If you have a spare brake light switch I can just make up a bracket. I heard through the grape vine that the brake switch and clutch switch is an identical part.
If you have a spare brake light switch I can just make up a bracket. I heard through the grape vine that the brake switch and clutch switch is an identical part.
rolled up north an hour and picked up a good hood (that doesn't have the front of it smashed in like mine) and installed, along with some (US) grilles since mine were badly mauled. The wheels will be the same color as this hood, so maybe I won't bother painting it, lol
I've been trying to buy as much used stuff as I can to keep this a low-budget job, but there are a few things that I prefer to buy new, including brake lines.
On my front porch today, some Ireland Engineering SS brake lines. While I was there I got the reinforced rear shock upper mounts as well, since I've heard that the stock ones are a weak point, and they're fairly hard to find used.
some updates from today
picked up another rear passenger seatbelt (which I will use for the front in this configuration with these seats), so need to install that.
I still haven't found some used front Bilsteins, so for the time being I'll keep the 318 front suspension on the car since I have all winter to find them. I did, however, swap over the 325 front calipers and rotors and some Ireland Engineering stainless flex lines, and installed my front wheel studs (but without loctite, since they'll be coming out soon and I'm not driving any farther than up and down my street with no plates/registration)
working on getting the entire rear end apart. Decided I'm going to drop the entire subframe and do the main bushings. That'll also give me a chance to pull the diff and clean off 30 years of grease, grime, and dirt. Just so I can get it greasy, grimy, and dirty in the spring.
Just getting the rear wheels off was quite an effort, they apparently were torqued to 100,000lb/ft. My Snap-on impact wouldn't budge a single lug on either side (and it's never failed to remove any huge rusty bolt before). In the end it took me literally jumping up and down on the end of a cheater pipe on the end of my biggest breaker bar. On every single lug. Like 10 jumps each.
So by my calculation, that comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 500lb-ft. WTF. And somehow nothing broke or stripped, amazingly.
Wheels off, the first thing I notice is that there is a rusted-out cover running in the passenger wheel well. I haven't looked it up, but this looks to be something associated with the fuel system, perhaps? It seems to be covering a couple of small hoses. hmm.
Seems like something I will fix with some sheet metal, unless that cover is a cheap part, which I somehow doubt.
Also pulled one of the axles so far, so will get on with replacing the CV boots on it, since they're cracked and nasty. Hopefully everything is ok with the joints, will check them out pretty good.
And I like to be stylin while working on the car, lol
got down and dirty today and pulled the other axle and the diff. 25 years of dirt, grime, grease and every other nasty substance known to man.
managed to make a mess of my workbench putting new boots on one of the axles (will do the other when I get more boots), but the joints seem tight and in good shape, so that's good.
the diff was surprisingly easy to get out...bolts were not seized and came out easily, which was pretty surprising considering their age and condition.
did a good bit of cleaning with a wire brush and scraper and filled up a dustpan with caked-on grime...nice
now back to one of my original mysteries: The early 318i from everything I've found came with an open diff (one of 3 different ratios, including a 3.91).
But the diff on this car is a 3.91 LSD. It has the original tag, and it's not a remanufactured/rebuilt unit from the factory, it has an OEM/original number on the metal tag. Tag is S391 590 (the "S" being for LSD).
On the top is stamped in white paint "S" also (for LSD), but also "X," which is what the late 325ix would have.
BUT, this is a small-case diff, and the 325ix came with a medium-case.
So....total mystery as to what the hell this diff came off of. It doesn't much matter, as 3.91 is an ideal ratio for the little M10, and the LSD works so I'm not complaining. Just a matter of curiosity for me.....
don't know what these numbers mean
a quick update for today. Didn't work on the car, but did get a couple things:
First, some mad tyte blue bolts from McMaster-Carr to replace the axle bolts when I put it all back together. Not sure why I got blue ones, but they were the same price so why the hell not :) Gotta love McMaster..
Also picked up some cheap tires that I'll give a try using for rallycross - we'll see. They are VERY soft sidewells, lol. But the tread pattern looks good for loose/mud grip so maybe I'll just use them on wet days. I like the squared sidewall edge, should give good bite. They're studdable too (ha ha)
They're also slightly taller than my stock size, and height never hurts.
Swedish, German-made Gislaved brand tires. Know nothing about them, but the P/O only used them one season (on his e30 vert), and when I got them they were bagged in his basement, so not subject to the elements. Rubber seems good, no dry-rot. Guess we'll see if they fall apart at the first event.
If anything, I can have some fun this winter with them if we get some deep snow :)
Meaty tires!
The more I look at this tread, the more I'm certain that these Gislaved tires are exactly the same tire as the General Altimax Arctic. So that's good, since the Altimax seems to be well-liked for rallycross. Excellent!
Taiden wrote: Meaty tires!
yeah, these are gonna look like truck tires on the little 14" bottlecaps, haha...especially with my huge wheel gap!
irish44j wrote: The more I look at this tread, the more I'm certain that these Gislaved tires are exactly the same tire as the General Altimax Arctic. So that's good, since the Altimax seems to be well-liked for rallycross. Excellent!
Yup they are. Tube 'em if you are woried about the sidewalls (which you should be). I have seen lots of snows pop of rims at rallycrosses.
Got down and dirty today with the intention of pulling the rear subframe.
After disconnecting the brake lines, e-brake lines, and already having the diff and axles out of there, ready to go. I took one of the trailing arms off as well, but that was a hassle so I'll do the other one once the subframe is off the car, when I can get better leverage.
A few notes: I continue to be amazed at the (presumably) OEM hardware on this car. For a 27-year-old car, I have yet to experience a snapped bolt, or stripped the head off a bolt, or had a bolt that was seized and couldn't be broken loose with expected effort.
This in major contrast to my 2000 Maxima, where suspension bolts and things would shear off or strip pretty much constantly when the car was only 6-7 years old. Here's to German material engineering and using quality pieces!!!!
SO, heard some problems with people dropping the rear subframe, with the bolts/main bushings being seized. I used a hub puller tool on the bottom and both sides dropped easily, though I didn't drop them off yet, just down to the bottom of the threaded bolt.
My current problem is that the driveshaft is still in the subframe center opening, and it won't clear. So I think I'm going to have to pull the driveshaft to do this (was hoping I wouldn't have to).
Got as far as pulling the heat shields above the cat, which was a bit of a hassle. Will deal with the DS tomorrow....
looking more naked
stupid DS! (don't mind the chisel there, it's just to prop the DS up to keep the center bearing good
one control arm off
the stuff. One axle re-booted
here's an interesting one. On the driveshaft is written "DON'T FORGET, IT'S NOT...." but the last word is missing. So now I don't know what I'm not supposed to forget. Dammit.
I'm about to do all my rubber brake lines this coming weekend.
If you were going to replace the inner rear brake hoses, what would you say is the easiest least painful way to do it?
IDK, I just undid the downstream end of the inner hose, as you can see in the pics. It looks like the upper end would be VERY difficult to access without dropping the subframe. I'm going to have the SF out of there anyhow, so will do the lines at that time!
btw, why not do stainless/braided lines?
The replacements are stainless, but it's still replacing the rubber ones!
Could one undo both subframe bushing nuts, the lower rear shock bolts, and lower it a few inches to gain access? Or would one need to do much more than that (driveshaft, exhaust etc)
Taiden wrote: The replacements are stainless, but it's still replacing the rubber ones! Could one undo both subframe bushing nuts, the lower rear shock bolts, and lower it a few inches to gain access? Or would one need to do much more than that (driveshaft, exhaust etc)
I'll take a look tomorrow at the clearance, since my subframe is currently dropped about 2" (not off all the way yet).
of course, if the SF hasn't been dropped before, it might not come down easily, from what I've seen. Mine did, but it's tearing the old bushings (which are being replaced anyhow, so I don't much care).
I have replacements for the bushings here waiting to go in, but I heard they were a bitch to take out and press in. I was going to wait for spring to do the whole bit.
Taiden, here's the close-up of the brake line union. As you can see, it would be really hard to get any wrench in there easily...It's pretty tight even with the subframe off.
got the subframe off and cleaned it up today.
the bushings pretty much just sheared apart - they were totally shot. So the inner part of the bushing is still on the chassis studs. Will need to figure out a way to get those out.
looks naked under there!
a bit more the last day or two, just a few projects to finish up the disassembly so I can reassemble the rear end soon.
Everything on the rear end is now removed, except the old ebrake cables (for drum brakes). I'm having a tough time getting them out of the tubes running through the body to the handle, so any advice is welcome. Need to replace them with the disc brake cables.
Also replaced the inner brake flex hoses with stainless/braided ones, which is much easier with the subframe out.
since I was raking 25+ bags of leaves all day, most of the car work had to be done in some late-night Sunday action. Trying to take advantage of these last warmish days of the year..
pulled the exhaust today as well, after taking a bit to figure out how the heck to get to one of the manifold flange bolts. Will definitely be replacing the bolts/nuts when I reinstall, they were pretty bad, but luckily none snapped or stripped, so that's good.
Then pulled the full driveshaft. While underneath the car, noticed a few things: First, one of the small crossbraces under the tranny tunnel was loose and one of the bolts was stripped, so will have to deal with that before I put everything back together. Secondly, there is a TON of transmission oil all over the rear end of the tranny case, front driveshaft, and tunnel. Hard to tell how recent this is, though, because there is none on the Guibo at all which seems kind of odd. I think my box of spare parts that came with the car comes with a rear tranny seal, so may investigate changing that out if it can be done with the tranny in the car. Will check Bentley. Third, two of the guibo bolts were loose, so will ahve to tighten that stuff up as well.
I'm going to leave the DS off the car for about a month I think, since I'm expecting a short shifter kit for Chrismas from the wife, so it'll be easier to install with all that stuff out of the way.
Also bot my BFH out and banged out the "knurled bolts" that hold the subframe in, since the old inner subframe bushing and stop washer were seized to it. Knocked them out the top into the cabin, and once they were free of the old bushing, knocked them back down in again. Good to go.
Finally, opened up the diff to drain. The fluid was dirty as hell, but was happy to see that it was still at the upper fill hole, which means that the seals are probably still good and I won't have to mess with them this winter. Will be replacing with Redline 75w90 gear oil.
Finally, just ordered some random nuts and bolts that I want to replace, from McMaster.
Probably nothing else until next week, with Thanksgiving stuff going on for the next few days, and waiting for a few parts to come in. When we go to visit my parents (who own a marina with a machine shop), will toss the subframe in the back of the SUV and have it pressed out down there with the big equipment :)
Happy Thanksgiving to the 2 people who are still reading this thread, lol...
Ive been watching, just not commenting. I enjoy the updates, even for the small stuff.
Keep it up!
I check on this thread whenever it pops up. Which I hope is often. You are always one or two steps ahead of the next thing I'm replacing on mine, and the photos actually help me plan the attacks.
How does the driveshaft flex disk look? If you have to replace it or the center supper bearing get oem parts. All the aftermarket ones are to soft and don't last very long.
irish44j wrote: But the diff on this car is a 3.91 LSD. It has the original tag, and it's not a remanufactured/rebuilt unit from the factory, it has an OEM/original number on the metal tag. Tag is S391 590 (the "S" being for LSD). On the top is stamped in white paint "S" also (for LSD), but also "X," which is what the late 325ix would have.
3.91:1 is the ratio of the 325ix rear end. Unfortunately, the 325ix just had a viscous limit slip.
It's probably just a stock 318i rear end. 3.91:1 was the ratio from 11/83 on the manual transmission 318i and a clutch pack LSD was also standard.
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