Dar-Dar's 1995 Avus Blue E36 M3 Project Car

Dar-Dar

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It is definitely nowhere near that state yet.

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Dar-Dar

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I worked on the door panels for a bit. I used Dap contact cement to bond the leather to the fiber glass parts.

The first few pics were from a while back since the contact cement takes a full day to cure.









I added some weight so the contact cement can set and cure without leaving a gap in between the two panels.


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Nomar06

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Any reason why you used contact cement over the 3M spray glue?

I've used the 3M stuff for a few door panels and haven't had issues.
 

Dar-Dar

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Any reason why you used contact cement over the 3M spray glue?

I've used the 3M stuff for a few door panels and haven't had issues.
I was doing research on the best bonding agent for bonding fiberglass to leather. Contact cement apparently works the best. It apparently works for sagging headliners too, which the M3 has. :giggle:
 

ron v

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Puttin the 25lbs to good use. Cars coming along man!!!
 

Nix

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Dude you put in serious work. Every day this thread has some major development.
 

Dar-Dar

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Puttin the 25lbs to good use. Cars coming along man!!!
Thanks! Yeah, the 25lb weights came in handy for this job haha.
Dude you put in serious work. Every day this thread has some major development.
Thanks man. I wanted to drive it to work today, but when I was bleeding out the air from the cooling system yesterday by squeezing on the top and bottom hoses, the bottom hose decided to crack. Lol. The new hose should arrive tomorrow.

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Nomar06

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I was doing research on the best bonding agent for bonding fiberglass to leather. Contact cement apparently works the best. It apparently works for sagging headliners too, which the M3 has. :giggle:

Gotcha....I just hate how long the set time is on it.
 

Dar-Dar

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I haven't posted anything here for a while. But these are the latest updates. The engine was leaking some oil on the front location and I was positive that the timing chain cover gaskets were toast. So I worked on removing the timing chain cover. It took me around a week to do this. Most of the job was after coming home from work.

I first flushed the coolant, removed the radiator/radiator hoses and removed the auxiliary belts. I then removed the valve cover and turned the crank until the engine was at the top dead center. I used this BMW speciality tool to lock the engine at top dead center position. The tool goes through a hole in the back location of the engine and through a hole on the flywheel (when at top dead center position). I don't have a pic of the tool but it is a simple looking long rod.

Removed the pulley tensioner, crankshaft vibration damper, crankshaft bolt.

I removed the Vanos control unit.

Removed the camshaft sprockets, chain, and chain tensioner to have access to the bolts holding the timing chain cover from the top.

And the timing chain cover is out!

I gave it a good cleaning using a degreaser.


I had an issue where one of the gaskets didn't fit.

I ended up just using a permatex red silicone gasket maker and it got the job done. There's no more oil leaks!

I replaced the fuel filter.


I also repainted the valve cover wrinkle black. The red had to go.



I used this big box as my baking oven to activate the wrinkling. Wrinkling only starts once heat is introduced. And the box and blow dryer method has worked wonders for me for a very long time.





I was getting idle issues where the idle would hesitate and the rpm would fluctuate between 1k and 500 rpm. So I thought that it's the ICV(idle control valve) and possible vacuum leaks. I cleaned the ICV using a degreaser.

I also replaced this vacuum line that connects to the ICV and intake tube since the previous owner tried 'sealing' the crack with electrical tape.



The car is still having surging issues so I purchased a TPS (throttle position sensor) which should be delivered tomorrow.



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Dar-Dar

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I also purchased two oxygen sensors. Then I only saw one from underneath the car. Apparently the 95 only has one and obdii(96+) E36s have two. I attempted to replace the oxygen sensor but the placement of the sensor was impossible to wrench. So I ordered an O2 sensor wrench and a 3/8 breaker bar for the reattempt.


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FooBird

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This project looks like fun. I like the paint job.
 

Dar-Dar

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With what you have torn apart so far, you are well on your way to work on internals...
Too expensive at this time. Lol. It will be easier to work on the second time around at least.

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