June 3rd, 2007 Pierre
So, I took the oil pan off today. Its very sludgy down there, though the crankshaft not as much so. I’m planning on changing all of the bearings of the engine since it is on a stand. I know many will say changing the main bearings isn’t necessary, even detrimental. Well, I think I needed to do so as I don’t know anything about the engine’s past. Things looked good, no scoring; just minor wear. I’m hoping to check the rod bearings this week.
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April 5th, 2007 Pierre
…was a great day. I finally got the s14 off the ground and onto a new engine stand. What I didn’t expect was the dilemma of getting the thing elevated without a hoist. Hmmm, I must have been outside an hour expecting a great engineering feat to pop into my head. Nothing.
Brute force it was. I got the wife and a floor jack. Then mounted the place to the block; and connected the swivel housing to the mounting plate. Basically it looked like an engine on a stand that had tipped over. We then just heaved-ho and muscled it upright.
Now to inspect those bearings. Help, anyone?
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April 3rd, 2007 Pierre
need some free time to clean the garage a bit and bring the M over. I’m ansy just thinking about teardowns, upgrades, and grease. 🙂
Got some good tips from the guys at s14.net; along with words of encouragement. I’d like to meet with other M3 owners some day soon.
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April 2nd, 2007 Pierre
It was a productive weekend. We finished up painting a bedroom, and…finally uncovered the M3. It had been 5 years since seeing the car up close, so I was expecting the worst. But, the strange thing was even though it had deteriorated, it wasn’t that bad. Paint needs help along with rubber trim. Weird, I’m excited. The bones are definately there.
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And after a quick rinse…
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It doesn’t look too bad…right? I’ll knee this blog updated.
more pictures in our gallery
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March 31st, 2007 Pierre
So, in the last few weeks I’ve been collecting various parts for my M3- running a healthy bill for Diana, my wife, to stare at. Actually she’s been awesome, love ya babe! Anyway, the parts so far collected are:
- – Euro grills; left, right, center. Thanks to d2a4 from s14.net.
- – Complete alcantara/Recaro interior. Thanks Rob.
- – Extra set of stock wheels with good tires. To move the M with as the current tires are cracked.
- – Extra plenum and valve cover
- – Close ratio tranny
- – 87k used long block
- – Set of 16″ 740il wheels, 2 Fundo/2 BBS
see more pics in the gallery
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March 25th, 2007 Pierre
So, my 1989 m3 has been in storage at my dad’s house for 5 years now. I’ve been putting the fact that its been rotting away out of my mind; I cringe at the thought of rain, rust, and neighborhood kids denting sheetmetal. But, thats the price I had to pay for a college degree. Now that I have it, the M needs the attention it deserves. I think of the car as art and history. Crazy talk for the normal, understood by many.
I bought the car on impulse with my fiance, now wife, when scanning an autobuys rag. I was still in grief over the total loss of my ’88 M3 a couple years back, so we got it. In retrospect, we shouldn’t have bought it as we put it on the card (she just graduated, I just started school). We both loved this car, it brought back memories of our “dating” days.
So, the M wasn’t in perfect condition, kinda far from it. The bad: interior seemed dyed, formerly tan; the engine was noisy, valves and timing chain clapped in harmony; shift lever “spongy”. The good: average price for an M3 in fair condition; all vins matched; it’s an M3; it ran. Seems pretty optimistic of us to see the good in the car, especially with the racket the engine made. A month after its purchase, the crank pulley spun off, landing nicely on the front bumper extension. I took that as a hint, no more M3 until school was done.
So it starts.
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March 11th, 2007 Pierre
Hello, my M3 is half dead.
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