Happy New Year, Y’All!
Well this week marks the one year anniversary of me starting this project. This past Monday was almost to the day the day I started draining all the fluids, put her up on the jack-stands and starting dismantling everything. It has been a busy week where I was finally able to focus on the M535i and get some big accomplishments made. Namely getting the Engine and Transmission back into the car and putting its’ feet back on Terra Firma.
First off, it takes a village; more to the point, it takes a village of some very generous friends and car nuts. The kind of nuts that seem to populate this community and boy am I glad to know them. Greg Macrum (Corner Carver) freely gave up an entire afternoon this past Wednesday to help up us install the Front Struts and Engine (completely voluntary I might add; he said “I think it would be fun”). He showed up to buy some parts from Ralph and ended up pressing himself into service. Also up was my long-time friend and confidant Phil (maskedman) jumping in when and wherever needed. Last but not least my hangar-mate Ralph (Ralph in SoCal) has been a well-head of knowledge and the mentor I so desperately needed. He also has seemed to jump into this project just when this it needed him the most.
Anyway, to recap the week:
Monday 26th:
-Picked-up and miscellaneous loose ends: Torqued the new Flywheel bolts along with all the remaining nuts and bolts on the block before it goes in the car.
Next big item was installing the Clutch Kit: New Sachs Clutch, Pressure Plate and Throw-out Bearing:
Installed the Fork, Spring and Throw-out Bearing into the Bellhousing:
Next up was to install the Bellhousing onto the back of the block; Installing the Clutch Slave Cylinder to hold the Fork in place (especially to the novice like myself). Ralph stopped by later and insisted we dry-fit the Transmission to make sure we got everything aligned and we didn’t have any interference issues. That proved to be an ordeal (the trans and Bellhousing were a snug fit) and were we glad we ironed it out before trying to do it on our backs under the car in a day or so. With all that, the block was all set for installation.
Tuesday 27th:
One big lingering item I had deal with prior to the engine going in was to remove the existing Hood Insulation. I had been putting this off for some time and with the engine install scheduled the next day, it was now or never (although I could have removed the hood altogether to employ a proper adhesive removal, which is what I did in the end only after the engine went in. Oh well).
Removing the insulation itself is easy; you can almost tear it off with your fingers.
The adhesive that is left behind proves to be the challenge; you really need to remove it all in order to ensure proper adhesion of the new insulation. After several hours of scraping with plastic razor blades, flat plastic scrapers and Scotch-Brite soaked in copious amounts of 3M Adhesive Remover, I was only able to get to this point:
Upon closer inspection, some surface rust was discovered and will have to be dealt with:
Now that the hood is off the car, I can lay it flat and really go at the remaining adhesive. Then properly sand down that rust and seal it up with Rust-Stop and new paint.
Front Strut Assembly:
While I was dealing with the Front Subframe and Steering Box, Ralph jumped in and put together the Front Struts in preparation of getting this car back on its’ feet. Everything was there ready to be assembled so it only took Ralph about an hour.
Final product ready to go back on the car, which Phil and I did the next morning:
Front Subframe & Steering Gear:
While Ralph was dealing with the Struts, I was wrestling with the Subframe and Steering Gear. A lack of hardware (well, hardware I couldn’t find at the moment only to magically materialize the next morning) prevented me from locking down the new Reman’d Steering Gear and Idler Arm on the Subframe. It was all ready to go onto the car, it would just have to wait until the next day.
Wednesday 28th:
Front Subframe & Steering Gear Installation:
So this proved to be challenging even for three of us, four of us at times. Lining up the splines of the both the Steering Column shaft and output shaft on the box through the Swivel Joint and pounding it all together while trying to bolt the Subframe up onto the frame rails took all of us at key times.
With that bolted up in place, Greg and Ralph got busy installing the Upper and Lower Control Arms to anchor the Struts to Subframe. Moosehead UCA’s in Lemfoerder arms and Lemfoerder E31 850i LCA’s were on deck:
Engine Installation:
With all that securely bolted up in place (no torquing yet), it was time this car got to feel solid ground again and we got to the main event. We raised up the front, dropped the jack-stands out and let her back on the concrete. After unlatching the Hood Struts and lashing it back to wide open, we were ready.
Now here is where the pictures run out. I did have a video camera set up to record this whole thing but it wasn’t cooperating and it didn’t record a damned thing. Oh well, suffice it to say, it went surprisingly smoothly with nary a hitch. We wheeled the stand in, tilted the block back, lowered it into the Transmission Tunnel then aligned it up to the Motor Mount points on the Subframe and dropped into place. Easy-Peasy; even Greg was surprised it went that smooth.
Start to finish from wheeling the engine stand in place was about 20 minutes. It took all four of us to comfortably accomplish it, but hey that’s what friends are for. I joked that we were way ahead of the game because it was still daylight out when we finished. We cleaned up and SOS’d the rest of the afternoon.
Thursday 29th:
Gear Shifter Assembly:
The car had an Auto Solutions Short Shift Kit installed back when it was converted from automatic to a 5 speed manual. Truth be told, I have hated this shifter since first time I drove this car. It was way too notchy for my tastes and I could never smoothly shift this thing; I longed for a smoother solution. Research and opinions brought back using a stock shifter from a Z3 1.9L (E36); it is pretty much a direct replacement and offers a stock short shift solution.
Assembly was pretty quick and easy: press fit the plastic retainer bearing/ring into the bottom of the shifter hole in the sheet metal, lube up the end of the plastic ball on the Shifter, insert Shifter into bearing/ring. Then install the retaining C-clip ring at the top of the plastic ball; be sure not to press too tightly as it will bind the ball. Place it just so it makes contact with the ball but doesn’t allow any upward movement when you pull on the Shifter.
If you have saved your hunk of original insulation foam, the next step is almost not worth mentioning other than you now place this foam over the Shifter so it lands up against the sheet metal console. Figuring out the orientation is easy as it has indents and shapes permanently embedded into it from being pressed in place for the last 30 years. There are a few tabs on the top of the Transmission tunnel that key you in as to the orientation of this foam (their indents are easy to recognize on the foam). Likewise you will see the indent for Reverse Light Sensor wire so you know which side of the Shifter it should land on.
Install the rubber boot, making sure you have the Shifter oriented in the correct position. There is a small hole in the top bellow for the Reverse Light Sensor wire to slip through. You will have to carefully make this hole a little wider to fit the plastic terminal connector on the end of this wire. Fish this through the hole, feed the bottom of it through the foam center hole and let it hang down out the bottom of the console. Use a little lube of sorts (grease, soap, window cleaner, etc.) to make the boot slip down over the Shifter; it’s a tight fit. Make sure you have your hardware to connect it all to the Transmission and the new tab brackets on the Transmission itself.
I test fitted the Shifter Linkage Rod; this was the existing rod I pulled out of the original Auto Solutions setup (at least I am pretty sure this was the correct rod, after I had it re-plated). Turns out with the shorter Shifter and position, this rod wasn’t going to work. Luckily Ralph had one that would work; too bad I didn’t have the chance to re-plate this one, but it was pretty clean anyway (no pic of this one). With it all assembled, we were off and running.
(Unfortunately, my day was cut short due to my having to deal with end of year accounting I wasn’t expecting. Ralph, Phil and I agreed to meet the next day after my morning meeting to finish the Shifter Assembly and install the Transmission).
Friday 30th:
Transmission Installation:
So my meeting went way too long (started at 10am and was supposed to finish by noon; it didn’t break until 2. This didn’t put me at the hangar until closer to 3:30pm. Sigh). Ralph and Phil got started without me and worked on the Shifter Linkage and had the car back on the jack-stands in my absence. As soon as I got there, they were lifting the Transmission onto the floor jack and we jumped on it with installing the Shifter Assembly in first.
Again, a pretty smooth endeavor: Phil on the floor jack and Ralph and I under the car maneuvering the Transmission into place then bolting it into place on the Bellhousing. Once that was done, we hooked up the Shifter Linkage and installed the Cross Brace with the Transmission Bushings.
I wasn’t planning on going back up the hangar Saturday or today, but I had to clean up and organize after that hectic week. Yesterday was mostly just that: cleaning, putting tools away, and re-organizing all the remaining assembly parts. I also re-installed all the fender & front grille protection in preparation for a lot of leaning-over work hooking up the various systems. Today was about the New Year which my wife and I spent hiking this morning and then cleaning the house. Fun times.
I kind of hate to ruin this momentum, but tomorrow it's back to work (regular work, not this kind of fun stuff). Next weekend starts back in on the remaining Front Suspension and checking the Clutch to double-check its’ operation.