E46 M3 Winter Maintenace almost complete....Update Part2

[ricey46]

Well after almost 8 months off the road, the M3 is almost ready to return to the road. So whats happened....

Best go get a cup of tea!lol.

Part1. The Head gasket.
After hearing the car sounding a little funny and not its normal self, although still driving and accelerating well enough, It was dicovered that the headgasket had blown between cylinders 5&6. None of the normal signs of mayo on the oil cap or header tank though, as this was a problem with the compression in the cylinders. So I decided to do the work my self, and the car came off the road shortly after Gaydon 2011.

So the work began to strip the engine to source the problem...





Interesting markings....



Head removed from the engine, all looking fine..




The culprit..


Spot the missing piece...


That little missing section of gasket was the cause of the whole problem. This was causing the lack of compression in Cylinders 5&6 due to the gases passing back and forth causing incomplete combustion and Pinking. Not a nice noise Ouch

For those interested, here is cylinders 1&2, nice colouring and all looking the same...


Here is Cylinders 5&6, note the small hairline mark between the combustion chambers where the compression had been leaking back and forth, also spot the difference in colour from the bad combustion.


So it was stripped down and off to Engine services in Rosewell with the head, and off to the dealers for me with a rather long list of parts for gaskets, seals, bolts, etc.

With a sharp 2 day turn around the head was returned in pristine condition, fresh from being acid dipped and cleaned, compression tested, head skimmed new valve stem seals, valves relapped and looking shiney!


Nice!
Rebuild time...

New head gasket in place..


Head on torqued down and the exhaust cam in place..


New modified cam bolts fitted with extra Loctite..


The Vanos system going back together..


Vanos fitted and timed..


Throttle boddies back on after a clean..


My helpful assistant at work. cheers dude.


Running like a sweetie first turn of the key!


The it was a second look at the valve adjustments as I think a few could be improved on..
Shims removed ..


Measured again..


And reinstalled..


A very long tedious job with all 24 of them, but what a difference once its right.

Withe head now sorted, it was up the road for a wee run to ensure all was ok once again, then back to the unit, quick wash, then back in to the unit for Part2.




Part2. Rear suspension and Diff overhaul


When the previous Mot was done, a few bushes in the rear suspension had been highlighted as being a little worn with excessive movement. And as it was also looking a little bit of an eyesore( to me at least), time to sort it. With the Added problem of the diff needing fixed, this would be done at the same time( not by me though).
The plan was to remove all of the rear subframe, strip, remove all bushes, powdercoat and refit with all new bushes wheel bearings back plates, bolts, etc...

First to remove the rustyness..



Diff leaking oil also..


Exhaust off..


Subframe removed..



Then it was off to Metaplas in Loanhead for powder coating and the dealers and dingbro for parts...

New wheel bearing being fitted on my new toy!!



Bushes fitted and reassembled..




Main cradle ready for fitting..


Fitting to the car..


The newly fitted and rebuilt diff, powdercoated also.. ( Gareth you're a Legend, Thanks again!! )




Bad iphone pics but you get the picture, everything new and shiney being fitted, new Eibach springs going in also...






Also while the rear end was in bits, I got a certain Mr Hassle from M3Cutters to work his magic on my wheels, to say they look amazing is an understatement, well chuffed with them, Cheers Andy!!




Also I decided to retrofit a rear blind that I managed to blag from You Pull It for 30quid!! Result!

Original shelf..


Blind to be installed..


Very faint lines on the back of the shelf for where to cut, that was the fun bit though...


Ta Da !!


Blind fitted, forgot to take finished pics, I will do though. Works a treat. Sorted. :

Just waiting for rear dampers, abs sensors, handbrake springs, painting of brake calipers and putting the rest back together. Cant wait!
If you're still here after all of that, good on you, I'll update as it is finished on Wednesday eve.

Cheers.

[daimlerman]

Well done,nice job with decent photo's,proves that E36 M3 can be played with...

Is that Neil's touring in some shots,still up on axle stands?

[ricey46]

Thanks Malcolm, Yes it's still there in many pieces, 2 alpine white tourings in pieces actually!! He's nuts for destroying that nice 325

[TPS]

Thats a good few Pictures there, I'm looking forward to reading the updates.

[Ajsingh]

What a great job! Keep it up mate!

[Andyboy]

Laguna Seca blue.

Nice work - that engine looks like a nice thing to work on.

Next step, get the front arch liners out, clean and Waxoyl the arch lips! Not as prone as the regular E46 but they can still rust. A good 2 hours work but order new push clips where the liner fits to the arch lip by the sill. The inner part drops into the wet mud behind and goes AWOL.

[320Touring]

Looking good Paul!

Doesnt look like that much work when you see it in a few pics

[bss325i]

Nice work there Paul.

Head gaskets going between combustion chambers is becoming ever more common on S54's now especially between 5 and 6.

While the rear axle was out, did you get the floor strengthened?

[ricey46]

Thanks Barry, yip it's already been done under goodwill by Bmw at Eastern





I found 2 cracks in the rear of the floor pan and they found more once the subframe was removed. Another thing I don't need to worry about now

[Sanchez]

Good work Paul.

[Topblag]

amazing work Paul.

Off topic but do you have any recommendations for a paint touch up person - please pm if you have.

[ricey46]

Cheers guys

Colin you have PM

[Simon13]

Looks like some serious work has gone into the M3 in all the right places. Nice colour too

[ricey46]

Thanks for the comments guys

Update part 2

After the rest of the suspension was complete, two new dampers fitted, the exhaust was fitted with brackets, under trays and cross brace....







Then it was time for some wheels, non shiney ones, then on the ground.





Next up was to fit the front Eibachs...



Then a short test drive up the road, of which revealed the front wheel bearing had given up the ghost. so a new one ordered and fitted, another £90 required!!



Then then the front calipers where painted and the shiney wheels fitted.








so with everything running sweet it was tine a for a quick wash...



then off to Autohaus in Loanhead for a 4wheel alignment. If anyone in the Edinburgh area is needing this done I would highly recommend them.



After which it was time to get the car ready for the Bmwcc Scottish region concourse competiton.
The before pics, a bit grubby, dirty engine bay too.







A pic of the rear blind in action!



Engine to be jet washed..





Ta da! another few hours later, and it was ready..





So with the M3 now finished and cleaned, off to the show I went, and here's the results.

















I won 3rd place in the concours. well chuffed.

[csl]

Nice work.

[gareth]

You would have won if the diff was more visible

Looks awesome now though mate

[leeparkes]

Always liked this shape M3, very cool car!

[appletree]

lovely car in my favorite colour