Estoril Coupe or: How I Learned to Import a Unicorn

[san]

That’s is scary actually


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[ZHPizza]

aye i think i found ur rear end clunk maybe maybe not dunno

[Hornung418]

God damn!

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[slater]

To quote Captain Herbert Sobel in the first episode of Band of Brothers:

“I wouldn’t take this rusty piece of shit to war, and I will not take you to war in this condition.”

is that it?





that's barely rusty at all!

william does this little font stuff down here so i figured i'd try it

aye i think i found ur rear end clunk maybe maybe not dunno

ha, yeah... the big ol' diff mount does not only make a clanky racket back there, it also adds a rubber-band effect to the throttle. experiencing it in the X3 now, too.

[704sw]

199,511km

This was a lot for me. Although I consider myself a quick study, this is really the first car I've ever wrenched on myself. Thus, the idea of removing every moving part from behind the transmission was a little daunting. Doing it by myself didn't help overcome my anxiety.

Steering
The coupler was stuck, and no amount of brute force was getting it off. So, I ordered a PS overhaul kit from FCP, and went to town. I removed the entire rack, had to cut off the old coupler in 3 pieces, and replaced it (mine was stupid sloppy, and got that way really quickly). I also replaced the PS fluid reservoir, and 3 of the 4 PS lines...because I'm an idiot and didn't realize I needed a special tool to compress the fittings on the radiator side. Filled with fresh Redline D4 ATF. I pulled the bumper off during this process to get the driver side to fit better. Bumper's coming back off in a week or two when I bake open my headlights to install my TRS clear lenses (sedan-envy).

Driveshaft
Replaced flex disc/guibo, and CSB. I couldn't get the back half of the driveshaft removed at the diff, which made the work below an enormous pain in the ass.
Getting the driveshaft center nut back into place when half of it was hanging from the car was really difficult, but I prevailed. While the driveshaft was off, I did some other stuff...

Transmission
I reseated my M3 transmission mounts, because the top nuts were walking off. Not sure if it's because I did them when the exhaust was still in place (really annoying), or because they only get tightened to 13lbs., but I put blue Loctite on them this time. I also did Peter's bulletproof shifter rebuild...expanded. I replaced the front shifter bushing thingy (it's 07:30, cut me some slack), I bought the Garagistic DSSR, and used delrin fork bushings. Man, those were a pain in the ass. They're too long to fit into the opening on the transmission, so my handy Dremel got a workout. Probably going to lose a fingernail from getting the side pins back into place, but holy crap there's is zero slop anymore. I'm actually a little worried about mis-shifting, because it's so tight. I was pressed for time, and having a difficult go of getting the rear shifter arm bushing out, so my poly bushing replacement will go in when I do my clutch and RMS next spring. The F10 illuminated shifter I bought from Bill will be here tomorrow, so the center console can go back together over the weekend.

Booty
I replaced the old rear subframe altogether, as it was a rusty mess (see above post). I rented Shawn's bushing tool, and preloaded bushings into a new frame I got on Craigslist after I cleaned/POR15'd/epoxy painted it. It looks pretty now. So that's in, as are Godspeed adjustable rear control arms. I had to replace one of my two bowden cables, as it was completely seized to the old subframe. Good thing I bought that one back in the summer. I had to drill out the old bowden cable from the wheel hub, but again, I prevailed. I ran out of time, and frankly energy/patience, so my rear arm outer bushings will be replaced another day.

[B]135i Brakes[B/]
I FINALLY finished! My passenger rear caliper finally matches the rest of the car. I snagged a section of hardline from a parts car (the bit that runs above the rear subframe to a fitting above the rear driver axle), because the nuts on mine were totally rounded off. A fresh M3 rotor was installed in the process.

[slater]

nice work, spenser!! too bad about the rear shift fork bushing, that will totally transform the shift experience... but at least now you can experience slop-reduction in stages.

how exactly did you end up getting the handbrake cable out of the hub?

[704sw]

nice work, spenser!! too bad about the rear shift fork bushing, that will totally transform the shift experience... but at least now you can experience slop-reduction in stages.

Good to know! It’s (edit) *already insanely crisp, comparatively.

how exactly did you end up getting the handbrake cable out of the hub?

So I obviously disconnected from the center console (oh boy do I need a 10mm ratcheting open-ended wrench), pulled’er out of the channels, and cut through the cable with my Dremel between the hub and the subframe. Then I had a ~18” piece of cable hanging from the hub.

You have to remove the handbrake shoe assembly from the hub. I removed the spring on the side with the expanding lock, not the star/adjustment screw, and removed the assembly as in-tact as possible. This is a rusty mess I’d like to rebuild this winter. Take your Dremel and cut the nut/bulb off the end of the cable as close to the hub as possible, and do the same on the backside (but obviously be careful because the rubber axle boot is right there). Then take the closest size drill bit you have (3/8” I think?), and drill it out from the front. You have to go at it from a slight angle because of the hub face, but it’s aluminum and drills pretty easily...as long as your drill batteries don’t die (facepalm).

I had a devil of a time getting the new cable to feed into the interior far enough for the 10mm nut to thread on, but eventually I won the battle.

[Sockethead]

Great work! Good to see you tackling it head first... having the forum... and you tube helps me a lot when I haven't done a project before.

A little late but you have to use a hammer to separate the driveshaft from the diff but once it's apart, it goes back together pretty easy. You can use the bolts to draw it in.

The shifter will break-in nicely after a few hundred miles...

I have all of this I need to do on my car at some point... except for the shifter. Not looking forward to it...

[BMWCurves]

Damn, that's a ton of work! I look forward to your impressions on all of it once you get some more seat time.

[704sw]

Still need to get an alignment before I can provide a proper seat review, but it looks like my 3k stumble is a bit smoothed out.

Small update: 199,533km
F10 knob and Euro tray installed. The first wire I tapped into apparently wasn’t switched power (even though it met the BMW switched power color code). I had to jump the car, as it sat for 36 hours after installation. Oh well, all good now.