1997 328IS Progress Thread - Montreal Blau

[GregBBall123]

Spent the day yesterday getting a lot done on the car, still in disassembly mode but this time with the cooling system. But before I got into the cooling system I quickly removed the broken exhaust manifold studs from the flanges. I figured out a quick way to do it: cut off the stud flush to the flange, drill halfway into the stud, heat it up, air hammer it out. This went super quick and didn't damage anything around it, specifically the O2 sensors. Below you can see the piece of the stud that was removed.



From there I drained the cooling system, including the block, and then stared pulling all of it out. Every piece of the cooling system is getting replaced which will bring some piece of mind this coming summer.





I'll also be addressing my lack of heat in the cabin, took apart my heater valve as I suspected that was the issue. At initial inspection the rubber inside looked all good but once I pulled it apart fully I noticed that coolant had filled the solenoids themselves. I hope that it is salvageable at this point, I'll rebuild it and test.



Finally I pulled the automatic pedal assembly which in an E36 that has never been played with was super easy, much easier than the many E30 pedal boxes I've pulled. Next step will be getting the clutch lines run, the new pedal box in, and the transmission in the car.

[GregBBall123]

Made a little more progress last night, got the radiator pulled out and the trans oil cooler removed from it. Then pulled the thermostat and housing along with the water pump, although I already purchased a new one, the car did already have an aluminum housing on it. All three of these items were replaced not too long ago by the PO as you can see but I figured I go ahead and upgrade to the stewart pump while I was in here.



I also got the clutch reservoir line and grommet installed along with the clutch hard line and its grommet. I attempted to install the manual pedal assembly but realized that I have the incorrect master cylinder, me not being all that familiar with E36s has definitely resulted in some lessons. Didn't know there was an early and late version master, so need to order one up.

Also hoping to have the trans in the car tonight!

[GregBBall123]

Double post today because my heater valve rebuild kit arrived to work and it rebuilt it on lunch.

Got the correct rebuild kit (ordered the wrong one initially, oops), get it all reassembled, and tested the resistance over each solenoid. Both came in at .017 which is within the correct range.

[bluptgm3]

I am pretty sure you want an Elring Thermostat Housing Gasket. That appears to be the oversized URO gasket…. YIKES!!

[GregBBall123]

I am pretty sure you want an Elring Thermostat Housing Gasket. That appears to be the oversized URO gasket…. YIKES!!

Yeah thats the PO's work, already have an Elring gasket for my new housing

[GregBBall123]

Transmission is in!

Last night, with the help of my father, we were able to lift the trans into place. Went in nice and smooth, bolts are torqued, and its fitting beautifully. I will say the Reboot trans mount was well worth the money, it allows you to bolt it right up like its factory, visually and mechanically. Once that was in the test was to see if my custom shifter arm and selector rod worked because if you remember I build them off some measurements I fond here on the forums based off the old Zionsville version. I would say I am 90% happy with the fitment, the only issue I see is the pin that come off the back of the shifter arm is slightly offset from the rubber bushing it sit in. Granted this doesn't affect anything really, its more just of a point that it could be slightly better. I still have to replace the worn engine mounts so this may help this, but thats wishful thinking.

Initial reaction is it shifts really nicely, the delrin bushings and shimming of the selector rod/shifter makes the shifter nice and tight with almost no play, and the shifter sits dead center of the hole in the tunnel. It looks like I shouldn't have any clearance issues between the selector rod and the guibo, but I do think this is because of the UUC shifter, a stock one would sit lower and might cause an issue.

Now I can also finish cleaning the underside of the trans, so please excuse the grim on the bottom. Not sure if I mentioned this but the trans is fully resealed as well.

[GregBBall123]

No photos, but got the following done last night:

• Oil filter housing gasket
• Engine mounts
• Removed old reverse and transmission wiring, terminated them in the plastic harness cover above the intake manifold
• Replaced the heater core connection flange and corresponding o-rings

Other than that, I cleaned and vacuumed up debris in the engine bay. In the process of replacing the engine mounts I snapped the head off one of the bolts that holds the engine arm to the block, luckily was able to heat it up and get some vice grips on it to get it out.

New clutch master and a few other items are in route.

[GregBBall123]

More items checked off the list tonight, started inside the car getting everything in the center console put back together. Rubber shift boot in, console all back in, rubber shifter insulation in and finally shift boot and knob. Final pics of that I forgot to take, but will get some tomorrow when theres some better lighting.





Then got the valve cover off in prep for pulling the VANOS off so I can rebuild it, VCG was essentially completely solid, I would guess that it was original. This all tracks though because it was leaking pretty bad, plenty of work ahead of me cleaning up the head. Overall inside the head is pretty clean, a nice gold color but all the cam surfaces look great.





Stewart pump, aluminum t-stat housing, t-stat, and elring gasket all installed as well.



Moving under the car, clutch slave cylinder went in with its soft line, still waiting on my new clutch master to come in. The got the new guibo bolted up to transmission, noticed it was just rubbing the transmission mounts but somewhat new this was coming from reading others posts on the install. So just knocked off the top of the stud so it was flush with the top of the nut, all good now, easy fix.

[GregBBall123]

Kept moving along today, started off the day by jumping into the vanos rebuild. This was going smooth until the time came to removed the shallow nut, even when using the proper socket it sheared the corners right off, this thing was so damn tight. So ended up taking a drill bit and a die grinder to it, thinned out near the threads, and then a hammer and punch to get it to turn out. Did all this without damaging anything underneath. So that part sucks cause I could've had it back together today but it is what it is. See my masterpiece below:





From there got the new CSB on the original rear driveshaft half, and then got the Z4 front half on and got it all installed. The centering bushing on the front half I replaced a while ago already. The Z4 front half is a perfect fit for this swap, stock amount of spline engagement for sure.







Then pulled the chip from the trans computer.



Finally some shots of the console all together, under the dash is still apart due to having to wait for the new master cylinder to show up, but once I have that the swap will be just about done. Although still plenty to do on the car.

[GregBBall123]

Just wanted to toss this up here as an FYI...

I never buy car parts from amazon but the deal was good. I forgot to pick up a new water pump pulley and wanted to find one that isn't plastic, I also don't need an $80 overdrive version on a street car. So did some looking around and found this steel version made by Dorman, even better its on Amazon with a heavy discount right now, less than $20 shipped to my door. Dorman quality is pretty decent on simple items like this, plus they also help out the E36 community with their diff covers, so worth a shot!

[GregBBall123]

So getting the car all put back together, all new rubber under the intake manifold, this includes coolant, idle air, and vacuum lines. Also got the vanos back together and installed after borrowing some cam blocks and a cam gear wrench from my buddy Dave (shout out Highline Motorsports). Went nice and smooth after getting replacement parts from Beisan Systems and using the Braymond technique of getting the gears meshed.







And then tonight I was able to get the clutch system all bled, so far clutch feel is really nice! Bled out nice and easy with the power bleeder, just need to order up a clutch pedal stop (Braymond again, will be ordering his product). Waiting on a few other parts as well to finish up the cooling system, mainly just some hardware.

[GregBBall123]

Nice little piece to add to the parts pile, some Synchro Design Works spherical RTABs!

Also pulled out the kickdown switch yesterday and got the manual throttle pedal stop in its place.

Other than that, waiting on some new parts to come in to finish up the cooling system and the exhaust, then its time to get cooling, trans fluid, and engine oil back in. Then tackling the power steering lines cause its a mess.

Incoming parts:
- PS pressure line
- PS return line
- PS pump suction line
- PS reservoir
- Banjo bolt washers
- Wiper arm hardware
- Air box mounting hardware
- Water pump pully bolts
- Exhaust hardware
- MSP clutch stop

[GregBBall123]

Worked on getting the power steering lines replaced tonight along with the reservoir. Pulled the pump off and got it all cleaned up nicely, everything was a complete mess from the old leaking lines, didn't go crazy cleaning the rack because I will most likely be pulling it to do a ZHP rack in the near future. Got all lines back on except the pressure line due to waiting for some crush washers.

[atl530i]

Those RGR's look awesome on this!! Are those the ET38 or ET15 version? I have a set of the ET15 version.

Awesome progress as well!! That's a pretty E36.

[GregBBall123]

Those RGR's look awesome on this!! Are those the ET38 or ET15 version? I have a set of the ET15 version.

Awesome progress as well!! That's a pretty E36.

These are ET38, 17x8 all around.

And thank you!

[GregBBall123]

Received and installed, thanks MSP!

[ZEKTI]

Progress looking good. I really wish I would have gone with those type of RTAB "joints".

[GregBBall123]

Progress looking good. I really wish I would have gone with those type of RTAB "joints".

Thank you! I was on the fence with it, trying not to make the car uncomfortable to drive, but it seems like everyone says there really isn't any added NVH. I also don't plan on getting into the rear subframe right not because I want to find a diff first but I think I may still toss them in.

Also got the car buttoned up for the most part, exhaust on and engine is all back together minus two air ducts. Last thing to do is get coolant in it and bleed it.

[GregBBall123]

Manual swap and cooling and PS maintenance is done!

Got the cooling system and power steering bled out and done, I officially have heat again which is awesome. And was able to move the car around the shop under its own power! The weather is terrible and the roads are white with salt up here in NY, so no actual test yet, but from what I did move it it felt really nice!

Still need to get into the rear end maintenance but waiting until I find an LSD and have time to get the subframe powder coated.

[GregBBall123]

Have had the car back on the road and enjoying it a bit, still have persistent codes that I'm trying to figure out that have only started after the swap.

P0600 Serial Comm. Link - this I know of, this needs to be coded out from the auto to manual swap.

P0135 & P0155 Bank 1/2 Sensor 1 - these have only started since I did the work on the car, I pulled the intake off to replace the cooling system and this requires disconnecting these sensors. I didnt touch the sensors through the process so I'm not sure why they are persisting now, if I clear them they will come back in seconds. Will get some live readings of them and report back.