Pierre's e30 M3 Buildup » Uncategorized

BMW E30 M3 Network forum

Pierre — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:35:15 +0000

This following forum was created many years ago, but never published. I think its time to bring out of the backburner. I know there are a couple of e30 m3 sites – and they have been invaluable repositories of information. For that, I respect them very much. I’d like to bring about a forum for new generation of e30 m3 owners, or prospective owners. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got an s14 or whether its street or track only. All e30 m3′s welcome. Also, the use of a modern forum format is key in today’s mobile world. I want to make it as painless as possible to access the site from little screens. The Tapatalk app is also installed. If we grow, we’ll make it better.

BMW E30 M3 Network

Got the tires mounted on the GTA wheels

Pierre — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:30:04 +0000

It turns out the Kumho XS in 215/45/16 on my GTA wheels were rubbing the rear inner fender lips. I really didn’t want to have them rolled anymore…so I decided to get a slightly smaller tire – 205/45/16. All this means I need to get my coilovers for proper wheel gap, meaning lower! The tires are no frills all season performance Falken Ziex ZE-912′s. $350 mounted and balanced. No rubbing issues now.

If you’re in the LA area (SGV) the guys at Tires Central are great. Awesome prices and straight up service.

Refinished Pontiac GTA wheels

Pierre — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 21:53:06 +0000

A couple of posts down I wrote about using Pontiac Trans AM GTA wheels on my M3. I like these wheels because they can easily be massaged to fit, are cheap, strong, lightweight, and unique. But most of all, I saw potential for these wheels to pop. In stock form, they came in a variety of colors: gray, silver, black, and gold. It was the dull machined lip with yellowing clear coat that made them look bland. So, I finally got around to refurbishing a second set (bought for less than $200). A variety of face colors danced in my head for weeks…what should I choose? Stock gold? Nogaro silver? Black? Nope. I settled on bright silver for my first set. Silver is the judge of any wheel, it’ll make or break the aesthetic of the design. Quite often, most wheels that are painted a wild color were originally silver. An ugly silver wheel rarely looks better in another color. Oh, and the machined lips got polished too.

Here they are before:

After:

I like the way these turned out. Now I can experiment with a different color on the other set. Hmmm, need to find the right tire…keep posted, I’ll have these on the car soon.

Another video of my exhaust

Pierre — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 04:26:31 +0000

Dissapointed in the audio quality of my previous videos, here’s another one:

Better Quality Video

How the M3 got its groove back…again

Pierre — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 05:22:30 +0000

I finally had the chance to take out the M out of storage after…2 years?! Well, my kid is now 1.5 years old, minus 9 months…geez long time! She was all dusty and cobweb-ridden. Over the last 6 months I embarked on a little wheel project to keep me busy. She was currently sitting on e38 mesh wheels in 16×8 offset 23 shod with Kumho XS in 215/45/16. They were nice but plain. I thought about painting them a different color. It wasn’t too exciting. Maybe I should get some 17″ e39 style 5′s? Doesn’t everyone have those? Very nice but ubiquitous. Plus I didn’t want to buy more tires, my Kumho’s are brand new.

On my regular trolling of Craigslist I found an ad for some gold 16″ mesh wheels. I really liked the style. They look like a cross between BBS’s and SSR meshes. Originally, they’re out of the Pontiac Trans AM GTA circa late 80′s. After some quick research on offsets and bolt pattern (more on this later), I picked them up that same weekend for less than $300. These are them:

Specs:

- 16×8 et0 (original front)
- 16×8 et16 (original rear)
- 70.7 mm center bore
- 5×4.75 in bolt pattern (5×120.6)
- One piece, all aluminum construction
- Made in Japan

Now, the first thing you’re going to say a bolt pattern of 5×120.6 is not the same as 5×120. I know it’s not-and I’m not going to say I’m some expert on the minute radial stresses caused by 0.3 mm of difference. I read many discussions on this online between the users and naysayers. Mainly they’re folks trying to fit BMW wheels on GM vehicles. Some smarty guys would argue extensively on these “minute stresses” and the cataclysmic results. I could not find, nor the proponents, find a single case of catastrophic failure. The “smarty” guys are probably right, but my common sense kicks in saying this is only a difference in unit semantics. For all practical purposes 5x120mm=5×4.75 in. DISCLAIMER: This is only my opinion! At worst, the opposing lug really is 0.3 mm farther-and again, my common sense kicks in to say these parts can tolerate that delta. A nice snug hub fit should center the wheel and lug holes appropriately to diminish the chance of a shifted wheel. I’m willing to bet that any failures are probably attributed to mixing of hub-centric and lug-centric applications. Such as installing a BMW wheel with a center bore of 72.5 on a GM with a hub of 70.7. This puts more stress on the wheel since the hub isn’t there to support. Even then it’s probably a torquing issue as the lugs/bolts are just there to provide clamping force. The wheel/hub interaction is what’s holding the car up. When I performed the initial fitment test, I eyeballed the centerline of the wheel lug hole and the hub hole-I did not see an offset. Please post comments on this!

So, more about the wheels. They are a lug-centric application which, in theory, should make the wheel strong. They were made to support a American iron at over 3,400 pounds. The wheels weigh about 17lbs each. Pretty light in my book. They have an oddball original application: the lower offset pair, wider lip, are the fronts for the Pontiac. The et16 is the rear. Very counterintuitive in the euro world. My plan was to swap the pairs onto my M3.

I had two major issues: first, the center bore is too small; second, the fronts hit the caliper. I was bummed but not out of the game. To salvage the situation I needed to take it step by step. First thing to do is get the wheel’s center machined. Once that was done at a wheel shop, I estimated how much spacer was needed to clear the calipers. Using some washers, 10 mm was the magic number. This would bring the offset down to et6.

A 10 mm spacer? That’s easy enough. Wrong! Remember our hub lips extend from the hub about 10 to 12 mm (seems like model years vary). Most 10 mm spacers are hub-centric. Meaning they have a built-in lip for the wheel to sit on. So if you’ve to a car with hub lips greater than 10 mm, you’ll have to get 12 mm hub-centric spacers. It’s not physically possible to make 10 mm hub-centric spacers to fit on hubs >10 mm. My car came in at 12 mm. Great. Just great. I really didn’t want the offset lower by using a 12 mm spacer.

After much brain wave action I found the solution. I used a quality BMW 10 mm aluminum spacer without the hub lip, basically flat. This left me 2 mm on the car’s hub lip…no way enough to safely put a wheel on. The next piece of the puzzle is VAC Motorsports hub extender. This gave me the minimum spacer and hub that I needed. Very trick!

My wheels project…an intro

Pierre — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:54:24 +0000

An intro…16×8…et0…and et16. Gold.

Project wheels: codename GTA

Pierre — Sun, 08 May 2011 02:03:38 +0000

I’m back after a looong hiatus. My kid is now one and a half years. I’ve been yearning to get back under the M. Lately I’ve been working on some project wheels. More soon.

new 3″ exhaust first fire

Pierre — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:24:41 +0000

Uploaded to youtube.

Note: my camera was not able to fully capture the sound. Lower frequencies are truncated. Better recording this weekend.

Sounds pretty good. It should get a bit more mellow once I drive it around some. I’m going to keep the band clamps connecting the collector and cat, everything else will be welded.

UPDATE: View a newer video with better audio here.

Home brew e30 m3 exhaust, intro…

Pierre — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:04:57 +0000

I’m a cheap kind of E30 M3 owner. Kind of oxymoronish, but true. So when I set off to replace my clogged original exhaust, the prices of most pre-fabbed systems were pretty high. For example, using a VSR1 mid section and Stromung rear would be around $1,300. Add $100 for installation. This is a tried and tested combination that works great on the E30 m3. I also looked at “custom” stainless systems from Europe, about $700 but without a proper cat. Plus shipping would be mad!

Not finding a nice modest sporty exhaust, I went on to do my own for about $500. This is including 3″ mild steel mandrel bent tubing (16 gauge), a large polished 22″ Magnaflow muffler, 50-state legal catalytic converter, and band clamps. To my relief, it is possible. In states other than California, where a “special” cat isn’t needed, subtract $100; or for a track car, where one isn’t needed all, subtract $200.

Now, I know 3″ is pretty radical for a stock 2.3 S14, but I’ll be building up a high tech lump in the near future. Might as well do some R&D now. Plus, I wanted it to fit my new Burn Stainless Y-pipe collector.

Parts List:

Magnaflow Polished 3″ in/out Muffler 5″ x 11″ x 22″ (part number 14589) – $124

Magnaflow “California) catalytic converter (part number 41409) – $200 eBay price

4 x 45° 3″ mandrel bent 16 gauge pipe (link) – 4 x $12.50 = $50

1 x 18° 3″ mandrel bent 16 gauge pipe (link) – $12.00

4′ 3″ mandrel bent 16 gauge pipe, straight (link) – 4 x $5.50/ft = $22

2 lap joint exhaust clamps (link) – 2 x $9.50 = $19.00

4 butt joint exhaust clamps (link) – 6 x $7.75 = $46.50

All the above comes out to be around $500 with shipping and taxes (much of it was non taxed and shipped free)

Part 2 coming next week…teaser picture below:

This time, I win.

Pierre — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:18:24 +0000

Crankshaft hub nuts are notoriously difficult to remove. I’ve heard stories of raging weekend battles between man, machine, and leverage. Everything from 3/4″ drive sockets, long trolley jack handles, various impact wrenches, and breaker bars all were mentioned at some point. I even heard of starting the car with a breaker bar and socket attached to break it loose! Nah, not for me. I’ve got a new son, plus I like my fenders.

Recently, I got an itch to open up the timing cover on my spare s14 to observe wear. The engine currently in the car is a little tired; so the spare is a viable option as an in-betweener. A quick reference shows the crank hub bolt should be torqued at 325 lbs/ft. Nothing a little leverage or impact can’t handle, you say. This value doesn’t take the years of heat cycling and microscopic corrosion between the nut and crank threads. Nonetheless I gave it a shot. Nada. No budging with a 1/2″ drive breaker bar…the only thing breaking was the bar! My impact gun didn’t work either. Plan B time.

So, I plotted my next move:

1. Splash on some PB blaster a week before work begins

2. Use a propane torch to mildly heat up the nut. Not any more than normal driving temperature. Used the torch on the nut for about 10 seconds or so, repeated once.

3. Set my little twin tank compressor to 100 psi

4. Use my Harbor Freight $80 “Earthquake” 1/2″ drive impact wrench…maximum torque (rated at 625 lbs/ft).

Result?

The bolt came off after a few seconds of gunning it.

Lesson? Don’t be afraid of the crank hub bolt! I know it looks easy with the engine removed, but the torch and impact gun can still be used with an installed engine. The fans and radiator may need to go, but it’ll be worth the effort.