The it was supposed to be just an oil pan gasket project

So what was supposed to be just an oil pan gasket snowballed into a 3 week "while I'm in there" project.

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We want to keep this car for a really long time so I thought it would be a good idea to address a few weak points on the car.
The oil pan removal was pretty strait forward: move a bunch of stuff out of the way do the oil pan can be removed.
I got an engine support bar from Harbor Freight for around $60 after using a 25% coupon.

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It worked really well and a good solid unit.

Partial pile of parts to go in

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Parts removal pile is growing

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Dropped the crossmember onto a floor jack and unbolted the the steering rack. It was much easier this way. I supported the rack with some bungies. I didn't remove the steering column joints ( thanks for the tip Vas)

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I completely removed the crossmember with the lower control arms still attached.

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I was amazed that after 141k hard miles, my lower control arms were in almost perfect shape with no real play in any of the joints. I probably could of gotten another 40k out of them but they're getting replaced because... While I'm in there...
Also, my motor mounts were in perfect shape. I was really surprised by this. I thought for sure after all the milage, hard driving, track day and drag strip runs that they'd be shot. They're getting replaced too.

oil pump removed:

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I replaced the oil pump with a rebuilt Achilles Motorsports pump. This pump a new shaft & sprocket that is keyed differently. It also uses a bolt instead of a nut and is driller for safety wire.


I thought I had some pics of the new pump installed but I don't

This is the famous oil pump nut. Mine wasn't loose at all and took a normal amount of effort to remove.

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This shaft sometimes shears off too.

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You can see the original oil pump and sprocket hanging down in this pic. Replacement is just like replacing any other part. You just need to prime the pump with oil before installing it.

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As long as the oil pan was out, I decided to install a baffle.
Here's the original baffle

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I drilled out the rivets and pryed it off.

Test fitting the VAC baffle

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I had a few issues getting it to fit properly but when I sent it to the machine shop for hot tank and welding, it fit perfectly. I have no idea what I was doing wrong

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Reinstallation of the oil pan was uneventful. There were two bolts/holes that I had to retap. I used a BMW gasket and used standard Silicone goo to seal up the seams in the front and back where the timing chain cover joins the block. I forget what the seam is in the back.

More to come...

Nice job man :) Glad to hear you got it done in your garage

Damn, that's a lot of great stuff! Sounds like the car will last you a long time.

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Originally Posted by Vas

Nice job man :) Glad to hear you got it done in your garage

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Yea it was pretty rough laying on the garage floor in 100 degree heat. I needed to get it buttoned up before San got here to swap exhausts so there were several 2 am nights. At least it was a bit cooler then. It was tough working round the twins schedule. I usually didn't get started until after 9 at night

Most Excellent work!! I hear ya on the 100 degree garage heat. I spent the weekend out in the garage working on my car. The heat really wears you down after awhile. [emoji45]

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Originally Posted by Sockethead

Yea it was pretty rough laying on the garage floor in 100 degree heat. I needed to get it buttoned up before San got here to swap exhausts so there were several 2 am nights. At least it was a bit cooler then. It was tough working round the twins schedule. I usually didn't get started until after 9 at night

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Sounds just as bad as me doing it outside on black asphalt lol.

No leaks to report?

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Originally Posted by WOLFN8TR

Most Excellent work!! I hear ya on the 100 degree garage heat. I spent the weekend out in the garage working on my car. The heat really wears you down after awhile. [emoji45]

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It sure does. I just took my time and a couple of fans going. That alone made a big difference. It was hard keeping the sweat from dripping on everything. I was pretty much soaking wet

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Originally Posted by Vas

Sounds just as bad as me doing it outside on black asphalt lol.

No leaks to report?

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Black asphalt is much worse! At least my garage floor is perfectly smooth, cool concrete.

No leaks! I was pretty paranoid about that; thinking about the nightmare of taking everything apart again...

Nice work Rob. So when does fi come into play?

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Originally Posted by Johnmadd

Nice work Rob. So when does fi come into play?

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IDK. I really wanted to use the Technique Tuning Turbo but Nick G has lost interest in the e46. There isn't anyone else doing a turbo kit and I don't have the time or resources to build one from scratch (which is what Kristen wants me to do). The ESS TS2 is out of production for the time being.
Those two kits, in my opinion, are the only two kits out there that are worth the price so FI is pretty much on hold for the time being.

Crossmember:

I always wanted to do the TMS front subframe reinforcement kit but who want to pull the crossmember without a good reason?
In hindsight, the reinforcement is probably unnecessary since I'm still using rubber motor mounts but for $40, what the hell...

This is the area that gets reinforced

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I had the motor mount ears media blasted for a clean welding surface

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Then I welded in the reinforcement backing plate. This strengthens the actual mounting surface by doubling its thickness.

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Next I welded in the additional ear support. The strengthens the whole ear and keeps it from twisting.

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I was really disappointed with the quality of my welds but I was working with an under rated AC line and a constantly tripping breaker in the rental house. It made it impossible to get a good consistent bead. Oh well, it is what it is it still got pretty good penetration so it was off to the powder coater.

The finished product looks great!

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Even the welds look better

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One reason I went with powder coating is that my crossmember was starting to rust and pit pretty bad around the edges. The only way to remove that is media blast and as long as it there, might as well get it powder coated. It was only $75 for media blast and powder coat.

I got new Lemforder control arms and bushings from FCP. I had a can of clear wheel coating so I decided what the hell and spayed the control arms.

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My old ones looked so nasty, maybe this will keep them nice for a while.

With the crossmember done it's time to move on to the headers....

Just did the AKG plates on my M3- ended up using my sand blaster to clean it up too. What are you using for a welder?

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I have an ESAB Miggy 125 from the 80's. I had to modify it with a Euro adapter to accept a Nu-Tec Binzel style gun as ESAB stopped supplying parts for these long ago. I was running .023 because at one time, I was doing a lot of body work. The new torch came with .030 tips so I'm using that now. I use a 50/50 argon C02 mix. It's been a damn good machine over the years with a decent duty cycle.
It usually runs good on a 15 amp circuit. I don't know what happened this time but it's a rental house so I can't mess with the wiring

Gotcha. I have a Miller 211 and am running .030" wire.

Man wish I knew how to weld.

MiG welding is pretty easy.... almost like using a glue gun. if you're interested, Miller makes a unit that's set and forget for most metals. There are a ton of instructional videos on YouTube.....

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Originally Posted by Sockethead

MiG welding is pretty easy.... almost like using a glue gun. if you're interested, Miller makes a unit that's set and forget for most metals. There are a ton of instructional videos on YouTube.....

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Agreed. I'd argue that MIG is the most useful for automotive applications, due to the fact that it's probably easiest to weld out of position. I've done some stick, which I enjoy, and a little bit of TIG of mild steel.

I learned on stick back in the late seventies. I also learned that stick welding is very unforgiving. I haven't tried TiG. I like to learn though...

I had to do a lot of arc welding for the dune buggy I built back when I was in undergrad, learnt the hard to have proper eye protection...


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Originally Posted by san

I had to do a lot of arc welding for the dune buggy I built back when I was in undergrad, learnt the hard to have proper eye protection...

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I was working in a truck shop and this old guy came in to do some cutting and welding. He was using the cutting torch without any goggles. When I asked him about it, he said he never used them. That night he gave me a ride home.... I thought I was going to die.... Every time car came from the other direction, it blinded him and would run off the road. It wasn't much better when there weren't any cars. That night I made a mental note to never, ever do any cutting or welding without proper eye protection...

I got a pair of bimmerbrakes gen 3 headers from euro parts online. When they arrived, they had a euro parts online logo plate welded on them which made me very skeptical that they were bimmerbrakes headers but after reading some threads on E46f I figured out that apparently, the guy that owned bimmerbrakes now owns or works for euro parts online and the headers look the same as every pic I could find so, off to the installation. The old manifolds came off pretty easy. I had already replaced the bolts at the exhaust system joint when I got my Corsa so they were easy as were the pre cat 02 sensors. I left the post cat sensors on and disconnected the wires at the top of the motor.
As everyone said would happen, all the studs came out with the nuts but NBD I already bought new ones. Once they were out, I removed the post cat sensors which came out surprisingly easy considering the mileage on the car. No penetrating oil or heat needed.

Without the motor mount, crossmember and oil pan in the way, the there is a lot of room to work

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View from the top without the SAP in the way

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Installing the headers was the most tedious frustrating thing I've done on the car. It surpasses the M3 mirror retrofit by a lot.
There are few bolts that are nearly impossible to get to due to the routing of the tubes. I spent several hours and flipped out twice before I got them torqued to spec. Some say they are easier with the heat shields removed from gaskets but I wanted to keep the shields since the valve cover is plastic. Plus I think it be only marginally easier.
I eliminated the post cat sensors and plugged the bungs.

View from the bottom... It sure is pretty

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The 02 sensors are a tight fit in this space there is plenty of wire to reach down here

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View from the top. I eliminated the SAP all together since it's not needed

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I ordered a block off plate from the dealer to block off the hole for the SAP valve

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Crossmember and new LCA ready to go in. I wish they would stay this clean ....

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I didn't hookup the exhaust right away because San was coming down to swap his ZHP exhaust for my Corsa. In hindsight, I wish I had just to see how loud it would be. The ZHP exhaust isn't really that much louder with the headers just some rasp
Anyone looking to install headers but worried about the noise, I can say that isn't an issue at all with the stock ZHP exhaust. It may be a bit too quiet for me

https://vimeo.com/174438281

https://vimeo.com/174438308


Kristen said she was giving about 1/2 to 3/4 throttle in the drive by

How do I like the headers? The car seems to pull better throughout the whole RPM range. It definitely doesn't feel as anemic as it did with the stock manifolds. I like the sound of the exhaust too although it could be a touch louder. It's pretty raspy... Rasp seems to be something people either love or hate... I like it.

As for real numbers, I found a place in North Charleston that has a dyno. I have an appointment on Saturday. I'm hoping for something at least over 200 hp. My last dyno run a few years ago was a disappointing 191 hp and that was with the dinan CAI, throttle body and stage 3 tune.

Excellent work! I'm glad your headers were machined properly...as you may remember, mine needed a donut spacer to connect the stock exhaust with the header flange. Do you have a link to the replacement oil pump gear?

here you go... looks like the price went up a bit since I purchased mine
http://www.achillesmotorsports.com/A...m-uopr-m54.htm

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Originally Posted by Sockethead

here you go... looks like the price went up a bit since I purchased mine
http://www.achillesmotorsports.com/A...m-uopr-m54.htm

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Nice! That looks like a very solid solution. The only other one I've seen that combats this issue is the one on Bimmerworlds website. It was originally designed by an enthusiast.

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I thought about that one but decided it was a little overkill. VAC motorsports has a shaft and sprocket but I've read of several failures with that.

great work, rob! :cheers

i recently inspected my front lower control arms and found the same thing - no play whatsoever, and i'm at around 145K miles.

Thanks Peter!
Yea, I've found that a lot of the rubber bits I've swapped were still in excellent shape: Motor mounts, lower control arms, RTAB... I examined the rubber bit in the steering column while I had a good view of it and it's still in perfect shape... The only ones that have failed are the LCAB, RMS and the rear diff bushing

How did the car do on the dyno?

Pretty crappy. It was in the 90's and in the middle of a thunderstorm by the time I got it on the dyno. I'll post after I get the SAE corrected graph so I can properly compare it to my last run a couple of years ago...

I've had some more seat time since I put the headers on and removed the Sprint Booster. The headers made a significant improvement. The car makes more torque throughout the whole RPM range and it's more responsive... It's almost like the Sprint Booster is still in there. I'm impressed! I loved the Sprint Booster but the car doesn't need it anymore...

Glad you got a before dyno, that will be real handy once you install the TS2 kit.

I'd strongly recommed you pick up a copy of Renovelo's bytelogger. I'd love to see a datalog on your car before and after the TS2 install too. And, its very useful for making sure the tune from ESS is all on par. I've got a transfer function that converts your pre-cat O2 voltages to an AFR reading, so you'll know if you're running good or not before and after.

I bet your dinan TB might demand a few tweaks possibly?

Are you running without any tune at all now? You must be getting the SES light for the SAP and headers.

Don't forget to tell the ESS guys to turn off the SAP too, they can do that now ;)

I don't want to beat a dead horse but I still can't get over how well the car runs with the headers. This is the way the car should of come from the factory.
Anybody on the fence about doing headers, it's totally worth it.

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Originally Posted by Sockethead

I don't want to beat a dead horse but I still can't get over how well the car runs with the headers. This is the way the car should of come from the factory.
Anybody on the fence about doing headers, it's totally worth it.

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rob, you're not helping me here... i've got a set sitting on the parts car!! :)

as ryan mentioned above - how are you handling the CEL from O2 sensor and SAP delete? curious... ;)

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Originally Posted by slater

rob, you're not helping me here... i've got a set sitting on the parts car!! :)

as ryan mentioned above - how are you handling the CEL from O2 sensor and SAP delete? curious... ;)

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He had terraphantm code it out for him when he got the m3 cluster


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Originally Posted by san

He had terraphantm code it out for him when he got the m3 cluster


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aha! smart thinking. :)

Nice!

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Rob, How much were the headers if you dont mind me asking?

I got them here: http://www.europartsonline.com/bimme...mance-headers/

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Originally Posted by Sockethead

I got them here: http://www.europartsonline.com/bimme...mance-headers/

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Thanks.

That's not a bad price. Did you go catless?