of plastic cardboard (I know it has a proper name, can't think of it.) door panels for it since the driver side refuses to stay as one piece or stay attached. I understand this plastic stuff is commonly used as the 'core' for carbon fibre so in the future I can convert them to CF if I really want to (non structural and flat so maybe a good foray in making CF parts) but for now, just screwed to the door so they don't fall off every time I open the door is good enough for me.

Still need to rebuild the front suspension, I have all the parts, just never had the time or proper space last year. 

I did install new tail lights in hopes of fixing the fast flashing rear turn signal, (oem insert piece has corrosion on it, as did the housing so and wiggling that connection would fix the fast flash for a few bumps) but alas, it did not fix it. So there is wiring tracing to be done at some point in the future.

The drift car came with a knock off LTW wing I want to repair and install it on the street car. Debating if I want to paint it in the factory colour or just run it in flat black. 

*SOON* I should be driving it and working on the drift car. This will be on the receiving end of an LS/LQ once the drifter is sorted and track ready and the intrepid is dailyable.

Well, I am terrible at keeping up on builds here it seems. Life just seems to take over at times. I am *finally* home but now the commute is 30 minutes-ish one way. 

I also broke the car. I put gas in it and hit the road home. It stumbled oddly when I left the gas station and a bit further down the road it jus lost power, would not crank over. Got it pulled over and had a friend come and give me a hand doing some roadside diagnosis. Turns out it is something distributor related, power comes out of the coil but nothing comes out of the cap. Which is fine because when we attempted to do the cap and rotor (we were unable to do so because I had the wrong parts) we discovered it was welded to be at a set timing which would also explain why it was such a dog outside of the 3-4000rpm range. So a new distributor is on the docket, plus a blower motor, and fresh plugs, maybe sort out a new air filter... It will be back and better than it was in no time... after the snow melts and I can start actually working on it.

Also the drivers side door panel is off the car, probably for good. I am going to trace it and make one out of coroplast and just be done with it for the time being. Couple holes and better support for the speakers, and a pull tab to close the door and it'll be fine, probably. 

Soon, one day, I will get logged in at home and I can photo dump into all my build threads