2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[bavarian3]

Carrying on...

I received the new oil pump return line bolts and installed them to 5nm without issue, thankfully. That behind me I was able to finish the oil pan prep and install with new goodies.





The old pre-lci oil return line had to go, so on went an adapter. Torque specs are kind of weird/unclear for these AN fittings. Apparently AN fittings exist so torque specs matter less.






I made the mistake of installing the oil pan cone filter before installing. Outside of wasting time till I figured out I need to remove it the pan went on with ease.








With the pan back on I could move on to other things. With the headers out, this is about as open of a space you'll ever have on the exhaust side of the engine.







Logically I replaced the CPV o-ring with a viton ring from mpower22. Surprisingly there wasn't any leak, though the original ring was flattened out pretty good.






Let's get back to the fun stuff. Those Euro headers I got were nice and all, but weathered. I decided to improve em' a bit before installing.





Install was a breeeze. A simple flexhead ratchet with a couple extensions handled the job. I was then able to torque all nuts to spec.






Loving the new look, and lack of cats taking up a bunch of space.







I forgot I also had to run the new oil return line and vanos oil line. This was slightly more difficult than anticipated to route and avoid touching the header.










Though I couldn't find any obvious leak points in original vanos line I do believe it was the main culprit of the oil mess. This bimmerworld line fit without issues.






I'll cut it there as this was already a lengthy post.

Still to come:
cooling system refresh
front suspension overhaul
first start and drive!

[bavarian3]

The oil pump hangup gave me a chance to work on other things.

With the trim panels and suspension parts not yet worthy to go back in, I went to work. Even a cheap pressure washer goes a long way. The steering rack cleaned up very well and required no paint.






I learned from all the rear suspension work a simple pressure wash and scotchbrite scuffing is enough to prep already painted parts.


Yuck.





More yuck.






VHT Rollbar paint for the metal parts. SEM for the trim pieces...fantastic stuff.





After some paint...

Even the brand new belly pan got a coat of SEM. I know these fade, so why not.





Much better






Moving back to the engine, I removed the engine suspension bracket to get a clearer view of the oil leak mess and tinker around. After doing this and realizing the pain everyone goes through installing headers, the straight forward access to them couldn't be unseen.







While not part of the original plan, dropping the existing headers this way was so easy. Just used a 1/4" flexhead and some extensions here n there.






I contacted a local FB marketplace listing at had my hands on a set of OE Euro headers. More on this later =)

[bavarian3]

On to the next big update.

So, with the topend/vanos/valves, rearend, and interior completely restored there was one final big restoration project to do...rod bearings! Of course, if you've read any of this journal you'll have an idea of how this will go.

The plan was to do rod bearings, full coolant system overhaul, front suspension overhaul (not strut yet), and fix any oil leaks.


On to it...I started draining fluids, and taking things apart. Oil grime was everywhere.









I made sure to straighten out the tilt in the bar after this pic.










Front subframe was a piece of cake to drop compared to the rear. Best believe it won't be going back in looking like this.






More grime, and the pre-lci oil return line which will be upgraded. Removal of all these parts starting exposing things much much more.






I was excited to access inside the oil pan and see what the rod bearings looked like. My car is an 01' with 95k miles and a clean oil report. I suspected it probably(no records or verbal claims from PO) had the recall done so I wasn't expecting it to be that bad, but you don't know until you know.

A first look. Access to this point was pretty easy.








My arsenal going into this. CDI 1/4" and 3/8", and an Icon 1/2" digital torque+angle wrench. Despite the leverage of this bar, I used help of a second person to safely complete the 70° sweeps. They hold the socket and extension in place, I focus on double handing the bar. It's really not practical at jackstand/quickjack height without ability to use your body as leverage.







After removing the first couple shells. I immediately knew this would be unnecessary, but hey we went this far...







and the rest of them.






Not much documentation on the re-install process. I used standard ACL bearings and re-used the M11 bolts. The process was straight forward once I figured out the best method. I'd lean towards ARP bolts and a stretch gauge next time.


As I started to button things back up, I hit my first blunder.

I couldn't find torque specs for the oil pump's return pipe as there's a blank space in TIS. I saw in the FCP video they recommended 10nm. This was obviously not correct, but of course I learned that the hard way.






I was fortunate that I only broke the bolt and did no other damage. A local shop was able to extract it, and thanks to @georgehill for helping out with some correct torque specs. I also discovered Slideways highlighted this here. TLDR, use 5nm for these M5 bolts.

So this halted the process of course. Isn't it the most fun having a big project wait on a couple little bolts to ship.

[bavarian3]

Thanks! liam821 and 0-60motorsports

[liam821]

Looks great! LSB on cinnamon is always a great combo.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks great

[bavarian3]

Interior install time. As mentioned there was a little change of plans. Earlier in this journal, I showed an impulse cloth set which I intended to swap in, but recently forum member enjoy_m3 posted a mint cinnamon set and I had to have it. LSB on cinnamon is something special, so I drove down to LA to pick up.

Tinkering around the door panels as I couldn't decide what trim to use. I like the piano black, but for some reason it wasn't sitting right with the cinnamon armrests. I went with the carbon fiber trim that came with the set.




Looking good





Something annoying I went back n forth on was re-installing the sound deadening below the rear bench. At first I thought to just throw it out, but utlimately I decided why not just install it to keep things as OE as possible. Amazingly, it went back together pretty nicely. Just had to discard a few crumbled pieces.





Rear bench installed with headrests and seatbelt buckles all tidy.





I also picked up some new floormats from a dealer on ebay. I saw some crazy thread here about floormats, I don't know or care if I got the "right" ones, but these look good to me.







Front seats and everything finally in place. It's looking like a car again.











...and I actually drove the car! It still has no alignment from the rear suspension overhaul, but already it's crazy how perfect everything feels.

[bavarian3]

Fantastic job on the interior pieces! Having done this before myself, it's a lot harder than it looks. Nicely done!

Thank you, agree it was not easy, but saves something like 900 bucks excluding the rear deck!

[liam821]

Fantastic job on the interior pieces! Having done this before myself, it's a lot harder than it looks. Nicely done!

[bavarian3]

Carrying on with the interior.

I love the look of the ZCP steering wheel, but they're too expensive new and I wanted to retain my factory buttons. So I had TexaZ3 repaint the trim on the steering wheel. Then purchased a retrimmed wheel from Royal Steering wheel. I went with them because they offered the exact spec I wanted with a fair price. Core shipping cost wasn't too bad to UK.

The spec I requested included alcantara with tri color stitching, and to have it completely recovered like factory thickness, not covered over existing like other sellers.

No telling the longetivity, but the results are phenomenal.




Continuing with the alcantara bits I went with Coby wheel for e-brake boot + handle, and shifter boot.

Contact cement was used on the original trim bases.





Pretty easy to mount the boots, kinda tricky to install the handle.





Before they could go in I installed a new armrest delete center console. This fit a little weird against the carpet at first.





Realoem also doesn't account for proper size screws for the slot size. Added some washers, no biggie.





Everything getting fitted with a new weighted broomstick. Also fittied the carbon trim that came with the cinnamon set. Sneak peek of those door panels.










Lastly, I bought a set of pedalhaus pedals to spice things up.

Install is pretty easy, but the included hardware was lacking. I ended up buying new hardware, 4 screws per pedal which seems to be a little different than others do it.





Gas and deal pedals used self tapping screws. I dremeled them shorter and flat to not damage the surface behind, or limit the gas pedal from full travel.





The feeling on the look is mixed. It certainly looks great, but I recognize it's pretty non-OE. Over time it may end up looking tacky. Keeping em' for now!





Next I'll show the seats, door panels all installed.

[0-60motorsports]

Great update.

[bavarian3]

Next update: Interior swap and restoration complete. I'll separate the stages into different posts.

First we'll look at the A, B, C pillars. This was not a fun job. Not nearly as easy as it seems but by the end of it you get the hang of it.


The original cloth was falling off or completely gone as shown in one A pillar.





Stripping the backing material is probably the worst part. Unless someone has some tricks I don't know about, the residual adhesive is impossible to fully get off as you'll melt the plastic before removing it completely. I used a nylon wire wheel on a drill and angle grinder. Metal wire wheel was too strong.





It makes an absolute mess too.





For replacement fabric, I purchased BM3109 from veteran co in LA(went in person). Yes they're a real establishment! I actually brought the roll home on the plane.





I used 3m 90 spray adhesive to install. Here is the finished product. 8/10. It's not perfect especially the A pillar inserts, but I saved around $800 it looks like. Let's hope it lasts.

Applying the fabric wasn't easy either.

Protips:
-Buy more fabric than you need, if you haven't done it before you'll mess up a few times.
-Use heat to stretch the fabric when applying on curvature like the bottom of the c pillar. This was the hardest piece.
-Wait for the adhesive to set so it doesn't bleed through.

.



For the rear deck, I noticed the thickness of the backing doesn't seem like it would turn out right. You can also see how different the color is from the faded and unfaded parts of the deck too.





I opted to go with VHT spray paint for this piece.






As it turns out, the results were great. I used a nylon brush to rub it in per the directions. I will say the finished texture/feel is different than OE, but it's fine honestly.





I refinished the grills with SEM color coat. Great stuff for interior. SEM products have been exceptional all around.





Nice




Before installing I got the tint done while the interior was stripped. I went with 75% ceramic so the interior has protection, but keeps most of that fishbowl look =)

The pieces installed...




Then the C pillars could go in




B pillars A+ result.





A pillars pretty good, but the screw cover strip not so great. Probably will just purchase this piece separate later on.





Next I'll cover all the other parts I replaced in the interior before the cinnamon set went in.

[bavarian3]

Next time try with the spring (and damper if necessary) removed

noted! thanks.

[heinzboehmer]

Torquing the swaybar links at ride height was a challenge. Perhaps there's a better way to do it, but this involved using a stubby wrench in a very tight space. Don't want to have to do that again.

Next time try with the spring (and damper if necessary) removed

[bavarian3]

Update time. I hadn't updated this after completing the rear suspension.

I ended assembling each individual piece on to the car one at a time. This allowed me to properly torque the control arms and other bits under load/ride height.

Some challenges to name a couple, cmp bushing raises the subframe, therefore making the rear diff bolts more difficult to get to. I highlighted solving this in this thread. I found getting the diff in and getting the bolt started a huge pain. It's very heavy and awkward maneuvering it into the subframe while trying to thread the front bolt.

I regretfully changed the diff fluid to castrol, yes it groans now.








With the diff in place I could install the driveshaft. I used the OE butyl tape + mineral oil on the CSB per TIS guidance.









Here are a couple shots before mounting the swaybar links.










Torquing the swaybar links at ride height was a challenge. Perhaps there's a better way to do it, but this involved using a stubby wrench in a very tight space. Don't want to have to do that again.







With all the major bits torqued in I was able to get the heatshield in along with the freshly restored exhaust and plastic beauty covers.










Wow what a huge project. I never intended to go that far with it but i'm glad it's finally done. I won't get an alignment till I complete the front suspension & rod bearing overhaul, but initial driving impressions are pretty amazing. It feels like a completely different car.



Next up, I tackle the interior. I'll give a sneak peek as there was a change in plans along the way =)