2001 M3 Journey: Laguna Seca Blue Edition

[WestBankM4]

Great thread! Super helpful the interior portion as that's where I'm currently at, thanks for the writeup!

[bavarian3]

It was a good call replacing those power steering lines. Even though you thought it might have been motor oil, that assembly is or at least was known for commonly leaking at the metal coupling when the other forum was still live. It was definitely due. If it happens again, just go with the Burgaflex one next time. They are not known to have any leaking or seepage issues. I also noticed you cleaned up the steering rack as well - it is also known to seep around where the steering wheel shaft enters the assembly so you may want to keep an eye on it with as clean as you're keeping everything down there. 👍 Great looking cleanup. Engine looks great too.

Thanks for assembling the o-ring products. They are put to good use! I'll keep an eye on the rack for leaks.

[bavarian3]

Update time. It's been a while. I never finished documenting the previous stage as I completed the suspension overhaul and some other good stuff.

Finishing up the suspension overhaul required some new goodies, and a ton of cleaning.

New FCAB's, tie rods & boots.








The reinforcement plate was filthy, but fortunately it cleans up very well.
















I got a new hotckis swaybar with Turner adjustable end-links to go on the front.





After reading cases of swaybar mounting studs tearing out of the chassis I sent the car in to the shop for some preventative measures. Bimmerworld plates were welded on.

One realization when I got home was they plug welded the drain holes. the shop had to buy new plates as templates and redrill the drain holes.





I used SEM olive green and urethane seam sealer to coat the primer. This is a very close finish to the stock undercarraige.







I also realized the welding cooked the paint out the wheel well side.

This was a challenge to handle as there are no easily accessible paint matches for this undercarriage color. This eventually led me to an amazing autobody supply shop that can paint match and had a huge selection of swatches. I found a swatch that was close enough.






The results were pretty exceptional all things considered. You can never tell in person if I didn't show this.





This is where the drain holes come in. Seeing how welding can take paint down to an easily rustable state I see why this stuff is recommended. I used the extra on the rear end.







The same shop took on another welding job. Since I got euro headers, I knew I had to add cats. Without getting into the details of my decision process I opted to have cats welded into my section 1, and delete the rear o2 sensors.

I went with the good stuff.






This shop isn't messing around when it comes to welding. I had them placed just like the euro section 1. No bungs no nonsense.






I used BMW Flash + Martyns tool to code out the rear o2 cats, egt, and enrichment. Martyn's other tool, the DME utility was used to reset adaptations. Everything worked great.





I gave the engine bay a little cleaning. Stock as can be.






The car actually has an exterior too. Very stock and boring, but not for long. I gave it a quick ONR rinse since it's been dusty for practically a whole year.




Now that the hard work is done, we're just about ready to start the "fun" stuff. I already have some parts piling up, but I will be patient and enjoy the process.

[mtpktz]

Nice work - car looks great, love LSB on Cinnamon.

Just out of curiosity - did those FCABs have a BMW stamp ground off?

[liam821]

Now that the hard work is done, we're just about ready to start the "fun" stuff. I already have some parts piling up, but I will be patient and enjoy the process.

sheesh! Looks fantastic! I love LSB.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks wonderful!

[bavarian3]

Nice work - car looks great, love LSB on Cinnamon.

Just out of curiosity - did those FCABs have a BMW stamp ground off?

TY! I will followup on this when the car is back up in the air, shouldn't be long.

sheesh! Looks fantastic! I love LSB.

Appreciate it!

Looks wonderful!

Thanks for following and the kind words always!

BTW if you don't mind could you remove the pics form the quote.

[Rokoz]

Not being able to buy new pillar fabric anymore is killing me

[bavarian3]

Ok let the fun stuff begin. I've been working on installing the suspension lately. Still not fully sorted but I've had the chance to put some miles on it.

I was lucky to find some like-new Ohlins RT for a great deal.





I got started on the rear using the provided 620lb spring rates.





I used new Rogue rubber RSM's. I highlighted some hardware issues with these parts and using a rear x-brace. Link.

You can install the mounting bracket either on top of bottom of the mount. Installing on the top avoids having to dig into your interior to remove the shock.





I painted and installed these control arm reinforcements since everything on this platform likes to crack.








The front is a little more exciting as I first wanted to install the kit with the provided spring and stock strut mount, before moving to camber plates.

These open sockets allow for a holding the top pin while torquing the nut.









Before preloading the spring much more I was surprised to see how low the car sat. People weren't lying when they said the strut body is quite short.




I ended up having to preload the spring to max to get a roughly 14" hub to fender ride height.

On a positive note, I put some miles on them, and they ride absolutely phenomenal. Night and day difference from the Dinan koni kit that came with the car. They are more firm, yet handle the road bumps comfortably and quickly. I'll have to make some adjustments but already am super impressed.

Ohlins aside, now that I've been able to put some miles on the car in general as it's all coming together, damn the hype is real. Such an amazing platform.


I'll cover the camber plate install in the next post.

[bavarian3]

Nice work - car looks great, love LSB on Cinnamon.

Just out of curiosity - did those FCABs have a BMW stamp ground off?

Forgot to respond here but there was no ground off stamp I could find on the FCAB's.

Not being able to buy new pillar fabric anymore is killing me

At this rate we all have to buy parts when we can not when we're ready(to install). Unfortunate !

[bavarian3]

Continuing the suspension install.

The stock strut mount and spring setup was pretty much fantastic. but I wanted the adjustability of camber plates, more steering feel, and while I'm at it add a lighter spring with more clearance.

In come Vorshlag camber plates and swift springs. I went with a 392lb 8" spring. Unlike others on this forum here I actually found the front 400lb spring to be quite reasonable comfort wise.





I was curious so I started weighing things:


OE Strut mount




Vorshlag plate




Reinforcement plate since the vorshlags need them but the OE's do not.





Now springs:

Ohlins spring




Swift spring (Z65-203-070)





So. With the springs there is certainly weight to be saved. For strut mounts, camber plates are lighter but the reinforcement plate offsets that.


On to mounting

The plate itself is very simple for assembly. It comes with a pretty trick top nut that is able to reach into the bearing to catch the top pin threads.






I added the 3dm spacer. Note: if referencing this it is flipped the wrong way. the taper should go into the bottom.





Mounted up with the new plate.






The brown spring doesn't actually look that bad. I still plan to coat them Ohlins yellow.






I preloaded the spring to max again since that was required previously. To my surprise, this yielded a very high ride height.

Obviously I reduced the preload significantly, but this still has me around 14.5". So my next step is to remove the 3dm spacer and go with more preload. If that doesn't work a shorter spring may be required.

This was around 15.5" height. lolz. At least this alleviates any concerns about achieving optimal ride height with Ohlins.





All of this will get dialed soon. If I'm going to fully fit the suspension and get an alignment it'll make more sense to get some other parts mounted that have been sitting in my closet for months.

I've been down a bit of a rabbit hole on tire selection.

Stay tuned!