A productive day today, even though it was short (having to go to Easter Mass in the morning, and dinner with the in-laws at night). I resolved about 90% of my outstanding issues with the car in one fell swoop:
First, got the new muffler setup finished up. Got a reducer and lined it up with the cut-off OEM exahust b-pipe, and all fitted together snugly. Right now it's using clamps, but I'll weld it when I get a chance. Or I may leave the clamps in case I want to run an open dump at some point, lol.
For hangers I used two of the stock hanger locations (one of which wasn't used for my OEM muffler), and as show previously fabbed up a new hanger assembly/strap bracket using the old one, some threaded rod, and some careful bending. That worked well and the muffler is mounted solidly.
Nonetheless, decided to put an "auxiliary" hanger there anyhow, in case one of the rubber ones on the other hangers breaks somehow. For this I used a standard strap and wrap hanger around the tailpipe. It's not cosmetically the prettiest thing ever in terms of a clean look, but hey....nothing on this car is.
Hit it all with some high-heat exhaust paint while I was at it, just to forestall as much rust as possible considering what this car does.
hanger setup
pipe reducer with clamps
rear hanger
mounted through trunk floor
I could go for it being an inch or two higher, but still sits higher than the old one. And has sexy big tip :)
I fired the car up and it's much better now. Instead of rattly/raspy sound now it's deep at idle (but not too loud, still quieter than my WRX with SPT exhaust), and sounds pretty mean when revved (yeah, even with an M10 attached to it :) )
On to the next project: I pulled the OEM 318i rear springs to compare with some later 318is springs I got from Spencer/Stuart. Initially I thougth they were the same length but once off the car the IS springs are clearly about 1/2" shorter unsprung length. THey appear to have the same coil thinkness so I'm assuming the rate is similar, but who knows. I also removed the upper and lower spring pads that totalled 3/8" in total height. So with any luck this will drop the rear end of the car down 1/2 to 1" to get me some reverse rake. We'll see once it's back on the ground later in the week.
stock 318i (left) vs. 318iS (right)
On to the right rear wheel bearing. Not looking forward to it, but a local guy (Viet) who I've know from way back in the Maxima days (10 years ago!) was nice enough to loan me his bearing removal set (the Harbor Frieght one). I will be getting one of these sometime this summer too, since I haven't gotten around to it yet :)
The axle came out easy, as expected. The hub too a E36 M3load of pounding with a large socket and my mini-sledge. On my back under the car, with a torn rotator cuff that makes my right shoulder not terrilbly strong. Got it done anyhow and better yet the bearing outer race didn't stick to the hub as they usually do, so that will make things easier. Hub looks to be in good shape.
On to the bearing itself, and used the removal tool. Initially I tried to pull it through using the big bolt and my Snapon impact gun, but even with as much power as that thing had it was really slow going. Eventually switched to a large breaker bar and just used good ol fashioned leverage on it. Took about 20 minutes of cranking to get it out. Seemed like FOREVER......
But it's out.
It's obvious that the outer race was spinning in the spindle as well, so yeah the bearing was totally shot. Even some metal dust in there, yay.
Cleaned up the inner spindle with a scotchbrite pad and it looks pretty good I think. Also cleaned the splines of the hub and axle with a brass brush.....getting that mofo axle in the last time was a major PITA. Hopefully it will go in better this time, since I don't have the tool to "pull" it through.
Anyhow, now I just need to hit Olympus this week and get a new bearing, press it in, and put everything back together. Car should be driving again next weekend!