Hello everyone, I'm new to the club. I bought my 1998 328i (auto, yes I prefer a manual) sedan, Arktik Silver, in the summer of 2014. I was looking for a new car after an accident totaling my Audi. The car was far from perfect but I liked the way it drove and I'm not shy when it comes to working on cars so I bought it. I drove it for only a few months while I replaced a cascade of failing sensors on the motor chasing an erratic idle and undoing "work" performed by the previous owner(incorrect exhaust gaskets). I replaced the idle control valve, replaced the valve cover gasket as I rebuilt the vanos, replaced the intake gasket, all the vacuum lines,CCV, o2 sensors and last but not least the injectors. I finally took it to a local shop for diagnosis where i was offered extensive work to correct a vacuum leak. I knew the work I had performed was correct to the letter of the Bentley so I did one more test, a compression test. This was the point where I had to choose. I could give up or I could fully commit. The compression test had resulted 15-35 psi across the six cylinders. I found it hard to believe the car ran at all. For all that I liked the car, so I committed. I sourced a used 60k mile engine and started gathering the equipment I would need to do the transplant. I decided to pull the engine and the transmission together. When I had them both out I separated the transmission from the original engine and mated the new motor and put them back in. Once it was all back together I dropped the pan on the automatic transmission to replace the filter, only to find large-ish pieces of shrapnel that resembled teeth from gears. Well I did say I had committed. So i talked to a local transmission shop about rebuilding. They told me the auto was a GM unit and not worth it to rebuild. So ok. I'm committed right? I sourced a ZF 5 speed, a shifter assembly,a pedal assembly, and new single mass flywheel/clutch/pressure plate. Did I mention a new driveshaft? And did I mention that the car still thought it was an automatic? Yes, the last 18 months I've learned every system that went into the car. I tried to get a BMW shop to recode it for me. I dropped the car off and they called me the next day- no joy. They couldn't code the car. But I'm committed right? So I source a laptop with a serial port and a cable then I code it myself. The new engine by the way is crazy good and with the current 3.91 rear diff ratio I could feed it a steady diet of tires. At least one at a time as it has an open diff. That's the next thing on my list, replace the rear diff with a more appropriate ratio and make it my daily driver again. Maybe a limited slip diff so I can feed it tires in pairs... And that's my story... At least so far. Cheers from Colorado, Scott
Well scott sounds like you have had a great run of it so far! Welcome to the club and forums please keep us up on what else you have going on.
Thanks for the welcome charlson89. I picked up a 2.93 open diff today and I'll be swapping it in tomorrow. It's what the car would have been stock if it had come from the factory as a 5 speed. I may still have to go LSD eventually but this should give the tires a life expectancy. maybe... Scott
holymoly Scott, lotta work! Good for you though, kudos on successful projects - rwd bimmers (most any rwd car, for that matter) get stuck in snow pretty easy without a lsd (snow tires help), have to guess this is your summer car? The 2.93 obviously won't have you runnin' thru the gears as quickly or as often, but, upside of better mpg and lower cruising revs, so, quieter highway trips. Enough E36's around, wouldn't think sourcing a lsd would be too hard - wonder if an E30 diff fits an E36.... '98 328... that was the first 3'er I drove that felt like, stock, it wasn't underpowered - nice car! Welcome to the club & forums!
