B3 3.2 Touring its suddenly getting old

[Simon13]

Wash me! Well i've put about 1200 miles on her now and yesterday had the time to do some tinkering.

New wipers, i thought i'd try these aero ones but that was more by accident by buying the wrong ones! I replaced the petrol light bulb, what a bloody drama, the extra alpina guages were in the way, steering wheel off to get it all out. To top it off i left the ignition on and one of the connectors came off the air bag! So that light is now on, The steering wheel wasn't on quite straight so it is now.

I also wanted to change the oil, now when the oil was hot ie 95 degrees ish the oil pressure would be 1.0 bar. Now folks thought this too low. I wasn't so sure so i've asked about on the other forums and theres a bit of range on this one guy reckons 0.8 hot and anothers is 1.6 Bar.

Anyhow the old oil i took out was fairly clean but was properly like piss. Must of been 0-30 or something. Well i've put some 10-60 castrol back in. GSF did me 8 litres for £49! hows that for a bargain. So along with a new M50 oil filter which is what these donks use off to warm it up.

Now the oil pressure is 1.5 bar hot. I'd never of thought the oil grade could make this much difference!

Powelly has gassed the A/C up for me and its giving 4 odd degrees out the vents. So thanks for that.

I've been watching the economy a bit and i'm on 24-25 mpg overall. It will do 33 on a steady run 80-85 and if you drive like a gay around the houses 17mpg. So some tanks i've not even had 300 miles out of it! Imagine what Barry could do with this?! 150 miles i expect

I've priced up a new seat foam and heated seat element from BMw £140 all in with no discount. 80 for the foam and 60 for the element. Not bad i thought.

Also had a bit of a blow on the zorst so took it to the tyre place to get it on the ramp. A loose nut bolt



This one to be precise. I've put a concave washer on to see if that helps.

I'm getting a bit of a vibration from the transmission tunnel at 70 and the gearbox mounts are all cracked so i'm guessing these are the main contenders. No oil leaks on the gearbox. I was in shock then remembered its not an E30. Sump gasket is sweaty also but not bad. Didn't find any large rust holes on the ramp so all is good really.

Nothing has fallen of or has broken the brakes are still crap but i'll sort this when it warms up

Its running really well so we are bonding well so far!

[Demlotcrew]

Si that bolt is shocking!

You spend £140 on seat foams but wont shell out on a nice stainless fastener

I hope there is a washer under that nut too.

I would never use plated or galvanised bolts on the lower sections of an exhaust, they dont last!

[Jhonno]

I'd be inclined to say 10-60 was a bit heavy for a daily driven chariot.. I was recommended 5-40. What do BMW say?

[bss325i]

BMW say 0w30!

10w40 is a good all rounder.

10w60 is used on all M power engines, it will be ok for this engine.

[Jhonno]

I believe the 10-60 is a specific (TMS?) Castrol for S54's.

This is a warmed over M50.. I'd still be thinking too heavy.

[bss325i]

I believe the 10-60 is a specific (TMS?) Castrol for S54's.

This is a warmed over M50.. I'd still be thinking too heavy.

TWS or Edge sport is for everything from an S14 up to an S85.

TWS is just the latest version of castrol 10W60.

An S54's roots lie with an M50.

[Demlotcrew]

For a daily 0-w30 diesel Castrol edge. For track gulf race 10w60 or Castrol tws 10w60.

Andrew

[bss325i]

For a daily 0-w30 diesel Castrol edge. For track gulf race 10w60 or Castrol tws 10w60.

Andrew

THIS.

But running 10w60 on a daily wouldn't be detrimental imo.

Saying that, depends on how you drive your daily!

[Simon13]

Alpina recommend 10-60 so i'm told and it is an S52 engine code! maybe go with 5-30 next time

i didnt have to top the level up before so its not using alot of oil so far

[Demlotcrew]

Si, your low hot pressures are worn big ends and oil pump.

[DanThe]

Its not expensive to fit new gears to the pump, and if you feel like changing the sump gasket its prob an extra hours work at most.

[Jhonno]

Could stick some shells in whilst you are there..

[Demlotcrew]

Could stick some shells in whilst you are there..

Absolutely!

[Dezzy]

Si I know of a Donk with exactly the same issue as yours. The guys had the head repaired but is struggling to get a gasket.

I'm trying to get it off him. What sort of head work did the machine shop do for you?

[Simon13]

just the porting on the inlet and exhuast ports. The head i had was lowish milege (65k iirc) so the guides where good.

I think he charged me £350

I will have access to a ramp when Henry gets his lock up so i could try something. The oil light can be a bit slow when the engine is hot. But from cold its instant as the engine fires.

Thing is if it needs shells then chances are the crank needs a grind

[Dezzy]

Cheers mate.

[Simon13]

no prob you can always send them down here if you want to? I'll be getting him to do another M20 head for my 2dr when the time comes for rebuild number 2!

[Dezzy]

I might just do that if I can get him to part with it!

[Jhonno]

Thing is if it needs shells then chances are the crank needs a grind

If it needs shells it needs shells though.. If that makes any sense. Leave it and have a bigger mishap, or do it sooner and maybe have to tickle the crank, or maybe it just needs shells. PITA I understand though.

[powelly]

Remind to bring the Launch on thursday to get rid of the airbag light.

[Demlotcrew]

Thing is if it needs shells then chances are the crank needs a grind

Why?

I change my shells every three years or 20k miles (mostly track miles), costs £100 in parts, Crank is perfect, its a preventative measure.

Andrew

[Simon13]

why do you f**king think?! you don't half come out with it sometimes

[Demlotcrew]

Simon, you have been hanging with Blade too much, that a very aggressive reply.

Shells are much much softer than the crank, they are sacrificial parts which are designed to absorb any allowable wear, mostly wear occurs when starting the engine cold, high RPM's and long oil intervals (Oil diluted with petrol).

If the bearings have not spun you would simply plastigauage with new shells and if all within spec you replace the big ends with new shells, no need to regrind the crank!

This is my oil pressures cold.

81.1 psi thats 5.6bar! Hot its about 46-50psi @ 115ºC (3.2-3.4bar).

Gauge on the right.



Andrew

[DanThe]

This is my M52 at idle



And with a few k revs



No comment re the shells/crank grinding

[Simon13]

So for some reason i've bought this




A 3.0 M3 LSD. 3.15 ratio. But some kind chap has bolted the 328i 4 bolt prop flange to it . I wouldn't bolt this in as it is because auto B3's use either a 3.46 or 3.73 diff and its long geared as it is. 90mph is just over 3000 rpm.

But i don't know what ratio is fitted!! Manual B3's came with either 2.93 or 3.15



I'll be honest i'm driving this about in switch tronic all the time now because its the only way to get some economy out of it. Drive it like it was a manual to some extent. Doing the same trip to work in this way i'm getting literally 60 more miles to a tank.

Which has got me thinking a fair bit, why not manual it. Seems a shame to have an engine like this with an auto. I like the switch tronic but its no manual and to be fair this car is never going to have a high value to worry about it come resale time

So this is my current thoughts, i kept my old 328's pedal box, clutch master and salve cylinders and the hard line, i've got a braided line also to go with this.............so do you.....

5 speed it with a 328i box and prop and the LSD i've just bought along with an M20 flywheel with an uprated or fast road clutch. Going by my 328i a stock clutch would get slaughtered. I can do this without spending a kings ransom. I can't help also but think it would alot quicker like this and better on juice

6 speed it and take it up the arse for the cost of an M3 gearbox. flywheel and clutch, Prop and i'd have to change the diff flange again to an M3 one. The diff i have would probably still work ok i think as the evo used a 3.23 diff.

How would i tell the ECU its a manual though? i don't know how you would go about this side of it telling the car its manual now.

I'd keep all the auto bits for when i sold the car. What do we think? It'd would be more a drivers spec then with a manual box and LSD instead of gentlemans express with an autobox and open diff. More of a hooligan!

[Kos]

Leave it auto but fit the LSD with the correct ratio in it

[Simon13]

i'd have to take my current diff out and get the 2 mixed together. I don't think any other e36 came with the ratio mine has.

[DanThe]

How about fix the C2!

[Kos]

Dan has a point

A manual swop is a waste of time, effort and money IMO

And LSD will help it along, so keep your eyes open for another open diff with that ratio or
swop the internal about

[Simon13]

What point? i've no motivation for that C2, not one bit.

i don't see how its a waste of time, money etc rememeber this car was dead in the water 6 months go ready to become lots of chinese toasters.

[e301988325i]

Manual 5 sp, the 6 sp boxes are fragile enough without the grunty nature of the 3.2 engine.

I don't think 90mph at 3k is over geared for that especially if you want more economy, best thing to prove that is try the taller diff for a test.

If you're keeping it have you thought about LPGing the beast, then you just don't have to worry? Our E46 330i touring is doing the equivalent of 37mpg if we were paying for petrol or 39mpg against the price of diesel. It could be better if driven sensibly but that was always the point of LPGing the thing! I hear reports of 25-28mpg in the real world, who probably think more about gunning it than we do!

[DanThe]

Gearing sounds bang on to me, my auto E34 is exactly the same and thats a wheezy 2500cc
If you really want an LSD get the unit built into the diff thats on there IMO

[Simon13]

well i don't drive it like a gay, but i've not been ragging it as much. The record was 250 miles to a tank and at nearly £80 to fill up i can't cope with that. Thats when the switchtronic action started and now its more like 310 to a tank. I've just done an m-way tank and its done 320 miles with a 1/4 left. I've got to go to gatwick later but i don't think it will do another 90 miles. I might take the jerry can and see!

I'm not against LPG but theres no stations near me. I've looked into it before. Closest ones are 15 odd miles away and in the directions i don't travel to really. I'd have to make a point of going that way everytime i wanted LPG.

[DanThe]

Unless you have a station on your doorstep it becomes a PITA, that MPG is shocking, I did 250 miles to a tank on my E30 the other day, 130 of those miles were going round Oulton Park!

[Simon13]

Well thats what auto boxes and punting around london does 20mpg. This is another reason for the manual bit in my mind. It will be a fair bit better on fuel, no torque converter wrongness. It robs so much low end pick up from the engine and canes petrol. You can feel when the converter locks up in switch tronic the car lurches forward as another 40bhp becomes available! i reckon manual it would average 27-28 plodding about. As it is i struggle with 25. Its a 3.2 auto and a heavy ish car. Its no E30 dan, that will help alot!

It won't lock up below 1500 rpm, but at least in switchtronic it locks it in every gear rather than 5th or 55mph only in E mode.